Snuggle time

I caught a really sweet daddy-daughter moment the other night. Ramy was laying in bed watching tv, and Rebecca snuggled up to him. It was so sweet, I had to snap some pics.

We had a nice weekend here. Friday, we ate dinner at my favorite Italian restaurant in La Verne. Then we went over to hear a colleague of Ramy's who was playing in an oldies band. Rebecca thoroughly enjoyed it! She was rocking and grooving to the music. Where she got that, I have no idea! Saturday, we ate breakfast at Carrow's and then went to Costco and other random stuff. I exchanged a pair of pants for Rebecca at Gymboree and spent the rest of my Gymbucks. She spied the apple purse that goes with their new line, and it had to come home with us. Saturday night, Ramy was in the mood for Lucille's Barbecue. Since that place gets mobbed with people on the weekends, we got there around 5 p.m. and immediately got seated. Then we walked around in Brea Mall for a bit, came home, and watched The Great Debaters (Denzel Washington). What I saw of it was a really great movie, but I'll admit that I fell asleep on the couch while we were watching it. Sunday, we went to mass at 9:00 (so annoying in the cry room) and then got breakfast at Panera Bread and went grocery shopping. We went out in the afternoon and I got my new super-cool cell phone. For dinner last night, I made pesto pasta and shrimp for Ramy and pesto pasta and chicken for me and Rebecca.

Today, Rebecca and I laid around at home. Ramy came home and had lunch with us, which is always nice. I got my review back from the LLU IRB on my dissertation project. Luckily, all the things they asked for are super-easy - just clarifications or other really simple stuff. The changes will take all of 15 minutes, and then I just have to resubmit and should be good to go. I expect to get the official approval in a few weeks, but the full IRB basically just rubber stamps whatever the committee says is good to go. So that's a huge relief! Now I just have to hear back from the University of Redlands IRB and we'll be rocking. And of course I have to get my comp paper done. And propose my dissertation. And apply for internship. But, yeah, things are going along well, even though I'd really like to fast-forward a few months.

Oh yeah, I made a really good cake today. It's one from the Pioneer Woman. But like most things, I can't just make the recipe the way they call for it to be done. I have to tweak it a bit. Here's the recipe, as I made it:

Yogurt-Marmalade Cake
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup of plain yogurt (I used whole milk yogurt, because that's what I had, but she uses lowfat)
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. prepared orange marmalade
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
Zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup Canola oil
1/2 cup prepared orange marmalade
1/4 cup yogurt
Zest of half an orange

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour loaf pan. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a separate bowl, mix together yogurt, sugar, 2 Tbsp. marmalade, eggs, vanilla, lemon zest, and canola oil until just combined. Pour over dry ingredients and mix by hand until just combined. Pour into loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes. Remove and allow to cool slightly. Remove from pan.

While cake is cooling, pour 1/2 cup marmalade into pan. Heat until melted, stirring occasionally. Add yogurt and orange zest to pan and turn off heat. Stir to combine, then pour slowly over the top of the cake, allowing icing to pool around the sides.