The Perfect Carrot Cake, Father's Day Style

Yesterday was Father's Day, and it was a darn good one! M and I had a tough time figuring out what to do, since his dad is in NJ, and mine is in CT. We often do a 3+ hour tour de Rt. 95 on holidays so that we can see both sets of families, but decided against that this year.  He went to take his dad to play golf, and I went to my family where my sister was throwing a Dad's Day cookout.

It was so great to see my dad, grandfather, and uncles and spend time with my family.  We are known to have a lot of family parties, but even still...it always feels like it's been too long since I've seen them.

For Father's Day, we got my dad a gift certificate to go golfing with M and my sister's husband (whom we refer to as Mike 1, and yes...that means my Mike is referred to lovingly as M2 around my family).  We also made him a mug on Shutterfly to bring to work, which featured the newest member of our family whom he's a father too...Eli! 

It came out really cute, and my dad loved it.  We stuffed it with a couple of chocolate bars and the gift certificate, and it was a really nice addition to his day. 

I also made a carrot cake in honor of him, and to coincide with our gift.  It was my first time trying to make M's family's recipe, which I've taste tested plenty of times at parties.  It really is the perfect carrot cake. 

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Actually, correction...it was MY 1st and 2nd time making it,  all in a matter of 12 hours! Let me explain- the recipe called for 2 teaspoons of baking soda, which seemed reasonable.  After tasting a sliver, I knew something was off.  Then I looked closer and saw green carrots! It actually didn't taste terrible, and the green carrots are (allegedly) perfectly safe, but I couldn't let my first try at this be mediocre.

I remade the cake (with an adjusted baking soda quantity), and then did this to it:

The pictures make it look a little more lime-green than it really was, but it turned out pretty cool.  I used green food coloring in the cream cheese frosting, then traced a putting green out of a paper plate to cover where I wanted the cake frosting to stay smooth. From there, I dusted green dyed (again just food coloring) coconut over the rest of the cake as grass.  I used a tee, golf ball, upside down chocolate chip, and flag (made out of a wooden skewer stick and red paper) to finish it. 

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I used a mixture of walnuts and brown sugar, pulsed in the food processor, for the sand traps, and used the edge of a paper plate to keep them in place as I scatter them.

It came out great, and served a party of 15 adults, with a lot left over.  I think the addition of coconut, pineapple, and walnuts to the mix makes the cake dense, yet melt in your mouth smooth.  The cream cheese frosting is just an added decadence that takes it over the edge.  Second time's a charm! 

*Ingredients in gray reflect the change to avoid green carrots! 

Birthdays, Basil, and Beach Chairs!

Wow, how's that for a post title (random to the B-degree!). I love alliteration, hence my blog title, so I figured with a little creativity, I could make these random happenings fit together somehow.  

Let's start with the birthday: a special Cockapoo turned 4 this week! Four years old...I cannot even believe it.  It seems like only yesterday she was this tiny: 

Crawling on top of M's family's dog, Tucker (aka, the most patient Golden Retriever in the world!)

We got her a few new toys for her birthday, and a giant cupcake cookie from Chatham Beach Dog on the Cape.  If you're ever up there, and you have pups, you have to hit up this store.  It's super cute, and has unique leashes, toys, and treats.

That Tiffany's looking box was a stuffed pillow and labeled, "Sniffany's"...haha! She loves it and has been carrying it around with her all week.

Oh, and that cookie didn't stand a chance.  She scarfed it down in minutes.

Now, onto the 2nd "B" in this post's title...basil.  My grandfather is a wonderful gardener, and harvests herbs, tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, squash, and more all spring and summer.  He even started gardens in my aunt's yard and my sister's.  Since we live in an apartment, he can't dig us one...yet!  So the other day, he put together a mixed herb pot started by plants from his own garden.

I have the worst black thumb, but I'm determined to make this work. There's basil, rosemary, mint, and parsley in our pot.  Adding fresh herbs to dishes is my favorite, and I love the idea that this is a piece of my grandfather's garden on my front stoop.  So far, so good! 

