This is Just To Say . . .

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast.
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold.
~by William Carlos Williams

There are no plums in my icebox today for anyone to sneak and to eat and enjoy, or write poetry about . . . thatg would be because they have all been baked into an "OH MY GOODNESS, I just died and went to Heaven, scrumdiddlyumptious, moreish, indescribably delicious, fantastic, scrumptiously wonderful, incredible Plum Cake!!!



Welcome to Tuesdays With Dorie, the 23rd of September 2008. The day of the week that I, along with umpteen bazillion other bakers the world over get together and bake one delicious recipe in unison from that wonderful baking book. Baking, from my home to yours by the wonderful Dorie Greenspan!



This week's recipe was Dimply Plum Cake, on page 41 as chozen by Michelle of Bake-en. Michelle, I have to say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! This has to be my absolute favourite cake thus far that we have baked!



I love plums. The estate has quite a few plum trees. Usually every year they are dripping with plums. This year they are not. It's been a bad year for plums. On the television they said something about a wet spring and the trees not having been pollinated properly, or maybe I have that wrong, but all the fruit growers in this area are suffering from poor crops this year and they have thousands of trees . . . so what chance do a few plum trees on an estate have . . . . it's a shame really because they were quite lucious last year.



Nevertheless, however, the local shops are full of some lovely sweet plums and so I was able to buy a lovely big punnet of them just for this cake. Todd was under orders that he was not to touch these upon pain of death! (Do you do that to your husband? Tell him he is not allowed to eat this or that because it's for your blog? Force him to wait to eat until all photos have been taken and . . . . checked to make sure they are suitable for posting on your blog? Yeh? me too! now back to our regular programming . . . )

I knew this was going to be delicious as soon as I checked the ingredients in the batter . . . brown sugar, butter, ground cardamon . . . oh and plums amongst some other things. Oh, this sounded so good and the picture in the book, with all the plums all lined up and laying all tucked into a lucious looking baked cake batter. Yummo! I could hardly wait!

As I started to make the batter I thought to myself . . . there is only one thing that can possibly make this cake better . . . and that is to make a lovely brown sugar streusel to sprinkle over top of it before I pop it into the oven.



And so . . . once I had the batter made and spread into my pan and the lovely plums all halved and lined up like good little children, all in four lucious rows, that's exactly what I did. I made a delicious and buttery brown sugar streusel to sprinkle over top.

Mmmm . . . this smelled heavenly whilst it was baking. I could hardly wait to get it out of the oven. My taste buds were tingling from the get - go! I could hardly wait for my timer to go off!

It finally did and I checked, but it wasn't quite done yet and the plums had all sunk down into the cake. I probably had to bake it for an extra 15 minutes and this may or may not have been due to the streusel on top, I don' t know. This is probably what caused my plums to sink down into the batter as well, but let me tell you right now . . . This was NOT a problem . . . although I did think at first I had ruined it.



This was the tastiest, most delicious cake I have made in a very long time, sunken plums or not! From the moment my trembling hands popped that first wonderful forkful into my mouth, my heart did little pitty pats and flip flops and I could not help but utter a long, sweet sigh . . .

Bliss, pure and utter unadulterated Bliss.

That is what this cake is. RUN, don't walk . . . to your nearest store and pick up a punnet of plums TODAY and then come home and check out Michelle's page to get the delicious recipe. You won't regret it, I guarantee . . . although your hips might possibly quibble a bit about it as they are the ones that are totally going to suffer!!!



Todd decreed this cake, in between mouthfuls, as the best yet!

And I had to agree . . .

Next week's recipe will be Creme Brulee on page 393 as chosen by Mari of Mevrouw Cupcake . Great! I get to dust off my blow torch!!!

In the meantime make sure you check out the Dorie Blog Roll and see what all the other ladies have come up with!

And

Here's the recipe for the Brown Sugar Streusel I made . . .

*Brown Sugar Streusel*
Makes about 3/4 cup

I did not use this all for the cake, but don't worry, it freezes like a dream and can be used at a future date for more plum cake, or to cover a lovely fruit pie or whatever!

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup firmly packed soft light brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
5 TBS unsalted butter, chilled

Whisk the flour, sugar, cinnamon and cardamom together in a small bowl. Cut in the butter until crumbly. Use this mixture to sprinkle on top of cakes, pies or whatever strikes your fancy!

