THE FAMOUS(?) LEMON SHEET CAKE

 Okay, friends, neighbors, Gentle Readers and fellow gourmands.

You asked for it.

Judy made it Sunday and here's how it turned out.

In addition, some of you asked for the recipe so here it is.

Lemon Sheet Cake

Ingredients

• 1 package lemon cake mix (regular size)

• 4 large eggs, room temperature

• 1 can (15-3/4 ounces) lemon pie filling

• 3 ounces cream cheese, softened

• 1/2 cup butter, softened

• 2 cups confectioners' sugar

• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1 to 2 tablespoons 2% milk

• Colored sugar, optional

Directions

In a large bowl, beat the cake mix and eggs until well blended. Fold in pie filling.

Spread into a greased 15x10x1-in. baking pan. Bake at 350° until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 18-20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Stir in vanilla and enough milk to reach desired consistency. Spread over cake. If desired, sprinkle with colored sugar. Store cake in the refrigerator.

Just to further pique your taste buds, here's how it looks on the plate.

Very briefly.

Enjoy!

A HOAGY SKY

 

Yesterday's clouds made a spectacular display in the sky.

Whenever Judy or I see a sky like this we're reminded of Hoagy Carmichael, who performed the song "Ole Buttermilk Sky" in the movie "Canyon Passage".

Carmichael was an Indiana native who earned a law degree at Indiana University but found his forte in songwriting.

He and Jack Brooks wrote "Ole Buttermilk Sky".

With many partners, he also is credited with writing "Stardust", "Georgia on My Mind", "(Up A) Lazy River", "In the Still of the Night", "Lazybones", "The Nearness of You", "Heart and Soul", "Two Sleepy People" and dozens more.

But somehow we always think of him when we see a sky like this.

An old buttermilk sky.

CAKE, ANYONE?

Today the extremely overworked Catalyst takes the day off and turns Oddball over to his beloved Judy, aka She Who Must Be Obeyed.

 

A while back we acquired a recipe for a "Lemon Sheet Cake" that has become a favorite for many reasons.  

It is quick and easy to make and it tastes great.  

But it requires a boxed cake mix AND a can of lemon pie filling.  

Therein, we find, lies the problem.  

Canned lemon pie filling has become elusive and very hard to find in our area.   

Maybe all of our neighbors are making the same cake.  

It could happen.

This week when we did our online grocery order from Walmart (to be picked up in the parking lot), we tried again.  

As the order was being finalized we were informed that the lemon pie filling was not in stock in this store, but they would ship it to us.   

What?   

No, No,  just cancel that!  

But there was no way on that page to do that.

Sooooooo.....four days later the doorbell rings and lo and behold, there is a box containing ONE CAN OF LEMON PIE FILLING.

Shipped all the way from Sparks, Nevada!

Now, someone is going to have to bake a cake!

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

 Curiously, just this morning I received an email from LL, aka Cross Town Lori, containing a batch of puns.

I say curiously because just last night I had decided that today's edition of the Comedy Cavalcade would be all puns.

So, with a special dedication to Lori, and apologies to all the pun-haters out there (SWMBO included), here we go!

This first one is actually just for Lori's husband, who happens to be named Rick.

So is that enough for you?

Here in Groanland, the applause is deafening.

Or is that deaf to me.

Well that's my destiny.

I know what you're saying: Stop! Stop! Stop!

So I'll pull out all stops to wish you a very organ-ic weekend full of total enjoyment, fun and frolic.

And never forget: Always Keep Laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

FRIDAY FUNNIES PREVIEW

 This one was too good to hold for tomorrow.

CHARCUTERIE

MOVIES FOR OLD FOLKS

 I was having some conversation with SWMBO this evening and the expression "our precious bodily fluids" came out of my mouth.

I knew where it came from, I just didn't know why.

But after looking at a couple of clips on You Tube, I went to Amazon Prime and rented the movie.

We have 30 days to begin watching it - a true classic.

George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden and Peter Sellers, Peter Sellers, Peter Sellers.

