Why yes, I am totally Swedish

Why yes, I am totally Swedish

A true story that leads me to the recipe.

Somewhere about the year 1880, a young woman, named Charlotta left her
home land of Sweden and immigrated to America. She found work in Salt
Lake City as a housekeeper. Her employer introduced this twentyish yr
old single woman to Mr Solomon Joseph Despain. Though they didn't
speak each others language there was something that brought them
together. They courted for only a few weeks, through an interpreter,
and became engaged soon after. They are my great grandparents on the
Haws side. Charlotta was Solomons third plural wife.
I tell you this story for a few reasons.

1. Charlotta is obviously a very faithful woman to jump into a plural
marriage situation- something I'm still not sure about. I am sincerely
honored to have her as a foremother.
2. The quick engagement of Charlotta and Solomon shines a little light
on her gr gr granddaughter Lauras similarly quick engagement
3. I was totally obligated to make this
Swedish sticky chocolate cake kladdkaka from allrecipes.com

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 pinch salt
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter, melted
Directions
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8-
inch pie plate.
Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt; set aside. Stir the
eggs into the sugar until smooth. Add the flour mixture, and stir just
until combined. Pour in the vanilla extract and butter; stir until
well combined. Pour into prepared pie plate.
Bake on the lower rack of the preheated oven for 35 minutes, or until
the center has slightly set. Allow cake to cool for 1 hour in the pie
plate. Serve warm, or refrigerate overnight and serve cold.

Dave and I had a little bit last night. We warmed it up and had a
tiny bit of ice cream with it. It was kinda too sweet, but in small
quantities it was heavenly.

Connie

Kladdkaka

Take a look at rhis

Melboren.blogspot.com

you'll know it when you see it

My next trick

Jacob asked me today to help him with his hair for the photo shoot
tomorrow. He needs an "Elvis" look. We messed with lots of goo and
gel and still don't have a clue how get this look. Jacob hasn't cut
his hair since he found out he was in the play, as the teacher has
requested. We have lots of hair to work with yet I think Mr Presley
had more hair-- it's really a very tricky task. We actually went to a
nearby hair cut place to have them show me how to figure out this do-
not much help there. Another kicker is that the photo shoot is
tomorrow, but the show isn't until the middle of February. Will Jacobs
longer hair make this an easier task? Will I remember anything I did
today when it comes to do it for the performance? Will Jacobs hair
drive me crazy as it gets bushier?
More info (and updates) to come -I'm sure

Before

We had our 3rd out of 4 cake decorating class yesterday. I decided to
make cupcakes this time around. My cake last week was a cake extender
recipe that really did not go far in this house. I actually used the
low fat stuff, (applesauce and eggwhites) in a chocolate cake mix and
added chocolate chips to each cupcake this time. They were received
much better. I still think the decorator frosting is gross and
scraped off the stuff before I ate any cupcakes. Here's a shot of how
things transpired with the cupcakes.

After

A new recipe

Lots of times, if I can't sleep at night, I grab my phone and start
looking at recipes on the web. I have a lot of favorite sites. Some
time in the last few days, I came across an interesting recipe I
thought I'd try. Dave dubbed it a winner and asked that we have it
again. I decided to put the recipe on the blog so I don't loose it too
badly. So here it is
Turkey Brandy Melts- refers to a restaurant, if I remember right.

Deli rolls
Deli turkey
Green chilies- whole or chopped will work (I used I sm can of chopped)
Mayonnaise- about 1/2 cup for 2 sandwiches
Pesto- 1 tablespoon
I used my tasty stuff from pirate o's
Salt and pepper
1 Granny smith apple sliced thin

Mix the pesto with the mayo and spread on both sides of your rolls. Be
generous and slip under the broiler for 30 seconds or until it's nice
and bubbly. After pulling them out, layer on the turkey, green chilies
and apples, on one half of each roll. (I had thinly sliced the apple,
then chopped it up more after that). Put the cheese over it all and
slip it back under the broiler to melt the cheese. When all is nice
and warmed and melted, pull out and top with other half of roll- if
you want. Using one half is yummy too instead of both sides of the roll.

Sorry to say I don't remember where I saw this, if I figure it out
I'll let ya know. Sorry if I offend the origional poster. I'm sure
she or he will eventually stumble on my blog. 8)

The cakes

Laura asked me to take a cake decorating class with her in November.
After some confusion, that class was cancelled so we signed up for a
class this month. Today was class 2 of 4 and we had some fun. I took
this class when I was 17 with my married sister Holly, when she had 4
littles at home. We had fun then too. It's strange to think that now
I'm doing this again with my own daughter that has her own little tyke
at home.
Laura made a clever BYU cake and I got about 1/3 of my rainbow cake
finished. I thought I would finish it when I got home, but realized my
good husband was home already from a scout meeting, and adding more
frosting really didn't make the cake taste any better AND I still had
to finish a costume for the Jr high play- we just cut into that baby
and moved on with the day. So here ya go- I'm kind of torn with the
looking good vs. tasting good cake. The frosting we use to decorate
with (solid shortening and sugar) is really sickening to think of
putting in my mouth. I'll be working on that quandry when I can't
sleep at night ;)

The "y" cake

a lesson from Sister Hinckley- kinda personal

A few days ago something happened that left me agitated and fighting with negative thoughts. Those thoughts percolated and grew. I ended up thinking how sometimes, by my lack of being thin or fashionable or knowing what to do with my hair, I'm sure I disappoint my kids when we are in public. Compared to other women, I do not seem to shine. Please understand I don't tell you this in any way of fishing for compliments. It is what it is, and in such mindsets it won't matter what people say, the inner Connie is very stubborn with her opinions- I really am right all the time actually.

