A New Year, thank goodness

Wow, I kind of disappeared for a few months there, sorry about that.  2012 was not my best year, and leaving it behind and learning from it is just what I plan to do.  2013 is shaping up to be OK so far.  If the snow would start to melt again it would be even better.  It was melting nicely and my garden planning and yard improvements were well under way and into the planning stages, until......the dump of the ole white stuff.  I am about done.  Valentines Day came and went and I began dreaming of slightly warmer weather and the possibility of green grass.

(as requested by my February birthday daughter, vanilla cupcakes with chocolate icing and pink chocolate heart cutouts)

(my favourite breakfast and my families newest favourite cookie,  the deepdish chocolate chip cookie, the pic doesn`t do it justice, but one is the equivalent of 2-3 of my normal size cookies :-) so yummmmmy good )

Well, that was just what it was, a dream.  My plans for the yard and garden have not been tossed out just yet, but put on hold for the time being.  We shovel off the deck every snowfall, and the remainder melts quickly as the sun struggles to shine.  Our solar panels are craving the sunshine just as much as I am.  I am eager to pull out the deck furniture but alas that is on hold for now as well. 

 

This is just the beginning of a return to my blog for me and I will do my darnedest to return weekly and keep this up to date.  Time flies whether we are having fun or not, so I will put on a happy face and try my bestest to have fun again.

Peace out for now.

 

Peanut Butter Cup Cake

Well, another Birthday promise I made months ago, what was I thinking, right?  My oldest turned 13 this year, like I have mentioned before and one day while filling my Pinterest habit I came across and Peanut Butter Cup Cake.  It is just a wee bit of an addiction in our household, those yummy peanut butter cup type thingies.  Reese's is a huge fave with my entire family, any size will do really, the 'Big Cup' is my #1, just in case you were wondering.  Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't turn down any Reese's, even those tiny mini ones :)  mmmmm.  OK, I'm losing track of my thought here.  So, searching Pinterest one day we find a cake, $75 and they ship, but $75 is still a little steep even for a favourite of mine.  I'm in Canada and would probably cost a fortune and they probably wouldn't ship to me, and I would never order a cake anyway, so that thought was dismissed quickly.  hmmmm how to make one myself.....I thought, and thought and thought, a couple of months actually, and the day finally arrived and I was only partly prepared.  I hadn't come up with a way to have the chocolate rippled on the outer part of the cake.  I had looked for something to make the edging, but nodda, zilcho, zip....The morning of the cake making I woke with a startle, and broke the light bulb above my head when I shot upwards in bed.  I got it, we had a CD holder from Ikea around here somewhere that was no longer in use, now where was it.  It was rubbery and had notches in it, and should work.....I think.  Found it, K, so it wasn't quite the way I had imagined (wishful thinking I think) but I could make it work.  Now onto the master piece.
Now keep in mind, when creating this wonderful bit of yumminess, one should not be in a hurry, should not have to pick up kids, drive kids, or help others during this process.  Just a suggestion is all.  I had a blond moment in my process as well, I am not afraid to admit to, and will get to that later on.  Here I go;

I started out by folding double layers of wax paper accordion style.

Then placed the wax paper into the notches on my CD holder.  You can see what I mean, not exactly what I imagined, they are square notches not V notches but thought if I used wax paper and folded it, it could do the trick.  I put a butter knife on top of the wax paper to hold it down, otherwise it would pop up before the chocolate was poured in.

I melted some good quality chocolate (Callebaut) in the microwave, and poured in down the centre.  It was melted enough to pour out, but not runny as to leak  toward the edges.  I spread it out with my spatula and let it cool.

