Peanut Butter Nanaimo Bars

Saturday at the farmers' market, I spied Nanaimo bars and almost gave in to the temptation to buy one even for the outrageous price of $2 each.  Just moments later, Steve purchased a canning book at a yard sale and a single handwritten sheet came fluttering out with a recipe for peanut butter Nanaimo bars.  He made them for Mother's Day and they were everything we hoped they might be.

(Steve said to note that the recipe states that this is the University of British Columbia's peanut butter Nanaimo bar recipe, which means that it's been studied by the Institute for the Study of Nanaimo Bars, seeing as Nanaimo is IN BC.)

Peanut Butter Nanaimo Bars

Base

• 1/2 C | 120 g butter
• 1/4 C | 55 g sugar
• 5 T unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 3/4 C graham cracker crumbs
• 1 C fine coconut
• 1/2 C finely chopped peanuts

Filling

• 6 T | 100 g peanut butter
• 2 T | 30 g butter
• 3 T | 45 g milk
• 2 T vanilla custard powder
• 2 C | 260 g icing sugar

Topping

• 4 1-oz squares semisweet chocolate
• 2 T | 30 g butter

For Base: Mix together butter, sugar and cocoa powder in top of double boiler (or pan that you watch very carefully).  Add egg and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens.  Remove from heat.  Stir in graham cracker crumbs, coconut and nuts.  Press firmly into 9" square pan.

For Filling: Cream peanut butter, butter, milk, custard powder and icing sugar.  Spread over base.

For Topping: Melt chocolate and butter over low heat (or in microwave).  Cool.  When cool, but still runny, spread over filling layer.  

Chill and store in refrigerator.

The First Room Transformation

I was rejoicing earlier this week that The Bairn's room is the first to finally be complete, but then I realized that it's not true. He still needs curtains (although he finally has a roller blind!) and Steve's going to make him some wall-mounted shelves when we have some free time and money (ha ha, that's a joke; we will never have either of those, but Steve will make the shelves one day) AND his dresser really needs to be replaced or refinished, since it came to us free from a relative's cottage shed.  BUT, the room is painted, the electrical outlets and light fixture are replaced and his baby art is hung.  Behold!

BEFORE with creepy rainbow

AFTER with darling child

Four Ways to Be Fabulous

The Bairn's been sort of killing it on the Being Adorable front lately in the following ways:

1. I weaned him this weekend. He took it surprisingly well, considering that nursing was his favorite activity in the universe.  Around Hour 22 of Operation Wean, though, he got really sad and started signing that he wanted to nurse.  It was 5 am and I thought maybe he was hungry, so I asked if he wanted a cracker and he switched to signing that he wanted cookies.  I felt bad for him, so I gave him cookies, which he munched on in my bed, while snuggling with me and occasionally rubbing the cookies through his hair.

2.  He's been loving the outdoors lately.  He especially likes to ride in the wheelbarrow.

3. He wore this suit to church on Sunday.  My brother wore it in 1978 to the wedding of our grandmother and her second husband, The Bairn's namesake.

4. He tells stories.  His favorites include The plunger is yucky (Plun (pause) 'ucky) and A dog licked him with its tongue (Woof woof [tongue sticking out] ton').

The Country Life

I haven't lived in anything resembling the country since I was 5-years-old and lived down a dirt road in Kentucky.  We're not too far out of town (I can be at the mall (why would I want to be?) in 15 minutes on the highway), but we're definitely rural (the post office and garbage collection routes confirm that this is so).  I wasn't sure if I would miss living in town, but I don't.  (Ask me about this again in January.)

Things I like about living in the country:

Animals.  Lots and lots of birds visit the yard to thrill The Bairn.  A pair of eagles live in a tree across the street from us.  There's also a marmot who lives on the shore road and we saw a fox the other day that The Bairn insists was a cat.

We're much closer to the tiny villages I love.  We only have to drive a short way now to stop in at the little stores on farms that sell local products or to pick up homemade maple syrup from strangers who post signs in their yards.

It's really quiet (except for the tractors and school buses and trucks out on the road).

