Cake, et. al.

A little birdie told me that someone has a birthday coming up.  That same little birdie also told me if I want a birthday cake, I best make it myself.  Now while I did make this under the guise of book club (City of Women, by the way. Excellent read.), I will be enjoying the leftovers henceforth as my birthday cake.

Of course I chose to make a sourdough cake. Recipe found here. 

Now, while I don't expect you to go run out and get a sourdough starter in order to make this cake, you should tuck the coffee icing recipe under your hat. It is yummy yummy and would be great on brownies, boxed chocolate cake, sugar cookies, and the like. 

In other news, I have gone all in with regards to the "eating as a 7th grader" trend. First it was pizza grilled cheese, and now this. Yes, those would be pizza hamburgers. Pizza taco next? 

So! Much! Sourdough!

This sourdough starter has officially taken over my life.  I chronicled my receipt of the starter here, and since then, I have gone all Leslie Knope with it.  I have been using recipes from the King Arthur website, and I've been thrilled with the results.  In the past month, I have made approximately 

10 loaves of this bread (Ummmm, where has it all gone??? See below for some uses.), 

one recipe of these soft pretzels, 

one recipe of these buttery dinner rolls, 

two recipes of this pizza dough,

one recipe of these cinnamon rolls,

and one recipe of these pancakes.

 And they were amazing.  Best pancakes I've ever had, no question.  But I think I could have halved the recipe...

With my surfeit of bread loaves, I made this cheddar bacon ranch pull-apart bread for a Superbowl party.  Definitely going to be making this for my next book club. 

And I've been making a surfeit of grilled cheeses. But creativity has ensued.  Pictured below you see pizza grilled cheese.  I was told this sounds like something a 7th grader would eat, but give me back my braces, perm, and BSB poster, and I'll go back to the 7th grade so I can eat this. 

Valentines 3.0

If you've been on the Patti Wagon for the last year, you know that my family has a very special Valentine's Day tradition. We send each other homemade cards every year.  I have chronicled years past here and here.  I look forward to it as much as the Thanksgiving stuffing, body surfing contests, and Jon Solomon's 24-hour Christmas radio show (other Clayton family traditions). 

I have been in a bit of a crafting rut lately, so I went with my old standby, pop culture. 

For my mom: 

(For the record, I feel terrible about this. I made the card before this happened.)

And another UK-centric card for my dad: 

Anyone out there get it???

And cheesy pop music for Laurel: 

And these are the cards I received this year. 

From mom: 

Adorable!

And from dad, including a new font on the envelope!

And from Laurel, a reference to the greatest internet cat video ever. 

Check out Studio Adventures for more cards from this year. A family that puns together, stays together.  Hope everyone had a lovely Valentine's Day!