Chocolate Cake with Strawberry Drizzle & Ganache Topping

Mitch's birthday cake was enjoyed by all (phew, deep sigh of relief on my part)!  We are still enjoying our time together; there will be more to come about our good times in tomorrow's post.  For now, here is the yummy chocolate cake recipe, I know you have been waiting with bated breath for this since yesterday's post...

Chocolate Cake with Strawberry Drizzle & Ganache Topping

Chocolate Cake Ingredients
1 3/4 cups sifted cake flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup sifted cocoa
1/2 cup softened butter
1 1/4 cup buttermilk, divided
2 eggs
4 oz broken up dark chocolate morsels

Mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cocoa in a large bowl. 

Add butter and 2/3 cup buttermilk and mix well, which will become thick and seem dry as shown below.

Add the eggs, remaining buttermilk and broken up chocolate morsels.

Mix well, then pour into a greased and floured 9x13 baking pan.

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or if at a higher elevation bake at 325 for the first 20 minutes, then raise the temp up to 350 for the remaining time.  It is done when a toothpick comes out clean. 

Let the cake cool on a rack for 10 minutes, then remove from the pan.  My cake stuck to the pan, it was very humid here yesterday, so I think the cake sweat a bit.  But that was OK, because I was planning on cutting it into pieces anyway.  Let the cake cool completely, then cut it into equal squares and place on a large platter.

Strawberry Drizzle
Take a couple spoonfuls of my sinfully scrumptious strawberry jam and mix it with a little less than an equal amount of water; heat briefly in the microwave to combine.  Spoon a little of the strawberry drizzle onto each piece of cake, letting a little bit fall over the sides of each piece.


Chocolate Ganache
2/3 cup whipping cream
6 oz dark chocolate morsels
Heat the whipping cream in a sauce pan on low heat until hot; do not boil.  Remove from heat and stir in the chocolate until fully mixed into chocolate goodness.  Let the mixture cool for a few minutes, then drizzle over each piece of cake, the same way you did the strawberry drizzle.

Pure chocolate strawberry deliciousness!

Thanks for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,
Lise

My Cousin, Terry's Produce, Gray? & A Dastardly Rabbit

Four things to share with you today...

First, I am excited that my cousin Michelle (Mitch to me, always has been, always will be, or Michelle my belle as my dad would sing to her every time we saw them) and her husband Jerry are on their way for a couple days visit.  They have been driving their camper from RI all the way to Key West with many stops here and there, I am excited to be one of them!  Today is Mitch's birthday, so I am baking her a chocolate cake with a strawberry drizzle and ganache topping.  I sure hope it turns out to be tasty, and will be sharing the recipe with either praises or "this is what not to do" comments:)  So far so good, except the cake is stuck in the pan!  We'll see what happens, it was part of my plan to cut it into pieces so the topping flows all around each piece, so not a total disaster...  Anyway, this is a picture of my mom, who was pregnant with me at the time, at my cousin Mitch's 1st birthday party...

I've asked Mountain Man to scan and print a copy so I can  give it to her. 

Second, yesterday I went into Sylva for some errands, and stopped at Terry's Produce, a place that is quickly becoming a favorite.  This is Terry in the center of the photo and Casey Jones (not related to the railroad engineer Casey Jones) a distant relative to Terry...very fine fellows and a really nice stand that has fresh fruit & veggies, as well as many jams, jellies and other preserves...

 

 

And this is (was) Ghost, who used to keep an eye on the store.  Unfortunately, while he was protecting his territory from a newcomer across the street at the Jackson paper factory, he was hit by a car.  Terry obviously missed Ghost, as there are pictures of him everywhere...

I can see why Terry misses him!

If you are ever in Sylva, stop on in!  I think you will be happy you did!

