How about Brownies and a book? (mom)

Last Friday, Steph, Mel and I took the babies and went to Grandma H's house to give her a perm.  When we got there, she was in the process of making some zucchini brownies from a recipe in the newspaper.  I needed to start on her perm right away because she had to leave at three and we had arrived late due to traffic. It always takes so long to get out of the valley.  Anyway, she asked Steph to finish what she had started.  The recipe turned out more like cake than brownie.  So, yesterday it was Sarah's turn to host a team dinner and I decided to find a recipe for zucchini brownies.  This is what I came up with.  I modified a zucchini bar receipe into a brownie recipe.  It turned out wonderful and yummy!  Try it!
Zucchini Brownies
In a large mixing bowl, cream the following ingredients:
4 eggs
1 cup oil
2 cup sugar
2 cup zucchini, grated ( I peeled it because it was older.  Younger zucchini doesn't need to be peeled.)
In another bowl, combine
2 1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. soda
1/2 cup cocoa powder
Use a whisk to combine these well.  Add to the wet ingredients. Don't over mix.  Pour into a greased jelly roll pan (cookie sheet) and bake for 25 to 30 minutes at 350 *.  Be sure to set your timer so you don't over bake. Cool for at least 30 minutes before frosting.
Brownie Frosting
2 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup softened margarine
1/3 cup boiling water
1 tsp. vanilla
dash of salt
Combine powdered sugar and cocoa powder.  Add butter, vanilla and enough boiling water to mix together.  If more water is needed, add a spoonfull at a time until it becomes spreading consistency.  Frost cooled brownies.  It is yummy for zucchini.

I finished the latest book I was reading.  The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke was originally written in German and translated to English about the same time that the first Harry Potter came out.  It is set in Venice, Italy in  modern day.  It is about 2 young boys who have run away from their relatives because they are not nice people.  The two boys are taken in by a group of street children and adventure begins.  There is a detective, intrigue, and magic in the book.  It wasn't a really hard read.  I enjoyed it even though it was hard for me to get into at first.  You have to get through the first few chapters to meet all of the characters.  I did find that I liked the main characters.  I would have to say that if you want a quick read with adventure this is it.

Let Them Eat Cake

We've had two birthdays within the past three days, so we've had a lot of cake.  On Friday, we celebrated Steve's dad's birthday and I made a cake.  I did a yellow cake from scratch with a recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, as well as a butter frosting.  I divided the cake batter between my two 1/4 size baking sheets.  One of them had parchment on the bottom so I could turn out the layer, while I left the other layer in the pan.  I spread the one in the pan with frosting, then turned the other layer topside down and frosted that.   My cake decorating skills need some practice, but this is how it turned out.

I pressed sprinkles into the sides, in case the picture doesn't show it too well.  The cake turned out kind of dry and tough, I think I beat the batter a little too long.  Never the less, Rowan thinks he needs a piece everytime we pass it.

Today, it was Chris's birthday and she requested the Chocolate Cream Cake from the Lion House Classics cookbook.  It's a devil's food cake (from a mix) layered with stabilized whip cream, which has gelatin in it.  It's frosted with a chocolate frosting, the recipe for which is also in the book.  Everything was going beautifully: the layers baked perfectly, I was able to cut them without any problem, the whip cream and the frosting went together flawlessly.  I didn't have any problems until I tried to frost the cake.  The stupid frosting wouldn't spread and I was loosing my cool since we were going into Granny's for dinner and the time to leave was fast approaching.  I yelled at the cake and at Rory (poor guy).  The layers were sliding and the cream was oozing out from in between them.  Just when it was time to leave, I took a deep breath, and had a "duh" moment.  My frosting was WAY too thick.  It was just right when I made it, but it sat for a while since the cake wasn't quite cool.  I scraped what I could salvage off the cake and added some more milk.  It went on like a dream, although I was in a hurry so I was slopping chocolate frosting everywhere.  I put some of the extra cream in a pastry bag and piped a shell border around the top and bottom.

