Friday in the Country

Collecting acorns, pine cones and gum balls is fun, but be cautious when bringing them into the house as they may be home to creep, crawly vermin.  Put the pine cones in the top rack of the dishwasher and run though a regular cycle with your regular dirty dishes.  Bake the acorns and gumballs in a low oven for 30 to 40 minutes.  Both of these methods should serve as safe ways to debug your prizes. 

I have designated a space at the end of one of my clothes-rods as the 'home' for empty hangers. When removing a piece of clothing from the closet, I take the hanger off the rod and put it with the other 'empties'.  It will be easy to find later when returning the clothing to the closet.  Here's another plus, the empty hangers are easy to locate when doing the laundry.

Last evening, I made 'Christy's Chocolate Sheet Cake for a birthday celebration.  I wanted to use my near-antique cake stand to present the cake, but how to do this, was the question.  First, I froze the cake overnight then, I cut 3 or 4 pieces of parchment paper. (I had intended to cut rounds of parchment, then scallop the edges, but ran out of time). Using a pizza cutter, I cut the cake into serving size pieces, then I laid a piece of parchment paper on the cake stand.  I covered that with pieces of cake, then continued with paper then cake, paper then cake, ending with cake on top.  A few cake crumbs did stick to the parchment, but NOT the frosting. That was what I hoped would happen.

© 2014 Cat Brennan