Strawberry Summer Cake for Father's Day!

Strawberry Summer Cake

Fresh Strawberries are a family favorite around here so I thought I'd bake a summer cake to celebrate Father's Day!

Here is the recipe if you want to try it too!

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for pie plate
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pound strawberries, hulled and halved

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Butter a 10-inch pie pan

Whisk flour or flours, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl. In a larger bowl, beat butter and 1 cup sugar until pale and fluffy with an electric mixer, about 3 minutes. Mix in egg, milk and vanilla until just combined. Add dry mixture gradually, mixing until just smooth.

Pour into prepared pie plate. Arrange strawberries, cut side down, on top of batter, as closely as possible in a single layer (though I had to overlap a few to get them all in). Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over berries.

Bake cake for 10 minutes then reduce oven temperature to 325°F and bake cake until golden brown and a tester comes out free of wet batter, about 50 minutes to 60 minutes. (Gooey strawberries on the tester are a given.) Let cool in pan on a rack. Cut into wedges. Serve with lightly whipped cream.

Memorial Day

In honor of the men and women who died while serving in the US armed forces, I wanted to say "thank you" this Memorial Day weekend. I'd also like to pay tribute those who have served our county faithfully.

For me, this weekend is a time to reflect on the servicemen and servicewomen, past and present, who have displayed courage and self-sacrifice serving our country. Not only to those who have actively served, but to the wives who've stayed behind to care for their families and for the children who's childhoods will be forever watermarked by having a parent miss pivotal moments in their lives while serving, like holidays, births of siblings and school plays. Our nation thanks you and recognizes that our freedom comes at the sacrifice of many Americans. 

A special thank you to the brave men in my family who have sacrificed their lives to protect our freedom.

Captain Benton Hall IV - active duty Air Force, flying V-22 Osprey

Sargent Nate Boyer - active duty Special Forces/ Green Beret 

William Thomas Ponder First Lieutenant (Air Service), France WWI

Mike McGee - US Navy 2002-2010 most recently Head/Force Protection Officer

Don Boyer - US Navy WWII

Cecil Boyer - Merchant Marines WWII

Chuck Wiggins - Korea post Korean War

Lieutenant Benton Hall II Air Force, Stationed in India. Fighter pilot P47, P51

{from top left to bottom right}

James thanks you as well!

Sandpiper Beach Resort, Pacific Beach

We took a family trip to the coast the first weekend in February and the weather felt like spring.  

Almost two

James, you'll be two years old in a couple of months so I wanted to write down a few things that are happening in your life right now.

You love to read, eat apples/avocado's/blueberries, play with friends, kick balls, go for walks and dance.

Favorite words: apple, truck, water, please, thank you, faster, no way

The things I love the most about you...

The way your smile lights up your face.
The sound of your footsteps as you run down the hall
Hearing you roar like a lion
The way you point to the places you'd like to go while I hold you
Hearing you sing and talk in your crib when you first wake up
The way you hold the corners of your blanket and rub them together for comfort
How you "share" your pacifier with your stuffed puppy when you leave the crib
The way you swim in the bathtub
How proud you are when you eat with a fork/spoon
The belly laugh I get when I tickle your sides
How you pretend to be a dog and crawl on all fours in the kitchen while I cook.. and want to be pet on the head.
The way you can point at your elbows, knee's, ear's, nose, mouth, chin, hair, eyes, bellybutton and toes.
The way you frantically pull of your socks when we read three little pigs, so I can pull on your toes while singing the nursery rhyme.
How you tell me "No Way!" when I ask you to do something you don't want to.
How your second toe on each foot is too crowded for your fat little foot and has to sit slightly above the rest.
The noise you make when you want to play trains "choo choo" or hear an ambulance "we -o, we-o, we-o
The unprompted hug I'll get when I least expect it
..and best of all, the way you pull on your dads hand in the evening to go downstairs and play trains, just the two of you.

We love you more than you know-