The Pioneer Woman

has a blog with recipes, pictures of food and her life on the ranch in Oklahoma. She has the most amazing pictures of cattle, food, wild mustangs, her kids, food, her dog, Charlie, and food on her blog that it'll make you want to lick your monitor. I have made a few of her recipes and had mixed success. The Perfect Pound Cake recipe was one I made about a month ago and it didn't turn out. At all. But I hated to say I couldn't make this cake so.... I tried again. The pictures below are the end result. Not exactly what I would call the 'Perfect Pound Cake' but then perfection is in the eye of the beholder, right?? I told Macy that I was making this cake again to which she replied 'I didn't know you made it before'. When I explained the unsightly mess that sat on our counter for a while before I threw it out and let the dog have it, she still didn't remember it being in the house. Wow. Still not the 'Perfect Pound Cake'! As I took this one out of the oven and following the directions VERY CAREFULLY by inverting it onto a cake taker and waiting for it to drop out of the pan, there were loud expletives coming from the kitchen as I watched it ONCE AGAIN fall to pieces before my eyes.

Ok, Pioneer Woman, I declare you the better photographer, cook, baker, even the better person that I because obviously I cannot make the 'Perfect Pound Cake' and refuse to waste three sticks of butter, three cups of sugar, lemon and butter flavorings to have a cake turn out like this!

Uncle! I give up! You are the winner!

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/01/perfect-pound-cake/

Click here to see her version. It looks a little better than mine. :-(

Titanic Exhibit

The Titanic exhibit happened to be at the Science Museum at the same time we were there for the Cub Scout Sleep In. Daniel's Den Mother, Lori, was nice enough to keep an eye on my son for me while I went into the exhibit and I will thank her for that for the rest of my life. Several years before the Titanic movie came out I read several books about the tragedy and have been fascinated by it ever since. I was hopeful that I would have a time to slip away and go see the artifacts.

The exhibit was awesome, amazing, elegant, incredible. Of course they don't allow photographs to be taken so all I have to post here is a picture of my ticket and the exhibit ad on the wall of the museum. Once inside the exhibit there were wall posters with stories and pictures of the ship's only voyage. There were glass cases of artifacts that have been recovered from the ocean floor after the wreckage was found. There was a two ton piece of the hull. At the end of the exhibit they had an ice berg that people had left hand prints in. I touched it, of course, and couldn't leave my had there for very long for the cold. Hard to imagine being in water that cold for any length of time.

I was surprised at how many pieces of pottery and china were unharmed after the sinking of the ship and laying on the ocean floor for 80 years. Not a chip, scratch or discoloration on the pieces. Amazing.

Not only were there artifacts from the wreck but they also had actors and actresses dressed in period costume walking around and talking as if they were on the ship. There was a third class room with two bunks in it and next to it was a state room with a beautiful four poster bed. The passengers on the Titanic must have felt like they were on the most beautiful ship ever.

I'm so glad I took the time to see this exhibit. I'll remember it forever.

Science Museum Sleepover 2010

The annual Cub Scouts Sleep In was January 23rd and 24th at the science museum. They also bill it as the "Sleeping with the Dinosaurs" at the Science Museum in St. Paul and I often wonder if they are referring to the dinosaur fossils that they have there or the parents that stay with their Cub Scouts. Sleeping with the dinosaurs... get it?? I think it's kind of funny. Especially when you wake up on Sunday morning after having slept (?) on the very, very hard floor of the museum in a (very thin) sleeping bag. The brochure tells you not to bring cots or air mattresses because there isn't much room but there are some (smart) parents that do anyway. I bet those are the ones I hear snoring during the night because they are sleeping comfortably. That's my theory. Actually this year I slept fairly well because we picked a dark place farther away from the bathrooms as last year but I still woke up kind of stiff and sore. I was disappointed to learn that in May Daniel will "cross over" to the Boy Scouts so this is his last year going to the Science Museum. I enjoy doing this with him.
Daniel and Jeff working a pendulum.

Daniel and one of the dinosaurs - the ones on exhibit - not his mother...

Daniel and Jeff in the traditional James Bond pose in the light room. Pretty cool to see your shadows in different colors. I'm sure there's a technical explanation for it and I bet I could have paid attention and read the sign. But I didn't.

This is how we spent the night. Not exactly the Holiday Inn but it was fun!