Scull, hold the Crossbones

Regatta season is here and yesterday was spent on the banks of the Schuylkill River at the Murphy Cup Regatta watching our son (the one in the back) row and cheering on the rest of the team.

After early morning showers, the rain held off and the day, while damp, was rain free. The team did okay and our son and his partner finished second in their heat and moved on to the final. While they didn't place in the top three, the rowed a good race considering they have only been rowing together for about two weeks.

So for the next several weekends, we'll be on the banks of assorted rivers and sounds watching lots of sculls with no crossbones.

Cleaning the Basement

I've been trying to spend some time each day working on cleaning out the basement in our house. I look around and can't figure out how so much stuff has accumulated down there. Granted, we purchased new furniture for our screened in porch last summer and we now have a massive pile of cushions stored there. But the rest of the junk - it just boggles my mind that we could have purchased so much.

So far, I've been concentrating on the three bookshelves. I have cleaned out all the old VHS tapes that I recorded of TV shows and have packed up all the Disney movies and any other pre-recorded tapes. I may try to sell them at a yard sale. I wish I could find a place to donate them. I realize that they are an outdated technology, but it pains me to think of just chucking them. Any ideas?

I've managed to put all the DVD boxed sets away and now have a pile of single movie DVD's to un-box and put into the nifty DVD storage units my husband bought me a few years ago. Another hour or so and that part of the basement cleanup should be done. But that still leaves the un-finished side of the basement - a much bigger task and one that will probably drive me nuts?

Cuppa Joe?

When a regular old cup of coffee won't do.

Who da man?

Here he is - the man of the hour. The guy in whose honor I bake that cake every year. God bless the Irish for taking him in, because if they hadn't, there'd be no St. Patrick's Day. And no reason to bake the cake.

Erin Go Bragh!

Lip Smacking Good

My parents came to visit today to have St. Pat's day fare of corned beef and cabbage with the infamous whiskey cake for dessert. The cake was delicious. Moist and potent, it was a real palate pleaser if I say so myself.

Sorry MPM and Annie - I can't mail it and I won't see Nurse Nancy to send some along.

I'm blushing

The title says it all. Thanks to my new friend Mental Pause Mama for mentioning me in her latest edition of bloggy love.. The feeling is mutual!

What's interesting is how we met.

I've mentioned my dear friend Nurse Nancy several times. Nurse Nancy works with Annie of the Tombstone Chronicler. Annie is good friends with MPM and thus our six degrees of separation. I met Annie when visiting Nurse Nancy a few months ago and shortly afterward, Nurse Nancy told me that Annie suggested a get together so, not only could I meet MPM, but she could too. And as a bonus, I got to meet Jules too.

Any way, where else but in blog land could me meet people that we would never in a million years have an opportunity to meet?

It's so true

Mental Pause Mama (MPM) over at The Mental Pause Chronicles has two good posts on "Bloggy Love" about our on line friendships - one today and one yesterday. What is really neat is that I have had the opportunity to meet several of my blogging girlfriends, including MPM, and they are really great ladies.

I think our blog friendships are really special relationships. We often open our heads and hearts to strangers who, in turn, most often respond with kind comments and "atta girls". And for the most part, they don't judge - at least not in writing.

I actually don't remember how I discovered blogging, but I'm glad I did. It's a wonderful outlet and a way to share a bit of yourself with the world.

Erin Go Bragh-less - Part Deux

First, the origin of the title of this post. When I was in college, my roommate and I decorated our door for St. Patrick's Day with the usual Leprechaun pictures, shamrocks, blah, blah, blah. My mom had also given me a cut out that said "Erin Go Bragh." Now I'm never one to miss an opportunity to do something stupid, so I taped up a bra (a 46DD that some one had given me as a joke) and my roommate and I added on the the sign so it now read "Erin Go Bragh-less" because apparently, Erin's bra was now on our door. Okay, stupid, but then we were only 19 or 20 and we did live in an all girl's dorm. By the way, she went on to marry a minister - so much for us being so innocent and sweet.

