A recipe and another Brighton Giveaway!!

I absolutely loved my Mother-in-law, Donna. She was a wonderful person, great cook and a very devoted mother, sister and grandmother. Our family will never be the same since losing her. I was lucky that she and I got along very well and she considered me another one of her daughters. She and I had alot of common interests...cooking, gambling, and of course her baby boy. This is one of her recipes...and a very unusual one, this cake does not contain any flavoring, flour, baking powder or baking soda. I have never seen a recipe like this...


Walnut Cake


2 c. walnuts, chopped very fine
1 c. sugar
6 eggs separated
pinch of salt
sweetened whipping cream
raspberry jam

Beat the 6 eggs whites until stiff (but not like meringue)
In a separate bowl beat the egg yolks with the sugar until fluffy.
Add the nuts and salt.
Fold in the beaten eggs whites.
Divide the batter among 3 cake pans (spring form pans work the best), which have been generously greased and floured (this cake sticks to the pan very easily).
Bake at 350* for 30 to 40 minutes, until cake springs back when touched.
Cool the layers on cake racks.
Beat the whipping cream until desired consistency. Layer the cake with the whipped cream, and spread raspberry jam. Frost entire top and sides, spreading with jam as desired.
ENJOY!!


*****NOW A GIVEAWAY!!! HOW ABOUT A BRIGHTON BUSINESS CARD HOLDER??

Yesterday I mentioned that I had recently won a contest...again!! Woo hoo! I won the new header and background for my blog....which I absolutely love!

So....I believe in Karma...and I believe in paying it forward.

So I want to give this Brighton Business Card Holder away....

Now, I want to make a disclaimer here....this was not donated by Brighton, who I would wish would be a sponsor of mine.....geez, I have given two of their items away already! But I bought this for myself and well......have no need for it now.

So all I want you to do is to make a comment and make sure you leave your email address. Please only one comment person. A winner will be chosen at random (the way I pick the number is..."Hey honey pick a number between --- and ---", so I guess you could call my hubby the random number generator. (He's been called worse things!!)

Everyone have a great weekend!!

Notice something new???

How could anyone miss it!!! Don't you just love my new header and background??
I won another contest.....whoop, whoop!! Really, I am surprised because I don't enter many contests and really don't visit many blogs during the day. But I must be lucky....first the knives and now this......courtesy of http://www.thesouthernfamily.blogspot.com/
Aubree....thank you for the layout and design...I love it!!!!

So....what this means is KARMA baby....I have to pay this forward. So time for another giveaway!! I will go thru my box of goodies and come up with something to giveaway this weekend. Stay tuned.....it's gonna be another fun one :)

It's the most wonderful time of the year

Don't you love that Staples commercial where they are dancing around buying school supplies? Cracks me up every time. Now that my kids are grown the first day of school doesn't have the same effect...and I admit I miss it...kinda.

I miss school clothes shopping, buying supplies and the excitement of the first week. But as a working mom (I'm not getting on that soap box again), it was a relief to get them back in school to get some structure back in our lives. Especially when they were in middle school..they got very bored, and weren't old enough to drive yet....but too young to go to day care. There was a whole lotta bickering in those days.....that I don't miss!

But this week our granddaughter Allie started preschool. She attends the same preschool that her Mama, Daddy and Aunties did.

Our baby.....born at 3 pounds 6 ounces....who has surprised us all from the moment we knew of her existence. Our beautiful little girl.....now is in school.....we love you honey...may you continue to love to learn, make lots of friends, enjoy the fun and wonder in life and love your Mama and Daddy...before too long you will think they are as dumb as rocks.....it's a guarantee!

Good Mom vs Bad Mom

Yesterday I had read an article that asked the question, "how can a working mother can be a good mother?. I guess that this age-old topic is being brought up because of the recent Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin. I don't remember looking to see who wrote it...but I would guess it was a man. But I think for any mother this is an ongoing internal battle that we all deal with or have dealt with.



After I read the title of the article I first thought, what exactly is a "good mother"? We all certainly know what a "bad mother" is. Heck we read about them in the newspapers. My personal opinion is that a good mother is one that nurtures the emotional growth and well being of a child. One that provides the ground work for raising a successful, strong, well-balanced, moral human being. But that is just my take on things.



When I was busy establishing a career and raising small children there were times that I felt that I was forsaking some of my parental responsibility for the all mighty career. And in many cases I think I did (heck, I had to return to work when my baby was 5 weeks old, not by choice but to keep our health insurance)....but was it wrong....did it make me a bad mother when I forgot to send lunch money, or I had to send public transportation to pick them up from school when I couldn't get out of the office? How about missing field trips, school programs or being late to a ball game?



My opinion is that although I certainly wasn't mother of the year (that award goes to the one and only Mrs. Cleaver), thru working I was able to provide material things and the emotional well being of knowing that there would always be a roof over our heads, decent healthcare would be provided and the fridge would always be full (for us as well as most of the neighborhood). Since I worked locally my children knew that in an emergency I was just a phone call away (that meant that when they were older we needed to clarify than an emergency is... unless there was blood, a protruding bone or the house was on fire....they were not to call me). Since I have daughters I wanted them to know that a woman can do it all, have a successful career, great marriage, nice home and juggle all of the balls at the same time. But is there a cost to be paid? Sure...everything has a cost doesn't it? Unfortunately it's just another burden we woman must bear....nobody faults a father for working...do they??



I think that all mothers certainly would love to stay home with their children, nurse their babies, have cookies ready when school is over and coach the soccer team. But to some that just isn't possible financially it also is not possible emotionally. Some, and I think I can count myself in on this one, need to stimulate their brain outside of the home. They need to have a "reason" to shower and get dressed in the morning. While others find that they can motivate themselves and stimulate their brain at home with their children (I would never be disciplined enough to do that.....too many distractions and good tv to watch).



So can Sarah Palin juggle it all? Sure she can, she has the means to hire help with her children and household. But will there be a price to pay? Sure.....there always is.....but alot of times you don't find out the price until it is too late.



Please know this is neither an endorsement for or against Sarah Palin but just an opinion by a mom who happened to work. If she gets the job...I wish her alot of luck, with 5 kids, one of which is a pregnant teenager and a baby with downs syndrom..she is going to need it.

It's my perogative!!!

Today is the first day that it has felt like fall is just around the corner. We have had several days in a row of 100+ temperatures....then today it dropped about 20 degrees. It was a breezy day and as the sun went down it became downright chilly. Right now it is a brisk 60 degrees, so I have had to close all the windows, grab a blanket and snuggle up to get warm.

But I don't want to!!! I don't want summer to end!! I love the heat, the crowds, the sun, the smell of bar-b-que, wearing flip flops, tank tops and shorts. I like going out on our boat, watering flowers early in the morning, closing up the house during the day to cool off, and walking the dogs when the sun goes down. I don't want to put away my patio furniture, cover the bar-b-que and get my sweaters out....I don't, I won't.....waaa, waaaa

Ok, I feel like a spoiled brat now.....we live in California, in a area that has absolutely perfect weather. In less than an hour I can be at the ocean. We don't see snow, we don't have to dig out of ice, and we are in a drought....so we haven't seen much rain either. So who am I to complain.....now I feel better. So I must go get my fleece lined slippers because my feet are cold.

But I always have these to remind me of summer......

and you never know...it is pretty common to have an indian summer in these parts....so I may be complaining about the heat again.

I admit....I can never make up my mind!