I made a recipe from Molly's blog this week. A bundt cake that is not in her book that I saw on her blog a while back. Sweet Potato Pound Cake. It sounded really good and hey, if it has sweet potatoes, it must be healthy, right? Well, it is so good! So good that I can't resist it. I keep shaving off little slivers of it, just for one more taste and couldn't believe how much those little slivers add up to until I went to take a picture of it to post here. After looking at how much I had single-handedly eaten, I decided I was too embarrassed to take the cover off for a picture to post. Here is the link to the blog to get the recipe. http://orangette.blogspot.com/2009/03/i-mean-it.html It really is worth the effort to give it a try. I recommend the glaze on top too. It has helped keep it moist for days now. I made it on Friday and by today, it is even better than Friday! (of course, it is way more eaten up by now too!) Just in case you really want to see how it looks, here it is.

I really did eat all that by myself in just one day! YIKES! I should be ashamed of myself...but NO, I'm ready for another piece. (it is called POUND cake for a reason)

I spent all day Saturday at the Red Cross instructing a class. Client Casework: Providing Emergency Assistance. It is a class to learn how to fill out all of the forms we use when we give out assistance to somebody in a disaster, either in a local fire or on a larger national disaster. The Red Cross has so many forms that have to be filled out to account for the money and they require them to be filled out the uniformly across the nation, so we have a standard guide we follow to teach everyone exactly how the form should be done. It is kind of an overwhelming class to be in. There is so much information to process. But I kept telling them over and over to not worry, once they are actually out on a call, it will all make sense and not seem so confusing when you realize how to put it all to use.

I still can't believe that I teach now. When I first began with the Red Cross, at one of the orientation classes I took, we were told all the ways we can be involved. One of them was teaching and I sat there thinking to myself, "there is no way that I would get up in front of a group and teach!" Now here I am. But it is so easy! Client Casework is what I love to do and it is just a simple thing to pass on the information that I have learned over the time I have volunteered there.

But I still need to get up the nerve to donate blood. Last time I did that was at a blood drive in high school...when it was over and I stood up, I nearly fainted and had to lay down.

I got to have Emily and Joshua for the weekend! We had a really fun time. Saturday we went up the gorge to take pictures some of the falls with my friend Bonnie. Bonnie is a friend of mine from from the thrid grade when our family moved from Portland out to Boring. Our Moms became friends being room mothers at Cottrell Grade School and we hung out together a lot. We lost touch after school and then met up again a few years ago at out high school class reunion. We found out that we both like taking pictures and meet up and go take pictures now and then. So anyway, Emily and Joshua like to hike and they like to take pictures so we took them along with us. It was a chilly day, but we had fun and didn't get rained on. We even were able to have a picnic lunch. Emily and I went clothes shopping in the evening while Grandpa stayed home and played Mario on the DS and Age of Empires on the computer with Joshua. We had Chinese take out for dinner. Then on Sunday, we went to the Hood Theater and saw 'Bolt'. I like how they make animated shows interesting for kids and adults. It was pouring rain when we left the theater, so that is why Emily is making a run for the car in the picture. Later in the afternoon, we went to Great Grandma and Grandpa McCool's and had pizza with them at their place. It is always so much fun to have them around, deciding which one is going to sleep with me, what we are going to have to eat for every meal, what shape their pancakes are going to be in, and just where Joshua is going to stick his new toothbrush. (check out the picture again) (double click on it to make it bigger)

