Coconut Pound Cake

Sharing food is a delight for me, whether it's around the dinner table or the proverbial water cooler.

In this case, I wrapped up pieces of coconut pound cake and shared with whomever I met the weekend after Christmas.

Here's the recipe ~

1 1/2 cups butter
3 cups sugar
5 eggs
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup half 'n half
1 tsp rum flavoring
1 tsp coconut flavoring
1 cup shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Sift together two dry ingredients and set aside.  Add flavorings to milk/half 'n half and set aside.

Cream together butter and sugar.  Add eggs one at the time.  On low mixing speed, alternately add dry and wet ingredients until combined.  Do not over beat.  Stir in shredded coconut.   Transfer batter to a large greased and floured tube pan.

Bake for 1 1/2 hours or until golden brown and cake test comes out clean.

After removing the cake from the oven, allow it to rest in pan for 5 minutes.  Turn onto platter and glaze with the following mixture.

Glaze:
Combine these four ingredients in a saucepan and cook 2 minutes over medium heat after sugar is dissolved.

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tsp almond flavoring
1 tsp coconut flavoring

Fashion on Fridays

Yesterday I wore this outfit... probably for the last time this Fall now that the temperatures are actually cooler.

In August, as I was prepping for the change of seasons and the new palette, I was pleased to discover these floral twill pants already in the closet.

I had worn them a couple of times last month before I realized that the pattern is a perfect blend of aurora red, cognac, and cypress.

Bronze (very similar to cognac) flats complimented the scheme and were comfortable for working on my feet.

Since September is a hot month in Georgia, it's tempting to keep wearing the same summer outfits.

But where's the fashion in that?  

The key is changing to autumnal colors in light-weight fabrics.

Pantone's palette is helping me do that.

Constitution Day

“Dedicated to the coming generation of Americans, with the prayer that they will:
 1)restore the Constitutional principles we have abandoned,
 2)protect the freedoms we have neglected, and
 3)preserve the Republic we have almost lost,”

 Larry McDonald thus introduced the 1976 reprinting of his insightful commentary on the U.S. Constitution, We Hold These Truths.

Re-read the US Constitution today and purchase a copy of this insightful book. Our future depends on an informed electorate.

Fashion on Friday:Fall Palette

Independence Day

O! say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming:
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming,
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there:

O! say, does the star-spangled banner still wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mist of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam—
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream

‘Tis the star-spangled banner, O! long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is the band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a country would leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave!

And the star-spangled banner in triumph cloth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O! thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the foe’s desolation;
Bless’d with victory and peace, may our heaven‑rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just—
And this be our motto—“In God is our trust!”

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Francis Scott Key

IF EVERYBODY DID

Favorite book I plan to read to my grandchildren ~

Easter Feast

Honey Baked Ham
Squash Casserole
Roasted Asparagus
Beet Salad
Deviled Eggs
Black Olives
Pretzel Rolls

Zinfandel




German Chocolate Cake

H. Baptism II

Since, Lord, to thee

A narrow way and little gate
Is all the passage, on my infancy
Thou didst lay hold, and antedate
My faith in me.

O let me still
Write thee great God, and me a child:
Let me be soft and supple to thy will,
Small to my self, to others mild,
Behither ill.

Although by stealth
My flesh get on, yet let her sister
My soul bid nothing, but preserve her wealth:
The growth of flesh is but a blister;
Childhood is health. 

George Herbert
English Poet, Anglican Cleric
1593 - 1633


Photo taken 10 April 1988
on the occasion of the baptism of DD#3

After church we (17 adults & 8 children) enjoyed the following menu at Cochise ~
Fresh Ham
Sausage-Cheese Grits
Marinated Cold Asparagus
Tomato-Artichoke Aspic
Orange Fruit Cups
Zucchini Bread

Bloody Marys or Mimosas
Sun Tea
Coffee

Potato Chip Cookies
Fudge Bars
Lemon-cheese Cake

Southern Living, April 1986

Don’t Be Cross, Amanda

Don’t be cross, Amanda,

Amanda, don’t be cross,
For when you’re cross, Amanda,
I feel an albatross
Around my neck, or dank gray moss,
And my eyes assume an impervious gloss,
Amanda,
Dear Amanda,
Don’t be cross.

