I'm Still Here!

I have no good excuse and I'm not going to try to make any. I just keep forgetting to post. Well, I'm going to show you two cakes that I've done recently. They're not the best, but I'm still learning. The first one I did for a lady who wanted to thank the auto body shop that was working on her car. Yes, it's pink. That's what happens when you don't have any red icing and you try to make your own.

The next one I made last week for a lady's birthday. She loves lighthouses.

I have to make a three-layer coconut cake this week for another lady. I'm kind of relieved that it's just a simple cake like that. I want to do more character/shape cakes, but it's alot of work and I have to bake brookies for two restaurants this week.

Last weekend was E's and my 10th anniversary! Wow! I can't believe it's been 10 years already. Actually, it feels like I've been with E for all of my life, but in a good way. I'm so happy that he is a part of my life. We couldn't go away for long because of the turkeys, but we managed to get a night away and stay in Staunton. I've never been there, even though it's only about an hour away. I'm so glad we went because it is beautiful. Todd and Carrie gave us a gift certificate for one night's stay at the Stonewall Jackson Hotel for Christmas, so we used it for our anniversay. We have to go back next weekend to pick up an antique buffet that we are buying. I can't wait to get that in the house.

Anyway, I'll try my best to post more often. Have a good day!

Happy New Year....late.

Well, I had a really great post all ready to go a few weeks ago. E, however, came over while I got up to finish making breakfast and decided he was going to look up something on eBay. Instead of pulling up a new page, he just used the page my post was on. I haven't gotten around to re-posting it, yet. I do want to share with you all my Christmas holiday, though. I had an adventure and we did some fun things.

One thing that I didn't get any pics of, though, were the Rockettes. I took Mom to see the Rockettes' Christmas Spectacular at the John Paul Jones' Arena. We left early, thinking we had plenty of time to get there. Boy were we wrong! Traffic was backed up sooo bad that we ended up being about 10-15 minutes late. We decided to forgo the parking lot (which I paid to have a parking space) and instead parked in the nearby shopping center and walked. Good thing. We would've been later since the parking area was a mad house.

The show was nice and we had some pretty good seats. We were in the balcony, but close to the stage. I really, really wish I thought to bring my camera. I could've gotten some really good pics. One thing that really burns me, though, is that I could've had really, really close seats if I had gotten the tickets when I first tried to. I thought maybe I wouldn't go since they were a little pricey, but I later changed my mind and the seats were already gone. Oh well. I'll remember that next time.

I hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year's. I will be posting our gingerbread house activity and our New York trip hopefully this weekend. I even have a few pics of Christmas day. I want to try to post more regularly this year. We'll see how that goes.

I Know......

Yeah. It's been awhile. I've thought about posting many, many times, but just never got around to it. I want to try to post every day, but I forget. I've been really busy lately. I've been baking up a storm, but I haven't been to the farmer's market since mid-October. I've been baking brookies for the restaurant, cakes for people, and cookies and other goodies for people. I've even been baking things just to try new recipes. Sadly, I haven't taken many pics. I just baked a pumpkin pie last night, so I'll have to take a pic of it before I slice into it and post it, along with the recipe, on here.

To get myself started for the month of December, here is a pic of a frog cake I baked for someone two weeks ago. It took all day to decorate it and it was really heavy. I was told to make it for 25 people, but I think I made it too big. I was going to use smaller pans but E insisted that I use a bigger pan. I have to research and find out how big to make a cake for the amount of people that it's for.

**Well, apparently the pics don't want to upload at this time. I'll have to try later....**

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween! We had a costume contest at work yesterday. I wore my trusty old Civil War re-enactment outfit. Well, one of them. It's the first time I wore it to work. I don't take the best pictures, but I'll show what I have.

I did win a prize! I won "Best Fit to Personality". Hmm... I wonder what that's really supposed to mean. I was told it's because I'm so quaint and quiet.

I had another order for a cake! Yay! This time it was a trout cake. I had so many ideas buy my tools and equipment are still limited. If I keep this up I'll be able to buy the things I need.

