19 September 2017

It's Been Too Long...

Holy Smokes... 
Computer dates don't lie...
It has been way too long since I've visited...

Life.. you know how it goes.  There is too much to fill you in on since the last visit.

St. Louis is a bit wild right now.  There is a lot  of protesting going on in this area. Please pray for those who are protecting lives and property in this region or any region for that matter.  

With all this protesting and general angst I am so thankful our pastor, during the original challenge related to the officer involved shooting in Ferguson, encouraged all of us to check ourselves first for any hidden bias.  He also told us to be watchful of anything that would create "us" vs. "them" attitude.  I found this to be helpful.  

Have an awesome day!
Stay cool.  Tomorrow promises to be a hot one...  welcome Fall?

16 February 2014

Bundty Love

Check it out.  It is my new treasure!  I got it from an estate sale for a song.  I didn't have to sing thank goodness but it was one item I stuffed into my dollar bag  :)  I've never had a bundt pan before.  I'm actually a decent baker for most things.  Cakes, however, are not usually my forte.  Challenge accepted. 
Pan... Chocolate... Taste of Home Cookbook...Eggs...o'man there were so many eggs!   
Check... Check...Check...Check Check Check.
I have a lot of bowls.  I like bowls.  My husband fed into the madness by hookin' me up with a set of coloured ceramic ones that are similar to the multi-coloured Fiestaware I've been collecting.  Then, in a fit of insanity, he agreed I could get yet another set of melamine bowls to add to the multi-coloured collection.  Aren't you glad I am spelling bowls correctly? Had I misspelled it would be a whole nuthuh' story. Oh the places my mind goes!   Back to the story at hand. They are wonderful and match the Fiesta.  Happy wife.. Happy life  :)    

I've always wondered if I would ever use ALL my bowls in one cooking/baking event.  Challenge accepted!  On this mission I got closer than I've been before.  I've never made a marble cake before.  If you do find every bowl you own and get ready to use them.
Here are the bowls in action.  Aren't they great.  The stirrer whisky thing came from King Arthur Flour.  Thanks Mom.
 
  
Into the mixer went a whole lot of egg whites.  Funny thing happens when you are told to whip them to stiff peaks and while they are flinging around you wonder what exactly does that mean?  I raced to the computer to check.  Drat, it had signed off.  Fingers flying and precious moments later I am reading that... OH NO it is possible to over whip.  Did I do that?  I ran back to check and I couldn't tell.  The picture I thought was the over whipped one looked a lot like what was happening in the mixer.  Eeeek.  Meringue madness.  Back and forth I ran until I figured out I was looking at the picture of what I wanted to happen.  Success - my peaks were stiff!  In case you were wondering the over whipped batch would have looked like a soupy butter coloured cottage cheesy mess.  Stiff peaks: when pulling the whisk from the whites the whisker that forms does not wilt and stands straight and tall! I should've snapped a picture.
Here it is.  The cake in all it's glory!  I think it turned out quite yummy if I may say so myself.  If you make a marble cake pay attention to the instruction that says split the batter in half and add the chocolate to only one bowl.  I made a mistake and added the chocolate to the bowl with way more than half the batter.   The chocolate portion of the marble turned out only kinda chocolatey hence the barely visible marbling.

Obviously I didn't have any problem with the results as the piece of cake shrunk before taking this picture. Looking at it now what remains looks a lot like meatloaf.  Didn't taste like it tho.  Thank goodness!  Yum.  

I am thinking it is the best cake I've made in quite some time. The icing was so rich and sweet.  I added way less sugar than the recipe called for but wish I had used even less than I did.  

So good.  Soooo good.  

Chocolate induced nap.  Just kidding..!
My nap was the only one chocolate induced.

Til next time...

09 February 2014

Holding Down a Couch

Outside the door the world is dimming and gray.  There are snow flakes a'fallin'.  I need to get Zach to take more pictures.  Did you see his snowflake picture?  The post prior to this one has a link.  Go check it out... I'll wait.

Here's mine:

ok... so you can only see the ones already on the ground.  I promise there are flakes a'fallin'.  I think I see one against the dark of the tree...

Makin' tracks!


Here are the ones stuck to my shoes...


..I quickly changed for these  :)




And now I am sippin' some tea.  I am glad for bright things on a gray day such as this.  Last night I re-purposed a melamine plate to be my tea tray.   Isn't it pretty?


 
And today... I am using my new silver (plated, I think!) tea tray I picked up at the neighbor's estate sale.  Got it for a song.  It was the end of the sale and they were looking to get rid of things so I packed a bag with goodies for a dollar.  Here it is...

shiny and sparkly yay!





Sooooo in addition to sippin', holding down a couch, enjoying my kittie (who is curled up in my lap)

Isn't she sweet? 

I may use another one of my new treasures...  maybe...

so please stay tuned....

Have a great day everyone!
K

07 February 2014

Hubbie's Bloggin' Too

What I'd Say... 
The above link is to my hubbie's brand new bloggie!   Go check it out  :)

Here it was quite chilly and my coworker snapped this awesome picture that says it all.
Zach's snowflake pic
Go look.  It's a great picture.

Back soon.