Etsy (what's Etsy stand for anyway? Anyone? Anyone? )

I've been taken over by the painting bug....the dineing room table is an absolute wreck. Dirty water, paints, and "inspiration" photos are everywhere. At work I find myself thinking up the next painting and subsequently not thinking about what I should be thinking about...work. As some of you have seen I've started putting some of my paintings up on Etsy and am finding it addictive! I use to be one of those people who checked their email every five seconds...now I'm checking to see how many hits I'm getting on my Etsy shop. Is it wrong that I get excited when someone "favorites" me? It's like I'm 6 years old all over again...THEY LIKE ME, THEY REALLY LIKE ME!

It's a sickness.

The Best Chocolate Cake you will ever eat....

This is THE BEST Chocolate Cake you will ever eat....



Sometimes when you google stuff....like Recipes for Famous Dave's corn bread muffins, you realize the lies that are told on the internet! But this....THIS.....this is the sweetest truth I have ever found. In all seriousness, this really is the best, most amazing chocolate cake. I took it to work and everyone raved. One of my coworkers even said it tasted like a $50 cake. I think that means it's good and would be expensive if one purchased it.




Recipe

1 box devil's food cake mix

1 pkg jello instant pudding mix (fudge flavor)

1 cup sour cream

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs beaten

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups mini semisweet chocolate chips



Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use a big bowl, and mix everything except the chocolate chips. The batter is thick! Mix in the chips and poor batter into 2 9" cake pans. Make sure to grease the bans with white Crisco...don't flour them or dust with cocoa there is no need...but I would not use butter or butter flavored Crisco...just plain ol white nasty Crisco, the cakes will pop right out.



Add 10 mins to the box bake time...just check it with a toothpick, but remember you have tons of chocolate chips in there so they could fake you out when your cake is done.



I doubled the recipe to make a 3 layer cake that I took to work...then we had the top layer for home.



You could use a butter cream frosting, but I find the white "whipped" frosting out of the can is the best with this cake, butter cream is just too sweet and I think chocolate would be to much as well. ORRRRR...just go ahead and kill yourself with a rich cream cheese frosting.

Puppie Mills, New Friends, and Pure Sweetness...

Meet Pippa!This little squirt is our new puppy. She is an 11 month old rescue from a horrific puppy mill in southern Indiana. Boyfriend and I had been talking about getting a new dog for the last few months. We wanted to wait till after Trina past and see how we felt at that time. I had been searching Pet Finder and eventually found her through them. We talked about getting a miniature poodle since we both grew up with them. Actually we both had little black poodles. The chances of finding one that needed rescued were probably slim, and we were open to other breeds. I guess some things are just meant to be and thank goodness we now have Pippa!

Pippa was rescued by a Schnauzer Rescue. The mill had tried to breed her and when she didn't produce they were just going to "dispose" of her and sent her off to a kill shelter. She was in such bad shape the folks with the Schnauzer rescue thought that's what she was...a Schnauzer! Alas, after a grooming they realized they had a little poodle on their hands. She lived with her foster family for 4 weeks where they do rehab for puppy mill dogs. She has really come a long way in a very short time. She would only walk in circles in the beginning due to being confinded to a small cage, but now walks in a straight line and loves going for walks. Somewhere along the line at the mill her tail was cropped. Poodles do not have cropped tails and I only hope it was not a case (as often is with puppy mills) of her hair becoming entangled in the cage wires and they just cut it off (sometimes with bolt cutters). This unfortunately happens with limbs as well. Pippa's pads are in rough shape as well from burns after being forced to stand in urine. We also suspect she may have some vision problems due to this as well. Some older dogs even go blind over time from fumes. The bottoms of her little ears had to be surgically removed due the matting in her fur and they could not get them "unstuck" from the sides of her face. She had some scabs on her face that have all healed now.

I hate these puppy mills and shame on anyone who could do this to these animals. Please do not EVER buy puppies from pet stores, please adopt, rescue or find a reputable breeder!!!!

Pippa and Phoebe seem to be getting on quite well. Phoebe is not always the most friendly of dogs with "new" dogs, but I suspect maybe she knows Pippa had a rough start. Maybe she remembers her start was not so hot either.

I wish this picture came out better but I think these two doggies are the sweetest thing going.

Thai Food, Death by Dessert, and Spam

Lets start off with a little Food Porn....

This gorgeous dessert is from a wonderful little dessert cafe called Sweet Surrender here in Louisville. I LOVE THIS PLACE! It's in a historic district, the cakes are SO pretty, the hot chocolate I had was REAL...not some powdered crap, and I picked up two Mexican wedding cake cookies for tomorrow. Maybe you call them Russian tea cakes....all I know is they are almond covered powdered sugar delight!

Now for a little house porn.....how cute is this house! If it were not raining we would have relaxed on the porch with our cake.

We also had some rockin Thai food at Thai-Siam before heading over to Frankfort ave. We had Laad Nah, spring rolls, and the most wonderful Thai dumplings that were served with this spicy green sauce. I have no idea what was in the green sauce, but it was amazing.

I'm really beginning to love Louisville with the exception of one thing....one HUGE turn off, the city seems to be having a very hard time getting a pig slaughter house to move it's operation to a more suitable area. Preferably away from the historic district where so many people are working hard to revive this area. There are wonderful houses, restaurants, businesses, galleries and so on. But, on a hot day, the distinct smell of SPAM is in the air!

