Lucky

Saturday morning, I tried the trick of warming vanilla extract in the oven to give our condo a welcoming scent for visiting house hunters. It's two tablespoons of vanilla extract in a mug, warmed in the oven at 300 degrees for 30-60 minutes. The results were so-so, in my opinion.

Sunday morning, I came to my senses and perfumed the house with something much more inviting.

Classic blueberry muffins
From Cook's Illustrated

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 large egg
1 cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 1/4 cups sour cream
1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries, preferably wild

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray standard muffin tin with nonstick vegetable cooking spray.

Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl until combined. Whisk egg in second medium bowl until well-combined and light-colored, about 20 seconds. Add sugar and whisk vigorously until thick and homogenous, about 30 seconds; add melted butter in 2 or 3 steps, whisking to combine after each addition. Add sour cream in 2 steps, whisking just to combine.

Add frozen berries to dry ingredients and gently toss to combine. Add sour cream mixture and fold with rubber spatula until batter comes together and berries are evenly distributed, 25 to 30 seconds (small spots of flour may remain and batter will be thick). Do not overmix.

Use ice cream scoop or large spoon to drop batter into greased muffin tin. Bake until light golden brown and toothpick or skewer inserted into center of muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating pan from front to back halfway through baking time. Invert muffins onto wire rack, stand muffins upright, and cool 5 minutes.

In the afternoon, we drove north with our sights set on a visit to the Chicago Botanic Garden. Jossie fell asleep as we neared the garden, so we traveled farther north instead. We ended up in Lake Bluff, a sleepy (and wealthy) village along the shores of Lake Michigan.  Jack's first school friend - Charlie - and his family had moved to Lake Bluff in the past few months, and I regretted not having their contact information to reach out to them for a last-minute visit.

Jeremy and I love the cafe Wisma, which also has a location nearby his office downtown, so we stopped in for a cup of coffee. If you're ever there, try the butternut squash soup - not a touch of dairy in it but yet so heavenly and creamy.

So - lo and behold - as Jeremy and I are oogling the prepared food and wine selection, Jack looks out the window and nonchalantly says, "Hey...there's Charlie." I wave frantically at Charlie's mom to get her attention and they bound into the little shop. Lots of big reuniting ensues with hugs and laughter. Jossie and Charlie's little brother, both 2, escape us and start making mischief, running their chubby hands against the hanging wine glasses; the glasses twinkle like wind chimes.

Charlie's mom invites us back to their house so the kids can play. We head out together. The kids wreak havoc while the parents drink wine; the waning afternoon sun spills through the windows as we talk.

A writer I admire talks about the "daily surprise." I like the idea of that - opening yourself up to an element of surprise each day. It's liberating, really.

And this was truly ours - our surprising luck in running into dear friends. No telling news yet on any pending sales of our blueberry-scented condo, but if all of our luck had to be expended on this happy reunion and the accompanying good memories this St. Patrick's Day, I'll take it.

The best cinnamon streusel muffin

Sunday morning - we have a new bag of strong French roast coffee beans and I tried a new muffin recipe that Maria and Jack had found. These are cake-like muffins - perfection!

Cinnamon buttermilk muffins
Ever-so-slightly adapted from Bakingblonde's Weblog; original recipe from The Williams-Sonoma Collection: Muffins

7 T. unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Struesel topping
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp  ground cinnamon
1 T.  butter, melted
2 T. flour

Preheat an oven to 350°F. Grease 9 standard muffin cups with butter or butter-flavored nonstick cooking spray; fill the unused cups one-third full with water to prevent warping.

To make the muffins, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, combine the butter and sugar and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat well until pale and smooth.
In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. Add to the butter mixture in 2 additions, alternating with the buttermilk and vanilla. Stir just until evenly moistened. The batter will be slightly lumpy.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each three-fourths full.

To make the topping, in a small bowl, mix the brown sugar, cinnamon and melted butter and thoroughly blend together. Add in flour. Gently sprinkle topping evenly over batter in prepared muffin tin. Gently press down topping slightly.

Bake until the muffins are golden, dry and springy to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Unmold the muffins and let stand until cool enough to handle.

The best lemon poppyseed muffin

Jack stated the other day, "Boys like fire stations; girls like princesses; and parents like computers."

And so I thought it might be a good idea to take a break from the laptop and iPad for a few days while at home. Jossie is teething too, and it ain't pretty. I spend much of my evenings holding her, nursing her and trying to comfort my little brown-eyed baby. This often extends through the night, and I've been dragging myself to work this week.

My family has been in great need of sunny breakfasts after our rough nights. I always was mystified by lemon poppy seed muffins, making them from a mix rather than from scratch. This recipe changed all that:

Lemon poppy seed muffins
From Fresh Every Day: More Great Recipes from Foster's Market

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup poppy seeds (can be found in the bulk section of the grocery store)
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
8 T. unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
grated zest and juice from 2 lemons
1 t. pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 375. Prepare a 12-muffin tin by spraying with cooking spray.

Sift the flour, poppy seeds, baking soda, baking powder and salt together.

In a separate large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer on high speed until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl and mixing well after each addition.

Combine the buttermilk, lemon zest and juice and vanilla. Add to the egg mixture, alternating the flour mixture and stir just until no flour is visible. Do not overmix.

Scoop the batter in the muffin cups using an ice cream scoop. Bake 20 to 25 minutes and enjoy!

These muffins hold up extremely well, stored in an airtight container on the counter. On day 2 or 3, slice the muffin in half and toast in the toaster oven. It's heavenly!

Jack had his preschool's mascot "Spot" home for the weekend. We had a journal to record their adventures and were asked to take pictures. Here is my favorite:

I was about to wish you a happy weekend but it's only Wednesday. Soldier on, gentle readers.