Lemon Speculoos Ice Cream

Being in the kitchen with Josilin has become one of my favourite activities.  When both kids were young we baked a lot of cookies, muffins and scones together.  Inevitably they would start licking spoons, bowls and beaters.  Every bit of me struggled with this behaviour and I regret to say, we stopped baking for awhile because of it.  Most times we were baking for other people and I couldn't in good conscience give away food that had my kids' goobers in it.  It quit being fun when I spent most of the time being "mean mommy." 

Speculoos Granola Bar

Today is the first day of school for Jos and Luke.  Last Friday we were able to learn the class assignments for the kids.  Each school posts the class lists, which provides a full long weekend to either celebrate your placement or come to terms with disappointment.  For Luke, it was almost all celebration.  He is with the majority of his friends, but didn't get the teacher he had hoped for.  For Josilin, there was pure disappointment.  She is separated from her best friend and many of the other girls she had hoped to be with.  We talked a lot about making new friends and the opportunities this presented.  Well, rather I talked about these things while I was met with a lot of eye rolling and door slamming. 

Speculoos Brownies

 Earlier this year I had the absolute pleasure and privilege of travelling to Paris with my mom and daughter.  It was a trip of a lifetime full of many good times and good eats.  One morning not long after breakfast we were out strolling the streets.  Josilin declared she was hungry while I rolled my eyes and stated that she couldn’t possibly be already.  We found a small bakery and Jos selected a Speculoos Éclair for her mid morning snack.  I had not tried Speculoos before, but I knew from reading enough food magazines and blogs that this was a flavour not to be missed.  As I had already been an eye-rolling mom, I couldn’t in good conscience buy one for myself.  I asked Josilin for a small bite, “just to taste it” and immediately regretted I had not seized that opportunity and had one myself.  I thought we might end up with a three generation fist fight over the last bite of that éclair.  The memory of Speculoos has been with me since.