Whoopie!

I was at my grandma's house the other day when she found a recipe for whoopie pies in a magazine. We both thought they looked really yummy, so I went into the kitchen and whipped them up.

We were right. They are delicious and quite possibly my new favorite sweet treat.

Two chocolate cakes sandwiched together with a marshmallowy filling. Mmmmmm. What's not to love?

Here's the recipe. I believe it came from AARP magazine.

Whoopie Pies

For the cake:
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups flour
1 cup buttermilk

Beat sugar, egg, butter, and vanilla until light and creamy. Mix cocoa, baking soda, salt, and flour. Blend with buttermilk into the creamed mixture. Drop by heaping tablespoons onto greased baking sheets. Bake 7-9 minutes at 375 degrees. Cool on wire racks. Makes 30 cakes.

For the filling:
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt

Mix all ingredients well. Sandwich a heaping tablespoon of filling between two cakes. Makes 15 whoopie pies.

Southern Critters

Shortly after Leslie and Marty moved to South Carolina, there was a story in the news about a woman who was hunting at a lake about 90 miles from Columbia. Click here for a picture of what she killed.

That's right. She bagged a 13 foot, 1025 pound alligator! 

That thing is massive. Knowing there were lizards that big roaming around in the wild out there made me very apprehensive about visiting. I’ve been fearing for Leslie and Marty’s safety the whole time they've been there, and I literally had dreams that I was eaten by alligators the week before the trip. It was pretty terrifying. I was certain I was going to have an alligator encounter sometime on the trip.

Well, my worst fears were realized, and Sunday morning, I came face to face with one of the critters.

He was pretty creepy and kept winking at me, which made me all the more leary of him.

Fortunately, he lived in the zoo, and I was perfectly safe, which was lucky for me, as I wasn’t allowed to carry my industrial strength pepper spray on the airplane. (It really works on alligators. Look it up if you don’t believe me.)

Not all of the animals were as creepy as alligators. There were tons of cardinals, which I love. Also, I didn't get a picture of one, but mockingbirds abound. They do really good impressions of car alarms and crying babies. Fun.

Tiny lizards run around, too. They are cute and don't frighten me like their larger alligator cousins.

We saw lots and lots of tadpoles...

And one tiny green frog.

This critter is really rare. The elusive Johnna raccoon.

In addition to alligators, I was kind of dreading sharing space with the giant palmetto bugs. I actually only saw two the whole week I was there, so no pictures of them. But I did get some neat pictures of these blue dragonflies.

Palmetto bugs aren't the only big insects. The praying mantis grows pretty large there, too.

Finally, we saw lots of turtles sunning themselves. If you look closely, there are two on the rocks in the foreground of this picture, and four on the tiny rock in the middle on the right side.

Congratulations, Leslie!

The main reason for the trip south wasn't to see the ocean, but to see my sister graduate with her Master of Divinity degree from Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, South Carolina. 

The ceremony was held in a beautiful Lutheran church.

 We got there early, so I had a lot of time to take in the scenery. There are some beautiful stained glass windows in the sanctuary.

 Flash photography wasn't allowed during the ceremony, so my pictures are a little blurry, but here she is in her cap and gown.

 Leslie also sang in the choir. She's the one on the right in the black hat. 

 Here she is getting her diploma.

 Yay, Leslie! I'm so proud of you.

By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea...

A week ago today, I got to wade in the Atlantic ocean at a beach near Charleston, South Carolina. The water was warm and the sand was soft and the waves were gentle...it was really quite fabulous.

I absolutely love the ocean and have a dream that I will live by it someday. I feel that I would be so much more creative near the sea. I'm positively certain that I could write the "Great American Novel" or compose a symphony or paint masterpieces if I could see and hear the waves rolling in each day. But until that day, I'll just have to be content to visit.

I was there with my mom, dad, sister, and brother-in-law. Here are some pictures of our visit.

Leslie and Marty strolling along.

I just thought this was cute of mom.

Leslie found a starfish...

and so did mom!

Me by the sea.

We even got dad to roll his pant legs up and to get his feet wet!

 

 We were sad when we had to leave.

By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea!

You and me, you and me, oh ho happy we'll be!...

After all, tomorrow is another day.

Recognize that famous line of literature? If you are thinking Gone With the Wind, you're right!

After many years of saying I was going to and in preparation for my upcoming trip to the South, I finally read Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind, which just happened to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1937. 

Since most people are somewhat familiar with the plot, I won't summarize it here. I do think that the story kind of fizzles out before the end, but I still really enjoyed reading it. I also watched the movie again since I hadn't seen it in years and liked it a lot, too, but this is even better.

Part 1.


And Part 2.


Are you laughing?

Even though a lot of my April reading time was filled up with Gone With the Wind, I still managed to read a few other books, including a Newbery winner called Dicey's Song, by Cynthia Voigt.

Dicey's Song is number 2 in a series of books about the Tillerman family. The first is called Homecoming, and it is pretty dreadful. I read it to prepare for Dicey's Song, but I wish I hadn't. The plot isn't so bad in itself - the four Tillerman children are abandoned by their mother in the parking lot of a shopping mall, miles from their home, so they take it upon themselves to cross the state and find some fabled relatives of theirs. Interesting, but it goes on and on - the kids try to find something to eat, try to find somewhere to sleep, complain about how tired they are, walk for what seems like miles, get in trouble...day after day. They finally get settled with a cousin or someone, but then they run away to find their grandmother and the whole trip thing starts again.

Dicey's Song is better, but I still found the characters to be annoying. The kids finally end up with their grandmother at the end of Homecoming, and Dicey's Song tells the story of how they settle into their new life, make friends, deal with tragedy...

There are five or six books in the series, but I'm pretty sure I won't read the rest any time soon. I've had my fill of the Tillermans.

One last note, I'm already halfway through 2011's Pulitzer winner, but so far I'm not impressed. I'll write more about it when  when I've finished.