Can’t Get Enough

I can’t seem to get enough of the following:

1.  Downton Abbey-  I found this quite by accident this past summer when the temperatures were blasting and I wanted something to watch in the comfort of the air conditioning.   I found the first season on Netflix and I watched the entire first season and patiently waited for season two to start on Sunday nights on PBS.  You can watch it on Sunday nights at 9PM on PBS.

2.  The Chicken Noodle Soup at Chik-fil-A -  It’s made with white meat chicken, I think a bowl cost something like $2.50, its full of carrots, and it’s delicious. 

3.  KMS Hair Play Spray-  I LOVE this stuff!  It’s a dry spray that perks up your hair.  If you have somewhere to go in the evening after a long day, give your head a spray and finger fluff your hair and you’ll be amazed at how much this perks up your hair.  Lock it down with some regular hair spray and you are good to go! 

4.   Sirius Radio-  The mini van died last month.  Right before Christmas the transmission blew.   I wanted another mini van but my family intervened and said absolutely not.  It was time to move on.  So now I am now driving a new vehicle (and it’s not a mini van and I am learning to love it) that just happened to come with a 6 month subscription to Sirius Radio.   So many choices of what to listen to!  It makes me happy.

5.   My new treadmill- It’s been a rough couple of months and somehow, somewhere I hurt my back and back trouble is something I’ve never had to deal with before.  Well, I am on the mend after being a very good patient and attending all of my physical therapy sessions.  Decided a treadmill would be a nice replacement for the stationary bike that was collecting dust and serving as a clothing hanger in the corner of the bedroom.  I never liked riding that bike but I am enjoying the treadmill. 

6.  Red Dragon Cheese-  This is so good.  It’s a Cheddar that is made with ale and mustard seeds.  Very flavorful and delicious.  I know I’ve mentioned it before but I kind of forgot about it and recently re-discovered it.

7.    My Kindle Fire-  I love it but why can’t I find a cover/case for it that I like?   I love browsing and shopping for books online at Amazon with it, obsessively checking my email,  reading blogs and doing web searches while I am watching TV.  I am currently reading a Kindle Single called “My Seinfeld Year” by Fred Stoller.   He played an annoying boyfriend of Elaine’s in one episode and also wrote an episode as a writer for the show one season.  If you google his image you might recall seeing him.  He’s played quirky characters in other shows.  He ‘s what you would call a struggling actor but his quick little book is an enjoyable read especially because it gives you a glimpse on what it was really like on the set of Seinfeld.   If you are a Seinfeld fan and you have a Kindle you might want to give it try.  And the best part, it only cost $1.99.   

8.   French Lemon Cake-  This is a recipe worth making.  I made two of them last weekend.  Did you know you can get a bag of  12 lemons from Harris Teeter for $1.97?!  Anyway, use fresh lemon juice if you can for this cake.  It’s amazing.  We ate the first one before the weekend was over.  I sent the other back to school with the college student daughter.

9.  Quilts on my bed-   Something about cotton quilts stacked high. I have four on it right now.

10.  Wine and cheese, and cooking classes at Southern Season-  I took another class last night on cheese with a couple of very fun people.  We got to taste wine, sample some new cheeses, and then went out afterwards and enjoyed a cocktail, split an order of sweet potato fries, and split an order of pork belly sliders.  Ok, here is where I remind myself of why I sometimes think of myself as a “reluctant” foodie.  The sliders arrived and mine looked suspect.  I took off the top bun and picked at the chunk of meat.  I pulled off a few threads of pork and the rest of the chunk jiggled.  It was basically a 2” x 2” cube of fat with a couple of mini streaks of meat.  I should have known and embraced  the pork belly for what it was. It was pork belly!  What did I expect?   In the end, there was no way I was going to eat that cube of jiggilyness.  Did I mention that I liked the bun?  And the sweet potato fries…I had more than my share.  Delicious.

Castle and Cottage Is Having a Giveaway

Castle and Cottage is giving away this great Farm House Sign! 

Or you can select this personalized sign with your family name and year on it if you are the lucky winner.  This is a great giveaway!  Stop by and give Paula a visit at her blog Castle and Cottage to enter.

Her signs are amazing.    And I highly recommend that you take a few minutes and browse some of her work on her shop's website castleandcottagesigns.com.  Of course, some of my favorites are the French signs like this one here below:  You can take a peek at some of the other French signs here. 

Tres belle, oui???

Banana Chocolate Chip Snack Cake

As I was searching the recipe index of my blog this morning because I had some extremely ripe bananas that I didn’t want to waste, I realized that my recipe for Banana Chocolate Chip Snack Cake was not listed there even though I was sure that I had posted the recipe to my blog once upon a time. It turns out I did post it way back when I was a novice blogger, so much of a novice that I didn’t even know how to upload photos yet but there it was….a sad little post from June 23, 2009, in plain ordinary text,with no bells, no whistles, and saddest of all, no pictures.

This recipe is so good and I make it so often that it deserves renewed attention. It’s a favorite around here.
Banana Chocolate Chip Cake
1/2 cup butter ( 1 stick), softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs 
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 cup apple sauce or sour cream
1 cup mashed bananas (about 2 very ripe bananas)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips


Cream the butter and gradually add sugar. Add bananas. Add eggs. Mix well.
Combine flour and baking soda and add to the creamed mixture. Add the apple sauce or sour cream. Add the vanilla. Mix well but do not over beat.

Pour the batter into a greased 9 inch square baking pan. (I have a square stoneware baking pan that I just love to use for this, but any square pan will work. Sprinkle the top with the chocolate chips till well covered. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes. Use a tester to make sure it is done in the middle. Cool. And enjoy. I hear it’s delicious with a tall glass of ice cold milk. Me…I like it with a hot cup of tea.
I am linking up this post to Sweet as Sugar Cookies Blog where you can find lots of other great recipes.