Quick! Mmm-Mmm Monday!

Here's a really good chocolate frosting recipe, I think I got it from my Grandma:

Creamy Chocolate Frosting

3 Tab Margaine (or Butter) slightly melted
3 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar
1/2 cup Cocoa
1/8 teas Salt
1/4 cup Milk (plus some to get the right consistency)
1/2 teas Vanilla

Beat well till creamy.

Yep. That's it.
I've put this together the way you're SUPPOSED to put together frosting, and I've just dumped it all in and "beat well till creamy"... both ways worked.
Ross makes Hershey's recipe for Brownies from scratch with his own addition of chocolate chips and I made the frosting. It's an annual tradition for him to take in his brownies around his birthday. THIS year, he didn't advertise, the newer people at work didn't know about it and he came home with LEFTOVERS! YAY!
Enjoy!

Mmm-Mmm Monday

Today I will share my secrets to making a cake mix taste great.

1. I always sift the mix. It gets rid of lumps and adds some air.
2. Add flavor to the water. For a chocolate cake I make hot chocolate out of the water.
If I want a peachy flavor I add the juice from a can of peaches.
Lemon cake? Add lemon juice to the water.
I added Vanilla Hot Chocolate to a yellow cake mix... it was pretty good.
3. You can add a small package of dry pudding mix to your cake mix.
Your cake extra tender and light.

Like Jello Poke Cake? Here's what I do:
Bake the cake.
Poke holes using the end of a wooden spoon.
Pour liquid jello all over cake and refrigerate.
THEN
Make a complimentary flavor of PUDDING and fill in the holes!
Cover with Whipped Topping.
THEN
To show everyone what flavor your Poke Cake is inside:
Use colored sugar to make a picture of the fruit flavor on top of the whipped topping.

Other Flavor Ideas:
1. Do you like Cherry Chocolate flavor?
Use a chocolate cake and cherry jello for your poke cake... perhaps around Christmas time?
2. Use a yellow cake mix, pineapple jello and coconut pudding for a Pina-Colada cake!
3. Hmmm, I haven't tried a Lemon/Lime Poke cake yet... that sounds nice!

Have fun!

Mmmmm Monday! With a little Memory thrown in...

Why would today be a "good and yummy" Monday?
Our Spring Break starts today and runs for 2 weeks. That's why.
February's calendar was SO FULL! March started out pretty empty and then has two weeks of Very Very Full Calendar (which is including this week ) and then next week has 4 days of kids off from school and Ross off from work.
We're so happy to have time off that we're not sure WHAT we will do with ourselves!
We want to see if the 26th is the last free zoo Wednesday, so we might go there... we want to watch a few movies that we have been WAITING for them to come out on video (DVD) all comfy in pajamas and wrapped up in blankets and take naps in between movies, and Ross wants all by himself time... and since it's his b-day at the end of the month... by George! he's gonna get it!
We NEED this time off. We NEED to rest and regain our strength and balance.... yay for days off!

How about another catagory for Monday? Mmmm Monday sounds like a perfect heading for a recipe sharing kind of blog day!

So, here's a recipe for Mmmm Monday! Now, be careful! These are Addictive!
And for a little Memory for Monday... I remember making these at home as a young one growing up. There was never a recipe, it was just a part of our brains! and
My Grandma and I would make a pan of these and eat them ALL by ourselves in two days!
I've had fun experimenting with these... and that's why there are so many ( )s.

Peanut Butter Rice Crispy Thingys
1 cup sugar (1/2 brown, 1/2 white is interesting)
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup Peanut Butter
6 cups Corn flakes (or Rice Krispies)
(I've also used Honey Bunches of Oats cereal )
Topping (is optional):
1 cup Semisweet Chocolate Chips
1 cup Butterscotch Chips

In a pan bring sugar and corn syrup to a boil. Remove from heat and add peanut butter.
Mix in cereal till coated then pour and press into a buttered 9x13 pan. Let cool
Topping (optional):
Melt chocolate chips and butterscotch chips together either in microwave or in a double boiler, stir to blend. Spread over the P.B. Krispies mixture in pan. Can chill till firm or not.
Cut into bars.

Enjoy!

