The Deen Machine Continues To Roll.

Thanks to my friend, The Ever Alert Marion, I have found out there is at least one person, formerly part of the Deen Machine, who actually has scruples. See here. E.A. Marion also sent me the first news of Pauler's sitchayshun.

Mr. Hawthorne Cans Salsa Ranchera.

Mr. Hawthorne has been a busy boy. Since he was getting "low" on his homemade Salsa Ranchera (I think only a dozen jars are left.), Mr. Hawthorne has been a bit anxious. In a burst of energy, he finally canned another batch the other day. Salsa Ranchera is not a hot salsa. It's a more robust, complex salsa. We use it in omelets. We add it to rices. Gives a dish some punch.

I generally despise Food Network competition shows, but I did watch The Big Waste. As a consumer who tries her best not to waste anything, I felt I should watch it. It was shocking how much is thrown away. This is why Mr. Hawthorne and I always check dates on meats and wait for it to be marked down as it nears its sell-by date. Because it will be thrown out that day. I've seen it happen too many times and I think it's shameful. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that food. Very little goes to waste in the Hawthorne household, I'm happy to say. And I recycle too. In fact, some days when I go to the grocery store, I purposefully do not take my canvas bags. That's because I need the brown paper bags for recycling my glass, my plastics, my tin cans, my aluminum cans, my papers and boxes. So the hallway from the kitchen to the back bedroom and bath is nothing but an obtrusive recycling center. I try to do my part in spite of obstacles along my way. And they know who they are.

That said, and trying to be mindful of waste, we went to the rack of rapidly rotting food at Harris Teeter. Nothing wrong with this food. It's just not as pretty or as young as the produce on display. So it gets banished to The Rack. And it gets marked down drastically. So we picked our peppers from The Rack. We don't care if a vegetable's skin is wrinkled since this is going to be simmered for a good while.  We used  4 poblanos, a handful of serranos, and a  jalapeno.  You can use whatever combination of assorted peppers. That's what makes the flavors interesting. 

We had 2 Roma tomatoes and 3 others we found on The Rack.  You want to peel them first, so put them in boiling water for about 20 seconds. Let cool, then easily remove skin.

Return to pan.

Those big cans of tomatoes I got on sale: Buy 1 can. Get 2 free. Chop one onion. This ain't rocket science, so there are no hard and fast rules here. Eyeball it for amounts.

Chop the peppers.

Mix all together in a large pot over low heat.

Bring to a bare simmer, stirring occasionally.

This was kept at a bare simmer for about 2 hours. You may can it now, or let the sauce cool and refrigerate it and do the canning the next day. Which is what Mr. Hawthorne did. He was exhausted after all that bare simmering.

One of the loveliest sounds to my ears is the sucking pop of a jar sealing properly.

Mr. Hawthorne Bakes A Birthday Cake For Rosie.

Every year, Mr. Hawthorne makes a cake for me

for my birthday. I always let him pick out whatever cake he wants, although I have "hinted" at a few cakes I've seen, most notably, Ruth Levy Berenbaum's Notre Dame cake.

I mean, who doesn't love a cake with stained glass windows and flying buttresses?

Apparently, this project was a tad too ambitious for Mr. Hawthorne. He suggested a red velvet cake. Now here's where Rosie gets picky. Rosie doesn't want a red velvet cake. The red comes from several ounces of red food coloring. Rosie doesn't like food coloring. Rosie hates the taste of food coloring. Even when she was a little girl, she wouldn't eat the cupcakes served at school parties because of the icing. Food coloring is a deal breaker for me.

So I suggested some natural food coloring - cherries. Mr. Hawthorne pitted the cherries, then ...

... ran them through the Magic Bullet.