So, now to the important part of the post - the Irish Whiskey Cake recipe.

First, assemble the cast of characters:

One box of yellow cake mix, 2 small or 1 large packages of instant vanilla pudding mix, 4 eggs, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 1/2 cup milk, 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts, 1 cup whiskey for the cake and for the glaze you will need 1 stick of butter, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup whiskey and non-stick flour spray for the bundt pan.


In a mixing bowl, blend together the cake and pudding mixes. If the cake mix has pudding in it, you can reduce the added pudding to one box, but I use two for a super moist cake.


In another bowl (or in a large measuring cup), mix milk, oil and one cup whiskey. Add liquids to the dry mixes and mix well.


Beat in eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides well. Mix for two minutes at medium speed.


Stir in walnuts and pour into a prepared (greased and floured or sprayed with the baking spray) bundt pan. Bake at 325 degrees for about 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 and 1/2 hours or until lightly brown and tests done.


Prepare glaze by melting the butter in a saucepan. Add sugar, 1 tablespoon water and 1 tablespoon whiskey and bring to a gently boil. Simmer for 10 minutes until the sugar is melted. Remove from heat, let cool for three minutes, then stir in the rest of the whiskey. Do this about 15 minutes before the cake is done.



When the cake is done, remove from oven and pour the glaze mixture over the cake - this will take a few minutes as the glaze must seep into the cake so be patient - it usually takes me about five minutes to get all the glaze on the cake.


Cool in the pan for about an hour.


Turn out on to a plate covered by a large sheet of heavy duty foil. Let it cool completely, then wrap with the foil. Store in a refrigerator for several days before eating, turning the cake over each day so the glaze soaks through the whole cake and isn't concentrated on the top or bottom only.

Enjoy. This cake packs a punch and shouldn't be served to children, especially of the small variety.

Erin Go Bragh-less

St. Patrick's Day is only eight days away and in our house, that means that it is time to make the Irish Whiskey Cake for this "holy day."

I am working on putting together a "how to" for this awesome, rich and whiskey filled cake. If you decide to make it, it's much better to make it several days in advance as, like most of us, it gets better with age.

A funny aside to this cake, I made it last year and a visiting priest was given some. At mass the next week, he asked me if I was the lady who make the wonderful cake that had the "holy water" in it.

Philadelphia Flower Show

My husband and I journeyed to the historic Philadelphia Flower Show yesterday. This year's theme was Bella Italia and while I was a bit afraid it might be a little over the top, it wasn't and was worth the trip. Here's a few pictures of what we saw:

At the entrance - I'm thinking this might look good on my dining room table.


Gardens



The Discover Ireland display - I would love to visit Ireland and stay in a cottage like this.


Venice inside the Convention Center.




In addition, there was a large marketplace with a huge variety of plants, garden accessories, prints and any thing else floral related that you could think of.

I enjoyed spending the evening with my husband. Of course our trip home was not without incident - while walking through the underground mall from the convention center to the train, there was a bit of police activity with one young man on the floor waiting for an ambulance and several young men handcuffed and kneeling against a wall. Ah, Philly - cradle of the constitution and land of the nice guys!

Dining out

Can I bore you with one more cardinal picture? This was taken today after most of the snow had fallen. We had about six or seven inches of snow from this storm, the most we've had all season. Although it's pretty, I am ready for spring. It did, however, make a beautiful backdrop for Mr. & Mrs. Cardinal who were perched at the safflower seed buffet. I wonder if they snuck any out in a doggy bag?

Invasion

I took this photo this morning of the shed area in my back yard. If you click on the picture, you can see that there are six, count 'em six, male cardinals in the area of the feeder. There is one in the feeder, one on the fence under the feeder, one in the bottom of the shrub to the right of the shed and three in the tree to right of the shed. There's a female in the snow below the feeder.

Male cardinals are very territorial and you rarely if ever see even two near each other, let alone 6. The take turns chasing each other out of the feeder as there is never more than one male in the feeder at a time.

Enjoy.

Note: Barb's son pointed out that I missed a pretty lady on the fence. Thanks Little Brother!