Kringle

Yes, it is funny that this is the post just following my "lose weight" post, but I promise I haven't made this since Christmas. Kringle, or kringla as it's called in Iceland is a Scandinavian dessert said to have been greatly influenced by Austrian bakers who "filled in" during worker strikes in Sweden. I don't doubt it, Austrians are some of the world's best bakers, pastry-makers, and confection makers, in my opinion. In Sweden you always make kringle in the shape of a pretzel (the symbol for bakery), but my ancestry is Danish and my husband's Icelandic, to say nothing of the fact that we are rogue Americans who do whatever works for us. I think the traditional versions take forever to make, but anyone can make this recipe, and it produces a flaky and impressive filled pastry. The key is to chill the dough because it's almost like a batter, not a dough, at room temperature. Even after it has been chilled, the dough is very sticky and you have to work quickly so you don't warm it up too much. My fool-proof method for this is to flour a piece of foil-paper and roll it out on that -- no stick and easy clean up.

Pastry Ingredients:
2 C flour
2 sticks butter (room temp)
1 (8-oz) tub of sour cream
1/2 cup to 3/4 cup jam or preserve for filling
1 egg white
1 egg yolk beaten w/1 tsp almond extract or water

Almond Buttercream Frosting Ingredients
2 TBS softened butter
2 TBS softened cream cheese
1 cup or so powdered sugar
1/2 tsp almond extract
milk as needed

Directions:
1. Mix flour and butter as for pie crust (criss-cross with 2 butter knives or beat on slow with handmixer.
2. Add sour cream; form into ball. It will be very wet. Dust with flour and place in plastic bag.
3. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.
4. Roll on floured foil into a large rectangle or if you don't have a large cookie sheet, you can divide this into three rectangles.
5. Brush with egg white and visualize the rectangle as 3 equal parts -- spread preserve down middle avoiding the top and bottom edge by an inch.
6. Fold the two outer sides in one on top of the other. Pinch ends and press in center fold. Transfer to cookie sheet.
7. Brush top with egg yolk mixture.
8. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 350 for 40 minutes or golden brown.
9. Beat all buttercream frosting ingredients together to make a thick frosting.
10. Cool (you can have it still slightly warm -- just not hot) and frost with butter cream icing; slice for serving.

use it or lose it

It's no secret that I've gained 30 lbs since I got married – you've seen the photographs. My appearance is sort of like my scarlet letter. You can see how healthfully (or not) I'm living. Still, this is the kind of thing you wonder about posting about the day after you make your blog open to the public. In the interest of full disclosure, which I know none of you were looking for, I have lost and gained 20 of it pretty much with each pregnancy. And yet, this time, the weight loss just isn't happening for me. I know what I need to do, and I feel motivated but every day I hit the brick wall. Incidentally, does anybody else feel like they are a dietician and physical fitness consultant after years of gaining and losing? I've read more magazine articles (scholarly, I know) than I could possibly count. Don't worry, I can count to 100. It's just that I have whole magazine subscriptions dedicated to these subjects – "Shape," "Cooking Light," "Fitness," "Eating Well." I like them all by the way, but mostly just for ideas and motivation, I read real books when I want more information. And I've read loads of those too.

I declared a dietetics major for a while at BYU (till I took the science classes), and for a spell it was Health Promotion till I couldn't take the Richards building anymore. I love motivating others to make healthier choices. I know those of you who have been to my house for dinner parties are wondering if you are on the wrong blog. I admit, I do believe in celebrating and sometimes in a most indulgent way, but I don't eat like that on a daily basis. Normally, my family eats a lot of produce and beans and legumes. Typically, I eat 7-9 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Yeah, cheer for me.

On a positive note, I am glad that I can relate to the people who have said to me, "how do you find the motivation?" If you had asked me this six months ago, I would have thought (not said) something like, "well, if you do what you always do, you'll get what you've always gotten" or "calories in minus calories out" or "excuses don't pay the bills" or some other such rubbish that my head is full of. Today it all seems like fairytales, like I'm struggling to run a marathon underwater. Unimaginably difficult. Hmmm..does that mean difficult to imagine or a difficulty hard to imagine? Whatever. We have a health crisis in America. I've always felt really strongly that each individual doing their very best to live healthfully strengthens the whole country, and maybe even the whole world. We all have different genes, environments and circumstances, but every one of us can do our very best to make smart choices, set good examples, and respect the bodies we have in our own way. For me, that includes dropping 30 lbs by summer. Keep me honest, people.

The blog...

I'm embarrassed by my "blog." Quotation marks are so that you know that I KNOW this ain't no blog. Sigh. I was reminded that I even had one when I saw a link to it from my sister's blog. I headed over to my blog then exited out of it for a minute. I couldn't remember the URL to get back to it. This, my friends, is the kind of blog I have. I don't know how anyone else keeps up on these things. I think about it all the time. How do other people keep their houses clean, do their civic duties, keep their homes spiritually edifying, bodies healthy and their children developing, all while living within their means? I break this question down into parts, but I'm always asking it. I just don't know how people do it. I'm not discouraged, just confused.

Besides all of my embarrassment and confusion, things are going really well for the Palmer-Christiansons. The kids are all doing great. Leif is growing like a weed and loving kindergarten, Gus is learning to write (and read a bit), and Paia is talking up a storm (at only 19 months)...hmmmm...now who did she get that from?

The big question on our minds these days is: where will we be in a year and a half? I've researched in depth just about every western city with a population of at least 50,000, but of course, they have to need a radiologist. And not just any radiologist, a women's imager or body imager, since Kimball is specializing in mammography and abdominal imaging. We love the East, especially the Southeast, but I'm so tired of getting on planes with these kids. Raleigh Durham Airport doesn't even have a direct flight to Salt Lake, which is where both sets of grandparents are. Kimball will finish his training in a year and a half – he starts his fellowship in July. I'm trying to get the house ready to put on the market and trying to figure out which upgrades will equate to financial returns. Any advice on where to live or what to do to the house is welcome!