Blankets and books

Deacon was taking a nap, Steven came by and covered him up, and Deacon thought that was pretty darn nice of him. He cuddled in further, seeming to enjoy snuggling in the blanket.

As I took his picture, he seemed to look for approval. "Should I let her? You KNOW it's going to go on the blog. Is she only USING me?"

So it was obviously all right, because then he turned and gave me this picture perfect look. How could you not love this dog?

Doug assured him that being in the blog wasn't as bad as it seems, and to humour me. Story of my life.

Steven had some friends over last night. Does this combination tell you the party game they were playing? And blueberry beer. Wasn't my idea. But it did match the cups.

Can you fall in love with a book? I think you can. While at Powells, looking for another book, I came across this gem, 'Victorian Cakes', by Caroline B King. She writes about her childhood, concentrating on the kitchen, and it's a lovely story. Her mother, sisters, and house girl are amazing cooks, and she shares not only family stories that make you wish you could have been there, but shares many of the recipes. I LOVE this book.

I found this very interesting: she discusses the fact that oven temperatures were often checked by throwing a tablespoon of flour on the floor of the oven, and if the flour turned a brownish-orange in 5 to 1 seconds the temperature was correct. I think I would has SUCKED at baking in those days.

Here is a taste of what is in store when reading this book:

'It's a bustling place, that shabby old kitchen of ours, on a morning like this, and a fascinating place, too, even for a girl of twelve or thereabouts. There in the place of honor stands the chief actor in the morning's affairs, the heavy iron stove beaming under its coat of fresh polish which Anna, our hired girl, has applied by dint of elbow grease. Anna's strong hands have also brought the sheaf of nickel-plated calla lilies which decorates the oven door to a state of dazzling splendor, raked the ashes from the grate, and coaxed the fire to that glowing complexion which to Mother meas a 'steady oven,"just right for the generous cakes and loaves that will shortly be entrusted to it's keeping.'

This is the book I was looking for. Wonderful recipes using the base of cake mixes. Every recipe I've used has been wonderful, and I've played around with some of the to good results.