Amber Waves of Grain

I made my first-ever made from scratch cake this week and lives have been changed.  It was AMAZING if I do say so myself.  I've come a long way since I took 'microwave cooking' in 4-H.    I finally earned my blue ribbon with this. It's a dense cake that has more of a brownie texture than a cake texture which we liked.   Here's the picture from the Taste of Home website so you can see the layers inside: And, here's the recipe! ( LINK ) Triple Layer Brownie Cake (16-20 servings) 1 1/2 cups butter 6 ounces unsweetened chocolate 3 cups sugar 5 eggs 1 1/2 tsp vanilla 1 1/2 cups flour 3/4 tsp salt Frosting : 16 ounces semisweet chocolate 3 cups heavy whipping cream 1/2 cup sugar, optional (I used 1/4 cup) 2 milk chocolate candy bars, 1.55 ounces each (I only used one), shaved For the cake: Melt the butter and chocolate together until smooth (microwave or stovetop).  Pour into mixer and add sugar.  Add eggs, one at a time,...

Yesterday I went on a roadtrip with the Birthday Club to celebrate Mindy's February birthday ( 2 months late isn't bad, right? ). Let me start by saying that if you don't have a Birthday Club, then you need one. They are the best! Not to mention they bring good car snacks. We started at the Hebron, Kentucky Gap Distribution Center ( LINK ) . We refer to it as the "Mother Ship". It's basically a big warehouse of reject clothes from Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic. You sort through clothes with rips, stains, and flaws.....in order to find some really good deals! Then, we indulged in some Italian cuisine at Pompilio's ( LINK ). I don't speak Italian but I'm pretty sure "Pompilio" means "Yum." Lisa & Mel at the restaurant..... And, Mindy ( birthday girl! ), me, and Jennifer. Then we drove to IKEA in Ohio. It rained cats & dogs but we got the front row parking spot there on a very busy day. I'm pretty sure...

Nathan & I are back from our LAS VEGAS vacation..... without kids! It was our first time away from the kids since 2005, so this was a big deal! We stayed at the Paris Hotel which was really nice. It had french bakeries and shops. That's right; 24/7 access to French pastries! Here's our room. I can't remember the last time I slept in a room without baby toys on the floor. Here's the view from our room: We ate in the Eiffel Tower Restaurant which was on the 11th floor of the Eiffel Tower. We were celebrating our anniversary from a few weeks ago. We'll celebrate anything for a free dessert . We found some antique shops off the beaten path.... after walking really far through the 'hood. I bought this vintage camera and also an old exposure meter. Sweet . One of our favorite parts of the trip was our visit to the old vintage/historic Vegas downtown. It had all of the old hotels and signs. We may or may not have lost a whopping $30 playing Blackjack, Roul...