Gram's Recipes - Edith's Dream Cake

Last night while sitting here at the computer, I had something come to mind ... it actually hit me in the head as it fell from the shelf above my computer. Let me explain. I cook and I bake ... and I'm fairly good at it. I think who taught me was a tie between Mom and Grandmom Spares (here after known as "Gram"). I was always encouraged to bake and did my fair share. One of the things I inherited from Gram was her old recipe box. Thats what hit me on the head last night. I have always meant to make a book to share the recipes with the rest of the family. Most of my cousins were too young to bake with Gram but they do, for the most part, remember her. After going thru some of the recipe cards last night while picking them up off the floor, I discovered that they are fading fast. The old plastic typewriter that Gram had didn't have a very good ribbon in it, so it was pretty faded to start with. Grams writing is fairly easy to read but is also fading on some of the cards so I need to get these recipes copied. I'm going to post them here. I will post them exactly as they are written on the cards. Some do not have any baking instructions but if you bake at all, you should be able to figure it out.

The first recipe is Edith's Dream Cake (Edith was Gram's sister, married to Grandad's brother)

Edith's Dream Cake
2/3 cup shortening
2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp flavoring
2 eggs

Cream shortening: sift flour, baking powder, salt & sugar together. Add all dry ingredients to creamed shortening. Beat. Add milk & flavoring. Beat well. Add unbeaten eggs.

I'm working on a project called "Journey of a Quilter". It's an Australian design that combines stitchery and quilting. I was never interested in embroidery when I was younger although I did cross-stitch for years. I have now discovered my love for stitchery. Just like reading a good book, I can get completely lost in it. I'm posting pictures of the block sections here as I finish them. The four sections shown here make up one block. There are nine blocks in the project. I'm also planning to go thru old photos and start posting pictures of quilts and projects I have made.

I've finally done it ...

So many people have been after me to start a blog, I finally decided it was time. I need something to keep me accountable to all the promises I make, the lists of things to do I have in my head, unfinished projects I look at every day and wonder when will I ever get the time. Well, I have the time ... I just need to learn how to manage it better. Friends say to me "you get so much done ... I wish I could accomplish half what you do"! Guess what ... I waste so much time its disgusting. I waste it reading in the bathtub (Jamie and Claire keep calling to me). I waste it playing Sims3 on the computer or watching tv ... have you seen the new show "Ice Pilots"? I waste time sleeping ... you get my point. Anyway, I've finally decided that I need to be more accountable for the moments of time that drift away between the wasted time and the productive time. Hopefully, by making my time public ... I'll use it more to my advantage.

Over the next few days I plan on posting some pictures to keep you all amused (of course, I need to figure out how, first)!

I also plan on posting pictures of some of the progress I'm making on current projects. Hopefully, this will be incentive to actually finish the projects.

Have a great day ... Jan