Pinterest Post Party #7 - Coconut Lime Cookies

Sigh.

I am drawing a conclusion about finding recipes on Pinterest, and it is not a good one.  Pinterest is where I found this recipe for Coconut Lime Sugar Cookies.  I love coconut and lime and sugar cookies so this was a no-brainer.  The ingredients were straight forward and so were the instructions.

My hopes were so high!

I took a picture of toasting coconut.

Then I took a picture of the dough, speckled with bits of green from the lime zest and thought about how I’d describe the wonderful citrus fragrance as I mixed it.

Then the cookies came out of the oven and they tasted nothing like coconut.

Or lime.

My mom, who has never met a cookie she didn’t like, tried them and agreed.  The cookies tasted good - rather like snickerdoodles without the cinnamon - they just didn’t taste like the tropical treat I’d been hoping for.  Rich came in and ate one and I had him try to guess the ingredients.  He said, “lemon?”

So, another fail from Pinterest which is making me think it’s not the ideal site for finding recipes.  Had I come across this recipe on allrecipes.com there would have been pages of reader feedback telling me that these cookies didn’t taste like coconut or lime and giving suggestions on how to improve the flavor.  Sites like Good Housekeeping or Cooking Light have master chefs going over the recipes trying and re-formulating until they get them right before they publish them.

Pinterest has … pictures. 

The picture of these cookies was beautiful but it didn’t tell me anything about how they would turn out and that’s too bad.  I’m not sure what the answer is, but I think in the future I’ll still use Pinterest as a site for organizing my recipes, but I’ll find the recipes themselves elsewhere.

What do you think?  Have you tried something on Pinterest that you’d like to share with us?  Join the Pinterest Post Party.  Here’s the code for the badge:

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My Dance Recital Diatribe

I think it is terrific when friends and family support kids in their endeavors.  It means everything in the world to a child to have their loved ones sitting in the audience/bleacher/sidelines cheering them on.  I love seeing moms and dads and grandparents and siblings and even aunts and uncles show up to an event to support a kid they love.

But. I wish people would think it through a bit before they bring young children along.  For some events, having toddlers in tow is great.  I’ve seen little brothers and sister fully enjoy running along soccer fields and volleyball courts.  The action, noise and excitement is everything that a three year old loves.  Even babies are fine at these events.  They may impede their parents’ enjoyment of the game but they rarely bother others too much.

Then there are family events where bringing kids is completely inappropriate and I’m going to say that this applies to most piano/orchestra or vocal performances.  All require quiet audiences and minimal distractions - neither of which you can count on a child under five to provide.  But above and beyond all of these I will contend that dance recitals are not a place for babies.

I went to the Saturday night performance this weekend with my mom.  We found our seats and got comfortable, excited for what was ahead.  Faith has worked for over six months on some of these dances.  She has poured her heart and soul into this one weekend of the year.  We have paid tuition on many classes, bought shoes, tights and leotards.  Our costume bill would make you question my sanity.  On top of all that, we paid $15 a seat to watch the recital ($15 is modest by the way, many studios in our city charge $25) and my mom bought a plane ticket and flew 500 miles.

My family had a lot invested in this night.  Not just in money, but in time, heart and sweat as well.  So it was with great dismay that I watched the family in front of us sit down with their 11 month old and three year old.  I knew that it could not possibly end well.

To be fair, the kids were about as good as you could expect two kids to be sitting in the dark for two hours with loud music watching people they don’t know dance.  But there was a lot of bobbing up and down and moving seats and passing of the baby as she got fussy.  About 3/4 of the way through they had finally had it and their parents decided to take them out.  I’m sure they meant well, but removing kids means collecting toys, gathering the car seat, saying goodbye to grandma and then standing up and moving through the row of seats.

All of this took place during Faith’s best dance which I only got to see a portion of through the moving bodies in front of me.  I very nearly got violent but ultimately decided that would just cause a bigger distraction.  Had I been a parent of one of the seniors performing their solos? I think I could have justifiably smacked somone.

Dance is not like other sports.  When Faith was in soccer, I got to watch her play every week - sometimes more than once.  If I missed a few minutes of a game it was rarely, if ever, a big deal.  But with dance, I have a one shot deal and this family ruined it because they spent $30 on tickets for their little kids instead of using that money for a baby sitter.  Had they left those kids at home, I’m sure they would have enjoyed themselves more, the kids would have enjoyed themselves more and I know I sure would have had a better time. 

