Monday in Michigan - Write It Down!

by Tracey G.

I have a thing for lists. Writing them I should say. Not typing them, but actually pen and paper writing them. I've been known to make lists of my lists, re-write a list numerous times until it's just right looking and organized properly (if it's grocery it has to be by aisle, lol). I have notepads all over the place. I prefer to write the lists down instead of just start an electronic one on my phone - even though, yes, I do have an app for making lists, lol.

I guess it's not just lists, I just flat-out love to write in general. I will look for any excuse to do so. One of my favorite things to do is go through my recipe magazines and list out recipes I want to try by page number, recipe name and general ingredients needed (usually ones I don't normally keep on hand). It gives me my writing fix, lol. That's also the reason I have my Recipe Book - it's a special book that makes your own cookbook of your handwritten recipes. It's always an exciting time when I get to add a new recipe or two! Not only does that mean they were good and are keepers, lol, but I get to write them down! Yay! LOL

 I also love a good pen, well, doesn't have to be "good" but has to be good for me - can be the cheapest pen ever, but if I like the way the ink flows and it how it feels on the paper, it's a good pen. And don't think of touching my good/favorite pen - let alone actually using it, no way! Get your own pen! My dad used to call me "sticky fingers", not because I was eating candy or something like that all the time, but because I'd steal his pens all the time, lol. Yep, even as a kid, I loved writing instruments. Then that leads to paper - it has to be a decent paper that's smooth and that the pen and ink flow effortlessly on - but not too effortlessly that it appears sloppy, lol. Once again, there's a certain feel I look for when writing on paper, just as there has to be a certain feel to the pen and the way it operates. ;-) There's nothing worse to me than paper that bleeds when I'm using a gel ink, I hate that!

I recently ordered myself a new planner to keep track of all my things, I decided it's become necessary because I wasn't doing so well with my current method - I'd been just using my computer's calendar or my phone's, but, I started to realized that I don't always check those things for stuff like that. I needed something that I could write them down in as I do for our blog stuff. It's nothing huge, but will work well enough for me to actually hand write my things down! To me, I guess, things aren't real unless I've actually used a pen and written it down. I think it's got to be a memory tool of some sort, using your hand to record it has got to have some kind of imprint on what you remember better. Even if you don't remember exactly what it is, you know you wrote something down - at least for me, lol. Typing it on the computer or on my phone is just not the same thing. I also ordered some highlighters (I love office supplies!) to keep my notations straight in the planner, that way at a glance I'd know what each note was for.

While waiting for my planner and highlighters to arrive, I was like a kid waiting for Christmas to arrive, lol. I was tracking and watching for UPS like a crazy woman, lol. I did have the forethought to order a multi-pack of highlighters, which came with 2 of each color because Harry too has a thing for pens and markers (gee, wonder where he gets that from), lol, and I knew if I didn't, I'd have all of mine lost for me, lol. So, this way, as soon as I opened the package, half went to Harry and the other half was mine. ;-)

And now, after all this typing about writing, I need to go find something to write in or on or something! LOL 


And don't forget our 4th of July gift card giveaway -

In honor of the 4th of July we are giving away a Google Play or Apple iTunes $20 gift card so you can try out some fun photography apps - or whatever you'd like, lol. To enter all you have to do is leave us a comment on any or all of the posts here between today and next Friday. Be sure to let us know which type of gift card you would like should you be the winner! And if you forward this information to a friend, and they mention you in the comments, you both will get an extra entry in the drawing! It's a great way to try some new photography apps that you've had your eye on or discover some new ones you had no idea were out there! :-D

Enjoy your week!!
xoxo
Tracey G

Food Friday - Girls' Lunch

from Kris B.

