Sunday, May 29, 2011

I interrupt this story...

Let me interrupt the Rome story to share my usual day to day things you probably don't care to hear about....
And by day to day things I really mean food...

Katie has had a big group of teenagers over two days in a row...
I love nothing better than being the house where they want to hang out but since they are older and the group includes boys it is getting more expensive to be that house.  I walked in with groceries and it was like vultures surrounding me...
I served up some hot dogs and potato salad for dinner and the boys acted like I was the best mother they had ever met!  One of the boys had never had potato salad and was pretty sure I was fancy cook!

On a not so fun note, we have a family member in ICU and doing very very poorly...he is truly one of the best, sweetest, and loving men I have ever known.  We are sad and praying constantly for him.

I realized mid way through a baking spell this afternoon that worry was directly tied to my cooking...
I thought back and even as a kid and teen I can remember wanting to cook when I was stressed or worried about anything....

Today I saw the recipe for Milky Way cake on Pioneer Woman's web site. 
I am cursing her for it. 
I went to the store, gathered the ingredients and made a cake that has enough fat and calories to kill us all.
She said it was an old recipe from an aunt...and I am assuming it was one of those recipes from back in the day when no one asked how many calories something might have and also when Milky Way's probably cost 10 cents a piece...
I baked it in 3 small pans rather than the jelly roll pan so that I can share it...I haven't cut it yet but I can assure you from just licking the bowl that the cake and the icing are unbelievable!

Milky Way Cake (adapted from Pioneer Woman)

11 whole Milky Way Bars (regular Size),
                          Divided Use ( I only used 8 because at the store I couldn't remember how many I needed)

3 sticks Margarine, Divided Use
2-½ cupsAll-purpose Flour
½ teaspoons Salt
½ teaspoons Baking Soda
½ cups Buttermilk
3 teaspoonsVanilla Extract, Divided
2 cups Sugar
4 whole Eggs
2 cups Powdered Sugar
1 dashSalt
½ cups Milk (more If Needed)
1 cup Finely Chopped Pecans

Preheat oven to 300 degrees


In a double boiler or in a saucepan over very low heat, melt 8 Milky Way bars together ( I used 5) with 1 stick margarine, stirring to combine. Once melted, remove from heat and set aside.

Sift flour and salt together and set aside.

Mix baking soda with buttermilk, then add 2 teaspoons vanilla and set aside.

Cream 1 stick of margarine with the 2 cups of granulated sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to the creamed mixture, mixing after each addition. Add melted candy bar mixture and mix to combine.

Pour into a greased jelly roll pan or 9 x 13 baking pan and bake for 1 hour or until cake is done in the center. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

To make the icing, melt the remaining 3 Milky Way bars with remaining 1 stick margarine (in a double boiler or in a saucepan over very low heat). Add powdered sugar, dash of salt, milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and chopped pecans and stir over low heat. Add more milk if needed. ( I used about 1/3 of cup milk and added another 1/2 cup of powdered sugar trying to stretch it for three small cakes)
Pour over the cooled cake and allow to set.
Cake will be sticky!
Serve with ice cream or whipped cream



I also made a big batch of cookies to send with Katie on a little trip she is taking and to freeze some for the next time I attacked by all the teenagers...


I also have PW's Dr Pepper Pork in the crock pot...
It will be a good night.

Rome - day 2

Let me tell you a little more about my trip to Rome...

When I was talking with the man from Susan G. Komen in Dallas he said that he found out that another woman from Lubbock was also going to walk in the Race for the Cure....
I contacted her and met her for coffee before the trip.
Linda is a breast cancer survivor who loves Rome and has been several times.  She is active with the Komen Race here in Lubbock.  She decided she wanted to go to the walk there and was taking her Aunt with her...


We planned to meet Linda on Sat. morning at her hotel and go from there...
I printed out the map showing the short walk from our hotel to hers.
It looked easy but due to the lack of street signs and such we never found it...
she called me and met us at a corner near the bus stop since we couldn't seem to get there...
as Jennifer said "if I can't read a map at home I'm not sure what made me think I could here..."

We took the bus to the Campo de fiori market and took in all the beautiful fruit, flowers and a few other random things for sale...


I could not believe the fruit and vegetable selection.  There was anything you could think of and more...
they had grapes that were as big as plumbs and one vendor had the cutest tiny strawberries, I had never seen anything like them...

