Sunday drives and shoe trees

On Sunday the boy and I took a drive. In just ten minutes, you can be out of Ann Arbor onto dirt roads, farms whizzing by, acres upon acres of open fields or, deep into the woods with trees forming a canopy over the road. I love that. I also love this: A shoe tree of a different sort.

These photos don't even begin to capture how amazing and funny and crazy this is. It's on a road surrounded by farms. Some of the shoes are so high up. There must be hundreds of them. There are high heels and work boots, tennis shoes and flip flops.

Orange-Soy Braised Pork Ribs

While many of you were enjoying hot cross buns or a roast lamb Easter dinner yesterday, the boy and I were winging it to Asia — in our mouths at least! After obsessing over the best spareribs ever, I scooped up some country-style pork ribs on sale at the grocery. Obviously I don't know from ribs and though they were obviously bigger and fattier than spareribs, I thought I could still apply the same recipe with at least similar results. Not so. No good — quite awful in fact. Part of it I'm sure is the quality of the ribs we had the first go round since they were from Old Pine Farm, our meat CSA. But, this cut definitely calls for a wholly different approach. They came in a big old honkin' package and I had used half for the first attempt. But here's what turned out to be a really tasty solution for the second half we had. So now that I've completely turned you off of country-style ribs… you should try this, it's good. Really.


Orange-Soy Braised Pork Ribs
Adapted from Gourmet, January 2005
2 pounds country-style pork ribs
1 Tb olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped

2 Tb finely chopped peeled fresh ginger

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

3/4 cup fresh orange juice

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 1/2 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

Generous squirt Sriracha or other hot sauce

Separate ribs into individual pieces. Place in large stockpot and cover with water by two inches. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat. Simmer for 20-30 minutes, skimming foam that rises to the surface. This will help remove much of the fat. Drain well in colander and pat dry.

Position rack in middle of oven and preheat to 325°F.

Meanwhile, heat oil over moderate heat in a Dutch oven or other heavy pot. Add onions, garlic and ginger and saute until onion is soft, 5-7 minutes. Stir in orange juice, soy sauce, sugar and pepper and bring to a boil over moderately high heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Add Sriracha to taste. Place ribs in sauce, turning to coat, and cover. Braise ribs in oven until very tender and falling off the bones, about 2 - 2 1/2 hours.

If sauce seems fatty, remove meat and skim. Return meat to sauce and "pull" or shred with two forks. Serve with lots of jasmine rice to soak up the sauce.

I plan to stuff wonton wrappers with the leftovers tonight and steam them. Tasty!

Gardening on the cheap: Save those seeds!

At the end of the growing season last year, we let a number of plants, including radishes, snap peas, dill and cilantro, grow like crazy without harvesting them. We wanted them to go to seed so we could collect them to grow this year. I had only done this once before — with a mallow plant from my mom — and it worked out really well. We also saved the seeds from our jalapenos. Now, a year later, it's time to plant the harvested seeds. I'm really interested to see how they do compared to the store-bought seeds. We had some left over from those we bought last year, so I've planted those, too and plan to take notes and compare their progress!

I had read online that radish seeds were really hard to gather — not so. They put out huge stalks if you let them keep growing and then pods form on the ends. We just pulled out the stalks, plopped them in the vase you see above and admired them all winter. They sat on a bookcase next to a vase filled with corn tassels the boy saved, too. Two nights ago I cracked open the pods, picked out the perfectly preserved seeds and planted them. They are already sprouting — yay!

Are you growing anything this year? Why not save some of the seeds for next year or to share with a friend?

P.S. Thanks to everyone who commented over at Bloesem Kids yesterday — I'm so happy to have been awarded second place for my design. Yippee!

Bloesem Kids Banner redesign: Part II

Yay! My design is one of the finalists for the Bloesem kids banner redesign I mentioned on Friday. Won't you go have a look (and perhaps cast your vote with a comment, hint, hint. I'm entry #2. ) at the entries and let Irene know what you think?! She's got a tough choice in front of her. I am loving the design below by Homemade Happiness. Isn't it sweet?!

