Cool fog this morning...

Photo of fog on the hills, taken off from back steps this morning.

Hurts so good...

My new shoes are slightly uncomfortable. And with 4.25" heels, they are way too tall. But they were half price for only $29.99. And they look fantastic with skinny pants.


You can get your own pair at JCPenney.

I love a bargain...

This Nie + Zoe top was originally $139 at Anthropolgie. See, it still has the tags. I got it for $2 yesterday at a thrift store.

There's another one in rose which I did not buy. Should I go back and get it for my sister?

Trailer-park chic...

This photo of Cyndi Lauper is one of my favorites. I think she's absolutely fabulous...


Linking to Rednesday and Mellow Yellow Monday

Funky-chunky-gypsy-cowgirl-junktastic belt buckles...

I made another belt buckle, ya'll... and I finished it just in time for Pink Saturday.

I'm selling these in my new Etsy shop. The one below is a new buckle and features four vintage brooches and lots of beads, and faux crystals and pearls.

The one below is a vintage German silver Tony Lama cowboy buckle which I purchased from an antiques store in Buffalo, Wyoming. It also features four old brooches and lots of faux pearls and crystals.

Linking to Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound

Make it for Monday at Cottage Instincts

Metamorphasis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

Motivate Me Monday at Keeping it Simple

Make Your Monday at Twice Remembered

New Orleans Lemon Doberge Cake

Story, recipe and photo from Cooking with Herb St. Absinthe

Lemon Doberge Cake

Last Sunday, we made a Chocolate Doberge Cake, the gold standard by which all New Orleans Doberge cakes are held. You could also combine to make a half/half Doberge Cake like Gambino’s Bakery (available for $74.50, including shipping).

Photo from the World-Famous Gambino's Bakery in NOLA

Follow the same recipe for the cake as Chocolate Doberge Cake. the filling is essentially a lemon curd recipe, I would bet that a straight lemon curd would be very good in this cake. The first frosting is a simple flavored decorator’s icing.

However, the traditional Doberge Cake uses a poured fondant frosting, the kind that “snaps” under the knife, I am also including that recipe for purists. I highly suggest that you make the frosting 24 hours before you are ready to assemble your cake. It is also wise to make the filling the day before so that it is nice and chilled when you go to spread it on your cake layers. EDIT: to get the fondant frosting to stick well, many bakers will frost with another kind of frosting first. Use the first frosting recipe as a first layer and then use the poured fondant for better coverage and a more professional looking cake. No one said we didn’t like sugar in New Orleans!

Lemon Filling

1 1/2 cup sugar
6 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup water
2 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons lemon peel
2/3 cup lemon juice

Mix sugar, cornstarch and salt in a saucepan and slowly add water. Bring to a boil while stirring, boil mixture for 1 minute. Add half of hot mixture to egg to temper, then blend in rest of mixture. Bring back to a boil and boil for another minute. Remove from heat and add butter, lemon peel and juice. Refrigerate before filling cake layers.

Lemon Frosting

1 box (1 lb.) confectioner’s sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1/2 cup shortening
2 egg whites
pinch of salt
yellow food dye

Sift sugar and cornstarch over shortening and mix thoroughly. Blend in egg whites, salt and flavoring. You may need to add a little water to thin this out, weather and humidity can affect this frosting. Add dye at the end, add as many drops to achieve desired hue of yellow.

Poured Fondant Frosting

2-1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup corn syrup

Heat sugar, water and corn syrup to the soft-ball stage (238°F; 114°C). Pour into a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Wash the candy thermometer well and reinsert into the syrup. Let the syrup cool undisturbed in the workbowl to 140°F (60°C), about 30 minutes. Remove the thermometer.

Add any coloring or flavoring (1 to 2 teaspoons lemon oil and/or 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel, 2 to 4 ounces melted unsweetened chocolate, etc.) and process 2 to 3 minutes, until the syrup completely converts from a glassy syrup to an opaque paste. When thoroughly cooled. store sealed at room temperature for 24 hours. Use or refrigerate for later use.

Linking to Mellow Yellow Monday

I made this belt buckle...

I bought an old belt buckle and some junk jewelry at an antique store and now, thanks to Aleene's metal glue, it looks like this. I love it!

Linking to

Metamorphasis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

Motivate Me Monday at Keeping it Simple

Fresh flowers make me so happy...

