I'm a Pepper, You're a Pepper

My favorite drink is Dr Pepper. And when it's cold outside, it's great warmed up and served with a slice of lemon. Ummm, Ummm good! And there's nothing better than good ole Dublin Dr Pepper because it is still made the old fashioned way with Imperial Pure Cane Sugar. Dublin Texas became the site of the world's oldest Dr Pepper bottling plant in 1891, just six years after the drink was invented in nearby Waco, Texas. It wasn't until 1904 that Dr Pepper gained national exposure when it was introduced to the rest of the U.S. and the world at the 1904 World Fair in St. Louis. I'm lucky enough to live close enough to Dublin, that many of the grocery stores will stock Dublin Dr Pepper along with ones bottles in other places. But, Dublin Dr Pepper is absolutely the best!!!!

Take a look at this 1934 ad, Makes a Guy Snappy, Happy and Keen!




In 1936 it tells us how it aids with digestion and combats acidity.





Doesn't little Miss Judy Mae look sweet? This was in 1939.





Here's one from 1943.





And of course Dr Pepper reminded everyone to help America remain free in 1944.





In 1947 we were reminded of the sweet life.




The 50's and the good life!




In 1962 you've got it served cold.




And in 1965 served my favorite way, hot.




And in 1969, supporting Miss Teen America.




And in the 70's, they told the story.



Ahhh, all this talk of Dr Pepper is making me thirsty.



and hungry. I think I'll fix a Dr Pepper cake



made with




Dublin Dr Pepper!

Look What I Won On Ebay

Remember when I told you about unpacking my mother's pretty china? You know, the Royal Doulton Kirkwood set. Here's the teapot from her collection.








Anyway, I've been keeping an eye on Ebay for some bowls to go with it. And look what I found!






An egg cup! I just love it. Although, I doubt if I will ever use it for eggs. I'm not a fan of soft-boiled eggs. But I'm sure I can find some other way to use it.

I also picked up another egg cup from the same shipper. I'm not a big fan of it, but I have to tell you, when I'm at an auction, I tend to get carried away. So, I went ahead and bid on this one and got it too.




I really shouldn't be spending so much time on Ebay. It's very contagious. Before you know, you're finding all kinds of things to buy. This is not a good time for me to be buying more stuff because I've been cleaning out closets and cabinets for weeks.

Now excuse me while I go clean out more junk so I can buy more pretty stuff to cram into the closets I just cleaned.

Through the Eyes of a Child

Guess who's getting a make-over????? Last week Mike and I took Friday off and went to see Jennifer and Nate. We had promised to take Kaylee to the American Girl Store, so earlier in the week we made reservations for lunch and also made a hair appointment for her doll, Nikki.

Nikki was really needing a make-over!!!!! Her hair was a mess and I wasn't even sure if they would be able to do anything with it. Just take a look at it:




What an exciting day this was going to be! They put Nikki in her only little beauty shop chair and draped a cape around her. Kaylee got to pick out the hairstyle she wanted and the color of her hair ribbons.




She was so excited watching the procedure. Mike had found a couch to sit down and wait. Every so often, Kaylee would turn around and exclaim, "Grandpa is missing it!". Then, she would run and get him (or drag him) over to ooh and ahh over what the lady was doing to Nikki.





Then Mike would go sit down for a little while and Kaylee would just stand there and watch her doll and all the others getting their hair fixed. She was taking in everything!!!!







Didn't it turn out pretty????

Now, off to lunch at the bistro upstairs.





They had the cutest little chairs for the dolls and they even had their own little menus. (Grandpa was a little worried that we were going to have to buy lunch for the doll, too.)



Now we got to go shopping for a new outfit for Nikki. There was so much to choose from.





Kaylee ended up picking an outfit from Julie's collection. Julie is the American Girl Doll from the 70's, and I could really relate to her! Many of her outfits looked like they could have come from my high school or college closet. Even though it was very cold, Kaylee chose the cutest little bathing suit. They called it a swim suit, but I think it was a little sundress with matching panties. You see, in the 70's, we wore really short dresses. In fact, they were so short, that often times we had matching panties (or sis pants) that we wore over our regular panties. Anyway, here's the doll with her hair all fixed in her new outfit.




The absolute best part of the whole day was getting to see and experience all of the excitement and wonderment through the eyes of a child! Kaylee seemed to really have enjoyed the day.

Pineapple Rum Cake

Pineapple Rum Cake! Doesn't that just sound delish????

This Christmas I cooked two hams in my roaster oven and I have to tell you they were the best hams I've ever cooked! I got the recipe from Jennifer. All you do is pour a can of coke, 1 1/2 cups of pineapple rum and squeeze fresh lime over the ham. Delish!

Anyway, the pineapple rum was so good, it got me thinking about changing my rum cake recipe and adding pineapple and using the pineapple rum. So, let's try it!


