Rhubarb Cake

It’s the end of summer here in Alaska and apparently has been for several weeks according to the locals!  The Rhubarb tells me it is time...sigh.  Our shady side of the house is the perfect home to 5 monsterous plants and yield MUCH more than we could ever eat.   I personally do not like it...I will eat it, but would never choose it.  Rob on the other hand loves it.

 I went out and cut the last and pondered what to make.  I have made a few Rhubarb Pies and Crumbles, so I decided on cake.  I have made this several times before and wasn’t sure if Amelia would be disappointed when I offered her a piece of cake, as there is no icing.  There was sugar and cinnamon so she was ok with that.

Any extra I diced up and prepared for the freezer.  Funny thing, we never have used the freezer rhubarb. By the time Rob begins thinking about a Rhubarb dessert again (he does get sick of it eventually)it is Spring again and it is sprouting up new!  We will concentrate on Pecan, Apple and Pumpkin for now..but hey you never know.

This recipe I have been using since I arrived here in AK nearly 9 years ago and is from Martha Stewart.  It tastes like a tart coffee cake, eh but no coffee :)

Rhubarb Cake

            1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for baking dish

            2 cups all-purpose flour

            1/2 teaspoon baking soda

            1/2 teaspoon salt

            1 cup buttermilk ( I have used regular too)

            1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

            1 1/4 cups sugar

            1 large egg

            2 cups chopped rhubarb

            1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a liquid measuring cup, combine buttermilk and vanilla; set aside.

.    In the bowl of an electric mixer or using a handheld mixer, beat butter with 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg, and beat to combine. Add the flour mixture, alternating with the buttermilk mixture, and starting and ending with the flour mixture. Stir in rhubarb.

.    Spread batter evenly into prepared baking dish. In a small bowl, stir together remaining 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar evenly over batter. Bake until a cake tester inserted in center of cake comes out clean, about 35 minutes.

Let cool on a wire rack in pan for 30 minutes before serving.

The Alaska State Fair

I love the AK Fair. I didn't think I would. I went for the first time with Rob's Aunt and Uncle when  Amelia was 5 months old .  Rob didn't mind it and I thought it was great!  I went again with my sister and Amelia the following year and will now make it a yearly trek.  It's a nice walk to see everything, crowds are smaller and it's never too hot!  And here is the testimonial:  Rob actually wanted to go this year.  I am used to the NYS Fair, it’s huge and I am usually sweating and exhausted when I leave..(ok I do miss the pizza frite).  

Amelia loved the botanical garden, the merry go round and the farm exhibits especially the horses.  We attempted a pony ride, but the minute the pony turned its head her way she started crying...so we headed back to  the merry go round and had another enjoyable spin!    It was kids day the day we went and one exhibit was a cookie decorating table.  Yum.  YES, that is Rob petting a goat.  I am telling you, he actually enjoyed himself.

We went to watch the horse show (from a distance) and looked at the new jeeps (had to let Dad have a few perks), and did another trip on the merry go round as the pony ride didn't go over that well.  Not many rides for 2 year olds as she had to be 36" to ride most...no worries...didn't need them :)

Tree Felt Faces

It is getting late in the Summer and I am trying to think of new things to do outside.  Amelia was putting the washcloth circle she found in her bubble bucket that we used in our plastic bottle snake bubbles on an evergreen tree as it stuck.  I thought hmmm how about some felt scraps?!?!

Success!

We started off simple with mouth, nose and eyes. 

 Then we got a bit more creative

 This one is my favorite

Shared Desk

I was surfing the web as Amelia took her 2 hour siesta, when I glanced down and started laughing.  Amelia and I apparently share a desk.

Since she was able to, she has climbed up on the chair next to me and either drew, glued, sorted and/or cut paper, string, sticks and anything else that I may have left out.  She has about 5 or 6 notebooks (in the basket that also includes paper scraps) that she uses to doodle in with her favorite black sharpie or the crayons, pencils and other markers she has at her disposal.  There are some I won’t let her touch…let me rephrase: there are some I would rather she not touch.   She creates masterpieces that I date and label, frame or put in her art box, thinking eventually there will be so many I will have to choose which to keep.  Gasp.

Here's how it got this way:  

I bought some pink buttons for my niece's 1st birthday invite ("cute as a button"!) that I am working on and had put them in the small altoids tin, Amelia found that and emptied into the flower pots that are eventually going in our Fairy House that is still in the works.  She wanted the "blue thing" from another dish I have that is actually a flash light...that entertained her briefly.    The glue and popsicle sticks are for our current project  http://www.marthastewart.com/how-to/popsicle-stick-house .  She found a stencil and used that to make pictures of moose (she says they are moose drawings) with her new inkjoy pens I got her.   Lastly, the scissors that she uses all the time to fray the edges of paper.  Quite the artist.  

