"The Immortal Life of Cleopatra-Queen of Kings"

I finished this last night and loved the book.

Paula Deen does a "The Help" Version on Her Show!

10:00 AM central time, that's now, y'all!  If you've not read the book by Ms. Kathrine Stockett, I suggest you do.  The movie comes out in August and if you like reading books before movies, you have little time left (unless you're like me and devour books in a matter of two days).

I love me some Paula and I love this book so it's a happy morning for me despite the fact that I'm getting a summer cold, and baby flung her head back this morning, busting my upper lip. ; (

Paranoia Sets In

Image courtesy

  Maybe it's because I've been reading too much...had too much time on my hands, but for whatever reason paranoia has set in.  See that innocent looking toy above?  We bought that, my husband and I, for our baby's first Christmas.  It was suggested by my cousin and his wife who also have a baby that loves the "boy version" of this dog very much.  The thing, like most toys, operates on batteries.  Unlike most toys, you can plug it into your computer much like an Ipod and sinc your baby's personal settings to it.  Upon accessing the company website, you "login" and commence to "programming" the toy to say your child's name, play their favorite tunes, say their favorite color, food, etc.  It incorporates this info. into funny little raps and other songs.

It's got me thinking.  Somewhere out there someone knows these things about my child.  By linking our email address to the toy, does it know where it resides?  Is there some sort of tracking device on the chip?  I mean, it can learn your name.  What else can it do?!

I know.  I know.  Watching too much TV and spy movies has done this to me.  Despite that knowledge, I've removed the batteries and our online account.

And for the record.  I don't own any apps nor do I have internet on my cellphone.  Again, I know.  I think I'm on the computer too damn much as it is so don't need to take it with me everywhere I go, but I think we're barreling full speed ahead with something that is still greatly unknown.  I don't know any friends that have antivirus for their phones, but they all use them just as they would their home computers.  I don't think it's a good idea to access bank accounts, etc. from such devices.  Just call me paranoid.

AND P.S. If you stare at that dog long enough, does it give you the creeps?

Sweet & Tangy Pulled Pork Sandwiches

The other day, a friend of mine mentioned making Pulled Pork sandwiches and I thought I should give it a try.  There are many versions of pulled pork.  Here's an easy, tasty, recipe from Taste of Home.

Ingredients

• 1 boneless pork shoulder butt roast (3 to 4 pounds) (I used pork tenderloins) seasoned with salt
• 1 jar (18 ounces) apricot preserves (I used a 10 oz. jar)
• 1 large onion, chopped (I used half of a large sweet onion)
• 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce (I used one tbsp reg. soy & 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce)
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• (I also added a tsp. of red pepper flakes and 3 whole garlic cloves which baked in their skins only to be slipped out and mashed in with the pulled pork at the end)
• Hamburger buns, split, optional

Directions

• Cut pork roast in half; place in a 4- or 5-qt. slow cooker. Combine
• the preserves, onion, soy sauce and mustard; pour over roast. Cover
• and cook on low for 8-10 hours or until meat is tender.
• Remove meat; cool slightly. Skim fat from cooking juices (I didn't do this) . Shred pork
• with two forks and return to slow cooker; heat through. Serve on
• buns, if desired. Yield: 12 servings.
• 
  
• Recipe courtesy of Taste of Home.

To modify this recipe, I used pork tenderloins and cooked them in a casserole dish set in a 325 degree Fahrenheit oven for 4 hours.  At three and a half hours into the cooking, I pulled the pork out of the oven and pulled it apart with a fork.  By this time it was already tender enough to do so.  I put it back in the oven for another 30 minutes so that all of the juices incorporated with the pulled meat.  Delicious!

Nutrition Facts: 1/2 cup (calculated without buns) equals 296 calories, 11 g fat (4 g saturated fat), 67 mg cholesterol, 248 mg sodium, 29 g carbohydrate, trace fiber, 20 g protein. Diabetic Exchanges: 3 lean meat, 2 starch.

Sharing @

Dump Cake

The other day, I made a Cupa Cupa Cake which is the easiest cake recipe I've ever followed.  It got me thinking about dump cakes and I recalled one my Mom makes.  I googled this just to be sure of the steps even though you can count the ingredients on one hand.  I found out that this cake goes by several names.  Call it what you want, I'm calling it good.

Without further ado, I present to you the Tropical Cake, Hawaiian Cake, Cherry/Pineapple Dump Cake, Cherry Dump Cake.  Um, you get the idea.

What you'll need:
1 box yellow cake mix
1 (20 oz.) can cherry pie filling
1 (16 oz.) can crushed pineapple with juice
1 stick of butter, melted
Flaked Coconut for sprinkling on the topping
Pecans for sprinkling on the topping

How to make it:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9 x 13 pan and pour contents of pineapple can into dish.  Spread out evenly.  Pour cherry pie filling and smooth out over pineapple and top with package of yellow cake mix.  Lastly, top cake mix with pecans and flake coconut.  I went light on this, but I guess you could sprinkle on as much as you like.

Bake for one hour.

Sunday Funnies

Today's the Day

Today marks the (sorta) one year anniversary of me blogging and the announcement of my giveaway recipient.  It's been a fun past year and I've enjoyed sharing, reading your comments, and reading your posts.  You're support has helped me to stay aboard the blogger train and I hope that we have many more miles to go.

To get to the fun part, here I am cutting up little squares w/followers' names on them,

and here's a video of mon petit fille selecting a name...


The winner is Olga of Olga's Home & Garden Blog.  (Olga, I will contact you about shipping details.)

It's amazing how time passes.  Lately, I've been looking back over past posts.  Seeing where this past year has gone is interesting.  Here are my top five favorite posts, in no particular order, from this past year:

1. Caught in action
2. Recipe for Sleep
3. A cat's mishap
4. Misadventures of a tween in the kitchen
5. Our termites are foreign

I hope you enjoy strolling through memory lane.  Have an awesome weekend!

The Kitchen Witch