There.

Diatribe done.  Thank you for listening.

To finish on a lighter note, here are a couple of pictures.  First, Faith and her best friend Em.  We have to get a picture of the two of them in costume every year so that years from now I can look through them and sob.

We thought the “Men’s Dressing Room” sign was a nice touch.  Don’t worry, on recital weekend it’s all girls, regardless of signs.

And finally, the best moment of the weekend:  Rich’s dancing debut.  He agreed to be in the Father/daughter dance with Faith in a routine that incorporated the chicken dance, the electric slide and the YMCA.  It was meant to be humorous and it was.  In fact, it brought the biggest cheers of the night and tears from my mother-in-law from whom we had managed to keep the whole thing a secret.

Whether they were tears because she was moved or because she laughed so hard she cried I am not sure.

But here’s the picture that proves that with the batting of her eyelashes and a “Pleeeeease Daddy?” Faith can get her dad to to anything.

Smoothing The Way Through The "Firsts"

I have worked in an elementary school for five years now.  I have watched the current fifth graders since they were wee little first graders.  Just like every fifth grade class before them, this group has girls who are running head first into puberty with bubbling over excitement at bras and make up.  It also has girls who are dragging their feet, preferring to stay little girls just a bit longer.

I’ve had one of each at my house.  Reagan was a foot dragger.  She did not want to discuss boob or periods or “special changes”.  She had only a minor interest in make up and she put off shaving her legs until kids started teasing her about it in P.E.

Let us all take a moment to stuff our memories of middle school P.E. class back into our mental closet of horrors.

Thank you.

When she was finally ready, I had her put on a pair of shorts and we went into the bathroom where she sat at the edge of the tub.  I had gotten her a can of shaving cream and a Venus razor. We discussed the correct shaving procedure (against the growth) and how to clear the razor (under running water, NOT with your thumb.)  This isn’t the kind of thing they should learn from their friends - I wanted to be there to make sure she learned how to shave safely and effectively.

Faith was a different story, despite having sparse, light blonde hair on her legs she begged to shave for months before I would let her and I have a sneaking suspicion that she “practiced” before I finally said yes, because she figured it out awfully fast.

This post is sponsored by Venus, but I swear to you that writing it is a no-brainer because I have used their razors for my girls (and myself) for years.  It provides the safest, closest shave of any razor out there.

The new Embrace For New Shavers model is the best of the bunch.  It has 5 blades with a Ribbon of Moisture so that it just glides over the legs.  Faith said, “I couldn’t even feel it shaving, but it made my legs totally smooth!”

Most important for an 11 year old is the Soft Grip handle for no-slip control.  Knees covered in bloody bandages make for a poor result for first time shavers.  Venus makes even the littlest nicks a few and far between experience.

Reagan was rarely home the week we got the new razor but I got this unsolicited text from her:

Also?  My girls love scented shaving cream and rave about the Passionista Fruit Satin Care.  I just use soap on my own legs so I stole the can out of their shower to try it and they’re right - it really did leave my skin soft and smooth.

Images Source

Learning to shave was one of the easier conversations I’ve had with my girls about “firsts”.  Other subjects have been a little bit touchier, but I don’t shy away from them because I want to make sure their primary source of information is me.

I find these conversations are a little bit easier if we’re one and one and comfortable - snuggled in my bed or hanging out in their rooms.  A couple “talks” have taken place in the car.  The inability to make eye contact sometimes helps them open up a bit.

What about you?  What tips do YOU have for tackling tough “firsts” conversations with your kids? Share them with us here for a chance to win a $50 Visa gift card.

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Yes, It HAS Been A Whole Year Since The Last One

People.

It is Dance Recital Weekend.  The weekend that is all about Faith.

And her stage mom.

It actually kicked off last weekend with a marathon 12 hour dress rehearsal.  Our studio does dress rehearsal and photographs the same day so Faith’s hair and make up had to be perfect last week too.

I tweeted some photos last weekend via Instagram.  This is Faith in the ballet costume that delights my heart.

It is very sparkly.  I have glitter all of the back seat of my car.  Hayden got some of it on the butt of his pants on the way to the movies on Mother’s Day.

We mocked him.

Reader Katie B asked about stage make up the other day because her adorable daughter is in her first recital this year.  Poor Katie B is trying to figure out how to put on the stage make up and not have her precious little girl look like a tart.

Short answer:  not possible.

