chocolate puddin' cake

I'm enjoying a little bit of a lazy morning while it's storming outside. Well, more like raining a little with a lot of wind. Our grill has made it's way to the other side of the deck and my mother-in-laws grill has face planted.

This weather makes me happy. Thoughts of time spent sitting on porches with family watching, listening and smelling the rain... good stuff. I'm reading "Ferris' Bluff" by Fred Limberg on my Kindle right now and it's set in Arkansas where it storms a lot and where I used to live... there are quite a few scenes in the book that talk about sitting on the porch during the early morning or during a storm and it makes me smile every time.

P.S. If you have a Kindle you should subscribe to BookBub and they'll send you an email a day with four or five books that are discounted (usually below $4) or free (usually at least two) on Amazon. I'm not super picky so it works for me... I just check out the reviews and if they aren't terrible, which they usually aren't, then I get the free ones.
... Can you have a "p.s." before the end? It's a "p.s." at the end of this section only. yup.

So, let's get to the point. CHOCOLATE PUDDING CAKE. But since we were chatting about Arkansas let's call it Chocolate Puddin' Cake. Doesn't that sound more down home and delicious? Yup.

I can't recall how I came across this recipe... maybe on a Food Network show...? Either way - I googled and went along with this recipe to try it out. It's a pretty strange recipe and I had some serious doubts when I got to the end but I went with it after re-reading the directions at least 10x to make sure I was reading it correctly.

First, we have what the batter should NOT look like. Whoops. Here we have all the cocoa in the recipe mixed into the batter whereas only 2 TB was supposed to be mixed in. I'm not even sure how I managed that. Rewind. Restart.

Restarted. Dropped the sugar canister on the floor. Good thing that baby is thick... not sure how it didn't break. I'm such a klutz.

That looks more like it. After the batter is combined in there lookin' all normal you're going to throw some dry ingredients on top of it and then pour boiling water on top. Makes perfect sense. How do people come up with these things??

So now you sprinkle 3/4 cup packed brown sugar and 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa power on top of the batter. Then pour 1 1/2 cups boiling water on top of it. No stirring allowed.

Now pop it in the oven at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes. Let it sit for 15 minutes before serving. Now devour it. With ice cream, preferably. So yummy. It's like a melty brownie with built in sauce. Mmmm.

Enjoy, dearies.

xo - Kem

Question-A-Day Sunday : Jan 27 - Feb 2

February 2nd! What? It's already February! 

Ya know what I'm really terrible at? Following a recipe from my phone, taking pictures of it, starting a blog on it and then not being able to find the recipe I used in the first place! Gosh, Kem! Although, it's not my fault. It's my iPhone's fault. Because when I open a page from another app, sometimes it writes over my recipe page that I've intentionally kept open so I can blog about it later.

So I have a blog ready to go but I can't reference the recipe used. Fail.

Anywho. Question Time. 

Monday. How do you describe home?

Family & Friends. Where you can be yourself fully. Where people KNOW you. 

Tuesday. What was the last TV show you watched?

Pretty Little Liars. I know, I'm so mature. Don't judge.

.... I also have been watching Downton Abbey... Everyone loves it. I like it. I haven't gotten that love feeling yet. Am I missing something? Do you watch it?

Thursday. Who do you want to be?

A joyful, kind and open person. More friendly... ok, I know I'm friendly but lately I feel like I just kind of go through my days and don't really seem like a friendly person to those I just come across at the grocery store and such... I do sometimes but not always... just want it to be more normal... 

Friday. What is your resolution for tomorrow?

Tomorrow is Saturday. Post Office to mail my friends care package cause she just had surgery & pick up stamps for work. To Citizen's Bank to deposit that money I owed my ma. To call my grandparents & my mom. Relax.

Success an all accounts, btw.

Saturday. Who do you life with?

hubs. billers. mother-in-law. I can't wait to have our own place again (I miss my own stuff!!!!) but living with Fab's mom has been great for us.

p.s. I skipped Wednesday. If you noticed before, I only give you five days worth of questions... sometimes the questions are a bit too personal for blogging. :)

Watching the Super Bowl right now. Few notes...

