I am not 45 weeks pregnant

I was just informed by a kind friend that I failed to remove the pregnancy ticker from my blog. And while I don't have flat abs (actually never have,) I am not 45 weeks pregnant.



So in place of my pregnancy ticker I will post a picture of my little angel...

• The reason my clothes don't fit.


• The reason I have dark circles under my eyes.


• The reason I'm starving all the time.


• The reason I've become the hand sanitizer police.


• The reason I can't eat chocolate anymore.


• The reason I don't get anything done.

I hope that my child, looking back on today

Will remember a mother who had time to play;

Because children grow up while you're not looking,

There are years ahead for cleaning and cooking.

So, quiet now cobwebs, dust go to sleep.

I'm nursing my baby, and babies don't keep.



Having a baby makes me realign my priorities. All the things I was so concerned with more than nine months ago are out of my control right now. Lily has grown so much already. I don't want to miss even a minute of it.














Lily Mae Schmidt
May 2, 2009

The best chocolate chip cookies ever

Last year, the New York Times published an article dedicated to chocolate. Several friends said they tried these delicious cookies with great success. I love these cookies.

I will admit that I can be a little precise about my baking. Last time I made them, I even weighed the dough on my postal scale to make sure they were exactly the right size.

I love that the recipe has you take out 2 Tbsp. of flour to get just the right amount. I love that right before baking it tells you to push all the chocolate discs flat to make a more attractive cookie.

Most people would not need to go that far. I just hate to go to all the trouble of making a cookie only to have it turn out bad.

Here are the two things I love most about these cookies: Dark Chocolate and salt. Two ingredients that were meant to go together.

Consider whipping some up for Valentine's Day. But start on Feb. 13 because they are supposed to chill overnight.

Pumpkin Waffles

About 12 years ago I visited San Diego on business. Yes, I used to have gainful employment. I used to get dressed up and go into an office, sometimes I traveled on the company card and stayed in nice hotels. My kids find that whole scenario both strange and hilarious.

When I traveled to San Diego, my sister met me there and we visited this great little restaraunt that she found in Sunset magazine. They served the best pumpkin waffles I have ever had. Since that time, my sister and her husband and I have tried various different recipes, unsuccessfully, trying to replicate the perfect texture and taste of these waffles.

Last week I found myself back in San Diego with my sisters and my mom. My brother-in-law, in his endless search for the perfect recipe, found the name and address of the same restaraunt we visited 12 years ago. We were delighted to find that the pumpkin waffles lived up to the memory and were quite delicious. We were even more delighted to find that they sold a mix so we could make them at home. We eagerly bought several mixes, feeling quite smug that we might at last be about to figure out the recipe.

We stopped at the bathroom on our way out of the restaraunt only to find that the recipe for these most delicious waffles was hanging on the wall. It had been published in the November 2000 issue of Gourmet Magazine. Is that called irony?

Pumpkin Waffles from Cafe 222

We've found these waffles work best when make in a Belfian waffle iron.

2 1/2 cups flour

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 1/4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ginger

1/4 tsp. cloves

4 large eggs

1 cup whole milk

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup pumpkin

6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

• preheat oven to 250 and preheat waffle iron.


• whisk eggs in a large bowl until blended, then whist in mild, buttermilk, pumpkin, and butter until smooth. whisk in dry ingredients just until smooth. whisk in dry ingredients just until smooth.


• brush waffle ifron lightly with oil and spoon batter into waffle iron, spreading quickly. cook according to manufacturer's instructions.


• transfer waffles to rack in oven to keep warm. make more waffles in same manner.