Prison

***Hi folks, sorry for the break in posting. Parker spiked a high fever on Saturday night and we went into major clingy mode until he got better.

Yesterday, I took the first of two groups from my university class to prison. I love taking students to prison because they're reactions are priceless. It's a mixture of fascination combined with fear of the unknown. I think as budding criminologists, this will be a turning point for them - stay in the field or run like hell because if criminology is what you're into, nothing either excites or revolts you like seeing the system in operation first hand.

I really miss that rush of emotions that I used to get when touring prisons as a student. Strangely, prison is normal to me now. I know a lot of the staff and I see my students walking around. They always waive enthusiastically, which makes me feel like my presence there is making a tiny bit of a difference.

I only have a week left I go back down to one job...and being a full-time mom (so I guess my workload is actually increasing!). I'm going to miss prison. The stale smell, the dirty looks of the inmates who are not my students because I look like nothing more on the surface than a young, preppy idealistic girl who dares to bring some brightness into their personal hell. Ah prison, we'll meet again. It might be different women (or men), but eventually I'll find my way to another one because, as a criminologist, I can't resist the allure of those barb-wire fences and guard posts.

Smoothie Recipes Coming Soon...

My assistant and I are diligently making and taste-testing smoothie recipes. The top five will be featured during an all smoothie recipe week.

Stay tuned!

Before There Was Parker...

I did this to my dog. It's possible that no one was more joyous about the news of my pregnancy that sweet Nona.

Parker's Obsession: Furry Costumes

Before Parker was born, I had always heard about kids being afraid of the characters at Disney and at the local mall. I mean, I don't blame them. There's definitely something freaky about an 8 foot tall rabbit if you ask me, so I was totally prepared for Parker to run screaming from the first large furry man-animal that he saw. This was not the case.

I would like to introduce into evidence Exhibit A: Meeting Some Lion Thing at Mule Day.



When we went on our annual trip to Mule Day, a celebration of mules in Calvary, Georgia, Parker spotted this lion from across the way. He dragged us over to Sir Lion and promptly threw himself at him. He buried his face in the dingy lion fun and promptly fell head over heels. After snapping a couple of pictures with the lion, we tried to leave. That did not go so well. If fact, once we pried Parker's little fingers off of the lion (after about 6 minutes), we had to avoid the area for the rest of the day because he went into hysterics every time he saw him.

We thought that perhaps it was because Parker was going through a lion phase (remember the roaring?) and we moved on without giving it a second thought. Fast forward a couple of months to our Disney trip. I present to you exhibit B: Meeting Winnie the Pooh.



Oh dear. I remember the Pooh meet and greet so clearly. It was all I could do to keep Parker from racing straight up to Winnie and jumping into his arms (two year olds don't exactly understand the concept of waiting in line). Once we had our turn, Parker hugged Pooh, closed his eyes and did not move an inch for about 3 minutes. It was probably the sweetest thing I've ever seen. But of course, other children had to see Pooh too so we had to move on.

Finally, we get to exhibit C: Meeting the Easter Bunny.



My in-laws took Parker for the bunny meet and greet and they shared the same story. Rapture upon first meeting, hesitation to leave, but because grandparents are nicer that regular parents, my mother-in-law let him get back in line so that he could sit on the bunny's lap again.

I know that one day I'll have to share the unfortunate truth that he did not, in fact, meet Winnie the Pooh, but simply someone wearing a Pooh costume. And when he realizes that he's been clamoring all of these years to sit on the laps of strangers, well, I know exactly what his reaction will be.

Chewy, Also Known as "The Other Corgi"

When I was about 5 months pregnant, the Irishman and I decided that it would probably be a good idea to get a puppy... I'll pause while you laugh at our poor judgment. In our defense, Nona was two years old and had been our baby since we brought her home. She was accustomed to games of frisbee, long walks in the evenings and going everywhere with us. This human baby was going to be a rude awakening and since we had such a fondness for our little corgi, we decided to get a second corgi puppy to keep her company.

When we got Nona, what the Irishman had really wanted was a blue merle corgi boy. So, this time around, that's what we got. We argued over boy names for a couple of months (picking our son's name was easy, but picking a dog name...not so much.) I had wanted to name him Dutch. I don't know why really, but I liked it. The Irishman was fighting hard for Chewy (as in short for Chewbacca) and in the end, that's what we settled on.

So, Chewy came home and boy was he beautiful.



He had the lightest blue eyes and that gorgeous coat. He was definitely a looker. He was also very tiny.



In the beginning, we worried about Nona pushing him around.



She was known for putting everyone else in their places and we knew that this puppy would break all of her house rules.

As he started getting older, we realized that he was also a classic second child. Where Nona was serious and disciplined, Chewy was footloose and carefree. He was all about play...and antagonizing Nona. He would run in and out of her crate, steal her toys and pounce on her without provocation...in other words, typical brother behavior.

I must say that his beautiful appearance is not befitting of his favorite past time - getting muddy by rolling around in the dirt. Yes, despite his delicate appearance, he's 100% male. I think of him as a big, dumb dog, but it's not because he isn't intelligent. It's simply because he kind of flops around like a big ball of fur. He's very sweet and let's Parker climb all over him, but he's also loud and clumsy.

Yup, we have a big, dumb, lovable dog...



and now that they're 3 and 5, Chewy and Nona are quite the bonded pair. They love on each other, fight with each other, but most importantly, they wear each other out.



