A Fancied Up Box Cake

I did so do this.  And in doing so, discovered two very important things.  First, box cake is my new favorite friend.  Second, I should always make cake when ill.  I didn’t even enjoy so much as one lick of this delicious buttercream frosting.  My hips are thankful.  But back to the first important thing.

 

Let’s talk box cake.  Eddie rocks box cake.  Eddie Ross has long been my new Martha.  No surprises here as he worked for her.   I fell in love with him on Top Design - he had me at hello with his spin on granny chic and continues to amaze with his fabulous flea finds, gorgeous floral arrangements, STUNNING homes, even more stunning boyfriend, and don’t even get me started on his tablescapes.  Be-Yond.  Also, Eddie is funny, which you don’t necessarily get a flavor for from his blog.  If you aren’t following him on Instagram you are missing out.  How else will you know when he is channeling Joanna Stayton on his way to a fabulous trip on the Vineyard?  So if Eddie tells me that flaming turds are delicious, gonna try me some.  And if Eddie rocks a box cake every now and then, gonna do the same.  I mean, look at these beyond gorgeous monogrammed cakes he did!  Get out right now.

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I don’t consider using a box cake for this ‘cheating’ because I made the frosting.  Which is ironic because we all know that icing/frosting is the true nemesis in my kitchen.  But this frosting is ridiculously easy and delicious.  The recipe comes from an old Country Living recipe and I have used it in many applications.  

I used a yellow cake mix, following the instructions, and used two 6" x 2" round pans.  I cut the domed tops off the cakes with a serrated knife and then cut each cake in half, totaling 4 layers.  But I only ended up using 3 of the layers here.  For the record, the mr. said the cake was very good and moist.  That’s what he said alright.  None the wiser.

Mucho thanks to Style Me Pretty for the original inspiration although I have spent the last 45 minutes trying to find the original link on the SMP site to no avail.  I didn't have time to fancy up the skewers.  I just hand drew a heart and arrow tail on cardstock and attached each one to  an extra large toothpick with my daughter's glue stick. Cinch!

the inspiration cake

the Chez V version

One of these days I will get the hang of perfectly smooth frosting but today was not the day.  I am told the trick involves refrigerating the iced cake and then using a paper towel to smooth but that could be another urban legend.

PS if you're not following me on Instagram, you are missing out too!  Although I should warn you that I am not nearly as interesting or funny as Eddie!

All photos and layouts by mrs. V unless otherwise noted

kisses,  mrs. V

Happy Heart Day

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I so want to do this.  Aside from the fact that I cannot bake and that I am just getting over major vomitoso flu, I would indeed be doing this today.  Heck, maybe I still will.  But I can shop vicariously.  And shopping has been empirically proven to solve all ills, no?

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Squeezes to you and yours on this Hallmark day!

All layouts by mrs. V

kisses,  mrs. V

Tales from the Projects - Dip Dye Lampshade

Let me begin by apologizing for the pictures.  The mr. took off with my camera this morning – rude –  before I realized that I had not downloaded the pictures of this project.  So, stuck with crappy phone pics.

Ruthie's lampshade

Like most of my plans, grandiose visions were high and pink.  The pink lampshade idea came from an old Ruthie Sommers image.  A small snippet in HB a while ago (probably the awesome 'pink' issue) about her kitchen lamp with a pink shade.  People have been poking fun of my adoration of pink – ahem, Lulu and Ayars -  for even longer than they have poked fun of my love of animal print.  But hey, I cannot deny who I am and what I love.  So a pink lampshade should come as no surprise.  Not bright pink, not little girl candy pink, but more like a Georgia O’Keefe great pussini pink.  Rich, lovely, and deep.  That’s what I was going for anyway, and not exactly what I got.

I don’t hate it but I don’t worship it either.  Not a total wash because I learned a couple of valuable things.  First, it has finally come to my attention, that ALL of my grandiose plans require a bail out from the mr. at some point in the project.  I grossly underestimated the amount of water required to dip a 16” lampshade.  Second, before you dip your proverbial lampshade in the dye waters yourself, consider starting with a smaller one.  Third, get more dye than you will think you need.  Nothing is more annoying than making 3 trips to the craft place for more dye.

