For You Cat Lovers, Especially Susie!

http://youtu.be/42BLhVF_eLI

Resolving the Resolution Solution

This is good~just sayin'

English Sticky Toffee Pudding

 

 English Sticky Toffee Pudding

Recipe courtesy Marie Simmons
The Food Network
Show: Cooking LiveEpisode: Apres Ski Party


Bonnie here...I don't really bake often but this recipe is amazing.  Jim's cousin brought it for Christmas Eve and it vanished quickly and with raves.  I wanted to share it with you and save it in my files just in case I really get inspired to go in the kitchen.

Photo: English Sticky Toffee Pudding Recipe

Rated 5 stars out of 5

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Total Time:

1 hr 5 min

Prep

20 min

Cook

45 min

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Ingredients

• 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 cup pitted dates
• 1 1/4 cups boiling water
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

TOFFEE SAUCE:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup heavy cream, whipped

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 10-inch round or square baking dish. Sift the flour and baking powder onto a sheet of waxed paper. Chop the dates fine. Place in a small bowl and add the boiling water and baking soda; set aside. In a bowl of electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla; beat until blended. Gradually beat in the flour mixture. Add the date mixture to the batter and fold until blended with a rubber spatula. Pour into the prepared baking dish. Bake until pudding is set and firm on top, about 35 minutes. Remove from oven to a wire rack. Toffee Sauce: Combine the butter, heavy cream and brown sugar in a small heavy saucepan; heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil gently over medium low heat until mixture is thickened, about 8 minutes. Preheat broiler. Spoon about 1/3 cup of the sauce over the pudding. Spread evenly on top. Place pudding under the broiler until the topping is bubbly, about 1 minute. Serve immediately spooned into dessert bowls. Drizzle with toffee sauce and top with a spoonful of whipped cream.

Writing

 

I like that this lovely lady is a lefty!

If someone were to say to me, "Don't write anymore, it would be like taking my voice.  Laryngitis of the heart, mind and soul.  That would be one of the cruelest things I can imagine!  It would be like locking my heart in a wooden box...and throwing away the key. It would be total deprivation of the freedom of expression that comes with the symbols of the written word.  It would be like saying to your eyes, 'Don't blink', or to your lungs, 'Don't breathe,' or to your heart 'Don't love.'

 To not be able to write would be a kind of death inside me. 

 One I cannot really think about too much.

Funny, but I don't feel that way about talking...just writing.

That is where I find my comfort zone.

This picture should be much more colorful
 for its words are the truth.

Grow Old With Me...It's A Good Thing!

Saw this on Facebook and thought it was so cute and true... 

Just trying to embrace the growing old part at the moment!  LOL!

BELIEVE!

Pinterest {Let's pretend it is not a tattoo, OK?}

Have you noticed that in years past people have picked one word to focus on through the new year?  I have never done it but think it is an inspiring idea.  I have thought about what word would be a good motivator for me and have chosen the word BELIEVE for 2013. 

I have learned in my life that what I believe is exactly what sets the tone of just about everything.  It is our perspective on everything about ourselves, God, our surroundings, people, principles and concepts and the state of the world that influences all we do.  The real deal is that whether something is true or false almost has less significance than if you believe it does.  What you think and believe is your reality.  What a wonderful and powerful gift of agency the Lord has provided us with in this life.  We get to choose how we see everything around us, everything we experience and everything we think.  When you ponder this it is beyond amazing.

 

Here are some things I am going to

 concentrate 

on believing in this year.

I believe that God is all powerful and 

that what he says is true. 

  He tells me "I can do all things through

 Christ that strengtheneth me." 

 I truly believe that. 

If he believes I am lovable and capable so I must

 also believe it even when I do not feel it sometimes. 

He tells me we are all brothers and sisters 

and to love everyone 

even those who despitefully use and persecute me.

  I believe it, I will.

I believe people are basically good because they are 

children of God. 

Really believing that make me happier

and restores my faith in humanity. 

I believe in guardian angels and that they

 watch over me and all people that I love.

  That helps me worry less.

I believe we are all his children and

 his watchful eye is on us always.

I believe in prayer and the comfort it brings

 and the answers, 

oh yes, the answers.  I believe in them.

I believe that everything that God places before me 

I can handle.

He knows how to mold me as his 

own child for my best good.

I believe there is a purpose left in my life and that

 God will teach me what I need to know to accomplish it.

I believe in the wisdom of other people 

and don't need to experience

 everything on my own.

