PAPA DAY!

You may be wondering why you're hearing from me after a particularly long absence. The reason is that we are stuck in the house today! Not only is it going to be about 95 degrees or so, but Stenni was playing with her cousins yesterday and fell, hurting her leg pretty badly. According to the x-rays, nothing's broken, but she still won't walk on it and we're waiting on a call-back from the doctor. So, aside from a possible trip to target (where i can push Stenni around in the cart and she won't have to walk)  to pick up some cat litter and vacation supplies and use their free air conditioning and an i'm-hoping-not-but-it-could-happen additional trip to the doctor, we will probably spend the entire day lazing around until the hubs gets home.
I wanted to tell everyone about what we did for father's day, because it was pretty awesome. We had a scavenger hunt, and every clue led to a handmade gift from Stenni. Plus, papa had to use his stenni-knowledge to find the next clue (as in, "who is my favorite teatime playmate? find him, because he has something for you!" then he had the #1 papa glitter medal around his neck and an envelope with with the next clue). we hid other stuff in their favorite stenni/papa book, on top of the fan, and out in the garden. then stenni gave her papa his new cactus/succulent garden (she picked out all the plants in the home depot the other day) and his toddler-sized card, which was covered in tons and tons of glitter, cuz my baby girl loves herself some glitter. then for dinner we all made awesome mall-style pretzels together and watched baseball. it was a perfect all-American papa day and we were so glad to spend it together since the hubs has been working ALL THE TIME to make a few extra bucks for vacation.
anyway, here's the pretzel recipe, adapted from a recipe i found on allrecipes.com, naturally. i'm terrible at rolling them out, but besides that they were perfect. we made about 75% salted and 25% cinnamon sugar (for eating with beer and cider, respectively), but next time we may try new toppings like garlic and whatnot. the recipe says it makes 12, but it can really make as many as you want if you make them smaller, or a few really big pretzels. you can even get creative and make letters or shapes if you're so inclined. we might do something like that for stenni's 2nd birthday in fact. 

mall pretzels

Ingredients

• 1 package active dry yeast (or I used about a scant tablespoon)
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 1/8 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups warm water
• 2 tablespoons baking soda
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons coarse kosher salt, cinnamon sugar or other topping

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast, brown sugar and salt in 1 1/2 cups warm water. Stir in flour, and knead dough on a floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes (or, knead in bowl of electric mixer for 10 minutes). Place in a greased bowl, and turn to coat the surface. Cover, and let rise for one hour.
2. Combine 2 cups warm water and baking soda in an 8 inch square pan. Line 6 baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. After dough has risen, cut into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a 3 foot rope, pencil thin or thinner. Twist into a pretzel shape, and dip into the baking soda solution. Place onto parchment covered baking sheets, and let rise about 20 minutes.
4. Preheat an oven to 450 degrees.
5. Brush with melted butter, and sprinkle with toppings of choice. Bake in the preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden brown. 
6. Cool for a minute or two (or as long as you can stand. i chose not at all!) before serving.

then, eat with mustard and beer. or cider. or whatever you want. i won't judge. 

i'm off to do a little state fair research to figure out what i'll be entering this year. holding my breath for a 1st or 2nd place this time!