1) Thank you for a great halftime show, Beyonce & Destiny's Child. Loving the throw back. 

2) Old geezer commercial partying it up was the best. Good job, Taco Bell.

3) John Harbaugh and his freak-out about the lights going out. Geesh. Chill, man. & be nice.

Enjoy your week, darlings!

xo - Kem

Honeymoon @ Sun Palace

Originally Posted 8/21/11 - Reposted with pictures and other edits on 1/31/13

Photo taken by Autumn Skye Photography.

We're married.  & home from our honeymoon.  & in love completely.  I can't believe we've been married for a little over a month now.  It seems so much longer; in a good way!  I'm loving cooking new dishes and just hanging out with my husband at night withOUT him having to leave when it's bed time.  It's just wonderful.  Sometimes I think I might be a little strange by how much I love being a wife... everything about it is just wonderful and I feel so blessed to have such a beautiful life.

Photo taken by Autumn Skye Photography.

Photo taken by Autumn Skye Photography.

Our honeymoon was amazing.  If only it could have been longer! We went to Sun Palace all-inclusive resort in Cancun for 6 days and 5 nights.  The service at the resort was excellent and everyone was extremely friendly and helpful.

Just getting to the resort. So tired but so excited!

TIPPING: Tips were included but we tipped when we felt like a server went above and beyond others. However, we learned at the end of our trip how much the employees made from a fellow guest that had been there three times previously. So next time we go, we'll be sure to tip everyone at least a $1. They are definitely deserving of more with the amount of attention they provide to each guest.

LOCATION: The resort is at the beginning of the strip of resorts so it's the first drop-off and last pick-up for the airport transfer which was nice. (We booked with Best Days for $35 roundtrip transfer for two.) The best part about it being at the beginning of the strip was that it wasn't busy at all. It was just our resort, the one to the left of us and one that was pretty far down on the right. This made for a very relaxing time and a very uncrowded beach.

BEACH: The beach was incredibly clean, there were plenty of lounge chairs and umbrellas that the beach attendants would set up immediately if there weren't any free ones.  There was service on the beach for food and drink and they came around about every 10 minutes which was wonderful. (Lemonade was so good! It's more limey than lemon but it's delicious!  Def try it!)

Our Room! Once inside, you place your key card in a thing to turn the lights on. How nifty is that!?

The Hallway. At the end there's a balcony that's open to everyone with lounge chairs.

There were 4 restaurants on site - Oriental, Mexican, Grill, American and Italian.  We ended up eating at the Oriental place twice cause it was our favorite.  (You could also eat at any of the other two Palace Resorts in Cancun, if you wanted to make the trip to another.) 

Breakfast the day we ordered room service. Not gonna lie, we were pretty excited about being able to order room service. ha

Breakfast and lunch were served in the main dining area (the same as the Mexican restaurant) and they cooked omelets, pancakes, scrambled eggs, different fried mexican dishes, chicken, and fish fresh when you ordered and everything else was buffet style.  

Dinner our first night. Those chips & fresh salsa were awesomeeeee. I think I ate more chips, guac, salsa & coconut ice cream than anything else while we were there. Coconut ice cream for breakfast? Ok!

 We also received a resort credit when we arrived to use for a variety of things.  Our credit was for $1500 but it can go from $300 to $2000, depending on the number of days you stay.  We used ours for zip lining, a couples massage, a room upgrade from our resort view regular room to an ocean view jr. suite w/ a jacuzzi in the room, and a day at Wet 'N Wild.

View from our balcony. Sigh.

The room upgrade was SO worth it.  Having the beach view with the balcony was wonderful.

If you're honeymooning, as we were, you receive a free bottle of champagne & a cake sent up to your room (it was good!), a Sun Palace shirt and a special romantic dinner.

Honeymoon Dinner

The resort in it's entirety was incredibly clean and well kept. Loved every bit of our stay. We are planning on making another trip there for sure.

xo - Kem

crepes. nyc. fondue. that sounds like a fancy week.

A little recap of the last week with some pictures.

Crepes for dessert on Monday... or Tuesday... someday earlier in the week. With Nutella & Strawberries & Bananas. Delicious.

