The most beautiful cake in the world!

Today is my birthday!

We won't discuss which birthday exactly.

Although it has been said:
"You either get older or you don't."
and I don't prefer the don't!


To celebrate, the Hubbs made me a cake!
From scratch!

He searched and searched for a recipe with berries...
you see I love cakes with berries...
strawberries,
blackberries,
raspberries,
blueberries...
you get the picture.

He found a recipe that sounded fantastic!
(from here)

Blueberry Buttercream Cake with Blueberry Filling

He slaved away...
scoured my extremely unorganized and crowded pantry for all sorts of exotic ingredients...
such as baking powder,
baking soda,
cornstarch,
cake flour,
vanilla extract...
you get the picture.

He made the cake from scratch...
he made the blueberry glaze filling from scratch...
he made the blueberry-buttercream icing from scratch...
and I'll tell you what,
that cake tastes fantastic!

However, making buttercream icing is a little tough if you've never had the experience before...
and when your wife decides to put the whisk attachment to the mixer in the dishwasher just before you begin to make the buttercream icing...
and when your wife doesn't really know the exact reason that the paddle attachment won't work quite as well as the whisk attachment so she lets you proceed with making buttercream icing with a paddle rather than a whisk...

...so the blueberry-buttercream icing was a bit more of a blueberry-buttercream glaze?


but it's the thought and the taste that count in the end!

AND THEY WERE BOTH FABULOUS!!!!

Thanks Hubbs!!!

It was WAY better than Sugarbakers (and that's pretty impressive)!

busy busy bees

We've been busy...

being cute...
(by we I mean baby Caleb)

cooking and eating...

Chicken with a Beer in the Butt

Vidalia (barn cat) waiting for a moment alone with Chicken with a Beer in the Butt

Garlic and rosemary...yummy!

potatoes

potatoes + olive oil + garlic + rosemary + sea salt + pepper...yummy!

learning how to use our new workbench and tools...

learning how to rest like Daddy!

doing laundry in our new laundry machines...(!!!)...

my oh my!  aren't you purdy!?

and re-inventing our coffee table...

because the dog ate it...

about 4 years ago...
bad dog.

this one.

not this one.

our temp

we'll see how it turns out soon!
(my deadline is this Thursday)

kiss me, I'm (one quarter) Irish!

Yesterday was Saint Patty's Day...I think one of my favorite minor holidays-
perhaps this is because I'm part Irish...
perhaps just because it's a day where you have an excuse to torture somebody simply because they didn't follow the "wear green" dress code.
 <I went to a Catholic high school...dress code is extremely important! "the skirt must fall to the center of the knee!">


Yesterday did not turn out to be all that I had planned however...
in fact, I did not wear a stitch of green myself...

Why?
Because I was a little preoccupied with my baby being sick,
so we woke up and called for an appointment with our pediatrician first thing yesterday morning...
seriously, I didn't even get a chance to wash my hair yesterday.

Unfortunately, my fears were warranted...my baby has RSV (respiratory syncitial virus).
The doctor said that he's actually doing quite well...but we have to go back today to have his oxygen rechecked...
if it has dropped, she says he needs to be admitted to the hospital.

Please say some prayers for my little man today.

In the meantime, we have been taking antibiotics for his ear infections and have been using the nebulizer every 4 hours (even during the night!) to help my little patient.

He did play with his Daddy a little last night.

"these are my feet!"

And he played with Kane who loves him dearly!

And he still loves his Sophie that Miss Lisa got for him!

He has done well, he slept through the night in his little lamb swing within an arm's reach from our bed.
He even laughed and rolled over a few times while playing this morning!




But getting back to our Saint Patty's day celebration (of sorts)...
I didn't wear green- but Caleb did! (courtesy of "Kay-Kay"- his Grandmommy Fisher!)

I didn't make my little cut-out and decorated sugar cookies kinda like these or these as I had planned.
I didn't make Irish Soda Bread either.
But I held my sweet little boy while he slept and that's good enough for me.

I did get to make part of the Irish dinner I had planned for the Hubbs and myself.
It turned out pretty good!

