Baking a Valentine's present

Got busy in the kitchen this week, and tried a recipe from Midwest Living magazine. Last week, when I made the chocolate truffle cupcakes (they called them "Black Tie"), our Sunday school classes scarfed them up because they were so yummy. So this week I tried the Chocolate Mocha Gooey Butter Cake recipe. Remember the Gooey Butter Cakes we all used to make in the 70's and 80's? Well, this is a different twist on the same recipe, and quite tasty too.

For the base, you take a box mix of any 2-layer cake mix, but HAS to be chocolate, mix this well (dough will be stiff) with 1/2 cup melted butter and 1 egg, and press into the bottom of a PAM sprayed 9 X 13 inch cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Meantime, beat until fluffy, one 8 oz package of cream cheese (I use light or Neufchatel) softened to room temperature, in a large bowl. Add 2 eggs, one at a time, and then gradually add a 16 oz box of confectioner's sugar )or 3 and 1/2 cups if you buy it like I do, in a big bag). Then slowly add 1/2 cup melted butter, 1/4 cup chocolate fudge ice cream topping, 2 tablespoons espresso coffee brewed (I used a heaping tablespoon of espresso instant in 2 tablespoons hot water), and 1 teaspoon vanilla, continuing to beat until all is well combined. Now I KNOW you will say, wow, that's a lot of butter. Well, this is the "gooey butter" part of the recipe! Pour the batter over the baked cake crust, because by this time, the bottom part of the cake is ready to remove from your oven. Bake 35-40 minutes, and cool in pan on a rack. The center will jiggle a bit when you remove it, don't worry, it sets up. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, cut into bars when cooled, serve with ice cream or plain, and store in the fridge. I keep mine in a sealed plastic container so the bars don't dry out. Serve to your friends for a little Valentine treat year-round!

Book pages

I found it! I found the perfect book! It is "The Gentle Art of Domesticity", chock full of wonderful writings, and loaded with eye candy pictures. Jane Brocket, the author, writes and illustrates a blog, and this book is a compendium of her past postings. So, if you want a book on sewing, knitting, baking, "art and the comforts of home", this is it!!! And by the way, do look at her blog, www.yarnstorm.blogs.com for inspiration and enjoyment.

Where did Spring go?

Ok, I know I am early on this, but we had some absolutely gorgeous Spring-like days this past week, and poof!!! They are gone! With the wind! Got so nice when we started out on our drive down into KC for the Lawn and Garden Show, we had jackets. When we got out, along with everyone else, we shed our jackets and were down to shirtsleeves-Wow! I know I know it is only February. BUT it sure was nice to get a glimpse, even tho tiny, of spring. So we did spring things--like airing the Jewel orchid which opened up its tiny jewel-like blooms for me in my kitchen window; visiting butterflies in the butterfly house at the American Royal; sewing Valentines for friends. Those kind of spring things. Anyway, it's back to blankets on the sofa while we watch tv, and heat. Even the kitties don't want to poke their noses outside today. As I said, it WAS nice to taste spring!

Beading again

Had some millefiori glass heart pendant focals set back for Valentine gifting, so got hubby to silver solder the eye rings, glued them into the holes of the pendants, and put together some leather necklaces for young people, like my daughter, daughter-in-law, and nieces. Got them all shipped out so they can wear them. Then I remembered that I still had a shell focal, shaped like a heart, from our Hawaii trip, so got it out, and made up a pearl and crystal necklace and earring set for my sister, and got it boxed and sent to NYC. She liked it! I call it "Champagne and Pearls", because the colors remind me of that mix.

Now to get to the wood focals I brought back from Santa Cruz--redwood pieces. Got to dip them in a resin to preserve them. And put them on some leather cord necklaces. A good memory of Holly's wedding.

Happy Valentine!

Decided that the winter snowman hanging had to come down this week. Sick of snow, even though KC hasn't had but about 6 inches altogether. Or, maybe just sick of winter. In any case, that left a big blank wall to fill. So got some red felt, pink fleece, pink felt, scraps of Valentine-y fabric, bits of trim, and some pretty red glass beads--Voila! Instant hanging--no, correct that, took much longer than an instant, but it was a fun one day project. What slowed me down was Violet, who wanted to first climb UP the red hanger before it got hung (on my cutting table of course), then attacked the metallic thread, which for some reason really appealed to kitty, oh, and the beads, don't forget the rattly box of beads, way more fun there. Finally gave up on Violet and lured her out to the screened porch to watch birdies. So Happy Valentine from me and Violet!

Home Improvements

Back in the Fall, we had our sunroom reroofed, because of previous hail damage, and because our skylights were leaking. Apparently all skylights leak eventually, as did ours. So a new roof was put on, and we had these skylight holes left. Hubby put up insulation in the holes, and I thought about what to do to cover them, aside from just a normal piece of plywood. First I considered painting night skies on the plywood, but then thought, oh wait a minute, that would darken the room just by two black holes, can't have that! We use the sunroom as our exercise room and want as much light as possible. Then I thought about painting blue sky with white puffy clouds. Went to Joanne's to get winter fleece, and found exactly the fleece I needed, blue sky with white puffy clouds. So I upholstered each piece of plywood, and hubby installed them, with a tiny bit of assistance from me, yesterday and today. Looks pretty good for short and easy mural work! Now when we exercise, we have a blue sky all the time.

Beading again!

It's the start of a New Year, so thought I would bead up a couple of new things. One I have shipped down to Mom in southwest MO, the other I have kept for myself.

Found some beautiful dichroic handblown glass beads at Zingz Art Glass Shop in Blue Springs, in shades of red. So I went through my collection, thinking, purple would be good, but instead chanced on some pink rose quartz, in different sizes, varying from chunky to 3 mm round, so I put together a length she can pop over her head, or use the clasp.

Then, daughter's new mom-in-law gifted me with this really neat cat bead, when we were out in CA for the wedding. I had some bird head beads from a Peruvian necklace I used to wear, but which broke years ago, and which I had set back for a rainy/snowy day. Voila! I was also gifted with carved bone beads at the same time, so tucked those in between, and came up with a whimsical necklace, throwing in some coral spikes to repeat the bird bead spikes.

Now Mom and I both have new jewelry to face the New Year!