Project lampshade dip went down like this:  after a long, exhaustive search for colored lampshades or fancy trims, I determined that both were cost prohibitive for the size of shade I needed.  I briefly considered spray paint but given my proclivity of catching things on fire, I thought the risk not worth the reward.  Not to mention that I can’t spray paint to save my life.  Drip city.  Not wanting to rely upon the mr. on this one (he is a spray paint master), I decided upon dye.  Super cheap.  I scoped out dye colors for months.  Finally I pulled the trigger and quickly realized that like Donny, I was out of my element.  How many liters in a gallon?  How many gallons per packet?  How many dye packets would I need?  What container can I use?  Where do I go with all that dye water?

 

You can see where I am going with this.  Help!  Sink was not an option b/c it wasn’t big enough.  A laundry tub would have worked but ours is not plumbed at the moment.  The biggest container we had was a plastic bin that while empty, was deep and wide enough for the lampshade, but when filled with vast amounts of pink water looked like a disaster waiting to happen.  Could not fill up high enough to cover the entire lampshade so I had to flip that sucker every 15 minutes in hopes that I would get an even dip.  I did not want ombre.  In the end, we avoided disaster but it took two of us to deal with the water disposal b/c 20+ gallons of water is HEAVY.  Doing this twice is not necessarily fun.  Having to do it a third time to get the color I want, is even more not fun.  Plus, I feel like fate and the DIY gods will conspire to bring me those darker floors that I have always wanted, albeit it in a pink shade.

this is happening in the kitchen so I put trash bags down over my hardwoods
massive bowing out on the sides = pink floor anxiety

when i dip, you dip, we dip
and then we flip, many times to avoid a dye line

So I will live with it for now until the weather is warmer and I can do this shizzo outside.  Thumbs down for now.  To be continued…

All photos and layouts by mrs. V

kisses,  mrs. V

The Food Chronicles - Roasted Chicken with Croutons and Wilted Greens

Shooey, it’s been too long since I have done a food post (or any post for that matter!) and this one is too good not to share.  An easy weeknight meal.  In fact, I made it twice last week.  Don’t let the ‘roasting a whole chicken’ thing scare you off.  Seriously, roasting a chicken is the ONLY way to go and the EASIEST way to prepare chicken.  People seem to be intimidated by it but seriously, it is the easiest way to make chicken and the most flavorful.  Skin and bones, a must, people.  Slather that yard bird up and walk AWAY.  For about an hour.  What could be easier than that?  When you have a 4 yr old who is constantly pulling on your apron strings, hands off cook time is prime time.  I rarely bother with tasteless fleshy chicken boobs anymore.  But the various ways in which I roast chicken is another post unto itself.

Even though this recipe originally comes from Everyday Food, the inspiration comes from the late great Sheila Lukins.  She had a recipe for Zuni Roast Chicken with Savory Bread Salad in Ten (one of my favorites) that I have been dying to try for a few years.  The amount of steps seemed daunting.  I stumbled across this version a few weeks ago in one of my old issues of Everyday Food and was immediately reminded of the Zuni recipe but with far fewer steps.  Of course, I have monkeyed with it slightly because I monkey with everything.  And because, if I am being completely honest, I find most of the recipes from Everyday Food to be everyday bland.

bread toasted in drippings and fat = heavenly croutons

after croutons are done, pour any accumulated juices from platter into bottom of a VERY large bowl

Add croutons, greens, and olive oil & vinegar, some more salt & pepper to taste; toss

Plate greens with croutons and top with a piece of roasted chicken

 

A few notes.  Sorry for the yellowish pictures - my cooking happens in real time so evening shots without natural light are crap.  If you can prep your chicken earlier in the day, do it.  Not only is this handy if you are entertaining, but ‘dressing’ the chicken with salt & pepper ahead of time improves the flavor and helps yield a moist yard bird.  Which also means, don’t skimp on the salt and pepper.  Season that sucker with more than you think.  Also, I whisk the remaining olive oil, champagne vinegar, and salt & pepper into a vinaigrette before tossing because I think it dresses the greens more uniformly but I have done it both ways and probably makes little difference.

All photos and layouts by mrs. V

kisses,  mrs. V