Chris said it was just what she wanted.

I did have one more little issue.  When I added more milk, I added just a hair too much, and then the car was warm, so the frosting was kind of running off the sides and pooling around the bottom of the cake.  I just scraped it off after putting it in the fridge for a little bit, then added the border.

Lately, I haven't been able to make a cake without having some issue.  Most of you probably know about Rowan's birthday cake.  I was tired and in a hurry, but I wanted to do a cake from scratch.  When I pulled it out of the oven,  it looked like it had fallen, but not really.  I'm not sure how to explain it.  We decorated  it and went on with the festivities.  The cake was good, but different.  It was really rich, dense and moist, which was great, because a lot of chocolate cakes (as this was) seem dry to me.  A few days later I went back and looked at the recipe and discovered where I deviated from the instructions.  It called for 3/4 cup butter, but, as I said, I was tired, so I saw 3/4 and thought, "Well, there are four sticks of butter in a box, I should use three sticks".  It made perfect sense to me at the time, but that's TWICE the amount of butter!  No wonder it was good.

I think my favorite cake mistake is one Steph actually made.  She posted the incident on her blog.  She is such a good sport to share it with the rest of us.

Just a little thought (Mom)

As most of you know, I have been getting some fashion magazines due to a misunderstanding that happened about 9 months ago.  Well tonight I was looking at the Elle, 25 anniversary mag, before I throw it into the recycle and they had a section in there with women modeling clothing.  Now most of the women were actresses or daughters of famous people but there were some who were actually bloggers and NYC scenesters.  So where do you sign up for that job and what would the qualification be?  Hmmmm.
Oh, to make this legal post, I have started to read the Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke.  So far  so good.  I'll let you know when I'm finished with it.

Tips for around the house (Mom)

If you keep up with Melanie's blog, you know that I like tips that are so you don't have to spend money on specialty cleaning items if you don't want to.  I just got a few more that I wanted to share.
MAKE FURNITURE NEW AGAIN:  Need to repair a scratch or blemish on varnished furniture?  Rub the area with cooking oil and a soft cloth.  To color in nicks or scratches in wood stained furniture, cabinets and trim, rub the area with a pecan nut (they will be very available soon for the holiday season).  The oil of the nut Will "re stain" the wood.  If your wood furniture has a water stain, simply rub mayo on the stain and let it sit over night.  wipe off the may in the morning and the finish will be restored.  COOL!
SHARPEN SCISSORS: To sharpen a dull pair of scissors, cut through a sheet of sandpaper a couple of times.  They'll be like new!  ( I don't know about fabric scissors, but I would try it on paper cutting scissors.)
REATTACH LOOSE KNOBS:  When putting loose knobs back on drawers, dip the screws in clear fingernail polish or shellac before resetting them.  This will help the knobs stay tight much longer.  ( I've done that with wood glue before.
SPARKLING CLEAN MIRRORS:  Your bathroom mirror won't fog up if you clean it with canned shaving cream... and it will stay streak free!  (Charles was asking me about that the other day, if there was product that would make it so the mirrors wouldn't fog up.  I told him there was, because we had some once.  Shaving cream is much more accessible and affordable)
NO MORE REFRIGERATOR ODOR:   To remove odors cause by spoiled food in your refrigerator, place a few crumpled brown paper bags into the back of the refrigerator, changing them with fresh ones whenever the bags begin to smell.  In no time, the bags will have absorbed all of the odor.
SHINY SHOWER DOORS:  Keep shower doors shiny and clear by using a soft cloth moistened with baby oil.  The baby oil prevents build up from dirt and soap, and keeps hard water spots from forming for several months.  ( I used to do this a long time ago, but for some reason stopped.  Make sure your surfaces are really clean, then put the oil on.  It works well on shiny shower tiles too.)
Now you're thinking but this is a cooking or book blog not tips, well I got these from a cooking magazine and thought I would share them!