Here's all you need.

Oops, I left out the sugar for the glaze in the picture. Sorry.


Put the yellow cake mix and the pudding mix into a mixing bowl. Add 4 eggs.



Add 1/2 cup buttermilk and 1/2 cup oil




Now add 1/2 cup pineapple rum



Wait a minute, take a better look at that.




This is so good! And not just because Cruzan sponsors this cutie:





It's really good! In fact you can sip on it all by itself or add a little sparkling water to it, pour over ice and add a fresh wedge of pineapple. Fantastic.

Now, back to the cake. Add the drained pineapple. And mix all ingredients. Put the chopped pecans in the bottom of a greased and floured bundt pan. Now pour batter over the nuts.





Bake in a 325° oven for one hour. Cool. Now poke holes all in the cake. I use bamboo skewers rather than toothpicks because they're longer.






Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in water and sugar and boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in 1/4 - 1/2 cup pineapple rum. Slowly pour over cake.





Let the cake completely absorb all the glaze.






Now cut you a piece and sit back and enjoy! Wow, not bad if I do say so myself. Uhmmm, I wonder what it would be like to add coconut, then you would have a very tropical pineapple coconut rum cake. I may have to try that next time. Excuse me while I cut myself another piece.

Pineapple Rum Cake

1 cup chopped pecans
One box yellow cake mix
One box instant vanilla pudding mix (3.5 oz package)
4 eggs
1 small can crushed pineapple, drained (and reserve juice)*
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup pineapple rum

Preheat oven to 325°. Grease and flour a bundt pan. Sprinkle nuts over bottom of pan. Mix remaining ingredients together. Pour batter evenly over nuts. Bake for 1 hour. Cool. Invert on plate. Prick top with toothpick or long wooden skewer. Drizzle glaze evenly over cake top and sides. Allow cake to absorb glaze.

Glaze

4 Tablespoons butter
1/4 cup water (or use reserved pineapple juice)
1 cup sugar
1/4 to 1/2 cup pineapple rum

Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in water and sugar. Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in rum.

*The next time I made this, I reserved the pineapple juice and used it instead of the water for the glaze.

How Much Things Have Changed!

Okay, I'm really about to show my age here. Back in 1984 we got our first car phone! Only back then they were called mobile phones. I was trying to find a picture of one to show you, but this is about the closest one I found.

Ours was black and we paid $2500.00 for it. The brain or transformer had to be mounted in the back of the car and it had thick cables that ran to the phone that was bolted to the floorboard in the front of the car. We had a Dodge Ramcharger and had to have the phone professionally installed.

We had a book that came with it, and when we traveled, we had to switch frequencies to find the closest towers. You had to have the book with you to look up the different locations of the towers. It had all these extra buttons that you had to push to change the frequencies. It was soooo cool! Mike had to do a lot of traveling, so he got new cars or trucks every two years and of course, we always had to have the phone installed again.

I was so glad when they finally came out with the "bag phones"! What an improvement!!!! Oh, they were so much more convenient then the old mobile phone!!! How could they ever improve on those???? Well, they did. It seems with each passing year they got better. And now with each new month, there's always a better cell phone coming out.

This is my phone now, and I'm loving it! Oh the things I can do with this!!!!






Learn a foreign language. I've always wanted to speak french!





And the games I can play!!!! Sudoku!!! Pac Man!






And with all the traveling I'm going to be doing, I have to know what the weather's going to be like so I'll know what to pack.





With my New Year's resolution to lose weight and exercise, what better way to keep track of everything????



Oh! I'm loving my phone!!!!


Now if only I could figure out how to call my friends with it and tell them they really need to get one of these!!!!

What I do Best!

Piddle!

Yep, that's what I do best.

The definition: Verb. To spend time aimlessly; to squander; to diddle.

That's me! I can waste more time just piddling and get absolutely nothing accomplished! The problem is, I enjoy doing just that. When I'm rushed and have a million things that have to get done, I feel cheated that I don't have time to just piddle. Why is that? When I piddle around the house, I feel so well-rested. This is the one thing I do that is so out of character with my overly compulsive, organized life.

This past week I've had time to dawdle or piddle around the house and it's been great. I'm trying to organize my sewing/craft room. I finally unboxed my mother's china. I had forgotten just how pretty it is. Here's a picture of the tea pot, cup and saucer, and sugar bowl.



It's by Royal Doulton and the pattern is Kirkwood. Just look at this creamer:




There's a tureen in this pattern that I would love to have, but I checked on it at replacements and it's $699! Yikes! I'll just have to do without. I'll just be happy with the 8 place settings and serving dishes that I have. Of course, I had to make more room for this china. I had already put all her crystal in the laundry room cabinets. I'm thinking I'm going to have to find more ways to store dishes. After all, you can never have too many dishes!!!!!!