White Trash Yum: Chocolate Bacon Cake Balls w/ recipe

Today is Hubby's birthday!  To celebrate, Sugar Snap and I made chocolate bacon cake balls.  That's right.  Chocolate.Bacon.Cake.Balls.  Cake balls and cake pops are all the rage, and are really easy (albeit messy and labor-intensive). I have found the "WOW" factor on these little treats make them worth the trouble.  I have made them many times for all sorts of occasions and in many different flavors, but for Hubby's special day we decided to combine two of his favorite things:  chocolate and bacon.  If I could have infused it with Shiner Bock beer, that's the only thing that would have made them better as far as Hubby's concerned.  Here's how we did it:
Following the directions on the box, bake one chocolate cake.  While the cake is baking, fry your bacon to crisp.  I made 32 fairly large cake balls using one cake, and used about 16 slices of bacon.  Drain the bacon on paper towels:

Allow the cake to cool.  While the cake cools, crumble the bacon, saving 32 small pretty pieces for decoration.  Set the bacon aside. Crumble the cake into small crumbs in a big bowl.  Add 3/4 of a can of chocolate frosting and 3-5 drops of liquid smoke and mix together.  Refrigerate for an hour or so to get the mix firmed up, making it easier to handle.  Once it's firm,  make 32 more or less equal balls.  Roll each ball nicely, and using your thumb, make a hole in the middle and fill with crumbled bacon, and wrap the dough ball around it, fully encasing the bacon inside:

Once all the balls are all made, chill a while and in the meantime melt in the microwave your chocolate chips.  I used about 2 1/2 bags of chocolate chips to cover all of the cake balls.  Getting the chocolate on the balls is a messy messy process.  There is no way around that.  So, put your apron on and roll up your sleeves.  I hold the ball in one hand and use a spoon to coat the bottom half, and then place it on wax paper to coat the rest.  After you completely coat the ball, top it with a bacon piece and let dry on the counter.  Do not put them in the fridge or freezer to hasten the process.  They will weep and discolor.  It's best to just let them sit.  Voila!

Chocolate Bacon Heaven!

Repurposing: A Coffee Table w/ Storage

For years we went without a coffee table.  I just couldn't find one that fit the space and that looked good with the rest of our funky decor.  I finally quit trying to find an actual table I liked, and instead stacked a few of the vintage suitcases I had sitting in the closet.  These are the old square suitcases with flat sides, which work much better than the rounded ones.  I can still find these in small town thrift stores for under $20.  If you look in the urban vintage shops you will pay a lot more.  I put a neat tray on the left side to add some interest.  I like that they stack so nicely and can double for storage.  The small one on top holds all our important documents - passports, immunization records, deed to the house, etc.  In Houston it's important to have all of that stuff together and ready in case of a hurricane evacuation (ask any Houstonian their Hurricane Rita evacuation story).  The blue one holds my scrapbooking materials.  Yes, I scrapbook.  I found some great old travel stickers at my favorite funky shop in Galveston, Hendley Market, which is on the Strand.  The have everything from unique handmade soaps to squirrel pants.  The stacked suitcases could also serve as end tables, in place of a chest at the foot of a bed, or even as a toy chest in a kids room.  Here's how mine look:

Ok, Houston:  share your Rita stories in the comments section.

WT Beauty Tips

For  Christmas last year I asked hubby to get me a face lift.  He bought me Fiestaware.   Seeing as how our current budget doesn't allow for a trip to South America, I am left with less expensive options available to me.  I do exfoliate daily and use a moisturizer with vitamins A, E and C.  But it's no match for gravity (which is assaulting not just my face, but other parts of my anatomy as well - but that's a blog post for another day).  My sister passed along this recipe for a home made inexpensive face mask that can be made from ingredients you already have in your pantry.  It will leave your skin firmer and softer!

Using a spoon in a bowl, or a mortar/pestle grind up one aspirin and one vitamin C tablet.  Add a little honey.  If the honey is too thick add just a drop or two of warm water.  Smooth this sticky concoction over your face, giving it a little scrub to allow the tiny bits of the tablets to exfoliate.  Allow to sit for 10 minutes before rinsing off with lukewarm water.

It Ain't a Facelift

What To Do With All That Ephemera!

I collect vintage ephemera.  My favorite eras are 1920's through the 1950's.  I love and save boxes of: old wallpaper, sheet music, postcards, movie posters, magazines, advertising, illustrated book pages, seed packets, recipes, paper dolls, seed catalogs, menus, art, decorative papers of any kind.  I come by it easily and try to find creative ways to display it.  After all, it doesn't want to live in a box!  One of my preferences is to decoupage any available surface (see previous post).  Some large special items get framed and put on the wall.  Recently, however, a large surface became available for papering.  My friend Toni, who is a professional decorator and organizer, came over to help me turn our two bedroom house into a three bedroom house.  Quite a challenge!  We decided to use bookshelves as a divider in our large study/music room to create a cozy bedroom for hubby and me.   It worked well, but left the backs of the ugly exposed bookshelves.  Toni suggested we cover it with fabric - a good idea.  But, I thought, what about my ephemera?  I started playing around and using tiny nails covered the backs of the bookshelves with much of my paper collection.  It think it's beautiful, and it has become my favorite room to be in, and not just because I love sleeping more than anything except eating.

Before:  back of ugly crappy Ikea bookcase

After!