Happy Father’s Day everyone!

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Father's day, postaday2016

Happy Father’s Day, not only to my very handsome husband, but to all of my family and friends. Today we are going to celebrate what a wonderful father my husband is by making him fresh fettuccine with filet mignon and ribeye steaks, maybe a nice salad,  all of this hopefully delicious food complimented with a ton of hugs and kisses.

The dogs, Jack, Lulu and Stanley, figure prominently in all of our celebrations, they are our babies just like the kids. As the day progresses, most of the activity will be in the kitchen and that’s where everyone will congregate, the kids and the dogs, curious as to what all of the aromas are leading up to and when it will be ready to eat.

Our five babies will be making my husband’s day today as they always do on any given day. I hope my husband will see how much he is appreciated, that is what Father’s Day is all about, a day to show your loved one how much they matter.

Happy Father’s Day everyone!

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Father's day, postaday2015

   

My husband has been busy in the kitchen this Father’s Day, actually he has always been as busy in the kitchen as I over the years, he loves to cook and he does it very well. He knows how easily I tire so this morning he made his own Father’s Day feast while I was sleeping.

They should have a Husband’s Day holiday as well, I suppose that our wedding anniversary covers that territory, I have to remember to give him an extra something for this year’s 25th.

Happy Father’s Day to my husband, the father of our two wonderful children.

    

  

Happy Father’s Day everyone!

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Father's day, postaday2014, presents

What is a Father’s Day celebration without dessert? While I was working on the Vietnamese spring rolls yesterday, I got the Paris-Brest pastry dessert, one of my husband’s favorites, ready in stages. Cream puff pastry dough is pretty easy to work with and you can make it in advance so that you can make your dessert on your own timetable.

So in between the spring roll filling being made; I made the cream puffs and the big round ring that defines the Paris-Brest; all that was left to make to finish the dessert was to make the vanilla pastry cream, the whipped cream and folding the ground up candied almonds into the vanilla pastry cream and pipe these into the puffs and into the ring.

So even though I did all of the work yesterday; I made so many Vietnamese spring rolls that we have been eating them today and the dessert might last until tomorrow and the emphasis on the might.

I think that my husband had a nice Father’s Day; the children gave him cards and I got him one as well. In terms of presents; my husband doesn’t ask for anything, he is always more than happy with his cards, he appreciates the time that they take to pick out just the right one.

I hope that all of my WordPress friends enjoyed their Father’s Day. 😀

Gearing up for Father’s Day

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dinner, Father's day, postaday2014, Vietnamese spring roll

I can safely write about what the children and I were doing today together in preparation for Father’s Day because my husband specifically asked for his menu and given all of our traveling, today was the only day that I had to make his special Father’s Day treat. His treat for his special day are Vietnamese spring rolls. I have written about making these before, it essentially takes a few hours; making the filling, wrapping them into rolls and then frying them, but they are so tasty that it is definitely worth all of the work. I even had some help from our son; he was a tremendous help in wrapping the filling into rolls, he loves them even more than my husband does or his sister; I think that I am on par with him on the Vietnamese spring roll love. My husband was very happy eating them; I made sure to get enough mint and lettuce since the last time I had been too stingy in the purchasing department and we were short with the accoutrements. Not this time!

Happy Father’s Day to all

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celebration, Father's day, missing a parent, postaday2013

Happy Father’s Day to everyone. We are celebrating Father’s Day with a Korean barbecue at home. We are very lucky to have a few Asian markets that carry Korean products and their cuts of meat so that we can have what is called Bulgogi, thinly sliced cuts of beef marinated and grilled on the barbecue. My hubby loves it and so do we, it’s also especially fun to eat, you wrap the beef in lettuce and dip it into an Asian dipping sauce. It is yummy. My hubby loves opening presents so that is going to be fun and we didn’t forget his cards and cards are just as important as presents. I hope that he really enjoys his Father’s Day, he deserves a wonderful day.

I miss my own father, it has been ten years since he passed and it gets easier but I always miss him and he is never gone from my heart or my mind. Thank goodness for memories and pictures, I keep him alive with those. It still hits me every now and then, the pain but it isn’t as acute, more dull and achy and deep.

I still love celebrating with and for my hubby, I send all the celebratory feelings up into the cosmos where my father’s essence is swirling around, he is part of the energy that surrounds us all and that makes me feel better.

Early Father’s day present

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cream puffs, Father's day, pastry cream, postaday2012, presents

Today I spent the whole day in the kitchen preparing a special Father’s day present for my hubby. My way of saying thank you for being the father of our children, a bond that ties us together in so many ways, so I feel that a special present made with my two little hands is the least that I can do to mark the day. I made it today because my creation is an all day affair in the kitchen and my hubby mentioned that tomorrow would be an excellent movie day. So this special present, my hubby named it the Papa Nichols Gateau; the gateau/cake, as designed by my hubby, is a combination of the Paris-Brest and the Sainte Honore, two scrumptious pastries that have always been used to celebrate special occasions. Basically, they are a festival of cream puff pastry dough, vanilla pastry cream, whipped cream, puff pastry dough, praline pastry cream and an Italian meringue pastry cream. I felt like a mad scientist pastry chef scalding milk, scraping vanilla seeds from its pod, tempering egg yolks, caramelizing simple syrup, folding butter into flour, layer upon layer. Doing all this in a sequence of steps until everything is ready at the same time and then the assemblage commences. The two pictures are the end result of hours of work, cooking, baking and filling. The only reason why the cake is so challenging is the fact that I’m making a “professional” level pastry at home. I have a professional kitchen but not all the baking accessories specific to making a Saint Honore easily and efficiently, I also don’t have the back up of all the tools so everything needs to be washed so that I can use it again immediately to proceed to the next step. The work involved is something that I don’t mind whatsoever, I only get huge stress because I don’t have the self-confidence that it will turn out successfully and look pretty. It’s only when it is all said and done, that I can exhale and relax. Like I said in my previous post, I’m my own worst critic and task master.