Summer Desserts in a 9X13 Pan

Here are some good summer dessert options for groups.

Lemon Refrigerator Cake

1 pkg lemon cake mix

1 3 oz box lemon Jell-O

3/4 c boiling water

3/4 c lemon-lime soda (or substitute water)

1 3.5 oz box lemon instant pudding mix

1 1/2 c milk

1 c whipping cream, whipped

Prepare and bake cake according to directions in a 9x13 pan. Dissolve Jell-O in hot water. Gently stir in lemon-lime soda (or water). Chill in refrigerator while the cake is baking. While baked cake is hot, poke holes in it with a fork and spoon cool gelatin over cake. Refrigerate. Beat pudding mix with milk until thick, fold in whipped cream and spread over top of cake. Chill. 

Chessman Banana Pudding

This is pretty scrumptious. The only challenge is finding the Chessman cookies. I've had to make special trips to Walgreens for them.

Recipe here

S'mores Poke Cake

The store was out of jarred hot fudge sauce so I made my own ganache heating 1/2 c of cream and stirring in 1 c of chocolate chips.

Recipe here

Chocolate Peanut Butter Dream Bars

Makes an 8x8" pan, can be doubled.

Recipe here

Biscoff White Chocolate Dream Bars

This makes a 9x9 pan. You can buy biscoff cookies and the cookie butter at Trader Joe's. 

Recipe here

Oreo Pudding Poke Cake

1 box chocolate cake mix (oil, water, and eggs)
2 boxes Oreo pudding
4 cups milk
1 package crushed Oreos

1. Make cake as directed in a 9x13 pan.

2. While cake is still semi-warm, poke holes in it.

3. Make pudding as directed on box and pour over cake.

4. Sprinkle crushed Oreos on top.

Reese's Peanut Butter Poke Cake

    1 box chocolate cake mix, plus eggs, oil, and water as directed on the box 

    8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

    14 ounces sweetened condensed milk

    1 cup creamy peanut butter

    12 ounces cool whip, divided

    12 ounces hot fudge, divided

    8 reese's peanut butter cups, crumbled

Prepare and bake your chocolate cake following instructions on the cake mix box. When the cake is done cooking, poke it all over with a fork. Microwave hot fudge and pour ¾ of the jar on top of the cake so it will soak in.

Beat cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Add peanut butter and continue mixing until thoroughly incorporated. Add half of the cool whip and continue mixing it until smooth. Spread peanut butter mixture evenly over cooled cake. Cover and refrigerate until cool.

Spread remaining cool whip over peanut butter mixture. Drizzle rest of hot fudge over top. Then sprinkle the crumbled reese's peanut butter cups over top. Store in the fridge until ready to serve.

Three Layer Mocha Cake

I baked this cake for Father's Day, and the crew said this was so delicious it needed to be included in the blog.

Recipe here

Notes:

• I did use cake strips and it helped
• I did not use all of the powdered sugar in the frosting, maybe about 2-3 c scant of 2 lbs, which is scandalous
• I made the ganache with melted chocolate chips

Toum- Lebanese Garlic Sauce

One of Andy's volleyball buddies is known for bringing this intense garlic dip/spread to potlucks and people go crazy for it. He said the most labor intensive part is peeling all the cloves of garlic. I noticed there is peeled garlic (sometimes- not all the time) at Costco and decided to make our first batch. 

I used this recipe  and our trusty food processor. Even without peeling garlic, it still takes about 20-25 min to make because of how slowly you need to add the oil at first. I tasted it after making it and it burned by mouth- not at all like I remember, and then I read the fine print at the bottom of the recipe: "It is best to give toum time to rest before serving, so it's a good idea to make it a few days in advance. This will help mellow the garlic flavor." Fortunately, it lasts a couple of weeks in the fridge.