I've been going through the recipes from Molly's cookbook and decided that I should try one of her bundt cakes. The way she describes them makes them even more enticing...like it is not only a bundt cake, no, it is topped with a fresh orange topping you make up and serve while it is all warm. It just makes you want to sink your teeth in right now! The one I thought I should try first was one with blue berries and raspberries. Since I have a freezer full of berries from the garden last summer, I figured it would work out perfectly, even though I was not sure if frozen would work in the recipe, I think it was written for fresh ones. But then I looked over the recipe once more before I started and wouldn't you know it...I'm fresh out of Kirsch (well, we did have a bottle once when our friends from Switzerland brought us one when they visited)...and the liquor store is closed on Sunday. OK, so I decided to make the Buttermilk Vanilla Bundt..oh, no...I don't have a vanilla bean. So I decided to go to the store and get one...also, take a look and see if there is any kirsch in the wine section...(there was not)...BUT! Did you know that ONE vanilla bean is $14.99??? No way! For one cake? I have to find a better place to buy them. Since they grow them in the Dominican Republic, I am going to see if Jessi can get them for me and send them here...even with international postage, I am sure that it is not going to cost $15 dollars to make a cake. So I came home and remembered that magneted to the fridge is a recipe for a bundt cake that I ripped out of the Oregonian last week. Tiger Cake is what it is called. Chocolate and vanilla swirl. It sounded kinda different...well, REALLY different...it has you use olive oil instead of the regular oil and of all things...WHITE PEPPER. Pepper in a cake? Well, I do have white pepper (and it did not cost anything near $15), so why not? I gave it a try. It is fantastic! I can taste the pepper, but it is not like it tastes like pepper but it is sweet like a cake should be, kinda hard to describe what I mean, but it is GOOD. It was such a surprise when I sliced off a piece and there were all those swirls. When I layered it into the pan, I really didn't expect it to swirl the way the recipe said it would. But it really does just do its own thing in the oven like it said it would.

Orangette It was accidental that I found her blog. John was on his computer playing 'the game' and I was on mine. I was bored, and decided to have a look at some other people's blogs, so I pressed that little 'next blog' button on the top of my blog and began going through some other blogs. You randomly find all kinds of blogs...you find them in every language, you find things you really don't want to look at at all, some even have music to listen to while you read. I was just hopping through them, when I landed on 'Orangette'. Her writing was so nice to read, humorous and captivating. Along with each entry, she included a recipe and picture that tied in with what she wrote. Well, I love to read and I love to cook and you know I love to take pictures, so I marked it as a favorite and kept going back to see what she put on each week. Not only did I like her style of writing, I liked her recipes. One of the first ones I tried was for granola. It is easy and really good and healthy, made with applesauce to stick it together. I make it all the time now. Another one that stands out is a cheesy tomato pasta that I can't stop eating when I make it. Just tonight I made her tomato soup, which includes of all things, chopped cilantro stems and jalapeno. It is fantastic! Well, a few months back she announced on her blog that she was writing a book, and later on we could pre-order one. Then that she was going to have a book signing. I looked over the list of places she was signing and sure enough, she was on the list for Portland, at Powell's Bookstore. So last night after we had our little birthday dinner for Lindy, I drug Lindy and Cyndi with me to get my book signed. Just what Lindy wanted to do for her birthday. I have never been to a book signing before. It was really fun. Molly Wizenberg is her real name. The name of her book is 'A Homemade Life'. She read the first chapter of her book (her chapters are really short), then she answered questions and began signing. I know she has quite the following on her blog, but was amazed to discover that there are about 8-10 THOUSAND who go to her blog EACH DAY! Amazing! Next thing I plan on doing is going to Seattle where her husband is going to be opening up a restaurant named 'Delancey'. They hope to open sometime in May if all goes as planned. Just in case you want to take a look at a REAL blog, here is the link. http://orangette.blogspot.com/

Happy Birthday, Lindy!
Last night we went to the Old Country Kitchen and had happy hour food for dinner to celebrate Lindy's birthday. After that we went to Powell's Bookstore in Portland for a book signing. (which had NOTHING at all to do with Lindy's birthday)

It just felt like spring today! I felt like I wanted to get out to the yard and start working on the flowers. But even though the sun was out, it was still only 51 degrees. There are a few bulbs up, about to bloom, the pussy willow is blooming, the forsythia and flowering cherry trees are about to burst, but that is about it so far, there are not even any weeds yet. I wandered around for a while looking it all over. Then I came back inside and worked on a different kind of flowers...flowers made from flour. Now it is spring inside at least.