I (Mark) don't bake that often. I have this favorite recipe that is worth sharing: enjoy!
Banana Brunch Cake
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1/2 C. butter ( I use canola oil to cut down my cholesterol)
1 C. sugar
2 eggs
1 C. mashed bananas
1/2 C. sour cream
1/4 tsp. vanilla
2 C. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
Cream butter and sugar together beating constantly. Beat eggs in one at a time. Mix in banana, sour cream, and vanilla.
Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Fold into creamed mixture just until moistened.
Sprinkle 1/2 topping into a well greased bundt pan. Spoon 1/2 batter over topping. Sprinkle remaining topping over batter, then cover with remaining batter.
Bake @ 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes.
When baked let cool for about 5 minutes then turn out upside onto a plate to finish cooling.
Scott Mark Hendrickson walked in his commencement ceremony for his completion of his Bachelors of Science in Accounting from California State University San Bernardino. His finished his schooling in August and already has his diploma but got the opportunity to walk. He graduated with Honors!!
Scott and Amanda--both glad that this part of his schooling is done. Now his 4 CPA tests to pass! Here he is with his money donors. Grandparents Bill & Jean Fiet--, his sister Jodi and her husband Robby were also there being very supportive (didn't download a pic, sorry). Also his In-laws Ken and Penny Marks, Ken's parents (oops, don't know their first names) Grandma & Grandpa Marks, and Amanda's brother Cameron were there. And the man of the hour with a rainbow of tassels and ribbons around his honored neck. If you watch the 3 minute video you will see that he was the very first one of the day to receive his bachelors degree. (masters program went first, but he was the first undergrad to walk.)
I was a little behind on the Grandkids quilts. I finished Caleb's and then I did a mad dash to get a quilt made for Finley. Jodi helped me pick the pattern and I had a roll of "Jelly Roll" fabric by Moda so it actually went pretty quick. I agonize way to much over fabric choice when I'm working on a quilt and then when I'm finished I feel fabric retarded, so this took all of the stress out fabric choice. A Jelly Roll is 40 - 2 1/2 inch wide strips x 42 inches long of coordinating fabric sold as a roll. Already cut and matched, the easy way out, and I took it.
Here is the finished quilt, it had 5 "Braids" of alternating fabric I really tried to be random when sewing another fabric to the braid. I finished it off with a small pink 1 inch border, and then added polished cotton pink stripe with a small white lace in-between. I like the look but I don't know why with all my weirdness the border seemed a little wavy. I don't like wavy! I like straight!! This pic is actually before it was finished and I was pinning the "sandwich" together on the parlor floor so that i could machine quilt it. Finley with her quilt. I hope the it brings her happiness and warmth for many years to come. Finley even seemed to like the color choice and appears to be looking and picking out her favorite fabric in the quilt. I love you forever Finley.
Mark, Jodi, Robby, Aidan, Finley, and I went to the beach for Labor Day. I know it's been about three weeks, but I had to post this. The Baird's haven't even seen it yet. Aidan made friends with a girl and she was playing on the beach with him, A huge wave came up (washed alot of peoples stuff away, not ours yeah!) and it made a huge puddle (for lack of a better word) close by and the played there for quite a while. Then she had this great idea. Boy did Adian have fun, and a little fright, but they did this several times with Aidan always asking for more, she was patient. Enjoy the wild man.
This summer we were able to go to several concerts (boy are we varied) and had a great time enjoying the music, the entertainment, and the wonderful friends who shared these evenings with us. Here is a banner from the last concert, it seemed appropriate!
We attended the LA County Fair on opening day to see Al Green and the Spinners in concert. The LA Fair in always an experience. We did a lot of the usual things, the Art building, looking in the buildings for all of the winners in their varied entries, the flowers, looking for Piggy Wigglies (never found them), a tradition we couldn't continue, how sad (it's true Utah daughters, no Piggy Wigglies). But we did find Chocolate covered Bacon, but alas it didn't have the appeal for me. Here we are waiting sooo patiently in our seats. Notice the corn dog.