Lemon Ginger Scones

One of the first recipes I learned to bake as an adult — after the chocolate chip cookies and Duncan Hines brownies of my youth — was Orange-Cranberry Scones. Scones came on strong in the early nineties — probably with the rise of the coffeehouse. I caught on quickly and was eating one too many scones in my frantic New York City way. I would escape the city on the weekend and head to my parents who were living in a quiet somewhat rural area — without any cafes to serve me my fix of butter. My weekend scone-jonesing was so severe that eventually I made my own. It was pure love — and a heck of a lot of butter.

This Lemon Ginger variation was inspired by the ones they serve here in Ann Arbor at Comet Coffee in Nickels Arcade. If you haven't been there, I can't say enough about it. Their coffee — they're part of the new wave of pour-over coffee spreading throughout town — is my favorite in town and the emo, tattooed-covered staff is always shockingly happy-go-lucky and friendly. And, of course, their lemon-ginger scones are addictive. So here's my take:

Lemon Ginger Scones
Adapted from Joy of Baking

Makes 6 - 8 scones.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and kept chilled
1/2 cup crystallized ginger, chopped into small to medium pieces
Zest of 1 large lemon (about 1 TB)
2/3 cup buttermilk

1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 TB milk

Raw sugar for sprinkling, optional

Preheat oven to 400º F and place rack in middle of oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the chilled butter pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs. Stir in the chopped crystallized ginger and lemon zest. Add the buttermilk to the flour mixture and stir just until the dough comes together. Do not over mix the dough.

Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead dough gently four or five times to bring it together and then pat into a circle that is about 7 inches round and about 1 1/2 inches thick. Cut this circle in half, then cut each half into 3 or 4 pie-shaped wedges (triangles). Place the scones on the baking sheet. Beat the egg well and combine with with 1 TB milk. Brush the tops of the scones with this mixture. Sprinkle with raw sugar if using.

Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Some crystallized ginger is more sweet than others — or perhaps I should say less sweet. The batch I used today was extra gingery, so I kicked up the sugar just a tad. Take a nibble of yours and adjust accordingly.

Road trips on my mind

Road trip poster by Delicious Design League

I'm a sucker for a road trip. Open maps flapping in the wind, sunglasses on, hair flying, bare legs sticking to vinyl, radio blaring. Bear with me while I cling to my outdated vision. Sigh. But boy oh boy, do I have road trips on the brain right now.

"I Just May" by gingerlovesart on Etsy
Ginger's lovely description: One summer road trip that involved a lot of driving, a lot of stopping, a lot of photo-taking and a lot of smooching.

The boy and I took a drive down to South Bend, Indiana on Saturday. We took the scenic route passing through wonderfully old-timey towns filled with crumbling old theaters, more brick than I expected and tons of junk stores that I was dying to root through. But we were on a mission. We didn't make any stops. We were on this trip for a particular purpose - a very certain purpose. Since moving to Ann Arbor a good year and a half ago, a bicycle and my little feets have been my main modes of transportation. But on Saturday, this fateful Saturday, we drove to South Bend to look at a lovely new car. For me. To drive. Yay. We're headed back this weekend to pick it up. And the whole way there and back I will do nothing but dream of road trips.

Bloesem kids banner redesign contest

Here's a look at my entry for the banner redesign contest over at Bloesem Kids. Have a great weekend everyone!

Bacon, cheddar and chive biscuits

You might not guess it from this blog, but we tend to eat salads for dinner several times a week. That said, they are usually what I like to call a man salad — loaded with things like fried chicken, toasted nuts or sunflower seeds, dried fruit, cheese and more often than not, a biscuit on the side. We're crazy for the biscuits. And these biscuits are just over the top. You could have them with a salad, or use them to make some seriously hearty ham sandwiches. Yum.

Bacon, cheddar and chive biscuits
Adapted from Bon Appetit, February 2010

Makes 12.