Best Shot Monday

"When music sounds, gone is the earth I know,
And all her lovely things even lovelier grow;
Her flowers in vision flame, her forest trees
Lift burdened branches, stilled with ecstasies.

When music sounds, out of the water rise
Naiads whose beauty dims my waking eyes,
Rapt in strange dreams burns each enchanted face,
With solemn echoing stirs their dwelling-place.

When music sounds, all that I was I am
Ere to this haunt of brooding dust I came;
And from Time's woods break into distant song
The swift-winged hours, as I hasten along."

~Music, by Walter de la Mare

I have long been a great lover of music. I played the clarinet as a girl and longed to play the piano and guitar. Indeed I am trying to teach myself how to play the piano now . . .



Two of my sons are consumate guitar players, and self taught as well. My youngest son loves to play the acoustic guitar and it is one of his great joys in life. He just loves music. He is at a bit of a cross roads in his life . . . he's nineteen and for the first time is having to decide what it is he actually wants to do with the rest of his life. I have told him to pick something he is passionate about and then go for it . . . the passion will take care of the rest . . .




My middle son also loves music and it is clear from all the happiness being shared in this shot that my youngest grandson also shares his passion! Don't you just love the joy on his little face as he looks up at his daddy playing for him??? I do! But then again, that is a grandmother's perogative I think!



This is my entry in this weeks, Best Shot Monday. Now hop on over to Mother May I and see some of the other wonderful entries for this week!

The Simple Woman's Day Book . . .

FOR TODAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2008 . . .

Outside My Window . . .
It's still quite dark. No birds are singing yet this morning. It's only me who is crazy enough to be awake and up and about, but then . . . when I first got up I was able to stand at the window in our upstairs lounge and look out at the night sky and see the stars twinkling and the moon shining down onto the orchard behind us. All is calm and so peaceful . . .

I am thinking . . .
About the phone call I had with my mother yesterday. I call her every second Sunday and we talk for ages. It's very hard sometimes to be living so far away. I never thought that in her elder years this would be so. I had always imagined myself living quite nearby, and that I would be able to help her if she needed me. Being here and so far away when she needs me is the hardest part of being here. Thankfully, she is still very active and independant and full of energy. I do so enjoy my telephone conversations with her. We talk and talk and talk, about everything and about nothing. It is so hard to have to say goodbye at the end. I wish I could talk to her every day. Well, I suppose do in a way . . . in my heart, but I do wish I could hear her voice . . .

I am thankful for . . .
In a world that is becoming increasingly uncertain I am thankful for my many blessings. The blessing of health and home and family, of love. The blessing of having a job, when so many do not. I may not be rich in monetary ways, but I am richly blessed in many other ways, actually those are the only ways that truly count. Money cannot buy happiness, and I am happy to the core . . .

From the kitchen . . .
I have a fresh loaf of Rustic French Bread cooling on the counter. I am not much of a bread maker myself (I make good door stops), but I do have an automatic bread maker and one that makes excellent bread, so I don't need to be much of a bread maker! I love this rustic French loaf most of all. It's full of wholemeal goodness, rye flour and has a wonderfully crunchy outside crust and meltingly light and tender insides. It's my favourite loaf!

I am wearing . . .
You will get tired of hearing this, but I am wearing my pajamas of course! I am thinking I need to get some new ones. These are getting a bit tired looking. I love new pajamas, more than new anything else, but then again, I'd live in them if I could and wear nothing else!

I am creating . . .
Press Packs for the Lollipop Shops that showcase my artwork. The creator of Lollipop Shops is going to a trade show in America in November and Mary Englebreight will be there. She's one of my most admired artists of all time. I have loved her work for a great many years. I am busy making bookmarks and other things to put into my press packs so that they will delight anyone who gets one of mine. It is hard to know what to put in actually, but I'm having great fun coming up with ideas!

I am going . . .
to work in a couple of hours . . . but then, I'm on holidays for a week starting tommorrow!!! Yes, I am taking a week off. No, we are not going anywhere special, although we may have a few trips out to some National Trust places near where we live. I am taking this week mostly to finish up a few projects like my cookbook and also some sketches I have been doing for a friend's book. Please help me out by praying that I will be able to make good headway on these things and not get distracted too much. That is one of my failings I'm afraid, I get distracted far too easily . . . it's the curse of having a creative mind!

