Have you a sweet tooth?

We have — sweet teeth, that is.  And my dearest friend Sandy mentioned the other day that she’d just made a Pineapple Cake, and oh, my oh my, that sounded well and truly delicious to me, so I asked her how she made it and it turned out to be so simple, and I happened to have all the ingredients here, that I made one for us and just felt like sharing it with you.  So consider that this recipe does not originate from the annals of Crow Cottage, but rather comes from way out in the midwest part of this country, from a woman I am proud to call the bestest of friends, Sandy F.  (Thanks sweetie!)

Sandy’s (and now my) Pineapple Cake

 

(click to enlarge)

Ingredients:

2 cups white flour

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. baking soda

1 large can crushed pineapple including the juice.

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.  Pour into your pan of choice (I used a non-stick bundt pan which made for a beautiful and easily-cut cake in the end, but Sandy says she uses a 9×13 cake pan).

(Note:  Since there is no oil or fat in this recipe, you might want to spray the pan.  I didn’t, but my bundt pan was fairly new and had all the non-stick coating intact, and I had no problem plopping it out at the end).

Cook at 350 degrees F. for about 40 mins (if using a bundt pan) but maybe a little less time if using a regular cake pan.

Sandy says she sometimes frosts it with cream cheese frosting, but usually not, and I didn’t use any frosting.  It is, indeed, sweet enough all by itself without any frosting, and I have to say, this has become one of my favourite cakes of all time! 

I’ll bet you could even use canned fruit of other varieties in this cake…like how about canned cherry pie filling?  or blueberry pie filling?  I will have to try one of those and I will report back to you how they work. 

For now, we have a rare sweet in the house for afters this week.  We’ve been watching some Ruth Rendell mysteries that I got on DVD and are enjoying those each evening after supper, with our pineapple cake.  It’s really too sinful to be enjoying this kind of luxury every night of the week, but just this once I don’t think will hurt too much.  Besides, it’s January — in New England — and we need some comfort food now and then!

Cheers

Bex

 

 

Every journey begins with the first step.

I guess, like a lot of other folks around the world, January the First seems like a good day to “begin again.”  To make a clean slate, a place to write a new course of action - where all the old mistakes can be forgotten or forgiven, and the future looms large. 

As you may have guessed, I have opted to work during this first day of the New Year, but not for the whole day.  And I still have tomorrow to finish up what I don’t get done today, so there’s little pressure.  Which is the best part of a day “off.”  I don’t mind working on my day off, I just don’t like having to finish it all, that’s all.

After I languished in my bed, under my comfy-cosy goosedown duvet (which was probably one of the best purchases I have EVER made), I dragged my still-achy body out of bed, and downstairs for a lazy cup of coffee before deciding what to do with my day off.  I watched a little telly, got caught up on what the rest of the world was doing for New Year’s Eve, and then started in on a little project I’ve been putting off for, oh, two years or more!  Hemming (top and bottom) of my sheer curtains in my dining room.  The ones that hang behind the heavy drapes that I made a few years ago.  Those shears always seemed so hard to sew on with a machine that I’ve been afraid to do that project, so they’ve been pinned up on the pole all this time.  And Kip has frayed the edges down at the bottoms so that I had quite a bit of rehab work to do on them. 

(you can see the sheers behind the dark red curtains in the pic above - click to enlarge)

After that job was over, and I made myself a cuppa clam chowder for lunch, it was off to my office to get some work under my belt for tomorrow.  I didn’t get as much of it done as I’d hoped, due to a few interruptions (pleasant though they were), and now it’s 3:30 almost and I’m ready to quit working and go enjoy the last few hours of my day off.

Tonight I think we’ll have some leftover chicken with veggies for supper, and then settle in to another episode of “McCallum” - a British series that I gave Paul for Christmas.  There are 5 DVDs in the set, and we are on #3, with each DVD containing 2 episodes.  It stars John Hannah, and we’re really liking this series.  There are so many really good British series out there, and the acting is so far superior to what we have here on this side of the pond.  Anyway, that’s how our New Year’s Day is being spent - mine at least.  The dogs have been in and out several times, and we’re getting rain at the moment.  Fine with me.  Better rain than snow at this point. 

