Yea, vacation time....

So what did you do, continued.....

Finished baked goods

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a clean floor!

As you can see, the baking is done.  (I had to take a taste of the banana bread.  I fooled around with the recipe and was not sure the texture was to my liking, it's OK) 
I will be constructing the cakes tomorrow.  More pictures then.  Oh, and by the way, I also cleaned the powder room floor, (why waste that water!)  and did two loads of wash.  I think now I will rest for a few minutes. 
The last wash is in the dryer.  My house  smells spic and span clean with a hint of chocolate and banana.  Not bad!

Chiffon cake, banana bread and hershey's chocolate cake.. and what did you do this morning?

So what did you do this morning?  I made a lemon chiffon cake, cleaned up a bit, worked on my blog, went to the supermarket, they had reduced bananas so I got three for banana bread.  I returned home and made clams and angel hair, shrimp and started on the banana bread.  After cleaning up that mess, I made a hershey's chocolate cake, which is in the oven right now.  It should be out by 1p.  In the meantime, I'm going to wash the kitchen floor.  When the cakes come out, I'll try to rest before work.  I leave at 3p.  Oh yeah, I would also like to watch the Bethenny episode that I taped.  I will try to take pictures of the baked goods.  Sure smells good in here, but a little hot!


Here is a good bakeware set that I have.  Nice even heat!

Bethenny was at it again last night.  Don't you love the way Jason laughs when she makes her comments?  He could have passed for a doctor when he put on the scrubs.  I think she is a hoot.  The CPR class was very entertaining.  This women really does not have a clue about kids.  But I do think she was trying to learn as much as she could.  Life does have a way of changing once a baby arrives.  They take over the house, the car and especially your life.  Those are the best days of your life.  I know most of my friends would agree.  I came from the generation of still stay at home moms.  The lazy days of taking care of kids was the best.  Now everyone is running wild, looking for others to care for their most cherished possession.  I feel like saying, "Don't you want to raise your children".  We did with less and stayed home more.  We cooked meals most nights, no fast food in our houses.  Life was nice.

Here is a reasonably priced car seat. Do you need one?

Just created a couple of nice memory books on Snapfish.  Between Picasa and Snapfish, I'm having a great time.  Can't wait to do more.  Family went on a Princess cruise.  I hope they like them.

Feel good sneakers...

I wear Skechers to work.  My knees don't bother me, my back feels good and I think they are a great buy at Amazon.com.  I've been wearing them for over a year and spent $110 for them.  I also bought the sandal.  Like that too.  I would suggest that anyone that wants a comfortable shoe, reduce leg, knee, and overall aches in lower extremities, to invest in these shoes.

After all, we only have one body and we have to take care of it.

The 30 minute meal...

sweet potato fries

sweet potato fries, chicken and kale

Here is a picture of the sweet potato fries and a finished meal.  The chicken was OK.  Tried something different, instead of making the usual cutlets.  This  was only two potatoes, I should have used two baking sheets.  But they were still delicious.
If you are following my meals, you will notice we eat on dessert plates.  Nothing original, but you will eat less.

This is a great day...

I went to TJ Maxx to look for a bathing suit.  I dreaded going into the dressing room with the harsh florescent lighting, making me look worse than I already feel.  Anyway, I brought in 5 suits.  I couldn't believe it when I had to choose between 4.  Do you believe that I actually had 4 that looked decent and that I had to debate over.  No, this doesn't happen too often.  No, it never happens.  I ended up with a blue tankini top and bottom.  No matter how old I get, I still feel the two piece bathing suits are the most comfortable.  Even though I haven't shown my stomach in decades.  Yes, that's right, decades!
Then I came home and made chicken tenders with sesame seeds, peanut butter, teriyaki sauce, don't ask, I just made it up as I went along.  I also made oven roasted sweet potato fries.  Now that's a recipe you'll love.  And of course I made kale and a green salad.  And Rachel Ray thinks she can put a meal on in 30minutes.  I invented it, but she capitalized on it.  I will post pictures of the meal, but not the bathing suit.
Oh yea, I also picked up a fabulous cover up.  I might wear it as a dress.  Nice.
It's interesting what makes someone have a great day, isn't it!