I am reading . . .
a short novel called "The Shack" by William P Young. It's a most unusual book with a really interesting premise. This man who has lost his youngest daughter in a most tragic way gets to spend a weekend with God in an abandoned shack in the woods where they had found the last evidence of her presence. It's a bit fanciful and I'm not sure I totally get it yet, but it's entertaining and I am enjoying it thus far, although I have to admit the imagery used to represent God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are quite different than anything I ever imaginged . . .

I am hoping . . .
that I can get all the things done this week that I need to get done. My scripture study, my book, my drawings, my press packs . . .

I am hearing . . .
Jess snoring next to my feet. She is having a good old sleep this morning. Our lives follow the same routine day in and day out. I get up early. She greets me at the bottom of the stairs. I give her a scratch and rub for a few moments as I sit in my chair and she sits at my feet. More often than not she rolls over onto her back and I scratch her tummy for a few minutes which she loves. Then I put her out for her morning ablutions and she comes back in and gets her daily dentastick and joint stick. She loves those and I love watching her prance away with them in her mouth. She is so happy to get them. Then I settle in to the business of writing and she dozes at my feet. It is a quiet and happy companionship . . .

Around the house . . .
things are a bit cluttered and I need to get off my butt and put some stuff away. That is my one habit that drives Todd up the wall. I take things out, but then take my time putting them away. Whereas he is a place for everything and everything in it's place type of man, I am a completely different kettle of fish. Oh well, as I am always telling him . . . at least he knows he's not alone, because I am very obviously very much . . . here!

One of my favorite things . . .
I have a red wire heart that hangs on the wall just over the computer, right next to our calendar of the Saviour. This wireheart has little holder thingies on it that you can slip notes etc. into and it holds them up. I have it full of snapshots of my children and grandchildren. I can look up as I write and see their smiling faces and then just look to the right and see the Saviour. It's pretty lovely and does my heart good. My heart sings . . .

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week . . .
oh gosh, do you really want to know!!! All of the above plus, our young men and young women at church are doing an all night walk on Friday night. No, I am not having to walk with them, thank goodness!!!! But . . . I do have to be at the church with breakfast ready and waiting by 6 am on Saturday morning! Oh dear!! That means Todd and I will have to haul our old carcasses out of bed by 5 am at the latest and get over to that church and have it all set up. I think I'll cook the bacon and sausage ahead and just warm them up. I'm going to take my electric skillet and make some scrambled eggs and they can have bread and butter and juice and if I am feeling really enegetic some pancakes! We'll see about that last bit!

Here is picture thought I am sharing . . .



The Pyracantha bush at the end of the garden is fairly drooping with berries. It's so pretty and I am thinking that the birds will have a great old feast on it in the coming months. I find myself wondering every time I look at it if, these are the berries that they use to make those lovely wreaths for doorways in the autumn, and I am sorely tempted to try to make one. This bush does have lots of thorns though, so hardy thick gloves would be a necessity! I would love one shaped like a heart. I used to have one years ago and I loved it so very much . . . what a wonderful way to greet your guests when they come to your home for a visit!

Every time I go to the grocery store these days, it seems that the prices have gone up even more. Can you imagine that the other day I paid over £3.00 for a dozen eggs? Neither can I, but it's true! I can remember, and not too long ago either, when it was about £1.89 for a dozen large free range eggs, and thinking that was a bit much! I think I need to get myself some chickens! I am trying to be a lot more economical in my cooking these days and trying hard to pinch my pence and make it go further. This recipe I am going to share with you today makes economy a pure and simple pleasure and I just know you will all love it. The cabbage in it gets all soft and buttery. It's a delight!



*Stuffed Cabbage, Trou Style*
Serves 4 - 6

This is a wonderful way to stretch a packet of sausages a long way! It's so simple to make and basically takes care of itself in the oven while you go off and do other things you may need to do. The meat takes on a most delicious flavour and the cabbage becomes meltingly tender. Every time I make it I think to myself, this is sooo good, why don't I make it more often!

1 medium head of white or green cabbage
(about 3 1/2 to 4 pounds in weight. I prefer the white cabbage myself)
50g butter
800g of sausages
(Try to use the meatiest and tastiest ones you can find. I used Porkinsons this last time
and they were fabulous!)

