Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

For my birthday a couple of weeks ago, Mike surprised me with my favorite cake in the entire world - my Aunt Zena's chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream.  My great aunt Zena used to make this cake for every birthday, and after she and my nona passed away, the "recipe" went to my mom.  By "recipe," I mean "some of this," "more of this," and "a palmful of this."  Luckily, my mom has perfected it and it's my absolute favorite.  She's been kind enough to share it with Mike!  Typically, it's been made with regular Hershey's cocoa powder, but Mike's started making it with Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder, and it's absolutely amazing!  Here's the recipe for the chocolate cake, and today I'm so excited to share this super easy buttercream recipe:
Ingredients:
1 stick butter
2/3 cup cocoa powder
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Melt the butter.
2. Stir in cocoa powder.
3. Alternately beat in powdered sugar and milk.
4. Finish with vanilla extract.
Linking up for all of my favorite Tuesday food link-ups (Tuesday Recipe SwapTwo Cup TuesdayTry A New Recipe TuesdayDelicious Dish Tuesday, and Tasty Tuesdays)!

Monday, October 12, 2015

Weekend Things

Well, another weekend came and went.  How does that keep happening so fast?  For the most part, this one was a relaxed one, and it was definitely much needed.  The most excitement was definitely the Third Eye Blind concert Friday night.  For a 50-something year-old dude, Stephan Jenkins has still got it!   
 Saturday morning, I played golf with one of my favorite ladies, but we got rained out on the 13th hole... that meant the rest of the afternoon was chock-full of college football, puzzles, and a huge stack of magazines from Erika.
 On Sunday, Mike and I got belated birthday pedicures.  I've definitely converted him to a pedi-lover.  I got Essie's Merino Cool and am so in love with it!  After that, we walked around King Street for Second Sunday, and got biscuits and cupcakes.  It was beautiful and perfect 70 degree fall weather!

Linking up with Ashley and Biana today!

Friday, October 9, 2015

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday everyone!  I'm so happy the weekend is finally here, and life is slowly getting back to normal after all the storms.  Flooding will still be an issue around the rivers over the next week, though, as the tides stay high and all the water that flooded Columbia runs down the rivers into Charleston.

Today I thought I'd share a few things I'm loving.  Here's my favorite...

purchase.  I'm definitely sorry not sorry about this awesome Target find.  And bonus - it'll double as my Halloween costume!

book. I received this book from Blogging for Books, and it is the perfect coffee table addition.  I know it might sound weird to have a "cook book" as a coffee table book, but it's been such a conversation starter over the past couple of weeks when we have people over.  The photos of all of the dishes are beautiful, and I just love thumbing through the pages.  So far, I have made here mini crab cakes and cranberry sparklers.  Yes, there are even cocktails, and she tells you in which glass each drink should be served, too.  Even though I can't imagine throwing a whole party like Martha (the recipes seem to be very time and recipe intensive), I do love the idea of adding one or two of her recipes to my party plans.

night: poker night.  I finally learned how to play poker this week!  Somehow I made it through 26 full years without learning.  We ended up staying at Erika's until 12:30 on a work night... whoops!

manicure.  I finally purchased one of the Fall 2015 Essie colors  - In the Lobby.  Yes, I'm happy that I finally have something dark for fall, I thought that there would be more of a purple than red tint.  Do you think the website photo is deceiving?

animals.  Oh my gosh, I love "unlikely friends" photos and videos.  These photos were a very close second.

song. My "Taylor Swift Radio" Pandora station probably plays one T.Swift song an hour at this rate with how many Sara Bareilles songs I've thumbs up'd.  This is a close second.  Did anyone see she released a memoir?! So excited to read that!

look.  My boss bought me this awesome scarf and beautiful jewelry for my birthday.  She knows me so well and definitely bought them for me to wear with my most favorite pants ever... which I did.

pin.  My life goal is to combine different patterns with the right jewelry and have it look like this.  Any personal stylist takers?!

fall decor.  I finally took out everything pumpkin and lit my favorite cranberry orange candle.  We haven't added much from last year, but I really need to buy another bag of gourds this year.
  • While I keep in search for my perfectly dark fall polish color, anyone have a good one for me?
  • Any fun plans this weekend?
Linking up for Friday Favorites, H54F, and That Friday Blog Hop!
 
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