I wanted to do the entire cake as a trout, but I didn't have a pan big enough so I made a standard size sheet cake (two layers) and carved out the trout on another cake. I made two trouts just incase I messed up, and sure enough the first one didn't turn out like I wanted. I changed gears and came up with this. E helped out with the blue icing and cutting the trout. He won't admit it, but he liked it. :)

Monster Truck Cakes and the 70s

I've been so excited this week because I was asked to bake a birthday cake for a friend's grandson. He wanted a monster truck cake. I looked up ideas online and found some pics that I liked. The pics used cake molds, but I didn't have one so I had to make my cake by stacking loaf pan size cakes. For the wheels I used my mini bundt pan. I wanted to make the truck black, but I didn't have time to run to C'ville to pick up any supplies, so I had to make do with what I had. The truck ended up being gray. It took a lot of hours and a lot of work, but I think it turned out pretty good for my first 3-D cake:

It was supposed to be Grave Digger. I needed more supplies to be able to decorate it correctly, but I think you can tell what it is.

Last night we attended a surprise birthday party for a friend. The party was a 70s theme so E and I got dressed up. I had a black dress that was his mom's from the 60s/70s and E bought an outfit from a party store in C'ville. It turned out great!

Gotta love the afro!

Old Buildings

I love old buildings. I'd love to buy and old Victorian and fix 'er up. I found this website where a guy goes to old abandoned buildings and takes pictures. This is something I'd love to start doing. It's so neat to see things frozen in time. I wish somebody would buy the buildings, however, and fix them up instead of letting them fall apart.

Where Have I Been???

I've been busy!! That's where I've been! I've been tired, I've been busy, I've been tired, need I go on??

I can tell you that this past week I've had to bake 11 pans of Brookies for the restaurant. They've certainly been keeping my busy! I'm taking the night off from baking tonight, except I'm going to bake something for our snack day at work tomorrow. I think I might create something new. I'll let you know if I do. Oh, I do have a yummy and healthy apple cake recipe I want to share. I'll take pics tonight and post tomorrow (hopefully).

Well, let me tell you about my exciting day yesterday! I haven't tried to give blood for over 10 years now. I say "tried" because I've never been able to give a pint before. Every time my veins would collapse. We had a blood drive at work yesterday and I thought I'd give it another go. E warned me not to. He said I have low blood pressure and I shouldn't do it. I told him I would be fine and it's a good cause. He told me not to complain to him if I wasn't feeling good afterwards. Whatever! I would be fine! Plus I'd get a $5 giftcard to Qdoba!

I get to the lobby and have to fill out my info. The guy gives me my giftcard and tells me to go on out to the bus where they'll take my vitals and what not. On the bus they take my blood pressure and it was fine. It was 121/73. Pretty high for me! I'm usually around 95/60 these days. I thought that was a good sign. The tech then pricks my finger to check my iron level. She had a hard time getting much blood out and the iron level read low (First Warning!) She said I could stop now or she could get her supervisor to try on my other hand. I told her to go ahead and try. Why not??? The supervisor comes in and pricks another finger on my other hand and my iron levels were fine. Great! Good sign, right??

I go on out and they ask me which arm. I told them either one so they decide to take it from my right arm. A male tech comes to me and preps my arm. He told be to squeeze this stress thingy and hold tight. He searches my arm and then decides to look at my left arm. I repeat the steps and he searches again. He calls over the supervisor and she looks at both of my arms. She points to a spot on my right arm and told him he could try this or he could try another spot on my left arm. He decides to go with my left arm. I now have to get up and move to the other side of the bus. (Second Warning!)

He preps my left arm and sticks the needle in. Nothing comes out. (Third Warning!) The supervisor comes back and she tries to find the vein. Jackpot! We have blood! I sit there and after a couple of minutes we realize the blood has stopped. (Fourth Warning!) They take everything out and say I could stop now or they can try the other arm. I know what you are thinking. I already have the giftcard so why not stop while I'm ahead, right? Well, I really did want to try to give blood. I told them to try my right arm. I have to get back up and go back to the other side of the bus.

The supervisor takes over from here and she preps my arm again. At this time I realize E is on the bus. He comes around and watches what they do. The supervisor finally gets blood! Yay! E just shakes his head and says he'll see me later. After a few minutes, the male tech comes over and looks at my bag. The blood is flowing, but it's really, really slow (Fifth and Final Warning!!) Finally, after a tiny can of orange juice and several songs on the radio I'm finished! I have finally given a pint, a pound of my blood! Yay! Did you know that you lose a pound when you give blood??? Apparently Weight Watchers' people do!