NYC with some of my favorites for the day on Thursday. It was cold. And a long day. But it was great - good to see my friends. 4:45am-1:00am. AH. I was pooped.

Trying to sleep on the bus is impossible.

One lives in Oregon and made the trip to NYC with a friend to help her move and the others are from back home in PA. We went to Caffe Bene for coffee & snacks, stopped by FAO Schwarz and took pictures with baby dolls (ha) and played the big piano, browsed the M&M Store, shopped at Zara & had dinner at Dallas BBQ. Pulled pork sandwich & Pina Colada's were both SO good.

Oh. And we froze out bums off. Such a cold and windy day. I almost took a guy on the crosswalk because my hair whipped across my face and blinded me for a second. I turned our and said in his general direction, "Sorry. Wind. Hair." haha

How sweet are these lights at Caffe Bene!? Love.

Cafde Bene. If we have our own coffee shop one day, I hope it's very similar to this. Sweet.

Two of my beautiful friends posing with some baby dolls. haha

And Saturday we had a party with some friends in our Missional Community aka life group aka small group (for church). Fondue. And coconut cream pie. YUM.

Rice Crispies are the best in chocolate fondue! Strawberries. Apples. Bread. Steamed veggies.

And for date night, we tried out a local place, Floramo's - ribs & steak tips. Oh-Em-Gee. It was delicious.

It was a good week. & to top it all off, well, actually, to start the new week, Fab preached at church this morning. And he did GREAT. I love him.

Any fun or interesting tid bits in your week? Do tell.

xo - Kem

Question-A-Day Sunday : Jan 21-26

Monday. What are you looking forward to?

A LOT. 

- Thursday, NYC with the girls.

- Girls Weekend in May to Florida! (SO SUPER PUMPED!)

- Vaca with the Coblentz's in North Carolina. (We got a beach house that we're splitting with some friends for $400 a room for a full week. HOLLA.)

- Getting in shape and beach ready with P90. (Fab ordered it last week and it's here - we're starting it this week. Scared and excited.)

- Going back to school. (Looking at schools in Boston now!)

*Monday was also my littlest brother's birthday. The big 1-8. WHAT? When did he get to be 18! Insane. It really does seem like yesterday that he was leaving army men all over the house for us to step on and catching his trashcan & carpet on fire while mom and dad were out of town. Geesh. 

Tuesday. Are you seeking security or adventure?

Definitely security. I think I might always want security over adventure though.

Wednesday. Do you need a break? From what?

If anything, I need a non-break and more stuff to do. We were so busy before we moved to Boston and now we are just not and I am definitely needing something to get me out of the house. It's time to sign up for some volunteering.

Thursday. If you were going to start your own company, what would it be?

Coffee shop. With baked goods. And it'd be sweet to sell refurbished and DIY stuff. & pieces from local artists.

Friday. What makes "you" you?

Oh geesh... I'm terrible at these questions. I think serving and helping others is a huge part of who I am. Planning and taking care of things & people. My mama. She definitely makes me who I am... If you tell yourself you aren't like your parents, you're probably wrong. It's unavoidable. 

Mama & Me.

So tell me, what are some of your answers to this weeks questions?

that old french bread

Market Basket. oh, Market Basket. It's a killer of a place. Our go to grocery store... It has the best prices and pretty much everything I need. And despite it always being a mad house, it's super clean and everything is in order.

That's Market Basket on a typical Saturday morning. All 35 check out lanes open. All full. The later it gets in the day, the longer those lines get until they are being controlled by the store employees and going back into the aisles. Sunday, it's even worse. I would go during the week but we have limited usage of a car right now since ours was stolen in September shortly after moving to Boston... Welcome to Boston! :) I was more upset about the fact that my brand new iPod mini was in the car than about the actual car since we have my mother-in-law's car to use and public transportation. We were planning on getting a new one anyway. haha Anywho!

Back to the store. I do a circuit around the store and pray that I don't forget anything so I don't have to fight my way back through the crowds again. Usually, I am not successful. Dairy. Deli. Middle Aisles. Meats. Produce. Bakery.

