Lemony Dill Flounder

Easy but tasty and good! Fresh flounder fillets placed in a baking dish. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over fillets then salt and pepper to taste. Lay fresh dill sprigs over fillets and top with lemon slices. Bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Our fillets were on the thin side. If you buy thicker fillets you may need to bake it longer.

Outdoor Room behind the Barn

I went to take pictures of our area behind the barn and I started taken pictures of flowers and herbs......kind of went crazy. I really wish you could see the beauty of my roses and herbs. My roses are absolutely beautiful this year and the herbs look wonderful. I am guessing its because we had such a mild winter... I really don't know but everything looks exceptionally beautiful to me. You will see the area behind the barn. We have a lot of trees that are volunteers. I thinned out a lot but left some. We may end up cutting them all down. We will just see how they end up growing. But it does add some shade and will be a great place for our hammock. I have pictured our old picnic table which we are going to redo. It's big and round and needs work but will look great when its fixed. There is a picture of an old gate and some grapevine above one entrance to the barn and I have planted morning glories to cover the fence and grow up the grapevine. I transplanted the climbing rose bush behind the barn back in the fall last year. It's doing great. I transplanted the other rose bush in the picture. This is not a good time to transplant but I did it anyway. I think it will make it. An old ladder and a rustic picture frame with an angel add some whimsical antique charm. It's not finished yet, so I will up date as we make more progress. My husband put edging around our new garden space. I am so happy to have that because it will sure help keep the grass out.

Faith Alone

When a man loses heart he loses everything. To keep one's heart in the midst of life's stream, and to maintain an undiscourageable front in the face of its difficulties is not an achievement that springs from anything that a laboratory can demonstrate, or that logic can affirm. It is an achievement of FAITH. It is good to have things settled by faith, before they are unsettled by feeling. from my cherished devotional book, Springs in the Valley.

Bacon Wrapped Pork Loin

I saw this recipe and have wanted to try it for several months. I finally got around to making it for our Sunday dinner. I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful this taste. You have to try this! It is very easy and I can promise you that friends and family will love this.

1/4 cup Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons whole grain mustard
2 tablespoons of honey
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary
12 slices bacon

Rinse off your pork loin with water and pat dry with a paper towel. Put the pork loin in a baking dish. Take (3) 8-12 inch pieces of kitchen twine and place under the top, middle and lower part of the pork loin. Mix together the above ingredients and spread over the pork loin, covering it well. Then lay the strips of bacon horizontally covering the pork loin. Then bring your kitchen twine up over the bacon and tie in a knot. Cut off excess twine. Bake uncovered for one hour at 350. After 30to 45 minutes check to see if bacon is brown. If the bacon has browned then loosely cover with foil for remainder of time. Depending on the size of your pork loin it may need to cook longer. Check with fork for tenderness. When tender remove from oven and let stand at room temperature about 15 minutes before slicing.

I served our pork loin with garlic mashed potatoes and freshly steamed asparagus but the recipe suggest serving on a bed of arugula. You make a light dressing. Juice of one lemon with 1/3 cup of olive oil a little salt and pepper and whisk. Drizzle over arugula and put sliced pork loin on greens.

Fresh rosemary really makes a difference. For the great flavor it is worth buying fresh rosemary for this recipe if you don't grow it. If you don't grow rosemary please considered it because it will live through our winters. It makes a beautiful plant in your flower beds. A rosemary bush can get 4 feet tall and about 4 to 5 feet wide. I put fresh rosemary in my fresh flower arrangements as well as cooking with it.

Do try this..... you'll love it~

Trowel & Error

This book was a wonderful gift for my birthday from a dear friend. I absolutely love this book. As the cover of the book says, it is full of tips, remedies and shortcuts you would never think of. I refer to this book a lot for ideas. Most if not all of the remedies are natural which I love. Example - Basil Sun Tea for aphids, cabbage loopers, mites and cucumber beetles. Just gather a handful of fresh basil leaves and stems, crush them slightly, and stuff them into a large glass jar (at least 1/2 gallon) filled with water. Cap the jar and set in the sun to brew for a few days. Strain out the solids and store in a covered jar until needed as an insecticide. When you are ready to do battle, add to 1/8 teaspoon liquid soap in a spray bottle and shake well before using.

If you are serious about gardening and want to do things as natural as possible ....you will love this book. :)

Summer Project

I have wanted to do this for a long, long time and still haven't worked this in. It is a cold frame construction. I thought I would throw out the idea to you and maybe this would be something you could work on during the summer.