Katie B you must embrace your inner stage mom.  Feel free to let loose with the liquid eye liner and hoochie-mama lipstick.  Get your full on Toddlers and Tiaras on.

When Faith was little I put blush, mascara and pink lipstick on her.  In those years she was always in some kind of “natural” costume like a fairy or a bumble bee.  I believe Katie B’s daughter is in a mini Wonder Woman costume so I’d go ahead and go darker for that.  I like the liquid eye liner.  It’s a little harder to apply on a squirmy little girl, but you can do a thinner line and it’s more dramatic.

Here are Faith’s eyes when she was six (I hadn’t added her lipstick yet.  That went on just before she hit the stage to avoid having it smeared all over her costume)

You have to admit that the eye liner and mascara make her eyes look huge. 

This year, for the first time, Faith is wearing foundation.  It’s Reagan’s, borrowed without her permission. Hopefully she won’t read this post until Sunday.  My skin is much darker than my girls’ who have their dad’s fair complexion and I didn’t want to buy a whole bottle of foundation for one weekend so I’m pilfering Reagan’s for the occasion.

My biggest excitement for this year’s look though is the hair.  Every other year, we’ve had to change hair along with costumes for different dances which can be a wee bit stressful when you have six minutes between dances.  This year the director did away with all that nonsense and all the big girls have the same hair through the whole recital.  It’s like a gift of time.

I do have to say though that it looks a little better with the ballet costume than the MC Hammer get up.

That costume is just crying out for some big ‘ol bangs and crimped hair don’t you think?

The Edition of Pinterest Post Party In Which I Force My Kids To Help

Okay, I didn’t actually force Reagan to help.  Truth be told, she was supposed to be writing a 10 page paper and was looking for ways to procrastinate.  I am sympathetic to productive procrastination, being somewhat of an expert myself.  As a matter of fact, as I write this on Wednesday night, I should be scrubbing bathrooms in preparation for my mother gets here from Denver. (I try to let her believe that she didn’t raise a slovenly pig by doing crazed cleaning before her arrivals.) I don’t really like to scrub bathrooms though so I am blogging instead.  If I know me at all I probably won’t grab the cleanser until late in the game tomorrow and then curse at myself and promise to never wait until the last minute again.

So Reagan comes by her procrastinating ways naturally and I should have made her go write the paper but I wasn’t really in a baking mood so I told her to pick a Pinterest recipe and have at it.

She chose Glazed Doughnut Muffins from My Baking Addiction.

I was trying to stay out of Reagan’s way while she was making them except to snap the occasional picture.  The mixing process was making me very, very nervous though.

I don’t make muffins with a mixer.  I’ve been taught to mix muffin batter as little as possible or they’ll be tough and flat.  When I checked the recipe instructions later I found that the blogger really doesn’t recommend mixing the way Reagan did which was a lot.

On a higher speed than I was comfortable with. 

With batter occasionally flinging in all directions.

But I did not say anything so yay for me keeping my yap shut for once!

The recipe said it makes a dozen so we filled the first muffin tin very full.

There was still enough batter left to fill four cups of my other tin.

Baking weirdness:  The muffins baked in the tin above took longer to cook and did not get as brown as the ones I cooked in a dark coated tin.  See?

Dark pan on the left, light pan on the right.  I’ll let you decide which one looks better to you, but the pan does affect the outcome of muffins/cupcakes.

After they had cooled just a teeny bit, they got dunked in a glaze.  The recipe says to dunk the tops, and I thought that was fine but the kids said they wished the whole muffin had been dunked.

Again, dark on the left and light on the right - glazed.  I think the funny turned up edges may be a product of over mixing, but I kind of like the way they look and really like how high these muffins rose.  They look fabulous.

They tasted fabulous too.  I wouldn’t say they were exactly like doughnuts, but definitely reminiscent of a glazed cake doughnut for sure.  Enough that I ate one and a half.  Then another for breakfast (a truly wonderful pairing with coffee, I must say.)

So we all wholeheartedly endorse the Glazed Doughnut Muffin and I would be willing to bet you have the ingredients on hand so go! Make the muffins!  And do not fear over mixing!

If you have a Pinterest pin you’ve tried and would like to share the results, just grab the code for this badge: <p><a href=”http://www.ourfrontdoor.us”><img src=”http://www.ourfrontdoor.us/storage/pinterestpostparty.jpg” alt=”” /></a></p> 

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