Lastly, on to those beach chairs.  Being a teacher, I take great joy in the summer (as most people do).  I spend many days on the beach, if even for an hour or so.  I live about 7 minutes away, and it's free (with our resident's beach sticker), relaxing, and when I got with friends it's a perfect way to reconnect. I've been using the same beach chair since 2004.  It was from CVS, and is actually still in pretty good shape.  Since last summer, though, I've been eyeing an upgrade:

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The Ostrich 3 in 1 beach chair, from Hayneedle.com.  It has the potential to lean all the way back, pop up a foot rest, allow you to lay on your stomach, and even put your face through the "massage chair like" hole to read underneath the chair back, like so

I ordered it from Hayneedle.com after some research, and realized they had the best price, free shipping (I ordered 2 so M wouldn't be jealous of mine!), and came with a free towel per chair.  I tested it out at the beach yesterday, and it was comfortable and relatively simple to move around to its various positions.  My only concerns thus far is that they are a bit large to carry and fit in our car, and the cup holder is laughably small.  This is not a big deal to me, as I don't usually use cup holders on beach chairs, and prefer to keep my drink in my bag or cooler.  It had some reviews about structure and durability, so time will tell.  

Any random thoughts from your week? Extra points if it starts with a "B"!

Memorial Day in Pictures and Captions

Memorial Day weekend is always a time I spend with family and friends, appreciating our freedom and the amazing, strong, free country that we're blessed to call home.

Headed up to the Cape for a cloudy, misty weekend...which meant the beach was less than packed (someone manning the beach check in)

Mike, his little brother, and I made dinner one night...lots of seafood and clams casino (which I can't say I helped much with!).  I was in charge of the salad and side dishes! 

 Yes, I like holding my dog like a child...and she's not embarrassed to admit, she likes it too!  My husband's family's dog, Tucker- the most well-behaved dog I've ever met.

The guys did a little fishing in the river, while I played around with my camera.

Leaving the Cape in the evening.  "Red sky at night, sailor's delight!".  We were able to enjoy the beautiful Monday back in CT.

At my parent's house, with their dog, Eli.  He's a goldendoodle puppy (about 10 months old).

Hugging Eli, when Stella wasn't looking...she gets a bit jealous.

I saw you do that, Mom!

Shark-shaped Linzer tart cookies from Chatham (here's a link to the Chatham/Shark history).  I was so excited about these, and they were very good.  As my brother in law describes them, "They taste like the most delicious Pop-Tart you've ever tried."

All in all, Memorial Day proved once again to be a weekend full of family and fun, and most importantly a time to count our blessings and pay gratitude to all those who serve and have served to fight for our country.

Cake: Professional vs. Semi-homemade

Last night, we celebrated my grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary! Sixty years! I can't even wrap my head around how long and wonderful that is.  Mike and I have been together over 11 years, and married almost 2. We have been together for about 1/6 of the time my grandparents have been.  I can't imagine what 50 more years of memories, hardships, triumphs and celebrations will feel like.  I can only hope that we will be blessed enough to find out! Happy Anniversary Grandma and Papa!

As with any celebration, especially in our family, there is cake! We've been getting our recent cakes from Sugar Bakery, in East Haven, CT.  There cakes are big, festive, and delicious.  There is an assortment of frosting/filling/cake options, and they always come out so polished and professional looking.

Last night's was a chocolate buttercream frosting, with chocolate cake and a raspberry mousse filling.  It was delicious, and HUGE!  Other flavors we have tried in the past were strawberries and cream, cookie dough mania, and death by chocolate.  All beautiful and decadent:

I was spoiled and had 2 at my birthday party! 

So there's definitely a place in my heart for celebratory bakery cakes.  On the other hand, I love to bake...and although buying a gorgeous cake from the bakery is easy and festive, it's just as special to make one yourself.  

One trick I love to use is semi-homemade recipes.  I often with start with a box mix...I know, the horror!  Stay with me though.  By using a box mix and sprucing it up, you can still claim it as homemade and have time to do your hair and make up for the party--> Win/win!

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All kidding aside, one of the best reasons to use this semi-homemade strategy is that you can get super-creative with your cake options and fillings.  I know I'm more apt to try something cute and challenging with the frosting/filling/shape/decor of my baked goods if part of the prep is simplified. This is a great site, One Good Thing By Jillee, that I've used for tips/tricks to spruce up a boxed cake mix.

