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Here is a craft project even the craft challenged will dig. (It’s the bookmark, in case you’re wondering.) For starters, choose some of the full body photos you’ve taken and loaded onto your Facebook. (If you know an organ grinder … Continue reading
I’ll be traveling with my sister, the art teacher, to DC later this month. She has made a short list of museum high points she wants to see. One of them is the Matisse Cut-Outs in the National Gallery of … Continue reading
Cake mix has turned many of middle-of-the-road cooks into rock stars. It happens when a competent cook comes across a recipe and says, “This has got to be really good and better yet, it’s amazingly easy, I’m claiming it.”
I saw it in action when a friend of mine offered me biscotti that she had made.
I said, “Biscotti?”
She said, “Yeah, it’s better than the biscotti you used to get from Kay.”
“Really,” I said. That biscotti was pure grade Italian issue, with a lot of time devoted to cooking, drying and cutting. But I was game. She had given me a full zip-lock baggie, I reached in, grabbed a hunk and bit down.
So this is a keeper. Change it up if you want different flavors, butterscotch chips with caramel frosting, or walnuts for almonds, for instance. But here are the basics:
Image from Holiday Gourmet
Almond Chocolate Biscotti
1 pk chocolate cake mix
1 cup flour
1/2 cup melted butter
2 eggs
1/4 cup chocolate syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 pk (10 to 12 oz) vanilla or white chips
2 TB shortening
1) Beat cake mix, flour, butter, eggs, chocolate syrup and extract until well blended. Stir in almonds, chocolate chips. On un-greased pan, half dough, shape into a 12 x 2 log.
2) Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes until firm to touch. Cool on rack for 20 minutes.
3) Transfer to cutting board cut diagonally with a serrated-edge knife into 1/2″ slices. Place cut sides down on baking sheets. Bake 10-15 minutes until firm. Cool.
4) Melt chips and shortening; stir until smooth. Drizzle over biscotti; store in air tight container.
I am a little behind in picking up leaves hiding out under and behind bushes in my yard. I was hoping that they’d break down a little and turn into mulch all by themselves but last time I checked, they are as sturdy as ever.
Action photo of Jumbo Hands.
On the up side, it is a good excuse to spend ten bucks on a pair of jumbo garden hands from the Walter Drake catalog.
They are big (14″ x 11″) forked plastic lids that let you scoop up a lot of leaves at one time. They come in an attractive shade of garden green in case you care about that.
Could be a Father’s Day gift as long as you stick something really good in the package with it.
‘Cause, let’s face it, getting garden hands for Father’s Day (even if they are jumbo) would be about as much fun as getting a double boiler for your birthday.
Small town cemeteries in the mid-west start bustling when Memorial day weekend rolls around. Leading up to the weekend, lawn mowers chug up and down the rows and weed eaters raise dust and gravel as they trim the edges of the winding paths.
American Legion volunteers study the cemetery map and then fan out to place a miniature flag on every veteran’s grave site. Another crew places larger flags in a precise row along the side of the cemetery facing the road.
The chief Legionnaire orders up a sunny and hot weekend with blue skies and a bit of wind to move the leaves on the enormous shade trees and rustle the grasses in the surrounding fields.
The visitors come in clusters. They carry peonies in coffee cans wrapped in aluminum foil or pots of cheerful geraniums or wreaths with plastic greenery and purple pansies. They greet people they know and stop to catch up.
When they stop at grave sites and stoop to arrange their flowers, there are silent words of comfort that mix with the sharp pain of loss.
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Believe it or not I have never made deviled eggs. Or if I did I don’t remember it. I was talking to my sister about it and she couldn’t believe it and offered to walk me through it since it … Continue reading
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If I was forced to talk about the down side of picking up a coffee grande, I’d say the coffee is too hot to drink right away — but then it turns cold waay too fast. I haven’t yet found … Continue reading
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Mix yourself a tall Bloody Mary, find yourself a comfortable chair and heave a toast to the man. The man being Bram Stoker who gave the world Count Dracula on this very day in 1897. Though Stoker’s Dracula was the … Continue reading
I doubt that I will ever grow up and out of the irrational notion that if I blow out all of the candles on my birthday cake, I’ll get my wish. (As long as I don’t blab about it.)
The custom is rooted with the ancients, when people believed a herd of gods lived in the sky. Smoke wafting from blown-out candles evidently had a fighting chance of reaching a wish granting spirit.
Since birthday wishes are such a time-honored tradition, there’s job security in cake baking. But some bakers are probably more secure than others.
Cake Wrecks is only interested in cakes gone wrong. For instance, it was just as well that little Trudi Smith didn’t know how to read when it was time for her to blow out the candles on her purple cake.
Overheard.
“Well, I guess Nuts is Peter Allergy’s brother or maybe sister? Good lookin’ bushes, doncha think?”
“Yeah, nice. Let’s move on. We have to finish one more for a 5:00 pick-up, we gots to hurry.”
“Okay, here’s the gab – it goes on the white frosted swirl two decker round.”
“H 85th (Grand.Mom)?”
“Yeah, that’s what it says. I think it is some kinda computer code or somethin?”
“Alrighty. We’re done.”
(Thanks Meghan for passing this along.)