Cake decorating supplies...

I have so many cake decorating supplies.  I have used them all at some point of cake decorating.  I especially love the rotating cake stand.   I don't think I could decorate a cake without it.  I love all the Wilton products and am looking forward to using Duffs new line of fondant and other cake decorating supplies. 

The beauty of this equipment is that you can use it for all your baking needs.  The roll and cut mat can be used for anything you need to roll out, pie crust, cookies, and of course fondant and gumpaste.  The surface is fabulous and easy to clean.  Love it!

This is a must have piece of equipment for cake decorators.  There is another one that tilts, but this one does a great job.  I have also used it to elevate my cakes for display and it works beautifully, sturdy and good size.

Day at Foxwoods...

Well the 5 of us took off for Foxwoods at about 10a.  It was a long drive, the navigator had short cuts that I didn't think were any too short.  Anyway, on arrival, we headed to the slot machines, assigning a place to meet at 1p. 
Pat, the cat lady(she has 10cats) got on a machine and didn't move.  She was up a bit, but just kept on playing.  (isn't that always the way).  I met Kathy a few times, but we were not doing too much.  We had already put in about as much as we wanted to with little success.  Sheila, the world traveler, navigator and avid casino fan, was losing.  We could tell by  her walk, just no pep and averting her frustrated eyes.  Of course, someone was lucky.  The driver, Judy, had some luck.  Kathy found me in the sea of blinking machines and said that Judy hit for $2500.  Drat, why couldn't that have been me.  What machine was she on?  How long was she playing?  How much money did she start with?  All the same questions that we all ask.  She was happy enough.  I would have been tripping out. 
We went to Hard Rock for lunch. 
Good enough food, but the prices were higher than the last time we were there.  Can you imagine how much it costs to eat out?  I did have a great drink, "Sex on the Beach", delicious, although I hadn't eaten anything until then and I got a bit woozy after drinking about half of it.  I gave it to my friend to finish, but it was good.  Anyway we designated another place to meet at 5p.  I wanted to leave, it was my day off and I wanted to relax for a bit of the night.  Also, Bethenny was on and I couldn't miss that. 
So that was a pleasant enough day.  I came home with more money than  I went with, and that made me happy.  After lunch and all the other little things I spent money on, I felt I had a good day and was ahead. 
When we got back to Kathy's (where we all met in the morning) we all headed home, but not without making a plan to do this again soon.  Nice day, nice people. 

What an absolutely great website I just posted for the WWTBAM game. I never saw it. It gives a better description than I ever could about my 15minutes!

Hope you enjoy it.

Because I mentioned it, WWTBAM...

Because I mentioned it, I will be posting the adventure of being on "Who wants to be a Millionaire" in the future. I was on in 2002. Great fun.


Click on "This WWTBAM" link below

this WWTBAM link

Have some fun and use some brain power...

Here is an educational and fun website. Even though I was on the real "who wants to be a millionaire", this is still a fun site. Of course the only thing you win is some brain power!!

this

Click on "This"

Enjoy

Cooking like a pro videos...

If you love to watch food videos and would to learn to cook like a pro, visit this Redbook link.

this! It's a really nice website for good food instructions

Just click on "This"
Hope you enjoy it.

Bethenny getting married....