Here's Mr. Hawthorne's mise en place, which I put together for him, since he's not all that into the mise. He came into the kitchen and saw everything laid out for him and asked me, "You measured everything, too?!" Well, duh. Else we'd still be sitting here waiting for cake. Ingredients for Non Red Velvet Cake 2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt 2 TB cocoa powder 2 oz. red food coloring NOT I used 2 ounces of cherry puree. 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature 1 1/2 cups sugar 2 eggs, room temperature 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature 1 tsp white vinegar 1 tsp baking soda Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and cocoa two 9-inch cake pans. Most recipes tell you to butter and flour the cake pans. Since this cake has cocoa in it, I'm using cocoa instead of the flour. Sift together the sifted cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl. In a small bowl, mix cherry puree and cocoa powder. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla and cherry/cocoa paste. Add 1/3 of the flour, beating well, then beat in half the buttermilk. Beat in another third of flour mixture, then second half of buttermilk. End with last third of flour mixture, beating until well combined. Make sure the cake pans have been buttered and cocoa'd and are nearby. In a small bowl, mix vinegar and baking soda. Add to cake batter and stir well to combine. Working quickly, divide the batter evenly between the cake pans and place in a 350 degree oven. Bake about 20 - 25 minutes. Check with a toothpick. Should come out clean. Cool cakes in pans for 10 minutes, then remove and allow to cool completely on racks. Cream Cheese Frosting 2 8-oz. packages cream cheese, softened 1 stick unsalted butter, softened 2 tsp vanilla extract 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted 2 TB pure maple syrup 1 cup chopped pecans Mix butter and cream cheese until smooth. Turn mixer to low and blend in powdered sugar, extract, syrup, and nuts. Frost cake, being sure to use a generous amount of frosting over the first layer.

Butter and cocoa your cake pans.

Swirl around and remove any excess.

Sift cake flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl and set aside.

Mix the cherry puree with the cocoa until smooth and set aside.

Beat butter until smooth, then gradually beat in sugar.

Beat until light and fluffy.

Add in eggs, one at a time.

Beat until smooth.

Add in vanilla.

Add in cocoa and cherry puree mixture.

I had to restrain Mr. Hawthorne from pouring in red food coloring.

Add flour mixture in thirds.

Add buttermilk in halves. Beat until batter is smooth.

Mix vinegar and baking soda.

Add vinegar mixture to batter.

Pour batter evenly into prepared pans.

These were ready in 20 minutes.

No. The cakes aren't burned. That's the cocoa on the bottom which makes it look burned.

Mix together the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla. Beat until smooth.

Beat in powdered sugar on low speed.

I added 2 TB of pure maple syrup.

Cup of crushed pecans.

Level off the cakes.

Always be generous with the icing filling.

Ta daa!!!! Rosie has Non-Red Velvet Cake.

And it is delicious. Thank you, Mr. Hawthorne.

Happy Birthday To Rosie!

Hello, all my friends. Just popping in to tell you I had a wonderful birth day. Thank you, Mr. Hawthorne!

Mr. Hawthorne always asks me for a list of possible gift ideas. I wanted more Joe Boxer leisure attire.And I got it! Spoons and forks. Hee!

But the spoonin' and forkin' won't 'nuf.

He got me Joe Boxer Jeans!

Back side.

Front side. The Boxer Jeans have a hole in the knee. This is freakin' awesome!

OMG! WTF! I got a DROID! I think. What's a droid, again? But it is a Smart Phone, right? Because it's making me feel dumb as shit. Compare it to what I've had for the past 15 years. I do NOT know how to use this phone. But I did figger out how to put a weather widgit on my home page. HAH! Just can't duplicate it. Let's move on from my technically challenged self.

Mr. Hawthorne and I went to the Teeter today to pick up my Birthday Lobsters.

We got home about two-ish and Mr. Hawthorne steamed the lobsters.

That thar's some clarified butter.

Dip the sweet ethereal lobster meat into the butter and consume. Lobster is divine. Oh yeah. I made killer fried green beans.

One must have champagne with lobster. It's a given.

Plus it's my birthday. After a glorious day of much celebration, Mr. Hawthorne presented me with one more gift. Butterflies.

Last week when Mr. Hawthorne took Glowria and me up to Virginia Beach to meet Ticky at the Flower and Garden Expo, I saw all these butterfly frames at one of the vendors. I loved them. Mr. Hawthorne wasn't even with me physically at the Expo. He and Ticky were alone, separately, on their own. Marilyn and I stayed together. He got the butterflies for me. All on his own. Imagine that. Happens a lot. I loved the butterflies. Don't worry. These butterflies weren't killed. There was a butterfly garden. And people waited, apparently, for the butterflies to ... die ... a natural death.

Oh Golly Gee!

Happy Birthday, indeedy!

Mr. Hawthorne made the cake. Recipe to follow.

Important point: Mr. H. says not to skimp on the middle frosting layer. Keeps it moist all the way through.

I thank you all for your good thoughts and energy today. It's been a great day.