I could only think how wonderful it would be to cook with this selection!  I wish I could take all of it home!
I had read about the zucchini flowers and how they stuff stuff them with cheese and deep fry...I wish I could have found them on a menu somewhere...


I hated to leave this market but we headed to Piazza Navona...



I'm not sure what all the police were doing there...

We left there and headed for the Pantheon....

We sat right in front of the Pantheon for a little snack and coffee... it was just perfect...
The Pantheon was amazing...
amazing that is almost 2,000 years old and still standing...
amazing that they knew how to make the dome so perfect and without supports that long ago...
amazing they are still using it as church...
We headed to another church near by...

Santa Maria Sopha Minerva was a beautiful church with a lot of art and history...

the first thing you notice when you go in is the statue of Our lady of the the Rosary....


It was so beautiful it prompted me to buy a rosary from the little man selling them there...





and also there is Michelangelo's statue of Christ with the cross
did I mention that this is a real Michelangelo?

We headed out for the Metro and went to see the Protestant Cemetery which is behind the
Pyramid of Cestius
Poets Shelly and Keats are buried here....


I love cemeteries... not sure why but I always have...

this crying angel was beautiful... I'd like this on my grave one day please...

Loved this. 


We left the very hot cemetery and headed to the Race for the Cure Village to meet Barbara from Komen Italia and pick up our shirts, etc..

Did I mention it was VERY hot... I had heard the high would be 79 but it felt like 99 with 300% humidity... or at least my hair looked like the humidity was that high the whole time we were there...that heat promted us to enjoy many $4 cokes, water bottles and one afternoon when we found a "slushy" thing I thought we had found the best spot in Rome!

Are you tired of this day yet?  This was the day that seemed to go on forever...and I'm leaving a lot of sights out for you...

We took all our goodies from the race area and dropped them off at the hotel and went to check out the hop on hop off bus and all the sights it had to offer...
We got off at the Spanish steps stop

headed to Trevi Fountain
where we each threw in coins to insure our return to Rome...

and after the best pizza ever we headed home, fell into the hard bed and dreamed of my cappuccino that would be delivered at 7 a.m.....

The rose's Sunday morning were just a beautiful bonus!

Friday, May 27, 2011

Rome- I didn't want to come home....

I keep thinking about what I want to write about the trip to Rome and I still don't know!
It still seems a little unreal. 
Does that sound crazy?
I know I was there
I know I enjoyed every minute of it
I know I came back with the pictures
but yet, it still seems a little like a dream..

Let me tell you all about it...or at least the first day or so...

I flew Lubbock to Dallas Tuesday morning...
Jennifer picked me up at the airport and took me to a favorite restaurant for lunch (Blue Mesa!)
We ran a couple of errands and then my sister took us to the airport.
We flew for a verrrrrry long time to Madrid.  I could not sleep on the plane.  I tried but just couldn't....
I watched a lot of other people sleep well...
Navigated a very confusing Madrid airport, changed planes and were soon in Rome...

We were greeted by a driver holding up a sign for us...
He took our luggage and walked VERY fast even with our bags...
That was just a preview for the really fast driving he was about to do...

He drove us to the perfect little hotel... Komen had made our reservation at Roma Boutique Hotel.

It was absolutely perfect for our stay... it was in an old building where they changed a floor into a small hotel with only 7 rooms....


It was right across from the American embassy also which made us feel safe.
Except for the very first day when we left the hotel and blaring from loud speakers inside the gates of the embassy was the message "Take cover.  This is an emergency.... Take cover"
We looked at each other, debated if we should be concerned and kept on going... hopefully it was just a drill or a mistake cause if it was a real emergency, we missed it...
We stopped for a snack on the way to our Vatican after hours tour....



I can't even begin to tell you how good that cheese was...



We made it to the Vatican, took the tour and learned more than any Baptist girl ever needed to know about the Vatican and all of it's Pope's...

Our tour guide had more knowledge of the vast amount of art there than we could have ever absorbed.


(I don't recall what this was but I believe she looked like the witch from Snow White to me...)
Our two hour tour turned to three and half and ended in with Jennifer possibly being in a little trouble for sitting on the steps of the Sistine chapel...and they don't let you take pictures in there...

We found a taxi after a bit of a search and soon fell into (a very hard) bed unconscious...

My favorite thing about the hotel was that they brought you a tray every morning. 

I'm still having withdrawals from the cappucinno and pastries being delivered every morning....

Tomorrow I will tell you about day 2...