At Market Basket they know how to get you... By the time I get to the produce, the absolute worst place in the store, I'm beat. Then I get to the Bakery. And they always have fresh and hot and super delicious smelling french bread. My defenses are down at this point so into my basket that french bread goes while I mentally re-arrange the weeks menu to fit french bread TONIGHT.

And french bread in the car on the way home. Since usually I shop on Saturday mornings and I can't be bothered to get up even earlier to have breakfast. Last week, the fresh fruit cups with fresh whipped cream lured me in, too.

This is why they tell you not to shop when you're hungry, Kem.

We are a little family. Three mouths to eat that french bread so it never gets finished. I hate wasting food so I decided to try a little bread crumb action last week. It couldn't be difficult, I figured. And it wasn't so go make some of your own!

Side Note: Little family = myself, Fab & my mother-in-law who we currently live with until we pay off some debts and get our own place.

I had pretty much an entire loaf of bread left. So I sliced it in half and had two of those babies. I heated up the oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit and popped them in there on a cookie sheet. Baked them for about 45 minutes until they were hard(er) and dry.

Grabbed my trusty Ninja blender and threw half in at a time and just blended until it was crumbs. Like bread crumbs, ya know.

I didn't add any seasonings - plain ol' bread crumbs will do. Then I stuck them in a plastic bag and sealed it up with the date. Next time I make meatloaf, I'll use these lovelies.

Gotta say, I was pretty excited not to throw this hunk of bread in the trash or to the animals.

Like, actually excited. Doesn't take much for me. It's the little things.

Do you have any ways of re-purposing ingredients to use them up?

Happy bread crumb making. It's time for date night over here. :)

xo - Kem

Question A Day Sunday

This was our first Christmas here in Boston - away from my family & friends. My parents decided to go on a little road trip to visit some of their friends as a little anniversary trip to themselves. We went to PA and half celebrated Christmas with them two weeks before Christmas... half celebrated being exchanging gifts.

Then my younger brothers came up to Boston for Christmas Eve through the day after Christmas - a short visit but it was nice to have them here for Christmas.

Note to self: Invest in a good camera. It's on my list for the year. Hopefully sooner rather than later. I told Fab the other day that it needs to happen before our next vaca so we can have quality pictures.

Skyping with our parents during gift opening. That's Mike, the youngest of the bunch, over there.

We Skyped with my parents for gift opening and then had a Google Hang Out with our older brother and his fam (wife + 3 little ladies) when they opened our gifts to them. Technology is a wonderful thing.

Google Hang Out with the oldest of the bunch & his fam. Thanks for this gorgeous pic, Colton.

So the whole point of this post... one of my gifts and the beginning of Question-A-Day Sunday!

A post a week to give you a little more about me over the year.

On my wish list was a 5-Year Journal, Q&A a Day, 365 Questions, 5 Years, 1,825 Answers. And Colton fulfilled some of my wish list very well. He got me this book + Cooks Illustrated 2012 Annual Cookbook. Yes. One of my teensy weensy goals for the the year is to actually fill out the answers each day. So far, so good.

This weeks questions.

Monday. Are you a leader or a follower?
Typically, I prefer to lead simply because I like to know what's going on and know that everything is under control. BUT, I am find with following if I trust the person leading. I can do either.

Tuesday. On a scale of one to ten, how was your lunch today?
8. It wasn't all that special... cold rotisserie chicken on toasted bread w/ sliced tomatoes, provolone & rosemary-garlic mayo. That rosemary garlic mayo gave it the 8. So good.

Wednesday. Do you owe someone money? Does someone owe you?
My mama. She loaned us money for my contact appointment when we were there and I lost my contact in the grass. Whoops. Thanks, ma. & no one owes me.

Thursday. What's the oldest thing you're wearing today?
A loose burnout tee that I got from Target maybe 2 years ago... it's so comfy, my go to lounge around, sleep in shirt.

Friday. What was peaceful about today?
My own girls night, me time. Making delicious treats and relaxing.

What was your favorite lunch this week? What made your week peaceful? What's your favorite "oldest thing" to wear?

xo - Kem