april blackboard.

could you hardly wait for my monthly randomizing ramble chalk chat.
yea i know. hahahah!

good news! spring finallllllllly sprang in helsinki!
what'a lonnnnnng winter is was.
i'll take the rain.
can't deal with any white stuff for the rest of the year.
let's not speak of it again for at least 6 months. thank you very much.

with the march blackboard washed away the april board began

the fun part. when the color and details start taking shape and the grid starts getting washed off.

rain. lots of rain.

april was another busy month.

i mentioned in my pie post we celebrated our 2nd anniversary.
we've had a house full of man/boys plus we hosted an exchange student from belgium.
mr. c was away on a business trip to indonesia, again :(
our home was hopping with activities.
lots of comings and goings depending on the day/week... moment.
it was an interesting month.
the month brought easter which means a great excuse to eat chocolate and with extra guests comes lots of treats/baked goods. far too many.

the weather looks so cold looking back just a few weeks ago!
2c = 34f

let your smile be your umbrella.
awwwww.
 i really say stuff like that.
makes me sound old and lame.
don't care.
10c = 50f = spring!

spring cleaning week and stuff.

.

giving some random love for skype...

love skype video. melts the miles in an instant. i say that all the time.

i mostly skype with my youngest, she's a busy one and a hard worker all around good person in my book!

she goes to college full time, works 25+ hrs a week and cleans houses...

and skypes her mother.
some times i'm cooking while she's cleaning and we talk away the whole time like we are in the same room.

it's really quite amazing. annnd it's free. i love technology.

my funny skype story for the month...

ring ring ring... skype ringing as i jump from shower.

i run grabbing towel.

it's my good friend kristin @ bring pretty back. go say hi. she's the real deal!

kristin has seen me at my best and worst over the years in real-life-land and in inter-net-land.

she never knows when she rings my skype line what she's in for.
bammmmm!

now she has seen me dripping wet wrapped in a towel.
she screams in a fit of laughter. took her right out!!!

we are laughing so hard we are crying.

and the question is... wine or no?

time difference smiffernce... it's 8pm at tracie's house... so yes, let's have wine.

skype, wine and lots of laughing like we are in the same room.

love skype. do you skype?

blueberry pie. oh yes. all about it.

what... peach pie? oh yes. all about it too. hahaha

life is a balance with give and take.

if i'm going to have baked goods then i know i have had to step up my fitness routine to keep me out of my fat pants.

love pie. hate fat pants. love pie.
we do work out 5+ days a week in all weather.
we work out hard too.

we have been busting out some huge... HUGE hikes.
one afternoon we hit a hard 12k hike partially in heavy slushy snow.
pretty much thought i would die at the end.
there is 16 steps up to our 2nd floor apartment.
drug myself up every one of them.
so grateful we do not live on the 4th floor.
but maybe if we did... excuse for more pie?
just say'n.

switching gears a little...
away from pie to muffins haha...

morning glory muffins

these beauties come from my expat blogging cooking friend sonya
go say hi to sonya she is super duper sweet... and her muffins are pretty nice too! wink wink

my little notes on these wonderful muffins....
i am a big raisin fan, alone on all that in our house. so more for me. ha.
to get my raisin fix i just poked some down in a few muffins before cooking instead of adding them to the whole batch.
i did the same with
*walnuts, pecans, slivered almonds because i only had random amounts of each.
all have a really nice taste. maybe the pecan (with raisin) was my fav only because i rarely ever get pecans.
i added
*1/2 t. of ground ginger, next time with go a pinch more, i'm crazy for ginger.
and i used
*unsweetened coconut because that is what i can get here.

Morning Glory Muffins

2-1/4 cups(11-1/4 ounces) All-purpose Flour
2 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Salt
1-1/4 cups (8-3/4 ounces) Sugar
3 Large Eggs
1/2 cup (8 TBS) Butter,melted and cooled (used my baking margarine)
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
2 cups Grated Carrots..peel first.About 4 medium carrots
1 (8 ounce) can Crushed Pineapple..drained and pressed dry with paper towels.
1/2 cup Sweetened Shredded Coconut*
1/2 cup Raisins*
1 cup Chopped Walnuts or Pecans*
*1/2tsp ground ginger
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 or 190 celcius. Grease a muffin tin and set aside. * i used paper liners

Whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together in a large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk the sugar, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla together until smooth. Gently fold the sugar mixture into flour mixture with a rubber spatula until just combined. Fold in the shredded carrots, pineapple, coconut, raisins, and nuts just until combined..do not over mix!


Using a greased 1/4 cup measure, portion batter into each muffin cup. Bake until golden and toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few crumbs attached, 25-30 minutes *mine were ready in 18-20 keep an eye open.
Let muffins cool in pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Yield: 12-16 Muffins
Source: The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book

okay my dears. that's it for now!
hope your april was super splendid!
xo tracie