The Weekend

Good afternoon friends, I hope your weekend was swell.
Mine wasn't too shabby, thanks for asking.

Our weekend went a little something like this...
Art borrowed a friend's lens for the weekend.
Mainly to take some "behind the scenes" of the photo shoot on Friday.
I think he had ulterior motives though.
He's trying to convince me that we have to buy a new lens for our camera so that I can take better pictures for my blog.
I've been playing with it all weekend and quite frankly I don't see much of a difference.

And I'm certainly not going to carry around a behemoth like this:

Can you say overkill?  Could you imagine me showing up at a 5 year old birthday party with this thing?  Please!  My bicep is sore just thinking about it.  Men and their toys.

On another note, we finally got around to repairing and painting the kid's rockers and table & chairs set we found at the flea market 6 months ago.  The paint is still drying, but when they're done I'll post pictures here.

Did I mention Lea from AZ was in town?  She is always my eating partner in crime and her skillz in the kitchen rival my own, so we did a little cooking and whipped up these salmon cakes.  

I will forewarn you, they call for canned salmon, so if you're not a fan bypass this message.
But if you're open to trying new things and love crab cakes, this is the dish for you.  They were delicious!  Please note that the recipe is "flawed" according to Lea.  She said several times, "This recipe is flawed, I'm going to write a review!  I never do that, but this time I'm going to!  That Melissa D'Arabian.  How did she win anyhow?" (she was the Next Food Network Star Winner last year)  Boy was she in a huff.  You just need to add about 1/2 cup of bread crumbs to the mixture so that you can form them into patties.  Or else they're too goopy to work with.

And lastly, although it technically is no longer the weekend. I baked this cake at 7 am, so close enough right?  I haven't had this cake since my grandmother passed away in 2001.  She was famous for this lemon cake.  Lately I have been craving it something fierce.

We're going to a friend's house for dinner tonight for smoked pork and chicken, so to offset the heavy meal I thought this would be perfect.  I had to sample a taste, you know, just to make sure, and oh my is it as divine as I remember it.  Thank you Grandma Tita for always making us this special cake.  It was the only cake we ever had for our birthdays.  So simple and so delicious.

If you'd like to make your own Grandma Tita's Lemon Cake, pay close attention because it is complicated.

Grandma Tita's Lemon Cake:
1 box of lemon cake mix, any brand
Bake as directed and keep in the pan

For the Glaze:
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1.5-2 lemons juiced
Mix the powdered sugar and lemon juice together and pour right on top

This is the perfect cake for the spring and summer when you feel like something sweet and cakey, but don't want the heavy frosting.
Enjoy!