Toum

Source

• 4 to 5 heads garlic, or 1 1/2 cups peeled garlic cloves
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 4 cups neutral oil, such as canola or safflower
• 1/4 cup ice water

1. Halve the garlic. Peel 4 to 5 heads garlic until you have 1 1/2 cups peeled cloves. Halve the garlic cloves lengthwise and remove any green sprouts. (Note- I didn't do this. I just dumped the whole cloves in the food processor)
2. Process the garlic and salt together. Place the garlic in a food processor. Add 2 teaspoons kosher salt and pulse until minced and paste-like, stopping to scrape down the bowl as needed, about 10 pulses.
3. Add the lemon juice. Add 3 tablespoons lemon juice a tablespoon at a time, pulsing to completely incorporate each addition before adding the next. At this point, the mixture should be a very soft paste, smoothie-like in consistency.
4. Add a drop of oil at a time. Measure out 4 cups neutral oil in a measuring cup with a spout. Take your time here, the whole process of incorporating the oil can take 15 to 20 minutes. With the motor running, use a teaspoon to drop 1 drop of the oil into the garlic. Stop and scrape down the bowl. Repeat processing in the oil 1 drop at a time, stopping and scraping down the bowl between each addition. At first it will seem like nothing is happening.
5. Add a few drops of oil at a time. Once the garlic begins to look a bit creamy (after about 1/4 cup oil is added), add the oil a couple of drops at a time, stopping and scraping the bowl between each addition. Repeat until an emulsion is fully formed and it becomes thick and spreadable.
6. Stream in the remaining oil (I found that a funnel inserted in the feed tube of the food processor made this much easier to do without spilling oil). With the motor running, drizzle in the remaining oil in a very slow, thin, steady stream through the tube. After adding 1 1/4 cups of the oil, the sound of the mixing will change and sound like churning ice cream, signifying the mixture is thickening. The final consistency should be light and fluffy, like mayonnaise or whipped cream.
7. Add the ice water. With the motor running, slowly drizzle in 1/4 cup ice water. Once added, the texture will go from thick and almost gelatinous to smooth and creamy.

Just starting to add drops of oil

Nearly done- most oil added

Refinishing a Cedar Chest

This project was germinated by two inspirations- one is a need to store our outdoor furniture cushions at the stuga when not in use. The second is an attempt to mimic the vibe of a rosemaled chest like at the Snyder cabin.

Top of trunk at Snyder cabin

Front of trunk

I purchased a Lane cedar trunk for $30 on Facebook marketplace. It was super heavy when I picked it up, and badly painted. I looked up the serial number on the bottom and learned it was made in 1988 (37 years old), and thus just missed the cutoff date for the Lane chest lock recalls (ie it has a lock release inside in case someone gets trapped). An online description describes it as having wheatfield decorations in front, in a medium oak finish, with deep storage dimensions of 5.8 cubic feet. It was missing the key (I bought one on Ebay for $9.53) and one of its two spring hinges ($7.50).

Someone had spilled paint or something on the lid, and then just painted over it. Gross.

First step was to take off the hardware and try to cut off the little decorative doo-dads on the bottom. I asked Cara to try her little hand-held jigsaw, but the wood proved too thick and tough. Once we'd started, though, I was committed, so I ended up cutting them off with a handsaw (pretty inaccurate and working up a big sweat) and cleaning the inevitable rough edges with my Dremel sanding drum attachment. 

Used my dressmaking curve tool to get a smooth cut line to remove the decorative scroll

Now it was time to strip the black paint. I'll summarize this to say it basically took an entire weekend of multiple coats of stripper and serious scraping elbow grease. The black paint was like glue to get off. It was not fun. 

In between multiple efforts to remove the paint

Another view of the horrible stripping job in case I forget too soon

After stripping and scraping and stripping and scraping and using a lot of mineral spirits, I was left with a surface that no longer had paint, but had areas of old varnish that would not come off. It was time to start sanding, but this is a veneer, so I knew I needed to do it carefully. I did a combination of hand and electric sanding with small grit. 

Before sanding

After sanding, vacuuming and wiping with mineral spirits

After a coat of pre-stain wood conditioner

The pre-stain wood conditioner gave it a darker color right away, and then I followed up with 2 applications of oil based red chestnut stain, applying it with a rag.

Two coats of stain

I then made the rookie mistake of applying a coat of oil-based polyurethane, apparently too quickly after the stain. I'm used to working with water-based products (and it's not like I'm some big expert with those, either). The poly WOULD NOT DRY. I had a fan blowing on it for days. It didn't help that the  weather has been unseasonably cool and damp. Over a week later, in desperation, I wiped it all down with mineral spirits to remove excess poly, then stuck the whole thing in the sun on one of our few dry days. After, it was improved, but still tacky in places so I decided to stick it in the back of the garage for a full 30 days to cure.

Egypt

Karnak Temple

Overview

A two-week "Pharaohs and Pyramids" trip through Viking Cruises. We booked 5 months in advance when stumbling upon a great deal for these dates, perhaps in part because it was over Easter.