Last nights episode was good. It was the honeymoon. It looks like they had a wonderful time. Can you really believe how sweet Jason is. I have to say, she picked a winner when she got him. He is genuinely a nice guy. A Penna native.
I thought the episode was cute and funny. As I said, I love her sense of humor and I love Jason's reactions to her quips.
I still feel awkward seeing pregnant women in bikinis. But then I was thinking, I bet all the direct sunlight does the baby good.
The iguana part was a bit disturbing. Could that little beast be lurking in the room. I would have a hard time sleeping in there. I'm sure the camera crew and others cleared out the room before they went to sleep. St Bart's looked like a beautiful island. I couldn't believe them when they ate the scotch bonnet pepper. You mean a cook like Bethenny didn't know what it was. They are some of the hottest peppers. I enjoyed the beach scene when B was looking at the little girls. She looked genuinely happy and looking forward to the birth of her baby. I'm glad she had a girl. And what about that beautiful furniture. It must be great to have a decorator there to advise you. It looks like next week it will be the birth of the baby. I will be looking forward to that show. Let's see how she gets through the labor.

this! Here is a website to see what's going on
with Bethenny.
Click on "this"

Finally capped...

BP announced that the oil well is capped. Thank God. I hope this is a final solution.

BP is still fooling around with the leaking oil well. It's almost like an afterthought now. They are going to try to cap it. But it seems like they are going to do it in stages to see if it works. Our poor beautiful earth. Will it ever recover from this one.
On one of our trips to the seashore, when driving through Newark, I was happy that it was dark so no one could see me cry. The sky was cloudy with pollution. I could smell the refineries. I remember that smell when we drove from Philly to Jersey. It was the same smell that was heavy in the air when we passed the "oil tanks". Our poor beautiful earth.

Today I posted a tutorial on chicken prep. It's on you tube.
Anyway, I am eager to see who gets tossed on the Chefs show on Bravo. I love Bravo. I used to love Lifetime, but the programming has changed. But I am addicted to the shows on Bravo. Aren't Americans gracious, especially when they are told, "Pack your knives and go". They always say, "thank you". All the shows are the same way. You did a lousy job, "Thank you".
I must say, the show I am into right now is Bethenny getting married. I think she is fabulous. I love her sense of humor. And Jason, he is a dream. I wonder, is he too good to be true. I hope not. Tomorrow night is the honeymoon show. It's strange to see pregnant women in bikinis, or white wedding gowns, for that matter. Oh, how times have changed. Or maybe they haven't changed so much, but things were quieter. No one broadcasted the things that we see today. I want to know if others feel the same. And the way some women talk. I cringe everytime they beep them on the shows. I mean, do they have to be so crude.
I'm off to foxwoods tomorrow with a few friends. I better not lose any money. I'm not taking that much, so I won't. I told my friend that we can people watch after we spend our money. Oh yea, I don't say "lose". I say "spent". Because it is a day of entertainment and you have to pay to be entertained. But I hope the entertainment is not too expensive. I'll let you know.

I made another video for you tube.
It's called Jennifer the gymnast

Take a look

My second you tube posting....

cod and zucchini dinner prep

This is my latest endeavor. You will find my recipe and preparation.
Try it on You tube. Just type in the above description. It should come up.

At the fair...

Have you ever seen anything as large as these horns? This animal is called a Watusi and it's from Africa. An attraction at the fair we went to today. There were plenty of other animals, but this one is note worthy.

I have a wonderful cake decorator instructor. She's smart, has patience, is kind and really knows her stuff. I hope to continue with the new lineup of classes that she is now teaching. You can view some of the designs of her students and her class schedule. We all try very hard to make masterpieces of our cakes.
this!

you can view her website by clicking on the above

I hope you enjoy it

Shadow posing and other tidbits...

Here is a picture of my neighbor's cat, Shadow. I love animals. Dogs and cats. I've had 4 of my own and many acquaintances. I remember Rusty, the little tan dog with the wavy fur. and Mickey, the ferocious Doberman. Pixie, Lady Jane, Boo and Scotty were my pets. I remember the first animal I fell in love with. It was in Brigantine that I found a stray cat. I fed it, played with it. My family was none too happy with the cat. It didn't come in the house and I wonder, now, where I got the food to feed it. Anyway, there was a terrible storm, maybe a hurricane. The cat somehow drowned. I remember the stiff little body on the shovel my dad used to discard the carcass. I was the only one that seemed to care that this little bit of fur had succumbed to the storm. I remember sitting on one of the six beds in the "girls' room" and crying. My heart was broken. That was the first time my heart was broken over an animal, but certainly not the last.