Amen to that.

Easter, Take 1

You may not have know this, but Parker is a mixed child. Yup, it's true. He has an Irish Catholic father and a Greek Orthodox mother. What that means for most of the year is...absolutely nothing, but for Easter, well, he gets two of them. So, this past week was Easter festivities, take 1.

Parker's school had an Easter egg hunt on Friday (or as he calls it, a "bunny hunt"). Here's Parker and his self-decorated bag.



After posing for a single picture, he was off and fighting the other kids for some eggs.



He did pretty well for himself, so I asked him to share his eggs with one of his best buddies...whose mother wasn't there to point out all of the eggs.



Fast forward to yesterday, Parker first got his Easter Egg basket from his grandparents...



then had his very own Easter egg hunt in his Nana's backyard. Even though he wasn't racing anyone for eggs, he still worked up some enthusiasm.

"I see an egg! I see an egg!"



Then he decided that baskets are for wimps.



Then he realized that even strong, strapping toddlers still can only carry a limited number of eggs, so he went back for the basket.



Then he decided that his mother was getting decidedly annoying with the camera.



Then we had dinner. The end.

Next week, an Orthodox Easter complete with dyeing red eggs and slaughtering lambs.

Ok, Ok, I'm totally just kidding about the red eggs.

Cupcake Bites

***I just found out that the origins of the cake ball/cupcake bites is www.bakerella.com. I was probably better off never knowing that her site existed. Wowsa, she's amazing!

As a general rule, I don't make elaborate desserts. I don't see the need for taking the time to make a 15 layer cake when you can get about the same taste making a 2 layer cake (and with hours less work). Sometimes, however, I feel like stepping it up and making something that looks over the top. That's how I came to try these cupcake bites and let me just tell you, they didn't disappoint. By the way, did you notice how I said, "that looks over the top?" That's because these cupcake bites are easy!

They have a couple of steps and some down time in between those steps, so I generally make them on a weekend when I can run errands or fold laundry in between steps. Here's what you'll need:

- 1 box of your favorite cake mix (and whatever else you need to make it like eggs and oil)
- 1 container of your favorite frosting
- 2 packages meltable chocolate
- 2 or 3 candy molds
- 1 package candy melts (or more if you want to make multiple color combinations)
- Sprinkles
- M&Ms

This first picture is actually not the beginning of the process. To get here, pick your favorite box cake mix (I used devils food cake) and bake it according to the box directions. Let the cake cool completely and crumble it up in the pan. (Sometimes, I bake the cake the night before and throw it in the fridge). Then, buy your favorite flavor frosting (I used cream cheese) and incorporate the frosting into the cake crumbles with your hands until the cake is moist and the frosting is completely incorporated. When that's done, it will look like this, which looks like of gross in reality, but tastes like heaven. Plus, it won't look like this for long.



Now, take a tablespoon and scoop out some cake. You're going to roll it into a ball and put it onto a cookie sheet. **Note: the size of your cake balls is going to be determined by which candy molds you buy for the next step. You want the ball to just fit into the candy mold, so have the mold nearby in order to determine the perfect size.



You want them all to be roughly uniform in size.



Now, stick the entire tray of cake balls in the freezer for 30 minutes or so. After 30 minutes, you can start getting your assembly line ready for the next step in the process. For this step, you need to buy two or three candy molds from the store. I got these Wilton's molds from Michaels.



This is what the mold looks like.



Now, we're going to melt some chocolate. These chocolate wafer's are made by Wilton's and I got them from Michael's also.



Put your wafers in a bowl and microwave them in 30 second intervals (stirring in between each 30 second period) until the chocolate is completely smooth.



Now, fill your mold up halfway with chocolate.



I would do these one at a time until you figure our exactly how much chocolate you need. When you add your cake ball in (these should have just come out of the freezer) the chocolate should just come up around edges when you press down gently. If it comes spilling over the edges, you have too much chocolate.



Once you've filled a whole tray, pop it back into the freezer for 5-10 minutes to help firm the chocolate. Once you take it out, just pop out the chocolate and it should look like this. ***Pardon the fuzzy picture or two, but I was trying to move fast since I made about 80 of these cupcakes. I know you won't hold it against me.



Ok, I hope you're still with me! Now for the final step in the process. I bought these vanilla flavored candy melts (still Wilton's and still from Michael's) in pink and yellow. You can find them in a dozen different colors.



Put them in a microwave-safe dish and heat for 30 second intervals until it's completely melted (still stirring in between rounds).



Now, we're going to dip the chocolate cake balls into the melted candy and we're trying to cover the exposed cake without overlapping our chocolate cup if at all possible.



Once you've done that, give it a little shake to get rid of the excess.



I immediately added some sprinkles and an M&Ms on top and once the top gets firm (about 5-10 minutes), they're ready to serve!



Not only are these little cupcake bites adorable, but they're also delicious. The cake inside is moist and the chocolate adds a nice firmness of texture. Plus, I love that they're bite-sized. That's not to say that I didn't eat six of these over the course of the day (I mean, I didn't want to waste the failures), but these would be great for office parties, kid's birthdays or just to make because it's fun. Personally, I'm looking forward to using red velvet cake and dipping it in green candy melts for Christmas. The possibilities are endless. Oh, and you'll look like a total baking rock star in the process.