We had Irish Beef and Stout Stew from marthastewart.com...  I love her!

you can NEVER have too much garlic!

don't worry, you don't have to drink this
...it goes into the pot!

mix it all up!

 just the right amount of salt and pile on the pepper

how my Grandmother measured things...with her palm

bring to a boil then stick it in the oven

 while the stew was stewing, I started a great, simple beer bread:

3 C self rising flour and 1/2 C sugar

1 can of beer minus a sip or two!

bake at 350 "until done" this pan was about 45 minutes
...top with butter anywhere from 3 tabs to 1 stick
(I reccomend a whole stick but it would have made a mess here)
and back to the oven for a bout 5-10 minutes

add peas before serving

grab two Killian's and there you are!

<As a side note: we used venison in lieu of beef...that's what we had in the deep freezer.>


After dinner we had a warm nightcap...The Blizzard Cocktail also from martha. We almost had the Hot Nutty Irishman but the thought of Grand Mariner Whipped Cream won me over!

It was super yummy- even the Hubbs liked it!



As a addendum:
Caleb's check-up went well today!  His oxygenation went up (94 yesterday to 96 today!) so hospitilization was not needed, thank goodness! 
He was even rolling around, kicking, smiling and laughing at the nurse and doctor! 
"RSV- I laugh in your face!" he says!

this betty crocker has given up on grammer

So I've been cooking...or more specifically, baking...

now keep in mind I have an eleven week old...child that is.

so this will not be extravagant...or exciting...

in fact, if you're into exciting...you may want to stop reading now...

<but please don't!  I love when people read my posts!  especially when they comment on them! -yay LISA & JESSICA!!!> 

as you can see I've given up on grammar...and to think I scored a perfect 36 on the literature section of my ACT...oh well...you know what they say..."if you don't use it you lose it"

I took my ACT before I moved to Mississippi...

...it really is like home & you know...there is no place like home (I poke fun but I do love my dear old Mississippi!)

moving on...

After a relaxing dinner trying desperately to console the aforementioned wailing eleven week old  and scarfing down stuffed flounder and a Yuengling, the hubbs and I hurried (seriously hurried) home to put said baby down to sleep.  (And Thank You Jesus it worked!)  

Hubby went out for an hour or two leaving me alone at last!  (We do love each other we just work together..."ahhhh I see-" you say.)  So I took advantage of my alone time to do one of my favorite things- cook! (or as I mentioned before...bake.)

<you see the grammar...its all so unclear now!>

Last night was gingerbread men (and women, and candy canes and trees, and stockings and...)

and wine...there is always wine...

and then the tasting...my previous recipe was very flour-y tasting (darn grammar again)... but these cookies- Oh Heavens!  they are divine...well pretty dang good anyway!  

Along the lines of grammar insecurity, I also have "unsure about copyright type things" insecurity.  However, I will tell you that I believe the key to my success here is with the 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp of fresh ground ginger.  Yep.  We love ginger.

by we I mean I.

The recipe is from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook.  And I will add that true to form, she is a real pain in the "donkey" with this recipe as well- hence the fresh ground ginger.  However, I have very much enjoyed this cookbook and have made several delicious recipes from it (all P.I.D.s- pain in the "donkey"s but WELL WORTH IT) 

<and by donkey I mean ass...as in donkey of course...>

Tonight was the Cinnamon Sugared Pecans for baby Caleb's nursery teachers' Christmas gift- recipe courtesy of my Momma 

I honestly have no idea WHERE this recipe came from (other than Momma) so what they heck here it is:

Cinnamon Sugared Pecans

 1 Cup sugar + 1 tsp salt + 2 tsp cinnamon combined... set aside

1 egg white, beaten until frothy + 1 Tbsp water ... mixed well

4 Cups pecan halves

4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

1-Add pecans to egg white & water mixture and stir until well coated.

2- Add sugar mixture and butter slowly to pecans.  Mix until well coated.

3- Spread on parchment covered cookie sheet separating nuts.

4- Bake at 300* for 25 minutes.  Stir occasionally.  Remove from oven and allow to cool before breaking nuts apart.

Enjoy!

Tomorrow...hopefully decorating gingerbread cookies, making mini glazed gingerbread cakes and finishing Caleb's Christmas stocking!

Wish me luck!

...ohh, and as an addendum to my previous Dear Santa post...

all I REALLY want..

my baby boy in my arms!!!

and another bear...

or two...

My Momma brought him back from Switzerland!

Sweet little honey bears!

Sweet dreams!