a blurry picture of a lone turkey

Well, I didn't get a picture of the red fox, but I was looking out my window and saw this lone turkey. We call them the "teenagers". You need to look very hard on the left side of the tree. The closer I got, the faster it began to walk. And then when I thought I got another picture, it mosied on into the bushes. Too bad. There will be others, I'm sure. We counted 16 one time.

Candy Melts roses

These are pictures of my "candy melts" flowers. I think they are very pretty. They take a while to make, but are worth the effort, wouldn't you agree?

Cecilia's birthday cake

This is the finished cake I made for my friend's daughter. It was short notice, so I used the flowers I had on hand. I would have liked it to have had something more fitting a one year old, but didn't have the time. It's a three layer chiffon with strawberries and whipped cream filling. The flowers are made from candy melts. My friend said that everyone enjoyed the cake. I liked the results. Oh and by the way, I know longer say "cake decorating". A more appropriate definition of this wonderful and time consuming craft is "cake construction". I like that better.
I am going to post a cake tutorial soon. I love the chiffon cakes. Light, airy and always moist.

Ground meat tips

I had London broil beef ground. I tell you, I never buy ground meat. I only pick out something in the meat case and ask to have it ground. I learned this from my father-in-law. He turned me on to this and I've followed his advice for over 40years. I make meatballs, meatloaf and an occasional hamburger. If I can't get my meat ground, none of these get made.
The total cost of the meat was $6.36, the meat was $2.29 a lb. I made 10 nice sized burgers. They will go into the freezer. You can take one out individually, or take out as many as needed to make meatballs or meatloaf. Also, when you freeze meat in smaller quantities, it defrosts faster. I wanted to show the meat labels, but could not put another picture on this post. I'm going to try again. Well, I tried and it didn't work. I will do another post. I hope you enjoyed this simple bit of info. Oh, by the way, I formed the burgers in a cottage cheese lid. Nice size.

I could make a cake everyday...

My friend's daughter is turning 1 this week. She asked me to make her cake. She already had a big party last weekend. This is just for her family. So I will make a cake and post it in the next few days. It will be an orange chiffon with whipped cream frosting. I'll keep you all posted.

are these beets, umm delicious

The finished product, salmon, beet greens and golden beets
delish!



Salmon seasoned with lemon, salt, and this fabulous seasoning. I get it in the organic section of my market.


Salmon, beets and zucchini

Golden Beets







We went out for breakfast and stopped at two farmer's markets on the way home. There is a new one in North Easton. Just starting up, nice produce. Bought golden beets, which I just made.
We went to another and bought raspberries and some other things. We ended up at the local supermarket to get fish. They had Sockeye Salmon on sale. I bought a pound and am making it for supper. Will be posting the pictures.
I just started making beets. I also use the greens for a side dish. This is the first time I made the golden beets. I wonder if they will be as sweet as the red beets.

early morning photography and a fox

Went out back to take pictures of my plants. They are looking nice, of course, not as nice as my brother's. I went down to one that is on the steps to my deck. I was down taking a picture and heard a rustle. I quickly turned and saw the spindly legs and red bushy tail of a red fox heading back into the bushes. I didn't get scared and hoped he would come out for my blackberry. No luck, but we will continue to look every morning to see him. I hope I remember to have my camera handy.
I'm very pleased with the first plant. (The one I was taking a picture of when I saw the back end of the red fox). The spike and vinca made it over the winter in my basement. The ivy in the second picture also survived the cold basement. I think they look pretty good. The little pony tail plant is cute. Not sure if it will look green, but I love the gracefulness of it.

