Weekend Round-Up

The beast is pounding at my door
An unwelcome guest is he.

I refused to open
wishing he’d go away.

His rage has carried on
torturing me for many months.

Just when I thought the beast
had finally slipped away

He returned with a vengeance
stoppable by none.

He bullied and pushed spring away
refusing to budge no matter what.

Sadly, I fear 

some intervention is quite needed
as now spring 
has been forced
to skip its turn.

Imagine this- 13 inches and still counting at 6:00 PM in the Twin Cities making it the snowiest April ever. The up north area not any better. Here we've met new challenges with muddy roads, deep ruts making driving almost impossible unless you just happen to own a truck which we do not.   
Cook's Notes: 

This  is the ultimate ultra moist coconut pound cake recipe. It's made with coconut cream, toasted coconut and a must for every coconut lover. Perfect for a Mother's Day brunch and/or a neighborhood gathering.  I 'd suggest leftovers for the freezer but trust me there will be none. 

Coconut Cream Pound Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1-1/2 sticks butter, room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp. almond extract
• 3 large eggs,room temperature
• 3/4 cup Cream of Coconut

• 3/4 cup coconut toasted

Icing Ingredients:

• 2 TB. softened butter
• 1-1/2 cups confectioners sugar
• 2 TB. cream of coconut
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract 
• 1/4 cup toasted coconut

Cake Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Spray a loaf pan with PAM or a similar product. Set aside. 
• In a small bowl whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set  aside.
• In a large mixing bowl cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in extracts and eggs one at a time,  mixing well after each addition. Gradually add into dry ingredients in 3 batches alternating with flour mixture, coconut mixture and butter mixture. Mix well. 
• Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 
• Cool 10 minutes in pan and invert on to a wire cooling rack. When loaf is cooled, drizzle with icing and sprinkle 1/4 cup toasted coconut over the top. 

Icing Directions: 

• Beat all ingredients until smooth. Use milk as needed to achieve the right consistency.
  

Ending with a bit of humor-

Not realizing the potential danger I set a plastic bag of garbage outside on a porch bench meaning to put in garage in a garbage can. Apparently I was too slow to move it as a baby raccoon spied the bag. Desperate for food it came right up on porch and all this is in the middle of the day. It wasted no time trying to get into the bag. We heard the commotion and yelled at it to leave. But it was determined to get another chance at the garbage and only moved off the porch. It now was a stand off-us looking at the raccoon and the raccoon looking at us. We yelled again this time the raccoon scurried underneath the porch. Since Bella was power napping unaware of all this commotion my husband thought he could easily get the raccoon out and away from the house. He tried many Internet solutions:poured ammonia down though porch slats and shined a bright light on the raccoon. But the trick that seemed to work was using the radio not playing music but loud talking voices. The raccoon must have had enough of the noise. We have not heard or seen it since. But now its dark who knows what could happen next.