The bookin' side (Mom)

We hadn't decided on a book yet, so I thought I would blog about the two books I have read in the last week. Melanie had recommended and brought over The Looking Glass Wars for dad to read.  Dad said he couldn't get into it so I decided to read it.  As far as "getting" into it, that wasn't hard.  It was based on Alice in Wonderland, a story which is familiar, then takes a twist to update it.  I read it easily and finished it in no time.  I would give it a thumbs up.
After I finished that book, I read a book that Justin had recommended a while ago.  Skulduggery Pleasant is a kind of magical mystery.  It was good.  I would give it a thumbs up too, but I did find it to be somewhat predictable.  It is written on a teen/junior high level.
So two books I've read that I would recommend to everyone to read.

Dishes have to do with food, right? (Steph)

On the 24th of July we had a BBQ/ clean the garage out party at Kevin's grandparents' house.  They basically just emptied all the boxes from the garage, had the children (Kevin's dad and his siblings) sort through what they wanted, then whatever was left the grandkids could go through and sort through what they wanted.  Then everything else could go to the DI and no one could complain that they never got to look through it or anything.  Even Kevin's aunt and uncle who live in Boston were there so everyone was involved.  We didn't arrive until later in the day after all the children  and some of the grandchildren had already gone through some of the stuff.

We met Kevin's mom on the front lawn and she said that we were welcome to take anything we saw if we liked it.  I thought, "I don't want any of this junk."  Kevin actually said it out loud.  He left to go find someone to visit with and I was left on the front lawn to mill through piles of other people's stuff.  Honestly, most of it was just garbage that I didn't think even the DI would want, then my eye caught a little pile of translucent green.  I think colored glass was all the rage in like the seventies or something, but it's gone out of and back into style since then.  Luckily for me, I think colored glass is in again, or at least that's what they tell me when I window shop at home decor stores. 

Anyway, this pile was a bunch of green glass vases and a bowl that were in really good shape and actually kind of pretty. I took it, making sure that no one wanted it and looked for anything else that I might use or like. Not long after, I found four matching soup bowls and saucers that were brand new and still in the box.  I also found a butter dish that was in really good shape, no cracks or anything.  I was pretty proud of myself and my treasures.  Here's what they look like.

This one doesn't really match the others, but it's still cute.

I think this bowl is my favorite one.

 

 

 I guess Kevin's mom noticed that I thought that this green glass was pretty, so the other day as she was going through some of her antique dishes, she asked me if I wanted these teacups and saucers.  Well, look how cute they are...

 

It's a set of three cups and three saucers, so maybe not a full set, but I can't drink out of more than one at a time anyway. So now we really have to have tea parties. 

Also, about the book club.  How about we just read any book of our own choice and discuss them on the blog (or at the tea party).  That way we can read whatever we want and no one has to go out a buy a book or worry about finding it at the library.  But most importantly, we don't have pick one book that we all want to read, which hasn't been going very well.  Let me know what you think.

Back from the Farm, Part Deux (Dorthy)

I am going to augment Mel's previous post, and guess what, Sarah?  I have pictures, even better, I have a video.  A video of Kevin "cooking"...

This was the first time Kevin had ever made Jiffy Pop, and he did pretty good, over a really, really hot fire, no less.  And, the finished product:

In addition to some of the foods Mel has mentioned, we enjoyed Starbursts (for a good cause; Sarah needed the wrappers to answer a kid who asked her to homecoming).

Cherry cheese danishes, much to the delight of Tim, Rory, and Rowan.

Watermelon, as modeled by the lovely Abi.

And here's Riley helping her daddy take a nap after all that good food.  She is so cute!

Here is some of the peach pie Grandma "asked" Mom to make.  Obviously, it was a hit.

None of us were thinking about the blog for the better part of the trip, until the last day when Mom asked if anyone had been taking pictures of the food.  Oops.  A big thanks to all who helped prepare the foods, especially Dad and Mom.  I can't wait until the next trip!  Star wipe, and out.