So the lazy days of summer have truly set in and I am loving it!  This unscheduled and uncomplicated days are much needed and even more appreciated!  These feelings have made me think back to my summers as a kid.  Summer break is way different for me now, as it is also for kids.  How many of you remember disappearing in the morning to go play with your neighborhood friends knowing that at lunch time whomever's house was closest when hungry struck would be where everyone ate lunch?  That lucky mom would make a few simple sandwiches, grab some chips, apple, and maybe a few cookies and happily feed all the neighborhood kids, knowing that tomorrow it would be someone else's turn.  As an aside, we could eat chips and cookies because we were outside playing and burning those calories.  For many reasons, kids today don't have the luxury of this simple life.  They have "play dates" at commercial establishments specifically designed for them.  Kids' lives have to be planned way in advance, phone calls have to made, calendars have to be checked, outfits have to be chosen...it all seems so complicated.

Truthfully speaking, things are not much different for adults.  Most people don't extend hospitality from their homes as often as once was done.  We meet our friends for coffee, or for a quick burger, or maybe a nice sit-down dinner somewhere every now and then.  I think that one of the reasons that we don't gather in our homes as much anymore is because life has become too competitive - Thoughts like "I'm not as good a cook as so and so, my house is clean enough, my dishes aren't pretty enough, and so on" invade our thinking and we buy into all of that.  All of those things might be true, but are they what really matters?  If I chose my friends based on their culinary skills, I would probably eat a lot less.  If I chose them based on their taste or ability in decorating, I'm not sure how many I'd have.  Thankfully, I don't choose my friends on any of these things.  I choose them rather on things like their levels of compassion, trust,  integrity, sense of humor.  It doesn't matter whether we are eating hot dogs or a fancy multi-course meal, we always enjoy being together, because just being together is what is important.

I wonder what would happen if rather than meeting our friends at Starbuck's or the local burger joint, we invited them over for a sandwich, and chips, and maybe fruit and a cookie?  This week's recipe from me is a simple sandwich that might inspire you to give this a try.  It consists of only four ingredients - deli roast beef (or perhaps leftovers from last night's dinner roast), fresh spinach, tortillas, and prepared garlic and herb cream cheese.

Spread the cream cheese so that it covers the tortilla, layer in some meat and then some spinach.  The amounts are up to you.  Roll it up and cut it in half.  Simple and tasty!  Now enjoy lunch with your friends!

And here is a summer surprise!  Next weekend is the 4th of July. Crazy, right?  But that is not the surprise.  If you read my Tuesday post, you know that I indulged my creative block in a few phone apps.   They are fun; whether they have gotten me out of my slump is yet to be determined.  Because we believe in sharing the fun, next weekend, in honor of Independence Day, we are giving away a $20 gift card for either Apple or Google Play.  If you want to have some summer fun with phone photography, leave us a comment on any or all of the posts here between today and next Friday.  Let us know which type of gift card you would prefer should you be the lucky winner.  And, if you forward this information to a friend and they mention you in the comments, we will give you both an extra entry!  This is a great opportunity to get some of those apps that you have been wanting!



from Tracey G.

It's been a long time since I've made this recipe, and I forgot how much I really like it, lol. Harry loved it - minus the frosting because it has crushed pineapple in it, lol. Go figure, my favorite part is the one he doesn't like - but that's ok because he scrapes it off and gives it to me, lol. It's a win-win ;-)

This is one of those recipes that couldn't be easier, which is a good thing, because things have been crazy it seems, lol. When Kris and I talked about what to make this week, she asked me if I had a sandwich recipe I'd want to use and I said "other than put some salami or turkey on bread, with mustard and eat - nope, I sure don't! But dessert recipes I have more than enough of..." So, she suggested a lunch theme and this was a dessert I thought I'd make for something like that. :-) Although, I'm sure I could find a lot in my recipe book that I'd like to make, this is one of those that jumped out at me because it's light (not light as in low-calorie, although I did swap out a few ingredients to help lighten the calories - like half the oil for some applesauce and Lite Cool Whip for the regular) and cool for a summer day. And honestly, can brighten a winter day as well, lol! :-)

Ingredients are simple, a yellow cake mix, a can of Mandarin oranges, a can of crushed pineapple, eggs, vegetable oil (I used 1/2 cup vegetable oil and 4 oz. applesauce), a package of instant vanilla pudding and 8 oz. container of whipped topping. 

