I’m Going to Bake a Cake

Hand painted bookmark by Sharon Weaver
Born 71 years ago here’s my mother holding me
My Baby Cup

Reblogged: 1-2-3-4 CAKE RECIPE

HAPPY DAY OR 1-2-3-4 CAKE?

cakepans
 IF YOU’VE BEEN FOLLOWING THE BLOG SINCE THE BEGINNING, YOU MIGHT REMEMBER THE PHOTOS AND RECIPES.ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS, I’VE POSTED OUR  “GO TO” BIRTHDAY CAKE RECIPES.
 MY SISTER GOT ME THE ONE SWAN’S DOWN VINTAGE CAKE PAN IN OMAK, WASHINGTON WHEN WERE VISITING OUR BROTHER ONE SUMMER.
I DID MAIL A BIRTHDAY CARD TO MY SISTER.  (UNUSUAL FOR ME THAT IT WASN’T BELATED)
IN MY FAMILY, WE’D TRY TO GET IT IN THE OCTAVE,AS MY MOM WOULD CALL IT.  ENJOY YOUR DAY!

HAPPY DAY CAKE RECIPE-

For Birthdays it was the 1-2-3-4 Cake recipe or the Happy Day Cake recipe on the back of the Swan’s Down Cake Flour box, frosted with Penuche icing.  My mother would put the saucepan into a sink of cold water and then beat it by hand once it cooled. I can hear the ring of the metal loop at the end of the pan’s handle. And as I remember it she added a dash of vanilla extract.  My dad would pour milk over a slice and eat it with a spoon.   Cake and frosting recipes below photo.

Happy Birthday to my sister Mary who gave me the vintage pan

Happy Day Cake

2½ cups sifted cake flour

1½ cups sugar

3 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1/2 cup shortening, at room temperature

1 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 eggs

Sift flour with sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir shortening to soften. Add flour mixture, ¾ cup of the milk and vanilla. Mix until all flour is dampened, then beat two minutes at medium speed. Add eggs and remaining ¼ cup milk. Beat one minute longer. Pour into two 9-inch layer pans that have been lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pans; remove from pans and cool thoroughly on racks.

This cake also may be baked in three 8-inch layer pans for 25 to 35 minutes, or in a 13- by 9-inch pan for 30 to 35 minutes. Batter may be spooned into 36 medium paper baking cups in muffin pans, filling half full. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.

Penuche Frosting   Butter is Key

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar, more or less
  • hot water, optional

PREPARATION:

In a saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter. Add the brown sugar. Bring to a boil and lower heat to medium low and continue to boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the milk and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Cool to lukewarm. Gradually add sifted confectioners’ sugar. Beat until thick enough to spread. If too thick, add a little hot water. Frosts top and sides of a 2-layer cake or a 13×9-inch cake.

————————————–

It’s My Big Seven O on 7/4! Oh my!

Happy birthday to me. It’s a fun birthdate. July Fourth.

Grateful to be in Columbus, celebrating my milestone birthday. And it’s a big one!

I made it through my seventieth year.

Surprise balloons with Charlie
Fourth of July Fireworks
With Laura – photographed by Charlie (7)
Maura taped them up on the mantle

Snail Mail

It’s a delight to find personal mail in the mailbox. Thanks to friends and family for mailing these thoughtful birthday cards. H

ow about the 3-D stove my sister sent?

Of course no more USPS mail delivery on the actual July 4th holiday today

Happy to celebrate my birthday today.

A Birthday Card from 1963

You know I’m always trying to cull the memorabilia around my home. Glad I saved this one as I found it again just in time for today.

This is a birthday card from my mother and father wishing me a happy Fourth of July birthday. The year I turned eleven. 1963. I looked on the back and it’s a Norcross card for 25 cents. I was visiting my godmother in Maybelle, Colorado that birthday. My mother wrote “What a life.to have a ride on a super jet.” The red words are raised and flocked.

A cool find while cleaning out papers in the desk.. my dad’s lengthy messages inside includes an itinerary for my brother’s trip to Philmont Ranch in New Mexico with the Boy Scouts.

There is also a lovely card from my sister from this year, too. Happy Birthday to me😀

My mother lets me guess which picture on the front resembles me!
My dad filled up the entire interior of the card when I unfolded
Itinerary
2020 card from Mary

Grateful for Birthdays

Grateful for birthdays. It was a happy but quiet celebration. Glad my sister is here. More family coming in soon. It was a relaxing day.

Steve, Mary and I took a walk around the Highland Park Reservoir after supper. We got drenched when a sudden thunderstorm appeared just after I took these photos of the peaceful water.

Our power has been out a few hours now. Heard a tree is down on Highland Avenue. Wires down. Hope it can be fixed soon.

Okay Can You See?

We’re celebrating the Fourth of July in Virginia.  I’m grateful for another birthday.

When I was Maura’s age I used to think all the fireworks were just for me on my birthday.  Ha!

Not sure if there will be fireworks to celebrate the fourth as there’s rain and more rain.

