Special Chair, Lookout Farms, and Mamon Fail

On the plate:  Mamon...fail

Soundtrack to cook to:  Sleepless in Seattle Soundtrack - an oldie but a goody!  I love all of the easy listening, yet romantic songs on this soundtrack.  A lovely way to end the night, relax, and bake some comfort food. :)

Ever since Joseph's been home this month, it's been our combined mission to work together on transitioning Alexander from baby things to toddler things.  We want to try to do it sooner rather than later so that Alexander won't associate losing his baby things with the new baby coming.  The next thing on our list was to transition Alexander from his high chair to a booster seat at the table.   

As you can see, he took to it right away!  He was SO super excited
to be able to sit in his "special big boy chair."  (He also felt the need
to wear his Shrek {Princess Fiona, until we cut off the crown part} ears
to this momentous occasion.)

"Cheeeeese!"  (He loves saying that for the camera now.)

This is Alexander being introduced to his "special big boy"

chair.  It was fun to capture this moment. :)

On the weekends, we've been trying to get out as much as possible and do quick morning trips (since Alexander needs to eat lunch around 12-12:30 and sleep by 1 p.m.).  It's been so nice to be able to take Joseph to these places, rather than just telling him how much fun Alexander and I had at the place.  

In the summer, I absolutely love going to "pick your own" fruit places and visiting farmer's markets.  I love the fresh produce, because they're normally much better than what I can find at the store.  For our next little family trip, we went to Lookout Farm in Natick, MA.    

Alexander posing by the beautiful grapevines in the entrance.

It was a gloomy day with a slight chill in the air, but it was very
comfortable and was certainly better than sweating while picking fruit.
The farm is absolutely huge (or at least bigger than anything I've seen
in a while - I'm sure my friends in Indiana would chuckle at its size).

Alexander and Joseph aboard the train that took
us to the orchards to pick fruit!  We picked nectarines,
yellow plums, and pristine apples.  They were all absolutely delicious!

The train ride to the orchards.

Alexander and Joseph picking yellow plums.  We had to find trees
that had low lying fruit so that Alexander could pick the fruit off
of the trees himself.

Joseph helping Alexander to pick the fruit...

...and put it in the bag. :)  He had a lot of fun with this.

Nectarines

Little man is busy picking nectarines.  He became quite the pro at this.

Joseph had to help him pick some nectarines as well.

Me and Alexander picking yellow plums - they turned out to be
my favorite!  They were tiny, but absolutely juicy and delicious.

After picking plums and nectarines, we hopped back
on the train and went to pick some pristine apples.
It was so nice because there wasn't anybody else
in the apple orchards at this time in the day.  It was
so nice to have it just be us, alone in the orchards,
to pick as many apples as we pleased. 

There were so many apples that we didn't have to hunt
for apples for Alexander to pick.  

We started picking apples and were filling up the bag
so easily that we thought to ourselves that maybe
we should try one first before we go crazy with picking.

My boys picking, but mostly eating, apples.

The gorgeous pristine apples.

Alexander enjoyed taking little bites off of
Joseph's apple.  He approved! :)

This was just one of the trees.  They were absolutely
filled with apples.

Joseph picked Alexander up to pick an apple.
As soon as Alexander picked the apple, he
immediately put it to his lips and took a bite!
HA!  He really took us by surprise, because
we were about ready to ask him to put it in the bag,
but it was too late.  He had already taken two bites! 

I love Joseph's smirk in this picture, and
Alexander's as well.  I think Alexander
realized that he was being slightly naughty.

Alexander was quite pleased with himself.

My boys picking apples. :)

Alexander dove back into the apple and was
silent until he finished it. 

See what I mean?

He was still very proud of himself - and he thought
he was funny as well.

I love this picture because you can see the
juice dripping down his chin and onto his shirt.

It was an awesome family morning trip to Lookout Farm.  There are animals and rides for kids to play on as well, but we had brunch reservations and had to get going.  I can't wait to go back so that we can pick different types of fruits, see the animals, and have Alex ride the rides.

After visiting my aunts, I started craving some Filipino baked goods.  One of my favorite baked goods is called mamon (pronounced "mah-moan"), which is a sweet sponge cake.  It's typically a light and fluffy cake (somewhat similar to angel food cake) and is topped with sugar and shredded cheese (don't ask me why, but it's actually pretty good).
My mother's cousin sent me mamon tins to bake mamon in, as well as a recipe for special mamon.  Below is the recipe that I followed:
Ingredients:

• 8 egg yolks (Yes, this is where I about had a heart attack, but was committed to making these)
• 8 egg whites (separate yolks from whites in different bowls)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 3/4 cup sifted cake flour
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1/3 tsp orange extract
• 1/4 tsp lemon extract
• 1 tsp cream of tartar
• 3/4 cup sugar

1.  Beat in a mixer at high speed until thick:  8 egg yolks (at room temp - very important), 1/2 cup sugar, and 1/3 cup water.

2.  When you cannot feel the sugar granules from the mixture anymore, at low speed- add 1 tbsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 3/4 cup sifted cake flour, 1/3 cup melted butter (cooled), 1/4 tsp orange extract, and 1/4 tsp lemon extract.

3.  In a separate bowl, beat 8 egg whites (must be room temp) with 1 tsp of cream of tartar at high speed.  Gradually add 3/4 cup sugar and beat until stiff (about 4 minutes).

4.  Fold the yolk mixture into the whites.

5.  Grease 14 big mamon molds (I had 12 and it worked out perfectly - you could also use a cupcake pan).

6.  Pour the mamon mixture into the greased molds, 3/4 full.  Thus, the resulting mamon will be high and soft.

7.  Bake mamon at 350 degrees F for 12-15 minutes.

*Optional:  When done, brush the mamon with softened butter and roll in a plate of sugar.  You can also add grated cheddar cheese.

So this is how I started - I was very excited to make this and was
proud that I was actually working with room temperature eggs.
Whenever I've tried to make a meringue, it's been unsuccessful
because I haven't been patient enough to work with room temp eggs.

I followed steps 1 and 2 perfectly.  It looked great!

Until....I decided to be lazy and not use cake flour.  I used whole
wheat flour, and as soon as I poured in the whole what flour, the entire
yolk mixture completely seized up.  Hence the title "Mamon fail."
Since this was my first time making it, I decided to proceed
and see this recipe until its very end.

Woo hoo!  My egg whites formed beautiful peaks.  I was quite proud of this.
Once I poured the yolk mixture into the whites mixture, I ran into
some difficulties.  Since the yolk mixture was so thick, it was
difficult to fold it into the whites mixture.  That's also where I think
I lost some of the fluffiness to the batter.

The beautiful mamon tins with the not so great mamon batter.

Woo hoo!!  The mamon actually baked well and looked pretty!
The taste of the mamon was actually delicious.  My only complaint
about this mamon (and why I considered it a flop) was because it
was not a sponge cake, but merely a deliciously flavored cupcake.
It was supposed to be light, airy, and fluffy.  Instead, it had more of the
consistency of a cupcake.  It didn't taste bad, don't get me wrong,
but I wouldn't have given it the title of mamon.  I'd just call it cake. :)

Oh well, we can't win 'em every time, right?  It was still a lot of fun spending a lovely morning picking fruit together as a little family.  I can't wait to take our two boys to pick fruit next summer! :)  Until next time...

Love and kisses,

Nikki