*sproing*

hey, mwy?  remember a while back you posted a recipe for chocolate mayonnaise cake?  i thought it was in the rhubarb pie, but it must have been in a previous one that died when the board did a while ago.  could you maybe post it again?  i don't seem to have it, can't find it,  and was thinking of making it again...

thanks!

... chocolate mayonnaise cake? O.o

yeah, i thought i printed it out (which makes it easier to have to hand when in the kitchen), but it seems i've misplaced or thrown away the copy and i can't find it here anymore.  so.  but yes, it is good.  the icing too.  mmmm.

silly people, it was on the first page!  it still had my nick as Captain Swishypants.

Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake

Mix together at medium speed for 3-5 mins:

1 1/2 cups mayo (Hellmann's is best)
1 1/2 cups cold water
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 T vanilla

Sift together separately:

3 cups flour
3 t baking soda
6 T cocoa

Add to first mixture and beat 5 mins. more.

Grease and flour pan (we usually use a bundt pan).

Bake at 350F 35-40 mins.

-----

Viennese Cream Cheese Icing

2 T soft butter
6 oz. cream cheese
1 lb. confectioner's sugar
2 to 3 t milk
1 t vanilla

Cream butter and cheese together. Add sugar and milk alternately until reaches desired consistency. Add vanilla. Cocoa powder can also be added to taste, but keeping this as a white icing is a nice balance to the richness of the cake.

enjoy!

Candide parked the car much too close to the woods.  Mooey became entangled in fallen branches and nearly tripped trying to get out of her seat.  Closing the door, she walked to the back of the car and, pushing up her glasses, took everything in.

There were two dozen cars parked in the winding inlet, concealed in golden grass that stood nearly as tall as Candide.  Across the gravel path was a little country house, lopsided and ramshackle, with green shutters, peeling white paint and built in three obvious sections that made no effort to match up to each other.  On the half-acre of lawn next to the house, people were milling about, laying down blankets and setting up folding chairs.

At the very back of the lawn sat a little wooden stage, no bigger than Mooey's bedroom at home.  A blue tarp made its roof, and a simple yellow banner proclaimed the purpose of the day:  Tribes Hill - Kindred Folk.  Three musicians sat on the stage and took turns playing the songs they wrote.

"Ready, little one?"  Mooey looked up at Candide, who had bedecked herself a big floppy straw hat, earth shoes and a patchwork sweater.  Earth shoes, no wonder she looks short today, Mooey thought, no heels.  The dragon took her hand and they walked toward the house.

A booth on the right displayed the line-up for the day and advertized CDs and mailing lists.  Mooey browsed through these while Candide paid their admission.  A little smoky chuckle came out upon learning that the last band of the night was called Girlyman, and our little dragon friend was good and refrained from showing Candide.

Across the lawn from the admission booth was the catering booth.  Mooey's tummy growled and she pulled Candide in its direction.  Barbequed chicken sat in a steaming pyramid on the grill and the front table was lined with beer, wine, water and soda.  Within a few minutes their plates were served, piled high with veggie burgers and macaroni and potato salads.  They walked over to a picnic table and were nearly run over my a girl who was running and flailing like a marionette and making strange squeaking noises.  It took a few passes around the table before they realized she was being chased by bees.  Candide shook her head and said, "This is going to be some day!"  Mooey twitched her tail nervously and dug into her potato salad, swimming in paprika sauce and crunchy with big chunks of celery.

She looked around at the other people who had come out to join them that day.  When Candide had said they were going to a folk music festival, Mooey was, frankly, a little afraid.  She'd built an idea in her mind of a lawn full of people draped in tie-dye, being much too touchy-feely even for her liking and reeking of patchouli and body odors.  These were not that type of people, although in some ways, they could stand to be more like that.  They were all very modern, but included in this was that most of them seemed very cold.  Candide noticed this, too.  It's a shame, she thought, that even something like this can't make people feel closer to one another.

The woman on the stage belted gutterally into the microphone, serenading the crowd like a tomcat under a window, and Mooey knit her eyebrows in Candide's direction.  Candide laughed at the dragon and said, "You've heard some of the performers play before, Mooey.  They're not all going to be this bad.  Now finish up and we'll go put our blanket on the lawn by the stage."

Mooey became excited and shoved the last few bites of veggie burger down her gullet.  She knew she'd recognized some of the names on the list and couldn't wait to hear them.  Thinking of this, she giggled again at "Girlyman" and nearly shot food out of her nose.  Candide jumped up out of her seat, ready to attend to our little dragon friend, and sighed with relief and exasperation when she realized Mooey was okay.  She took her empty plate away from her and threw it in the garbage, then motioned for Mooey to follow her.  They made their way down to the stage.

