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October 7, 2007

Prune Bundt Cake

why do prunes have a bad rap?

inside the prune abyss

prune cake! don't be a hatin' on my prunes

Spiced Prune Cake from this month’s issue of EVERYDAY FOOD:

-2 cups all purpose flour (spooned & leveled)

-1 cup pitted prunes

-2 cups sugar

-1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

-1 cup of vegetable oil

-1 teaspoon ground cloves

-1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

-1 teaspoon salt

-1 teaspoon baking soda

-1 cup plain yogurt (recipe called for buttermilk, but i used yogurt instead)

-3 large eggs

-1 cup coarse chopped walnuts

-powdered sugar for dusting.

Oven Temp: 325 degrees

Butter & Flour a nonstick Bundt Pan (12 cup capacity). Add some flour to cover- tap out excess.

Boil some water-pour over the prunes to cover & let sit for 10 minutes. Drain & chop. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour/sugar/cinnamon/cloves/nutmeg/salt/baking soda- Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk oil/eggs/yogurt & eggs.

Add wet contents to dry contents. Add the prunes & walnuts.

Spoon into pan- bake until toothpick is clean. (1 hour 45 minutes- 2 hours).

Immediately invert onto baking rake. Dust with powdered sugar when cooled.

***this was delightful! A wonderful Autumn treat. I think it would be great paired with vanilla ice cream & a caramel sauce. My husband ate a piece while sipping his Honey Rum we got in the Canary Islands.  Don’t hate prunes. They didn’t kill anyone.***

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October 4, 2007

jet lagged

fish in the sky

we’re baaaaack! Casey & I went on a trip with my family. We spent 10 days away. It was wonderful, relaxing, amazing, magical, interesting & overwhelming! So much to see, so much to do! I took over 400 pics while away. It’s going to take me a long time to edit them….. But right now I leave you with this one above. We spent the last day of our trip in Las Palmas- in the Canary Islands. We walked around and found these pretty fish!

More about the trip later. I’m still recovering from having spent 27 hours traveling. It’s good to be home. Time to catch up on all my recorded shows & snuggle with my two kitties.

I’ve spent the past 10 days curbing my internet usage. Damn….It felt pretty good. I’m trying sooo hard not to get sucked back in!

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September 17, 2007

lately:

on friday night I had a birthday dinner at my house for my favorite neighbor: meat loaf, mashed potatoes, creamed spinach & apple pie (too busy to take pictures!)

we occasionally encountered some misbehaving cats over the weekend:

this is why there's a note on the door to keep it closed this is what happens when we eat outside.  constant mewing.

i baked a loaf of bread & made whoopie pies:

decided to make some bread- at 2:30AM whoopie! i made whoopie pies.

we enjoyed the bread on the patio during an overcast morning:

overcast breakfast i could eat you always.

i bought two new lamps for our bedroom and put existing lamps in the guest room (new lamps not shown):

for guests- new lights. this door needs painting

spent a lot of time in my office/work room:

my work room in between rooms

we went to Pacifica to watch the Red Sox vs. Yankees as well as the Patriots game. We stopped at the beach along the way….

must have been an important call surfs up off of devils slide someone else enjoys the view

we ate turkey chili & cornbread muffins

turkey chilli- while watching Patriots & Red Sox games turkey chilli- while watching Patriots & Red Sox games

-we watched Fargo

-i went for a hike

-i played on the internet (til 3am!)

-i tried clothes on for our trip

-we went shopping for a jacket

-i bought some magazines

-i didn’t sleep as much as i wanted to

Now I’m off to make one of my favorite soups & watch Martha on my TIVO. Happy Monday!

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September 14, 2007

***happy birthday, sandy!!!***

had a little help from my 13 year old baking buddy:

making cream cheese frosting first time using this tip sprinkles putting in the red to make pink

xoxoxoxoxo, tracy

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September 12, 2007

:::two new furry friends:::

smile for the camera siena this is madison siena waits for her toy to be thrown he's got his eye on you

today at work I went to my coworker’s house to take pictures for her Real Estate brochure. The best part (besides getting away from work) was meeting her “kids.” The dog is Siena Cha-Cha and the cat is Madison. It’s the first Scottish Fold cat I’ve met. Their ears are silly.

i also fell in love with this flowery plant. It’s a Jewels of Opar plant.  Perhaps one day I’ll have one in my backyard….

prettie little things

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September 11, 2007

pet peave #678

When someone asks you to help them with something and their explanation of the action takes longer to explain than the action itself. This is not the best time management. They clearly could have finished the task already. This is especially annoying when the task is making a phone call.

example:

“Call this person, tell them this and this and this….ask them this and that and that…and if they ask this…say that….etc!!!” I sit there thinking “Do you want me to dial, and you can just say that to them?!!!???”

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September 9, 2007

this weekend:

walking to the neighbors paired a dress with a skirt today cheese & nectarines elephant bush is growing outside my front door olive oil & dipping herbs chocolate almond biscotti recipe two eggs required first cut, then bake again mmmmmm sf. fresh & new construction makes me want an orangey smoothie outstanding coming up over the hill sandy's bathroom chairs beauty kid's bathroom beemster & white nectarines outside the fabric store feta

weekend included:

  • a trip to SF to assistant photographing a wedding
  • dinner with the neighbors (twice)
  • playing with my new camera
  • having coffee with a new, delightful friend!
  • eating Indian food, Gyros, Falafel, Chinese food all from our favorite places in the Bay Area
  • organizing & straightening of the garage/laundry room
  • shopping for fabric for the couch & chairs
  • making chocolate/almond biscotti
  • enjoying the last few days of summer..but daydreaming about layering clothes
  • compiling all of my clothes to donate to goodwill
  • thinking about all of the soups that i’m going to make soon
  • playing “name that tune” with the neighbors on our back porch
  • packing (mentally) for our upcoming trip
  • Oh! and last thursday we saw Patton Oswalt & Brian Posehn at Cobb’s on Thursday (so funny my throat hurt from laughing!)