Anyway, they ask me if I'm doing okay and I said "yeah". What are you supposed to feel like after you give blood??? Can anybody explain this to me?? After all, I've never donated before. They tell me to get up and go ahead and go back inside. No problem. I have to wait a few seconds for somebody to move out of my way and I felt a little weird, maybe lightheaded, but didn't think much of it. I went on out the bus and headed back inside the building. As soon as I got inside I felt it coming! The overwhelming feeling of passing out came over me and I rushed to have a seat in one of the chairs. I heard Annette ask if I was okay and the next thing I new Vicky was calling my name and several people were around me. Yep, I passed out. How embarrassing is that?!?!?!? I apparently went stiff just as I passed out and scared Vicky half to death. I was out for less than a minute, I believe. The supervisor nurse came in and gave me ice packs (I was sweating profusely!) and a coke. She went back out and got me several bags of cookies and pretzels. She told me to eat the pretzels right away and to keep drinking because that would bring my blood pressure and sugar back up.

After a few minutes I felt I was able to get up and go back to my office. They kept asking me if I felt okay because I didn't look okay. I was apparently completely white, but color slowly started to return to my face. I told them I felt much better and went back to my office to eat some cookies and finish of the pretzels. I called E and, well, you can guess what he had to say! He wasn't too happy with me, I told you so, yadda, yadda, yadda. I tried to explain to him that my blood pressure was up today, but he didn't want to hear it.After a few minutes I went to the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. I was yellow!! I got a cup of water and went back to my office. I had to finishing printing payroll checks so I wasn't able to go to lunch right away. The supervisor nurse came back to check on my after a little bit and I told her that I felt sick and lightheaded. She said that I would probably feel better if I threw up. I had to explain to her that I cannot throw up at my own will. I have to take something to make me throw up, like ipecac. She told me to just get some lunch and drink plenty of fluids.

After the checks were done. I still wasn't feeling good. E called and said he didn't want me to drive in my condition so him mom came and got me. After I finally got something to eat I started to feel a little better, just really, really tired. I stayed on the couch for the rest of the afternoon. By the time E go home, I was feeling well to go with him to take the Brookies in and to pick up my truck.

I have to tell you. I will never, ever give blood again. All the signs were there and I chose to ignore them. I even recognized the first sign but figured I'd at least try one more time. I should've realized after the second sign, however, that I would be in for it if I continued. Oh well, lessons learned.

I hope this doesn't discourage anyone else from donating blood. I was just a little dehydrated and tired. Plus the fact that I usually have low blood pressure may have contributed to my troubles. I guess I should probably listen to E a little more often, huh? Oh, and he was extremely happy to be able to say "I told you so!"

What is Our Country Coming To?

E and I have been talking alot lately about the state of this country. It's pretty sad, and pretty scary. I like our President as a person, but as a leader, not quite as much. I'll be the first to admit that I didn't vote for him. It had absolutely nothing to do with the color of his skin or that he's a Democrat (I consider myself an Independent.) I didn't vote for him because I didn't believe his promises. I didn't believe the words that were coming out of his mouth. I didn't believe his "change" would be a good change. Well, so far it's not. I watch alot of news on both ABC and Fox. Many people say Fox is the "Republican news". I think it's just the news that tells all sides of the story and not just what they want us to hear.

I've been watching alot of Glenn Beck lately and this week he's got some powerful shows on. There are many questions that I'd like to ask my President and even my state leaders. I have so many "whys" and "hows" but I don't know who to ask and even if my voice will be heard. I want to stand up and fight for what I believe in, but where do I begin? I want to be able to make a difference and help bring this country back to it's roots. I want to make sure that we still have our freedom, because the way things are going now it'll be gone.

If you go to http://www.glennbeck.com/ or http://www.foxnews.com/ and look for Glenn Beck's site you'll find out about the "advisors" that surround our President. You will be surprised and shocked, to say the least, at what they believe in. There are questions that Mr. Beck has posted for us that we need to be asking our government. If we don't, if we don't stand up and demand a change, we are going to lose so much. I'm terrified of what's to come. I don't normally promote other people's opinion unless I strongly believe in what they have to say. If you are reading this blog, please check out the websites, or watch Glenn Beck's show at 5pm eastern on Fox News. You will learn so much that the other news networks just aren't reporting.

