Double Orange Delight

I've started a new hobby. I am becoming quite the baker. I thought about going for butcher or candle-stick maker, but baker seems to be a little more rewarding. Butching is just too messy and candles are soooo 1700's. I like baking because I can eat what I make. Anything that ends with me eating is favorable to my liking. So I've been making chocolate chip cookie dough because Pam and I like to party when Gabriel goes to bed. We sit up and watch TV and eat cookie dough. Tonight Pam had class though. I thought I would surprise her by making cookies she could eat without feeling too bad (technically you're not supposed to eat raw eggs when you are pregnant). This is the story of my night without Pam.

First Gabriel and I played fetch. Yes, fetch. He got a can of tennis balls for Christmas and he loves them. It is a great game for him to collect the balls and stack them in the can one at a time. He also gets a kick pretending to drink out of the can and having the balls hit him in the face. No kidding, this kid is like a little comedian. Anyway, I would fling the balls one by one out of the can to all parts of the room. He would then collect them and bring them back to the can. As the ball went in the can I would make a funny noise and he would just laugh and laugh. It got to the point where he would delay letting the ball go into the can because he was trying to trick daddy into making a false noise. Sly child.

After awhile of fetch Gabriel took a bath. This was pretty routine.

When the bath was over we did dishes. Usually Gabriel is a pain in the butt when doing dishes. We let him "help" with house chores whenever possible. He vacuums, wipes off the coffee table, and sweeps the floor. He also likes doing dishes. This isn't so much washing as splashing and putting bubbles all over the face. Tonight was a little different though. Usually he stands on the clean dishes side and takes the clean dishes and tosses them back into the dish water. Tonight he stood on the dirty dish side and kept tossing dishes into the water, smiling up at me every time it splashed to see if I was okay with it. I didn't have to grab dishes almost the whole time. He would put them in as fast as I could wash them and put them in the other side. It was a lot of fun.

After dishes it was time to pick up the living room. We played "magic carpet" (all names of these games are made up by me, Gabriel is not yet making up names for things. Well, at least not names like "magic carpet"). Gabriel thinks it is a big game when we fold any blankets that we might use in the living room. Anyway, he sat on one end of the blanket tonight and I pulled him all over the apartment. I would wrap him up in it and then roll him right out of it. He loved the whole thing. He didn't make such a mess today with his toys so picking them up was a breeze.

By then it was almost time for bed so we read the story of Joshua and the Battle of Jericho in the Jesus Story Time Bible (HIGHLY recommended for all parents as it is extremely theologically sound and draws out some of the most major themes in the story of God and his creation). I put him in bed and he rolled over with Mr. Bear and Mr. Kitty (very original I know) and he fell asleep just as good as gold.

Then, with the house clean I thought I would try to boost my baking rep from apprentice baker to journeyman baker. I looked through Pam's recipe book to try to find a concoction that didn't take any ingredients that we didn't have. Unfortunately it was slim pickins as we are out of chocolate chips and any of the extra stuff. I did find a recipe on the Lemon cookies though. They involve grating a lemon peel and using lemon juice, neither of which we have. BUT...we do have oranges. I substituted orange peel and squeezed the juice right out of an orange. They are "Double Orange Delight" and they are GREAT! I am taking credit for the new and improved recipe. I was just so resourceful. I was like a ninja, using that which was around me and readily available to create an advantage for myself. Yes folks, I am now a journeyman baker. Maybe if I practice really hard and try my best I can become an expert baker.