annie blog

This is Good Cake
I got this recipe from Pioneer Woman and then I tweaked it. It isn’t a pretty cake but it is really good, serves a crowd, and is done in less than an hour. And, if at any point you don’t understand my crazy directions, just click on over to Pioneer Woman because she takes pretty pictures of the cake and all the steps. And, in case you’re wondering, my addition to the recipe is cinnamon and my alteration is Kahlua instead of vanilla.

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, whisk together:
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1/4 t. salt
1 1/2 t. cinnamon

Meanwhile, melt 2 sticks of salted butter in a saucepan. Add 4 heaping T. of cocoa and stir. Add 1 cup boiling water to the cocoa/butter mixture and allow to boil for 30 seconds before turning off the heat. Pour this over the flour mixture and stir it together lightly.

In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup buttermilk, 1 t. baking soda and 1 t. Kahlua and 2 beaten eggs. Stir this into the mixture of flour/cocoa mixture until it is blended. Pour in a half sheet pan, like this one and bake for 20 minutes.

While the cake is baking, wash out the saucepan. Then, melt 1 3/4 sticks butter in the saucepan. When the butter is melted, stir in 4 heaping T. of cocoa. Take the pan off the heat. Now add 6 T. milk, 1 T. Kahlua, and about 4 cups confectioner’s sugar. (I usually sift the confectioner’s sugar to make sure there are no lumps. You can also put a bunch of chopped pecans in the icing. I don’t because of my picky people and because I figure the cake has enough fat as it is.)
Pour the icing over the cake right after you take it out of the oven. Spread the layer out evenly.

And then you have to try to practice self-control until the cake is cool — or not.

This is Good Cake
I got this recipe from Pioneer Woman and then I tweaked it. It isn’t a pretty cake but it is really good, serves a crowd, and is done in less than an hour. And, if at any point you don’t understand my crazy directions, just click on over to Pioneer Woman because she takes pretty pictures of the cake and all the steps. And, in case you’re wondering, my addition to the recipe is cinnamon and my alteration is Kahlua instead of vanilla.

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, whisk together:
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1/4 t. salt
1 1/2 t. cinnamon

Meanwhile, melt 2 sticks of salted butter in a saucepan. Add 4 heaping T. of cocoa and stir. Add 1 cup boiling water to the cocoa/butter mixture and allow to boil for 30 seconds before turning off the heat. Pour this over the flour mixture and stir it together lightly.

In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup buttermilk, 1 t. baking soda and 1 t. Kahlua and 2 beaten eggs. Stir this into the mixture of flour/cocoa mixture until it is blended. Pour in a half sheet pan, like this one and bake for 20 minutes.

While the cake is baking, wash out the saucepan. Then, melt 1 3/4 sticks butter in the saucepan. When the butter is melted, stir in 4 heaping T. of cocoa. Take the pan off the heat. Now add 6 T. milk, 1 T. Kahlua, and about 4 cups confectioner’s sugar. (I usually sift the confectioner’s sugar to make sure there are no lumps. You can also put a bunch of chopped pecans in the icing. I don’t because of my picky people and because I figure the cake has enough fat as it is.)
Pour the icing over the cake right after you take it out of the oven. Spread the layer out evenly.

And then you have to try to practice self-control until the cake is cool — or not.

I Made Mint Juleps Today
Do you know what I found out? I don’t like mint juleps. This is sort of a no-brainer, but if you don’t like bourbon, then you probably won’t like mint juleps.

Guess that I’ll be using my mint for some other use. I would try mojitos, but that won’t work either, because even though I like rum, I don’t like sugary drinks and I’m not the biggest fan of soda water.

All right. I’m going to stop now since I’m sounding like a really picky person. I guess that it’s just that I go for beer and wine more than mixed drinks.

So….any suggestions on how to use my mint?

I Made Mint Juleps Today
Do you know what I found out? I don’t like mint juleps. This is sort of a no-brainer, but if you don’t like bourbon, then you probably won’t like mint juleps.

Guess that I’ll be using my mint for some other use. I would try mojitos, but that won’t work either, because even though I like rum, I don’t like sugary drinks and I’m not the biggest fan of soda water.

All right. I’m going to stop now since I’m sounding like a really picky person. I guess that it’s just that I go for beer and wine more than mixed drinks.

So….any suggestions on how to use my mint?

I Made Mint Juleps Today
Do you know what I found out? I don’t like mint juleps. This is sort of a no-brainer, but if you don’t like bourbon, then you probably won’t like mint juleps.

Guess that I’ll be using my mint for some other use. I would try mojitos, but that won’t work either, because even though I like rum, I don’t like sugary drinks and I’m not the biggest fan of soda water.

All right. I’m going to stop now since I’m sounding like a really picky person. I guess that it’s just that I go for beer and wine more than mixed drinks.

So….any suggestions on how to use my mint?