I've Been Busy

I have been so busy lately. The warm months are always busy for me because there's always so much to can. This is what I worked on last night:

We have made 19 jars of Hot Salsa, 19 jars of Medium Salsa, and 38 jars of Mild Salsa. And we're not done. I picked more tomatoes on Wednesday so I have more sitting in the basement waiting to be made into something. I told E that we could make some more Hot Salsa since hot and mild are the biggest sellers. I want to make sure I have enough tomatoes, however, to make some spaghetti sauce, possibly more chili, and maybe even some ketchup. I've heard homemade ketchup is to die for.

I don't think I'll be going to the Farmer's Market tomorrow because they are forecasting rain all morning. Fine by me. I love having a break. I think we'll probably either make more salsa or I'll just take a break and work on some gourds are give my self a pedicure. I'd love to do the pedicure, but I really, really need to get some gourds done. The Street Festival is three Saturdays away.

Our corn is finally ready, so last night we had corn on the cob with dinner. Yum!

If I have enough, I'll be canning some again this year. I canned corn for the first time last year and I'll tell ya, that was the BEST canned corn I have ever had. When you can your own veggies, it's always SOOOO much better than what you buy in the store. Here's hoping we have a good crop of corn this year!!

Peace out.

Oh What a Beautiful Morning!

I remember the Nationwide commercial that has the animals and people singing that song "Oh What a Beautiful Morning". I also remember two years ago while on a short overnight trip with Mom, Bonnie, and Dee Dee that this commercial came on while we were eating breakfast in the hotel dining area. I was lip synching the song and a man came in and busted out laughing at me. Apparently I looked quite comical. Hmph.

Anyway, I love mornings like this:

The fog in the lower distance. On mornings like this we are above the fog. Mornings like this are cool and a little crisp. Mornings like this remind me of Fall. I love Fall. It's my favorite season. Unfortunately this pic was taken two weeks ago. It's supposed to be in the upper 80s today. Not so nice.

Have a great day!

Storm Watching

A couple of weeks ago we had a storm come from the SouthEast. It is VERY unusual for a storm to come from that direction unless it a hurricane. This storm looked like it was going to be a bad one.
The clouds were so heavy.

Oh look. You can see where I work in this pic. There it is. That big massive white building at the bottom of the picture. The commute is great, but it kinda sucks living soooo close to work.

We were preparing for a pretty bad storm, but it just turned out to be heavy rain and some wind. No thunder and lightning. I was amazed at how angry the clouds looked.

Have a great day!

Farmer's Market

Here are some pics from the Farmer's Market last Saturday.

A selection of my jams, salsa, and hot sauce. I really need to start making more flavors. I usually have a bigger assortment than this.
Brookies and Rhubarb Coffeecake. I'll have to remember to post the recipe for the coffeecake. It is delicious and has been a hit.

Chocolate Chip Cherry Scones, Blondies, Coffee Lovers' Coffeecake, and more Brookies.

Indian Fry Bread. These are such a HUGE hit. We made them two years ago but didn't make them last year because I started waitressing again. Now that I quit, we have time to make them again.

I have one gourd bowl that I'm selling. I really, really need to do more gourd and craft work but I've been so busy. I have a table on the right hand side where I sell plants and vegetables. In the middle of the food table, I have samples in the cake dish. Samples ALWAYS gets more sales.

Farmer's Market Treats

Last Saturday was our first day at our new venue. We moved to the back parking lot instead of the park. There's so much more traffic now. It only made sense to move back there. We've been wanting to for a long time but the last market master didn't want us to for some reason. We now have a new market master and he was all for it. I had a table full of delicious goodies including our Indian Fry Bread which always sells out and Praline Brookies.

I made these cake pops to sell. The tasted wonderful, but the chocolate coating started melting because it was so hot. Everyone that saw them was impressed, but I only sold 3, go figure! The recipe is very simple (Thanks Bakerella!) Just bake a cake (any flavor). Using a 13x9 sheet pan is easiest. After it has totally cooled, shred cake into a big bowl. You can use a food processor if you like. Stir in 2 cups of cake icing (any flavor) and mix well. I had to use my hands. form into balls and place on a wax paper-covered sheet pan and pop into the refrigerator until set or freezer. Once everything is nice and firm, take out balls and push sticks in them. Dip them in melted candy coating (any flavor) and let dry standing up. I turned an egg carton upside down, punched holes in it and dried the cake pops on that. Worked wonderfully.

These are Sugar and Spice Donuts I made. I threw away the recipe because I decided I wasn't going to make them again. They were okay, but I have a killer Apple Cider Donut recipe that's much better. These were actually really good the next day after I heated them in the microwave for 30 seconds. I might try another donut recipe or I'll make some scones for this weekend. I have a couple of scone recipes I'm dying to try along with one that was a really good seller last year.