  I can learn from their triumphs and failings.

I believe in every word that Christ teaches 

and I believe he is the only way.

The evidence of this is everywhere!

I believe in being guided by the Spirit 

and listening to his counsel.

I believe in love and that love changes everything.

Love for God, others and myself.

I believe I can improve and progress and 

become all God and I expect of me.

I believe in family and it being forever

 and that that is enough to bring the joy and everything 

else into its proper perspective.

I believe in goodness and forgiving.

I believe in God's Will.

I believe in you.  I believe in me.

I believe we choose our own degree of happiness.

What is your word of inspiration for 2013?

This is what I believe!

A Simple Woman's New Year's Daybook

Our lives pass swiftly by! I want to do something to remember

the everyday moments and my thoughts about them.  

That is what this daybook is all about.

Focusing on the little things that become my life.

One week at a time.

Just for today~Tuesday, January 1, 2013

 

Outside my window...It is bright and beautiful out today.  Cold enough for a fury, warm scarf and sweater but not cold enough for a coat when just running in and out to the car and then into a building.  Standing in the sun feels good but you kind of have to keep moving.  The temperature is 39 degrees.  Invigorating.  It is one of those days when it actually can feel colder in the house then outside.  I have been out and about this morning and with friends and now am just settling in to work.  It is 1:00 pm.   13 hours exactly into 2013.  So far, so good.

I am thankful for...my handy, dandy husband who has already fixed up a "Room With A Past" gently used treasure for above our bed and it is now hanging on the wall~looking like it has always been there.  And I am thankful for his desire to make gourmet food all the time, like the marinated red bell peppers I am having for lunch as I write.  They are roasted and then thinly sliced and drenched in sauteed garlic and onions, a little olive oil, salt and a teaspoon of pesto.  Add a couple of thin slices of a crusty baguette and you'd think you've died and gone to heaven.  It is so fresh and healthy.  That is just the tip of the iceberg regarding his goodness.  Yep, today I am thankful for James.

From the learning room...that life is in a state of constant flux.  The things you thought would be a part of your life forever, often aren't.  Recently we were in San Francisco and drove past the large 22 story Standard Oil Building where I use to work.

I remember thinking back in my early 20s how that was so permanent so "forever".  Several years later the Standard Oil Company is now Chevron and they do not employ one single person in San Francisco.  The 8 or 9 high rise buildings they once occupied have all been sold and vacated and now all of those thousands of employees are elsewhere.

No one would have predicted that when I worked there.  Things change, times change and people change.  Being kind of a sentimentalist I don't really like my world rocked like that but it is a fact of life.  Life is change.

I am reading...a lot of old email trying to clean-up and get rid of what no longer seems relevant, interesting or necessary.  I have realized I have to just try to manage and delete every day once I am finished with something and file only the very most useful.  Hummm, annoying.  Everything ultimately boils down to daily maintenance. :-/

From the kitchen...simplifying after a month of over indulgences.  Sound familiar?  Soups, salads, cottage cheese, simple stuff and getting all the junk out of the house.  Cleaning up the environment for more success in getting and staying healthy.

I am missing...boring.  We have been running far too much over the holidays, it was all tremendously fun, but I am now needing respite from all of it.  I wish I could magically make all our Christmas decor jump into its little hiding places until the next go around, but...I guess I'll start working on it slowly over the next several days. 

Some spiritual thoughts I have been having...Most of my spiritual thoughts this week were centered around the talk I was asked to give in church this past Sunday on goals.  Thoughts of how the Lord has given us the prefect prescription for making changes in our lives and how we should use it more.  If you want to read it, go back just one post to the post before this one. Or you can click here!

I am hearing...some faint classical music coming from the docking station in the kitchen which Jim nearly always has on.  I think I need to put something a little more lively on my computer right now.  This is a very weird confession but I only love classical music in the morning but when I need added energy...not so much.  The only other time I love it is when I am feeling sad...it seems to settle my thoughts and bring a bit of calm and sometimes...even cheer.  "What a Wonderful World by Ole Satchmo just came on when I turned on my playlist.  Oh, wow that reminds me of so many things.  One of my friends from the past in particular.  He is gone now but never to be forgotten.  The memory of him is bigger than life.  And this also reminds me of New Orleans...The French Market and the music in the streets and mint juleps (virgin of course.)

One of my guilty pleasures...living in my memories of special days gone by and daydreaming of the future.  Both of those things make the present more pleasant and gives me balance and a sense of the richness of our lives.