The pictures I took of this are hard to read but you at least get an idea of what it looks like. You can go to the OSU Extension Center and ask for the cold frame construction handout. I think it is E-19. You can make your cold frame larger than this one. In the winter, you can grow lettuce, spinach, beets, carrots any root vegetables I think would do good. I can't speak from experience here but I have heard the cold frames are very successful.

We eat some sort of salad almost every day and now I'm juicing more greens so this would be a savings on the pocketbook not too mention the quality is far superior to what you buy at the store. In the summer, you could use this as extra garden space just keep the top open all the time.

If you start doing research on our food supply, I think you would be more motivated to start growing your own food.

Happy Weekend~

New Beginnings

Haven't we all done things or are doing things that we wish we could change? We can it's never too late. I love the quote, "Live with no regrets." The choices that we are making every minute are creating our future. Be mindful of what you are saying, eating, your activities, are you making choices that are helping you live and be the person you want to be?

Like the picture says, you can't go back and change the past but you can change the future by the choices you make today. I'm saying this to myself as well as to you let's make GOOD CHOICES today!

Celebrating Our 38th Wedding Anniversary

Oh how quickly the years come and go. I don't think anyone can make you realize how quickly the years pass. I would just like to say to my youthful readers enjoy the simple things in life. Really invest your life in your family, friends and humanity. The important things in this life are people.

Last night I was thinking about our wedding day and our honeymoon. We had a very beautiful traditional wedding but our honeymoon was over the moon. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever expect such a wonderful honeymoon. We went to Alcapuco, Mexico and stayed at a place called Las Breezes. This place was sculptured into the side of a mountain. Lots of little individual haciendas with your own private pool and balcony over looking the bay. Every morning fresh hot coffee, sweet rolls and fresh fruit was left at your door and at night our bed was turned down with fresh flowers on the pillows. Our first night there, we had dinner under the stars on a huge patio of the hotel that over looked the bay with strumming gauchos stopping briefly at each table. It was very romantic and a very beautiful place. It's a wonderful memory.

Our first home and then not long after that our children started to arrive. Life was happy, busy and fulfilling. I played with our children but not enough. Some things I would do over, have more date nights with my husband, be more patient and listen, be more allowing and I wouldn't even know what the word "controlling" means.

We have had our moments but considering all things we have had a wonderful life together. There have been no children in the home now for six months so we are learning to focus on each other again and to develop new interest together. I believe that the latter part of our lives will be even better than the first. We are wiser and have learned a lot about what true happiness really is. He's been a wonderful partner on this journey of life and I know the best is yet to be!

Gardening Update

I have been busy the last two days weeding and hoeing the flower beds and vegetable garden. I fertilized all the vegetables with fish emulsion and I fertilized all the flowering bushes with Miracle Grow. :( Not the best I know. My blueberry bushes are looking great. I have one bush that is not looking to good and I don't have a clue what is wrong with it. As I was pruning the tomato plants, I noticed that they were ready to be staked. They have really grown! If you are not familiar with pruning tomato plants, you snip off the leaves that are close to the ground to give the plant good air circulation. The sugar snap peas are looking great and growing right up the chicken wire. That worked great!

The spinach and different lettuce varieties are all coming up in the guttering. I took some close up pictures of the guttering in case you wanted and idea of how my husband secured to the fence. He put up 1x3's across the fence and the attached the guttering to that. He then bought supports (like little "L" brackets) and put under the guttering about every 3 feet for more support. I drilled holes in the guttering before adding the dirt for drainage. I put a hole about every foot. So far everything seems to be working well.

Everything is so green and beautiful. I am taking time to smell and enjoy the beauty of my flowers. My iris are beautiful. They remind me of my mom. I dug up her iris and transferred them to our home when we moved here. She had some unusual color combinations that are beautiful. Our peach trees are loaded with tiny peaches and I have the undesirable task or going through each tree and pulling off some of the peaches. If I don't do that all the peaches will end up being about the size of a walnut. I also posted a picture of a tiny pear. Our pear trees are getting old and they don't produce like they used to.

Well, if we get the rain they are predicting over the weekend all the plants should be in good shape after fertilizing them and then getting rain....that's a pretty good combination for hearty plants.

