Grandma Stories» Reviews

Key Lime Bundt Cake – Oprah’s Favorite Things Recipe

Grandma — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 17:12:21 +0000

Oprah’s 2004 favorite Gourmet Florida Key Lime Bundt Cake recipe is incredibly delicious and has become a family favorite in Grandma’s kitchen. The Oprah Winfrey Show had an annual segment called Oprah’s Favorite Things, or “The O List”, as it is sometimes referred.

Typically aired during the Thanksgiving holiday season, Oprah shared with her audience a list of things she believes are great gift ideas and products, and audience members participating in the taping of the segment receive free gifts to take home from her favorite things on that year’s list.

If you like key lime pie, you will love this key lime pound cake with the cream cheese glaze. Just be sure to use Nellie & Joe’s Key Lime Juice to make this tangy, lime, gourmet cake in a bundt pan.

O, The Oprah Magazine includes a similar feature that some refer to as Oprah’s Favorite Things, but the term for that feature in the magazine is actually called “The O List”. Oprah’s magazine is one my favorite things to browse through, check out the recipes and decorating ideas, as well as the stories.

It’s no wonder why Oprah’s favorite things was the most watched episode in the history of the show, that is, until Oprah canceled her popular favorite things show in 2009.

Gourmet Florida Key Lime Bundt Cake

Key Lime Bundt cake directions and ingredients:

*Nellie & Joe’s Famous Key Lime Juice

Cake:
2 Cups extra fine sugar (C&H Baking Sugar)
Zest of three key limes, (2 if using limes) finely minced
1 Cup unsalted butter, room temperature
4 eggs
2 yolks
2 Teaspoons vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons key lime juice
1/2 Teaspoon lime oil or lemon extract
1-1/3 Cups heavy cream
3-3/4 Cups all purpose flour
4 Teaspoons baking powder
1/2 Teaspoon baking soda
1/4 Teaspoon salt

Key Lime Syrup:
3/4 Cup water
1/2 Cup key lime juice
1-1/2 Cups sugar
1/2 Teaspoon lime oil or lemon extract

Cream Cheese Glaze:
8 ounces cream cheese
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon key lime juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon each, lemon and lime zest, finely minced
1 1/4 – 1 1/2 cups sifted confectioner’s sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray 12-cup Bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray.
Mix together sugar and zest for 2 minutes to help release the oils. Add butter to the sugar and zest and cream mixture. Blend in eggs, yolks, and extracts on low to blend, scraping bowl. Add in remaining ingredients and blend into a smooth batter.

Pour batter into cake pan and bake for 1 hour or until cake tests done. Cake will be lightly golden brown and firm to the touch when you press your fingers on it.

While cake is baking, make Key Lime Syrup:
In a small sauce pan, bring all syrup ingredients to a boil and simmer 5 minutes.

When cake is done, remove from oven and pour all but approximately 1/3 cup of the syrup over cake while still in the Bundt pan. Pour so syrup goes down sides and around the center tube. Set reserved 1/3 cup syrup, set aside. Let cake cool for 15 minutes and invert onto serving dish. With pastry brush, coat the top of the cake where glaze didn’t reach, with the remaining syrup.

Let cake cool completely and glaze with Cream Cheese Glaze.

Cream Cheese Glaze directions:

Soften cream cheese and cream with butter. Stir in lime juice, vanilla, and lime zest. Fold in confectioner’s sugar to make a soft, drippy glaze. If glaze is not the right consistency to drizzle, thin by adding 1 teaspoon at a time of hot water and stirring to mix well until glaze reaches the desired consistency. Drizzle over cooled cake. Allow to set. Yield Serves 12-16. Enjoy!

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GE Side By Side Refrigerator Freezer Problems and Recall

Grandma — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 17:47:36 +0000

We have a large General Electric (GE) side-by-side refrigerator freezer that suddenly and without warning broke down and quit working. At first Grandpa thought that maybe the problems were only with the freezer motor or blown fuse, since it appeared that the frig was still cooling. The lights inside still worked and the water line for the ice maker and water dispenser on the door still worked. It turns out that the refrigerator circuit board was giving us the problems and in need of repair or replacement, and both the refrigerator and freezer had died.