Happy Anniversary to Me and Grilled Chicken Pasta

Today is our 9th wedding anniversary! I can't believe it's been that long already, yet I feel like I've known E forever. Tonight we are having dinner at Elmwood at Sparks. I'm excited! I've always wanted to eat dinner there. Todd and Carrie gave us a gift certificate so now we are "forced" to try it. :) I like that they try to keep their ingredients local. If anybody is ever in this area, you can check out their website at http://www.elmwoodcatering.com/. Oh, and they cater (obviously!) They catered our friends' wedding and the food was sooo good. I've had lunch there several times and absolutely love it, but now I finally get to try their dinners and I'm so looking forward to the ravioli. I've had my eye on that for several months now.

I made a really good (and very simple) pasta dish for lunch yesterday. I didn't take a pic, but the recipe is sooo simple:

Grilled Chicken Pasta

1 grilled chicken breast (seasoned however you wish), chopped
2 cups cooked whole-grain penne pasta
1/2 cup red grapes, cut in half
2 Tbsp celery, chopped
1/2 cup light sour cream
1 Tbsp fresh basil
Salt and pepper to taste

Throw all of the ingredients into a bowl and stir. Enjoy!

I grilled the chicken and boiled the penne while I was getting everything else together. Yesterday I ate it warm and today I heated it up very slightly. It's okay cold, but much better warm. I seasoned the chicken with this new seasoning I got from Tastefully Simple. Oh, how I love Tastefully Simple. It's called Green Tea Peppercorn Seasoning. Divine! I'm having a party next month so I'm going to have to stock up on it since it's just seasonal.

For the basil, I only use fresh basil. You can use 1 tsp dried if you like, but it just doesn't taste the same. There's nothing like fresh basil. We still have a basil plant left from last year. Actually, we now have two. I cut a nice stem off the plant and rooted it. I didn't use any rooting hormones or anything like that. I just cut the stem, put it in a jar full of water and left it in the window sill. We don't get any direct sunlight in the kitchen so it only had indirect light. After a while you'll notice a slime ball growing where it was cut and then a few days later you'll start to see the roots growing. I'm so fascinated with all of this!

Anyway, I have lots to do. I have a lot of baking to do for Saturday and I have so much I need to plant in the garden. Will there ever be enough time to do everything???

Squirrels Were Harmed in the Making of this Blog

Sorry, but I'm not gonna lie to you. That's just how nature rolls. It can be cruel sometimes, but on a lighter note, Dixie was very proud of herself!
Dixie caught a squirrel the other day. She was very, very proud of herself. She brought her prize home to me so I could congratulate her. She is weird like that. Kind of like a cat. Another weird thing about her is that she won't eat them! She treats it more like a prize, or toy. She sat there for hours with it sitting next to her. When I found out about it, she just picked it up and carried it closer to me.

This is the same dog that caught a mouse and gulped the entire thing without even biting down!! At first I was terrified the thing would scratch her throat going down or tummy, but after I calmed down and realized that it wouldn't be alive that long, I just worried about her having a tummy ache! Such a weird dog!

On another note, I got my first harvest of the season!! I had to thin out the lettuce so I had a bunch of baby lettuce for salads. I need to go out there this evening and do some more thinning if it ever stops raining!! Well, I can't complain too much because we need the rain and the temps have been nice and cool the past week! I love having an actual Spring. I can't stand Virginia Summers!

I made two coffee cakes this weekend, so hopefully I'll remember to grab the recipes and post them this week. I need to make a cake for the coffee shop so I'll probably be working on one the next couple of days. Thursday I have exams and that evening I need to start prepping for the farmer's market on Saturday. So much to do!!

Black and White Brownies

I didn't particularly care for these brownies only because I can't stand white chocolate. E asked me why I made them if I didn't like white chocolate. Well, I figured other people like it so maybe I'll try this recipe out to see if it would be good enough to sell. E liked it, so I'll probably tinker with it some and make it again to sell. I followed this recipe almost exactly, but next time I'll make my own brownie base. This recipe uses box brownie mix.