Third, one of my errands yesterday was for a hair cut and color at Visage.  This was a big step for me, as I was going someplace new rather than back to my place in FL, and I am not fond of starting with a new stylist.  But I am really happy I did, Miss Katie was fantastic!  For quite some time now, I have been seriously debating "go gray, don't go gray".  You know, we are up here living off the land, a simpler more natural life...  But after much internal debate, and some discussion with Miss Katie, I decided I just wasn't ready to look at myself with a salt-n-pepper head, which is indeed what it would look like.  So for now, brown it is!  Miss Katie did inform me that I have some stubborn grays, so next time she will add a little something to the color to get it to hold better; I use a demi color, which means it kind of highlights the gray strands as it colors everything, but it eventually fades out.  I like this approach, as there is no color line as my hair grows.  Anyway...brown...I like it:)!

Finally, yesterday we discovered a dastardly rabbit has eaten all my Redina Lettuce!!!  Today we put chicken wire around it, so I hope the little rascal stays away.  I wouldn't be so upset, but there was only one bunch of Redina that was growing well, and now it is gone!  I am hoping it grows back, which this morning it does look like it's attempting to do so (I don't have a picture of it though because there is nothing to show yet)!

We also covered the turnips, carrots and salsify, because the salsify has obviously been providing some good nibbling too!  Thank goodness we have planted lettuce in the square foot gardens in the yard, the rascal hasn't found those yet, though you can be sure we are covering those as well.


Ahhhh, the joys of gardening (really, it's just one of those things, and a learning experience).  We did see him this morning, running away of course...he had a big fluffy white tail!  Cute little rascal!


Thanks for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,
Lise

Being In The Moment

There are times when words are not necessary, for the universe provides the most spectacular events.  May your evening find you filled with peace, joy & love!

Thank you for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,
Lise

Lise's Wild Blackberry Jam

Wild blackberries grow all over the mountains here.  I thought it would be as easy to collect the berries to make wild blackberry jam as it was to collect the violets to make violet jelly. Boy was I wrong!

The violets grow (or grew, this was a couple months ago) in small "fields", so you can collect a decent amount at one time, enough to make a batch of jelly.  Blackberries, though they grow everywhere, ripen individually, have very picky thorns that stick like glue, and are spread out all over the mountain, including extremely hard to reach places.  This is what you come across, branches filled with stickers where the blackberries grow...some berries are ripe for picking, some still ripening, and often many are overripe.  And because every bush looks like this, it takes a lot of walking to find enough ripe berries. 

When we first started collecting them, we picked many that we should have left alone.  I learned the hard way that the ONLY berries you want to pick are the ones that are totally black (of course I say to myself, they are, after all, BLACKberries!), leaving even the slightly overripe berries for the wildlife.  If you include anything but perfectly ripe berries, the whole bunch quickly rots.

I also learned the hard way, that you can not collect and save the berries in the fridge for more than a day.  No matter how perfectly ripe, this also causes them to over ripen.  I learned that blackberries can be frozen to hold until ready for use, which will be a definite step next time I collect.  You just wash and pat the berries dry, put them on a cookie sheet in the freezer to freeze, then once frozen put them into a zip lock bag until you are ready to use them.  This brings me back to the fact that only a few berries on the mountain bushes ripen at a time, so collecting enough for jam takes some time.

On to the making of the jelly...I had to modify the recipe because I did not have enough berries, so I hope it turns out OK.  I based my modified amounts on what the Bell pectin bottle said were the appropriate ratios, though the end result is still a bit of a guess (I sure am glad I paid attention in all those math classes way back when!).  It will be tomorrow before the jars set and I can taste it to know if it worked.  This is the link to the initial recipe .  What I am giving you is my edited version:

3 cups of crushed wild blackberries
3 1/2 cups sugar
3 TBS + 1 tsp of pectin
1 TBS butter
zest of 1/2 a lemon

After washing and straining the wild blackberries, you mash them, one layer at a time (this ensures the majority of the berries get mashed and release their juices).  I purposefully have chosen to make jam with the seeds, though some time down the road I will try making jelly without seeds.  An aside story, one of the things I gave my niece Hailey for her birthday last April was a jar of my violet jelly.  When I spoke to her sister Sophia, who is also my Godchild, she said her favorite jam was blackberry and she reeeeeeally wanted me to make her some for her birthday.  As her birthday approached in June, the berries were not ripe.  So she has very patiently waited for this jam to materialize!