It figures that the refrigerator would break down on a weekend and we would have problems trying to reach a local service provider or repairman to come and fix the refrigerator for us. Then again, having refrigerator or freezer problems happen on a weekend is much better than if it happened during the work week or while on vacation. Fortunately, we still have a very old stand-up freezer in the garage so we were able to save all the frozen food, and didn’t have any problem keeping the food in the refrigerator cold and nothing was spoiled.

I started searching the net for information about GE refrigerator and freezer problems to try and narrow down the possibilities and reasons why the circuit board would die after just six years, and I found out that there was a circuit board recall in 2006 for several models including our exact model number! A recall of the main circuit board for several GE refrigerator/freezer models and we never got the memo. No letter. No phone call. Thanks GE, for nothing.

GE Refrigerator Master Control Circuit Board Recall

An official letter addressed to GE Customer Care Servicers, written and signed by GE’s National Service Manager Richard Zutterman, dated November 7, 2006 says:

“GE Consumer & Industrial places a very high priority on product quality and customer satisfaction and thus continuously assesses our product reliability. Recent analysis has discovered a potential problem with the main circuit board on a limited number of refrigerator models, which could lead to lower than anticipated life expectancy on that component. Therefore, if the main circuit board fails, GE Consumer & Industrial will replace this part free of charge to the consumer until further notice.”

Zutterman’s letter adds that the affected refrigerator/freezer models are side-by-side plastic liner, side-by-side metal liner, bottom freezer two door and bottom freezer French door styles. These models were produced between May 2005 and August 2006, with the HH-FL serial number range, and all are included in the recall program.

Interesting how this letter was provided to servicers directly, but I still want to know why we as a consumer and customer of GE never received any notice regarding a recall of the main circuit board. I have a pretty darn good guess as to why, but I’ll keep that to myself.

I found the General Electric appliance website to find local providers who could service the refrigerator free of charge because of the recall, wrote down the listed phone numbers in hopes that we’d be able to find someone on a Saturday to come and fix the refrigerator. That didn’t happen. I called the first GE phone number listed to register our complaint and was surprised to reach a human rather than a recorded message machine, and I can imagine the company rep wished she had taken the day off or called in sick.

I gave the lady rep the model number of our refrigerator and freezer (GSS25), also explaining what I had found about there being a circuit board recall on several models, so she put me on hold to check on that. She finally comes back and explains that IF there were a recall, we would have received a phone call, letter or email. Umm, yeah, right.

She then gives me a phone number to call for information on appliance recalls, but calling the number was a complete waste of time because the voice-recorded message was strictly about dishwashers – not refrigerators and/or freezers. There was no option given to “push zero for an operator” or anything like that. Thanks again GE, for nothing.

I printed off the recall information I found online so we can either fax or mail in copies of the invoice and receipt to get our money back from the stupid GE company, since they were oh-so-kind enough to inform us that our circuit board had been recalled several years ago. Not.

Luckily, Grandpa found a local GE parts store that had our circuit board in stock, at a cost of about $150.00 plus tax. We’ll be sending GE a bill this week for a full refund of our money, especially since the recall info said the “units may be in or out of the standard 1-year product warranty and both instances are covered under this concession program”. If you are having motherboard problems with your GE refrigerator/freezer, the link above will provide you the complete list of models and model numbers said to be included in the circuit board recall, phone and fax numbers etc.

Grandpa has to be one of the best do-it-yourself handyman geniuses on the planet and he had the refrigerator/freezer working perfectly in no time at all.

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Beer Perfume Attracts Beer Loving Dudes – Eau de Beer Anyone?

Grandma — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 23:39:25 +0000

Beer perfume (EOS) is aimed to attract beer loving dudes and the perfume supposedly helps the planet too. What, Eco-Friendly Beer Perfume perhaps? Apparently so, according to news reports announcing the release of the new beer perfume by Washington perfume company, Sweet Anthem, along with Blue Marble Energy, which is a Seattle based recycling company.

Beer perfume? Really? Are ladies so desperate to get a man that they would actually consider using a beer smelling perfume to attract a guy? Believe it or not, but you can actually buy a 1/2 ounce bottle of this limited edition fragrance “Eos for Her” directly from Blue Marble (bluemarble.net) for just $30. Oh yeah, there is also a Eos for Him too in case you’re interested, but it’s called the “unisex” version.