For the cake batter, in a mixer you combine the cake mix, eggs, vegetable oil (or applesauce/vegetable oil combo) and the  Mandarin oranges with their juice.

Mix until well blended. 

You then pour the batter into a greased and floured 9x13" pan - I skip the flouring because I use the cake release stuff by Wilton, saves having to do that extra step. Bake at 350° F for about 35 minutes.

When the cake is completely cooled, make the frosting - combine the crushed pineapple with the juice, vanilla pudding and cool whip and stir until well mixed. Spread over the cooled cake. Serve! :-)

Mandarin Orange Cake

1 18.25 oz. yellow cake mix (I had a 15.25 oz cake mix and it worked out just fine)

4 eggs

1 11 oz. can Mandarin oranges - undrained

1 c vegetable oil

1 8 oz. container whipped topping

1 20 oz. can crushed pineapple - undrained

1 3.4 oz. box instant vanilla pudding

1) Mix together the cake mix, eggs, oranges with juice and oil. Pour batter into a greased and floured 9x13" pan.

2) Bake at 350° F for 35 minutes. Cool completely.

3) Beat together whipped topping, pineapple with juice and pudding mix until well mixed. Spread on cake.

And in case you missed it above, here's the giveaway information one more time!  

And here is a summer surprise!  Next weekend is the 4th of July. Crazy, right?  But that is not the surprise.  If you read my Tuesday post, you know that I indulged my creative block in a few phone apps.   They are fun; whether they have gotten me out of my slump is yet to be determined.  Because we believe in sharing the fun, next weekend, in honor of Independence Day, we are giving away a $20 gift card for either Apple or Google Play.  If you want to have some summer fun with phone photography, leave us a comment on any or all of the posts here between today and next Friday.  Let us know which type of gift card you would prefer should you be the lucky winner.  And, if you forward this information to a friend and they mention you in the comments, we will give you both an extra entry!  This is a great opportunity to get some of those apps that you have been wanting!

Tuesday in Texas - $5 Funk Buster...I Hope

It finally feels like summer around here...not necessarily temperature-wise as it is not yet super hot, but spirit-wise.  We are finally easing into those lazy days of summer.  Multiple cups of coffee in the morning before getting dressed, working the Sudoku puzzle in the paper, and just enjoying the start of the new day without rushing around are all true gifts.  We are also catching up on chores like cleaning out closets and the garage.  I can't say that doing these things is fun, but it sure feels good once they are accomplished!

This afternoon my husband and I went down the street and enjoyed "cheap Mexican food" as I call it, for lunch.  Street tacos are the best!  We sat out on the covered patio and enjoyed our meal together without being worried about schedules; we had a clear calendar this afternoon so there was time to savor every bite of those tacos.  Our biggest concern was thinking about what we want to do when we go on our actual vacation in a few weeks.

We have all of the important stuff under control - plane tickets, a place to stay, a rental car, but we have not done a day by day itinerary for once we get there.  I think that defeats the purpose of a vacation!  I am ready for a little less calendar and a little more serendipity.  We looked at a few things that we might like to do, but ultimately decided to wait until we get there to make any absolute commitments.  The only thing that I know for sure that I want to do is take pictures someplace different!

I have been in a serious creative slump and photo funk lately.  There is not much that seems interesting to me to photograph.  I know that the problem is my perception of things, but I can't seem to shake it.  I am counting on a change of scenery to get me out of the slump.  Just in case that is not enough, I decided that maybe I "need" a new lens to take with me on vacation.  But which one do I need?  I poked around on the Internet for awhile, read some reviews and articles and came to the conclusion that I really don't know what I need, which probably means that I need nothing.  Yeah, there are a couple of lenses that I would like to have, but in all honesty, I have a fairly well equipped camera bag.  And we all know that a new lens is not going to get me out of my photo funk.  So I talked myself out of continuing to look for a new lens and saved $1000 in the process.  Well, that's not exactly true...