Do not frown, Amanda,
Amanda, do not frown,
For when you frown, Amanda,
I wamble like a clown,
My mouth is stuffed with eiderdown,
And I spatter coffee upon your gown.
Amanda,
Dear Amanda,
Do not frown.

Don’t clam up, Amanda,
Amanda, do not clam,
For when you clam, Amanda,
I dont know where I am.
What is it that I did you damn?
Shall I make amends for a sheep, or a lamb?
Amanda,
Dear Amanda,
Do not clam.

Please be gay, Amanda,
Amanda, please be gay,
For when you’re gay, Amanda,
The stars come out by day,
The police throw parking tags away,
And I want to kick up my heels and bray.
Amanda,
Dear Amanda,
Please be gay.

by Ogden Nash

Annabel Lee

It was many and many a year ago,
   In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
   By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
   Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,

   In this kingdom by the sea,

But we loved with a love that was more than love—

   I and my Annabel Lee—

With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven

   Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,

   In this kingdom by the sea,

A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling

   My beautiful Annabel Lee;

So that her highborn kinsmen came

   And bore her away from me,

To shut her up in a sepulchre

   In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,

   Went envying her and me—

Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know,

   In this kingdom by the sea)

That the wind came out of the cloud by night,

   Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love

   Of those who were older than we—

   Of many far wiser than we—

And neither the angels in Heaven above

   Nor the demons down under the sea

Can ever dissever my soul from the soul

   Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams

   Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes

   Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side

   Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,

   In her sepulchre there by the sea—

   In her tomb by the sounding sea.

By Edgar Allan Poe

Sonnet LXXI

No longer mourn for me when I am dead
Than you shall hear the surly sullen bell
Give warning to the world that I am fled
From this vile world with vilest worms to dwell:
Nay, if you read this line, remember not
The hand that writ it, for I love you so,
That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot,
If thinking on me then should make you woe.
O! if, I say, you look upon this verse,
When I perhaps compounded am with clay,
Do not so much as my poor name rehearse;
But let your love even with my life decay;
   Lest the wise world should look into your moan,
   And mock you with me after I am gone.

William Shakespeare

#iheartfaces #reflection

#iheartfaces #out&about

Gibbs Gardens, Ball Ground, GA

#iheartfaces #up

The path of life leads upward for the prudent,

    that he may turn away from Sheol beneath.

Proverbs 15:25

#iheartfaces #small

#iheartfaces #tgif

#iheartfaces #shadows

#iheartfaces #green

Katydid

#iheartfaces #starts with "s"

#iheartfaces #night lights

#iheartfaces #fresh

#iheartfaces #tells a story

#iheartfaces #a pair

#iheartfaces #sign

#iheartfaces #round

#iheartfaces #on the go

#iheartfaces #friends

#iheartfaces #colorful

#iheartfaces #smile

#iheartfaces #where i am

#iheartfaces #looking down

#iheartfaces #light

Tiffany Lamp at The Driehaus Museum, Chicago

Diagramming Fun

Challenged by a grammarian to diagram a sentence, I gladly agreed.  Below is my rendition and this link is for my friend's ~

Let's you and me pray about it. (an imperative)

(You) let us (you and me) (to) pray about it.






(You) implied subject of let.

let is the main verb.

us is the direct object of the verb

you and me  compound direct object explaining *us*

(to) pray is an infinitive phrase acting like an adverb and modifying the verb let

about is an adverb modifying pray;  alternately, it could function as a preposition, but I prefer adverb since that enhances the way we pray ;-)

it is the direct object of pray

Fashion on Fridays:Radiant Orchid

Meet Pantone's 2014 Color of the Year!

She was introduced last Fall and I'm just now warming up to her.

In the spirit of my fashion posts,
that is,
searching the recesses of my closet and repurposing items already owned, I am on a roll.

It all started with this beautiful scarf given to me at Christmas by DD#2.



Then in the proverbial closet, I re-discovered a reversible vest (gray/orchid), a striped blouse (black/orchid), a statement sweater, and a navy dress with an orchid-colored yoke!



I didnt even think I liked this color.

What about you?


PS  More pictures later ~