Recliner Thief

I got pushed right out of my recliner the other night. Oliver completely took over. Doesn't he look comfy?

Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate Cake

Some time ago, mom bought this box of Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa powder. As you know, I've long been a fan of the box mix and a whiz at doctoring a box mix, so I don't often make cake from scratch. I'll admit, it is better, but I used to make cake more frequently than I do now. (They were baked goods fiends at my old job.)

Well, someone in mom's office brought in this cake one day and mom just loved it, asking for the recipe. She was told it was the one from the back of the cocoa can.

So, I decided to to make this last week, partly for mom, partly to take a few slices to my friend Jessica, who just had her baby, and partly because I had a hankering for some serious chocolate.

Straight from the back of the Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa box.

Well, let me tell you, folks. This is a good chocolate cake recipe. And the icing recipe isn't bad either. But together... it is a bit much. I was afraid it might be. I called mom to see if she wanted something light and fluffy to go with this rich dark chocolate cake. Maybe whipped white or peanut butter? No, she assured me, it sounds like a lot, chocolate on chocolate, but it is good.

She only took two pieces.

Now I'm stuck with about 1/3 of a super sweet cake!

Zucchini Let-Down

Have you ever heard of not having enough zucchini? Sounds like I'm being sarcastic, doesn't it? Well, our crop was pitiful this year. As I mentioned earlier this summer, our zucchini crop wasn't doing so well. In fact, only two plants ever did anything at all. The others just died off.

This one has a big bloom on it, but so far has not produced anything. I doubt it will because we just had our first hard frost this week. This other plant has two small zucchini struggling to grow.I was worried about what the frost would do to literally 50% of my zucchini crop, so I dug some old windows out of the basement (my stash for wavy 1930s glass) and propped them together, making a temporary cold-frame.

Come to think of it, this would be a great place to get stuff started earlier next year...

Well, we'll see if my little zucchini make it. I'll have to pick them soon, regardless.

I'm just disappointed. I had such high hopes of freezing squash to use all winter. I even bought this nifty crinkle cutter from OXO. As it turns out, it works very nicely on cucumbers. And I think Lewis really enjoys using it!

Black Heirloom Tomatoes

Here it is, nearly November, and we are still talking tomatoes. November is the time to be talking turkey!

Ah! My favourites, the black tomatoes. I am now determined to plant a black tomato every year. So heavy and flavorful and meaty, almost no juice or seeds. Just absolutely the most perfect slicing tomato. This is what the grandparents mean when they talk about what tomatoes used to taste like. I can't say enough good things about them.

I think the only bad thing I can say is that I didn't get enough! The plants are not heavy producers, so maybe I'll get two black tomato plants next year. That way I'll have more to share, and maybe I can convince other gardners that these black tomatoes are worthy of space in their gardens!

White Cucumbers

Last fall, my friends and I visited the beautiful Landis Valley Museum, just outside of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It is a really neat restored and recreated small village and farm, with tons of interesting stuff to see. I understand they are always doing demonstrations and things. The Union Army was there the day we visited. We could have spent several more hours exploring, but we were tired. As with all good museums, we ended the day by perusing their gift shop. Where they sell heirloom seeds. Yeah. You know that was trouble. Those little paper packets hold so much promise! It is easy to go overboard. In fact, the white cucumbers were the only seeds I managed to get started at all this year.

Maybe I got them in too late. Maybe they didn't get the right sun/temperature/soil conditions. Maybe I left them on the vine too long and they got too big. Or maybe white cucumbers just aren't as good as they sound. We were not impressed with the flavor. They looked pretty, though.

Yellow Pear Tomatoes

I guess I wasn't sure what to expect from these, having compulsively picked up so many varieties of tomato at the plant nursery. As it turned out, they are a sort of cherry tomato. Sweet, yes, but the can't even begin to compare to my Sweet Millions.The plant is a heavy producer, we had way more of these little guys than we could eat. The were very pretty in salads and salsa, but you could easily get that color from a more flavorful tomato. I won't plant this variety again, but I'm glad I tried something new.

Sweet Millions Cherry Tomatoes

A bowl full of cherries!

Cherry tomatoes, that is. Our all-time favourite sweet summer snacker, the Sweet Millions variety of cherry tomato is one we didn't even plant this year. But enough volunteers came up to keep us well supplied for tomato-basil-mozzarella salad. And we still had enough to share with our neighbor.

But I can tell you, I will definitely plant this variety- on purpose- next year. Picking through the tangle of volunteers sprawled all over the ground was no fun. I have half a mind to try them in the hanging baskets on my porch...

How Oliver Spent His Summer

Sorry we've been gone for so long. But we are going to get back into the swing of things. I have lots of pictures to post; tomatoes, embroidery, clean living room, and of course, Oliver.

Oli spent as much time as possible on the porch this summer. He does so enjoy sunning himself. Even when it is too hot for the rest of us, he wants to be out.

He particularly loves lying in wait on the front porch to jump out and startle passers-by. I'm always surprised how many people know him by name.

We'll have more posts very soon, I promise. And we'll try to keep up with our blogging a bit better.

Mosaic Tile Pattern Designer

I found it!
http://americanolean.com/mosaic_design.cfm

Turns out it was American Olean, I just overlooked it somehow.

This mosaic pattern design tool is my favorite.

Hex and Square and Pennyround Tiles!

My dear friend Josh is hard at work on his old house. His upcoming project is the downstairs bath. Tucked in under the staircase to the second floor, it is a tiny space. Currently, it has a sink and toilet, but Josh plans to steal enough space from the adjoining kitchen to add a shower stall.

Josh also plans to revamp his upstairs bath in the future, so just like us, he is making sure he has all the necessities covered before he tears things out upstairs.

For his tiny downstairs bath, Josh has his mind set on 8" square tiles. Normally, everything Josh does to his antique house is perfect, so I was surprised at this. I think he should use small mosaic tiles, be it hex, square or penny round.


To this, I have compiled a short list of links to help sway him to my way of thinking. I thought I would share them with you, too.

Loads of gorgeous pictures at American Restoration Tile:
http://www.restorationtile.com/index.html

For the love of marble tile:
http://www.besttile.com/index.php?mact=Products,cntnt01,details,0&cntnt01category=Marble%20Collection&cntnt01pagelimit=12&cntnt01summarytemplate=Category-Line-List&cntnt01productid=285&cntnt01returnid=99

Envision your room with American Olean:
http://ao.swatchbox.com/EnvisionYourRoom/main.asp
http://americanolean.com/catalog.cfm?c=51

If you feel like playing with patterns, check out Freestyle from marbledesigner.com:
http://www.marbledesigner.com/index.html
Or mosaic maximizer:
http://www.mosaicmaximizer.com/max/MaxP.html

I haven't sent him my list yet. I remember playing with a mosaic tile pattern creator that was even better than the two above. I thought it might have been DalTile or American Olean, but no. Can anybody help me out?


Any other links I can send to Josh to help him fall in love with mosaic tiles?