I saved $995 because this evening I downloaded $5 worth of HipstaPaks on my phone.  I have a love-hate relationship with my phone camera.  I don't mind using it, but lately my photos have been disappointing; they seem much fuzzier than I think they should be.  This has not helped my general feeling about my photography.  In an effort to figure out what is going on, I read about a few things that may help me with my phone photography and I decided that $5 on HipstaPaks was a much more reasonable solution to "needing" something new than was buying an expensive lens that I know that I don't need at all.  Perhaps I just need to commit to a week or two of only phone photos for something new.

We'll see how things go.  Hopefully something will give here soon and the world through my lens will look a little more interesting to me.  Until then, I'll live vicariously through the beautiful photos of all my friends!

Happy snapping!

Food Friday - Pack A Picnic

from Kris B.

Sometimes life just seems completely backwards.  Over the summer, I have the time and energy to cook, especially to try all those recipes that I have been collecting throughout the school year.  The problem is that I don't have much of an appetitie when it is miserably hot outside.  The only things that really sound good to me during the hot Texas summers are fruits and vegetables.  Some days I have to force myself to eat "real food."  Even then, I often end up eating some kind of salad.

This week's offering from me is more of a suggestion than a recipe.  This Italian Pasta Salad is simple and can be easily adapted to suit your particular taste.

It requires pasta..

Any kind and shape of pasta will do.  I often use rotini because all of the other ingredients tend to attach themselves to its "threads" and the salad stays nicely mixed.  This, however, is personal preference.  The trip-color pastas make for a pretty mixture.  Cook the pasta according to its package directions.

Then toss in something Italian.

The dressing (your favorite bottled Italian dressing will do just fine) and cheese are integral ingredients, but if pepperoni is not your thing,  you can certainly omit it.  I don't care much for pepperoni except in this salad.  If you want to use a different meat, ham or Canadian bacon work well.

Then add some diced salad veggies.

I always use celery and a mixture of red and green bell pepppers.  Again, whatever veggies you like, toss them in there.  Think of this salad kind of like a cold pizza.  The pasta is like the crust, the pepperoni and veggies are the toppings, the Italian salad dressing is the sauce and the cheese tops it all off.  So throw in whatever ingredients you would normally put on a pizza.  And just in case you are wondering, no, I do not put celery on my pizza, but it adds a nice crunch to this salad.

Place all of the ingredients in a bowl.

Pour the bottled dressing over them and gently toss.

And that's it...other than to enjoy!

I ususally use a 16 oz. box of pasta, one package of pepperoni cut into bite-sized pieces, a couple stalks of celery, one each medium red and green bell peppers, one cup of dressing, and one cup of grated mozarella cheese.  That said, this is not rocket science.  I am not a big salad dressing fan; I don't want my veggies searching for a life vest because they are drowning in dressing.  So, you may want to use a little more dressijg than I do.  If you are a mushroom and olive fan, toss them in.  I'm not so I don't.

This is meant to be a simple, no fuss, but tasty meal to take and share on a picnic or enjoy at home when it is too hot to cook anything.  

Experiment.  Make it your own.  And most importantly...

Enjoy!

by Tracey G.

I have to laugh, Kris is sweltering in the heat and I'm dealing with chilly weather and wondering where my sweatshirts are, lol. Yesterday it never got any warmer than 60° F here - not exactly what I'm looking for in the downside of June!!! Watch, we're going to be slammed one day with 90° F and it will stay there, lol. For days on end....

Originally I called these "Cinnamon Brownies", but that seemed like a deceiving title/name because there's not that much cinnamon in them for you to be able to say "Oh there's cinnamon in here!", but it's enough to where you think "hmmm, what is that little bit extra?", so I guess Hint of Cinnamon Brownies sound better and are more accurate, lol.