Easter Brunch

Easter Brunch at the Schwartz' Home

Eggs Benedict traditional or on crab cakes with Hollandaise Sauce
O'Brian Potatoes
Stuffed French Toast, with homemade strawberry syrup
Fruit Salad

Pineapple Cupcakes with Buttermilk Frosting

This year I decided to have brunch instead of our traditional Easter dinner. Several of these recipes can be made ahead of time which helps a great deal. Everything tasted wonderful but I will confess that I will not do Eggs Benedict again for a crowd. It's too hard to get everything cooked and together and served hot. The Hollandaise sauce needs to be made last. I made mine a little earlier and the recipe said to keep it warm and I did but, it became to thick and was almost ruined. Some of my family likes crab and others wanted traditional. I wanted to do both and see what I liked the best. I liked them both. I also poached my eggs in water with a little vinegar (my first time) they turned out fine. Since it was my first time for this I was a little stressed not knowing what to expect.

These potatoes are great.....very hearty. I used new potatoes and cooked them semi tender on Saturday. Cut them in chunks, put in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap and stored in frig until Sunday morning. Make sure potatoes are completely cooled before covering and storing them in frig.

I always get up around 5:00 am so I put the stuffed french toast together Sunday morning and it needs to set about 8 hours before cooking. Let the cream cheese set at room temperature and soften. It makes it a lot easier to spread on the bread. I made the strawberry syrup on Saturday. It just needs to be reheated before serving.

My sister brought the fruit salad and I made the cupcakes on Saturday which was very easy. The cupcakes is a new recipe I got from the current Southern Living. They are very moist and a wonderful cupcake. I love pineapple and these have a wonderful pineapple filling in the center. You could also decorate these with edible flowers or the jelly bean decor would be cute for spring luncheons or any occasion during the spring.

My table decorations are very simple. I used what I had at hand. I made a three tier stand out of a crystal platter and 2 crystal cake stands. I put my cupcakes on the three tier stand and that became my centerpiece. I have some small vases that I filled with several roses from my garden and the other vase had blooms from my snowball bush. It was simple but nice.

Eggs Benedict on Crab Cakes

My crab cake recipe is on my blog under 2011. You simply soft boil your eggs by filling a large pan half full of water and putting in 1 tablespoons of vinegar. Let the water come to a boil drop two or three eggs into the water carefully. Depending on the size of your pan, you can cook 2 to 3 eggs at a time. When the eggs has cooked which should take about 3 minutes, use a slotted spoon to remove it and place it on top of your cooked crab cake. Put one ladle of Hollandase sauce over the egg and garnish with chopped parsley.

Instead of a crab cake you can warm an English muffin in the oven for 3-5 minutes. Take a piece of Canadian Bacon and warm both sides of it in a skillet. About 3 minutes on both sides. Then place the bacon on the English muffin, then your egg on the bacon, one ladle of Hollandase sauce over the egg and garnish with fresh chopped parsley.

O'Brian Potatoes

8 new red potatoes
1 red pepper, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
Salt and pepper to taste

Boil potatoes until slightly tender. Pour off water and let cool. Then dice potatoes. Add red pepper, green pepper and onion that has been diced. Cook in a large skillet that has about 1/4 cup of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter. When butter has melted pour all ingredients into skillet and add salt and pepper. Cook until potatoes and vegetables are tender. Trying not to stir too often.

Stuffed French Toast

This is really good and rich.
1 large loaf of French bread, cut into 18 slices
1-8 ounce cream cheese, softened
12 large eggs
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla

Take one slice of bread and spread about about 1-2 tablespoons of cream cheese on bread. Put slice of bread in a greased 9x13 baking dish. Then place a slice of bread over the bread with cream cheese. After all slices over covered. Then whisk the eggs, milk, cinnamon and vanilla together and pour over the bread. Chill for 8 hours. Before baking let the bread stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes, covering loosely with foil after 30 minutes. Makes 9 servings.

Strawberry Syrup

I use this syrup for pancakes in the summer as well and with pancakes I put a huge dollop of whipping cream in the middle.
2 packages frozen whole strawberries
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups water
Place 1 1/2 packages of thawed strawberries and water in blender and puree. Remove from blender and pour into sauce pan and add sugar. The other half of the strawberries are sliced and placed in sauce pan also and heated with 1 cup of sugar.
Put several ladles over french toast. You can also use maple syrup or your favorite syrup over this french toast if you prefer.

