Strawberry-Lemon Shortcake

William turned 19 today. How on earth did that happen. Unfortunately it's proof positive that I'm no longer 29!

He's a bit of a foodie so I decided to try something a little different for his birthday cake (well different for our family anyway) - I made a strawberry shortcake with a lemon twist.  It was delicious and looked so pretty.  

I think lemons and strawberries were made for each other.  The sweetness of one balances the tartness of the other.  The red and yellow compliment each other in the nicest summer-picnic sort of way.

It was an easy dessert because I started with this lemon cake mix.  I mixed it according to the directions and baked it in my new bundt pan. By the way, I'm so excited to finally have a bundt pan that doesn't stick. This might lead to a complete and utter bundt cake addiction. Don't you think cakes look extra special when you bake them in a bundt pan?

I iced the cake with lemon icing glaze using the following ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup icing sugar
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon butter or margarine

I mixed the ingredients together and then microwaved it for 45 seconds. I gave the icing a good stir so everything was blended. When the icing was cool, I drizzled it over the cake - which was a lot of fun as it poured onto the cake in thick folds making a pretty pattern.

I also grated a little bit of lemon rind to sprinkle on top of the icing.  Just before serving I filled the centre with sliced strawberries that I had mixed with some sugar so they were nice and glossy and juicy.

And I served it with whipped cream.  Yum!

We are firmly in the chocolate cake with chocolate icing camp (you can see an example of a previous birthday cake I made decorated with a Beatles image here), but I have heard there are people who prefer other kinds of cake for their birthdays. What does your family like for birthday cakes?  

Shutterfly's Impressive Customer Service

I just had to give a shout-out to Shutterfly, an online photo-publishing and printing company. Let me tell you about my experience with them so you can be impressed too.

I finally got around to making a photo book of our son's wedding which took place ... hanging head in shame ... two years ago (impressive how quickly I got the photo book done I know, but that isn't the impressive thing I'm writing about).  
I had the photo book finished back in February and was waiting for a sale to come along which it did in April.  I ordered a copy of the book so it would arrive in time for our daughter-in-law's birthday in May so we could give her a copy as a present. You might be impressed that I was organized enough to get the book made, find and use a sale, and order it in time for Christie's birthday - but truly that isn't the impressive thing I'm writing about.  
On the order page Shutterfly tells you the expected arrival date which was in plenty of time for Christie's birthday.  Well the arrival date came and went by a week so I contacted Shutterfly.  According to their records they had mailed the photo book to me, so it must have been held up by Canada Post.  Nevertheless they honoured their arrival date and told me they would print and send me a new book - for free!  
Naturally, only two days after I had contacted Shutterfly the original book arrived so I contacted them again to say that the book had arrived and could I buy the new book since I had wanted to order a second one anyway once I had verified that the first one had printed well.  Shuttefly declined my offer to pay and told me to enjoy the books.  Now that's impressive, right?  
Not only do I like Shutterfly's customer service, but I also like the books.  I love the linen cover with an inset photo,

and the many different arrangements of photos, backgrounds, and frames you can select from.

And, of course, I like the content too.  Take this page for example, I like it because it shows the bouquets I made for the wedding which turned out to be pretty impressive (there seems to be a lot of that going around).

And this page - I like it because it shows the pretty table settings and the tea cups that we gave Malcolm and Christie.

And I love this dreamy photo of the two of them walking off into the rest of their lives that I used for the final page in the book.  Awww - so sweet!  

Looking at the photos brings back fond memories. Photo books have that effect! You get all misty-eyed and sentimental and mushy just looking through them.  They are well worth the time it takes to make them. Have you ever taken the plunge and created a photo book?  
Oh, and one more impressive thing about this photo book - I crossed off one of the things on my New Year's resolutions list.  
By the way, I'm not being reimbursed or compensated by Shutterfly to write this post.  I just wanted to let you know about an impressive company.

The Little Red Jug

On Sunday, I went back to the auction held at the house my husband grew up in - with the man himself this time.  He was intrigued to see what was being sold and, based on the photos I took the day before, thought he would be interested to see the house. What could have been a difficult day turned out to be such a great time for us re-living memories and having fun together.   I wanted to share a few things with you. I bought this red transferware jug and couldn't be happier (you can read about my love of transferware here).

Today I was reading my Canadian House and Home magazine (March 2013 issue) - and what do I spy on the top shelf of this gorgeous kitchen - the same transferware jug!  I love this kitchen.  The white cabinets, the subway tiles,  the pretty shelves styled with white dishes and little hits of red all spell perfection to me.

Canadian House and Home

Sooner than you can say "do it" I was changing things around on the shelves in our kitchen to match the inspiration photo.  I need the baskets for storage so had to work around them and, of course, I don't have all the same dishes so I had to be creative.  What do you think?  How did I do?  It's not identical, but I love the bright summery feel with the touches of red.  

Before we leave the auction-related posts I wanted to share a few of my favourite details in the house.  

The house itself is a very interesting historic home. While some of the wallpaper is too dark for my taste, I love the wallpaper in a few of the bedrooms.

  

I also love the stained-glass windows on the landing of the staircase,

and the patterned frosted glass in the front door.

It is a funny feeling to say goodbye to a house.  I hope the next owners respect the house and restore it to its former splendour.

Before we left town we stopped by the school my husband attended and found the wonky star and his initials that he carved into the bricks when he was a schoolboy. 

And lest you think I married a graffiti artist - it was the thing to do at that school as the entire back wall is covered in names some of which dated back to the 1940s.

Goodbye younger husband and your shenanigans.

I Got a Knocker and a Bust ... and a Clock

I went to my first auction this weekend. Have you ever been to an auction?  I found it a little stressful as auctions are fast paced and there is no room for hesitation, but it was also a lot of fun to come home with some great finds.
If you have never been to an auction then here are a few tips:   1.  Get to the auction early enough to register and have a look at all the goods. You don't want to be bidding on items sight unseen and then be disappointed later when you see the item up close.  2.  Take water so you don't have to leave to get a drink, a tape measure so you can make sure the items will fit in the car, a pen and paper to note the number of the items you are interested in, a bag to carry all the small things you buy in, and nerves of steel. 3.  Be fast and decisive.  I missed out on an inexpensive vintage wooden tool box as I waited a split second too long to jump into the bidding.  It was actually good practice so I knew how fast and decisive I needed to be for the things I really wanted to buy.

Want to know what I bought? 
A clock -

A knocker - 

And a bust - 

There was also a few tables of things being sold like a yard sale so I bought this little gray transferware bowl and two brown transferware plates.

The best part was this was the house my husband had grown up in, so buying the front door knocker and the other momentos made it especially meaningful.

Fond Memories of France

Want to escape for awhile? I was looking through some photos I took in France and thought I would share. 

About a month ago I emailed my husband while we were at work and told him that I wanted to be living in a little flat in Paris RIGHT NOW. Not much we could do about it, but a girl can dream. What about you?  Where would you go if you could hop on a plane right now?

I'd head to Paris and visit the Louvre to enjoy some art,

and see Saint Chapelle again (which we liked better than Notre Dame) and stare at the stars on the ceiling

and try to count how many different painted patterns there are on the walls.

I'd have a picnic lunch at the Eiffel Tower.

I'd stay in a flat downtown 

so I could wander around all day long exploring different areas and enjoying the atmosphere.

And every evening I would admire the sunset,

and the city lights.

Sigh! Wouldn't it be lovely.  Where would you go?

To see some more of my France posts, check here for Étretat, Honfleur, and others here and here.