My mom and I used to be avid Food Network watchers (I still love it, but find that it also creates weight gain, lol!!), and Sara Moulton was/is one of my favorite "celebrity" chefs. Her stuff was always simple and made sense and tasted good. :-) This recipe is adapted from hers that I'd seen on one of her shows. It's also the very first from-scratch brownie recipe I'd ever tried. I'd always just stuck with a mix, and then I saw her make these and she made it look so very easy, I knew I could do it too, lol. And I must say this was at least, um, 12-15 years ago, lol, and I've been making them ever since. :-)

I ended up with more photos than usual this time around, but it seemed like more steps involved, but they are easy so when you're making them, it really doesn't seem like you're doing a lot. But I also didn't get any ingredient shots, lol. So here they are listed out, exact amounts in the recipe at the end of the post:

24 oz chocolate

butter

eggs

granulate sugar

brown sugar

vanilla

flour

baking soda

cinnamon

First, you need to melt your chocolate. I use just semi-sweet chocolate chips, but you can use any 24 oz. of your favorite chocolate if you have a preference. You combine the butter and the chocolate in a saucepan and start melting over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. I stir pretty frequently as I don't want the bottom chocolate to scorch until the butter melts in.

Once you get the chocolate and butter melted smooth, you remove from heat and allow to cool completely. Here's where I've goofed up a couple times in the name of getting things done quickly - if you don't let it cool completely, it has the potential to scramble your eggs when you add it to your egg-sugar-vanilla mixture, lol. I've done it before, but it was my own fault for not being patient to let it cool properly!

If you've let it cool properly, you should have a mixture that looks like this once you get the melted chocolate and egg-sugar-vanilla mixture combined. 

Next, you add your flour-cinnamon-baking soda mixture to the chocolate mixture, and you should have a pretty thick batter.

Now, you don't have to do this - you can just grease your 9x13" pan and leave it at that - but I like to go one step further. I like to grease it, then line it with parchment paper with sides extending (I use scissors to snip the corners of the paper so it tucks in well) so that when the baked off brownies are cooled, I can lift them out of the pan and cut them without dealing with them being in the pan, lol. ;-)

Next, you get the batter spread evenly into your prepared pan, and bake 30-40 minutes in a 350° F oven or until a toothpick comes out clean. Here's another place I've had some variations - yesterday I think I clocked my bake time at 50-55 min. Once I reached the 35 minute mark and my toothpick was pretty coated in batter, I added about 10 more min, then after that I added minutes in 5 minute increments - until the toothpick inserted in or near center came out ALMOST clean. I've way overcooked them before waiting for that toothpick to come out totally clean, lol. I've learned my lesson! ;-) So, I say start checking after the initial called-for bake time, and go from there.

Here they are right out of the oven, and what mine ended up looking like - they were baked just right! Then, once they cooled completely I pulled them out of the pan, lifting them with the over-the-edge parchment paper and then cut them as desired. I used my 2 different brownie cutters, one with a wavy edge and the other like a metal cookie cutter that does the rounded-corner-rectangle shapes. :-)

Hint of Cinnamon Brownies

Preheat oven to 350° F

24 oz chocolate or chocolate chips

1 c + 2 tbsp butter

6 eggs

3/4 c granulated sugar

1 c + 2 tbsp dark brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 c flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

butter, shortening or cooking spray to grease pan, parchment paper if desired

1) In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the chocolate with the butter, stirring occasionally. Set aside and cool completely.

2) In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and cinnamon, set aside.

3) In another large bowl, whisk together the eggs, both sugars and vanilla. Stir in the melted chocolate-butter mixture. Stir the flour mixture into the chocolate-egg mixture until well combined.

4) Grease pan as desired. Pour the batter into the pan, and bake 30-40 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool to room temperature before cutting. 

Tuesday in Texas - In Need of a Little Grass

I am happy to report that our plumbing project is complete!  That is a good thing because we had a slow start due to the amazing amounts of rain we had last month and now we are about to get slammed with more rain from tropical storm "Bill."  Hopefully the parts of Texas that are still recovering from the May deadly flood waters will not be hit again.

