The King Cake Saga Continues

Photo by Hush Naidoo Jade Photography on Unsplash

I had my first King Cake when we lived in South Carolina. A couple that was in our Supper Club was from Louisiana and their contribution to dinner was a King Cake. Oh my, was it ever good! I kind of forgot it after that until MS lived in LA. I think one year I ordered so many the delivery man questioned me about it! 

Last year I wrote about my disappointment with a local bakery's King Cake. I still can't get over it, even a year later. I'm not sure if the bakery is still open; they do have amazing cookies. But, I wasn't going to be taken again this year. I went online for our favorite place to buy King Cake, and...SOLD OUT! Whaaaat? It's only January!! They shouldn't be sold out already! But sold out they were. I did some Google Searches and found a bakery in Picayune, Mississippi that claims to be the "Home of the Original Cream Cheese King Cake". So I took a chance. 

The difference in this King Cake was that it was shipped without the icing and decorations already on it. It was included in the box with simple directions.

Decorating it was easy. This is just my opinion, but they should double the icing and half the decorations. Not that we need all that sugar anyway, but I'm just saying! Here's how much of the sugar and almonds I had left:

I didn't use very much sugar because the icing didn't cover the whole cake. The finished product:

See? Not enough icing and I spread it as thin as I could. I don't know if the colors are supposed to be in a certain order; if so, I definitely messed that up.

The taste was really good. CH said this one tasted more like a bagel whereas the ones we've had from the other place were more like a pastry. I'm a cream cheese lover, but I think there's too much. But it IS really good! I guess once you've had one from the Original, everything else is chopped liver.

I'm going to put a reminder in my calendar for next December to check the website every day so we can get the best. I'm still shaking my head that they're sold out already. 

A King (Cake) of a Hodgepodge

 

Wednesday again? So soon? Joyce does such an awesome job of coming up with questions. Here's how it works: answer the questions, link up at Joyce's, and visit some of the other bloggers who have linked up. 

1. When were you last a guest at an event or in someone's home? Tell us about it. Do you enjoy having guests in your own home? 

I really had to think about this one. The last time I was a guest in someone's home was June 2020. I flew down to Louisiana to see MS for a few days. It was great to see him, meet some of his new friends and see some of his law school buddies, and to see more of the town where he lives. Not to mention having some one-on-one time with him! Flying during COVID was no big deal...in fact, I rather enjoyed being able to spread out some since the airline left a space between people.

I'm not a huge fan of having guests in my home. The stressing about cleaning and the break in my normal routine...not really a fan.

2. What have you 'tied up in knots' currently or recently? Are you any good at tying actual knots? 

I've been racking my brain on this one & keep coming up with a big zilch. I am horrible at tying actual knots.

3. What's something you've been wanting to do and have decided 2021 will be the year you 'take the plunge'? 

I really need to start working on getting my professional license so I can do some "outside" work when I retire. Nothing crazy, just maybe something part-time. I'm thinking of either travel therapy or teletherapy. I have my teaching license but can't work in another setting without my professional one. 

Wow...I'm really exciting, aren't I? 😁

4. Something in your home that's old? Something new? Something borrowed? Something blue? 

Old: My mama's baby grand piano...and the family crèche

New: 

This is the latest thing in my house that I purchased. Well, besides the mattress cover but I figured no one would want to see that!

This is the Bible that the new podcast Bible in a Year is using. This podcast is the #1 podcast in the USA. You don't have to be Catholic to listen! Subscribe to your favorite podcast app.

Borrowed:

(More "zilch". I just don't borrow things!)

Blue: MS gave us this throw of the Acadian Flag when we visited him last year over Christmas Break.

5. Share a favorite quote, a verse of scripture, and/or a bit of wisdom for couples getting married in this challenging and seemingly unpredictable season we're currently/still experiencing. 

Keep God in your marriage. Pray together and keep the communication open.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Once New Year's is here, I look forward to King Cakes. In the past, I've ordered them from Randazzo's in Metairie, LA. We have a new bakery in town and the owner just happens to be from the same town where MS lives. I couldn't wait to get one of her King Cakes...I just knew it was going to be amazing. We ended up being so disappointed. The owner's daughter baked the cake and it wasn't baked all the way through. Plus, the amount of icing on top was just over the top. Since I was expecting great things, I foolishly ordered another one for the next week. I spoke to the girl a few days ago and told her it was doughy and requested about 1/3 of the icing on the next one. I went by yesterday & picked it up. The same girl baked this one, and she over-did it. She didn't burn it, but it was dry. She gave me a bit of a discount on this one. I didn't open it up until I got home. Doesn't exactly look like bakery quality, does it? 

And look how small it is next to a loaf of freshly baked bread, and this wasn't their "small" one:

Their cookies are absolutely to die for. Even though I really shouldn't be eating it, I figured 1 cookie isn't going to kill me, right? 😉

As for the King Cake, I think I'm just going to have to try to learn how to bake them on my own...or spend money to have one delivered from Randazzo's!

Baking & Slow-Cooking (+ A Couple of Recipes!)