I urge you all to join me . . whether old folks or young.

NERDS, ARISE!

So yesterday's little game got mixed results.

Margaret was the first to come up with a correct answer.

For those who didn't understand it, let me explain.

The device shown in the photo is a Voltohmmeter which normally measures various types of electric units.

The selector knob in the photo is turned to the symbol for ohms, which denotes resistance.

Hence, the device is telling you that "resistance is futile".

The phrase may have been first used in an episode of Doctor Who in 1976.

It turns up fairly often in science fiction movies and television shows.

But most of my nerdy friends connect it to an alien collective known as The Borg in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

And no, I have never seen it either.

I've never been a trekkie.

So for those of us who've never seen it, here's a clip.

And now our lives are complete!

NERD ALERT

 Let's see how many nerds are out there.

SLIGHT SATURDAY SNOWFALL

 

33 degrees Fahrenheit right now (9:00 a.m.)

Which means it could turn into Snain, then Sleet, then Rain

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

The weekend is upon us, Gentle Readers.

Speaking of that, I'm a little over a hundred pages into Hamnet.

What are you reading these days?

While you conjure up a good answer, let's get down to the business of the day, shall we?

 

And with that rather lame pun I bid you a fine weekend.

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

TRAVELIN'

 One of the bloggers I've begun following fairly recently, Tasker Dunham in Yorkshire, posted the other day a review of a book he'd just read, "The Great Railway Bazaar" by Paul Theroux.

I think it was the first of many books he wrote about travel and, specifically, railroad travel.

It was published back in the 1970's and I had read it shortly after it came out.

All of which put me into Throwback Mode and reminded me of a photo of Judy and I when we were doing our railroad travel in Europe in 1985.

(Lordy, lordy, that was 37 years ago!)

On one leg of our Eurail adventure I inveigled someone to take a photo of us as we were about to board a train.

In my faded memory it was a train called the Orient Express, though it wasn't that Orient Express but a new train named that, no doubt, for the impressionable American tourists.

But, though my memory was that there was a sign on the outside of the train car carrying that name, I find no evidence of it in the surviving photo.

But there we are, anyway, about to join fellow passengers on a train that ran from Paris, France to Salzburg, Austria, at least.

We were both train buffs and became enamored of the trains that shuttled us around Europe for a few weeks.

I remember a marvelous meal with wine in a dining car between Innsbruck, Austria and Florence, Italy.

I recall the wonderfully scenic trip through the Alps going to Innsbruck.

And seeing the beautiful golden mustard fields around Dijon, France while speeding our way on a bullet train from the Mediterranean coast up to Paris.

Those were good times and while we never achieved our aim of getting back to Europe we made many memories to last a lifetime in that glorious month of April, 1985.

(Some memories are fuzzier than others but . . .)

WET

 

It's a gray and rainy day in my part of Arizona.

A good day to stay inside by the fire.

WAFFLING

 Yesterday morning my wife commanded me to come to her room and bring my camera, pronto!

Being as she is She Who Must Be Obeyed (SWMBO), I responded with alacrity.

Also with my camera.

She directed me to her slider door and said "Look at these clouds."

I did and this is what I saw, peeping over our neighbors' HVAC unit.

Waffle Clouds!

The odd and unusual pattern, we surmised, must have resulted from contrails left by many aircraft passing high over our turf.

We are in an area that sees planes overhead flying into and out of Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix and Las Vegas.

And a little to the left of this mix, there was proof of our theory.

The sighting of those "waffle clouds" had an effect on me.

Early this morning I went to our freezer and pulled out a previously baked item for my morning breakfast.

(In answer to Robin's post yesterday, that gives me "hope". 😘)

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

 Am I late or are you early?

A Friday enigma.

Whatever the solution, it is time for the weekly Cavalcade of Comedy from Catalyst!

So here goes.

That last one is for the groaners.

You know who you are.

I hope you all know who you are on this bright, shiny weekend and that you will expend all energy to enjoy it to the fullest.

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

(Oh, yeah, I've felt like that a few times . . .)