Here is a pic of "The Spinners" they were very good at motivating the crowd. We did get to see and enjoy all that they had to offer. Who could not enjoy yellow suits? But with our seating situation during Al Green we heard him but couldn't see him, lots of Gospel, lots of his great deep voice. It was a fun night. Here is the true pic of the night, the fair in all of it's glory, complete with fair food.
In between these concerts we went to see Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire, at theOntario Convention Center. No pics of the event but we really did go. We went with the Ellsworth's and the Kirtley's. If you know me you know I really like Chicago, but I was disappointed, they sounded like a cover band, not the band of my youth. I had tickets to Chicago when I was 16 but wasn't able to go (you know teen age drama, boys) and I have been waiting a long time to finally see them in concert but something happened, they turned old! and many members were missing. Yikes. I thoroughly enjoyed Earth, Wind & Fire, particularly the percussion guy. Great entertainment, great stage presence. Speaking of entertainment there was a women close to the stage dancing, and her moves were indescribable and entertaining, laughs are always good.OK, so I alluded to our trip to the Hollywood bowl to see Aretha, and we went to the Hollywood Bowl again last night to see Diana Krall so I'm going to combine pictures from the two because I didn't take a camera either time and Lisa did the first time , so I stole some pics off her web site and Tada! here they are. It was a great night with great friends. The Gamboa's, The Kirtley's and us, what fun, what great music. We all contributed to our meal in the park (part of the Hollywood Bowl tradition) and the food was great which added to the evening. Looks almost like a Barbie Dress, I said almost! If was a very warm evening, and she wore the fur coat through her performance. Show a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T, the woman can still sing and belt it out. I was impressed she never sat down during her performance except to play the piano briefly. She was impressive, and a great performer.
Diana Krall was spectacular! She was my favorite concert. I only had 5 songs of hers on my ipod, but there are more now. What a great performer, moving music, multi talented, all around enjoyable evening.
Check our her sultry voice, and music.
A summer of music, friends, and fun. I guess it really started before summer when we went to the Belly Up Bar to see James Morrison who put us in the concert mood. I hope there aremany more concerts in my future.
Caleb is already one year old, and it has taken me awhile (long) to finish his quilt that I started before he was born.
Just look at his face saying "Am'ma, what's taking so long, tears and all. I love the colors of this pic.
Here's my favorite man holding up the quilt for the pic. He also packaged it up and sent it off for me. I choose a vintage fire-truck material for the focus. Drawing from the colors of the fabric I added my accent fabrics. When I was trying to decide what to do in the corner pieces, the thought came to me Dalmatians, so that was the inspiration for the paw print and the dalmatian dots. I added a yellow fleece/soft fabric for the backing. I love the playfulness, but got a little speedy in machine sewing the whole thing together, and so my stitching isn't always "in the ditch" as I would like it to be. Slow down next time.
LOVE YOU!! Caleb
I hope it comforts you and snuggles you because I can't be there as often as I would like to comfort and snuggle you.
Here is close up of the quilt, Heidi showed me how to do paper piecing, and the results were fabulous, the points are all perfect. But I wouldn't to it again unless it is a very special project. It was so time consuming, glueing all the pieces to the paper, folding all the lines, sewing the lines, and then carefully removing all of the scrapes of paper. Perfect points, perfect matching of seams=lots of time.
Steve and Darla, and their family, have been restoring a 114 year old 'farm house' from the 'historical' section of town. I say 'historical' because although it is a historic house (it was built by one of the three founding families of the community) the city does not value it's historical properties and does nothing to save structures such as this one. The home is around 3500 square feet with an additional 1500 square foot porch that wraps around 3 sides of the house. The first floor has 13 foot high ceilings and the second floor has 9 foot high ceilings. The home had just been saved from squatters by the county and was about to be put on the market when Darla spotted signs posted (she ran home to get her binoculars to see what the they said) that declared the premises uninhabitable (to get out the vagrants). She did some detective work and found the bank that owned the property. She negotiated a favorable deal - realizing that they were in for a great deal of work, but recognizing the properties potential. They have done a remarkable job - ask them to see the before pictures sometime! - and will have a fantastic homestead for Hendrickson texans! I had so many photos that I decided to follow the great example of my friend Ken and put them into a slide show for ease and speed - - - enjoy! sorry I can't explain each one . . . oh - also the pictures at the end are of the where they live now. The music is "Strike Two" by Joe Sample from his Ashes to Ashes CD.