Something Interesting
I just finished reading The Mayor of Casterbridge. This is the first time I’ve read a novel by Thomas Hardy. It was a fine novel, but I think that I’ve had enough depressing, darkly fascinating, and tragic reading lately.

The reason that I’m bringing up the novel is really probably just a curious coincidence. In chapter 20, just a few paragraphs from the beginning, Hardy uses 2 words in a paragraph that are very interesting, to me at least. What are these two words? The words are: dumbledores and hagrid. I kid you not. And I’m sure that numerous Rowling fans have noticed this before me. Like I said, I thought it was interesting.

Enough with depressing books…..on to P.G. Wodehouse.

Something Interesting
I just finished reading The Mayor of Casterbridge. This is the first time I’ve read a novel by Thomas Hardy. It was a fine novel, but I think that I’ve had enough depressing, darkly fascinating, and tragic reading lately.

The reason that I’m bringing up the novel is really probably just a curious coincidence. In chapter 20, just a few paragraphs from the beginning, Hardy uses 2 words in a paragraph that are very interesting, to me at least. What are these two words? The words are: dumbledores and hagrid. I kid you not. And I’m sure that numerous Rowling fans have noticed this before me. Like I said, I thought it was interesting.

Enough with depressing books…..on to P.G. Wodehouse.

Something Interesting
I just finished reading The Mayor of Casterbridge. This is the first time I’ve read a novel by Thomas Hardy. It was a fine novel, but I think that I’ve had enough depressing, darkly fascinating, and tragic reading lately.

The reason that I’m bringing up the novel is really probably just a curious coincidence. In chapter 20, just a few paragraphs from the beginning, Hardy uses 2 words in a paragraph that are very interesting, to me at least. What are these two words? The words are: dumbledores and hagrid. I kid you not. And I’m sure that numerous Rowling fans have noticed this before me. Like I said, I thought it was interesting.

Enough with depressing books…..on to P.G. Wodehouse.

The Perfect Moviegoing Experience — With Children
We’re back from visiting Alabama. While there we drank way too much coke, ate loads of watermelon and ribs and other wonderful foods, visited with dear friends and family, hiked a gorgeous canyon and visited this gem of Americana…

This is the drive-in movie theater in my hometown. I took two of my boys there on Sunday night to see Kung Fu Panda.

Every time I take my children there for a movie it just makes me wish SO MUCH that we had something like this in St. Louis. My children love movies and I would like to take them much more often if this was the way….why? Because it cost us 10 bucks, total, to get in. Because you can bring your own food and drinks — no more $4 cokes. Because the children are enclosed in a vehicle and their talking will not bother anyone but you — and, let’s face it, they are going to bother you anyway, so you can’t really count that one.

But do you know my favorite thing? It is the Southern/small town nature of the whole experience. The way the colored lights around the concession stand come on when the credits roll, the way you can swing on the swings while watching a movie if you wish, the way the good-ole-boy announcer comes on between features and says something like this:

Hey, y’all, thanks so much for coming out to see our shows tonight. Now, we’re going to have us few trailers after the first feature and then we’ll get that Indiana Jones all spooled up for y’all. Now, I don’t know what features we’re goin’ to have next week, but we’re goin’ to get some real good ones for y’all. Like I said, it’s goin’ to take us a few minutes to get the Indiana Jones all spooled up so y’all just be patient and thanks for coming to the drive-in tonight.

The Perfect Moviegoing Experience — With Children
We’re back from visiting Alabama. While there we drank way too much coke, ate loads of watermelon and ribs and other wonderful foods, visited with dear friends and family, hiked a gorgeous canyon and visited this gem of Americana…

This is the drive-in movie theater in my hometown. I took two of my boys there on Sunday night to see Kung Fu Panda.

Every time I take my children there for a movie it just makes me wish SO MUCH that we had something like this in St. Louis. My children love movies and I would like to take them much more often if this was the way….why? Because it cost us 10 bucks, total, to get in. Because you can bring your own food and drinks — no more $4 cokes. Because the children are enclosed in a vehicle and their talking will not bother anyone but you — and, let’s face it, they are going to bother you anyway, so you can’t really count that one.

But do you know my favorite thing? It is the Southern/small town nature of the whole experience. The way the colored lights around the concession stand come on when the credits roll, the way you can swing on the swings while watching a movie if you wish, the way the good-ole-boy announcer comes on between features and says something like this:

Hey, y’all, thanks so much for coming out to see our shows tonight. Now, we’re going to have us few trailers after the first feature and then we’ll get that Indiana Jones all spooled up for y’all. Now, I don’t know what features we’re goin’ to have next week, but we’re goin’ to get some real good ones for y’all. Like I said, it’s goin’ to take us a few minutes to get the Indiana Jones all spooled up so y’all just be patient and thanks for coming to the drive-in tonight.