Miscellaneous Monday

Today my head is full of all sorts of dreams and thoughts and memories.
First I'll start with my dream:
For some reason I've been in re-runs lately. I specifically remember thinking in my dream last night, "Hmmm, I've had this dream before." "Last time the zombies laid a trap for me that would make my car jump up and then get skewered, so, this time I'll swerve around them."
Don't ask me why I dreamt about why I had a zombie movie type dream... I swear I didn't watch anything zombie like yesterday!
The other night I also remember thinking, "Hmm, I've had this dream before. How boring."
And yet, I went on with it anyway. My brain likes to keep really busy at night.

So, because of that zombie dream I watched a Chinese Zombie Vampire Kung Fu movie this morning. It was a free On Demand movie. Why not? I thought. Turns out (at least for this movie, I won't generalize) if a spirit is not at peace it turns into a zombie, then if it eats someone (by blowing it's acid breath at them and then sucking it back to them) it turns into a vampire wanting to eat people all the time. Then our four heroes and their Master come in and kung fu kick them around but, in the end have to blow up the big bad guy with dynamite, the Master sacrifices his life in order to kill him.
In the end the good guys leave each other's company, two of them "get the girl".
Yay! It's a happy ending!
Or is it?....
Last scene is the local town shrine/building FULL OF ZOMBIES kneeling down in nice orderly rows and waiting......fade to black. The End.
Isn't that a great ending?

The other things I wanted to talk about is that I've been reading a book called,

Controlling People

I think everyone should read this book. It's amazing.
It tells you that you cannot possibly know what others are thinking or feeling or what they like or dislike... If you think you know and tell people how they feel or think or like or dislike, you are trying to control that person by discounting THEIR experiences and treating them like they don't exist.

Here's some small memories that show an example of my mil trying to control me:

M: Here, wear this sweat shirt I got you for Christmas.
Me:No thank you. I'm not cold.
M: Yes you are! Put it on.
Me:No I'm not cold.

I was a newly wed and she was my brand new mil, so, I relented and put it on in the end to make her happy. I was controlled... But, this book made me think, 'Wait a minute! How could she possibly tell me how I feel?'

Anyway, so, that is your assignment. READ the book, CONTROLLING PEOPLE.
It's the next thing we need to fix around the world... if we respected each other and didn't try to control each other it would be a better, more respectful and happier world.

Museum Monday

Today my friend called and asked if I could go with her to the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Museum. I had one and a half hours free... so I said, "Yes! Let's go!"
I can sum up the trip with one phrase: Sensory Overload
Oh, let's make that two phrases... Wonderful.
I've got tons of pioneer ancestory on both sides of my family. I kept my eyes open for a name or object that would belong to one of them.
I found this:

This is Alexander Neibaur. He was born a jew in Germany and moved to England to start his own dentist business and met his wife and the missionaries too. He was a Pioneer. He met Joseph Smith and Brigham Young and taught them Hebrew and German. He might have helped Joseph Smith not whistle when he talked (because a mob broke a tooth and maybe Alexander fixed it), and definitely made Brigham Young's false teeth.

He is my 3rd great grandfather. There is a sister in my ward for whom he is HER 3rd great grandfather too. That's fun... I call her "cousin!".

I would like to find out more about my other pioneer ancestors and need to put more effort into that. I am thinking about joining the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers and doing some more searching into the lives of my pioneer ancestors.

Anyway, This museum was wonderful and hello! chock full of pioneer stuff! I would love to be in charge of it and organize it!

There was a creepy room full of dolls. I felt very oppressed and couldn't breathe in there.

There was a beautiful room full of dishes and plates and it was a happy room.

There was a room dedicated to strong and intelligent women doctors and midwives and it felt good in that room too. Strong, intelligent, confident women! You could definitely feel that vibe.

There was a room with beds and cribs and rocking chairs that gave me an electric feeling and made me a little weepy as soon as I entered it... as soon as I stepped out of that room, weepy gone, electric pressure feeling gone. Wow. Also, while I was in there, I kept thinking that the rocking chairs should be rocking by themselves... but, they didn't.

And that is my report for Museum Monday! Next time I go, I will definitely take more pics. There were some gorgeous Early American style portraits that I want to have a pic of so I can look at it at my leisure. And so much crochet! etc.

Sorry about Friday. Let's continue with a Miscellaneous Monday.

Today for Miscellaneous Monday I'll show you the cake I made and decorated for a Baby Shower that I was volunteered to be in charge of...
I've never hosted a baby shower before... but I hear that I did a good job. That's one of my talents I guess, that even though I'm a bonefide introvert, I can get up in front of people and be entertaining.
I LOVED this cake and was sad that I only got one piece.
I took a lemon cake mix (I always sift the cake mix to make it lighter and airy and NO Lumps) and added the juice of one lemon to the water amount, and the zest of same lemon to the mix as well. Nice and lemony.
Then, I put cream cheese frosting with the zest of another lemon in the middle and frosted all around with a lemon frosting. Wrote the words with a vanilla frosting w/ blue food coloring and paste.
After I got done I realized that the baby coming out of a flower seemed a bit Freudian... but, it's also very Japanese fairy tale too. Babies are always coming out of plants and fruits to be raised by childless elderly people in Japan. So, that made it okay. whew!

The lady who voluteered me to be in charge makes a wonderful Texas Sheet cake and was in charge of making sure the gift opening went smoothly.
Everyone enjoyed the Introduction Game: where everyone took turns standing up telling what their name was and WHY their parents gave them that name and/or what their name means.
Then we also played identify the baby food without the labels on them, and who can guess the measurement of the mom-to-be's tummy?
That was ENOUGH games. Games are best in moderation.
Present opening, cake and icecream eating.
And everyone had a great time.
And Now I have Baby Shower Hosting Experience under my belt.
Let's hope I don't have to do this again for a loooong time. K?



Let me just quickly make up for Friday by telling you about this: At my children's school there is a big display set up about Ancient American Indian Wall Drawings. I felt inspired and started making a figure from those wall drawings... then I turned it into a bag. I want to make more and then I will photo graph it and show and talk more about it on Friday. K?

Today's Miscellaneous Monday is about Photography!

The City of Salt Lake purchased this mansion just recently and on Saturday had an open house so citizens can help figure out what to do with it. It was built in 1893 for a man from Germany who was a brewer. The pamphlet said that it cost $13,000. to build back then. Man! have times changed! Their open house was from 2-4pm and we got there soon after 2pm and had to park WAYY down the street and THEN it took a whole hour to get through it because there were SO MANY PEOPLE there. WE had to wait for people to come down the stairs before we could go up, and wait for people to come up before we could come down. It was crowded and smelled like an old musty house that's seen better days, BUT it WAS BEAUTIFUL. I think I will be using that word a little too much here. BEcause there were so many little details, so many little beautiful details. It's the little details that make things really special. And this was a special mansion. I was happy to get to go and take part in our local government.

Here's a statue of Mary out in front of the mansion. After the mansion wasn't being used as a house anymore it was turned into a convent for the sisters of Our Lady of Victory and after that was used as a halfway house for men who were homeless or on drugs. So there was a lot of wear and tear and too many modern "fixes" that made a prettty room into an ugly office.

Here's a detail from the front steps. You just don't get to see detail work like this anymore.

To the left you can see that the stairs are horrible... but, at least they are protected on both sides by these pretty stone/concrete work.

Here's a fireplace in a front room of the mansion. Such beautiful tiles!

Here's a close up on the decorative tile on that fireplace.

The carriage house. It was all boarded up. No one allowed inside. Nice view of the smokestacks in the background, eh? When it was built it was 2 miles away from downtown and out in the middle of nowhere. Now it is by itself in the middle of an industrial area and behind Questar Gas (we could SMELL the natural gas) and a freeway is right across the street from it.

Our neighborhood is 9 blocks north of here and 50 years ago it was out in the middle of nowhere too. It used to have natural springs and a big dairy. My how things change!

Here's a beautiful wall air vent... in the basement. The basement was, well, basementy ew. but, in the middle of it all was this beautiful air vent.

Here's the inside of the front door as we left. I wish I had been able to take a picture of the tile on the floor right here, but, like I said there were so many people coming and going, I was lucky to be able to stand still long enough to take this one.

Isn't this a beautiful stone bench? It was outside in the back yard next to the carriage house.

I want one in front of my house! I also want some pretty statues of St. Francis of Assissi.

Anyway, it was a nice tour. I took a ton of pics. I think some of them are kind of good. I hope you enjoyed some of the neater details of this mansion that could some day be an art / cultural / community center.???