I am a bit slower than Heidi to get my pictures up! I have decided to split my Texas blog into three parts. So here is part one: Todd's farewell
Here is the missionary himself! The flag of Chile is very similar to the flag of Texas - the colors of decorations reflected the flag (red, white and blue).
Steve and Darla getting the tables ready . . . .
Darla getting the food ready . . . . .
I think this is last of this kind of hugging for 2 years. Here is Todd with his "other sister" Angela.
. . . friends from Lufkin 1st Ward
Steve and Darla with their guests having a good time . . .
Here is Ryah with one of her best friends . . .
here is (future missionary) Gabe mugging for the camera . . .
Todd with some of his friends (members and non-members)
here is proof I was there! This was taken after church on Sunday - Gabe was very quick to get out of his Sunday clothes - so we 'hid' him in the back!
Had a great time and Todd gave a very nice talk in church and will be a great missionary!
See Heidi's blog for pics in Utah. Look forward to part II - (progress on the 114 year old house they are renovating).
Although Scott's birthday was last month, he never got his birthday dinner! He chose homemade pizza and we celebrated (again!) his birthday. Connie made the traditional pepperoni pizza with thick crust. She also experimented with a chicken pizza with pesto and a thin crust. Here is how it all went down:
Here is the 'birthday' boy with Amanda ready to dig in.
here is our master chef . . .
and her helper - I didn't do much: made the floats, set the table, and cheered (took photos).
I must admit - the floats looked and tasted great with the pizza!
Keep reading the 'next' - as I messed up in my 'publishing'
the pepperoni pie before it went into the oven . . .
(a picture worth repeating)
here is the artiste at work!
here is some of the raw ingredients for the dough - flour, natch . . . .
but also cornmeal!
This is the finished rolled out thin crust pizza dough!
here are the ingredients for the pesto: pine nuts, minced garlic, olive oil, fresh basil (out of our garden), and parmesan cheese. Don't forget a pinch of salt and /or pepper.
spread the pesto onto the dough . . . be a bit more generous than this!!
. . . add grated cheese . . .
then the chicken is placed on the pizza . . .
the pizza is removed from the preparation pan onto the pizza stone that has been warming in the oven. Cornmeal helps the pizza to slide off the metal sheet onto the stone (this time it did not work! cornmeal seems to have 'stuck' to the dough).
this is the cooked pizza coming out of the oven . . .
sometimes the best way to cut a pizza is with kitchen scissors!
Bon appetit!
for the recipe to make the dough:
Pizza Dough
15-20 minutes at 425 degrees (watch)
1½ cups warm water
1 package yeast
4 teaspoons flour
1 teaspoon honey
Mix first 4 ingredients in blender, then let sit for 30 minutes (15 minutes on warm days)
4 cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
add last two ingredients to yeast mixture.
Knead for 10 minutes.
Let rise for 45 minutes until doubled.
Punch down.
Divide in 2.
Dough is sticky (no oil), keep hands wet, spray pan with PAM.
Spread dough to edges of pan,
Add toppings.
Dough can be prepared and frozen for 2 months. Thaw at room temperature
Here is close up of the quilt, Heidi showed me how to do paper piecing, and the results were fabulous, the points are all perfect. But I wouldn't to it again unless it is a very special project. It was so time consuming, glueing all the pieces to the paper, folding all the lines, sewing the lines, and then carefully removing all of the scrapes of paper. Perfect points, perfect matching of seams=lots of time.
