August Daring Bakers - Dobos Torta

The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonfulof Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular DobosTorte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus: ExquisiteDesserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.

I headed over to my friend Jill's house to spend a Saturday baking our challenge together, and really it was WAY more fun doing it with someone rather than alone. We were able to bounce ideas off each other and ask questions - AND laugh together at our creation in the making.

Seriously, I was totally thinking this was going to be a total flop, but in the end, I was so pleasantly surprised!! I will definitely try it again, but with different caramel because ours tasted like lemon. Who puts lemon juice in their caramel? It was kinda messy and the frosting was nothing like a buttercream to me, but then after two hours in the fridge - HOLLA!! Oh sweet Lord was it ever divine.

Yum-my!!

Jill took some pics, cause her camera is WAAAYY better than mine, but I don't have the pics quite ready to post yet.

For the recipe, you can click here. (But just skip over all her drool-worthy pictures, cause then you won't be able to compare ours to her magnificent cake!)

Looking forward to another challenge!

Cleaning With Dogs

We had ourselves a bit of a busy afternoon taking the dogs to the vet and then getting the oil changed as the puppies were still with us. They were so exhausted when we got home, that they passed out cold on the floor. It's not rare that they will tear up tons of cardboard and envelopes that we give them to chew on in the living room and Jason was helping by sweeping it up this afternoon. Very cute video of Jason sweeping up around Jeep :-) Unfortunately I recorded it holding the camera in a portrait position, but can't flip the view around so it looks a bit sideways.
(**Please ignore the snorting, I have no idea who that was.)

Okay Krissy-Poo, I got on it and uploaded what few pics I took in California last week :-) This Jason and I at some tower landmark in San Francisco. There was a great view of the Bay from up on that hill.Here's the tower. I guess it was built to make the city more beautiful. Nope, not seeing it.Here's about as close to Alcatraz as we got. Unfortunately the tours were sold out for weeks in advance and there was no way we were going to be able to get a ticket - shoot! Sorry honey!
We walked halfway across the Golden Gate bridge with Scott & Kelley, my bro & sis in law's. It was so fun to spend a few days with them exploring the city.
Awww....here we are. And the white sweatshirt I wore every day because IT WAS FREEZING! Note to self - pack sweaters when visiting San Francisco, it is nothing like Clovis.And here we have Clovis. :-) Just kidding. We drove by these adorable cows and ducks feeding on the grass on our way back from the reunion and we had to pull over a get a couple of pics!

Moo. Quack.
Who's that dashing young couple??!! They can't possibly be going to a 20 year high school reunion??!! They look far too young ;-)

I know, I know.

So yes, it has been painfully long since I last posted. Things have been crazy for what seems like forever and I just haven't slowed down enough to try and update on life for Jason and I.

Last Monday night we got back from a 10 day trip to California. We flew into San Francisco (because it was cheaper) and spent the weekend downtown with Scott & Kelley. Do I have pictures? A few. Did I upload them yet? No. We rode the trolley, walked along the pier, bought 5 pounds of taffy (yes 5!!!!), saw my first H&M (of which I did not spend a dime in! Tragic, I know!), ate Ghiradelli's ice cream, saw the seals, drove down the crooked street, saw an old lady's tower (can't remember the name) and watched naked man across the street. You think I'm kidding about naked man? Oh no my friends, we had our own "naked guy" like in the show Friends who provided the four of us in our hotel room with MUCH entertainment. Don't worry, the window was frosted. But still - HILARIOUS!

After a few days in San Francisco, Scott & Kelley drove us back up to Clovis where Jerry & Sherry, my in-laws live. Thankfully, we had a nice reprieve from all the California summer heat and it remained in the upper 80's and low 90's. It was absolutely perfect. I brought some books, bought some books and read some books while I was there :-) We saw Julie & Julia, which was fabulous (note to self: must buy that cookbook!), gorged ourselves on taffy, stayed up late with games, walked downtown Clovis for coffee and slept in late. Everything a vacation should be!

The main reason for our trip to California, other than to see our family of course, was also to attend Jason's 20th high school reunion! 20!!! I however, will never have the opportunity to actually attend my own since I was home-schooled. Boo. But attending Jason's reunion was a lot of fun and I heard some great stories I had never heard before. I admit I was a bit overwhelmed with being surrounded by 200 strangers in a party setting, cause that is totally not my thing, but I surprised even myself by mingling and making lots of small talk. It went kinda something like this: "Hi, I'm Kimberly. And you are?" "Nice to meet you ____, so how many kids do YOU have?" "Oh wow, and how old are they?" Pause for stunned silence and then smile politely. I suck at small talk and I always feel so awkward, but asking if they had kids and how old they were, was a sure-fire question because I didn't meet any other couple without kids!!! It was a nice little reality check for the two of us ;-) Some couples had been married for like 17 years and had kids in high school - uh hum. I felt a teensy bit out of place. Definatley the highlight for me was when the slideshow showed a home video of Jason performing in a boy band lip synching to The Right Stuff by New Kids on the Block! It was awesome and I wish I could get my hands on a copy! But for now, here's a copy of a picture I snagged off of facebook with unfortunately the other four guys doing the dance, but not Jason :-( He was on the far right and cut off - but at least you get an idea of what he was wearing!
I would say the highlight of the reunion for Jason was reconnecting with his old friends Drew and Canise from high school. They started dating in the 8th grade and have been together ever since!! Of course, I had to include a little before & after picture of the two of them I found!

Drew & Jason were able to hit the golf course the morning of the reunion and catch up. I really enjoyed getting to know them and hopefully they'll be able to make it out here on Thanksgiving for a visit!

We're back in Nashville now and trying to get back into the swing of things. Our friend Ida saved our butts and was able to housesit and take care of our animals :-) Thank you Ida!!! We missed our boys and Banks so much! So much in fact (wait for it) that we slept with them in the living room Monday night after we got home. Don't say it, we already know. I hope you're all well and enjoying what's left of the summer! Schools have just started this week in Tennessee, but we still have a good month and a half left of hot weather - sheesh! I'm hoping we can get in a few more drive-ins before the season's over and Jason and I have talked about maybe going camping with the dogs for a weekend or two when the weather cools off.

More to come - stay tuned!