 Highs

• The sheer quantity, age and uniqueness of the temples, tombs and artifacts we were able to see- there is no place like it on Earth
• The superior planning, logistics, service, attention to detail and meals associated with the Viking experience. We were surprised by how fast the waiters learned our names and preferences. For example, the waiters kept tinkering with how they made ice coffee to get it just how Andy liked it (which is impressive for those of us who know his coffee standards)
• Egyptian food
• The guides were tremendous
• Fellow passengers were friendly and easy to get along with
• The Egyptians we interacted with were so kind and friendly. Kids would love to approach us on the streets and try their English
• The Cairo hotels were lovely. Our Viking room/suite was very comfortable and made up for us every day by Shady

Andy's additions:

• The Cairo Bazaar and haggling for the lantern
• Karnak and Luxor temples, Valley of the Kings

Lows

• Getting sick/ bad cases of flu. Andy was sad to miss Abu Simbel 
• Multiple flights, delays, missed flight, LONG travel days
• The "self appointed" tour guide who tried to pick us up several times in the Coptic Quarter and wouldn't go away until we paid him to leave
• Regularly navigating through very persistent and in-your-face street vendors

Observations

• We were astonished by the size and density of Cairo at 22M people
• We don't have a lot of experience with dessert areas- they have a much different look at feel. Sand gets everywhere
• The Nile is everything. 95% of the Egyptian population lives within a few miles of it
• We saw a lot of variation in how Egyptians dressed- tolerance for individuality
• Alcohol is rarely seen except in Western hotels. There are a lot of businesses selling exotic juice blends
• Driving is crazy- there are no lanes, just herds of vehicles. Traffic is terrible given the density. There are no left turns, you have to drive well out of your way to a designated U-turn location. Having the Nile be at the center of everything means you frequently need to travel to the next bridge to get across the river. We were immensely grateful for our taxi and bus drivers
• A significant percent of Egypt's GDP is from tourism, and the country takes security very seriously. We couldn't go anywhere without going through security checks