I haven’t written a cooking post lately, so I thought I would take just a minute and share what is becoming a favorite at our house. I found a recipe for Chinese Pork Chops at Six Sisters' Stuff. 

In the crockpot, all ready to go!

The first time I made it, CH said the sauce tasted like Sweet Baby Ray's, so the next time I made it, that's what I used. I tweaked the recipe just a bit: I used 1 cup Sweet Baby Ray's, 1/4 cup water, 1/2 an onion, and 2 minced garlic cloves. Then, I put in the secret ingredient:

If you've never tried Chinese Five Spice, I would highly suggest it. I mentioned it in a post back in 2012 after I made Five-Spiced Steak Strips. I also use it to make Sweet, Sticky, Spicy Chicken; I just substitute the 5 spice blend for the spices in the recipe. Not only does it add a lot of flavor, but it smells pretty good, too. I don't measure it in the recipes; I just add as much as I want. 
For the pork chops, I put the chops in the bottom of the crockpot, spoon the sauce mixture on top, and set on low for 4 hours. CH splurged and bought a crockpot that will switch over to keep the food warm after the food has cooked. Well worth it!
I used to have a breadmaker, but I got rid of it because I didn't use it for many years. I had been thinking about getting another one, and I followed through a couple of weeks ago. I made rolls for Easter, pizza crust (that I left in the machine too long...now I know when the dough cycle is done!), and the other evening I made Dill Bread. I have to say, it was delicious! It doesn't have a strong dill taste, which is probably a good thing.

I can't wait to try Kolaches! I never know if my dough is going to rise like it should; with the breadmaker to make my dough, it should do just fine.

If you try the Chinese 5 Spice, let me know what meat you tried it with, and how you like it!

Baking Weekend

Is the weekend already over? There is snow in the forecast, so I may be getting another "snowcation" this week.
I had planned on catching up on reading blogs Saturday morning, but it's hard to do that when the wi-fi is acting up. So, I read from a book and ran some errands. Oh, and did some laundry. Then I baked. I made one last attempt on a King Cake. I found a recipe from Betty Crocker that looked like it might be easier than the one I tried last week. I think I let it rise a little too long. I put it in the oven with boiling water; the recipe said to let it rise for an hour (which I did), but since I did the oven thing I probably shouldn't have left it in so long. It actually didn't taste bad, but still wasn't as good as the real thing.

I'm going to hang on to the recipe and try it again next year.
I also baked something to send to the boys for Valentine's Day and finished it on Sunday. CH said that I should just send them money and let them buy their own, but then it wouldn't have the love baked into it!
Sunday, CH & I went grocery shopping (have I mentioned how much I love the stress-free shopping at Publix?). We stayed home and watched the Super Bowl. It was a win-win for me: Peyton is a favorite son around here, and we lived just outside of Charlotte when the Panthers came into existence, so I didn't care one way or the other who won.
Was anyone else as disappointed in the halftime show as I was? Honestly, ColdPlay's lead singer was having a really hard time singing the opening song, and Beyonce needs to hire a new choreographer. The commercials were very disappointing, too.  I was in bed by 9:30.
I have to add that when they announced Lady Gaga as singing the National Anthem, I rolled my eyes and said, "Great". I was so very pleasantly surprised. She has an amazing voice and was very respectful.
Come on, snow!!!

Thankful Thursday

I'm joining Rebecca at Knit by God's Hand  for Thankful Thursday. 

This week, I’m thankful for…

…sisters. Yesterday, one of my sisters & I drove a couple of hours up the road to spend the day with another sister. 

...traditions. One of the best memories of one of my great aunts is kolache. My Aunt Frances used to make the best kolache in the world. Me? I'm afraid of yeast. My sister got together with one of our cousins & they spent the day making kolache. So yesterday I got schooled and totally feel like I could make them now.

...texts. Yep, texts. While we were at my sisters, we were texting with another sister (I have 5, remember?) who couldn't be with us because of a little thing called "work". 

What are you thankful for this week?

Weekend Wrap-Up

This weekend saw some tea-drinking (not the norm for me), quite a bit of sleeping, some baking, and a celebration.
Friday, as the day wore on, my throat got progressively worse. I figured it was just the beginning of a cold, so I suffered through it. I drank lemon & ginger tea with honey in it, sucked on lozenges, and kept a glass of water by my bed. I'd sleep a couple of hours, then wake up with my throat on fire. Not what I needed this weekend.
Saturday, we had to get up early for a special celebration:

 MS graduated from UT-Knoxville! OS was able to come in, but YS had to work and then play for the commencement ceremony at his community college. We really missed him.

The ceremony was over 2 hours long...made longer by the guest speaker who apparently thought he was on the stage to teach a biology class. OS leaned over and asked if he was going to get any credit for sitting through it.

After the ceremony, we had lunch, then CH & I went home & I went to bed.