Earlier, when I was putting a wash in, I was looking at my baking equipment. I love the leveler that I recently purchased. No guess work when I have to cut one of my cakes to make layers. I love it, it reminds me of a hack saw. I also am looking forward to working with Duff's fondant. Michael's carries it, along with cakes, frostings and other things. The next cake will be covered in it. I've also used Satin ice. It tasted pretty good. The company was very nice when I called and they sent me a sample. I was able to buy it in a great little store that is a bit of a distance from me. But it has absolutely everything you could need to put a cake together. I have pictures of my cakes and will continue to post them.

flowers from tootsie rolls and salt water taffy

I was thinking about different mediums to make flowers for my cakes. I know you can make them with tootsie rolls. I made them one night and they came out very nice, And the tootsie roll was easy to work with and held up nicely.
When I was on the plane going to Jersey, I was thinking about making flowers for a cake while I was there. I thought I could use salt water taffy. Well, I bought a box and sure enough, I made flowers for my Aunt Mary's cake. I didn't tell anyone until I was sure they looked ok. Unfortunately, I have a lousy picture of the cake, but maybe I can do something with it to post it. The tootsie roll worked very well. I will make more of them and post them. I think they would be nice for a boy's cake. I was also thinking about a candy that we ate years ago. It was called Turkish Taffy. I bet that would have worked beautifully.
I'll be back. I have alot on my mind tonight.

Julia childs and other interests

I read "the lovely bones" on vacation. I had a hard time getting through the first chapter, and skimmed the description of the assault. I did enjoy the rest of the book. It was good, wouldn't read it again, like I have wanted to do with so many books that I love. I haven't seen the movie and probably will when it comes to cable or Netflix. I did see the movie Julia and Julia. (was that the name of it?) It was very good and Meryl Streep was fabulous. She was the highlight of the movie. I watched Julia Child during my younger days. I learned alot from her. Some good techniques. I will try to share some with you with photos sometime. It was interesting how they portrayed Julia as such a sensual woman. She just does not look the part. I found the story to be quite interesting. She was not an overnight success. If I remember correctly, it looks like it took about ten years for her to gain her fame and have her book published. Oh well, there's hope for all of us.

I wanted to share some of my plants from last year. This years are still getting started. Will post them when they are nice and full.

Some of the recipes I will be posting in the distant future

In the future, I will be posting some of my really good recipes. It is going to be hard for me to reveal some of them.
My list of recipes will be:
Biscotti
Meatballs and Gravy
Baked fish
Sweet potato fries (really good)
Butternut squash
Maybe my butter cookies, and that's a big maybe
Ahh, my cakes, and that's another real big maybe
I hope you follow me in this adventure

Two of my cakes that I think are very nice, all my own designs

I wanted to add two cakes that I made for graduations. The three tiered is Jessica's graduation cake. She is going to school for Marine Biology.
The sheet cake is for a friend's granddaughter.

Another recipe, string beans and potatoes

I also made stringbeans and potatoes. Thats an old recipe that most Italians make. Lots of chopped garlic, olive oil and fresh string beans.
Boil the string beans in a frying pan with a bit of salt. The frying pan keeps the beans green. Boil a few potatoes cut into 1inch pieces in another pot. Remove the string beans when they are to your liking. Clean pan and put olive oil and lots of chopped garlic. Saute until soft then add the beans. Drain the potatoes and add to the pan. Add salt and pepper to taste. And of course, add plenty of chopped fresh parsley.
Real Good!

I ended up sauteing the tenderloin. I put olive oil in a pan and added lots of chopped garlic, fried it until it was soft, but not brown. I added a few bay leaves and fresh parsley.
When this was nicely aromatic and the garlic cooked, I removed it and added the pork to the pan to brown it. After browning, I put the garlic mixture back in the pan so the pork would pick up the wonderful taste of the fresh herbs. I then put the pork mixture in a bowl and added a few tablespoons of apricot preserves to the pan. I heated that through until it melted down a bit and added the pork. Heated through and spooned the apricot over the pork. It tasted very good.