What you see above is one layer of the wild blackberries being mashed, I started with a little more than 4 cups of whole berries and ended up with 3 cups of mashed wild blackberries. 

Put the wild blackberries into the pot, slowly mix in the pectin, and bring to a boil.

Once boiling, I stirred in the butter (this helps keep the mixture from foaming as it boils, and also give a nice smoothness to the jam) and lemon zest (adds a little tang and brightens the berry flavor, at least it did with my violet jelly and sinfully scrumptious strawberry jam).  Then I added the sugar and brought it again to a boil.

I poured the mixture into cleaned (by boiling the jars, seals and lids) 8 and 4 ounce jars that were sitting in a pot of hot water.  Cleaned the rims, placed the seals, tightened the lids and let them sit in the boiling water for a bit.  Then I took them out and turned them upside down on a rack for about 15 minutes (this should be done in a place without a draft, which is why you will see that mine are outside in the last photo, my kitchen fan was on high to try to get the heat out).  And voila, wild blackberry jam!

 As you can see, I ended up with 4 - 8 oz jars and 3 - 4 oz jars.  Once the jars have cooled for the 15 minutes, you turn them right side up, and wait to hear the delightful little pop each jar makes as it is sealing itself.  This can take as long as 12 hours or so.  If you look closely, the center of the jars on the left have not indented inward yet, but the one's on the right have.  Please note that if a jar does not pop, you should put it in the fridge after it cools and eat it within the next couple weeks. 

Stay tuned tomorrow to find out how it tastes!  Do you have a favorite wild blackberry jam or jelly recipe?  I'd love to know how you make it!

Thanks for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,
Lise

A Ride Into the Mountains

We took a long ride into the forest behind us today.  It was a real adventure.  Here are a few of the highlights...

We took Bear along the main road near us that heads up the mountain, and shortly after heading into the woods, came across a beautiful Doe.  She must have been grazing on blackberries, and of course quickly ran off the trail and into the woods as we approached.  She was elegant.  But she stood not too far away, observant and contemplative.  Just stunning.  I stood there and spoke to her, telling her I was her friend; just respectfully curious.  And clicked away...

This first photo is the Doe using a closeup lens...

 
 This second shot is when I first found her in the woods, and just clicked the shutter...

It truly is magnificent to see wildlife in it's natural setting, undisturbed.  Makes me wonder if the mysterious guest we had in our woods might have been this Doe...the place we spotted her was no more that 1/2 mile directly up the mountain (as the crow flies, or the Doe goes) from our place.  Mountain Man is inspired to put his Critter Cam up in that area again...we shall see what we shall see!

We also came across 2 wild turkeys, though they moved too quickly for me to catch them on my camera, though I did try!  They were quite large and clucked loudly as they ran from us.  Beautiful creatures!

We reached the top of the mountains, and I found myself mesmerized with my breath taken away as I looked about.  Here are three pics that could make a panorama...the dirt you see in the 3rd shot is because they are logging the forest there, which is really what we wanted to go investigate...we were relatively happy with what we found, as they did not remove every tree that was there.

 
To give you a different perspective, this is the view from the road that I walk to our mailbox, looking up...

...hard to imagine that this is what I see looking up, and the 3 pics above are what you see when you look down from that same spot!  I would never have believed it if I had not been there myself.  Interestingly, it took us about an hour to get from our place (on Bear, our ATV) to the spot with the spectacular view.  Lots of long winding trail roads to get there, up and around, around and down, up and down and around and around...

