Jack O Lanterns...

 We like the traditional Jacks.

We traditionally open them,

 

scoop them,

 

carve them,

and then, back to the top, light them...

PineaPPLe UpSide Down cake

This was The Dad's favorite cake.

PineaPPLe UpSide Down cake....

It has become The Brother's favorite, also.

If You read My previous rant about Him doing His last minute switch~a~roo

fear not;

I did NOT leave Him duct taped to a tree.

I made this cake for years for The Dad's birthday.

It's a very simple cake to make really

and it's also a very simple recipe to adjust.

With most of My cakes, I just use a cake mix.

For now.

I'm hoping this summer to whip up some Notions & Potions time,

play around with recipes from scratch.

Imagine all the varied flavours and spices I get to create with in
Mixology, My Kitchen!

as usual, I digress....

or...

Do I?

Ingredients:
**************

PineaPPLe Cake mix
Eggs, Oil, Water ~ according to package mix
1 stick of BuTTer
Light Brown Sugar
and/or
Dark Brown Sugar
1 to 2 cans PineaPPLe Rings or Chunks
13x9 Cake Pan/Dish

Drain PineaPPLe.
Melt the BuTTer and measure out the Brown Sugar.
I use a combination of Light and Dark.
1/2 cup Light
1/4 cup Dark




Stir the Sugars and BuTTer together until completely mixed; no sugar bits.
Place your PineaPPLe into the mixture.



Make up the cake according to the package directions.

Pour cake batter over PineaPPLe mixture. I pour from the middle,
straight over the top so that it flows into the corners.
I bake mine at, *350,
for about an hour.
At 45 mins., check your cake batter.
Wooden Chopsticks that you get from the Chinese Take~out are FANTASTIC for this!
Go for 15 min. intervals until done.


CooL completely.
I set mine on top of four glasses to help the bottom cool faster.

Flip onto cookie sheet or other suitable tray/plate.

Got Milk?

Use a sheet of wax paper for cover for transport.

I LoVe how it looks.

For what ever reason, I feel like I'm in an old time store.

NOTES:

1}  Pineapples ~ I actually prefer the Chunk variety. I will usually use two cans {unsweet if possible} because I like a LOT of coverage on the cake.

2} Light and Dark Brown Sugar ~ It really depends on how you like it. I like more Light than Dark, but I like the way the dark makes a slight "crust". This would have to be based on your tastes. If anything, try half and half,  then groove on from there.

3}"Accessories" ~ Cherries, Coconut flakes, things of that nature. I don't. You may. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. I promise. The Pineapple Police will not come get You.

Happy Birthday PJ mOOndoGGie

Anyone who has kids will understand this:

The Blu~Man is My Heart
The Secret Agent Cupcake  is My Dream Come True 
and P.J. { a P, a J, and Two dots} is My Firstborn.

He loved Mo the mOOn growing up,

hence the nickname mOOndoGGie.

and now here he is all grown up.

Talented, Quirky, Sassy, and Finally beginning to understand!
Graphic Design, Silk Screen and Miniatures are His forte'.
I'm trying to talk Him into creating stuff to sell.

His favorite Cake is Sacher Torte. Um, YuMMM!!
We just order it from Our local La Madeleine.

And if He's Lucky, there'll be a piece left over for Him to take home.
Mucho Loves, mOOndoGGie!


Happy Birthday!

calendars

 

I enjoy sitting down and  transferring my information from one calendar to another. I get to see how much I've accomplished, remember past parties and events, be proud of the bills I've conquered and how we've made it through another year.

 This is the new calendar that was given to Me at Yulemas.

 This is the old calendar that has some wicked CooL paintings by artist Daniel Merriam.

 Who wouldn't feel a bit more perky after reading these uplifting messages! {snort}


add some chipperly bright markers for all Your labeling needs and the whole year just look LoVeLy.


Daniel Merriam
http://www.danielmerriam.com/index.php

Happy New Years

 Happy New Years!

Off to The Turkish Mother's for traditional New Year's luncheon.

Cabbage RoLLs,

Black EyEd peas,

Cornbread,

and plenty of extras!

 














I did not set any Resolutions, just Adventures I want to partake of..