Pineapple Cupcakes with Buttermilk Frosting

24 paper baking cups
vegetable cooking spray
3 large eggs
1-8oz. container sour cream
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup cream of coconut
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 package white cake mix

Preheat oven to 325. Place baking cups in muffin pans and lightly coat with cooking spray.
Beat eggs at medium speed with mixer for 2 minutes. Add sour cream and next 3 ingredients, beating well after each addition. Add cake mix and beat at low speed until blended. Spoon batter into prepared cups, filling 3/4 full. Bake at 325 for 25 to 27 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Remove pans to wire racks and let cool completely. About 45 minutes.

Scoop out centers of cupcakes using a 1 inch melon baller and leaving a 1/2 inch border around edges. Discard centers for another use. Spoon a heaping tablespoonful of Pineapple filling into each cupcake. Spread with Buttermilk cream cheese frosting.

Pineapple filling
2-8oz cans crushed pineapple in juice, undrained
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Stir together first 3 ingredients in saucepan. Cook over medium heat stirring often about 5 minutes or until a pudding like thickness. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla. Pour mixture in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap letting plastic wrap touch the top of pudding to prevent film from forming.

Buttermilk Frosting
1-8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1-16 oz package powdered sugar
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat cream cheese and butter at medium speed until creamy. Add powdered sugar alternately with buttermilk, beating at low speed until blended after each addition. Add vanilla and beat until blended.

Lamps

Lighting, whether natural or artificial, has so much to do with our mood. There is absolutely nothing like natural light. Having lots of windows to receive in the sunlight and to be able to look outside (hopefully to a beautiful setting) does amazing things for us. Until the house we are living in now, we have always had a home that faced the north or south. I was recently telling my husband, I always want to live in a house that faces east or west. The lightening is totally different in a house that faces east and west.

I've talked about lighting before but it is so important, I'm doing it again. Lamps are always one of the main things missing in homes. At night, lamps with 60 watt or 75 watt bulbs add different lighting than a small lamp with a 25 watt bulb. I like to have both. Brighter lamps around chairs and couches, small little lamps on book shelves or in a little nook that gives just a dim little light. This creates a warm inviting home.

These are two small antique lamps I picked up at garage sales 6 or 7 years ago and my husband fixed the wiring on them for me recently. I love the way they look and was so excited to incorporate them into our decor. If you don't have a handyman around like I do, you can take antique lamps to lightning stores and they can repair them for you and put in new wiring.

It's garage sale time. So stop occasionally when you see a sign. You never know what treasure you will find. I have found amazing things at garage sales. My motto has been for years, "if you wait long enough you will find just what you want at a garage sale." What I learned from one of my dear friends, don't go by how the garage sale looks because some of the best treasures have been found at garage sales that looked pretty skimpy.

Asparagus and Tomato Salad

We eat so many green salads that sometimes I get tired of them. Last night I fixed this asparagus and tomato salad for dinner. We both liked it.

1 pound asparagus
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
2 teaspoons dried oregano, crushed
salt and pepper to taste
2 Roma tomatoes, sliced

I steamed the asparagus till crisp tender. I mixed the oil with the next 5 ingredients and whisk it together well. Sliced the tomatoes and asparagus on a plate and drizzled with the dressing.

Decorating for the birthday

If you don't have the resources to go and buy whatever you want when you want it, then always look at what you have at hand. More times than not, you will be able to come up with something that looks pretty good.

For this birthday dinner, I was wanting a new tablecloth or new runner and I have been wanting some new dishes for quite some time. I actually have not found any dishes that I have truly love. I was pleasantly surprised with the look that I achieved for this dinner with just using what I had at hand. The table runner is a crocheted piece made by my grandmother that I used for a wedding reception back in the fall. I had put the ribbon in it for the reception. In looking through my things I found that and thought I would use it. I used our everyday dishes with some napkins I've had for quite some time. Went to WalMart found roses half price and came home tore off the bad petals snipped off brown edges and they looked great. Then I add some tulips and fresh rosemary for some greenry from my herb garden. I was happy with the way things turned out and our daughter thought it looked pretty so, that's all that really matters.

I just want to encourage you to look thru the things you have. Sometimes we don't do things because we can't afford that new dress, but you could wear that old skirt mix it with a blouse dig out that scarf you haven't wore forever and then you find these earrings that will look great and that pair of shoes you forgot about will create something you never thought of; or like me, the table may not look like I want it too,but after I got to digging I came up with something pretty good and some of my best meals have been using what I have at hand and mixing different things together to come up with a great meal. Even working outside, use what you have at hand.....painting old pots, using that old piece of metal in a creative way. You will feel happy, creative and industrious. Always remember, try to be a producer and not always a consumer!