6 thick-cut bacon slices
3 3/4 cups bread flour
1 1/2 Tb baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes, plus melted butter for brushing
2 1/2 cups (packed) coarsely grated sharp cheddar cheese (about 12 ounces)
1/3 cup chopped fresh chives
1 3/4 cups chilled buttermilk

Position rack just above center of oven and preheat to 425°F. Line heavy large baking sheet with parchment paper. Cook bacon in heavy large skillet over medium heat until crisp and brown. Transfer to paper towels to drain, then crumble into bits.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl and toss with a fork to blend. Add butter cubes. and cut in with two knives or your fingertips until formed into a coarse meal. Add cheddar cheese, chives, and bacon pieces; toss to blend. Gradually add buttermilk, stirring to moisten evenly (batter will feel sticky).

Using lightly floured hands, drop generous 1/2 cup batter for each biscuit onto prepared baking sheet, spacing batter mounds about 2 inches apart.

Bake biscuits until golden and tester inserted into center comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Brush biscuits lightly with melted butter. Let cool 10 minutes. Serve biscuits warm or at room temperature with honey, if desired.

Twelve is an awful lot of biscuits — even as tasty as these are. This recipe is easily halfed.

Pan-Roasted Chicken with Citrus Sauce

Looking for a bright, refreshing chicken recipe? After lots of wintery stews and simmering soups, the springy weather we've had this week had me planting seeds for our balcony garden and craving something lighter. I was ready for a citrusy change and this provided just the thing.

Pan Roasted Chicken with Citrus Sauce

Adapted from Food & Wine, January 2010

1 navel oranges

1 limes

3 6-ounce chicken breast halves, on the bone with skin

1 Tb vegetable oil

1/2 small onion, coarsely chopped

1 garlic clove, coarsely chopped

1 thyme sprig

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 1/2 cups chicken stock or low-sodium broth

1 1/2 Tb extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Cut 3 long strips of zest from the oranges and 2 long strips from the limes. Peel the oranges and limes with a knife, removing all of the white pith. Working over a bowl, cut in between the membranes to release the orange and lime sections. Reserve 1/4 cup of juice.

Cut the breast meat from the bones, or have the butcher do this for you. Coarsely chop the bones. In a large ovenproof skillet, heat the vegetable oil. Add the bones and cook over high heat, turning occasionally, until browned, about 4 minutes. Add the onion, garlic and thyme and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion is golden brown, 5 minutes. Add the wine and boil over high heat until reduced to 1/4 cup. Add the stock and the reserved zest strips and simmer over moderate heat until the stock has reduced by half, 10 minutes. Add the reserved citrus juice and simmer for 10 minutes longer. Strain the sauce into a saucepan and boil over high heat until reduced to just over 3/4 cup, 8 minutes. Wipe out the skillet.

Preheat the oven to 400°. Heat the olive oil in the skillet. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper and add them to the skillet skin side down. Cook the chicken over moderately high heat until the skin is browned, about 4 minutes. Turn the chicken over and roast in the oven for 10 minutes longer, until just cooked through. Transfer the chicken to plates.

Pour off the fat in the skillet. Add the citrus sauce and boil over high heat, scraping up any browned bits that have stuck to the bottom, until reduced to 1/2 cup, about 2 minutes. Add the reserved orange and lime sections and cook to warm through. Remove the skillet from the heat and gently stir in the butter. Season the sauce with salt and pepper. Spoon the citrus sauce and citrus sections over the chicken breasts and serve right away.

(The original recipe is doubled for six chicken breasts.)

P.S. So sorry if you've gotten this post multiple times in your feed — I'm having trouble making the text formatting stick today for some reason — my apologies!

You will never win if you never begin.

I'm always running into design contests I want to enter. I frantically make note of the deadlines with the best of intentions. Unfortunately, more often than not, my expectations far exceed reality and I don't often enter these contests. But I thought I'd share with you some of the ones going on currently that I would love to participate in. Perhaps you will be more on your game than I.

Bloesem Kids

Design a new banner for this blog dedicated to crafts, art and interior design for kids.

Deadline: March 26.

Details here.

Strand Books

Create a design for the latest in the Strand Books
Artist Series of tote bags.

Deadline: March 31

Details here.

Art “Works Every Time” Design Competition

sponsored by Beautiful/Decay

Create a t-shirt design interpreting Colt 45’s logo
and catch phrase “Works Every Time.”