Ugh, that can put you off your pretty cake. Let's hope they come up with something soon for the sake of the poor people who are working so hard to make this area something really special.

BBQ, Internet Lies, Meadow Muffins

This is a Famous Dave's Corn Muffin....

This is my sad corn muffin...

Have you eaten at Famous Dave's BBQ? Have you eaten a cornbread muffin from Famous Dave's? If the answer is no, stop what your doing right now and go eat a corn bread muffin from Famous Dave's!

If you have, then you will understand my deep disappointment. There is one "copycat" recipes I want and it is this corn bread muffin. I keep looking online only to find the same recipe that claims to be this heavenly muffin minus it's jalapeno honey glaze. (Apparently the restaurant does not serve the jalapeno glaze, just a honey butter glaze.) I even found a post from a gentleman boasting to have gotten the recipe from a Famous Dave's restaurant manager. LIES I TELL YOU... LIES!

I spent the better part of my afternoon hunting down the different types of corn meal need as well as actually baking the muffins. The entire time I was so excited about the prospect of recreating these little gems in my very own kitchen. Just think, I would be a hit at pitch-ins, summer BBQs, Christmas dinner, housewives will beg me for the recipe, Trick-or-treaters will propel their plastic jack-o-lanterns in my door screaming for muffins in lieu of candy! BWAHAHAHAHAHA. Sorry...where was I, oh yes....muffin recipe.

I sought out the ingredients. I read the recipe 4 times. I baked the muffins. I did exactly as the recipe said. No stone unturned. All done with complete accuracy.

Final verdict....The muffins taste like crap! No...cow pies, cowplop, dung, fertilizer, guano, manure, meadow muffin, night soil, ordure, poop!

I guess Muffins are like many things...relative. I'm exaggerating, they were not that bad, but in comparison they were awful...I was so disgusted with their lack of "Famous Dave'sishness" that I chucked them in the waste bin.

hmpf.

Working the Before and in Progress

After moving in with the boyfriend, a wonderful guy, but a true "guy" in every sense. We're talking football, white walls, huge TV, leather sofas, meat and potatoes, and a general lack of interest in decor. I guess thank goodness is in order otherwise he would not be said boyfriend of mine rather boyfriend to Steve or Paul...but I digress.

Boyfriend purchased a house that was home to a 90 year old woman. Boyfriend was just fine with the 90 year old woman's curtains. Since my mother is Madame Sews A lot, it would stand to reason that I was not OK with the 90 year old woman's window treatments. With a little help from mama (free fabric and mad sewing skills) and some inspiration from Erika at Urban Grace the room is slowly starting to look like something. Hopefully something nice. I think I've settled on a paint color and will update you with photos accordingly.

NOTE: (If you look at the inspiration photo you will see the window appears to be in a fancy shmancy home. My window is not so fancy and once again mom er Madame Sews A Lot has a great solution for my lack of fancy window trim. Eventually I will install a shelf over the window moulding that will frame the top and house some of my dishes that are rarely used.)

Thanks mom!

Before (YIKES!)

RIP Patrick...oh and trust me, this clip is better with subtitles

Garden Smack Down 09 Round-up

Round this up NSGH .... My plate says it all!!!

Tomatoes...............check

Basil........................check

Green beans...........check

The pasta dish, courtesy of Martha Stewart is very yummy....and of course a simple caprese salad.

Truth be told, I have 4 huge broccoli plants and nothing but a bunch of teeth marks from rabbits and beetles...not even one floret. I have to much basil, way to many tomatoes (I'll be taking a them into work tomorrow), I have a few runt corn cobs and runt cantaloupe. All in all if I had to rely on my garden for food I'd eat nothing but basil, tomatoes, and green beans.

I think I've learned some things and have some ideas for next summers garden. I certainly will be planting more herbs and will definitely be planting some of those awesome gourds (I think you carved that star in the gourd) from the Not So Glamours Housewife's garden...Kudos and beans and disease to you!

How Many Pillows Are Too Many Pillows...

Sometimes I fear I may turn into a pillow freak and end up like this...





Thank you IKEA for your uber cheep "Alvine Flora Cushion"!

It's State Fair Season Once Again!

The one time of year you can find Martha Stewart domestic divas and the leader of Hells Angels all congregating in the same place. I saw award winning sugar cookies, I saw world class horses, I saw a woman with a tattoo of a devils tail creeping out of her shorts. (I don't think we need to examine where it started.)

Here is a little photo essay for you, and my many apologies about devil woman, I swear it was as if my camera said "Do it...they will never believe you if you don't...DO IT"!



First we have tobacco...it is Kentucky folks. I only wish someone would grow some Tomaco.
Farmall, not a John Deere but still a sweet ride.

I'll take one of each please!

Left thigh...that's all I'm saying...

I always hated balloon animals, imagine my abhorrence for a balloon farm.

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better than this blue ribbon winner...
it does...................oh MJ.

And now for what is sure to be my favorite part of the Kentucky State Fair....the ugly lamp contest!

This last photo doesn't really seem like a typical state fair pic, but this little dragon fly was hanging around the lilly pond at the Fair Grounds. I think I may enter him next year in the photography exhibition...not because I will win, but because it cost us freaking $22.00 just to get in! If you are an exhibitor you get in free.