Celebrating Our Daughter's Birthday

Our family enjoys eating out for celebrations but this year for our daughter's birthday celebration I decided to do something special at home. I sent messages to the family telling everyone we would be having drinks and appetizers at 6:00 and a candlelight dinner at 7:00. Just a relaxed enjoyable evening at home enjoying family, good conversation, good food and celebrating our sweet daughter's birthday whom we all love very much. Now that our children are grown, we have great conversations on politics, religion and different world issues. I find their views very interesting and I am very proud of all of them. They are all critical thinkers and they ask probing questions. They keep me on my toes, which is good.

I need to get back on target. I'm writing to tell you about dinner not about how wonderful I think my children are.
The menu- Appetizers: Goat Cheese Dumplings with Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette
Shrimp cocktail
Mojitos


Entree: Chicken Parmesan
Fettuccine Alfredo
Tossed Salad with Italian Dressing

Dessert: Dark Chocolate Raspberry Mousse Cake

The goat cheese dumplings are wonderful and so is the roasted red pepper vinaigrette. The vinaigrette makes a wonderful salad dressing too. Another way you can eat these dumplings is to make a mixed green salad top with grilled chicken and dumplings and drizzle the vinaigrette over the top. My family loves shrimp cocktail so I couldn't bypass that.
Goat cheese dumplings - 1/4 cup diced dried tomatoes in oil, drained,
6 ounces of goat cheese
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
20 wonton wrappers
vegetable oil
Stir together first 6 ingredients in a medium bowl. Place 1 tablespoon of cheese mixture in the center of each wonton wrapper. Moisten wonton edges with water, fold in 2 opposite sides of filling, overlapping edges and pressing to seal. Pour oil to a depth of 3 inches into a heavy sauce pan, heat to 350 degrees. Fry dumplings in batches of 2 or 3 until golden brown. Do not overcook and drain of paper towel. Serve with Roasted Bell Pepper Vinaigrette.

Roasted Red Bell Pepper Vinaigrette-
2 large red bell peppers
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Place red bell pepper on an aluminum foil lined baking sheet. Broil 5 inches from heat for about 5 minutes on each side or until blistered. Then place in a zip top plastic bag and let stand 10 to 15 minutes to loosen skins. Peel bell peppers and discard seeds. Process bell peppers, vinegar and next 5 ingredients until smooth. Turn blender on high and add oil in a slow steady stream. Cover and chill, if desired. I left mine at room temperature.

I make a really good cocktail sauce.
1 Jar of Chili Sauce (Heinz)
juice of medium lemon
2-3 tablespoons of prepared horseradish (not creamy)
2-3 shakes of Worcestershire sauce
2-3 shakes of hot sauce (optional)
Mix well and chill.
I used to boil shrimp with shrimp boil and beer, no more. I saw Ina Garten bake shrimp and this is the best way to prepare it and it actually taste the best. Wash shrimp pat dry, place on baking sheet, salt and pepper to taste, drizzle with olive oil, mix with hands and bake at 400 for about 7 to 10 minutes or until shrimp is pink. Cool and serve with cocktail sauce.

If you are interested I used Bobby's Flays signature recipe for Mojitos. They were great!

This is the first time I have ever made chicken Parmesan. It was the census of our family that we like eggplant Parmesan better so I don't know that I will be making this again. But you can use this recipe and just substitute eggplant for the chicken.

Simple Tomato Sauce
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 large onion, diced
salt and pepper to taste
3-28 ounce cans crushed tomatoes
4-6 fresh basil leaves
2 dried bay leaves
4 tablespoons butter, unsalted
1 tablespoon of sugar

Heat oil over medium heat add onion and garlic and saute until soft and translucent about 2 minutes. Add celery and carrots and season with salt and pepper. Saute until vegetables are soft about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, basil and bay leaves and cover and simmer on low heat for about 1 hour or until thick. Remove bay leaves and check seasoning. Add sauce a little at a time into blender and process until smooth. Let sauce cool or be sure and hold hand on top of blender if the sauce is hot. If sauce taste acidic add butter one tablespoon at a time until the acid taste has disappeared. This sauce will freeze up to 6 months.

