Date and Nut Cake

We had beans, squash, onions, and cukes for dinner last night from our garden. I can't believe that I had to haul off over 20 overgrown zukes and cukes and yellow squashes yesterday. Now maybe the plants will produce again. We are still waiting for the tomatoes to ripen. Some of them are huge!

Have you checked out my Pinterest pins lately? I can't believe I am still finding good recipes and ideas.

The house is waiting for a good dust and vacuum, but now back to the cake recipes from Just Plain Cooking by Memaw:

Date and Nut Cake (Memaw's)

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter or shortening

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon grated orange rind

1/2 cup chopped nuts

1/2 cup finely cut dates

1/3 to 1/2 cup orange juice

Sift together first four ingredients.

Cream butter and blend in sugar. Add eggs one at a time and heat until light and fluffy. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk. Blend thoroughly. Fold in orange rind, nuts, and dates.

Pour into greased 9 inch tube pan and bake in a moderately slow oven at 325 degrees F for about an hour.

Immediately upon removing from the oven, pour orange juice over cake. Let stand 10 minutes and remove from pan.

Decorate, if desired.

Orange Dog

Although our dog is a lemon beagle (tan and white), this morning he was orange. Our pond has just enough muddy water in it that Flip loves it as a wading pool. I didn't count how many times he waded this morning before 10:00 am, but when I finished my gardening I washed off the orange mud pack. He did not even protest or fight me, and he willingly surrendered to the towel before coming into the house. The temps are so hot that he is curled up in his bed inside and sound asleep.

And Chandler is a male dog, so phew! They just play a little strangely!

I still need to get back to cake recipes, but that will be another day.

I did try out another cake mix experiment last evening. I added 1 cup homemade Greek yoghurt to a devil's food cake mix and one cup of water. Then I mixed and baked it in a lasagne pan for about 35 minutes until the center was done. The cake has great texture, but it is definitely not sweet. Nor is it sour like yoghurt. With a good sweet icing it should be great. We snacked on plain cake, and I froze the rest for another day. It is bound to be healthier than one with eggs and oil, don't you think?

Up Too Early

We jumped right out of bed when Flip came in to wake us this morning, so that we could spread the mulch. I know, what idiots! But as the temperatures have been so hot later on in the daytime, we took advantage of the 20 degree Celsius temperature and got that work done. Most of the time I think gardening is not really work, but in the heat anything is WORK. Today I used the weed cutting machines around all the agaves and little trees and bushes, and my hub shoveled the mulch. Then he went inside, and I watered all the plants outside. Now to do a rain dance so I won't have to do that for a few days.

This morning while Hub was giving a live oak (that we want to keep alive!) a drink of water, he saw our beagle being friendly with the neighbor's dog. Actually it is the neighbor's son's dog that is visiting for the summer, and I am not sure if Chandler is male or female. Sooooooo. That means I will need to let the neighbors know that we think Flip has found a girl friend. Or he has interests that some folks in the US do not want to talk about, when it comes to humans, that is. LOL

Maybe you think I have forgotten the recipes from Just Plain Cooking, but I will get back to that soon. First I have to make sure my yard and house are in order.

I am still waiting for a nice slice of yellow watermelon. Wonder if the melon farmer out on the main road has some good ones this year? We aren't Sugartown, but we are close.

(The photo above of the yellow watermelon is from two years ago when I first began writing weekly letters to Oma in The Netherlands. The melon was delivered to me by our melon growing neighbor.)

Dog Days of Summer

Before our dog found us, I thought I knew the meaning of "dog days of summer." Lazy days of doing nothing and trying to stay cool. The last couple of days have been hot, and Flip and the rest of us have tried to stay cool and hydrated.

Friday we went up to Spring to check out The Little Dutch Girl shop. That whole little shopping village is amazing. I had no earthly idea what to expect. The shop itself was sort of a disappointment. Now I know why the owner's fudge is the best seller. My hub got some Dutch licorice (Drop) and a couple of other food items, but I prefer doing my Dutch shopping in The Netherlands.