Painting Portfolio
Reading Sookie Stackhouse
Creating more jewelry
Meditation
Journal
Finishing my bathroom
Getting a roof
and have fun doing it....

Oh, the excitement!!

 

 The Baby Girl and I wore our festive holiday witch socks!

A favorite bracelet of Mine, brought from Turkey.




Hope this finds you happy and well!

Turkish Tea

 

Turkish Tea

 People are paSSionate about Their Tea.

No doubt about it.

Back to that Turkish heritage, Lucky Me!!!

There's a ritual to making Turkish Tea, 

and the right taste is in the brewing to Some, 

   For Me its the amount of water added to the cup. 

To little and the brew is strong, to much and its watery. 

I have a Cousin that went by color, deep rich amber.

{Tea is essential to a Turkish Hostess with the Mostess}


 

                                

The Turkish Mother

While waiting for the cOOkie dough, 

I asked The Turkish Mother to show Me

how to make The Turkish Tea.

Fill the bottom of the Turkish Tea Pot with water.

Put 1 to 2 Tsp. tea leaves in top, with about 2 tbls of water to steam.

Once the water in the bottom starts to boil, 

let it boil approximately 5 mins 

and then add about 1 cup of the boiling water from the bottom to the top.

Let it simmer for about 10 minutes.

 

Add tea brew from top to glass, about 1/3 full.

Add boiling water from bottom to glass

Sweeten with Sugar....I LoVe using Sugar Cubes!

 

 Short and Sweet...

perfect with Turkish Cookies

Fresh bread and cheese

Baklava

Borek

Sour Cherry Preserves and Bagets

Simit Turkish Bread

Turkish Tea

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_tea

  

Making Tea

 http://www.turkeyforyou.com/turkey_turkish_tea_howto

 Kafkas Sour Cherry Preserve ~My fave brand

 http://www0.shopping.com/xPO-Kafkas-Kafkas-Sour-Cherry-Preserve-380-G

 Simit {`smit} Turkish Bread

 http://mideastfood.about.com/b/2006/10/11/turkish-simit.htm

Borek [Turkish Meat Pie ~ have not made these particular recipes}

http://www.turkishfoodandrecipes.com/2008/12/turkish-borek.html

 The Meaning of Tea {movie/documentary}
http://www.themeaningoftea.com/

Turkish cOOkies

Turkish Cookies

These are the most Fattening, Indulgent, Damn gOOd cookies in the World, 

in my humble onion.

{yes yes, I am ToTally in the Turkish Cookie Cult}

Wait till You see the ingredients!
This is another of My Childhood past~times. My brother and I would get so excited when MoM said "We're making cookies".
One great thing about this dough is that you can play it like play doh. We would use everything from straws to cups to braiding the dough.  
And We would eat the dough along the way.
Over the last several years, it has become a Yulemas tradition now, for all the grandkids to go over and make a batch. 
 A BIGGG!!! batch.

I purchased this bucket of cookie cutters from ABC Distributing  a looooong time ago.
ABC doesn't appear to have them anymore, but Amazon does and it looks like even K~mart might. 
Wilton's 50 piece Animal Bucket. 
The Sheep, Cow, and Cat are my absolute FabFaves.

My Mom bought the Dinosaur and Heart & Circle sets.


The Sheep wins out for Santa's plate.

Turkish Cookies are basically a shortbread type cookie. They are made thick, so they have a cake like consistency. They aren't an overly sweet cookie, sweeter than a shortbread, but not like a sugar cookie. To Me, it's the very slight orange flavoring that makes it a Turkish Cookie  {and also that's what My MoM called them}.  
They are even more YummY the next day after the Flavors have melded, and the texture is perfect.  Now, this is another of the recipes that I've grown up with, so I know more by sight. And translation can be, challenging.


I recommend trying a smaller batch first to get a feel and taste for it. 
I recommend not giving it up. 
It really is worth getting to know. 

My mom calls this a 2 cup liquid batch. all the liquids equal 2 cups.  