Our next project is to replace the yard that was destroyed during the replacement of the pipes.  I have to be honest here and say that we were never in contention for yard of the month.  We have put off investing time and money in the yard, but now we have no choice; it has to be done.  Though I love beautiful plants and flowers, landscape gardening is not my forte.  If I am going to spend time gardening, it is going to be vegetable gardening; and I haven't done much of that lately.  Thinking through this project has become kind of like the landscape version of the children's book If You Give A Mouse A Cookie.

At a minimum, the entire front yard has to have new sod put down.  We don't have a sprinkler system so we decided that this would be a good time to have one of those put in, while we have no yard to speak of anyway.  Then there are a few bushes that really need to go and some trees that need to be trimmed...you see where this is going.  We decided that it was time to call in a professional.  I went on the search for a landscape company with whom to work.  I first tried asking friends for recommendation, but came up empty.  Then I went to the Internet.  I looked for company's that were local and who had good reviews.  I looked for those that did landscaping, hardscaping, and irrigation systems.  I also checked to make sure that did residential work.  Still, it felt like I was working in the dark.  I narrowed my choices to two.  Then I made the first phone call.

This is how that first call went:

Woman on the other end: Hello. **** Landscaping.  How may I help you?
Me: I have a yard that is in need of some TLC and I am hoping that you can help me with that.
Woman on the other end: We don't do residential work.
Me: Really?  Your website says that you do.
Woman on the other end: Well, we do only if you are intending to spend $50,000 are more.  Are planning to spend more than $50,000?
Me: (Feeling perturbed) Well, I hadn't really thought about it in those terms exclusively.  I don't think we really have anything else to talk about.  Thank you for your time.  Click.

No.  We are not planning on spending $50,000.  LOL!  That is not what perturbed me. The thing that got me is that based on whatever, she made some determination that I was not worth her time.  How did she know at the point that she told me that they did not do residential work that I wasn't planning on spending $150,000?  This woman didn't know my name, my address, anything about me.  Even if I was going to spend that kind of money, it definitely wouldn't be with that company.

I know that landscaping is expensive.  I also know that landscapers can be kind of difficult to work with, but surely there is someone out there who wants the business of the average American citizen.  Everyone else wants my money!

Feeling a little skeptical, I made the phone call to my second choice.  Thankfully, that conversation was much more civil and relaxed.  The landscape architect came out this morning.

There is no question that he felt a little overwhelmed by the disaster that greeted him.  I suspect that he was worried about how much it would cost to accomplish what we need to accomplish, but he didn't make any assumptions about what we could or would be willing to pay; he simply talked to us about what we need and what we want.  We walked around the yard and talked about possibilities.  He and I seemed to agree on the general feel and style that we are going for.

At the very end of our conversation, he did finally ask what our budget was.  I told him that what would make me happy is if he would draw up a "dream plan" and see what that would cost.  Then, if we have to start whittling away at it, we will.  I don't want the whole thing to be driven solely by money.  Plus, I figured if I gave him a hard and fast dollar amount, he would spend every last penny of it even if we could do it for less.   We'll see what he comes up with.  Our first step is to have a survey done.

Funny story about the landscape architect...when he first got to the house, he and Weber kept looking at each other funny.  Finally Wil said, "You look familiar."  Weber agreed that he looked familiar to him as well.  In situations like this, the familiarity is usually because Weber has taught the person. After a run down of where the landscaper went to school and where they both had worked, the two finally realized that they had actually been colleagues back in 2003.  The landscaper had been the orchestra teacher at the school where Weber still teaches.   2003 was Weber's first year there and it turned out to be Wil's last year as a teacher.  He decided that being a music educator was not is calling and went back to school to become a landscape architect.

It really is a small world!

Stay tuned for before and after photos...

Food Friday - Citrus Angel Food Cake

from Kris B.

