Chocolate Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake

(I promise the Serenity tie-in post is coming!)

A SK recipe

So, my dad had three of these cakes in a week. A big landmark birthday coincided with my graduation from undergrad so my mom said they could either pick up a cake from our wedding bakers (they’re awesome but over an hour drive away in unseemingly hot weather) or I could make one. I had a little over a week between my last final and everyone coming in, and we had already scrubbed the apartment so I had plenty of time for a cake. Well, I sent the recipe to my mom for approval. What she didn’t tell me until the evening they got into town is that she made two of them for the parties they had in my hometown. So my dad had three of these. I then made another for DH's birthday a couple weeks ago (it did not turn out as pretty).

Replaced the ugly old picture with one of DH's birthday in 2014. Much much better.

Pumpkin Spice Whoopie Pies

I've made these twice. The first time... I'm not sure what recipe I used, probably the Whoopie Pie Book (same as the Dr Pepper Float ones). For the second I used the pumpkin recipe from the Whoopie Pie Book and the filling recipe from Amish Cooking: Deluxe Edition which was put out by Herald Press in the 90s.

Itty Bitty Whoopie Pies. That's a teacup saucer for reference.

Olive's First Halloween: Olive Joins the Golden Wave (in spirit)

Unless we decide to take more pictures for Homecoming (first time DH hasn't been, in almost a decade) Olive is finished with her role as the Furriest Member of the Golden Wave! (Fluffiest? Certainly not Hairiest... and I've seen babies dressed up so not Smallest either).

Dr Pepper Float Whoopie Pies

Adapted from this book (thanks to my cousin and her husband for a great wedding gift)

The official soft drink of DH and my Alma Mater is Dr Pepper. Every Tuesday there is Dr Pepper hour on campus (used to be Coke Hour) where Dr Pepper Floats (there is a special recipe of like 1 liter to 1 gallon of Blue Bell) are served to all students and faculty who show up. It’s a time to smooze with professors and the college president. I never made it to one in my four years there but I can’t have a lot of sugar and ice cream is a bad idea anyway. I can smooze at almuni events now, I guess, if I really want.

A Quick and Messy Fez

It's almost Halloween again, so I thought I would share another costume piece DIY (also works for a lazy cosplay for a convention.)

When I made my TARDIS dress, DH wanted to be the Doctor (the 11^th to be exact) and he needed a fez.

If my costume was hasty, his was … worse. I had every intention of sewing a bowtie and fez. Things got away from me so he rented a tie from Men’s Warehouse and in the 5 minutes I had between rehearsal, decorating the gym and the dance I took two plastic cups, a staple, and some red fabric and made a very messy fez.

This is more or less how it went.

Take 2 *matching* plastic cups. Cut on the dots.

Staple the two cups together along the long sides to make a larger loop. Then cover in fabric (again, staple) however you can. I didn't like how I did it soo... yeah. Ya'll are on your own.

And this is how it turned out

Rethinking the TARDIS Dress

A couple years ago (2? 3?) I made a TARDIS costume.

This is the TARDIS:

It travels through time and space and according to Neil Gaiman’s really awesome episode, The Doctor’s Wife, is female.

I picked a 60s type dress and handstitched the thing in a week. It was serviceable but so ill fitting. I want to tackle this again, just to have it on hand (doesn't work for my plan for upcoming-next-year-big-event.) So here’s the original:

A cardigan will cover a multitude of sins... like unfinished/incredibly sloppy armholes that were supposed to have sleeves.

Roast Chicken with DH’s Favorite Sauce

I adapted this recipe from Smitten Kitchen into a meal that DH and I go to fairly regularly. It is fairly cheap, it’s not too-too work intensive, and I can get DH to eat a whole head of broccoli. All in all, a winner.

If you hate vinegar, the sauce is not for you. I don’t really but I sneak a little sugar in to cut it a bit (and the first time I made it we didn’t have heavy cream so I used what was left in the whipped cream bottle in the back of the fridge so DH is already used to it being a bit sweeter.)

The onions aren't the prettiest but this is such a delicious meal. Especially with steamed broccoli or string beans drowned in the sauce, though it tends to overcook the broccoli so keep them separate until on the plate.