I like big Bundts and I cannot lie

I have the most excellent pound cake recipe, and I thought I'd pass it along in time for the hollidays. It came originally from Southern Living magazine, though I've seen it since on a number of sites. It ain't exactly easy, but it is worth the hassle. It calls for a tube pan, and that's the way I've been making it, but I always wished I had a Bundt pan big enough to hold it. Well, now NordicWare has reissued its original pan, which is much larger than the ones they make nowadays. I'm ordering one today. So anyhow, here's the recipe:

APRICOT BRANDY POUNDCAKE

INGREDIENTS
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon rum flavored extract
1 teaspoon orange extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup apricot brandy
1 cup butter
3 cups white sugar
6 eggs

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10 inch tube pan.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. Combine the sour cream, rum flavoring, orange extract, almond extract, lemon extract, vanilla extract and apricot brandy. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
5. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the sour cream and flavorings mixture, stirring just until incorporated: begin with 1/3 of the flour, then 1/2 the liquid, 1/3 flour, 1/2 liquid, 1/3 flour.
6. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for *80-90 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
7. Allow to cool 10-15 mins and turn out onto rack to cool completely.

Freezes and travels well, makes a great gift.

*CORRECTED TIME -- not 60 mins, as orignally published. Sorry about that.

Peaceful easy feeling

Ahhhhhh. Isn't this nice?

Elections are over. The attack ads are gone. It's safe to turn on the TV again. Catch up on the news, watch a show or two, just enjoy the background sound while puttering around the house. Banality is bliss.

I suppose they serve a useful purpose, those little stink bombs of the airwaves. They do remind us that our choice is between Rat Bastard A and Rat Bastard B. Best to keep that in mind, lest we delude ourselves that either party is to be trusted.

Why do we need parties, anyway? The allegiance of our congressmen is clearly to their party and to the party's sources of revenue. Job One is not the business of the people, but the business of gaining and hanging onto partisan power.

Yesterday's results notwithstanding, the Republicans are just better at that than the Democrats. Why? They're meaner. Ruthless. Their leader demands unquestioning obedience. They're better organized. The Democrats, on the other hand, can't even come up with an elevator speech. It's Big Brother vs. The Keystone Kops.

Which is why, in my opinion, neither party should ever have control of all three branches of government. And now, they don't.

Ahhhhhhhh.

Politicians Sweep Midterm Elections

Election day

Well, I did it.

I, a life-long registered Republican, walked into my polling place and voted a straight Democratic ticket. Because I ... HAVE ... HAD IT with the whole Bush administration and the horses they rode in on.

So there.