Project 52:2 {life}

Theme: Up.

Readers, I got it.Say hello to Big Daddy. Thanks to an amazing deal from Adorama Camera, all of your encouragement, a boost from our savings, endless hours of research and Neel saying, "You need to do it. Sometimes you're too tentative," we brought this puppy home. I've been too busy to do much more that get him out of the box, but that's okay. We're getting used to each other slowly. From across the room. So far, I've taken all of three pictures with it, the first of Neel. I'll have to post it here sometime, for posterity.

Speaking of posterity, here's a picture of me with my original DSLR, a Christmas gift from my dad. One of the best gifts I ever got. (Although the necklace I'm wearing in that picture, which was Neel's gift that year, was pretty awesome too!) We're calling her Old Faithful now, and I feel so grateful to her. It's so funny to think of how different things are now, getting Big Daddy, than they were back when Old Faithful moved in. I knew so little then, but I just started snapping away! She's an awesome back-up to have.

Big Daddy is a very different animal. Bigger, more heft in my hand. Already I can tell that the dials are more intuitively placed. The main difference between Big Daddy and Old Faithful is that Big Daddy is a full-frame camera, where as Old Faithful (as are most consumer level DSLRs) is a crop sensor. Here's an article that explains the difference, and if you're interested I can throw a totally lame-o tutorial up here on the blog sometime too. For me, the difference was gasp-worthy. I can't wait to start playing around.

I likely wouldn't have done it without all of your encouragement. Without you nudging me along, telling me that I'm worth it. That my work is worth it.

The theme for this week's Project 52 is "Up." I'm stepping up my game.

neighborly {life}

For our neighbor gifts this year we made homemade cocoa and marshmallows.

The marshmallows we'd made before, several years ago. This year I started to use a recipe from Smitten Kitchen that promised Jet Puffed-like marshmallows. Who wouldn't want that? About halfway through I realized that the recipe calls for egg whites and since we wouldn't be cooking them, Callum couldn't have any. No bueno. A quick scramble and reboot and all was well. Maybe not Jet Puffed, but still good. You can use powdered egg whites (which we don't have on hand), and next time I'll try that.

Making homemade marshmallows, much like Callum trying baseball for the first time, was a revelation. It's a relatively simple, but messy process, and when you're done you actually have marshmallows! I tasted my first one in astonishment. I simply couldn't believe I'd made a marshmallow. You can add all sorts of flavors or roll them in peppermint or coconut, but we're purists here.

The recipe for the cocoa comes loosely based from this blog. There's some mad good food on there if you want to go and check it out. We used Ghirardelli's Cocoa and extra sugar, adding cardamom and vanilla sugar sprinkled on top.  We packaged these up in mugs for Callum's teachers (remember from here?) and in Ball jars for the folks in the 'hood. I added a photo from among these you see here, along with directions and a warning: NOT! SWEET! Homemade marshmallows are so melty though. I think they'll go nicely together.

I should have a photo of the completed package to show you or a cup of steaming cocoa to round out this post, but I don't. Today is back to school for Callum, and he couldn't sleep last night. He loves school, but he loves being home too. Two worlds colliding is the worst, isn't it? After four, I finally got him up and we came downstairs. I think on some nights like that you're best off just conceding and changing your scenery rather than thrashing around and cursing the dark. If we'd had any cocoa left for ourselves I'd have made it, in the dark early morning. I made us some chai instead, and we snuggled under our favorite blanket on the sofa. He finally grew sleepy as he gazed at the photos on the screen saver. He actually said to me, "Momma, your pictures have really gotten better over the years." Sleepy sweet boy. After a bit, cuddled up there together, we both slept. Better than a photo of a mug of cocoa any day.