A couple of us got flowers at work from a business associate. Aren't they the happiest things you've ever seen?


When they started to wilt, I brought them home and put them in my kitchen window. They have been bringing me such joy for nearly two weeks now.

Yellow and gray - one of my favorite color combinations...

Yellow and gray... by Pete's Blue Scooterbug featuring Missoni dresses

If you've been following my blog for very long, you know I love making these collages or "sets" on Polyvore. If you haven't tried it yet, I must warn you, it's verah, verah addictive. It's like shopping without spending any money.

Linking to Mellow Yellow Monday

Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do...

Give me your answer, do... by Pete's Blue Scooterbug featuring Juicy Couture jewelry

If you've been following my blog for very long, you know I love making these collages or "sets" on Polyvore. If you haven't tried it yet, I must warn you, it's verah, verah addictive. It's like shopping without spending any money.

Linking to Mellow Yellow Monday

Real men (cowboys) wear (hot) pink...

Cowboy put on a ranch rodeo this past weekend in the Moorcroft, Wyoming. (With a little bit of help from Moi.)
The winning team, Boothill 7 of Lusk, Wyoming, looked so snappy in their matching hot-pink shirts.

The announcer wore pink too...

To see all the photos, visit Northeast Wyoming Ranch Rodeo on Facebook.

Happy Pink Saturday!

Linking to Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound

Oh, honey, that is a fabulous outfit...

Oh, honey... by Pete's Blue Scooterbug featuring Nine West shoes

If you've been following my blog for very long, you know I love making these collages or "sets" on Polyvore. If you haven't tried it yet, I must warn you, it's verah, verah addictive. It's like shopping without spending any money.

Linking to Mellow Yellow Monday

A pink painted floor...

Okay, ya'll, picture this floor...

Photo borrowed from House Beautiful

In this room...

Linking to Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound

Raspberry lemonade...

Raspberry lemonade... by Pete's Blue Scooterbug featuring Miss Selfridge tops

If you've been following my blog for very long, you know I love making these collages or "sets" on Polyvore. If you haven't tried it yet, I must warn you, it's verah, verah addictive. It's like shopping without spending any money.

Linking to Mellow Yellow Monday

Red, white and blue and pink...

I'm not a drinking woman but if I were, I'd have one of these tomorrow. I saw the recipe in the June Coastal Living and thought it looked delish!

Coastal Living Pink Daiquiri

The original daiquiri contained rum, fresh lime juice, and superfine sugar. Ernest Hemingway is credited with the addition of maraschino liqueur and grapefruit juice.

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) white rum
• 1 1/2 teaspoons (1/4 ounce) maraschino liqueur
• 1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons (1 ounce) ruby red grapefruit juice
• 1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) Simple Syrup*
• Garnish: Grapefruit twist

Preparation

Combine first 5 ingredients in an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake vigorously, and strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish, if desired.

*Simple Syrup: Combine equal parts sugar and hot water, stirring until sugar dissolves. Store in refrigerator until ready to use in mixed drinks or iced tea.

Coastal Living, JUNE 2010

Linking to Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound

I have a big, ole' brown thumb...

But my sister does not.

A long time coming and well worth the wait...

When I was a senior in high school, my coconut pound cake won grand champion at the fair. It sold at the auction for $300. The recipe came from a relative, Sally, who lived in the neighboring town of Sour Lake. She often brought coconut pound cakes to my father at Christmas. He loved them.

Anyway...

I grew up, moved away and lost the recipe. We searched for it to no avail. About 15 years ago, I wrote to Sally at an address I found on the internet. I got no response. It looked like the recipe was lost forever.

When I was in Texas this past October, I got to visiting with a man from Sour Lake who was shopping at our estate sale. We were talking about family history, and such, when Sally's name came up. He knew her well so I told him the pound-cake story. He took my number and left.

Here's the good part...

Within two hours, my phone rang. He had gone home and found Sally's pound-cake recipe in his mother's recipe box. Can you believe it?

So, without further adieu... I am sharing it with you here so it will never be lost again.

(I'm not re-wording it because I think it's so charming just like it is.)