About now I am getting busy at home.  I begin making the cake only to realize I don't have enough flour, grrrr.  So, I hop in the shower, because I have a funeral to go to and, well, I should shower of course.  I was going to shower while the cake baked, but, noooo, I guess not now.  So I put out all my ingredients I am going to need, other than the dang flour of course.  (I may have said more than dang at the time) (I'm pretty certain I said more than dang)  OK enough of that....I needed;
1/2 cup of butter, softened
3/4 cup of sugar
1 tsp vanilla (or so, I never measure)
2 eggs
1/2 - 3/4 cup of smooth peanut butter
1 & 1/2 cups of flour (um, when I get more)
1/2 tablespoon of baking powder
1/2 cup of milk (or so, I judge my batter, 1/2 cup for sure, maybe a splash more)
Let's just say I had the flour, I would begin beating the first 5 ingredients, one at a time, until nice and smooth, then add the flour slowly and the baking powder, then add the milk until the right consistency.
I was only making one 9" round cake pan, so that's why only these ingredients.  This is a filling cake and it is a bit on the rich side.  That's why only one cake pan.  I cut out a round of parchment paper for the bottom of my round pan and greased it, as well as the sides of the pan, poured the batter in, spread it out, tapped the pan on the counter to expel any unwanted air bubbles, and baked at 350 degrees for about a half an hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.  Let cool completely.  Slice in half so as to have two layers, made out of only one cake.
I did not take pictures of this part, or the next part as this is when things were a bit hairy in my household.
Peanut Butter filling;
1 cup smooth peanut butter
2ish tablespoons of softened butter (sorry again, no measuring)
1/2 cup of icing sugar
1/4 cup(ish) of honey
mix well, until smooth, and this is what I put between the cut layers of cake.
I put one layer on the bottom of my cake plate, put my peanut butter filling down, placed the top cake layer on, and now the building process can begin.  And my family starts tugging at me in all directions.  Ugh....
So I removed my melted chocolate, notched CD holder from the fridge to let it warm up a bit, and it is looking perfect I must say.  As it reaches the temperature and softness I want, I decide it's time to cut it and get ready to 'glue it" around the edge.  I butter the outside edge of the cake round, and proceed to cut the chocolate down the centre as that looks to be a good size and will have two pieces to join together only.  So I get my big sharp Henkel knife and begin to cut slowly, really slowly as to not crack the most precious chocolate.  I get nothing, um it's not cutting, what? I press again, and then I put the tip of my knife in the chocolate and again not cutting, I push harder, and the chocolate begins to crack along the ridges....Have you guessed yet, I'm having a blond moment, and forgot to lift the wax paper out of my CD holder mold thingy.  Yeppers, way to go Sharon.  So now I have chocolate fingers, OK I can still make this work, *big sigh* Again, what was I thinking??  So now like a brick layer, I buttered the backs of the chocolate fingers and place them around the edge of the cake, looking good, all is going well, I realize that I should have chocolate icing as my mortar, since I am doing this piece by piece, and little bit of the white icing is showing, but oh well, can't go back now.  After the edging is complete, and looking kinda cool, I melt more chocolate for the top of the Peanut Butter Cup Cake.  Melted perfectly, I pour it on top and using my offset spatula I spread it around.  Now during all of this chocolate process my two youngest are at my sides, asking me questions, wanting a piece of the chocolate fingers, or any chocolate really, can I blame them, hello, it is chocolate :)  Can they lick the bowl, how about the knife, the spatula, please Mom just a little.....Done, the cake is done, in the fridge it goes. Whew, now hope it tastes good!!!

You can see some of the white icing peeking thru my chocolate fingers around the edge, and some of my chocolate fingers are not the same height, but at that point I just wanted the cake done.  My chocolate on top is still freshly melted in the pic, and hasn't cooled and hardened yet, that's why the colour difference from the edging.  If I hadn't had my blond moment and other factors causing me some grief, this cake really was easy to make.  And, it tastes good too, whew, relief.  My daughter's friends were impressed, and I was just so dang happy it was done, and it was edible.  Some helpful hints;  I should have made more of a ganache for the topping, that would have made it not quite so solid, although when you bite into a Reese's cup, the chocolate cracks and that's what I like.  My chocolate edging is rather thick, and I will still continue my search for something better to use for those ridges, cuz I think I would like to make this cake again....improve on it a little, now that I have one under my belt. and have learned a few things.  I would not spend $75 to order this cake, although I would spend maybe $30?  The good quality chocolate makes a difference.

I may have had a bite out of this piece before I thought to take a picture of it, oops, but you can see how it turned out.  the colour is pretty true in the pic, the peanut butter filling layer is almost like a Reese's Cup filling, mmmm and the cake has just a hint of peanut butter flavour, the chocolate it smooth, and a tad think in spots but oooo so deelish.  Hope I inspired you to take on this cake.  Honestly, it is quite simple, and you don't have to fuss over the ridges, you can have a smooth edge, use ganache and cover it all, let it run over the sides and cover the entire thing.  Done, and you have your own take on a most yummy Peanut Butter Cup Cake.
Now I'm hanging up my measuring cups for a while I think, gotta put a dent in my fabric pile.  I have a certain daughter with a passion for purple that needs a duvet cover....

Hope everyone is staying dry out there, no other flooding, we have recovered rather easily, others not so easily, and prayers to them all, hope for no other disasters happening, stay safe my friends, have fun, and see you soon.

mmmm Rhubarb

Well finally, up here in the north, my rhubarb has grown to picking size, and today I baked a rhubarb cake, rhubarb muffins and stewed some rhubarb.  I have a hardy little patch that just keeps growing year after year.  Hubby took the cake to work to share with the guys, so tomorrow I will bake another.  Let's just say that my kids voiced their opinion as Dad walked out of the house with the dish in his hands.  Rhubarb jam is also on the agenda for tomorrow, yummm, can't get enough, and I need to make a couple of batches so I can share a few jars.

Oh my goodness my mouth is watering, the cake turned out perfect, although I never got to even taste it, lol.  I did taste a muffin and yep delicious.  Will drop off a bag full of that tarty goodness to a friend who makes rhubarb wine (hope to get a sample of that) on Friday, and see what other yummy rhubarb recipes I can come up with.  I do recall a most scrumptious rhubarb slush recipe, hmmm where did I put that...
Do you love rhubarb, any favourite recipes?  Please share :)

Yukky weather day

Well yesterday did not go as planned, that's for sure!  After our super yukky weather overnight, and the kids staying home all day, I never got all my "to do" items done, but the kids sure had a great time.

This is what we woke up to, now it doesn't look like much, but under that dusting of snow is a layer ice, which covered all the roads, highways etc...our driveway had a couple of massive puddles of slushy, yukkiness.  Highways were closed, no buses running, and we stayed home ALL day :)  Now look at that poor, very rotund robin, poor guy didn't know what hit him, searching frantically with all his buddies for any kind of food like substance :)  And, we were snug and warm indoors.

After a few episodes of kids shows the kids were bored and I was pulling out my hair.  Hopefully I got a few of those nasty white ones (I skipped the grey stage, lol) seriously.  The girls decided to make ??? Yup more cupcakes, but this time they wanted each cupcake to be different, I don't mean different icing or sprinkles, I mean different flavours. *sigh*  In yet another vulnerable moment, I gave in. I gave them my basic, yet yummy vanilla cupcake recipe that they could alter and create their master pieces from.  So that's what they did, for the entire afternoon.....my kitchen had been taken over and I wasn't allowed in.  Their brother was somehow coerced into being chief dishwasher, and his payment would be, being "allowed" to taste the cupcakes.

So here are their creations after baking, each one a different flavour.  All I know is there is a marble one, coffee flavoured one and strawberry/blueberry one.  Only because I came to refill my coffee when those were being made and I overheard, shhhh....The one with sprinkles was actually baked with some kind of icing and sprinkles on it, looks good enough to eat already :)  My memory card to my camera was "swiped by Dad" so a picture of finished cupcakes was not available after all their hard work.  But this morning I rounded them all up, and, voila;

Yes all the cupcakes are there today, due to an over indulgence of icing by my kids, and, no wish to taste them when all were completed.  So, after school today, will be the Great Cupcake Tasting Adventure.  They all had fun and for the most part contained the mess and cleaned up after.

As for myself.  I worked on a few projects that I had started on Sunday..  I got a few things completed, but my wood worker was more interested in a certain Honda Dirt Bike.  Uh huh, how dare he work on that during my time, yeesh......hahaha, I guess I can give him a break every now and then, but this is not a union organization, I don't have ta :)

All kids are at school today and I am on my way down to my studio, Bahahaha!  My "studio" now that cracks me up, it's a dream of mine really, and maybe one day I will share only one pic of my work area with you, but not yet.  A studio it is not, that's for sure, hahaha I'm still laughing at that, I think that term will stick, my kids will get a kick out of it I'm sure.  Just a little info on my work "area", I moved some things around and put a table in the furnace room, you read that correctly, furnace room.  With all of our square footage in our house, that's all I get!  So I am making do and making the best out of a small, odd space :) *deep breath* I do have a built in magnet board tho, that duct work comes in handy for my clothes pin magnets holding my template and tags :) Heehee!

I would like to let you in on a wonderful site I discovered not long ago, it's the Online Fabric Store, I placed my order and not long after, it arrived, and I was more than satisfied.  My main reason for the order was some burlap and sisal sacks.  I have loved them forever, but here in the north, they are hard to come by, and even harder to find at a reasonable price.  Well, they had them, and I ordered them.  I got a few large ones that the kids can use for sack races, and yes of course, my son and a friend of his did put them to use immediately after I unwrapped them.  I had a few remnant, green coffee beans scattered around my home for a while, hahaha.  Here is what I have done with them, so far that is;

They are hanging in my front entrance on a rustic ladder, purchased at Vintage Pixie Studio, have to say that after taking the pic I noticed that heart (also purchased at the Vintage Pixie Studio) needs to be raised, lol, I can't believe with my OCD that I have not noticed that before, anyway...that is how I will end things for today....the sun is shining, but, we still have some snow on the ground, it was cold this morning, and I feel like uncovering my rhubarb with my hair dryer to see a sign of spring again. 

oh well...

Well, well, well...