Pre-heat your oven to 150*C/3oo*F. Lightly butter a deepish oven casserole dish (one with a lid) and set it aside.

Trim your cabbage and then cut it into thick shreds. Bring a pot of salted water to the boil and then cook your cabbage in it for about 4 minutes. Drain it really well, rinse it with some cold water and then drain it really well again.

Remove your sausage meat from all the casings. (Discard the casings)

Cover the base of your buttered casserole dish with about 1/3 of the cabbage. Season well with some salt and black pepper. Arrange half of the sausage meat over top of this, flatteing it out with your fingertips so that it covers all the cabbage, pressing it down as you do so. Repeat the layers once, then top with the final third of the cabbage. Press down well. Season with some more salt and black pepper and dot with the remainder of the butter. Cover tightly and place in the oven to bake for 2 1/2 to 3 hours until the cabbage is meltingly tender.



I like to serve this with some baked potatoes and a vegetable on the side, like some green beans or broccoli. It's the perfect autumn meal to come home to after spending an afternoon walking through the woods! Don't forget to hop on over to the Simple Woman's Day Book page to see all the other daybook entries for today!

Help me Celebrate with another Giveaway!

Know what I just realized???? I posted my 300th post! Wow! I am so excited about that. 300 posts and over 167,000 hits, not to mention lots of wonderful new friends, is something to celebrate, don't you think???



Cupcakes and Fairycakes are wonderful little things. A mini cake just for one! To help celebrate I shall be giving away to one lucky ready a copy of this delicious cookbook by the Women's Weekly people! I have one of these tasty books myself and just know you will love it!



To make it extra special, I am also throwing in a little Jo Malone sampler gift bag filled with two lovely little ampules of Jo Malone cologne, the Lime, Basil and Mandarin, and Amber and Lavender. I just love Jo Malone cologne! I know you will too!



To add the icing on the cake, I am also going to throw in a delicious bar of Lindt Chili chocolate, one of my favourites!!! If you like dark chocolate and you like chili you are going to love this. Smooth delicious chocolate with a distinctly fiery afterbite. Not unpleasant at all. It's lovely! I just adore it.

I've always thought that if you want to give someone a nice gift you should give them something you enjoy yourself and these are three of my favourite things!

If you want to be in on all the fun, just leave a comment at the end of this post. For every comment your name will be entered once. If you want a double chance at winning, do a post about it on your own blog and spread the word, then let me know you've done so, and I'll put your name in a second time!

I'll be drawing a lucky winner one week from today! Bon Chance everyone!

Living a life that counts . . .

One day . . . this life you and I are living will come to an abrupt end. There will exist for us no more sunrises, no sunsets . . . no months, weeks, days or hours . . .

All of our trinkets and belongings that we have collected during our sojurn here on earth . . . they'll all either be in the tip, or they'll belong to someone else. You cannot take it with you . . . however much you may have treasured it here on earth.

It will no longer matter how wealthy you were, or how famous or powerful. If you've made your mark at all in those areas, your significance will be relegated to the anals of history books, and, let me tell you . . . there are very few that make it there. I can only ever think of one Winston Churchill, one Mark Antony . . . one Moses . . . I have often heard it said that one's memory only lives long enough for the generation that knew you personally to remember you . . . once they are gone and forgotten, so are you . . . unless you have indeed made a most generous mark on the world . . . for the worst or for the better, it doesn't seem to matter which.

It will not matter how much you owned, nor how much you owed. It's now either someone elses' blessing . . . or problem as it were.

That next door neighbour that you couldn't stand the sight of . . . that close friend that you could never forgive a betrayel from . . . that person at work that got the promotion you should have had . . . your husband's secretary, you know the one, she's the one with the long legs, beautiful hair and killer smile . . . *POOF* . . . gone . . .

Everything you hoped for . . . dreamed of . . . wished for . . . aspired to . . . all that you wanted to get done, but never did . . . your wins . . . your losses . . . all expired and faded away into nothingness . . .

It won't matter anymore where you lived, or what you lived in . . . how pretty you were, or not . . . how sexy, how smart, black or white, man or woman . . . .rich or poor . . . old car, new car, fat or thin, tall or short . . .



The value of your days will be measured not in how much you bought or how much you created, but in how much you gave and shared with others of the things and talents with which you were blessed whilst living here on earth.