Sally's Coconut Pound Cake

3 sticks butter or oleo
3 c. sugar
6 eggs
3 c. plain flour
8 oz. sour cream
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. soda
1 pkg. frozen coconut (not canned)
1 tsp. vanilla

Defrost coconut (to avoid failure). Have eggs and butter out at room temperature. Preheat oven to 300. Grease tube pan. With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar well. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each. Add flour, salt & soda, sifted together, and sour cream and vanilla and beat well. Stir or fold in coconut. Pour in tube pan and bake until done 1 to 1.5 hours, maybe longer.

Gentle giant...

My sister, Biz, takes in just about any stray animal that comes along. She's had as many as 10 dogs at one time. Her most recent addition, Willis, is very special and she's quite attached to him. Here's a photo of his paw in her regular-sized adult hand.

New Orleans Doberge Cake from "Let's Bake with Beulah Ledner"

Ya'll know I'm not big on baking but I've been wanting to try this recipe for this New Orleans staple, a doberge cake.

Or I could just order one from the famous Gambino's Bakery in NOLA for $64.75 + $4.75 shipping.

Let's be realistic... I can't spend that kind of money on a cake. If I'm going to get one, I am going to have to make it myself.

Photo borrowed from the World-Famous Gambino's Bakery in NOLA

I want to try a lemon doberge cake too. Once I've mastered both, I might even try a half-chocolate, half-lemon version. Gosh, that sounds like a lot of work when I could just order one from Gambino's for $74.50.

On second thought... I should probably make my shopping list now.

Photo borrowed from the World-Famous Gambino's Bakery in NOLA

Doberge Cake

By Judy Walker, The Times-Picayune

February 25, 2009, 4:55AM

The 1987 privately published "Let's Bake with Beulah Ledner" cookbook by Maxine Wolchansky, Ledner's daughter, explains how the "Doberge Queen of New Orleans" adapted the famous Hungarian dobos torta to the local climate and gave it a French-sounding name, doberge (pronounced dough-bash). Ledner retired in 1981 at the age of 87 and died at age 93, leaving a legacy that lives on in her recipes (bought by Gambino's) for this popular cake that can be found and all over New Orleans.

Of course you would want all ingredients to be at room temperature before starting.

DOBERGE TORTE

1 ½ sticks butter
2 cups sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
4 eggs, separated, whites stiffly beaten
1 cup milk
3 teaspoons baking powder
3 ½ cups cake flour (measured after sifting)
Scant teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream butter, sugar and salt until smooth. Add egg yolks, one at a time, and blend until smooth. Add sifted dry ingredients alternately with milk. Beat until blended. Add vanilla and lemon juice.

With a spatula, fold in stiffly beaten egg whites.

Grease 9-inch cake pans. Pour ¾ cup batter into each pan, spreading evenly over bottom. Bake in preheated 375-degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes. Repeat process until batter is completely used, to make eight thin layers.

When cool, put layers together with chocolate custard filling and spread chocolate butter cream icing on top and sides. Chill. Then ice with Always Delicious Chocolate Icing.

CHOCOLATE CUSTARD

2 cups granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons cornstarch
2 heaping kitchen spoons cocoa
4 tablespoons bitter chocolate
4 whole eggs
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon vanilla
4 cups (1 quart) milk

Stir all dry ingredients together in a saucepan, then add the remaining ingredients. Cook over medium heat until thick, stirring constantly. Remove from fire to cool.

CHOCOLATE BUTTER CREAM ICING

2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
½ pound oleo (margarine), softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup cocoa
1 ounce square bitter chocolate, melted

Cream sugar and oleo, then add cocoa, then the melted chocolate and vanilla. If too thick, add a little hot water, very slowly, until the consistency is right.

ALWAYS-DELICIOUS CHOCOLATE ICING

1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup white granulated sugar
4 squares melted semi-sweet chocolate
½ stick butter
¾ cup cream
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and let it come slowly to a boil, then boil about 10 minutes until it thickens. Beat until thick enough to spread.

Oh, to be this fabulous again...

Summer snapshot... by Pete's Blue Scooterbug featuring Old Navy

If you've been following my blog for very long, you know I love making these collages or "sets" on Polyvore. If you haven't tried it yet, I must warn you, it's verah, verah addictive. It's like shopping without spending any money.

Linking to Mellow Yellow Monday

Adoring designer Betsey Johnson...

What better way to celebrate Pink Saturday than with the ever-fabulous, Betsey Johnson. I mean, how cool is she? Love her!

Check out more photos of Betsey's apartment here.

Linking to Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound