coffee cake

It started thunder-storming here a few hours ago. I used to not like them. When I was a kid, I had this Little Mermaid (I'm pretty sure it was Little Mermaid) wrist watch for a little while. I left it in my friend's sandbox by accident, and it rained that night and killed the watch. After that, I had this sense of having left something perishable in the rain every time it stormed.

Nowadays storms are more fun. They are a reason to turn off my computer and think of other things to do. Tonight, I quilted for a little bit (I know, I should have been doing homework), and then made a coffee cake, which turned out soooo yummy. It's from Mom's old Quick Breads, Soups and Stews book, by Mary Gubser. (Credit where credit is due!)

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

Filling:

½ cup brown sugar, packed

⅓ cup all purpose flour

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

¼ cup cold butter, cut in pieces

1 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped

Cake:

2 cups all purpose flour

1½ teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup butter

2 large eggs

1 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°. Spray with cooking oil or whatever suits your fancy.

For the filling: Combine brown sugar, flour and cinnamon in a food processor. With metal blade, pulse until ingredients are mixed. Add cold butter and process until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. (My mixture did not resemble coarse cornmeal. :P) Transfer to bowl and stir in chopped nuts! Set aside.

For the cake: Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a bowl and set aside. (Hehe, my filling looks like turkey stuffing in black and white)

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine butter and sugar. Beat until "light and fluffy." Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Alternately add dry ingredients and sour cream to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Scrape down sides and beat until creamy. (This is such a pretty batter.)

Stir in vanilla and mix well.

Pour half the batter into the prepared pan, spreading it evenly. Sprinkle filling over the batter - all the filling!

Pour second half of the batter over the filling, spread it evenly. It can be a little tricky to spread with the filling wanting to stick, but it's not a huge deal if there are some exposed bits. 

Bake for about 40 minutes, check to see if it's done. The book says it may need another ten, depending on ovens. 

Remove cake to wire rack, let cool for 10 minutes, then pop it out of the pan.

This turned out DELICIOUS. Seriously, it was soooo good. Try it.

trapeze + the oscars

Today doesn't come with any pictures, but it was a very fun day. First, Logan, Sara and I met up so that I could give them a run down on the fashion shoot. Then I had a trapeze workshop at Canopy Studio - never done trapeze before, but it was really, really fun.  I think I'll sign up for the beginner's classes in March... It's a strange type of -- what is it, exactly? Dance? Gymnastics? I guess it's closer to gymnastics.

After I got home, Jordan came and took some promo pics of me in her old Homecoming dress. It was admittedly fun to frolic around the yard in a fluffy dress. Jordan took the pictures, not I, but maybe I can find an acceptable shot to share with you. ;-)

Just now, I attempted to work out, but, alas, I'm just too tired. So, it's to bed with me. BUT, not without saying a huge CONGRATULATIONS to:

To Colin and The King's Speech. It was a bloody brilliant movie - one of the best I've ever seen - and I did a little dance for him, though I was rooting for him to do one on stage. And, since it was the only nominated film (besides Inception) that I managed to see, I'm giving my Supporting Actor award to Geoffrey Rush, because he was flipping good too. :)

And what the heck is wrong with James Franco? Maybe it's that he's a normal person, and he looks lame next to the unbelievably charming Anne Hathaway, but why does he look like a complete stoner in everything I've seen him in, including the Awards? I didn't see 127 Hours (and don't want to), and I'm sure he was amazing in it, but what a bore on stage.

Has anyone seen True Grit? Is it really awesome, so awesome that it makes up for what looks like a depressing story?

Okay, I'll stop talking about the Oscars. Good night, everyone.


p.s. Colin makes me want to watch his Pride and Prejudice. Just a heads up, Mom. :D

the grass is getting greener

I finally bought new underwear from Aerie online a few days ago - it took forever to get them! I am kind of psyched about it - what is it about new underwear that makes me so happy? Is it just me? :)

We drove over to Tucker Plantation today. This big farmland/wedding venue is going to be the location of the Red Dress Boutique spring fashion shoot. I've been organizing the shoot for about a month - still had some loose ends to tie up. Unfortunately, our lovely consultant at the plantation was unexpectedly busy today and we didn't get to see the pond, but now that my camera is back, I took lots of pics of everywhere else. These were my favorites.

Can you believe how fast the grass is turning green again? When we talked about this shoot a month ago, we were all worried that the scenes were going to look like winter. But no, Georgia weather is fantastic and the grass is getting greener and the patches of purple flowers are gorgeous. By next Sunday (the fashion shoot), it's going to be perfect.

You may be wondering how we are going to take fashion photography at these locations - there are more places that I'm not posting. It's going to be awesome. I'm so excited.

Basking on the front porch steps has been so nice. My cheeks are all pink from a slight sunburn. It is such a strange feeling, when the sun is hot and the breeze is cold. The sun isn't just warm and the breeze isn't just cool. It really is hot and cold. But it's so refreshing.

Did a bit of spring cleaning this evening, washed my sheets and cleaned up my room, did laundry. A clean, made-up bed is the best. One of my favorite things in the whole world.

We had oatmeal for dinner tonight. Oatmeal and toast. It was super yummy - I love mixing up meals.

Time to study some French. Four exams to go!

Much love,
- caroline

toes

Today was fun.

a smokey sky and that ugly guy

Outside was all smokey today. People on Facebook were saying that it was smokey in Athens, too, which is miles away. It was all very mysterious until someone mentioned controlled brushfires. Way to ruin it. ;)

I went to a movie with Jordan today - I Am Number Four. It was... well, we laughed through most of it. XD The flashlight hands, really? What was that? It was like Iron Man crossed with Spider Man. Heh heh heh. And the bad guys who were a mix between the Ferengi and Voldemort? By the way, I spotted the actor who played the Leader of the Bad Guys under all that make up! 

Remember that ugly guy from LOST? The one who shot Alex? Yeahhhh, that's right. I recognized him under black eyes, Ferengi teeth, tattoos and nose gills. :D

Well, I hope you all had a good day. :) Tomorrow I will be able to say that I only have four exams to go. Yay for poetry, it's always the easy unit. 

Good night. Sleep tight.

another beautiful day

The day started with pancakes. Which, being in charge of pouring the batter, I neglected to fully document. I even accidentally made a HUGE pancake - I blame it on weak wrists. :P I should have taken a picture, it was massive.

If Erin is reading this... Yes, that is algebra homework you see. *hides under a rock* I never inked in that last exam! Shame. My face is turning red. Anyway, it's all done now, so I can admit to it. I had to check it all, over and over, and I ended up learning about matrices all over again. Which, for solving systems of equations, turn out to be rather useful, if you don't mind all that a1b2c3+a2b1c3+a2... I imagine that it must feel so amazing to have a mind that can process numbers quickly. You'd feel so quick, so on top of everything.

The tiny cup on the right was made by yours truly! I never did take pictures of my pottery... I'm such a slacker. This is my teabag cup, it is terribly useful, which, when I made it, didn't seem possible. It came out of the kiln as this miniature purple thing, and I was thinking, what on earth am I going to do with this? But now I love it. :)

I don't know how it's possible for me to continue to take pictures of the yard. You'd think that after five or so years it would all get really old. But I love home, I love the yard and the barn and the coop and the house. And the tree and the swing and all of the ridiculous bits of trash that our insane neighbor hangs on the fence line to grunge up our view. It's so perfect. :) We need to get the porch furniture out again and enjoy the nine days of weather that we apparently have left.

All I have to say about the weather is that it had better be ridiculously gorgeous on March 6th. This fashion shoot is going to be amazing, and rain would really just put a damper on things. A damp damper. Maybe I shouldn't be talking about it.

Well, now I'm going to work out (on Day 6!) and read myself to sleep. Good night, whoever you are reading. Leave a comment, if you like. 

I'd like. ;)

ten more days of spring!

That's what Mom just informed me! That we are supposed to be getting ten more days of spring weather here in no'th east Georgia. That's pretty cool.

Regretfully, I didn't take many pictures today. I took my camera out with me, I thought about taking some shots, and although the weather was beautiful, nothing really caught my fancy, photo-wise. Mom and I went to Erin's to watch Micah for a little while - she seems to have the flu. :( Micah was so cute.

He has these two bottom teeth now, which he likes to chew on celery stalks with. You hear this cute little crunch every now and then as he carefully chews while trying to avoid gagging himself. (He doesn't actually eat it! Just in case anyone was wondering...)

Yes. We were charmed by the glamour of wine drinking on television, or, more precisely, on Brothers & Sisters. And then, to top it off, Logan goes and tells us that wine-drinkers live longer. How on earth could we resist? So we broke out the Trader Joe's $3 Merlot. It was enjoyable, but I would like to maybe have some more lauded wine to compare it to...

I'm thinking of trying something new with my blog... Or maybe I mean that I want to try something new with my life. Either or. Anyway, every time I sit down to post, I realize that my day was about as mundane and uneventful as a day can possibly be. Perhaps tomorrow I will find a story or a fact or a thought that I can share, and not just a comment on the weather and tv.

(Though the weather and TV are my two favorite things.)

Bonne nuit!
- caroline

six exams to go

Today was windy again - 15-25 mph winds, according to the weather app. It was so nice to have my window open for the morning and afternoon, the wind blowing in, rustling my exam pages.  

I painted this a few weeks ago. I painted it with watercolors, straight onto the glass of the frame - I don't think I'll keep it forever, or anything, it was just an experiment. I remembered that quote for Marilyn Monroe that I really love: "I don't care about making money, I just want to be wonderful." What do you think of the glass painting? I couldn't decide if she looked too sloppy. Ah well. :)

I've been re-reading Crown Duel. It's this book that I loved when I was a tween. See the creases in the spine? :) It's a fantasy novel, I suppose, set in a world of kingdoms and magic things like Fire Sticks and Summons Stones and a royal court with all the trimmings. I love the cheesiness of it all, it makes me smile.

A pic of a sketch I drew while listening to Economics 101 lectures on YouTube. That was awhile ago, but I really liked it... the drawing and the lectures. And obviously, the other pic was today's lunch. It struck me as really pretty, so I snapped a shot.

So, I have six exams to go now. Five, after I finish what I'm working on tonight. This is really exciting for me!! =) So close.

the summery day before yesterday

These are some shots from the summery day before yesterday... Photo credit to Quinn on the pic above. :)



We have this amazing forsythia plant that is devouring the large cedar tree at the top of the yard. It is spilling down from the middle of the tree in cascades of yellow flowers. It's so pretty.

 

Picture on the right - opossum jaw bones. An opossum killed one of our chickens - Little Chick - a few months ago. Dad shot it and thew its body down in this little valley at the back of our yard. Me and Quinn were exploring and we found its jaw bones, vertebrae and hip bones. Pretty cool, really.

And to end with a sweet picture of Lucy.

Goodnight, readers! Tomorrow is supposed to be terribly windy and warm! I hope you do something fun with it.

luxury

A long walk outside in the glorious weather, wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Then dinner while watching the first episodes of Brothers & Sisters. And when you start watching Brothers & Sisters, getting up and doing other things just doesn't feel like a priority. Wink wink.

I'm halfway finished with my quilt! Halfway! I've decided not to post pictures of the full quilt until I'm all the way done. 

Brothers & Sisters is a great show. :) Mom started watching it while I was on a homework kick, but when she started it, she SKIPPED the first three episodes. O.O Crazy. So we went back and watched those - of course, only they introduced the fundamentals of the show. Well, I didn't get to see the first or second season, so one episode led to another... :) I wanted to get a picture of Kevin, because Matthew Rhys is my new favorite person. And not just because I found out he's Welsh (the real reason is because he's awesome and Welsh). But Kitty/Calista will have to do.

Its so late, but... should I work out? Hmm.