Black and White Brownies

1 19- to 21-oz pkg fudge brownie mix, including ingredients needed to make brownies according to box directions
1 10-to 12-oz pkg white baking pieces
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
1/4 cup butter, melted
3 Tbsp hot water
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cups pecans, chopped

1. Grease the bottom of a 13x9x2-inch baking pan; set aside. Prepare brownie mix according to package directions. Stir in half of the white baking pieces, all of the semisweet chocolate chips, and the 1/2 cup pecans. Spread the batter in the prepared baking pan.

2. Bake in a 350 degrees F oven about 25-30 minutes or until center is set. Sprinkle with the remaining white baking pieces; bake for 1 minute more. Cool in pan on a wire rack.

3. For frosting, in a small bowl combine melted butter and hot water; stir in powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and vanilla. Beat by hand until smooth. I found that there wasn't enough liquid so I added a splash of milk until I was able to mix it smooth. Spoon over top of brownies. Sprinkle with the 3/4 cup pecans (I didn't). Cool about 1 1/2 hours or until frosting is set. Cut into bars. Makes about 36 brownies.

These were way too sweet for me. The white chocolate just made it that much worse. Again, E liked them. I left a couple at home for him to eat and gave the rest away. I think I'll try a recipe with out the white chocolate and with my brownie recipe. I have some ideas of what to do.

It's going to be hot this weekend (90 degrees!!!) so I'll be doing a lot of garden stuff. I worked some in the greenhouse yesterday evening and planted a lot of things. I'll start planting green beans tomorrow in the garden and maybe potatoes and corn. I think it'll be warm enough now to put some tomato plants in the ground, but I won't be putting too many in. The ones I started from seed are still too small (I was late getting them started) so E went and bought a few plants. I have some milk jugs that I'll use if the temps drop too low at night, but I don't think we'll have many more of those days.

I made a killer lemon pie last night which, hopefully, I'll post Monday. I usually like to follow a recipe exactly before I make any changes, but I didn't like the amount of lemon called for (I love tangy lemon things) so I added more and omitted one item. It turned out fabulous. E was chomping at the bit this morning to dig into it, so I didn't get a pic of it whole; there is one piece taken out.

A world of color

I found that color comes out better in lower light. Here are a few pics around the house that show some of the new Spring color.

This pic is a little blury (sorry, I'm not too steady) but it's of our plum tree. The Cleveland pear tree is in the background, as well as the greenhouse. Oh, and yes. Those are Easter egg decorations on the plum tree. Don't laugh at me. This is a pic looking down the hill towards the highway and work. It's amazing how fast everything turns green. You can start to see the green "fuzz" on the trees.

This was my very first flower bed. It needs a lot of TLC. I'll get to it eventually.

Here is another flower bed that has been invaded by wire grass. I'm going to dig up what I can save and then start over. My poor lavender probably won't make it.

I've been so busy lately with baking and trying to get things done outside. I'm supposed to make a delivery to the coffee shop this evening, go to the grocery store, bake two batches of coffee cake, and cover up what I have planted in the garden because it's supposed to get down to freezing tonight. Somewhere I have to find time to eat dinner, work out, and clean; maybe even study a little if I can. Oh, and I can't forget sleep. It'll come around eventually.

I've tried making a lemon cornmeal cake twice now. The first time I decided to do cupcakes. It tasted great, but it wasn't pretty. I used my stupid stoneware and the cupcakes didn't come out smoothly. They were also very flat on top. I made it again yesterday using my stoneware bundt pan and it sunk (terribly) in the middle. I'm not sure if it's the stoneware, the oven, the recipe, or me. I'm going to try it one more time before I either a) give up or b) tinker with the recipe. It tastes great the way it is, but I can't sell it. I'm also hoping to find time to try some new recipes I have floating around in my head. Lot's of sampling ahead for us and our co-workers. :) That's why we joined the gym!

Coffee Lovers' Coffee Cake

Finally!!! A day late and a dollar short. Actually, more like a week late and well, I'd hate to think how much short. :)

Here is the oh-so-wonderful coffee cake I've told you about. D-LISH! YUM! Yumm-o anyone?? I finally remembered to take a picture of them. I've been so busy with work and work and work and, need I go on? I've been baking brookies like crazy and trying out some new recipes. When I'm not baking I'm either at my full time job, messing with the dumb turkeys (stupid turkeys!!), or working outside.

I have FINALLY quit working at Fabio's. No more for me!! Yay! I did, however, tell them that I'll help out every now and then. I sure hope the won't need my help. Also, since it's Spring, I've been doing a lot of things outside. I've gotten all of my Spring veggies planted and started seeds for most of my Summer and Fall veggies and herbs. So can't wait!! E mowed the grass for the first time this year over the weekend. Sigh. I love the smell of fresh cut grass.

