Chocolate Chip Cake

I tried a new recipe today to take to our birthday fellowship tomorrow. It's called Chocolate Chip Cake. I hope it tastes as good as I think it will. It has chopped up chocolate chips in the cake itself. The filling between the layers is butterscotch with nuts. The glaze topping is chocolate. Doesn't look very pretty, does it? I think if I ever make it again, I'll make a little more filling and glaze so it drips down more.

Jeff's Birthday

We spent Monday and Tuesday with Jeff, Karen and the kids, celebrating Jeff's birthday. When Jeff was growing up, almost all his birthday cakes had clowns on them--so that's what he got this time. I'm not sure it was his first choice, but the kids liked it. LOL

Jeff does love cake!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hey, Look!

Does this picture look familiar? They took it from my blog (with permission). Half of the front page--neat, huh?



Also in today's newpaper--Kate's advertisement:

From My Valentine

Aren't they beautiful?

Building Update

I was just looking over my previous posts and realized I left ya hanging with the church stairway pictures, so here are some newer pictures. We still need to get the chair lift in.

Looks like we need some paint touch-ups here:

Special Treat!

One of the men brought a gift for every lady that was at church Sunday. A big box of chocolates! Wasn't that nice?

Valentine Goodies

I made these goodies to take to our Valentine Potluck at church tomorrow.

These are Petit Fours:

(Last Spring, I took some of these to our Ladies Tea. I overheard someone say that those Little Debbie cakes were really good. Oh, man, all that work and people thought they were Little Debbie cakes!)

You can't see these very well, but they are finger jello hearts:

(several layers--maybe that's why it's so hard to discern)

In Loving Memory

...Of my Uncle Normie who passed away last evening.


This is a picture of my uncles Norman (waving) and Furman watching over 'Furman's Hot Dog Stand' at one of our family reunions.


I think this picture was taken the last time I saw him:


A couple pictures of Uncle Normie as a little boy.






Uncle Normie was the one who took me fishing the first time I caught a fish. (He had to throw it back because it was too small--something I didn't understand for many years. When I asked why he threw my fish back, he said that it was too small. I remember thinking that maybe he thought it was too small, but I thought it was a nice fish. Didn't yet know there were rules for fishing.)

Good-bye, Uncle Normie, with love.

How Sweet It Is!

This evening I went to a really neat program, "How Sweet It is" at the Devereaux Library in Grayling. Chef Larry Meyer was demonstrating special chocolate desserts--just in time for Valentines Day. We had the opportunity to participate and sample!

How about this for an entree? It's fettucini especially for chocoholics. The fettucini is actually made of chocolate crepes cut in strips, arranged on a platter, drizzled first with chocolate, then with raspberry sauce. Instead of grated parmesan, he grated white chocolate over it. After this picture was taken, it was garnished with whipped topping.

Now that we've covered the main course, let's get on to the desserts :) Here the chef is preparing Black Forest Torte.

This chocolate mousse was so light and tasty.


Every well-balanced meal needs its fruit, so here we have strawberries dipped in chocolate.
Shirley and I helped with the dipping.



Everything was so good, but I think these chocolate ice box cookies were my favorite.

By the time we got to the chocolate mocha truffles, even this die-hard chocoholic was feeling like she'd reached her limit--but still, Yum!



The chef's son wants to follow in his father's footsteps and become a chef, too. Here he is assisting his dad.

Sweet Success!

Had a fun day in the kitchen. I made banana pineapple muffins, cookies, homemade pizza and homemade bread. They all turned out. Amazing the difference fresh yeast makes! I needed to bolster my confidence after that other bread I made recently. Thought I'd lost my touch. LOL

Now I need to work on my photography skills. This picture makes the bread look too dark. Sure tasted good!