HAPPY BIRTHDAY, K!!

From K, S, Nikki, and George!

Where have these been all my life?

I just discovered the wonder that is the secret-recipe buttermilk Perkins pancake.

Three on Thursday

Subtitle: My Three Excuses for Not Posting More Often

1. We currently don’t have access to the Internet at home. I feel entirely disconnected, even though I only reluctantly signed on at home, before, because we had dial-up and a quick-check-of-the-weather or a movie-time-lookup would take 20 minutes, at least. Posting full size jpg photo files to any online printing website was out of the question, because it would take 4 hours . . . per picture. Once we return to the 21st century, we’ll have high-speed. I imagine we’ll have to have a hole carved into our cave wall for the cables.

2. I just started a new job in a different department within the same company – a promotion, thank goodness. When I applied for the position, I was simply hoping for a job I wouldn’t hate as much as the old one. I’ve only been in the job for four days so far, officially anyway, and I’m still training, but I am SO happy to have left my old job. This is something I might actually . . . dare I say . . . like! And every day, my ex-coworkers still manage to make me more and more glad I left. As Cartman might say . . . “Screw you guys, I’m going to Accounting.” Let them eat my dust.

3. Because of #1, I can only access the Internet on my lunch hour or in quick sneaks (like this one). Because of #2, my brain is so fried from training by lunch time, I need to get away from my desk, and I’m so busy, I rarely have time for sneaks. Plus, I’d hate to get fired.

I do have posts in my head, though, so I’m hoping once the dust settles, they’ll find their way to the blog. In the meantime, patient readers, bear with me!

Torta di Arancia

My father-in-law's birthday was at the beginning of April, and my thoughtful husband wanted to make him a cake that would remind him of the orange cake that his mother used to make him. The result was this, Torta di Arancia (Italian Orange Cake), from a recipe found online and modified only slightly from the original. It was a hit!

Italian Orange Cake (Torta di Arancia)

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature, divided

3 tablespoons finely ground almonds

2 cups granulated sugar

4 eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup whipping cream, at room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla

Grated peel of 2 oranges

1/2 cup orange marmalade

Honey-orange glaze (see recipe below)

Brush a 9- or 10-inch Bundt pan with 1 tablespoon butter; sprinkle with ground almonds. Set aside. Cream remaining 1 cup butter and sugar in bowl of electric mixer until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in another bowl. Add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with cream. Stir in vanilla and orange peel. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven about 1 hour, or until lightly golden and wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean. Let cool in pan on rack 5 minutes. Invert onto cake plate. Brush cake with orange marmalade. Spoon honey-orange glaze over cooled cake. Yield: 16 servings.

HONEY-ORANGE GLAZE:

1/2 cup orange juice, strained

1/2 cup honey

Combine orange juice and honey in saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring once or twice, until honey is completely dissolved, about 3 minutes. Let cool. Spoon over cooled orange cake. Yield: About 1 cup.

We sliced the oranges we had used for the zest and used them to decorate the plate.

Experimenting last weekend for Easter dinner with my family, I used the batter recipe to make a pineapple upside-down cake. I omitted the zest and added a bit of the pineapple juice from draining the can. I used 2 cups of brown sugar and one can of pineapple chunks (I don't like to use rings, because they make it harder to eat!). It was a large cake, so I would probably cut the recipe in half next time, and I would add cinnamon to the brown sugar. If there are any expert pineapple upside-down cake bakers out there, I'd love some tips!

Party Pooch

All dresed up for Mardi Gras.

(Yeah, I know . . . I'm just a little behind.)

The Picture of Contentment

Peaches . . . on catnip.

Notice the big smile!

Invasion

First, there came the scout flakes.

Then, the colonist ships arrived.

Then, the Mothership landed.

ABC tagged by P

A - Available or single: Happily Married
B - Best friends: S and P!
C - Cake or pie: BROWNIES! (duh!)
D - Drink of choice: Water (yep. . . always! Ha ha)
E - Essential item you use everyday: lots and lots of soap
F - Favorite color: navy blue, but burgundy is almost up there
G- Gummy bears or worms: Bears!
H - Hometown: Stow
I- Indulgence: Chocolate chip cookies hot from the oven and a big glass of milk
J - January or February: February, this year at least! Birthdays and heart cookies!
K - Kids & names: Same as P here, no kids, but some names!
L- Life is incomplete without? Dogs and books. (Okay, and George, too.)
M- Marriage date: September 17
N- Number of siblings: 1
O- Oranges or apples: Oranges most of the time – Apples in the fall (again, right on P!)
P- Phobias or fears: Staircases. I’m not kidding.
Q- Fave quote: The one at the top of this blog.
R - Reasons to smile: Too many to mention! That’s what this blog is all about!
S - Season: Fall
T - Tag: B and M
U - Unknown fact about me: Unknown to some – I want to be a computer animator when I grow up.
V- Vegetable you don't like: Turnip greens. Does that count?
W - Worst habit: Not eating fish.
X - Xrays: Oh my . . . teeth, back, lungs . . . what haven’t I had x-rayed?
Y - Your fave food: Kibbie!
Z- Zodiac sign: Cancer

Sunday Science Hour

As S and I were leaving the restaurant after breakfast Sunday morning, we found some dry ice in the parking lot. It had apparently been used for a delivery and had beed discarded.

We took it, of course. How could we resist?

It provided a good hour of science fun in our kitchen.

Baby Nikki

A favorite picture of my Nikki girl taken on Christmas Eve.