Reading and having my cake, too........

Last fall, I spotted this book at Barnes and Noble.............

I had to have it but I never quite found time to start reading it. Things got busy with the holidays, my mom's health and the crazy weather. But now, with everything Christmas all packed away, I decided it was time to really read this book. The author is Tara Frey and you will find her blog here . It's a very interesting book. Lots of familiar blogs are highlighted in the book. There are great tips and a lot one can learn. I have learned a lot since I first set up my blog but I realized from this book that I have a lot more I could learn!! I think this is going to be like taking a class as I read this book. If I say I have to quit blogging to "go study", you'll know why!

Would I recommend the book to other bloggers? Yes, I would. You might check your local library so you can see for yourself or stop at a bookstore and thumb through it. If it's a book you know you will want to add to your library, then make the purchase. I do that with most books. I love them and have a huge library of quilting and crafty titles but I don't buy a book without being able to see what's between the covers. I almost ordered a quilting book on-line because I was so sure I would love the book. Then I happened to find it at a quilt shop and when I flipped through it, I realized it was not what I thought it was and decided not to purchase. That doesn't happen very often. I simply like books and just like fabric, can't turn a copy down! With George Washington's birthday coming up, I cannot tell a lie. There was one book that I ordered "sight unseen". Mark Lipinski recommended it on his Yahoo group and I ordered it right away. It was "Crazy Quilts" by Cindy Brick and it is awesome, one of my favorite books!

Okay, so let's change the subject to food..........like something really good from the oven! Last Saturday, our son and his girlfriend came out for the day and stayed for dinner. I fixed a roast and real mashed potatoes and carmelized carrots and then.........there was dessert. That morning, I mixed up a yellow cake mix and poured the batter into two round cakepans. I sliced up some cooked apple slices and placed them in one pan. Then I sprinkled Heath bits over the apples. Finally, I crumbled brown sugar (about a 1/2 cup) over the top of the entire cake. For the second cake, I used chocolate chips, then the Heath bits and the brown sugar. They looked like this before I popped them in the oven...............

And then they looked like this when I took them out of the oven!

I cut slices and added ice cream and then..........there was Hot Fudge to drizzle on the chocolate chip cake and Caramel topping for the apple cake. It was really good and was my Valentine treat for our dinner. :-) So, are you hungry yet?!!! This is an easy way to make a coffee cake and it is really quick. Change the fruit to peaches or add peanut butter chips to the chocolate chip cake and it just keeps getting better!

That's all for tonight..............

Sandi

Figuring it all out!

This is the second day for my blog. I am still figuring out how to add photos and text where I want it to be but think I will be limited by the basics of the blog template. That's okay. The purpose here is to journal and to stay connected with my family, friends, quilters, etc. You have to start somewhere and this is it.
Very cool here today in southern Minnesota. Sunday afternoon was so hot and humid (I was upstairs sewing) that one knew there would be storms. Fortunately, we were not affected here but the same cannot be said for the folks in Hugo and surrounding areas. We lived through Hurricane Camille and I wouldn't want to go through that again in my lifetime.
Today I'm cleaning and decorating our upstairs guest bedrooms in anticipation of a visit from friends, Ilse and Thomas, from Denmark. And so, I better get to it! Can't promise that I'll write every day. We'll just see what develops, one day at a time!