Some of my favorite options for cake + filling + frosting combinations are:

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One last note before you get up to your elbows in frosting and flour...I use a variety of recipes for my frostings and fillings, and often play around with buttercream or cream cheese.  Because the cake mix itself is already from a mix, the fresh frosting and add-ins help to revive and highlight the cake.  Happy Baking! 

What's your favorite cake/filling flavor? 

Do you have any semi-homemade tricks or cheats worth sharing? 

Water, water...everywhere!

Mike and I are house-hunting...we have been for quite a while actually.  We started out pretty casual and excited to visit open houses and see what was out there last fall.  Now, we're picking up speed a little and making appointments with our realtor.  It's getting a bit more intense, as we are super-nervous about the largest purchase of our lives so far, PLUS we know home ownership will bring a slew of obstacles and challenges.  We actually had a taste of it last weekend with the dreaded...water in the basement!

Yep, that's the basement in the Cape house we were visiting for a relaxing weekend.  Unfortunately, when we got there and turned the water on in the house, the hot water heater burst about 10 hours later.  

We were lucky to find it when we did, and there was about 4 inches of water in the basement.  Our first step for clean up was to safely turn off the water in the house (we were careful to check if the water level had reached the height of electric sources or wires that may be dangerous).  After calling a plumber to come deal with the hot water heater, we had to work on getting the water out of the basement.

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We rented a utility pump and commercial grade air mover from our local True Value up there, and began pumping water out of the basement through the bulk head door.  

Try to laugh a bit...there are worse things in life
then a little water in the old basement! 

The next steps involved:
- Removing items that would need help drying (we put them outside in the sun)
- Sweeping water towards the pump and away from the corners of the basement and towards the pump
- Using the large commercial air mover fan (also rented from True Value) to dry out the damp spots once excess water was removed

The last steps involved lots of ice cream as a reward, a walk to the beach, and cuddling with some cute puppies to help balance the chaos of a hectic weekend!

Although it was a bit stressful, it was also a reassuring to find that we could deal with water in the basement in a pretty efficient way, even never having encountered it before.  Here's a play-by-play of how we handled it and what worked for us.


Removing water from basement:

1. Safely turn off water after checking that the water level has not risen past electrical sources
2. Call a plumber to deal with the source (the hot water heater that had burst)
3. Visit a local hardware store to rent a utility pump and commercial air mover fan
4. Set up pump safely (use an outlet that is above water level) in a central area
5. Open any windows or doors to allow ventilation to the area.
6. Remove items from basement that need to dry out.  Bring into sun or another dry/ventilated area
7. Sweep water towards pump as the water level will begin decreasing.
8. Set up air mover fan on damp areas (where excess water is already removed) and point it inward towards pump
9. Continue sweeping and moving fan as needed
10. Wait until basement and items removed from basement are fully dry before putting things back together.

*This process took about 2 full days start (time the water was turned off) to finish (when items could be moved back in).

Third Wheel

Growing up, my sister started dating her now husband when I was only 13.  I remember coming home from an overnight field trip to Washington, D.C. and walking in the house to my sister...with...a...boy.  I was shocked! She had never had a boyfriend before.  I asked them what they were doing, and she said they were heading out to a movie.  I asked who else was going, and she said it was just them.  My 8th grade mind was racing...and then I figured it out! 

Fast forward 17+ years later, and I couldn't be happier that they started dating.  I loved hanging out with them together, and was the 3rd wheel, as they say, for many years.  They were heading out to dinner, "I'm in"...going to a movie, "let me grab my jacket", a trip to the mall, "I could use a few things"...you get the point!  Even if they were annoyed with the lil' sister tag-along, they never let on.

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Well, the hubs was away this weekend, so it was "just the three of us" together again! It was so much fun. We hung out, went out to eat (amazing food photos below...er, the food was amazing, the photos are lackluster), and went to the gym together.  

Besides being full from the delicious steak, and bigger than my face carrot cake (that baby stood a good 6 inches tall), my heart was also full! It felt so good to have some quality time with my sister and her husband, and Stella loved playing with her cousin dog, Brady.  She was sad to leave! 

Was there ever a time you felt like the third wheel?