Eos for Her contains neroli, sandalwood, green tea, and banana; while Eos for Him contains cognac, honeysuckle, white ginger, apricot, and candied fruits. Not only that but the Eos fragrance line is presented in “elegant, square glass bottles with silver metallic caps with roll-on applicators”, and the silver-stamped tags were handmade by local jeweler Carolyn Buss. Ain’t that sweet?!

One of the many ingredients in the perfume is “organic spent brewery grain” from nearby Freemont Brewery. The beer perfume “for her” is described as “a green bright floral, tea-based scent. Very modern and feminine”, while the male or masculine unisex version of the perfume is described as “citrus and cognac with hints of powdery apricot. Equally appropriate for men and women.” It also includes “Propyl Butyrate (bioester), White Ginger, Apricot, Cognac and Honeysuckle.”

News reports say “Seattle’s Blue Marble Energy chemists are cooking up a perfume made from the waste products of a local organic brewery. James Stephens of Blue Marble Energy says the product is a viscous sludge – a mixture of about 50,000 different kinds of bacteria. Black sludge, rancid beer grains, green slimey stuff and it’s all good for the earth and you.” Completely carbon neutral. And…? Does it really smell like beer?

Umm, after reading the description, am I really supposed to say this new perfume sounds lovely and delightful and I’ll rush right out and buy this stuff? I think not, especially after reading King5’s review saying Eos does NOT smell like beer… at all. Well shucks! And here I was thinking I could spritz on a bit of “refined beer sludge” and really spice things up tonight with Grandpa! Dammit!

I was really hoping to tell Allyn Hale about this beer perfume so maybe he’d do a kick-ass review on his Big Beer Blog just for laughs. You Whoooo!!! Allyn!!! Are you up for doing a perfume review that doesn’t smell like beer perhaps? It would be a HOOT! You can even use F-bombs if you wanna. Ha!

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Do It Yourself Ceiling Fix to Repair Large Ceiling Holes

Grandma — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:26:26 +0000

What do you do when there is a hole in your ceiling needing to be fixed? Not just any ceiling fix either. No, I’m talking about fixing a large hole in the ceiling. A verrrry large hole. See, my husband fell through the ceiling and we now have a large ceiling hole above our living room/den and we have to patch the hole. Yes really.

My husband fell through the ceiling while working in the attic recently, because air-conditioning men we hired to replace one of our air-conditioning units left loose air ducts, so my husband was in the attic trying to tighten them when he slipped and fell through the ceiling.

Thankfully he wasn’t seriously hurt, no cracked or broken bones to speak of, but he did get some pretty nasty scratches and bruises. Oh, the curse words were flying everywhere for sure, but at least he was ok.

Seeing my husband’s body hanging through the ceiling, struggling to catch himself so he didn’t fall all the way through, is a very scary sight to behold. Fortunately, Grandpa was able to pull himself up through the large, gaping hole in the ceiling and didn’t fall all the way down to the floor. It’s a longggg way down.

If he had fallen through the ceiling all the way down to the floor, there’s no telling how bad the injuries could have been, but a broken leg or even a hip fracture is the least of the injuries I’ve heard of from people falling through ceilings or off of roofs.

Trust me, the ceiling got the worst of it.

How to Fix Ceiling Holes

Repairing ceiling holes includes drywall work that even my personal “fix it man”, as I playfully call him, isn’t experienced in. There are things you need to buy, rent or have on hand if you’re going to repair a wall or ceiling on your own. Unfortunately, since we have high ceilings, we’ll have to rent scaffolding equipment for Grandpa and another family member (an experienced carpenter) to use in order to reach and fix the ceiling hole.

We have high ceilings that are textured with that popcorn “cottage cheese” texture, and we have learned the hard way that patching or repairing ceiling holes is a costly project. Home maintenance costs are sky-rocketing, so getting cost estimates to patch a ceiling hole from professional home improvement companies is enough to make your eyes bug out.

The lowest quote we were given to repair the ceiling hole was over three thousand dollars for a two-day fix-it job. $3000.00 and up is not in our budget, and we feel quite fortunate to know people who are experienced in home improvement and drywall to help keep costs as low as possible.