Pet Peeves...constant interruptions when I am working.  I get lost in my thoughts and then someone or something jars me into the moment and it is so distracting.  But c'est la vie, n'est pas?

I am going...I am going to grab my fury leopard blanket and get under it for a little riposo.  Be right back!  Ahh, that was nice!

I am quoting...Pinterest:

If I could change one thing it would be...That people would never misunderstand what we feel, our motives, our intentions. 

An enjoyable movie we have watched lately...Les Miserables.  Simply stunning...the very best there is to offer out there.

I am curious about...why a story like Les Miserables that is so founded on Christ's truths, teachings and the principles of the Gospel can be so universally loved in a world that for the most part denies him?  My only answer is that the light of Christ dwells within all of us whether we like it or not.  Denying him cannot negate the veracity of what is.

Plans for the rest of the week...Starting an arduous task of redoing, revising and creating some old and new presentations on Family History and Genealogy.  I have 14 classes to teach in various places scheduled this year so far.  No time to dilly dally now.  I have four of them in January...the first on the 8th.  Yikes!  This week other than a dental appointment tomorrow at 8:00 am (ugh!) that is my priority.  Everything else has to take the back seat for now including putting Christmas away.  The party is o. v. e. r...nose to the grindstone starting tomorrow around 10:00 am.
 

One of my favorite things...pushing myself over the edge with commitments apparently.  I do love a passion for something though...what else gets your blood pumping with a desire to work your tail off?  I have decided my definition of a passion is when you are so engrossed in the doing of something you don't want to stop until you drop.  It just fills you up until you have no room to think of anything else in your life for that little while.  Do you have a passion for something?  I hope so.  It is essential, exhausting, elevating, exhilarating, enabling, efficacious and enlightening.  Whoa, I do like E words evidently. Smiles...

Some photos I am sharing this week...the Christmas season has held some really fun activities for us.  One of them was setting up and decorating for a wedding that was held at our church on the 28th.  We Latter-day Saints are a peculiar lot.  We love to help each other get ready for big events like weddings and we literally save families thousands of dollars by lending a hand.  We decorate whatever venue is selected and in our church one can use our cultural hall and kitchen and all of the tables and chairs, etc free of charge.  Cha Ching...money in the bank for the bride and groom.

Then if friends help with all the other things it is just such a nice thing.  We had tremendous help with our three wedding in four months back in 1997 and Jim and I have been working on weddings for other people ever since.  Pay it forward...that is what we all do.  So we got together with several other friends and set up this gorgeous winter wonderland for this older couple.  The woman had been in our ward and lost her husband to Parkinson's several years ago.  She found a wonderful new man and they married the other day.  She wanted a regular reception like a new bride and that is what she had.

This is my good friend, Lanette, and she is the one who got to go up in the cherry picker and hang the snow flakes on the strings of tiny white lights that had been strung across the cultural hall...aka full size basketball court.  She is fit and strong and the bomb!  She is my Weight Watcher Leader and the most popular one in the whole region, I might add.  I had her do a little commercial for Weight Watchers just for fun!  She is my inspiration!  65 pounds off for six plus years now!  You go, girl! 2013 is the year to succeed!

The 12 rounds were set with pink table clothes and white Poinsettias as you can see.  We decorated the 12 foot tree with lots of gorgeous pink, white and silver ornaments and icicles. Jim and Dave did a large part of that  along with Doug of course.   We did lights and fancy, wired, silver and white ribbon, accented with white snow flakes on 70 feet of live juniper and pine garlands.  They were made by our friend, Darlene.  Lee decorated the large white gazebo with the same type of garlands and lights for the cake table.

When the lights were dimmed it was simply gorgeous.
And the pine garlands smelled heavenly.
It helped create a wedding day for this couple
in their 70s that they will never forget.

My sweet friend, Maureen, was in charge and she is amazing!
She is a professional floral arranger and has done many weddings.
She also worked with me when I had my decorating business.
Her husband Doug and son Jeff helped a lot too.

The workers bees included Michelle and her sons,
 Joseph and Jacob and his friend Brittany, Lee, Dave,
Bob and Shirley,
Jim and me and a few others.

We had a fun time with our friends and got the job done.
We find that that is the fun of doing service for others.
A Win/Win all the way round.
Service= a gift of accomplishment with fun attached.

❤♡♥♡❤♡♥♡❤♡♥s, Bon