Red Velvet Cake

Homemade from the recipe in Susan Waggoner's Little Cakes: Classic Recipes for Any Occasion. My husband and I ate the entire thing in one delicious, decadent Sunday. So much for the Fat Flush!

Printer's Tray

When I was growing up, my parents' neighbor was an antique dealer. While my parents never had any interest in interior design, occasionally our neighbor's newest enthusiasm made it over to our house. For awhile it was printer's trays, filled with all kinds of small odds and ends. My mother had to have one, so she purchased one from our neighbor and my dad hung it in the entryway of our house. Characteristically, its positioning was not based on the center of the empty wall space but on wherever he could find a stud--thus it hung, and still hangs, positioned vaguely to the left of center and is loaded with tiny silver spoons from the Grand Canyon and the like.

Much later, my sister found another cache of printer's trays in a resale shop and bought one for her and one for me. Here is my printer's tray.

Below are some close ups of the tray, and some notes on a few of the more random items. I should point out that it's impossible to dust, so you'll have to peer through the dust motes to see the actual pieces.

• My father-in-law thoughtfully, but unhelpfully, likes to give me boxed samples of cheap perfume for the holidays, so these have been relegated to the tray.
• The fortune in the photo, left (next to the "Toujours Moi" perfume), reads, "It's time to treat yourself to something special." At the time, I added in pen, "like a Chanel 2.55." Still waiting for that to happen.
  
• I inherited a collection of ancient political buttons from some random ancestor, so the tray was an obvious display forum. I tried to remove all the more contemporary political slogans before taking the photo, so as not to offend any readers. :-P
• I do have some printer stamps, mainly educational ones from the 1950's. There are individual letters and numbers, as well as basic words. We found they can be combined with hilarious (we think) effect, as you can see in the panel below, with an Austin Powers quote.
  

• Once my younger son was angry with my older son, so he grabbed the awl pictured right and went after him. Fortunately, he was disarmed before any blood was shed, and of course now we all think it was hysterically funny.
  

5 Things That Made Me Happy This Week

1. This week I celebrated my birthday. My oldest son came down from Chicago, and my husband took us out for dinner.My son took this shot of Husband and I in the restaurant; I like how he managed the shadowing to give me this great cleavage. Thanks, Son!
2. My husband's Thomas Pink Pink Panther cufflinks. As he has to help me put on my charm bracelet, I have to help him attach his Panthers. It's tricky getting the head and paws through the slits!
3. On nice days as I walk to work, I always admire the way these silver stovepipes stand against the big prairie sky.
4. When my husband and I visited Bermuda, we became addicted to Dark & Stormies. We brought back a case of Gosling's Black Seal Rum with us on the plane! Lately we've discovered Gosling's 151 proof (which will put you out for the night). Nobody seems to stock a key ingredient, Barritt's Ginger Beer, around here, but luckily my son brought it with him from Chi-town and so I present to you:
5. Jane Brocket's The Gentle Art of Domesticity. I just received my copy of the American edition this week, and this book inspires me in so many ways. If you haven't checked out her blog, do so. This weekend, I plan to dig out the quilts I've started over the years and never finished, as well as some baking projects. Maybe I'll even visit the yarn shop to stock up on material for a winter's knitting project.
Jane knits a lot of socks and also seems enamored with matching her toenail polish to flowers and shoes. Thus, there are many foot pictures. On page 156, she photographed her bright red Birkenstocks with equally vivid polish. I have the same Birks, in white, and here is my tribute, with Chanel Vamp nail polish.

Perfect September Saturday

Let's start with a cup of French-pressed coffee in bed. Then, let's walk to the local bakery and weekly Farmer's Market. Here's what we find:Freshly baked pastries and a pot of Earl Grey on the patio:Take off in a top-down convertible, across the Prairie, to an Art Fair at a local winery:Buy a bottle of local wine (it's Illinois, so not too exciting, but hey we support our local small businesses!).

A beautiful weathered church along the way. (Actually I think someone lives there; a dog was peering out the window and barking at me when I stopped to take the picture.)
Local humour.
Cocktails on the patio, then, later, fried green tomatoes, fresh tomatoes with basil and mozarella, Ciabatta bread all washed down by some sparkling Prosecco.
Big Ten Football. We don't care who wins; we've degrees from both!

Ooooh, I've been Tagged...

By the beautiful Petunia In Paradise. Here are the rules:
Okay, here goes:
1. Since leaving home at fourteen to attend boarding school, I've lived in ten states: Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Texas, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and California. I've lived in more than one city in Illinois, Pennsylvania and California. The best place I ever lived? Monterey, California.
2. I'm the youngest of five siblings. The eldest, my sister, is eighteen years older than me. Her daughter is three years younger than me, and she's like a sister too. In fact, we went to law school together (different schools, same time).
3. I went to four different colleges before obtaining my B.A. However, I received both of my graduate degrees from the same university.
4. So far, I've had the following careers: retail fashion buyer, attorney, professor and librarian. Really, though, I'd rather be a Lady who Lunches ;-).
5. I believe Bigfoot exists. It's okay, go ahead and laugh: my husband and sons think this is hilarious.
6. I'm afraid of birds, especially baby birds. But I'm okay watching watching the movie.
7. My first car was a booger-green '66 Plymouth Barracuda, purchased in Dallas. Here I am, with my husband and oldest son, while we were in college (my fourth and last college, I should add): I know I'm supposed to Tag others, but for whatever reason I feel a bit awkward doing that, so if you feel like playing please add a comment and consider yourself tagged!

Slim Aarons and the Revolution

My son was named after Robespierre and has a portrait of Che Guevara, which he drew, over his bed, and he loves the work of photographer Slim Aarons. I didn't know this until this past Christmas, when I received the companion volume to a Slim Aarons compilation I already had. I opened the gift, and he exclaimed, with a fervor atypical for a normally blasé teenager,"I love this guy!"

I was a bit taken aback; after all this was my little revolutionary. When he was living in Germany as an exchange student, for Christmas it was requested I send manifestos by Che, in deutsche of course. Now his new hero's life goal was to"[photograph] attractive people, doing attractive things in attractive places...." Interesting juxtaposition.

Thereafter I often found my Slim Aaron tomes amid a stack of books such as Hunter S. Thompson's The Rum Diary, Beowulf, Seven Plays by Sam Shepard and New Penguin Parallel Text Short Stories in German on his unmade bed. I was happy that he enjoyed them but I admit I was worried that he would rip the beautiful dustcovers. Teen boys don't really care about the dustcovers of coffee table books, just like they don't care about changing their bed linens on a regular basis.

Now he's away at college two thousand miles away and my Slim Aaron books lay neatly in a pile on the living room floor. What a great time in his life. Idealism--both for the Beautiful Life and for a world of Liberté, Egalité, Fraternity--can coexist and maybe even flourish. My son is, as Emily Dickinson wrote, dwelling in possibility. Carpe diem, Max.

Farmer's Market, Glads, Five Bucks