We also picked lots of fresh, ripe wild blackberries (blackberry jam in the making) and awesome wild  mushrooms (had them with dinner, yummy!).  And we came across a cool wasp's nest (that's the only pic I have for this portion of our day)...It was a great day!

Life is good, I am grateful, mountain life is awesome!!!

Thanks for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,
Lise  

Meet Big Bear, Our New Work Horse

There are times when assistance is needed when "living off the land".  100 years ago, mules and horses were the norm; today, not so much.

In order for me to be able to "drive" my new work horse, I had to put on these shoes, which I usually save for winter work...(yes, those are my legs, my feet, my shoes, LOL...)

Allow me to introduce you to Big Bear...

This is him with his big snow plow, which includes a wench attachment (an awesome attachment that allows you to lift things), and he also has a hitch & 4 wheel drive...everything we need to work the woods, the hollows & the mountains!  Handsome critter, if I do say so myself. 

This is Bear, undressed so to speak, the way we will usually utilize him...with a temporary recycle cans basket attached to the front...don't laugh, at least it is in the same color scheme!!!  But look at those brand new tires!  We got an awesome deal with this purchase:)

And this is me in the drivers seat on Bear, preparing for my first ride.  It didn't take long, and I was shifting gears with my foot (new to me) and on my way!

You do know there will be some exploration entertainment that Bear provides, LOL!

Thanks for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,
Lise

Garden Progress & My Sister's Birthday

This is my favorite younger sister, well, she is my only sister, LOL, but truly she is a special person.  And she is the best sister anyone could ever hope for, beautiful inside and out!   Today is her birthday, but I won't be seeing her because we are in separate states.  So HAPPY BIRTHDAY my sister, I love and miss you!  Big giant hugs to you and lots of birthday kisses!!!

Sister, this song is for you, You Are Woman!!!  We are strong, we are invincible, we are women!!!

On to the garden...it is growing beautifully, though we are clearly behind most folks' garden growth, we just started late:)  The fact that it is raining every day, (woo hoo, this is a good thing) therefore the sun is often behind clouds and doesn't shine on things much during the day to help them grow big and strong, (not such a good thing, but we are grateful for the rain!) may be contributing to our slow growth. 

We spent some time a few days ago, giving the garden a thorough weeding, as it had become difficult to tell what was a growing edible and what was a weed (I'm sure all the rain helped with that).  We also laid straw around all the plants.  We were very happy with the results, and I do believe the plants were as well!

My exciting news is that  we have bush beans that I have harvested...5 to be exact, ha ha.  It surprised me that we already had beans when the largest plant is only about 8 inches tall! (This picture was taken before we laid all the straw.) Small little fellows, to be producing beans, an opinion based on my lack of gardening history. 

These are the 5 beans, we ate eat them raw with our dinner tonight and I have to tell you, they were scrumpdilyitious! Yes indeed, there is nothing better than fresh veggies grown yourself with no junk included!

I also harvested my first Hakurei turnip; small but I could not help myself...I saw it peaking above the soil and had to see what it looked like under that ground.  You can be sure we will eat both the turnip and the greens:), though I did not prepare this for dinner tonight, we had a "raw" meal:), I will be figuring out how to prepare this tomorrow...any suggestions?  (remember I only have 1 right now)

One snow pea is developing a flower, which is also surprising because they are still small stringy things, but I am beside myself with joy.  Speaking of, I thought I would share that I do indeed yelp with delight when I find something new in the garden, it is like coming across something new your child has learned or is doing, exciting and a prideful moment!  It is the simple things...:)

And our three sisters garden is coming along beautifully, with the pole beans beginning to wrap themselves around the corn...(I am absolutely, positively sure this is in honor of my sister's birthday today!)...it is so awesome that the beans just know to grow around the corn!

I am happy with our garden growth and continuing to enjoy the process very much!  Stay tuned for "As the Garden Turns"...

One closing thought for those people in Aurora, Colorado affected by the shooting; our thoughts are with you for healing and peace. 

Thanks for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,
Lise