recipe: homemade funfetti cake

I grew up on the quintessential American street. It wasn't a large block - just a couple dozen houses, many of which the vacuum manufacturing company down the street built around 1920 and sold to its workers. My parents bought one of those houses soon after they got married. When I was growing up, some of the men on the street still worked at the company and walked to work.

A lot of young families lived on the street, so kids were always playing games in the street or playing hide-and-go-seek through the neighbors' backyards or drawing with chalk on the sidewalks.

When my parents brought me home from the hospital, the neighbors down the street had just brought home their two-week-old baby girl, Valerie. She and I grew up together, walked to school together, and marked a lot of milestones together.

Our lives went in a lot of different ways after high school, and we didn't stay in touch. But then last summer, she moved to D.C. for a fellowship, and she ended up moving into an apartment that is (literally) just down the street from where I live. Neighbors again. We see each other often now. It's funny how life works out that way.

The other weekend, Valerie turned 30. Which means, of course, that my own 30th birthday is right around the corner. (Cue the panic.)

Anyway, we had a really fun time celebrating Valerie's milestone with good, old-fashioned bowling at the Fort Myer Bowling Center. (It was a pretty rad place, so I'm planning to post a separate blog about the center.) The bowling alley has a party room, and they let me bring a cake to the party as an exception to the center's no-outside-food rule.

Valerie requested a Funfetti cake. Instead of picking up a boxed cake mix, I did a Google search to see if anyone had perfected a homemade version. Lo and behold, I found a recipe that turned out to be awesome.

It was super moist, had a lot of vanilla and butter flavors and was pretty easy to put together. My cake didn't turn out as white as the boxed version or the pictures on the original recipe writer's blog - but I still give this recipe very high marks.

Homemade Funfetti Cake

Adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction

• 3 1/3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
• 1 1/2 cups milk (I used almond milk)
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup sprinkles (not nonpareils)
• additional sprinkles for the top

Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a large bowl, melt butter in the microwave. Whisk in sugar and brown sugar. Whisk in eggs, yogurt, milk, and vanilla extract.

Slowly mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients.

Stir in sprinkles, being careful not to overmix, which would cause the sprinkles to bleed.

Pour batter into prepared cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 33-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

When cool, frost cake with recipe that follows.

Vanilla Frosting (for a two-layer cake)

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• up to 3 tablespoons milk

Combine powdered sugar, butter and vanilla in a stand mixer bowl. Add milk, 1/2 tablespoon at a time, until frosting is a spreadable consistency.

decor: home with antiques

Tony and I got back to D.C. yesterday afternoon after spending a long weekend visiting our families and some friends in Ohio. It was a great trip, and it was cool to spend some time in a swing state so close to the election. While I was there my parents' phone rang dozens of times with calls from pollsters and politicians. And every other commercial on TV seemed to be for Obama, Romney, Obama, Romney.

Anyway, prices at antique stores are crazy inexpensive in that part of the country (compared to D.C.), so every time Tony and I visit, we come back with an carload of stuff from various antique stores, thrift stores, flea markets, or auctions. And this trip was no different. The backseat and trunk were stuffed with treasures for our house.

I've got a lamp, mirrors and some other decorative pieces in my living room right now, and I'll spend the next few weeks trying them out in various parts of the house to see where I like everything best -- so stay tuned.

But I'll give you a sneak peak of one of my favorite pieces. I saw it at an antique store in Berlin, Ohio, and I said to Tony, "I think we need to have this in our house." And he said, "Yes. Yes, we do." And that is how I came to acquire this fabulous white-and-gold elephant planter. Now to figure out where to put it.

I spent a few minutes searching for my elephant online, and I didn't come up with anything. Although I did see this similar squirrel planter at Etsy, which is just was fabulous.

the garden: inspiration from mom

If I have a green thumb, my mom's gotta have, like, green fingers, hands, and forearms. Her yard looks like the grounds of a museum. The most amazing things she has going on this year are her geraniums. Some she planted from seed, others she grew from cuttings of plants, and still others she saved from last year by keeping them dormant over the winter.  

I am in love with this deco-looking planter that she has in her backyard. I tried to convince her to let me take it home when Tony and I were in Ohio last weekend, but, alas, apparently she's also in love with it. I will have to admire it from afar. 

And how cute is this Shawnee bird planter? She has it in her kitchen window. She wouldn't let me take this back with me either. 

Mom also has a little bit of D.C. in her backyard, which is super sweet. Earlier this year, we were at Community Forklift in PG County, which I describe as a a thrift store for home improvement supplies, and she picked out this old porch post and hauled it back to Ohio. She got my dad to cut off the rotting wood, paint it, and build the birdhouses. Rowhouse birdhouses. An homage to her kid's home. Super sweet.  

And she had her eye on this lovely concrete planter from Frager's on the Hill, so my dad bought it for her for Mother's Day:

<3

recipe: roasted asparagus

I love seeing my parents any time of year, but I particularly love seeing them in late spring because they always share their homegrown asparagus. Luckily for me, Tony and I were in Ohio last weekend for a wedding that just happened to fall during the asparagus harvest, and my dad sent me home with enough spears to keep us fed for a week. My friend Jamie once described my dad's asparagus as the best he's ever eaten, so now my dad, who apparently responds well to flattery, makes sure to pack a separate bag of asparagus for Jamie.

The weather was pretty cool Monday evening, so I decided to turn on the oven and roast the asparagus. Here's Monday's dinner of roasted asparagus with pierogies and black-eyed peas: 

Roasted Asparagus

• Asparagus
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Lay asparagus in a single layer on a baking sheet or baking dish, drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. 

Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes until the spears are crisp. 

decor: vintage postcards

Tony doesn't usually take the lead on home decor projects, but he got the ball rolling on this one. We framed vintage postcards from the cities we've lived in and hung them at the entry to our house: 

Tony picked up the first three postcards at an antique store in Ohio: his hometown, my hometown, and where we went to college. I liked the postcards, but we didn't have a plan for them at the time. We kept our eyes open and eventually found postcards at antique stores for the other three cities we've lived in: Augusta, Ga., Phoenix, and Washington.

It's a good reminder of where we're from. Plus, they're pretty darn cool. The Washington postcard may be my favorite:

I picked up the frame a couple of years ago on clearance at Michael's, and I bought the glass this weekend at the Lowe's in New Carrollton for about $6. As a side note, I found out the Home Depot in Northeast that I usually go to doesn't cut glass for you, but the Lowe's will do it.