Foodie Friday: Spring Fling

It's Foodie Friday at Gollum's!

Don't forget next week's "Cinco de Mayo" celebration.


For this week's offering, I gussied up another store-bought cake from Publix.

First, I cut it in half.

I placed the top part on waxed paper for safekeeping.

I opened a jar of Smucker's chocolate sauce and "fluffed" two tubs of Cool Whip Extra creamy.

I lined the edges of a cake plate with more waxed paper (cut with scissors and just put the paper along the very, very edges of the cake for easy removal). Next, I spread chocolate sauce on the bottom layer.

A generous helping of Cool Whip came next.

I put the layers together and covered the whole cake with Cool Whip.

Using a carrot peeler, I shaved dark chocolate onto the surface.

You can use any kind of chocolate. I used Lindt.

Gussied Up Store Bought Cake

• Store-bought pound cake
• 2 cartons Extra-creamy Cool Whip
• Chocolate sauce
• Chocolate bar
  Cut cake in half (or in 3rds). Spread layer with chocolate sauce and Cool Whip. Put cake together. "Ice" with Cool Whip. Shave chocolate on top of cake, using a carrot peeler. Chill 1 hour. Remove waxed paper "bib."
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Here is my mother enjoying a slice of cake.
  
  
  If you are participating in this week's Foodie Friday, add your name to Mr. Linky:
  

Foodie Friday: Beef Wellington

It's Foodie Friday!
Here's the calendar.

Today we're cooking Bandwith's Beef Wellington!
1. Brush with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.


2. Sear on all sides. Bandwith did this on the grill.

Wrap in Saran Wrap and chill for an hour.
3. Remove from fridge. Arrange prosciutto over roast

Keep plastic wrap under the roast for easy handling.

4. Cover with roasted garlic and chill for wrap in puff pastry--brush the pastry with egg wash. Chill--puff pastry loves the cold.


5. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, or until pastry puffs.




Let's eat!

Bandwith, you did a great job!


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A Tangerine Tablescape Thursday (With a Digression About Childhood and the Color Orange)

When I think of orange, a calm, cozy feeling washes over me, and my thoughts fin off into the past, drifting back to my parents' den in the late 1960s. My mother's colors were orange, yellow, and brown--not because she was following a fad; the room came together on its own.

Mother and her cousin, Freddie, made the draperies many years ago, back when we lived in New Orleans. I remember playing under the fabric with my cousins, Judy and Jeannie. We draped the panels over the dining room table, creating a secret room.

When the sun hit the fabric just right, the pattern would spring to life--the same hunt scene over and over, only we were seeing a mirror image.

The dominant colors melted into the bright, Louisiana light: cream and chocolate, with hints of lemon, paprika, and tangerine.

After we moved to Tennessee, our den just happened to have orange wall-to-wall. I thought our draperies were made for this new house. My mother went to a country fair and bought an afghan--cream wool shot through with orange, yellow, and brown--and our beloved color scheme took root in this new place, making us all feel warm and secure.

When we were building the farmhouse, my mother picked the dining room color, a rosy terra cotta,

and shades of that delightful color have spilled throughout the house.


Tangerine is a color with a built-in smile. It plays well with other colors, too. I specially love to see it paired with its opposite pal, cobalt, and with kissing cousins--yellows and reds. When green is added, orange just snaps and vibrates.


As I shopped the house, I found myself humming "Tangerine," that old Johnny Mercer song.

This darling piece is a sugar bowl, part of a whole tea set that I bought in a tiny shop near Leeds Castle, back in December 1999. We divided up the pieces, wrapped them in our dirty clothes, and stuffed them into our suitcases.

If I can get my act together, which seems doubtful, I'll take pictures of the whole set.

I've used these dishes for other Tablescape Thursdays. The pattern is "Sculpted Zinnia" by Metlox, and it was popular (along with "Sculpted Daisy") in the 60s. In our little town, you couldn't get married without picking a Metlox pottery pattern.

Each petal is intricate--and truly "sculpted."



Hosting a weekly event is a labor of love, and Susan does a marvelous job with Tablescape Thursday. For a delicious array of tablesettings, visit Between Naps on the Porch.

Tablescaping Notes:
Dishes -- "Sculpted Zinnia" by Metlox; green Depression salad plates (collected from many places).
Charger -- Bordallo Pinheiro
Napkins -- April Cornell
Flatware -- my grandmother's "Wild Rose" by International
Napkin rings -- antique booth, $1 each
Glassware -- Depression glass (collected over time)
Flowers -- mark-down at Publix
Vase & orange pitchers -- the pitchers were prizes; vase was bought at a local shop.
Thatched sugar bowl -- Burlington Ware, Made in England