Rudders at Home

Yum. It turned out well, although I nearly forgot to put the brown sugar on top. Plus, I used soy milk instead of evaporated for the topping. Either way, though, it tasted good and I proved to Paul that he does like coconut! It doesn’t look like much, but tasted lovely!

I haven’t been able to make this cake in the UK because of the fact I haven’t been able to find a yellow cake mix. I refuse to pay the money for the imports, and sometimes I admit I’m too stubborn to try to find alternatives to things – let alone be bothered to do it. So after five years, it was definitely a treat.

Bake 325 F for 45 minutes
1 yellow cake mix
1 can fruit cocktail
2 1/3 cup coconut
2 eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar packed
1/2 cup butter or oleo
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup evap milk or regular milk
Combine cake mix, fruit with juice, 1 cup coconut and the eggs. Blend, then beat 2 minutes at medium speed. Pour into greased 13 x 9 inch pan. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake 325F for 45 minutes or until done – springs back in the center.

Bring butter, white sugar and milk to a boil, boil 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in remaining coconut. Spoon over hot cake in pan. Serve warm or cold.

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This picture makes me laugh. It’s a picture of me on our trip to Normandy. It was cold. It was windy. I’ve seen bunkers before. You have no idea how many pictures of bunkers I have. I don’t put them ALL in the Gallery.

Doesn’t my hair look good?

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The weary traveler has returned. Yep, that’s right, Paul’s back from his travels to the states. For those of you who didn’t know, Paul was in Houston for work recently. And what did he bring back for me?

Yes, you see that right! A Betty Crocker Yellow Cake mix, plus a few more other goodies.

Good job it’s a Bank Holiday weekend. One Ugly Duckling Cake, coming right up!

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I’m still catching up on things, it seems. I’ve been meaning to post about this for ages, but just haven’t. I don’t have an excuse, I admit it.

But here we are at Easter weekend – what did we do? Not much, it was Easter. But, we did take some time to visit the lovely city of Bath. It was also insanely busy. We seemed to have arrived in the middle of a rugby game – which was unlucky, as Paul would say.

This meant we didn’t get to spend a lot of time there in Bath. Most of our time was spent finding a parking space. Seriously, it was crazy busy. By the time we were parked, and out of the car, we really felt like getting back in heading home. Especially as the weather was a bit crap and there were so many people milling about.

However, once we made our way up to the abbey, the weather broke and the blue sky came out. Still cold, but at least we had sunshine. I was able to get a beautiful shot of the abbey, with this brilliant blue background. If you look at the picture you can see the angels going up and down the ladders, to and from heaven. We didn’t go in to the abbey, or even the Roman baths. I’d been before, on my first trip to the UK, and Paul wasn’t as keen as I was to see scenes from Jane Austen.

And that was my real reason to visit Bath again – to see bits I hadn’t seen before… things I’ve seen in movies and had read about in books that I wanted to see in real life and to dream a little bit. So, we had a bit of a wander and followed some other tourists around. We took a few funny pictures of ourselves, and then went to the Sally Lunn bun place, which was highly overrated with very bad service. Although, how can you resist a cream tea, I don’t know.

I really liked Bath the first time I visited, and I’m sure we’ll go back. I think when we do, we may spend an evening and explore a little more. Our trip this time wasn’t very well thought out, or timed right at all. A bit of a spur of the moment decision which turned out to be a very nice day.

Our way back home was maybe just as interesting as our day. One thing I didn’t get a picture of, and really wish I had, was we drove through a town called Pennsylvania!! I was completely flabbergasted! There was even a B&B there – maybe we’ll go spend a night in Pennsylvania some time!

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Our fifth wedding anniversary was on April 5th, and that was a Saturday this year… So, Paul and I decided to celebrate with an evening out in the countryside. What countryside did we visit? Well, have a lookie here.

Yep, we went to Dover. And don’t worry, I’ll be posting some more about what we actually did. Thought I’d just give you the picture as a bit of a teaser.  😛

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