Itinerary

Date	Location	Highlights	Notes
4-9 & 4-10		3 flights	The 2nd flight from Chicago to Frankfurt was turned back over the Atlantic to land at Boston so an ill passenger could deplane. We missed our connection and were rebooked by Viking for a later flight. The whole thing took 38 hours.
4-11	Cairo- this day on our own	·      Museum of Islamic Art ·      Khan el-Khalili Bazaar ·      Lunch and Turkish coffee at Naguib Mahfouz	Andy honing his negotiation skills for a punched brass lantern
4-12	Cairo	·         Salah El-Din Citadel, Mosque of Muhammad Ali ·         Egyptian Museum (King Tut’s sarcophagus and mask) ·         Taxi to Coptic Quarter (on our own)	·     First day of Viking Itinerary ·     We were pretty jet-lagged ·     Andy fixed me a serving of ful medames (fava beans for breakfast) and made the Egyptian at the next table bust out laughing. The guy called a server over and asked her to make a proper serving for me ·     The taxi driver was so excited to have us he waited 2.5 hours for us to tour the Coptic Quarter so he could drive us back for another $10 USD
4-13	Giza	·         Saqqara, step Pyramid of Djoser (c. 2600 BC) ·         Stooped climb down into Teti pyramid ·         Pyramids of Giza (c.2600-2500 BC), camel ride, sphynx	Andy was excited about Saqqara after learning about it in his art history course. The pyramids were just as majestic as you’d imagine. The sphynx is smaller than you think
4-14	Flight to Luxor	·         5 AM wakeup call for an 8:15 chartered prop plane flight to Luxor on Petroleum Air ·      Upon landing, the bus took us directly to Karnak temple (2055 BC-100 AD) ·       Onboard and first lunch on our ship, the Viking Ra ·        The two of us left the ship after lunch to go back to Karnak on our own, which was across the street from where we were docked  ·     Back on the bus at 5:30 to see Luxor Temple (1392-1213 BC) at sunset	·      The hotel manager saw me looking longingly at the halva during breakfast and sent a big hunk with me in a to-go box ·      The ship is lovely. Only 52 guests. The restaurant and service are phenomenal ·      Karnak and Luxor are mind-blowing in scale. How did they possibly build such things?
4-15	Ship journey Luxor to Qena to Luxor	·   Relaxing morning on ship ·   Afternoon excursion to Dendera temple from Ptolemaic period (c. 54 BC)	Dendera is a younger temple- the builders maintained a lot of the same architecture, but the carvings had a slightly different, more realistic style
4-16	Valley of Kings, Luxor. Ship journey to Esna in evening	·   Viking gave us 5 tickets to tour 5 tombs, and Hani our guide recommended these 5: o   Rameses IV o   Tutankhamun o   Rameses III o   Rameses IX o   Sety I ·   Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut (c. 1470 BC) ·   Howard Carter House ·   Colossi of Memnon (1350 BC)	After seeing the Valley of the Kings on so many National Geographic shows, it’s amazing being there. It was hot, 90F in the morning, and it was hotter in the tombs. The tombs were so vast, and so ornate. Our guide said we were fortunate that it wasn’t completely packed
4-17	Esna	8 AM tour of Esna Temple (40-250 AD) then an afternoon on ship: ·   Falafel making demonstration ·   Tea party ·   Hieroglyphics class ·   Lecture on ancient Egyptian medicine	Dinner on the ship was Egyptian food, served family style. The food was tremendous, and we gorged ourselves. Many passengers dressed in Egyptian embroidered shirts or galabiya they bought in the “valley of the vultures” which is what our guides called the areas near temples/ attractions
4-18	Aswan, Flight to Abu Simbel	·   Aswan Dam ·   Flight to Abu Simbel (1279-1213 BC)	Andy developed a fever overnight and had to miss our pre-paid excursion to Abu Simbel. (Many on the ship were starting to get sick, we bought some antibiotics at a pharmacy that helped another passenger but it didn’t do much good)
4-19	Aswan area, then Kom Ombo, then docked at Edfu for the night	·   50 min river boat ride to a Nubian village on the west bank of the Nile, visited a Nubian family home and held their pet alligator ·   Visited a Nubian school and sat with elementary kids. They sang us a song and the alphabet and we sang them Itsy Bitsy Spider ·   Bus and then another boat ride to Philae temple (282–145 BC) ·   Papyrus store ·   Back on boat at 1:30 for lunch, then the boat traveled to Kom Ombo Temple (180-30 BC), within walking distance of the ship	Andy still wasn’t feeling well so missed this 5-hour excursion
4-20	Edfu, then ship journeyed back to Luxor	Morning excursion to Edfu temple (237- 57 BC), one of the best preserved, then spent the rest of the day relaxing on ship
4-21	Flight Luxor to Cairo	Said goodbye to the ship at 7:45 AM and flew to Cairo, ate lunch at the Intercontinental hotel, then departed for GEM museum. Final group dinner back at the Intercontinental and explored the huge connected City Stars Mall. Rested in hotel room for a bit until shuttle came at 11 PM to get us to airport	The GEM museum is majestic, and not formally open yet. Viking must have pulled some strings to get tickets
4-22 & 23		Delta flight 6 hours delayed from Paris to MSP, we were both feeling sick and exhausted. Another grueling 30+ hour travel “day”	Tested positive for Influenza A the day after returning and was sick for 2 full weeks

Arriving in Cairo airport

Don't prepare your ful this way

View of the Pyramids from our Sheraton hotel balcony

Khan el Khalil market in Cairo

Lunch and Turkish coffee at Naguib Mahfouz

Mosque of Mohummad Ali at Salah El-Din Citadel

Egyptian Museum

Saints Sergius and Bacchus, Coptic Quarter

Saints Sergius and Bacchus

Pyramid of Djoser (2600 BC) at Saqqara

Pyramid tomb of Mereruka, Vizier of King Teti (2330 BC)

Inside Teti

Inside Teti

Rug school

Of course he has to tease the camel

Great Sphynx

Now I can prepare my own ful properly

Karnak

Karnak

Karnak

Arriving at our ship, Viking Ra

Luxor Temple

Luxor

Luxor at sunset

Dendera Temple in Qena (54 BC)

Dendera

Valley of the Kings

King Tut's mummy

Tomb of Rameses IV

Tomb of Seti I

Tomb of Rameses IX

Tomb of Rameses III

Temple of Hatshepsut

Temple of Hatshepsut

Esna Temple

Esna

Tea party

Aswan Dam

Abu Simbel

Abu Simbel

Visiting a school

Philae Temple (282–145 BC)

Philae Temple

Kom Ombo Temple

Kom Ombo

Edfu Temple (237- 57 BC)

Horus statue at Edfu

Our Viking "Horus" group

Relaxing with an ice coffee on way back to Luxor

GEM Museum

GEM Museum

All the tickets