Mountain living and other ramblings in Northern California

Sunday, January 16th, 2011

mountainwench — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 17:20:09 +0000

New year, new thoughts. Or perhaps just a new year. Have some images to post but first thought I would see if my account with WordPress even continued to exist. Apparently it does. More thoughts later.

Thought I might visit my own blog..,

mountainwench — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:06:54 +0000

I haven’t visited my own blog for quite a while. Last night we made Devil’s Food Chocolate cupcakes w/maraschino cherries which was great fun. They are a thank you to a friend who helped my husband with his Mercedes last week. What better way to say thank you than with chocolate? I mean really:)



Apple Cake V
mountainwench — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:17:46 +0000
Made this over the weekend. Use up some of the apple bounty. Good stuff I thought but needs some cinnamon and nutmeg next time. I cut the fat down appreciably from the recipe as written. Made four mini loaves and is a nice simple apple bread recipe. I’ll be making this again with my modifications. 



         


Tuesday:(
mountainwench — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:32:47 +0000
Is it too late to go home, get back in bed, and start all over again?

         


mountainwench — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:16:02 +0000
Tonight I killed two birds with one stone by feeding my husband dinner using some leftover pork tenderloin and making a stuffed zucchini and fresh bread supper. Although he ate it without complaint I think it might have been just unusual enough to give him pause:) Fact is though that while my zucchini’s stuffed with garlic, onion, mushrooms, finely chopped zucchini, white cheddar, red sauce, breadcrumbs and an egg for binder might not be the usual fare around here they were extremely tasty. I think the DH was just a little twitchy about something so different. I thought they were awesome.

         


Making peace with my bundt pan..,
mountainwench — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 12:25:09 +0000
A few weeks ago I used a really simple recipe to try and make a cake for a friend’s birthday. It looked and smelled great until I tried to remove it from the pan. Utter disaster. I was madder than a wet hen. Oh, I hate kitchen disasters.  Incredibly aggravating. After the death of the would-be birthday cake I had to toss what was left of the cake and then scrubbed the kitchen just to get rid of some frustration!
After doing some research and receiving some excellent guidance on the Garden Web Cooking Forum I decided to try again last night. I did two things differently. First I sprayed the pan this time with the Pillsbury with flour spray and I did this RIGHT before I put the batter in the pan. I learned recently that in theory the spray can trickle down in the pan (of a bundt) leaving some areas kind of exposed and cause sticking. Anyway it was worth a shot. I am happy to report my cake came right out of the pan like nobody’s business. Yeah! Still needs to be frosted or glazed.


         


September 11 Day of Remembrance (2009)
mountainwench — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:36:15 +0000
Today I am thankful to live in America and grateful for a lot of things. Be sure and say a prayer for all those who not only fight for our country but have lost their lives as civilians and soldiers.

         


The Dirt kitty
mountainwench — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:39:19 +0000


         


mountainwench — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:36:57 +0000

Last night my orange tabby went out for a little romp and stayed out all night long.  Because of the very present raccoon and skunk population we normally keep all three felines in at night.  He still had not showed up at 5 a.m. this morning but when I returned from my working walk at 6:30 he was trying to force his way in through the closed cat door. I guess you could he was a little anxious to get inside.  His face was a bit nicked up and all covered in cobwebs. Not sure what the little terrorist got into but I’m happy he made it home.

         


Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Bread
mountainwench — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 01:24:20 +0000
This wonderful smelling bread is in the oven right now. Hopefully it is as glorious as the reviews suggest. If it is food I plan on sharing one loaf with my neighbor who has promised me a pie with the apples growing from the tree in her back yard. I have good neighbors.