Category Archives: Cooking & Recipes

Carrot Cake

Ingredients:

Cake:
2 cups all -purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
3 cups grated peeled carrots (about 10)
1 8-oz can crushed pineapple drained
1/2 cup pecans chopped

Icing:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp
8 oz. cream cheese
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 16-oz. box confectioners sugar

Directions:

Cake:
Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour 38 inch round cake pans. Since the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Add the eggs and vegetable oil, and stir until well blended. Fold in the carrots, pineapple, and pecans, stirring until thoroughly blended.
Poor 1/3rd of the batter into each pan. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the cakes in the pans for 15 minutes, then remove from pans and let cool completely on wire racks.

Icing:
Place butter and cream cheese in a large bowl. Using an electric mixer set at medium speed, cream the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla. Reduce the speed to low and then gradually beat in the confectioners sugar until the mixture is smooth.

New Toaster

Old toaster quit. Bought a new one. The cheapest one the store had. You get what you pay for. As for settings, this one just seems to have varying degrees of burnt.

Cooking With Nova

Playing around with a new camera and video editing software.

Featured in this video is the mixer I got Nova for Christmas. There was a mix-up though (pun intended) about this gift. Her Christmas list read “Mixer. Not Kitchen-Aid”. I took this to mean to not spend money on the Kitchen-aid brand but instead get another cheaper brand. I decided only the best for my sweetheart and bought her the more expensive iconic brand. What I later found out is what she really meant was to get a little electric hand mixer and not one of these big counter top mixers.

Smoking

Up until recently this BBQ/smoker was a fixture in the garden. It eventually rusted through and I got rid of it. I really enjoyed the process of BBQing and the end result but it takes a lot of time and work. Can be a multi-day ordeal.

Valentines Weekend

Friday evening I received a box of assorted chocolate covered strawberries from Nova which were all gone by bedtime.
Saturday evening Mom and Dad came over for a “shrimp boil”.
Sunday (Valentine’s Day) for breakfast Nova made me biscuits, egg and gravy with her homemade salsa. I went and got Nova her favorite frozen yogurt. Sunday evening nova surprised me with even more gifts… a card and a half eaten bag of Dove chocolates.

Gonzo Grill


Last night we had dinner with the bike bunch at the Gonzo Grill. The Gonzo Grill is actually at a Chef’s house where he and his wife prepare and serve meals for a group of people like ourselves. At the end of the dinner you leave a donation. His house has been remodeled with a commercial like kitchen and the living area converted to a big dining room. We were served a multi-course meal with a Mexican theme. It was a fun time.