And pretty.  The Bairn and I go out walking on the shore road which takes us past blueberry fields along the bay.  When I drive into town on the old highway (instead of the new highway), we pass farms and ponds (and all kinds of local businesses that cater to pets, including a pet wash and a pet cemetery).

We have so much space.  I suppose we could have gotten a property with this much space in town, but our taxes would be twice as much.

It helps that our part of the country includes one of our very favorite markets in the whole province.

Things I dislike about living in the country:

No sidewalks.

Projects completed since moving into the house:

4 bedrooms painted
Most electrical outlets rewired and light switches replaced
Pine paneling removed and drywall put up
Basement bedroom demolished
Basement door fixed so that small child will not fall down onto hard, cold cement
Weird, useless window drywalled over
Locks changed
Mailbox moved as per mail service directions
Boarded up doors on garage replaced (mostly)
Broken carriage lights replaced
Garden tilled (by kindly neighbor)
Curtains hung in 5 rooms
Exploding furnace serviced
Water turned from red/brown/nasty to mostly clear
Broken toilet flapper replaced
Smelly, smelly washing machine cleaned so that it is now slightly less smelly


Projects remaining:

Too many

How to Get the Dishes Washed With an Active Toddler in the House

The Bairn doesn't usually get screen time (because it will ruin his brain or something; I didn't have time to actually watch the TED talk about it), but I let him watch this video one day and then I realized it was my ticket to 12 minutes of uninterrupted productivity (he likes to watch 3 or 4 times in a row).

 

Pregnancy Reads

I found out I was pregnant on Valentine's Day, but I was pretty sure we were having another baby about a week before that because I felt just like I did in early pregnancy with The Bairn and because (I'm not kidding) I found myself browsing the Ian Rankin novels at the library.  I spent a lot of my first trimester reading and I either hit the jackpot with my reading selections or I'm very easily pleased with books at the moment.  A number of things I read are pretty popular, so you probably already know about them, but here's my take on some books I've enjoyed the last little while.

Ruby Red and Sapphire Blue by Kerstin Gier- These are the first two books in a teen time travel trilogy and I am very eagerly anticipating the third book.  The start of Ruby Red was a bit slow for me and I found the writing a bit clunky (it's in translation), but I forgive the first book any shortcomings for being so well plotted.  The story was obviously considered in its entirety before it was written and its full of mystery and suspense and blooming love.  All very satisfying.  Loved it.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Greene- I already mentioned this contemporary teen novel, which everyone seems to have already read and loved.  The leading man, Augustus, is right up there with Dexter from Sarah Dessen's This Lullaby in my affections.  I read Steve one of Augustus's quotes from the book to show him why I found the character so charming, but Steve wasn't feeling it and just wanted reassurance that I like him better than fictional teenagers.

Swept Off Her Feet by Hester Browne - Chick lit set in a Scottish castle with an antiques appraiser as a protagonist.  This was the best chick lit I've read in ages.  The protagonist didn't bother me by having an overwhelming love of shopping or a darling clumsy way about her or whatever.  It was just a fun, clean, romantic story.

Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin - I browsed into this story of a cake baker in Kigali shortly after the Rwandan genocides.  Some of the blurbs on the back of the book compared it to the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, which I never really enjoyed, but I did like this one.  It had a good voice and an interesting story of an African woman very involved in the lives of her neighbors, but I particularly liked that the genocide was addressed in a serious way without making a dark, heavy book or seeming out of place in a domestic novel.

Standing in Another Man's Grave and The Impossible Dead by Ian Rankin - Ian Rankin's novels are so well crafted, but they're especially enjoyable if you're familiar with Scotland and maybe met your husband at one of the important locations in one of the novels.

Faith by Jennifer Haigh - Fiction about a disgraced priest from the very talented Jennifer Haigh who beautifully writes about her characters' interior lives and family relationships.  This may be my very favorite of the author's work.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn - Is this a mystery or a psychological thriller?  I don't know.  It's not the type of book I usually read but it got so much good press and so many recommendations from friends and family that I read it.  I had the first half all figured out so one of the twists was not unexpected, but I was not really expecting the ending.  This was a really compelling read and it was only when I was completely finished and away from the book for a day that I started thinking, "This book is super creepy."