Oh Lawd, She's Baking Again

It's the Big Man's birthday again.
I mean it only happens once a year. So it's exciting!

When we first got married, I asked him what he wanted and here's what he told me:
"Can you call my Nana and ask her how to make Lemon Glazed Pound Cake?"

Sure thing. We've only been married nine months. I can make a CAKE.
She gladly passed this dadgum recipe on to me because it was breaking her back for years to make this cake for my husband every year on his birthday.

She told me things that you don't hear anymore like,
"leave the butter and eggs out all day until they get to room temperature."
and
"add the eggs one at a time and then BEAT THEM TO DEATH."
and my favorite
"I like to use a little bit of nearly ALMOST spoiled sour cream, it gives it a bit of extra flavor"

Now the torch has been passed to me.
I would love to give you the recipe, but the Internet doesn't have the ability to capture the hole that his family would throw me into for sharing such a secret. But, if you come near our house on your birthday, I might THINK about making it for you. And wouldn't that be a treat?

A little tip before we dive into the pictures...don't-I REPEAT DON'T EAT THE BATTER. This stuff is so rich that it will ruin your appetite for the final product and you will WANT the final product.
Here is the cake BEFORE glazing.

It's just a ring of goodness waiting to be glazed.

You see the difference a glaze makes? This glaze? The juice of two lemons and 2 cups of powdered sugar. That's all.
BTW: don't look for this recipe in Cooking Light.

You don't even have to glaze the bottom, it just runs right down there and seals the cake to the plate. The plate is a piece of honor too. Matt's grandmother gave it to me. It's the only one that fits under my display cake plate.
You can't buy these things people. They are handed down from generation to generation!

Oh look who wandered into the kitchen to eat the pieces that I cut off so that the cake would lay flat on the plate?
Good timing or a child after her mother's own heart?

It's tastes so good it hurts.

These are the cut-off pieces. Note to the readers, this is how you keep a cake whole.
Let the children eat the little pieces. Also, I had leftover batter and so I baked a little poundcake just for me and Matt to enjoy while it was still warm. Mmmhmm.

Oh, I was just wandering by and ummmm....I thought I would get a little taste...

Here is what I call the "tri-fecta of goodness." A glazed cake, cake cast-offs, the glaze ready to be dipped in. Yum-ola.

The final product. Four hours later. Dishes a plent. My kitchen destroyed. The oven has been on forever. But it is all worth it. Be sure of this, you are not going to find this in a Rachel Ray cookbook and this sure as crap ain't no Betty Crocker cake.
But I am going on vacation tomorrow and the cake is coming with us!

Cousins Make Everything Better

We got back this afternoon from Columbia and we had what you can only hope for during such a difficult time. It is a great reminder what a blessing Matt's family is and how much fun we have with them. Since we were all there for their grandmother's funeral, we surely were not planning on having a good time!

But the truth is, whenever your entire family gets together...bad things happen and frustrating moments occur.

Except this week.

Seriously.

The most frustrating part of the week was that Asher would not go to sleep easily. He kept escaping from his room at Jeannie and Kelly's house. We would put him to bed and a few minutes later, he would appear somewhere else in the house. At one point, we heard him break into Nate and Watt's room and say the words, "You guys are sooo CRAZY." oops, he sold himself out and had to go back to his room.

We really had as lovely a time as you can have when you are mourning and sad.

By Friday however, the children had experienced enough life hanging around with each other and we needed to get them out and about and so we planned a trip to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia. I know that I blogged about it last year, but it really is a great zoo and we had an awesome time.

Blogger is being a PITA and so you just have to click on flickr to see the pics...

Sadness

Last night, Matt's grandmother, "Nana" passed away in Columbia, SC.

I am so sad over her passing. She was my kids great-grandmother and I thought for sure she was going to live forever. Not really, but she wasn't sick or failing in health for very long and so her death was pretty sudden for an 85-year old.

She loved my little Lucy so much. She would always ask about her and talk to people about sweet and pretty she is. It made me love Nana more that she loved my little girl so much.

Asher and Lucy spent a week at Matt's parents house in January and spent some time over at Nana and Papa's house. When we returned to Asheville, Asher told me that he wanted to "go to Nana/Papa's house and eat Jellybeans on their couch."

It was such a sweet little memory of his and he loved going over there because they always gave little treats of goldfish, sugar wafers or jellybeans. It is a good trick for great-grandparents to warm the hearts of finicky little kids.

We are going to miss Nana greatly. Every time it snowed in Asheville, we would call Nana and she would get such a kick out our "winter weather." We won't ever get to do that again.

Her love for the Gamecocks and Corey Jenkins in particular was unmatched. It was a sure thing that no matter what holiday/event/dinner that we were all around for that the conversation would move into all things Gamecocks and Nana would get all kinds of fired up. I love that she loved football, basketball and baseball. And that she hated Clemson.

We all love Nana and it won't ever be home again without her presence around the table.