They will be measured not in how smart you were, how much you learned or however successful you might have been . . . but in how much you taught of what you knew, and in how much of a mark you made while you were here to do so . . .

Every act of integrity, compassion, courage or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example . . . these are the marks you will have made. What will matter is not your competence, but your character, not how many people you knew . . . but how many will feel a lasting loss when you are gone . . .



What you remember will no longer matter, but . . . the memories that you have left with those you loved and who loved you, the memories of the people you touched in whatever way you touched them . . . this is your lasting legacy. What will truly matter is how long you will be remembered . . . and by whom . . . and for what . . .

Living a life that matters is no accident . . . it doesn't just happen and is not a matter of circumstance . . . living a life that counts is a choice . . . that, only we can make. I choose to live a life that counts for something, how about you?

Last weeks Make Me Bake Challenge was a delicious Pineapple and Coconut Cake. What a delicious choice that was you made! Todd thanks you from the bottom of his lucky, skinny arsed heart! Yes, he is one of those fortunate people who have been blessed with the ability to be able to eat whatever they like, without gaining an ounce! As for myself . . . I only have to sniff and I gain ten pounds. (Ok, I confess . . . I do a bit more than sniff . . . . )



*Pineapple Coconut Cake*
Serves 6 to 8

The last hurrah of summer before it becomes a distant memory, this deliciously moist yellow cake is filled with a scrumptious pineapple filling before being slathered with a fluffy frosting and covered in a drift of lovely coconut . . . Y-U-M-M-O!!!

Cake:
3/4 cup butter
1 cup whole milk
2 cups flour
2 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Filling:
1 (20 ounce) tin of crushed pineapple (DO NOT DRAIN)
2/3 cup sugar
3 TBS butter
3 TBS flour
pinch of salt

Pineapple Frosting:
2 large egg whites (save the yolks for something else)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup pineapple juice
1 TBS light corn syrup
2 cups sweetened, shredded coconut to cover

First make the filling. Whisk together the flour and the sugar in a medium saucepan. Stir in the remaining ingredients and bring to a gentle boil over medium-high heat. Reduce to a simmer and then cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes until the butter is melted and everything is thick and well amalagamated into a lovely chunky sauce. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

Pre-heat the oven to 325*F/160*C. Grease and flour two 9" round cake tins, or three 8" round ones. Set aside.

Place the butter and milk in a small saucepan. Heat over low heat until the butter melts. Stir well and then allow to cool to room temperature.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl. Set aside.

Combine the eggs and sugar in a large bowl and beat well with a hand mixer on high speed, scraping the bowl down often. Beat until the mixture is pale yellow, smooth and thick. Stir in the flour mixture, using a large spoon, and mixing only until the flour disappears. Stir in the cooled milk mixture and the vanilla. Mix only until smooth. Divide the batter evenly amongst the prepared pans.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the cakes are golden and spring back when lightly touched in the centres and the edges begin to pull away from the sides of the pans. Cook in the pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes before turning out to cool completely, right sides up.

To make the frosting, bring some water to the boil, and then reduce to a simmer in the bottom of a double boiler. In the top, or in a heat proof bowl that will fit snugly on top of the bottom pan, combine all the frosting ingredients, except for the coconut. Beat with an electric mixer at medium speed for one minute, until pale and quite foamy. Place the pan over top of the simmering water and then increase the speed to medium high. Beat for 7 minutes, until the icing becomes thick, white and shiny and triples in volume. Continue to beat until it forms soft peaks. (This could take as long as 15 minutes) Remove from the heat and continue to beat for another two minutes, until nice and stiff. Use immediately.

Place one cake layer, top side down, on a cake plate or server. Cover it with about half of the pineapple filling, spreading it almost to the edge of the cake but leaving a slight border all around. Place the other cake layer on top, right side up. Spread it with the remaining filling. Cover the side and top of the cake generously with the fluffy frosting. Place the cake on top of a flat baking sheet and sprinkle generously with the shredded coconut, carefully patting it on to cover any bare spots until it is all used up. (The pan helps to catch any coconut that doesn't adhere to the cake)

Serve on the day you bake it. The frosting does not keep. If you want to keep the cake longer you can cover it with an every day white frosting or a cream cheese frosting, sprinkling with coconut when finished as well. Delicious!