Take chicken breast and pound out to 1/4 inch thick. Salt and pepper to taste. Take 3bowls, one with flour, one with 2-3 eggs whisked with 2 tablespoons of water, last bowl seasoned bread crumbs with 1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese mix well. Take chicken breast and dredge both sides in flour, then egg mixture and finally bread crumbs. Make sure you cover both sides. Then place in a hot skillet with a couple of tablespoons of butter and olive oil. Cook each side about 4 minutes place chicken in a casserole dish with the bottom covered in the above tomato sauce (about 2-3 soup ladles). After chicken has been added to casserole dish add a little more tomato sauce, don't cover chicken just put a little around the sides. Crumble fresh mozzarella cheese of chicken. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes until cheese has melted.

Fettuccine Alfredo
This is a recipe I have used for years. Very good and very fattening. You
will make a big difference in this recipe if you use freshly grated Parmesan cheese. This recipe is for four servings. I always double it for our family.
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup whipping cream
3/4 to 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
ground fresh pepper to taste
garnish with fresh chopped parsley
Combine butter and whipping cream is sauce pan. Cook over low heat until butter melts then add Parmesan cheese, pepper and parsley. Mix well and pour over hot fettuccine.

Tossed Salad
This salad is somewhat like Olive Garden.
Red leaf lettuce, purple cabbage, ringed purple onion, thin slices of carrot, sliced cucumber, and sliced pepperonicini peppers. Italian dressing and toss.

Always my favorite part of the dinner, DESSERT!

This was my first time to make this cake. On a new recipe, I always learn little tricks that will help me the next time. This cake is not for the faint of heart. There are several steps and it does take some time. I scanned the recipe when I was thinking of making it but didn't read in detail. So, I didn't realize until I was in the middle of making the cake that the mousse has to sit in the frig for 4 hours. I only had one 2x6 round cake pan, so that was a pain. I tried to find one on Friday but couldn't find one and didn't take the time to go to a speciality shop to find one. The cake taste wonderful and my husband said it was his favorite chocolate cake now. So here is the recipe.

2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder (I used Hersey's cocoa powder)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.Grease and flour cake pan. 6x2. In a medium bowl combine flour, salt and baking soda.
In a large bowl cream butter and sugar. Add buttermilk, cocoa, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract. Beat until smooth. Reduce speed and gradually add flour mixture, beating just until moistened. Add boiling water and beat at medium speed until smooth. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Take from oven let cake cook 10 minutes in pan, then carefully run a knife around the edge and remove cake from pan and continue to let it cool on rack.

Raspberry Mousse
2 tablespoons cold water
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup frozen raspberries, thawed
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon of raspberry liqueur (I left this out but later thought that you could use raspberry extract. It was still good without it.
1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream

In a small bowl combine water and gelatin, let stand 5 minutes then microwave for 1 minute. In the container of a blender, puree raspberries and lemon juice, strain, discarding seeds.

In a medium sauce pan, combine raspberry puree and sugar over medium heat. Stir occasionally until sugar dissolves about 5 minutes. Stir in raspberry liqueur and dissolved gelatin. Remove from heat and chill raspberry mixture for 2 hours. After mixture has chilled for 2 hours, in a medium bowl beat whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Add raspberry mixture and beat 1 minute, then chill 2 more hours.

Chocolate Ganache Icing
1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate morsels
In a medium sauce pan, combine cream, sugar, and corn syrup over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Add chocolate, stirring until melted. Cool slightly before use.

To assemble, spread Raspberry Mousse on top on one cake layer and top with another cake layer and repeat mousse. Pour Chocolate Ganache icing over top of cake allowing excess to run down and cover the sides. This is where it gets messy. That is really the only way to cover the sides. You have to scoop out the excess icing and then take a clean wet cloth and clean your cake plate. I garnished with fresh raspberries and my first rose from my rose bush as well as a lilac blossom. As you can see from the picture, my cake is leaning a little bit. My mousse didn't have time to set up completely so it was not as firm as it needed to be. That's why the layer slide a little. I loved the smaller layers and the look it gives.

You are probably thinking, that's a lot of work. Yes, it was but our daughter is worth it. As Oprah says, there is love in details and that is so true. After our last child left around 11:00, I hobbled back to bed with a feeling of satisfaction.
I'll post tomorrow some of the ideas for decorating. In getting dinner on the table, I forgot to take picture of the main course. I'm so terrible about pictures!!!!!