I thought that once my semester at school ended that life would be calm and I'd have more free time than I'd know what to do with.  Wrong!  I am playing catch-up on all those things that don't get done during the school year - doctor's appointments, serious cleaning, taking care of the yard...the list is long!  I am still trying to adjust to my summer schedule.  Tracey has had a wacky schedule as well over the last week as Harry has just finished his first year of school with its final week full of special end-of-year activities.  And now she too is catching up on all the things that need to be done but can't be accomplished during the school year.

If you have been following along here, you know that Harry has had a rough few months because of tummy troubles.  As soon as his last school day was over on Tuesday, they packed up and headed to to her in-laws who happen to live in the same town as the pediatric gastroenterologist who was recommended to them.  So, I am flying solo here this week so that Tracey can focus her energy on trying to find something that will help her little guy feel better and so they can both enjoy theirvisit with grandma and grandpa.

Wednesday was my husband's birthday.  He is not a huge fan of sweets, but everyone needs a birthday treat, right?  So when push came to shove, he decided that he wanted a citrus angel food cake.  Great.  I have made plain angel food cakes with varying degrees of success, but never a citrus angel food cake.  So I did what any good spouse would do...I googled "citrus angel food cake recipes" and found quite a few.

Here's what I have learned about searching for recipes on the Internet...it helps if you have some idea about cooking science or you may be headed for a disaster.  If you have ever made an angel food cake, you know that the process is super important.  These cakes really are not very flexible or forgiving with regard to how things are done.  Not all of the recipes online make this clear!  Thankfully, because I have made plain angel food cakes before (and have experienced disaster), I had a sense of what to look for in recipes.  I used a recipe, originally from Cooking Light, exactly as it is written here and copied below.

Ingredients

1 cup sifted cake flour 

1 1/2 cups sugar, divided 

12 large egg whites 

1 teaspoon cream of tartar 

1/4 teaspoon salt 

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

2 tablespoons grated orange rind 

1 teaspoon orange extract 

1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice 

1/2 teaspoon almond extract 

Preparation

Preheat oven to 325º.

To prepare cake, lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and 3/4 cup sugar, stirring with a whisk.

Place egg whites in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar and salt; beat until soft peaks form. Add 3/4 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Beat in vanilla, juice, and almond extract.

Sift 1/4 cup flour mixture over egg white mixture; fold in. Repeat with remaining flour mixture, 1/4 cup at a time. Fold orange rind and orange extract into the batter.

Spoon the batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan, spreading evenly. Break air pockets by cutting through the batter with a knife. Bake at 325° for 55 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Invert pan; cool completely. Loosen cake from sides of pan using a narrow metal spatula. Invert the cake onto a plate.

I'll share a few observations and thoughts about making this cake:

• It is a fabulous recipe!  Well worth the effort to make.
• Because of the attention to detail that is necessary to be successful with any angel food cake, I suggest measuring everything before you begin.  The recipe instructs you to whisk together the cake flour and 3/4 cups of sugar.  I also measured and combined the cream of tartar and salt in a small prep bowl; the vanilla, lemon juice and almond extract into another prep bowl;  and the orange rind and orange extract in a third small bowl.  Taking these steps at the beginning makes the mixing of the cake much less stressful!
• Success here depends on treating your eggs properly.  As you read the instructions, pay attention to foamy, soft peaks, and stiff peaks.  
• The final dry mixture is sifted on top of the meringue in 1/4 cup increments.  Fold these into the mixture by hand using a spatula and a "J" motion.  This keeps from beating the air out of the mixture.  The final addition to recipe is the orange rind and extract.  Fold it in in the same manner.
• Your batter is the proper consistency if you can turn the bowl upside down and nothing runs out. :-)
• Angel food cake is all about its light and airy texture.  
• I have to say that I find it a little funny that the online recipe does not include a picture.  
• Let me say again, this is a fabulous recipe!