Deadline: April 15
Details here.

Sock It to Me

Design a fun, new knee-high sock.

Deadline: ongoing

Details here.

Welcome spring!

La Daube Provençale

I recently finished Kim Sunée's memoir, A Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love and the Search for Home. I'm not going to give you a full book report — I never liked doing those. But the gist of the story is this: Born in South Korea, Sunée was adopted and raised in New Orleans. She leaves when she is barely out of her teens and eats, lives and loves in Europe for ten years before returning to the U.S. Her story of elaborate feasts and international travel is tempered with melancholy because she lacks a sense of home and belonging.

Recipes are scattered through the book. I thought I'd try this recipe for beef stewed in red wine since it is a different, brighter take on beef stew and our freezer is still stocked with larger cuts of beef from Old Pine Farm. The citrus and olive flavors are a welcome change and the meat just melted into extreme tenderness. It is best made a day ahead for all the flavors to meld. It was probably our last wintery stew since spring officially arrives this weekend!

La Daube Provençale/Braised Beef
Adapted from Trail of Crumbs by Kim Sunée

1 pound beef chuck, trimmed of fat and cubed
2 medium onions, quartered, divided
1-2 carrots, cut lengthwise and into thirds
Bouquet garni (such as a few sprigs of parsley, thyme and/or rosemary)
1 bay leaf
1 cup dry red wine
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 slice thick-cut bacon, diced
2-3 Tb flour
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 garlic cloves, smashed and coarsely chopped
2-inch piece of orange rind
1 tsp orange zest
Juice of one-half orange
3/4-1 cup beef stock
1 Tb black olive tapenade
Garnishes: black olives and fresh parsley

Combine beef and one of the onions and next 4 ingredients in a large nonreactive bowl. Let marinate 5 to 6 hours. (You can marinate overnight, but wine flavor will be much stronger.)

Remove meat with a slotted spoon and drain well. Reserve the marinade and vegetables/herbs separately.

Preheat oven to 325ºF.

Heat bacon on medium high in an enameled cast-iron casserole or Dutch oven until fat begins to render, about 5 minutes. Spread flour in a shallow plate and season with salt and pepper. Lightly dredge beef in flour, adding more flour as needed. Add beef to pot and let brown, turning occasionally, about 8 minutes.

Add salt, pepper, garlic and a 2-inch strip of orange rind and stir. Add reserved wine marinade and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium high and let wine reduce, skimming fat, for about 15 minutes.

Add beef stock or water just to cover meat, stir and add reserved vegetables and bouquet garni. Stir once more, cover and bake for about 2-3 hours, until meat is tender. Check every once in a while and add more beef stock of water if it is being absorbed too quickly.

Remove any fat with a spoon. Remove orange rind, bay leaf and bouquet garni and discard. Add orange zest and juice and stir. Let cool, cover and refrigerate overnight.

Reheat on medium until warm. Stir tapenade into sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with large pasta shells or polenta and garnish with olives and parsley.

Come do arts and crafts with me

I was at a party recently with a friend who was wearing knee-high black leather boots with a sizeable heel. After a few drinks, someone made the suggestion that she was wearing "Come f*@%! me" boots. After a bit of stammering and gasping, she thrust her arm out pointing down at my colorful, chunky clown-like shoes (artfully shown above) and said, "Then what are those?"

Without missing a beat, he replied,"They're 'Come do arts and crafts with me' shoes."

Hey, what can I say? My shoes may not be sexy, but at least my message is consistent. Because that's my message for you today: Come do arts and crafts with me. Literally.

I'll be teaching a two-hour Intro to Knitting workshop on Friday, April 23 from 7-9 p.m. at the Blue House in Ann Arbor. We'll be making funky, modern accessories like a sassy knitted cuff or reusable sleeve for your coffee cup. I'll show you how to cast on, knit, check your gauge and cast off. We may not get quite as sassy as the cuff seen above by Dull Roar on Etsy, but I'll show you the skills to do just that. You might even pursuade me to teach you to purl if the group is game. Now doesn't that sound risqué?! The class is just $26 and includes yarn as well as a set of needles to take home. We've only got room for six students, so head on over to the Blue House website and sign up now.

