More Christmas pictures.

I forgot this awesome picture of the magic pirate cake before it was wrapped in cheese cloth and covered in rum. You can see some rum glaze that was added to it before it was even removed from the pan and then the rest was drizzled over the top. It smelled as amazing as it looks. Yum can't wait to eat it around February maybe. We opened it up and added more rum on Christmas day and it looks like it is doing great and being preserved perfectly.

Magic Cake!

 Chris made the most delicious stuffed potatoes to go with the ham they were so yummy.

Chris's twiced baked potatoes before they were covered in cheese.

 We were having such a good time just visiting with Mom that we almost forgot the ham this year. Even though it was a little extra done it was still sooooo.... tastety.

Christmas Ham

 Pulled out the Christmas crystal for wine spritzers and then decided I would try to get a picture of the wreaths that are scrolled on them cause it's so pretty. At Christmas most people pull out nicer crystal and the fancy china it's good to have the best of the best once in a while but it's also good to just relax and enjoy each others company.

Close up of scroll on crystal

Christmas crystal

Yep it was just us and Mom, a quite intimate dinner. So we used paper plates and pots right on the table, with our expensive Christmas crystal and the yummy beautiful  foods. We're not too fancy. We had a combination of the best of the best and relaxed and laid back. Oh and notice Chris's beer bottle...no glass. Ha ha ha!

A simple table starts with paper plates!

I know presents are not what the holiday is all about and we really don't put much emphasis on who got who what. In our house if you want to buy some one something you can but really we only buy presents for children under 18, cause it's the most fun to watch them rip into them Christmas morning.  The best present of all is just knowing everyone I love is safe and having a good time and yet we still always seem to have something under the tree for ourselves and Mom.

The tree packed with presrents.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year. Can't wait to post about it. See you next year.

Cheers!

A wonderful weekend.

Got the tree decorated last weekend.

Shop shop shop. Wrap wrap wrap. Super Saturday was spent getting Christmas together. Now there are some presents under the tree.
 I even got that package to Erica mailed. Yay me. She should get it right before Christmas.  We will have to make the next package for New Years. Even though she's not all the way in Korea anymore it feels as if she is. We miss her so much.And every time I see something that reminds me of her in the store I can't help but want to buy it. She wont be able to come home for Christmas again this year but at least she will be able to drive up to my sisters and be with some family. That's the life of a soldier I guess.

The Magic Pirate Cake just before it was loaded into the oven.

I finally got that cake baked. It has to be aged and then with one bite I'll be on my way to that pirate treasure. If it taste anywhere near as good as it smelled it will be a treasure. I'm not sure how long to age it. Some other cake recipes have the cake being aged up to 5 years. I thought a month would be a long time. I don't know if it will last a month. Next time I'm definitely making two.

The fruited rum. Yum.

And of course we had to taste the rum that was drained off the fruit. Most of it will be saved for a glaze but yum was it good. I think this is why pirates were always drunk and drinking rum.

Check out the recipe page!  I plan on posting a composite of the recipe and what I did. If anyone would like to try a rum cake made by me.... just let me know. I may go into business if this cake turns out as good as I think it will.

Catching up.

Well it's Easter. Happy Easter everyone!

Just sitting around after stuffing my self with ham and the fixings. Mmm.. It was good. We ate early this year because Chris had to work later. First coarse, candy. Then, the food. Than for dessert we had home made rum cake that I made. Gramme brought pink champagne so we tried that. Then for more dessert we ate more candy. Isn't that awful. Now we are all fat and full. Oh yeah, we also ate easter eggs that me and Veronica colored.

 I tried to recreate a  rum cake that I had gotten for Christmas. I was unsuccessful. The cake I did make, was quite good. I think the one I got for Christmas must have been aged a little. It was insanely good. Do you age cakes? I don't know. Anyway, I used a yellow cake mix and a box of pudding. I used a cup of rum. It was suppose to be dark Tortuga rum but I was unable to get some in Florida and didn't want to wait for mail order so I tried to improvise by using two diffrent types of rum. Tortuga rum is from the Caribbean and I used Jamaican (Myers dark) and Puerto Rican (Captain Morgan Private Stock).

  

No it wasn't a from scratch cake but... the recipe sounded really good. The cake tasted really rummy. Really rummy. After a couple of bites though it was a lot better tasting. The sauce I poured over the cake was delicious. I could have just ate the sauce but I guess that wouldn't have been right. I think the problem was that I didn't achieve an even distribution of the sauce in the cake.Some parts were really soaked with the rum sauce and some parts had none. I think this is a recipe I'll have to perfect a little more. Maybe I'll have to start from scratch.

I've started my garden that is in the front yard but first I had to get the weeds out of the bed. 

The garden and my grass out front is full of this stuff.

What is it? I was told it is called stinging nettle. But the pictures of stinging nettle on the internet look nothing like this plant. It's a ground cover. I would have to say its the most horrible evil plant I've ever came across. It literally feels like you've been stung by a bee when it gets you. Only thing is it keeps stinging for hours. There is no visible thorns on this plant. Weed killer doesn't seem to kill it. Not that I've tried a lot. I don't like the idea of poisoning my land. There's so many problems caused by people spraying chemicals on plants around here that we have fish die offs from it. I'll get rid of it some how.

So far in the front I've planted herbs (oregano, thyme, basil, dill, and lavender), strawberries, a daisy, tomatoes, bell peppers, viola's, and petunias. I got the viola's and petunias on the clearance rack at the hardware store and they are growing better than any thing else I planted. 

Chris planted some trees. The orange, and a fig tree. He also planted a gardenia bush. For some reason he is hesitating on the blue berries that I protected all winter long. I might have to plant them myself. I can't hardly stand the fact that there are no significant plants in our yard. Well there is the cypress tree we planted when we moved in but it's under water and still dead from winter. I don't know when they wake up hopefully soon.

We haven't really been doing a lot lately just trying to spend time with Erica before she is off to basic training. She will be leaving at the end of the month. Mom is planing a big fish boil (no fish. It has crab and shrimp)

  

I miss her already but I know it is what she has to do to make a better life for herself. Plus I think she will be a really good soldier. Look out Army here she comes.