I have mentioned before that I am not a multi-tasker.  I will be honest here and say that I could not pay attention to what I was doing as far as creating the cake and take process pictures.  My brain just wouldn't let me do that.  I'm not sure whether my inability to multi-task is a positive thing or a negative things; it simply is what it is and I can't do much about it.  That being said, I did stop to take a few photos before I actually got too involved in the process.

You've probably all heard the ad slogan, "the incredible, edible egg."  Well, it could also be "the incredible, photograghable egg."  What is it about eggs that make them such great photo subjects...aside from the fact that you don't have to bribe them to sit still and model for you?  It doesn't matter whether it is a single egg, which is often used in photography exercises on lighting, a basket of freshly gathered eggs, eggs waiting to be incorporated into a recipe, and this week, I was fascinated by the texture of the shells and the way the light danced around them.  Since I had the shells from twelve eggs,  the mound of them was impressive!

Since angel food cakes use only the whites of the eggs, you may be wondering what to do with twelve egg yolks.  

If you are wondering what to do with all of the eggs yolks that you have leftover, you might try some homemade ice cream.  Or, as I write this, my daughter is using mine to make this recipe for Milk and Honey Brioche.  Maybe I'll post a few photos when the loaves are done.

Tracey should be back next week so you guys will get two recipes from us.  Until then, take time to enjoy the beauty of good food, good photos, and good friends!

Tuesday in Texas - Big Stuff and Little Stuff

We've all heard someone say at one time or another, "Don't sweat the small stuff."  Most of the time, I find this to be a reasonable approach to things, but every now and then, those little things matter, a lot.

How often do you pay attention to an airplane flying over?  Or the air conditioner cycling?  Or birds singing on the roof?  Or pages turning? Or people breathing?  Our world is so saturated with sounds that we can't possibly pay attention to them all.  But sometimes, these small and often overlooked sounds become big things that are worthy of a little sweat.

I am spending my evenings this week recording with my church choir.  Usually when we sing we are concerned about how we sound as an ensemble.  Our listening centers around all those details that are necessary to make beautiful music...attacks, releases, diction, dynamics, phrasing.  Admittedly, we don't pay much attention, if any, to ambient sounds.  A bird singing or an airplane soaring overhead during a Sunday morning anthem during church will probably go unnoticed,  but when you are recording, ambient sounds make the difference between a piece being recorded in one take or in five takes.  All of the sudden, little things become huge things.  During the recording process, I have been fascinated by what I hear when I listen intentionally, by how big the little things can be.

My experience with sound this week is similar to what I experience regularly with photography.  How many times have you looked at an image that you have created and realized that there is something there that you did not see in the moment that you composed the photo?  With photography, that thing that we did not see may be either a good thing or a bad thing.  That surprise element has the capacity to either completely ruin a photo or make it something far more interesting than we originally thought.  Th bird on the roof or the plane flying overhead adds another layer to the visual story that is being preserved by that photo.  Extraneous noises or surprise sounds are almost never a good thing when it comes to recording music  The moral of the story here is that context and intention become key factors when we are trying to determine what is big stuff and what is small stuff.  What demands a bit of sweat?

Just as photographers rely on Photoshop to clone out the tree coming out of someone's head or the ketchup spot on that precious little girl's chin, sound engineers are able to splice out the page turns and the dramatic breaths taken in unison by the choir.  The singing birds in the middle of a piece, like the out of focus or poorly exposed photo can only be "fixed" with a re-take.  In all of this, an ethical question presents itself.  It is said that, "Art imitates life."  It seems to me that in "editing" art, whether that be with Photoshop or splicing together multiple takes to create a recorded piece of music, we are attempting to edit life rather than art.

Life is not perfect.  People don't always stand in the right place for a photo.  The photo op does not always present itself in the best light.  The ketchup does not always get wiped off the child's chin.  The birds don't stop singing when we are ready to record.  And, we all need to breathe.  So, what is the big stuff?  And what is the small stuff that we need not sweat?