And when you get to the Blue House, you'll know me by my shoes!

On the hunt for spring flowers: Snowdrops

I've been trying to draw crocuses for two years now. Spring arrives and I love them so much that I race out and draw, draw, draw. I don't know what it is, but it just never works out. Now I think it's getting to be psychological. Yikes. Anyway… I noticed a huge patch of them outside of a local yoga studio on my way to work the past two days. I decided to go out this morning and try once more. I barely got past the front yard though. I saw that our neighbor's front lawn looked like this:


A beautiful carpet of snowdrops! After looking over my shoulder like some kind of thief to see if anyone was going to chase me away, I plopped right down in their yard and made a few quick drawings. And then I realized how good they smelled. I had no idea they have this sweet delicate scent.

I'm headed back out this afternoon to try the crocuses one more time.

Steamy Wok Surprise

The boy and I have a huge vinyl chalkboard decal stuck to the side of our frig where we do our menu planning for the week ahead. This recipe debuted on the chalkboard as "steamy wok surprise." Awful, I know. But I had new bamboo steamer baskets that I wanted to use but hadn't found the right recipe yet. The recipe would be the surprise. I was thinking some kind of steamed fish and veggies, but kept lingering over the dumpling recipes. The dumplings won out.

Steamed Pork Dumplings
Adapted from epicurious.com
Makes 20.

1 1/2 Tb egg white
1 Tb minced peeled fresh ginger
1 1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp peanut or vegetable oil
1 tsp Asian sesame oil
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup diced water chestnuts or jicama
1/4 cup minced scallion
1/2 pound ground pork
20 wonton wrappers, thawed if frozen

For the filling: Lightly whisk egg white in a large bowl, then whisk in ginger, garlic, peanut oil, sesame oil, soy sauce, cornstarch, sugar, and salt. Add water chestnuts or jicama, scallion, and pork and mix together with your hands until combined well.

Assemble dumplings: Separate wonton wrappers and restack in piles of 10. Cut through each stack with a 2 1/2-inch biscuit cutter and discard trimmings. Arrange 6 rounds on a work surface (keep remaining rounds covered with plastic wrap) and mound a scant tablespoon filling in center of each. Lightly moisten edge of wrappers with a finger dipped in water. Working with one at a time and leaving dumpling on flat surface, gather edge of wrapper around side of filling, pleating wrapper to form a cup and pressing pleats against filling (leave dumpling open at top). Flatten filling flush with edge of wrapper with wet finger and transfer dumpling to a tray. Make more dumplings in same manner with remaining rounds and filling.

Steam dumplings: Line bamboo baskets with cheesecloth or leafy greens. (You could also generously oil the bottom of a colander-steamer insert) Bring a few inches of water to a boil in pot that the baskets will fit in easily. Arrange 10 dumplings, about 1/2 inch apart, in each tier and steam over moderate heat, covered, until dough is translucent and filling is just cooked through, about 6 minutes.

Serve immediately with soy dipping sauce.

Soy dipping sauce

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup water
3 Tb seasoned rice vinegar
1 1/4 teaspoons sugar
handful of thinly sliced scallion

Stir together soy sauce, water, vinegar, and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Just before serving, stir in scallion.

If you're making these for a party or large group, the original recipe makes 60. Do it up!

Blue House Ann Arbor

It's open! This week Ann Arbor welcomes an exciting new addition: Blue House Ann Arbor. It's a creative studio dedicated to the handmade — studio spaces, workshops, even a small retail shop. The lovely and talented Siobhan Lyle has great vision and has been working hard since last summer renovating and planning. And now, the Blue House is ready and open to the public. The space is so beautiful and warm.

There is a whole crew of enthusiastic local artists involved (including yours truly — wink, wink) and the enthusiasm has been contagious. We're all getting together March 20th to say howdy-do and break in the space with a crafty spring show from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The lineup of vendors is fantastic. So if you're in the area — it's right on the corner of Main Street and Pauline — drop by, say hi, have a peek around and pick up some local art, dang it. Or check out the web site for the roster of workshops and details about the space.

