wacky devil's food cake

This is all that's left of Adam's birthday cake - you were so quick to ask for the recipe, I'm happy to share. And thanks for your concern - I think I will be fine after another massage and trying to relax a bit. I tend to get crazy nasty knots around my shoulder blades from driving, working at the computer, and lifting my heavy boys, which is almost always where the headaches come from. I'm sure I'll be right as rain soon.

Important information: if you grew up in or around Yarmouth, you will remember Minard's Bakery. And you also may remember their chocolate cubes. For those of you who don't, Minard's chocolate cubes were essentially a square (cube, if you will) of layered cake, covered in chocolate frosting and sprinkled with chocolate sprinkles. This cake tastes exactly like the cake in those. The frosting on Thomas' cake tasted exactly like Minard's chocolate cube frosting. So - this cake, that frosting, and some chocolate sprinkles, and you can replicate Minard's chocolate cubes.

The recipe was given to me by my sweet mother-in-law; I don't know where she got it originally. (Feel free to leave a comment, R!) Here it is, in her own words:

Wacky Devil's Food Cake

Sift together in bowl:

3    Cups Flour
2    Cups Sugar
2/3 Cups Cocoa
2    Teaspoons Baking Soda

Mix together separately:

1     Cup Butter (melted)
2     Cups Water
2     Teaspoons Vinegar
2     Teaspoons Vanilla

Add to dry ingredients and mix well.
Grease and flour 2 -  8" cake pans.
Bake @ 350.   (30-40 min.)

(Note:  I have added grated chocolate or chocolate chips to make it more chocolatey sometimes)

And again, the frosting that I used this time is from Movita. Enjoy!

april 29

I'm on the hanging planter bandwagon. I bought this little pottery planter ages ago at Frenchy's, and used it on and off for awhile. It's been out of circulation for a few years now and was tucked away in the shed, but I'm happy to report that it's now fulfilling its purpose. I found some savory at the market yesterday and now it hangs next to the kitchen sink.

I've spent much of today out in the yard, raking and tidying and bagging up winter debris. With some 'help' from Phillip this afternoon, we planted onions, carrots (touchon  - anyone have any reviews on them?), radishes, lettuce, dill, and peas. Plenty of peas, and the seeds are from one of my favourite vendors at the market. The lawn was mowed for the first time of the year, and things are looking good.

Full disclosure - I've had a headache for at least three weeks. Ibuprofen helps, but I don't like relying on it to get the through the day. Which I have been. Ick. I've taken four or five so far today. Not cool. I have a massage booked for tomorrow (I go every month or so to help keep the headaches at bay) which usually helps, and I'm going to do some resting this evening with some heat on my shoulders.

I've also kind of fizzled out of the April Photo-a-day, and I'm okay with that. It's just not my thing. Maybe I don't like being told what to do.

It was Adam's birthday yesterday - happy birthday, love! The cake was delicious. By request, I made Adam's mom's recipe, which was suuuuper easy and delicious, and I had everything in the pantry. I chose Movita's frosting to go on it, and it was good.  Anyone want the Mother-in-law's cake recipe?

I hope that you've had a lovely weekend.

april 25

April 25: looking down. I was standing on the step, looking down to take a picture of some tulips, when I turned around to see this sweet little guy looking down, himself.

 Speaking of the garden...

In other news, two-year-old Thomas dislocated his elbow this morning. It was awful. The doctor was wonderful, as were the nurses and other staff (most of whom we know: upside to a small town!) and she got it back in place on the second try, after some x-rays which were incredibly painful for poor Thomas. I cried at least as much as Thomas did (possibly more) - every fibre of my being just wanted to make it better, and I didn't know how.

Through his tears, he kept saying, "Kiss it, please" and "I'm all done".

Once again, I am so aware of how much we have to be grateful for. In the grand scheme of things, this was such a minor incident. We live in a beautiful, safe place where he could be seen by a doctor within fifteen minutes, and T was x-rayed and all better within a couple of hours. We're all healthy and happy and have nothing to complain about. We are so very, very thankful.

And Mr T. is back to his funny little self, and perfectly fine.

april 24

I have many, many things that I am grateful for. Two sweet little boys are at the very top of my list, broken toenails and all.