Connie Boss is AMAZING

I have blogged about my time at Camp Overlook a couple of times, but this one is special. I started attending camp as a child so young I have no idea how old I was. But I kept coming back, and when I turned 15 I was finally old enough to work a full summer... I kept coming back I worked at camp every summer until the summer after I graduated college (I turned 22 the next month). During my years there I met so many people that changed my life while working there I can't list them all in one blog, (We will have to save that for another day)

Connie and Patrick with their kids in 2003

But one of my favorites is Connie Boss. There are lots of things that are awesome about Connie, she is a good friend and has been for many years. Connie spent 1 summer at camp and we all had a blast enjoying her company. Patrick got the opportunity to spend a week with her and they had one of their best weeks of the summer. Connie and I spent hours talking and enjoying each other's company.

Connie surprised us all when she said that she was going to be able to FLY to the USA to join us for our wedding in 2005 and she brought me the mot beautiful album that I still look at often.  Patrick and I have friends all over the world but Connie Boss is one of my favorite people on the planet even if she is all the way in Switzerland.

But the real reason for this specific blog post is Patrick and I just received a unbelievable package from Connie for the holidays.. (it really takes a long time to get things around the globe so it showed up late, but who cares, she is amazing)... and I wanted to send a big blog thank you across the globe to Connie.

Connie we love you so much and one day I know we will get over to your neck of the woods to visit (and maybe we can swing through Denmark and Germany on the way to visit some other European loves too)

Break-Out-The-Defib-Cake

I need to first explain that while it appears my blog is turning into a "food blog" I will be addressing that and posting about other "non food related things" quite soon.... on with the post

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT

My dear husband, after a bit of barginning has agreed to buy me a pricey ticket to see PAULA DEAN this fall for my birthday and I for one could not be more excited!!!!!

So in honor of Mrs D I whipped up one of her recipes for my hubby that I saw on Food Network this weekend.... PEANUT-BUTTER VOLCANO CAKE

 Step 1 was get everything prepped.... preheated oven to 350 and chop up several cups of peanut butter cups... (are you excited yet?).. then I greased a pan and lined the bottom with roasted peanuts.

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 Next up mixed plain white cake mix with 3 cups milk and blended until it was thick and add the peanut butter cups... pour the whole beautiful concoction over the peanuts.

 In another bowl mix 1 stick of butter with 1 package of cream cheese and half a cup of peanut butter and half a cup of confectioners sugar. and spead dollops of the cream cheese mix around the top of the cake batter.... THIS IS NOT HEALTHY AT ALL!!!!!! Then you pop the whole thing in the oven for 50 minutes

 While it was baking I had to lick the spoon... all this sugar was too tempting... Even little Flower-Power got it on the spoon-licking action.

 The finished product out of the oven... smelled too yummy. While it was cooking I made a glaze out of another WHOLE stick of butter, milk, cocoa powder, and vanilla.
 

 This is an action pic of Pat pouring it on the cake... and this is what the whole completed cake looked like.

This was the most delicious thing I have ever eaten... and you can find the recipe on the Food TV website.... It comes highly recommended.

Make Mine Corn Cakes

Seriously thought I posted this yesterday.... but I didn't... here you go anyway ENJOY!!!

Well, I am not going to lie to you, you faithful readers should be glad you are getting much of anything out of me today. This week has been straight CRAZY! Between work, various house issues, making a quick trip to Pittsburgh and back, Super Bowl shinangians, and running a training at my job this week I barely got a chance to cook anything. But here goes nothing.

Confession first, I kinda cheated but I still baked it and I make my corn muffins alot more interesting then they would have normally been.

Corn-bread muffins.... with spice

• I don't know anything about making corn muffins so I bought a premade mix and followed the directions to mix... I made 8 normal nothing fancy muffins.
• Next batch I got a little fancy and I mixed in some bacon and cheese... topped each muffin with some extra cheese and popped those babies in the oven.
• Batch 3: I got a little spicy and chopped up some jalapeno pepper bits and tossed it into the batter and baked it up.

They were all totally delicous and super yummy with our super bowl chili!!!!!

PS--- We were Team Beyonce and we definately did not lose

Typically my idea of baking is picking something up at the bakery, but I am always down to try something new.... so here is my first shot at a blogger linkup NOW BAKE THIS

I made mini blackberry pies and here's how I did it

1. I bought a mix together pie crust and put it together and rolled it out.
2. I took a cup with the largest rim I could find and cut out circles and placed the bottom of the mini pies on a greased pan.
3. Next I topped them with a spoonful of blackberry pie filling and covered them with another round of pie crust
4. I attempted to press down the edges and hold all the goodness in... I was only mildly successful at this but I managed the take some extra crust and covered all the holes (also I managed to get some yummy blackberry goodness on my fingers)
5. I made a egg wash and covered the outside of each mini pie with the wash, I cut a slit in the top of each and sprinkled sugar and cinimmon on top and popped them all in the oven for 15 minutes at 425 degrees

Minus the cinimmon and sugar which are staples on my house I actually made this with 3 ingrediants!!!!

And they were amazing.... my dear husband who actually doesn't get excited about food said "I don't know what you did to those but they were delicious" So I will take the to the bank. Can't wait to see what I come up with for next week.

Please forgive my odd pictures I am having some technical difficulties over here... oppsie

                       

Blogging for Dummies

Now that I have been blogging for a little while I have found that I need some inspiration to write and today I am feeling really really inspired. So lets talk about something.... Books for Dummies, I have thoughts.

I was at Barnes and Noble quite recently and as I walked through the aisles of what is typically considered a "decent" bookstore I noticed a startling trend. There is a company that has turned some of the most complicated concepts into a task for DUMMIES. After doing a little research let me give you a little example of some "For Dummies" titles that you could pick up if you are so possessed.

There a literally hundreds of these books. As I browsed the different aisles (I was in the market for a book for studying for the GMAT, the entrance exam to business school, and since it took me a while to find the type of book I was looking for I probably spotted no less then 30 books for dummies while I trolled the aisles with my typical vanilla latte.)

Don't get me wrong, I get that the self help book industry is a billion-dollar industry and the only reason so many different types of these books is that they are purchased and used by somebody...but plu-sease some of these are just crazy.

Here are some more examples of books that I think are absolutely crazy.

Pretty sure Neuro-Linguistic Programing is a pretty complicated topic, there is a chance that if you are learning it from this book, I think you probably don't really need to be practicing it.... OK Sex for dummies, no lie dummies have been figuring out how to have sex on their own for centuries without the help of any book, so I have a hard time not deeming this book as irrelevant.

 

 HAHAHAH both of these books make me giggle. I hope the book about surviving the holidays simples says, "open bottle of wine when things get bad"= TADA I just wrote the entire book.
Hermit crabs, really?? I had a hermit crab as a kid and I am pretty sure they are the easiest pet in history to own. I feel like this whole book might a total waste.

 

Beekeeping seems scary and I am pretty sure a book does not give you all the skills necessary to keep bees alive and not kill yourself in the process, this is just a observation. Literally if you saw somebody in half because you read it in a book you are a legitimate dummy.

Welding requires actual flame so I believe this falls into the category of Beekeeping and Magic= not the kind of thing you can learn in a book called "for dummies"... This is a book that I found fitting I typically consider DJing a "for dummies" activity to begin with so this book seems appropriate.

Pretty sure the people who have spent years and hundreds of dollars improving their golf swings wish they had found this earlier.... what a shame.

Welcome to my world... now you know how I feel about some very important topics.