A Rainbow... Of Sorts

Ted's birthday cake.  

If you click on the photo you can see how intense the colors really were. Considering the amount of food coloring this still tasted pretty good.  Everyone at the party LOVED it.
FYI - I used one box of cake mix and paste food coloring. Pretty cool, eh?

Spring Fling

It's very springy here today - blue skies, sunshine, flowers blooming... kids back at school.  I'm in the mood to celebrate, so I created a cocktail out of, well, stuff I had.

First, I made some rhubarb sauce (for something else entirely, but hey, it was there on the counter looking all pretty and pink.)  In a sauce pan, combine 2 c diced rhubarb (fresh or frozen) with a splash of water and 1/3 c sugar.  Cook until it falls apart, then puree.

In cocktail shaker with crushed ice:

1 T rhubarb sauce
1 ounce pineapple rum (homemade, just taking up space in my fridge)
juice of half a lime

Shake and serve.  So very pretty and tasty and the color of the plastic Easter egg beside me.

A New Culinary Low

Take eight Nestle Crunch hearts (leftover from Valentine's Day), wrap each inside a triangle of Crescent dough (yes, the stuff from the can) and bake.  Feed to one five-year-old birthday girl.

Feel the love.

Afternoon & Evening "Tea"

Early dinner/tea of grilled cheese.  But not any grilled cheese - this one had Blarney cheese and orange marmalade on homemade white bread.  Sounds odd, tastes awesome.

A friend is coming over after we put our respective kids to bed (which, at the rate Reg & Cass are going, is going to be in about 20 minutes...)  We're watching Jane Eyre and eating scones with homemade strawberry jam and Devon cream actually from Devonshire, England.  It just doesn't get better than that.  With some herbal tea (because Earl Grey at 8PM is a bad idea), a glass of sherry and a fire in the fireplace, we'll be transported back to the time of corsets and waistcoats, forbidden love and mad wives.

Not a bad way to spend a rainy Wednesday evening.

Citrus & Rum

Cleaning out the refrigerator yesterday I discovered some aging fruit (2 mandarins, 1 tangerine, 1 lime, 1 lemon, 1 pink grapefruit).  I juiced them all and concocted this cocktail with some of my new Jamaican dark rum.

1/2 c mixed citrus juice
1.5 ounces dark (not spiced) rum
1.5 ounces simple syrup (to taste)

Shake with crushed ice and strain.  Garnish with slice of citrus.  Serves 2.