No wonder so many homeowners prefer the DIY home improvement route to patch holes in walls or ceilings, and when you’re working hard to get out of debt, the last thing you need is an expensive home repair job to patch a popcorn ceiling hole.

Not only that, but we don’t have to concern ourselves about finding out how to paint or get rid of a popcorn ceiling either, because our guy already knows how and is doing the repair and paint work with Grandpa’s help for a mere fraction of the cost given in estimates.

From what I’ve heard, fixing textured ceilings is a pain in the butt, but when it comes to having to repair holes in a ceiling, the pain of patching a popcorn ceiling do-it-yourself style is well worth it vs. the pain in the pocketbook. I just hope they match the paint colors right so we don’t have to hire an experienced painter to finish the job.

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Pole Dancing Doll? No Pole Dancer Doll Says Parents

Grandma — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:14:41 +0000

Good Lord, what is the world coming to? The Poll Dancing Doll must be someone’s idea of a joke, but presenting a pole dancer doll as a “cool gadget” is simply disgusting!

Maybe this pole dancing doll is where Miley Cyrus got the stupid idea from when she recently did her own pole dancing bit that had parents upset.

Seriously, a Poll Dancing Doll? For who? Kids? I think not!

The Pole Dancing Doll is described this way: “It rotates. It has blinking lights, a disco ball, and a pole. And it’s probably one of the wrongest toys you can give to any girl.”

The only thing this poll dancer doll is missing is a place to insert dollar bills, but you can bet the doll maker will be sure to include that feature in upcoming upgrades for the poll dancer. Doll? No way!

Click here to view the embedded video.

“Even if the Pole Dance doll turns out to be fake, the real problem is how easy it is to believe that it’s real. So when anyone says that the pole that Miley and Noah danced around was not a stripper pole, they’re wrong. It was”, says Parent Dish.

There is an epidemic in our society called the Sexualization of Children and “toys” such as this pole dancing doll is just one more gross form of product placement for young children if there ever were one.

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Grandma Purse Book – My Granny’s Purse Book for Grandchildren

Grandma — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 11:00:54 +0000

The Grandma Purse Book is a children’s book but it is also a purse! Some people are so ingenious and crafty, and this Grandma is definitely getting My Granny’s Purse Book for when the grandkids come over. What fun!

My Granny’s Purse is a purse/book for children authored by Paul Hanson, who has also created My Mommy’s Tote and My Grandpa’s Briefcase for children. The Grandma Purse Book is a cardboard pocketbook stored in a clear plastic box, and it opens up to reveal a collection of fun items such as a mirror and comb, a wrench and a heart-shaped box of chocolates. Some objects are removable, like the cardboard keys and sunglasses, but it’s a shame that you can’t really see out of the glasses.

Synopsis: Open Granny’s purse (yes, she said it’s OK) and enter a treasure chest of mementos and magic. A unique, fourteen-page die-cut storybook crammed with interactive features and surprises for ages 3 and up, it contains a whole life waiting to be discovered.

Peek inside Granny’s notebook. Try on her sunglasses. Check yourself in the mirror. Play with her keys. Look at her photos, read her letter, tie a bow, try on Granny’s rings, wear her scarf. Not only is Granny’s purse a veritable playground for little girls, but piece by piece it creates a portrait of an adventurous, independent, contemporary grandmother, imbued with spirit and gumption. This Granny’s a traveler (and has the passport filled with stamps to prove it). A self-sufficient handyperson with her wrench and compass. A collector of lives and memories. And a genuine softie, with handfuls of treats ready to dispense.

She is also a very wise woman: “My mommy says, ‘You should never look in a lady’s purse.’ My granny says, ‘Never say never!’” “My mommy says, ‘Clean up your room!’ ‘Never throw anything away,’ says granny.” And while mommy always says, “Sit still, please!,” there’s granny: “Let’s go! . . . Life is an adventure!”

My Granny’s Purse is illustrated in full color, has a Velcro closure, and comes in a clear plastic, stackable gift box. Jam-packed with fun things, it’s really a story about love between the generations. What a spectacular and fun gift idea between grandma and grandchildren that is, and it keeps cute little fingers and curious minds out of Grandma’s real purse.

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