Miles was bouncing around on my bathroom scale, making the numbers go crazy.

M:  It goes all the way up 100!

A:  It actually goes to 300.

M:  People can weigh 300?

A:  Yep.

M:  How tall do you have to be to weigh 300?!

Tobin typically sleeps in our bed, between Denny and me.  Denny hurt his back the other day and has been sleeping in another, more comfortable bed for the last couple of nights.  That meant Tobin had an unusual escape route.  At 1:30 a.m., I woke up with a start and realized Tobin wasn’t next to me.  I heard his feet pattering down the hall and his little voice saying…

T:  Go make coffee!

We celebrated Tobin’s second birthday today (his true birthday, yesterday, was the first day of school, so we separated the madness).  There is video and a full Tobin Times coming once I get them organized, but for now, here’s a shot of his cake and a couple of him after having put on his brother’s socks and shoes.  The windmill is because he loves them.  Whenever we see one (or best of all, a whole wind farm) from the car, he gets so excited.  The motif on the cake was Miles’s idea.  I made the turbine out of marzipan, which is also Tobin’s new favorite food.  I kept feeding him little pinches of it so I could work on the cake without him hounding me, and he developed a new love.

The cake was slightly adapted from Ina Garten’s Summer Peach Cake.  It was really good–dense and moist.  It was also so simple and unfussy that I don’t even have to look up the original recipe to write it here.  I remember exactly what it called for an exactly what I did.  It would have been tasty with some sort of crumb topping, but birthday cakes require frosting, so cream cheese frosting it was.

Peach Cake

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/3 cup granulated sugar, divided
8 oz sour cream, room temperature
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups AP flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
4 large or 5 small peaches, peeled and chopped into 1/2 to 1-inch pieces, including any juices that accumulate
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F.  Prepare a 9×13 pan with oil+flour spray and a parchment sling.  Add more oil+flour spray on top of the parchment.

Toss the peach pieces with 1/3 cup sugar and cinnamon; set aside.  Cream 1 cup of sugar and butter with a mixer for 3-5 minutes, or until light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time until well-incorporated, then add sour cream and vanilla.  Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  With the mixer on a low speed, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in several additions.   Stop mixer and fold peach pieces and juices into the batter.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 50-55 minutes, or until a wooden pick comes out dry.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

Tobin was coloring with a grey marker and murmuring to himself.

T:  Cherry marker.

A:  Cherry marker?  That marker is grey.

T:  Cherry marker.

A:  What do you mean, cherry marker?

T:  Cherry marker-ita.

My go-to flavor combo at the shaved ice stand is cherry-margarita (non-alcoholic), which he has heard me order many times.  I guess he just got confused on the etymology. 

This is a Rick Bayless recipe I found in this month’s Food and Wine and lightly adapted.  We had it with saffron rice, corn on the cob, and pinot grigio.

Shrimp in Garlic Mojo

Note:  Next time I’ll halve the mojo recipe.  This made much more than we needed.  It’s in the freezer now.  If the garlic oil was good and hot and I’m storing the leftovers in the freezer, I won’t get botulism, right?  Also, next time I’ll use 2 chipotles, because it could have used more spice.

1.5 cups extra virgin olive oil
cloves from 2 heads garlic, peeled and smashed
1/4 cup lime juice
1 chipotle pepper in adobo, seeded and minced
s&p

2 lbs shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails still on (I used half shrimp and half chicken for the shellfishaphobic in my life)
cilantro and lime wedges for garnish

Preheat oven to 325F.  In a small, oven-safe saucepan, combine olive oil, garlic, and a pinch of salt.  Place in oven and cook for about 30 minutes, or until just beginning to brown.  Add lime juice and cook for another 15 minutes until well-softened and golden.

Remove from oven and add chipotle pepper and a bit more salt and pepper, to taste.  Mash it all up until the solids are pretty much a paste.  Allow to cool slightly.

In a big skillet (I used cast iron; you may want nonstick if you don’t have a well-seasoned cast iron), add 2 tablespoons of the garlic oil.  Cook your protein until it’s done, then spoon more of the garlic mojo before serving, including plenty of the pulp.

Garnish with cilantro and lime wedges if desired.  Serve with more of the mojo for dipping/drizzling.

Background:  This morning Tobin asked for an early bath, so Denny helped him do that.  As Denny was preparing Tobin, Tobin peed on the bathroom rug.  Just now, more than twelve hours later, Tobin and I were cuddling and had this exchange.

A:  Are you Mommy’s little boy?

T:  …

A:  Or are you Daddy’s little boy?

T:  …

A:  So whose little boy are you?

T:  I pee on rug.  I a stinker!