Well, we had a great weekend, started a bunch of projects all at once and none are completed yet, ha ha.  In good time :)  My oldest slept at her BFFs all weekend, and the other two played outside, blew bubbles, made a fort in the bush.  We ended our Sunday with a fantastic cupcake making/decorating adventure.  My youngest daughter loves to cook and bake and she received a "Topping Tornado" for her birthday, and we finally had the perfect day to give it a whirl (get it?  a whirl, tornado? corny yes, I'm sorry)  I have to say that it worked much much better than I thought it would, it spread the sprinkles out perfectly.  The cupcakes were yummy and all the kids chose which sprinkles they wanted and set them free in the tunnel.

So the Tornado and toppings were all purchased at Michael's.  Just in case you feel inclined to buy one too :)  It is super easy to use and contains most of the mess inside.  The red tray inside collects all remaining sprinkles to be used on other cupcakes.  Easy Peazy!

Now for today, well it poured rain all night, and then went below zero, about a centimetre of snow fell overnight, and the roads are icy, therefore our rural schools are closed and no buses are running in the city either.  Sooooo ALL my kids are home today and my plans are put on hold, *sigh*.  Not sure what we will do today yet, but I'm sure we will come up with something.  Like...finish a couple of things I started yesterday, maybe make a couple of other things.  My hubby got the old Honda dirt bike running, was supposed to be a drawn out project but once started it had to get done, only now no  riding in this snowy, yukky, slushy stuff.  Maybe some more work with the oak boards I came across?? hmmmm.

I came across a heck of a deal on a bundle of solid oak boards, couldn't pass it up truthfully, and I came up with a style of cutting board I wanted.  Made a "normal" size one and a smaller individual size one, that I totally love.  Maybe a couple of long ones for baguettes, small ones for cheese, possibilities are endless.  Who knows??

On another note, I have been playing around with Picasa as you may have noticed with my pictures.  Just having fun with the features is all, finding my fave.  I don't usually tweak my photos but love some of the new things they came out with.  That's all for now.

Again, thanks for stopping by, will return soon.

I have to say that the planter/cup and saucer and the plant were a gift from my sister last year for Mother's Day, actually my nephew's idea, love love love it, unfortunately, I left it outside over the winter and the cup literally shattered and I am so totally bummed out, so, as a constant reminder of that awesome gift I am inculding it on my blog until I get an equal replacement (hopefully the same design)  It was beautiful.  Ok now I'm done :) 

Here I go...

Well, I have thought long and hard on this and here I am, taking the plunge to begin a blog, who'd a thunk it.  I've been following a few blogs for a while now, and have loved the reads, pics, and general sincerity and openness of the women I have followed.  They have inspired me more than I thought possible.  I have a busy chaotic life with three kids, a husband, full time job (hubby and I work opposite rotations of 4 on 4 off) plus a dog (T-Bone) a couple of fish and a couple of hermits crabs, just for fun!  I've always liked simple things, truly I am a hippie deep down, lol.

As T-dog nudges my hand for attention, I don't even know where to begin.

I can back track a few days to Easter and what our goings on were;

My Easter Vignette

I should give some credit to a couple of blogs that inspired me, because if it weren't for these couple of  women I certainly would not be writing this right now.  Diana at Our Vintage Home Love is absolutely fantastic.  Her home is so welcoming, and her ideas are an ispiration and motivation to me.  Shannon at {aka}design is also another fave of mine, with super ideas, and I have to say, I can relate to most of what she says and does, lol. 

OK so the long weekend was upon us and what should we do;  well decorate eggs of course, I won't post the pics of that event as I didn't take many.  We may have had the odd spillage of coloured water here and there, which I cleaned up with a white and pink tea towel.  Yup, I did, so I then proceeded to dip the towel in all the colours of water/dye so as to have a memento......well the towel cleaned up so well, not a drop of dye on it after washing.  The kids thought I was a bit crazy dipping it in the colours, but hey might as well have some fun too, oh well we now know the colours are washable, haha.

Dinner was of course an engorgement of all the fixings and a buffet of desserts, mmmmm....

 

Yes I made a bunny cake, I HAD to.  Isn't it cute, and made of butter pecan, yummm, it was tasty too.  Made some bird nests but used some goodies that we like.  The nests are made out of Hickory Sticks, pretzels, and some coconut, add some melted chocolate and holy yum :)  Had to chase down the bag of Hickory sticks from my son, who caught me at a weak moment while melting the chocolate in a double boiler.  He asked if he could have some, I said yes and he said thanks..... off he went with the bag, needless to say there wasn't as many Hickory sticks in the nests as I would have liked but that salty mix with the sweet of the chocolate was simply deelish.  Add a few other treats with a side of coffee, and, ugh, good thing I thought ahead to wear stretchy leggings to the family dinner.  Haha!  But seriously thank goodness :)

Well I think that's all for now, gotta get a few things done around here, but will return shortly, hope you enjoy your day, the sun is shining here, going to put some laundry on the clothes line....love that fresh outdoors scent that you can't get from a bottle of dryer sheet.