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year ahead, and a safe and healthy one.

Cheers,

Bex

 

Closing out another year

Well, here we are, December the 29th.  Ready to say goodbye and fare-thee-well to 2007.

This was a year where things changed slightly for me.  Little things, but things all the same.  Work had many changes to it - learning new systems involving computers and updating our operation into the 21st century of medical practices.  For a semi-geezer like myself (I’ll be 60 early next year), learning and implementing new techniques is a struggle.  I was never the quickest gun in the holster anyway, and I have to really concentratre when learning new things.  But I did it, and we are moving along nicely now.  Resisting new ways is only human, I guess, but somehow, when the change is over-with, and the new ways are old hat, you wonder why you ever objected in the first place.

 * * * *

We lost our beloved Whitby-dog back in June, and that was complete devastation to us.  She was only 8 years young, and it was way too early to say goodbye.  Losing a dog, for us anyway, always means adopting another, and thence, Kip of Crow Cottage came along.  Kip (see pictures above and below/click for larger versions) has been a handful, to put it mildly.  He has been challenging, frustrating, worrisome at times, but all the while a real sweetie boy.  He’s no girlie dog (as we have been used to for all these years), but a real boy-dogger!  In every sense.  He reminds me of Huck Finn for some reason.  He has taken charge of life here, and it will never be the same again.  Emmalee, his older adopted sister, has taken the back seat, as well.  It’s just easier that way, with Kip.  He wants to rule the roost, and rule this roost he does.

* * * *

This month we had snow up the yazoo.  In fact, they say that if we have one more measly inch of snow here, we will beat the all-time record for most snow in the month of December, which was last set in 1970.  But we’ve had lots of rain and drizzle this past week, and most of the snow we had gotten previously has melted away.  And I don’t see that in the next 2-1/2 days we are going to have another inch, so I guess there will be no setting any records on snow.

* * * *

Our baseball team, the Boston Red Sox, won the World Series this year, which was really a kick for us - a couple of true-blue baseball fans.  Neither of us are football fans, but if we were, we’d be having a grand old time right about now as our home team, the New England Patriots, have gone undefeated all season, and tonight they will play their last game of the regular season - if they win, they will have a perfect record for this year.  (I personally can’t stand the American game of football myself, and Paul can take it or leave it).

 * * * *

On the health front, Paul is living life quite normally without a thyroid in his body anymore.  He take thyroid replacement medication and it must be working, because he doesn’t notice any difference really.  He will be going back for another big check-up in a couple of months which will entail his going on a special low-iodine diet again (which I really dislike dealing with) and then more radioactive iodine scanning - but his last one came out all negative so we’re hoping the next one will, as well. 

* * * *

Well, I’d better stop rambling here and get my act in gear.  I’ve been finishing up some dangling work that was leftover from yesterday, and now I need to get it transported over to the office and pick up new work for Monday.  Hey!  We have another holiday coming up - I’d almost forgotten.  That is the ONE thing about these end-of-the-year holidays I do like - two days off!  And the New Year’s day off has no work attached to it whatsoever. 

So it’s goodbye to 2007, and welcome 2008 very soon.  I hope you all have a pleasant and safe New Year’s.  We’ll both be making the zzzzzzzzzzz’s long before midnight arrives, so I’ll take this opportunity to say

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 to you, one and all, dear friends, and thanks for stopping in. 

Cheers, 

 Bex & Paul

Emmalee & Kip

 

Did someone say “Let it snow….” ?

 (click picture for enlargement)

This was our front garden area on the last day of fall, 2007.

Kip, our “puppy” (who looks for all the world like a full grown collie dog to me!) is loving snow!

 

All day long, while I am trying to work at home, he is bugging me to let him out to play in the mounds of snow.

We’ve had about 20 inches of snow so far, and it isn’t even winter here yet!

I have a feeling this is going to be ONE LONG WINTER here in New England.

Here’s looking at ya!

Bex