With that gray cloud over my shoulder, I started a new day, and as usual did a few batches of family search indexing. As I transcribed the information, I turned on a local radio program on the computer. I listened to the host with just half an ear as I did my morning hobby. He started talking about a gal in Orem who was in trouble with the law. She was a neighborhood favorite mom, but had been accused of misconduct with minors. When the host said her name, I knew who he was talking about. I knew this gal when she was a teenager, knew more of her then really knew her. I'd seen her at the store in the last couple of years and had chatted a bit. She has had her own heartaches and I am in no way convicting her of what she has been accused of, but knowing that she had this run in became a topic with my sisters while we were quilting. My parents and sisters know this gal too.

Then one of my sisters said something that turned the light on in my head and started to clear the gray cloud that had been hovering. She said how embarrassing this event, or suspicion of events, had embarrassed this lady's kids. My mind whispered to me, "there are a lot worse things then being frumpy".

I later had to download to my sister Krista all that I had been thinking. Like the University graduate that she is, a BYU graduate, she said "ya know, sister Hinckleys daughter said something like that'. The story was related to me, from Krista, that back in the day one of Sister Hinckleys girls was in high school, or jr high and some of the moms were coming to the school. As the daughter sat waiting for her mom she saw other moms walking in. Some of the moms were all dolled up, dressed up and had great hair. When Sister Hinckley walked in she was dressed nicely, but not overly fashionable. Her daughter remembers thinking that her mom was a real mom, not a mom trying to compete with the teenagers, or in anyway portray an image she was not.
Though I will still desire things as far as thinness and fashion that might not ever come to me, I was so comforted by Sister Hinckleys example and the in site of her good daughter, and the willingness of my own sisters to help me refocus.

I do hope my own kids are as deep thinkers as the Hinckley girl was 8)

Second generation high chair

We have saved this high chair for about 14 years. A few other people
have used it since we bought it for Jacob, but we hung on to it mostly
to have for the grandbabies. Today was the day that we had waited for.
Laura and Steve are in the market for a high chair but I talked them
in to using this one until they know what they want for themselves.
Another happy first for this granny

Sisters Day doing the humanitarian thing

until i figure out my camera

I got a new camera for Christmas, which is awesome! I was feeling lousy awhile after Christmas, so I didn't really have energy to mess with the camera, and spent January 1 all tucked in my bed. As my friend Edee taught me, I had planned on doing a "picture of the day" for 2010, but totally forgot when I was all tucked in. I remembered on the 2nd, and started to take pictures just with my phone. It works better that way anyway since its so simple to upload from my phone to a blog--- anyway I started a new blog called picture of the day or something, here's a link if ya ever want to check it out

http://conniesphotoof2010.blogspot.com/

go easy on me, I know Ill miss some days-





But this post is really about the Eagle Court Of Honor my boys were involved in this past Saturday. All my pi cures are on my nifty camera. I am figuring out how to get them on my computers, so until then I will share this picture taken that night. It is a picture that makes me really happy. It is me and my best girlfriends in the ward, well, Michelle moved out, but she was in the ward. We are all here with our grand baby boys. Jack was so sad and tired, and he talked Michelle's Damon into fussing, but Lisa's Kalvin was happy as a clam. I loved celebrating that night with my dear friends who also had boys being honored as Eagle scouts. It was a great night, much better than I has supposed. I'll post a whole thing on that night when I figure it all out-- wish me luck

One of my Christmas gifts

A few weeks ago Dave and I were talking about what we each wanted for Christmas. I was teasing Dave and told him I wanted a gift of a new author so I could get into a few new books. Then I pushed him a little further and told him about the little sets of fabric pieces that are available, mostly in serious fabric stores, or quilt shops. There is the 'Jelly roll', and the 'turnover' and a 'layer cake' and also 'charm pack'. The beauty of these babies is that they all include at least one piece of fabric from a certain line, so they all match yet are all different. When I'm doing some projects, theoretically, this is exactly what I want instead of going to a fabric store and buying small amounts of fabrics I try to match up. On Christmas morning I received so much fabric from my honey. It was amazing. He went into a quilt store and got them all by himself. I was so surprised, and even shocked. He was a very good husband to do that. So? what am I gonna do with these beauties- Ill tell you when I'm done with the projects.