The acts were set to be on stage three at a time, individual performers who each played their own songs and occasionally backed one another up, and every hour the group would change.  Folk, blues and ethnic; sad, serious and funny.  They played songs about love and about loss, about war and against war.  They played songs about something that happened to a lot of people in New York a few years ago and songs about things that happened to them personally just last month.  One group only played songs by a famous folk singer who had some beautiful ideas to believe in.  The people in the crowd cheered and hooted and sang along whenever they could, because they all believed in these ideas, too.

Between sets, Mooey bumbled about the lawn, smiling at people and checking the CD table for new and interesting things.  She took pictures of the beat-up house, but the character she saw in it could never be kept on film.

It was chilly and dark by the time Girlyman took the stage, and by now our little dragon friend was getting very tired.  She couldn't contain herself anymore and rolled around on the blue velvet throw that Candide had laid down for them, giggling and pointing.  Candide had caught on by now.  "Yes, little one, that's very funny, isn't it?  Well, look at him."  She pointed to the stage.

The band members were lined up, instruments in hand.  The "man" of Girlyman stood at stage left and was flooded with green light.  She recognized him from her travels out on the lawn.  He had the palest skin she'd ever seen, tow-blond hair and very dark lipstick, not to mention a head that was much too big for his body.  Now under the soft green light, this man who already looked strange in daylight appeared outright alien.  She stared in fear.

A tomboyish girl and a living chinadoll took up instruments at the other end of the stage.  The three nodded to each other and opened their mouths, and the sound that came out was absolute magic.  Candide and Mooey cuddled close to each other, telling themselves it was because the air had grown cool in the evening, but each knowing it was because of the way this music touched their very souls.  Their voices, their words were the most beautiful they'd heard the whole day, smooth like warm honey, bright and sparkling like crystals.  The harmonies nearly made Mooey's heart change rhythm and she wrapped her arms around herself.  It was too beautiful, too overwhelming, and over much too soon.  The band stepped off the stage and into the dark.  The green man turned white again in the dark of night.

Mooey pulled herself to her feet and made her way to the CD table.  Candide followed.  The little dragon pushed her way between the people and found the band's CD.  Wordlessly, she held it up to Candide; Candide nodded.

Within a few minutes, there was a huge campfire built in the middle of the yard.  Many of the people had already left for the night, including most of the musicians.  A few remained and huddled close to the fire on rickety plastic chairs.  Candide and Mooey joined them, stretching their icy hands and feet toward the center of warmth.  Mooey stared into the fire, watching the flames lick at the logs and the embers irridescing and rolling as if strangely alive.

One of the musicians, one that Mooey knew she had seen before, began to strum his guitar.  He had big silver plastic glasses and a shaved head, and his guitar was covered in stickers.  He had a voice that was soulful and pure-of-heart, and he believed all those beautiful ideas that had been sung about all day.  Mooey rocked and hummed to herself as he sang, and was always sad when his song was done.

The musicians each took turns, singing their own songs and famous ones, singing the real words and making them up when they forgot.  Some children began roasting marshmallows, and soon everyone was eating s'mores.  Candide laughed to herself as she licked stretchy, dripping marshmallow from her hands.  She hadn't done this since she was 15, she realized, and had forgotten what fun it was, nevermind how wonderfully decadent.

So absorbed were they all in the warmth, music and love that four hours passed before anyone realized it.  Our little dragon friend turned heavy eyes toward Candide, who turned hers back and nodded.  Candide collected herself and Mooey and bid everyone a good night.

On the car ride home, the CD of the beautful band with the very silly name played in the car stereo, and Mooey fought to stay awake.  The ethereal lull of their voices won and Mooey slept, her heart full and her spirit moved.

[ September 12, 2004: Message edited by: Incredible Shrinking Dragon ]

Yay, Mooey!
Yum... cake...

Oh, and a bundt pan is advisable.  My corners got a bit overdone last time before the middle finished.  But ti was still great.  Yum.

well... beads are little things, often round, sometimes shaped like other things like cubes or platypuses... they have holes in them so you can line em up on string.  they come in all different colors and can be made of different stuff like stone, wood, bone, clay... mashed potatoes are not recommended.

any other questions?

/utter-smartass

seriously... whatcha need to know, hon?  i 'll see if i can help, but i'm not quite an expert.

Mmmm... mashed potatoes...

*goes to make some for dinner*

backatcha!

lol... well, she asked in PM, so i replied there... wasn't anything major... you didn't miss a Sermon on the Mount ;)

Mwster of the Beadiverse wrote:

lol... well, she asked in PM, so i replied there... wasn't anything major... you didn't miss a Sermon on the Mount ;)

Well, ok then... :)
I like beads.  They're so pretty.  I can never think of anything to do with them, but I like them... :)

yay!  you're gonna have a blast.  i started with doing things like basic repairs (putting a new clasp on a necklace, crap like that)...  now i have this... mass...

if i actually had friends around here, i'd have a beading party.  just lay everything on a table, let people pick crap out and put it together, then finish it off for them.  that'd pare this down for sure <G>