And what's even more funny...my side is messier!  HAHAHAHHAHA.  

UPDATE: we have added a couple My Little Ponies to our collection.  Here is the complete collection minus one that was still drying off in the bathroom as mom forgot to take it out of the tub from her bath the night before.  

55 and counting.  We have a hodgepodge of accessories that she uses for the ponies that includes a Barbie salon chair, Dora truck and a bathtub (will have to ask Andrea where that came from).  Maybe they can use the popsicle house we are making!

Have a great week.

Pretty as a Princess Parfait

The Nephews and Nieces all know about “You’re as Pretty as a Princess!”  All I can say is a Princess camera AND almost dead batteries. (still cracks me up!) Thanks Andrea for that toy as well!  
This dessert from her Princess recipe book seemed very appropriate.

I put all the ingredients in bowls and she went at it.  We had to mix the cream cheese, milk and vanilla, but much too hard for her, so I grabbed the hand mixer to help!  

She stirred after that.

note:  the collage of pics is thanks to picmonkey.com. (Thanks to my all time favorite blog: a beautiful little life for that tip).  You can collage all sorts of pics into one and do all kinds of fun things with photos.  You will now see lots of collages!

She loved adding the pretzels and strawberries and I blobbed on the cream cheese in between so she could have her taste of the pretzels and strawberries … a couple of her favorite snacks! (see our strawberry posts from Aug. 15).  She got the cream spoon too.

Quick and easy and she loved putting it all together! And eating it too :) 

My review of the recipe:

We didn’t have the curvy pretzels as we get the sticks as they are best for dipping in peanut butter! Probably not as pretty. I did add a tablespoon of sugar and an additional tablespoon of milk to the cream cheese as it was very cream cheesy tasting and too thick a texture.  Next time I will use whip cream instead, as that is another of her favorites.  Cream Cheese…not so much.  Or strawberry yogurt.   Eat it right away...dad found this out when he had his after dinner...soggy pretzels. Finally, our sundae glasses were in the dishwasher as I had just made pudding...those would have been better to show off the clumps of cream cheese...oh well :)

Enjoy!

Fairies and Strawberries

I planted 2 strawberry plants a year or so ago as my friend Tracy said she had great luck with them. She is in Wasilla and I am on a mountain side…I really didn’t think anything would bloom or even grow.  WRONG!  We have Strawberries my friends!!!! OH I know you are jealous Bonnie Dale!   We pick a few each day for a delicious snack.  

(Don't let Amelia's face fool you...she loves them!)

Will be making a Strawberry Pretzel dessert today from her Princess Recipe book we found at a tag sale for a $1.  

Will post on how it turns out.

Figured this was as good a time as any to show you some other greens…edible and otherwise.

 Green Beans.   Have been Stir Frying and using in Salads

Thyme.  The Chives are great too...just past their prime so didn't shoot them 

Rob does not like cabbage and Amelia does not appear to...The Moose and I love it :)

 Not sure what happened to those 2 little ones

Might as well show you what those Arctic Bunnies do to our plants.  Amelia gasped when she saw it as she is the official plant waterer.  I said ... "it's ok bunnies like a treat too, just like you."  She was quite happy with that.

Amelia's plants  from her Childhood Garden seeds

Now on to Fairies, a Fairy House to be more specific.  

Amelia LOVES Tinkerbell (actually Mom and Dad do too ... I always say I love the colors!).  We have all 3 of the movies and anxiously awaiting the 4^th.  It is one of our go to movies when all else fails.  That and Tangled I should say.   

That said, I made her a Fairy House out of the box from her Build a Bear-Hello Kitty she received from our friends the Bieri’s on her birthday in March. HOWEVER, she has spotted it and has been playing with it the whole week, so I figured I better get some pictures of it just in case it looses some parts!

 The Birch, Twigs and Pine Cones are all from the back yard.  Amelia put her dollhouse table, chair, cake and teapot in.  I am sure Cheese and Tink enjoyed that.

I have been working on it for some time and still have not finished as I “tinker” with it whenever there is a dull moment that doesn’t occur all too often.

 Need some wall decorations and more "fairy" appropriate furnishings too :)  In the meantime Amelia put her dollhouse table, chair, cake and teapot in.  

I am sure Cheese and Tink enjoyed that.

 Apparently more pastries are needed. Someday I am taking this kid to Paris!