Yum!

Well....nothing very interesting going on around here, so how about a recipe to put you in a fall frame of mind?

Apple-Walnut Cake With Cider Sauce

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar

1 cup plus 2 Tbsp vegetable oil

1/4 cup apple cider

3 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp each cinnamon, nutmeg, and baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3 cups flour

2 large Granny Smith apples (3 1/2 cups), peeled, cored and chopped in small chunks

1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

Cider Sauce ingredients:

2 cups apple cider

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 Tbsp cornstarch

1 Tbsp butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 10" tube pan with removable tube insert (Note: ok....who in the heck has this? I used a bundt pan and it worked perfectly. A 9 x 13 glass Pyrex would probably suffice as well) with nonstick spray.

Whisk sugar, oil, apple cider, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt in a large bowl until blended.

Stir in flour until blended. Stir in apples and walnuts.

Scrape mixture into prepared pan. Bake 1 hour and 10 to 20 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool in pan on wire rack for 1 hour. Remove from pan and let cool on rack.

Cider Sauce: I must confess....I made this cider sauce, and it never thickened up. It tasted great, but I didn't serve it...you may wish to just skip it, or experiment with more cornstarch...who knows!? Whisk cider, brown sugar and cornstarch in a medium saucepan until blended. Place over medium-high heat and bring to a boil, whisking occasionally. Boil 1 minute or until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla; stir until butter melts. Let cool to warm or refrigerate until serving.

It was really yummy! I refrigerated the cake after we'd had a piece, so it didn't start growing fur.....cause it's preservative free don't ya know.....

So cute!

My Heather Bailey strawberry pincushion kit finally came! I can't wait to make it! Isn't it adorable? It doesn't take much to excite me I guess!

Graffiti and swimsuits.....

The bands are taking a trip to Santa Clara at the end of this school year. They are going to perform at Great America. Chris has to earn money in order to pay for his trip. Close to $300. I'd like to go, so double this number. Chris and I had the opportunity to earn some cash for his music account today by participating in graffiti removal. So we go to school early in the morning and meet up with the other kids and parents. We get the equipment, and off we drive to some various bridges in Santa Rosa. We climb down some rocky hills, careful to avoid the poison oak and blackberry vines along the way. Today I guess there wasn't as much graffiti and trash as usual. Saw a couple crack spoons and some napkins smeared with blood or poop. Eeewww! We just left those....I did enjoy catching up with my friend Cherry, who accompanied Chris and I. Poor Cherry though....after all his hard work, Chris took off his gloves to put in the garbage bag she was holding. Problem was he had sweat profusely in them, and proceeded in the act of removing them to flick sweat all over her! Bless her heart! She politely said with a smile "It's ok Chris." Climbing back up the rocky hill proved to be more difficult than getting down. A blackberry vine grabbed skin on my ankle while my son accidentally goosed me by pushing his mother's tushie as she struggled to gain footing. Thanks Chris! Such a good helper...... ;)

When I got home I made plans with my friend Alicia to find her a new swimsuit, since her's spontaneous combusted earlier in the week. Hehe....she knows what I mean! Anyway, we went to a bunch of stores and finally found some shorts to go with a swimtop she already had. It was on sale for like $1.50! Big score! Now watch it turn the water black or dissolve or something! Anybody know any good swimsuit sales?

I've been wasting way to much time and having so much fun on this Facebook thing! If you're not on, get with the program people! It is a hoot! I was on earlier this evening with one of the 7th grade girls from RVCS. She asked to chat with me cause she needed boy advice. Me?? Boy advice?? Um.....don't have a very good track record here. Real adorable of her to ask though! I think she was hoping I'd tell her to go ahead and confess her undying affection for him, but I did just the opposite. I told her junior high boys (sorry Chris!) are just kinda stupid at this age. Now watch her go to school and tell the boys what Mrs. Brown said! Me and my big mouth! I told her to hold back her confession. Better to wait until she's older.....like after she's grown....out of college maybe....has a career...am I wrong? Do I sound bitter? Me??

Anyway, that was my adventures for the day. You?

Pretty in....plaid?

Well....what do you think? I wanted a change from the brown, and we all know it's a woman's prerogative to change her mind right? I can always go back!

Well....another week went by without word from the county. Feeling discouraged. I applied at a few other places to, but no call backs yet.

So far school is going well...I think. English is a lot of work, and despite her claims to the contrary, am finding my teacher not to be on top of her correspondence. She always takes a week to get back to me and I do not like that! She had each of us in the class make a blog specifically to respond to the different assignments we're doing. She wants us to respond to each other's blogs as well. I've looked at all 30 of them, and the only time someone has left a comment it is from.....you guessed it....me! No one else has responded yet. Am I missing something, or am I the only diligent student? Frustrating. Have to write a summary of "The Monument and the Bungalow" today. That should be fun....not!

The nutrition class is interesting in spite of my teacher. He is really difficult to take notes from. Luckily I record him on my little Sony recorder. I'm not sure if that will help or not. The only homework we've had with him is reading. He assigns 2 chapters to read every week. This is about 60 pages. Luckily I like to read and I like the subject matter.

I wanted to share a recipe with y'all (not southern, but I'd make a good one I think...although I don't like heat!):

Corn and radish salad

4 ears of corn

6 radishes, halved and thinly sliced

1/4 red onion, sliced thinly

1/2 to 1 whole jalapeno, seeded and minced finely

2 Tabl. fresh lime juice

2 Tabl. extra virgin olive oil

sea salt & freshly ground pepper

Cook the corn on the cob in a large pot of salted water for 12 minutes. Drain and cool. When cool, slice the kernels off the cob and put into a medium bowl. Add radish, onion, and jalapeno to taste. In a small bowl, mix the lime juice and olive oil together and pour over the salad. Salt and pepper to taste.

I have added a touch of soy, and some sugar to this as well, so if you feel you'd like to, be free to experiment. It is a nice summer salad. Cool and refreshing. I like it cold....