Cake Tips

I have been messing around with cake recipes the last 6 months.
My favorite has been the Coconut Cake and an Italian Cream Cake I got from America's Test Kitchen.
Yum, but pains in the ass, so they are not cakes for just everyday.
I tried their newest yellow cake recipe and while it was very good, it was not that much better then a box cake mix. What I did take away from it was the trick of making the cake according to the package (in my case a Duncan Hines Moist French Vanilla) except in regards to the eggs. Here I put in one whole egg and 2 eggs yolks (set the whites to the side) then mix according to package...though I always add a bit more vanilla. After that is done you whip those egg whites into stiff peaks and then just gently fold it into your mix until the white streaks are gone.
You get a fluffier and lighter cake.
So I go for an easy cake in exchange for a homemade butter cream icing.

2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened (60-65) cut into chunks
1 cup powdered sugar
3/4 Dutch Processed Cocoa (I use either the Hersey's)
pinch salt
3/4 cup light corn syrup
vanilla
8 ounces chocolate*, melted and cooled a bit*

So I melt the chocolate in a double boiler and set aside.
Put the butter, sugar, coca and salt in processor and pulse till smooth...maybe scarping sides once or twice.
Then add the corn syrup and vanilla, process until just combined
Scrape sides and add melted chocolate (see note*) that is 80-100 degrees
Process until smooth and creamy (10-15 seconds)
Use right away or make ahead and keep in fridge (it will stiffen up and you will need to get it back to room temp.

*So here are the notes about the chocolate.
They used Godiva baking chocolate (milk or semi-sweet) which I have, but today I used half Baker's semi-sweet and half Baker's German Chocolate and I like that mix better.

Enjoy.

20% Discount From Damn Good Vintage

Hope everyone had a fine Thanksgiving.
I had stove issues so you can guess how mine went....

Anyway, here is a Black Friday/CyberMonday coupon that you can use in my Esty shop:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/damngoodvintage
Use the coupon code BUYONLINE

I have all my items listed there so nothing will be missed.
IF you are interested in vintage patterns from Sew-Retro just drop me a line and I will send out an invoice for you.

Sexy, What?

I agree with the two lovely men over at Tom and Lorenzo:

Beautiful men, no doubt, but the only ones who strike us as sexy are Jon Hamm (who SHOULD have been at the top of the list, dammit), Joe Manganiello, and Robert Downey, Jr.

I don't find Ryan Reynolds sexy in the least.
Meh.

RDJ is always at the top of my list.


I will admit that my new guilty please is Benedict Cumberbatch who plays the lead in the BBC's new Sherlock Holmes series Sherlock. Lovely looking man.


And here is special RDJ bonus:



Enjoy!

Dog Funny

This post from Hyperbole and a Half on moving your dogs cross country is hilarious and spot on.
We live with both a "simple dog" and a "helper dog".....

Found via Balloon Juice.

I'll Take White Again...

Louis CK on white privilege....(NSFW)

Glee Annoys Me

So first off, I must say that I liked last nights show and think that the comments from Tom and Lorenzo are worthy of a reprint:

To the straight people reading us: remember high school?
(Yeah guys, I remember high school...it sucked.)

Remember your favorite songs and movies, TV shows and music videos from that period? Imagine if all of that media bombardment telling you what to like, what to wear, and how to be attractive, popular, and cool, imagine that all of that aimed for and addressed everyone else but you? Imagine what it's like when every sappy love song (or angry breakup song), every rom com, every trendy TV show and blockbuster movie, even every video game, imagine if they all depicted a form of romantic love that simply isn't available to you. Imagine going through high school without even so much as a hint of yourself reflected in any of the things you watch and listen to, any of the things that literally every other kid is talking about. Imagine the one thing you want more than anything in the world: to be kissed, please god, just to be kissed, imagine you have never seen that depicted anywhere or referred to in any way but as something to be mocked and shunned.

We grew unexpectedly teary-eyed watching this number. Not because sappy teenage pop songs get us worked up, but because the sight of a sappy teenage pop song being sung by one cute teenage boy to another cute teenage boy is still, sad to say, an extreme rarity. All we could think while watching this number was, "My god. What would it have been like to see this at 14?" To have the media offer up a romantic fantasy that actually reflected what we secretly yearned for......

Teenagers see thousands of murders depicted onscreen by the time they reach 18 but most of them never see a boy kiss another boy or sing him a sweet love song. You want to prevent gay kids from killing themselves? Push for more scenes like the above. Giving a young gay boy the dream that someday Prince Charming will come and sing a love song to him? You cannot imagine. You simply cannot imagine how revolutionary such a thing is.

We're sorry, folks. We know other things happened this episode and other songs were sung. We know you're expecting a recap of those moments, but for us, and we pray to God for thousands of gay kids out there too, there was only one moment in last night's show and it left us a little breathless and on the verge of tears. We're afraid the rest of you are going to have to recap the episode for us.

Now watch the video and tell me you did not cry....




That was the good part of the show.

Now I will bitch about the part I hated.
Coach Bieste's story....which was so well acted BUT....
Ugh.
As if a kiss from Will Schuster is going to wipe away years of being thought of as not a "real" woman because she is not "feminine" enough to attract anyone (male or female!) to so much as kiss her?
Lame.
I just do not believe that a woman who has been successful in what is a traditionally male job would really give up a career that she had to (making assumptions here) fight tooth and nail to achieve because her feelings were hurt?
Not happening.

Plus what I really had hoped would happen is that she would have reviled she was in a long term loving relationship and that she really just did not give a shit what a bunch of little teenage boys thought of her sexually.
And she would have had no problem finding a way to earn back the respect she felt she had lost.

Mr. Sulu Thinks You are an Ass

Posted Without Comment

One More...Predictions

I'll predict that the Dems will lose around 50ish seats in the house which is what historically happens to the party in the White House.
Let me say this again...this is not a "wave" or an "earthquake" or a "tsunami" for the Republicans.
It is what happens historically during the midterms to the party that is in the White House.
Of course the Pundits and President Palin will spew how this means Americans hate Obama and that everything the Democrats have done is teh suck and that we are a center-right country.

I think the Republicans might pick up a few seats in the Senate, but will not take it and I would not be sad if Reid was out and someone (Schumer?) became Majority Leader.

Arkansas is going "almost" red (we have weathered the recession/almost depression well with a surplus and our Gov is a likable man with a tool running for the R's) and will lose all that sweet Agriculture Committee cash which is just what a small, poor, rural state needs...but hey that's what the TeaGOP Party folks here seem to want.
And they will get just what it deserve when Tim Griffin (who should be wearing a orange jumpsuit) takes Vic Snyder's seat in the House. Oh and I'm sure the ridiculous amendment to our state constitution to make fishing and hunting a RIGHT will pass...morons.

I've Been Very Good

And really, I've kept my mouth shut during these mid-terms, but I remember why we should not be handing the country (or at least some of it) back over to the Republicans:



BUT no matter who you might vote for please just go VOTE...or you lose your right to bitch.