The weather has been beautiful, minus the rain on Friday and Saturday. The temps have been in the 60s to 70. I actually wore shorts Sunday! If I think about it, and I emphasize on "if", I'll take a pic of the green-ness (is that even a word??) of the farm. It's too late to get a pic of my plum tree flowering because all of the flowers have already fallen. The stinky pear tree is flowering, though, and the redbuds are starting. Anyway. Here is the recipe I've been promising:

Coffee Lovers' Coffee Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 rounded tsp instant coffee granules
2 cups firmly packed brown sugar (I prefer dark)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, cut into pieces*
8 oz sour cream
1 tsp baking soda
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted

1. Combine the flour and coffee granules in a large bowl. Add brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt; stir well. Cut in butter w/a pastry blender until crumbly. *I soften the butter just a little bit and use my hands to blend it in. Press half of the crumb mixture into a lightly greased 9" square or 13x9" baking pan; set aside.

2. Combine sour cream and baking soda, stirring well. Add remaining crumb mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Add egg, stirring gently to combine. Pour sour cream mixture over crumb crust in pan. Sprinkle with pecans.

3. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 - 50 minutes. Cool and cut into squares.

Enjoy!

Spring at Last!

Yay! It's officially Spring. I love Spring. Don't get me wrong, Fall is my favorite season. There is just a feeling of renewal that comes with Spring, however. Everything is turning green again. Flowers are blooming. Birds are singing. Frogs are peeping. It's so refreshing.

I did a bit of baking this past week and this weekend. I'll try to remember to post the recipe for my Coffee Lover's Coffee Cake today or tomorrow. I'd like to post a pic with it, so tomorrow might be better. The restaurant has placed several big orders with me so I've been trying to keep up with that while also trying to get goodies down to the coffee shop. I only have one more day to work at Fabio's (**glee**) so that will give me two extra days to bake. Yes, two. I couldn't bake on Thursdays because I wasn't able to take anything to the coffee shop Friday evenings. Now I'll be able to bake Thursdays and Fridays if I want to. Of course I will be taking a couple of days off here and there. I don't want to get burnt out.

Now that Spring has finally sprung I have been able to plant spring veggies in my garden. This weekend I planted onions, leeks, spinach, lettuce, arugula, peas, and broccoli. I am soooo looking forward to having my own fresh veggies! I started peppers and tomatoes this weekend. I'm a couple of weeks behind, but that's okay. Once they get to the right size, the greenhouse will help them grow fast. Last year my plants may have been slightly too big to sell, although they sold quite well. This year they'll be the perfect size. I'll start some herbs this week. I plan to have a big herb garden if E helps me with getting the bed made.

It's about time to cut the grass for the first time. It could've used a cutting this weekend, but I was too busy with other things. I'll either do it later this week or Saturday morning. We're supposed to get rain Saturday afternoon and Sunday. Bummer for a weekend! The temps are staying pretty cool. I'm hoping this Spring will be like last Spring, long and cool. We had an actual Spring instead of bouncing right into Summer. I hate Summer. Feeling like you are melting in a bowl of pea soup is not fun. I probably wouldn't hate it so much if I lived in a different climate.

Okay. Enough for now. Gotta get back to work. :)

Snow and Spring

This is one of the best things about living on a mountain (granted it's a small foothill mountain, but it's still a mountain.)

Friday morning we woke up to snowfall. This picture was actually taken at lunch time. When I got to work, I was the only vehicle with snow on it! AND I had about a half inch of snow on my truck! I noticed there was hardly any snow sticking to the ground at work. By the time I left for work there was no snow left on the ground. Looking up the hill I could see the mountain range was still white with snow. When I got home, I decided to take this picture so you can see how cool it was! The white is what snow was left around 1pm and it was still snowing. Looking down the hill towards work (the big white building) you can see there is no snow. I love how we can be colder at the house and warmer down at work. One thing that makes me cringe is when we are in a drought and I can clearly see rain falling at work, but we are getting nothing. The mountain range will split storms and they will sometimes go around us.

About Spring....we were in the 70s/80s at the beginning of last week, then the cold front came in. You can see the green grass poking through the snow. As of today, there is green grass going all the way down to the bottom. Love seeing the green!!