My granddaughter Maura (4) sings the Star Spangled Banner with a slight alteration of the opening lyrics.

“Okay, can you see?” or more like  “O-O-O-Okay can you see”

The title for this post could also be  How to Photograph Four Kids at a Time.  I’ve had a lot of practice.  It’s not impossible but to get ALL four with their best expression is not an easy task.               Add the new puppy Henry to the effort.

I’ve used the -get ’em in action method- quite a few times.  On the playground, the backyard, the hula hoop, the swing, the bicycle.  Anything so they aren’t conscious of Grandma’s lens.

The sitting around all in a row or even staggered grouping and looking at my lens with the old CHEEEEESE doesn’t work for me.  Or them  Not that I haven’t tried.    Canon 70-200mm L series lens   ISO 100  f/2.8  1/125   I’m up on the front porch.

 

On Your Mark

On Your Mark-

And they're off

And they’re off-


all the way down to the tree

 

headed back to the finish

 

 

uh oh I see his derriere

Uh oh not that view of Henry.  Henry, turn around.

 

IMG_0419

Oh Henry, turn around.   Nah, too posed looking.   ACTION!

 

 

running towards home

 

Maura, Anna, Michael and Jack and Henry

 

 

watch the puppy

 

Here they come.

Anna calls to Henry to join them.

 

 

IMG_0422

 

He’s getting it now

 

 

 

 

IMG_0423

 

A moment of childhood captured.

 

 

Maura doesn’t like coming in last.  Henry is watching the cows in the field next door.

Henry and Maura watch the cows

Ohio House Front Yard

The blog has been a real family effort since I have been on vacation. My DIL drove by slowly so I could shoot the giant flag and Mustang on the lawn.  This is one of those 100+ days we had in early July.  Already we are past mid July!  Oh my.

Now it’s drought conditions around here so the lawns are more brown. The thunderstorms just don’t provide enough precipitation

Born on the Fourth of July, 1952, Brooklyn New York

But I really grew up in New Jersey.  New York always sounded better to me and I have held onto that fact all these years. Joisey, the Garden State, just didn’t seem as cool.

Yes, it is my sixtieth birthday today.  YIKES!  We were supposed to drive to Roanoke VA but power outages from the bad storm last Friday knocked that plan out!   You’ve seen a lot of my life these past three years on the blog.  The art room adventures, some knitting, my pleasure in the eating and making of food, my family, the city, my travels, and as Arlene says, the ordinary- making it interesting!

I have been talking about turning sixty since I turned fifty-nine last year.  Go figure.

My friend Mary Ann told me someone asked her if she was afraid to turn sixty and she told me  her response was, “I’m afraid to NOT turn sixty”  Many are denied the chance.

If you are born on the Fourth of July you receive a lot of red, white and blue presents. One has to post a little red white and blue on the Fourth of July so here are the two free marzipan macarons you receive when you buy the dozen at Jean-Marc in Millvale*

And here is my mom holding me. My cousin Paul sent me this photo last year at Christmas and it is the only baby photo I really have of myself.  Looks like I was bottle fed.  How about that wallpaper?

And then there is this prize winner of my wonderful haircut and chubby cheeks, I think I was  three,  This picture is stuck in one of those “magnetic” photo albums- meaning nasty glue that ruins your photo and you can’t remove it- EVER.

And here is what I looked like last week in the heat at the Pirates Game in Pittsburgh with  my three year old granddaughter Maura. A nice woman filling the ketchup dispenser came over and asked it I wanted her to take it of us.  She enjoyed seeing Maura enjoy her cone and I had photographed her eating it (of course).  I don’t get in many photos which is just as well at this point. But when I think about what makes me happy in my life, my family is at the top of the list. I am fortunate indeed.

Here is a picture a first grader drew of me last year which I photographed on my phone. I am so glad I documented this artwork cause on the rough days and the long days of teaching art in the city, I can read her inscription at the bottom.

 Ms. Hendricks is my hero.

It doesn’t get any better than that!

And I found this next photo in New York City when I visited my sister a couple months ago. Once I was visiting a family friend, Naomi,  in a home and she said told me how she would think of all she was grateful for in her life and when she focused on a theme of gratitude she just couldn’t  feel bad about anything. I remember her words and she died shortly after the visit.  It is easy to forget to be grateful.  Once I read about  thinking three things you are grateful for each day, right before you go to sleep and I try to remember.

I am grateful to my family, friends, fellow bloggers and followers and wonderful commenters who have encouraged me in my photography, blogging and writing.

Today is a very happy birthday!   I am surrounded by my family who love me.

Thanks everyone. (And Happy Birthday Suzanne who shares the date!)

*Here is a shot of Millvale,PA  taken the day I bought the macarons!

What the ____?

Steve sees an artcar up close and in person for the first time
Upon exiting the High Road Gallery in Worthington OH, this artcar was parked under a tree. I totally missed it if it was there as we entered. We were going to see James' Missed the Bus photograph (which was awarded Honorable Mention)