Sunday morning, I was at the Clinic right after it opened; it was filling up fast. After about 1.5 hours, the dr. took 1 look at my throat and said she would be surprised if my strep test came back negative and wrote a prescription. I got it filled, then went home and made some tea. I managed to stay up long enough to get most of the laundry done, then I went back to bed. CH ran out to "our Mexican restaurant" and grabbed take-out. In the meantime, I did a little baking for the office staffs at both of my schools:

These Eggnog Breads with Rum Glaze are just amazing. And, they're really easy, too. The first time I made them (a couple of years ago), I over mixed them, but I got the hang of it after that. You can make one regular size loaf, but honestly, it doesn't turn out as well as when you make the mini-loaves.

That was my weekend. I'm looking forward to getting this week started so it will be over! 

Weekend Wrap-Up

I wasted spent an awful lot of time redesigning both of my blogs this weekend. Sometimes I just get a hair, and have to switch things up. So, if something seems wonky while you're reading, please let me know so I can go back and readjust. Now if I could just figure out how to change how the "comments" look to make it more visible, I'll be set! I'd like to add a signature, but the instructions I found didn't work. I've put an emergency email in to someone who designs blogs, so hopefully she can help me out!
This is what my speech blog looks like:

I even managed to find the digital paper for the background and put it on my blog with just a little help from a tutorial that I found online!
My plan for the weekend was to be quiet and catch up on tv. Weeeell, football was on.  More specifically, UT (THE UT...Tennessee) was on. I did pretty well not yelling. (I was working on the blogs, remember?) 
I went to Mass with Daddy on Saturday night. There is a man in the parish whose wife died last week. My heart just goes out to him so much. He was also married for 61 years, just like my parents. I asked him if there was anything he needed, and he said, "I just miss her so much." I'm not sure how long they have lived here, and I'm not sure if he has family here. 
Sunday morning I printed out some school material, then went with Daddy out to the cemetery. After I got back, CH & I went to look for a tent for our upcoming trip to The Keys. It looks like at least 1 of the boys and his girlfriend will be coming along, and the tent we had needs to be replaced. We didn't have any luck with that, but we did manage to enjoy a nice ride through the mountains on our way home:

 We went by a few alpine coasters that were either in operation, or are in the process of being built. When I was in Austria in 2013, we went on one of these, and it was SO.MUCH.FUN! This one is called Goats on the Roof, and there are, just not today. After looking at the website, the coaster may not be part of it.

 One thing I love about riding around the area in the fall is all of the decorations:

 Since the traffic getting back to the interstate was horrendous (I was glad we saw it on the way in), we took the backroads home:

 We stopped to take a few pictures:

We usually eat Mexican on Sunday evenings, but we opted to just eat something at home. That gave me time to do a little baking:

Easy-peasie 2 ingredient pumpkin spice muffins (made with pumpkin & spice cake mix...that's IT! Thanks, Patty!) for breakfast this week, and brownies for CH & the custodian. Now to make sure I remember to take some to school tomorrow!

We got a text from the principal at my new/old school yesterday morning:

It's the little things that make us happy!

Friday Fragments

~  My first day of break started waaaay too early:  Ally (my 14 year old Schnauzer) stood in the hallway in front of our bedroom and "woofed".  Because that's what she does:  She "woofs".  She'll "woof" one time, then wait to see if she gets my attention.  Then she'll do it again.  And again.  And again, until I finally get up.  "Shhhhing" her does no good:  I don't think she can hear anymore.  And so, my first day of break started at 4:00 am, letting the girls out and then attempting to go back to sleep.  Which I couldn't because she started woofing again because she was hungry.

~  I spent the good part of the day with MS & YS.  MS had a car accident (nothing major) back in August (I think it was) due to the university he attends failing to put up stop signs in a new part of the residential housing.  So, he's been without a car this semester, which was fine because he lived on campus and could walk everywhere...including work.  Since I'm on break, YS & I can share my car, so I went to his apartment (he had to move due to his fraternity losing their charter), picked him up, and brought him back to the Small Town.  We picked up YS and ate lunch, then MS wanted to go to Aldi to do some grocery shopping, then he took YS' car back with him.  

~  I picked up a couple of these at Aldi:

My mom used to make a version of these when we were little...minus the powdered sugar coating.

~  I started baking a few things last night:  Cranberry Bliss Bars, Red Velvet Cookies (I noticed some of them were gone this morning, so I'll have to make another batch), and the Mosaic Glazed Sugar Cookies that I made for my In-Laws 50th Anniversary.  I haven't decorated the cookies yet...I'm saving that for another day!

Mine didn't turn out as pretty as Recipe Girl's did, but I think I did okay!

~  Since I was up so early yesterday, I printed off some winter material for school...until I ran out of cardstock.  I figured I can laminate while I'm watching Christmas Movies (after the baking/candy making is done).

~  I wrote out thank you notes for the students who gave me presents.  I like to send them through the mail...I think it adds some excitement into their lives to get something in the mail with their name on it!

~  On today's agenda:  grocery store (for actual food for dinner), post office (to mail those thank you notes), more baking and I may get started on a few of the candy items.  I purged my Christmas notebook Wed. night:  there were things in there that I've never made, things that I have made that just didn't make the cut, and some things in there that I have no idea why they're in there!  

~  I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  I'll be taking a vacay from blogging until the weekend after New Year's Day to spend time with my family and just relaxing.