After visiting the Dutch shop we headed over to the Woof Bakery where I splurged on a couple of homemade (in the shop) doggy cookies for Flip and a sign for our gate. The owners were convinced that our pup is a full blooded beagle, so we will agree and not make any guesses of his background anymore. We are just still amazed that he was "dropped" on our doorstep almost 1 1/2 years ago. He keeps us walking every evening ( and me also every morning). So he is good for something. HaHa.

We have enjoyed our long weekend with our orchid growing son. (Check out my Pinterest Master Gardening board for a photo of his beautiful orchid. If I can figure out how to add the photo here, I will do it.) He is probably ready to send us home, since we made a pretty good mess of his clean house. But we have enjoyed the time together.

Warm Donuts

Two warm glazed donuts and one richly chocolate filled donut! That is what I treated myself to on my birthday today. We are at our son's home in the big, big city, and after taking Flip on his early, early morning walk, he and I drove a short shady distance to get fresh donuts. Yummy!

For a while back in the 70's I lived across the street from a donut shop. That is when I learned to like the chocolate filled donuts from Shipley's. They still taste the same as back then. But this morning I could not resist the still warm plain glazed donuts sweating in the closed box, so I tried out those, too. They were better than the 5 cent donuts we used to buy after Sunday School back in the 50's and 60's.

So if your math is any good, you have figured out that I am a Baby Boomer. One year to go before I reach retirement. HA HA, I stopped working paying jobs a few years ago! Retire can mean to withdraw or even to go to bed, and I haven't done much of either of those since stopping "work." Let's just say that I work when I want to work. No real rules or guidelines. No punching the clock or following dress codes. Just doing what needs to be done and what I want to do.

So when the guys are awake, I will sit down with them and have breakfast. Donuts, of course!

Flapper Dayz

Recently my hub's cousin in The Netherlands sent us this really old silent movie from youtube.com. Just click on this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj8RUZxzJNA&feature=em-share_video_user

If you have a chance, take a look. It is of the main shopping street of Hengelo, The Netherlands in 1923.

My mother-in-law's family had two shops on that street. The first shop you see is a butcher shop. That was run by her oldest sister and brother-in-law. You can see her sister standing in the window.

Later on around 9 minutes or so, you can see a green grocer (veggies), and that was owned and run by my mother-in-law's mother and father. Her mother was an independent lady in the time, since she visited the vegetable auctions several times a week and did the buying for the shop.

The truck that you see around this time in the movie was their truck and driven by Oma's brother.

If we had just gotten this a little over a year ago, she could have told us everything about this movie. But I understand that the movie wasn't even released until January 2012.

It is a silly movie, but great to see what shopping was like when Oma was around 8 years old. (She passed away last May 2011 at the age of 96.) We looked at the movie numerous times hoping to see a little Oma running down the street. No luck! Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj8RUZxzJNA&feature=em-share_video_user

Amazin' Raisin Cake

Taking liberties to change the name of a recipe from Just Plain Cooking is not what I am inclined to do. But today's cake title just needed a little tweaking. I am sure it is obvious what I did to the name. Bake and enjoy, whatever you call it.

Amazin' Raisin Cake (Memaw's)

3 cups unsifted flour

2 cups sugar

1 cup Hellman's Mayonnaise

1/3 cup milk

2 eggs

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cloves

3 cups chopped apples

1 cup raisins

1/2 cup chopped nuts

Grease and flour 2 (9 inch) round baking pans.

In large bowl with mixer at low speed, beat first 10 ingredients for 2 minutes, scraping bowl frequently. (Or beat vigorously 300 strokes by hand.)

Batter will be thick. Stir in with spoon the apples, raisins, and nuts.

Spoon batter into pans.

Bake in 350 degrees F oven for 45 minutes or until tester comes out clean.

Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove and cool.

Fill and frost with 2 cups of whipped cream.