Welcome, Blue House!!!

Buns for any night of the week

I'm usually more of the slow food, make it from scratch kind of cook, lingering in the kitchen and trying out ridiculously complex recipes. I try to take my time and enjoy it. My brother is rolling his eyes right now and scrolling down to count the number of ingredients in this recipe. But I'm not keen on the thirty-minute meal just for the sake of speed. I know, I know. None of us have enough time. So this is my answer to that: A forty-minute home-baked hamburger bun to dress up a weeknight burger. It really is easy enough and worth it to do any night of the week.

Weeknight hamburger rolls
Adapted from TasteofHome.com
Makes 8-10.

2 Tb active dry yeast
1 cup plus 2 Tb warm water (110° to 115°)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp salt
3 to 3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add oil and sugar; let stand for 5 minutes. Add the egg, salt and enough flour to form a soft dough.


Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 3-5 minutes. Do not let rise. Divide into 8-10 pieces; shape each into a ball. Place 3 in. apart on greased baking sheets.


Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Bake at 425° for 8-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.

The original recipe said for a dozen buns, but they were a bit small for the burgers. I'd go for a little bit bigger depending on the size of yours. You could also dress these up with an egg wash before baking and a sprinkle of sesame or poppy seeds. They are uber light and fluffy -- delicious!

Color Study No. 1: Green

I've seen quite a few posts around the interwebs lately with color studies and thought I'd jump on that band wagon. Wish I could remember where I saw the first one. Enjoy!

The Year of (a) Cake

At the beginning of the year I decided that I wanted 2010 to be the year of cake. Singular cake. Not cakes. Just one. I decided that this is the year that I will make at least one truly grown-up cake. I haven't made very many cakes in my time and I may not have ever made a truly grown-up cake. I'm not sure exactly what that even means. Maybe something with layers? Something that isn't made in a brownie pan? Not a cupcake or a coffee cake. I know what it's not. And I think I'll know what it is when I find that perfect recipe. So this is the year — 2010. This year I will make a fancy pants cake.

This is not that cake.

You might think with it's rich intense grown-up flavor that it is, but it's simply too ooey and gooey. It's what Nigella calls "a glotally thickening wodge of chocolate chip and cocoa…." How's that for a description?! It's not fancy pants and that's why I love it.

Chocolate Gingerbread

Adapted from Feast by Nigella Lawson

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter

1 c. + 2 Tb dark brown sugar

2 Tb sugar

3/4 c. light corn syrup

3/4 c. molasses

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp ground ginger

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

2 Tb warm water

2 eggs

1 c. milk

2 c. flour

1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa

1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

For Frosting:

2 c. powdered sugar

2 Tb unsalted butter

1 Tb unsweetened cocoa

1/4 c. ginger ale

Preheat oven to 325ºF. Line a 10x13 baking pan with parchment paper. In a large saucepan, melt the butter with the sugars, syrup, molasses, cloves, cinnamon and ginger. Dissolve baking soda in water. Remove saucepan from the heat and whisk in eggs, milk and soda mixture. Beat in flour and cocoa with a wooden spoon. Fold in chocolate chips ad pour into lined pan pressing bake the paper a bit so the batter spreads into the corners. Bake about 45 minutes until risen and firm on top. The middle should still be a little damp under the set top, and will sink a little. Cool in the pan on a wire rack.

For the frosting: Sift the powdered sugar. Melt the butter, cocoa and ginger ale in a heavy-based saucepan. Once the butter is melted, whisk in the powdered sugar. When the cake is cooled, remove it from the pan, fold back the paper and pour frosting over the cake — just enough to cover the top and ooze down the sides a bit. Let frosting set slightly, and cut into large slabs. (Be sure to remove it from the paper once frosted as it will stick like glue later.)

Spring ladies in skirts

Happy Monday, everyone. It's so lovely and springy out here, it makes me smile all over. I hope wherever you are, there is sun and a smile on your face. Here is a peak at two lovely ladies I am working on. The pastel color palette is new for me and I am having fun playing with it.