Turkish cOOkies:

8 cups flour
5 cups sugar
2 cups eggs
2 cups milk
1 cup melted butter
1 cup oil {cooking}
2 tbls baking powder
2 tbls vanilla
1  to 1 1/4 tsps. Orange Zest


Glaze:
egg yolk
1/2 cup milk


.........like I said, this is a BIGGG! batch {4 families, 8 adults, 7 grandkids}


Mom says there is no order to mix, just put it all in, and start mixing by using your hands.

You want to Fold and Knead kind of together. You want the consistency to be, as she put it "the same as your ear lobe".  It works.  You will also want to taste the dough when you get it mixed for the Flavors. Is it sweet enough you can just taste the sugar? Can you taste the hint of orange? If you need to fix either, I would go about 1/2 cup sugar, with an extra tablespoon. Watch Your Orange Zest, I wouldn't go more than 1/8  tsp. and a pinch, because it will get overpowering and bitter.


Let your dough rest, cloth covered in the refrigerator for at least a 1/2 hour.
Grease Your cOOkie sheets, and preheat the Oven. 
Remember The Rule of the Oven:  Gas and Electric are very different.  Mom bakes her cookies at about 375 in her gas oven.  The electric oven next door had to go to about 350. Do a test cookie or two. You want a golden brown.  Some cracking can occur during cooking, its normal. And watch the bottoms so they don't burn. 

Put your rack in the oven middle.


Lightly flour Your area, take a nice handful of dough and and roll a few times with hands to smooth your dough, and then we just patty cake it on the  floured area. I would say the thickness is 1".  Using your cookie cutters, proceed to cut your stuff. Lay on greased cookie sheet ; make sure you leave enough space for the cookies to rise when they cook, about, um, 1/2". When the tray is full and right before you put the tray in the oven, brush the glaze wash over the cookies and put in oven.  As stated above, watch your golden scale. Once the cookies are done, remove from the tray and place on rack or plate to cool. Store covered when completely cooled.



and of course, EVERY year, everyone wants to eat MY! cookies and leave Their burnt wonky ones for Me.

Chestnuts

Although, I order my chestnuts late in october, 

I can usually keep them fresh in my frig drawer.

I hate to order them that early, 

{and the Vendors are doing pre~orders earlier and earlier, thus selling out earlier and earlier}

I always fear that there going to go bad before Yulemas, 

which is when we like to eat them. 

With a cup of hot cocoa, not that instant stuff (Blashphemer!) but the Real StuFF!

I've read you can freeze them, but I never have, 

so I don't' know how it affects the chestnut.

I store them by themselves in a ventilated drawer, with slight moisture.

When ready to cook, using a small sharp ka-niffy {or knife as it is commonly known}

and score and "X" on the flat or flattest side of the Chestnut.

I tend to roast mine on a bit lower temperature than is sometimes stated.

around *300, for a steady 20 minutes.

You don't want to under~cook or over~cook. When the corners of your cuts are peeled back and the Chestnut has a golden color, they should be done. As soon as I take the Chestnuts out of the oven, I put them in a bowl and cover with a very damp dish towel.

This is when I prepare our drinks; that lets the Chestnuts cool down enough to peel without burning your fingers, but not so cool that its hard to peel them.

For the freshest Chestnuts, find an on~line retailer. Its your best bet to get the best Chestnuts. 

Often when you buy in the store:

*They are exceedingly over~priced!

*Way small, Way old, and Way to many go to waste {making it more over~priced!}

*Should be refrigerated.
 Unfortunately, I have yet to find a store
that stores their Chestnuts
in the cold  section.

Chestnuts also remind me of days living in Turkey. 
During......wait for it.......Wynter.
{told ya!}
Good Times.



but i did find this"
http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/html/fs/fs146/

http://www.buychestnuts.com/prep.htm

going to see santa

Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus......

and I for one, will never ever ever never ever STOP Believing!

Santa Rocks!

 Santa Claus ~ Thomas Nast
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Nast

Birthday Wishes, Ladybug cakes, and Dreams come true....

 

Happy Birthday Cupcaka!

Four years ago today, a Dream Came True.

More than I could have ever Imagined, 
and even More than that!

From Her very first Birthday,
I have had a Ladybug Cake made

to bring Her gOOd Luck! 
It's Tradition.

Her big brother adores Her and She does Him!

 

Oh, the anticipation................What can it be?

 

 

Her wish, a Flute