It’s All Good… So much to look forward to!! #Dreambigandoften!
Mar14
Monthly Archives: March 2014
Mar14
Live Ferociously!
Happy Friday! Live it Ferociously! Fe·ro·cious [fuh-roh-shuhs]
Adjective
1. fierce, as a person, action, or aspect.
2. extreme or intense: a ferocious thirst.
Mar14
Dark Chocolate Red Wine Cake with Chocolate Cream Filling
A delicious, moist chocolate cake with a spark of red wine, filled with a creamy chocolate, and topped with powered sugar. This chocolate cake is for grown-ups. #chocolatefriendsofTenaciousM enjoy!
Yields: 12 slices
Total Time: 1 hr 5 min
Prep Time: 35 min
Cook Time: 30 min
Ingredients
Cake
1 3/4 cup(s) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup(s) unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoon(s) baking soda
1/2 teaspoon(s) salt
1 1/4 cup(s) sugar
1/2 cup(s) softened butter
1 teaspoon(s) vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup(s) red wine, use your favorite red wine
1/3 cup(s) confectioners’ sugar
Filling
2/3 cup(s) butter, softened
4 cup(s) confectioners’ sugar
1/3 cup(s) cocoa
1 teaspoon(s) vanilla
4 tablespoon(s) half and half
Directions
1. For Cake: Pre-heat oven to 350˚F. Grease/spray a Bundt pan.
2. In a medium bowl combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat the butter until fluffy. Add the sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and eggs until well combined. Add the dry ingredients and the wine, alternating and mixing well after each addition.
4. Spread the batter into the Bundt pan. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
5. Cool for 15 minutes then remove from pan. Cool completely before adding chocolate cream filling.
6. For Filling: In a large bowl, beat the butter until fluffy. Gradually add the sugar, beating well. Add the vanilla and cocoa. Beat in the half and half until creamy.
7. Using a serrated bread knife, carefully slice off the top half of the Bundt cake. Set aside the top. Using your fingers, press down on the center of the bottom of the cake to make a small “canal” or “moat” all around the bottom section of the cake.
8. Place the filling in a pastry bag. Fill the moat with the chocolate filling. Replace top half of cake. Dust top of cake with powdered sugar and slice.
Mar13
It’s coming… Jimi Hendrix USPS Stamp
I am just so excited!! The Jimi Hendrix USPS Stamp is coming!
The United States Postal Service released a new Forever stamp honoring the late ’60s rock guitarist as part of its Music Icons series
Jimi Hendrix died 43 years ago at the age of 27, but his legacy will live on “forever” on a new U.S. postage stamp.
The United States Postal Service released a new Forever stamp Thursday depicting the 1960s rock star as part of its Music Icons series, which honored Lydia Mendoza, Johnny Cash and Ray Charles last year. Designed by artist Rudy Gutierrez, the psychedelic-looking stamp shows Hendrix shredding his left-handed guitar.
A dedication ceremony for the stamp is scheduled to take place Thursday at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Tex., followed by a celebration concert featuring former Guns ‘n Roses guitarist Slash, Jane’s Addiction’s singer Perry Farrell, MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer, and ex-Doors guitarist Robby Krieger.
“I am deeply touched and so are other members of the Hendrix family by the issuance of this stamp, and I wish to thank the United States Postal Service for bestowing one of our nation’s highest honors on my brother Jimi,” Janie Hendrix, the sister of the late guitarist, said in a press statement. “While my brother has been cited many times as being among the most influential musicians of all time, the recognition implicit in his being portrayed on a U.S. postage stamp ranks as an unparalleled honor.”
The release of the stamp coincides with an upcoming biopic on the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, All Is By My Side, starring Outkast’s Andre 3000, which was scheduled to premiere at SXSW. Last year saw the release of People, Hell & Angels, a posthumous collection of previously unreleased recordings by Hendrix.
Next up in the USPS’ Music Icons series will be a stamp commemorating rock singer Janis Joplin.
Credit: Time Magazine
Mar13
THE MASCOT
This morning I watched a Black woman cross the street
in a white dress
She was blue collar
We were problems for the other
Separated by class or degrees – –
And the books I’d complained were heavy
lightened with the weight I felt watching her
Young and tired of being yanked at by
men and kids who gave validity
and took away hope
We knew to speak
And she smiled with contempt for my freedom
She must be the strong one
For cementing households and raising the Black children
For putting up with the men and that little bit…
Her stamina moves her
Forward and out of sight
Between buildings that lose us
Mar13
Over The Hump Old School Sound Check – Ohio Players
Happy Thursday!!
The Ohio Players were an American funk and R&B band, most popular in the 1970s. They are best known for their #1 hit songs “Fire” and “Love Rollercoaster”.
Gold certifications, records selling at least one million copies, were awarded to the singles “Funky Worm”, “Skin Tight”, “Fire”, and “Love Rollercoaster”; plus to their albums Skin Tight, Fire, and Honey.
On August 17, 2013, The Ohio Players were inducted into the inaugural class of the Official R&B Music Hall of Fame that took place in Cleveland, Ohio. Credit: Wikipedia
Mar12
Ganache-Stuffed Chocolate-Chip Cookies
A stuffed cookie is like a sandwich cookie, only with more cream on the inside — it’s fatter, fuller, and (if you’re the kind of person who twists apart the cookies to get to the cream) better. This recipe uses nutty chocolate-chip cookies and silky chocolate ganache.
Ingredients
1 cup(s) walnuts
1 cup(s) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoon(s) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon(s) baking soda
1/2 teaspoon(s) salt
1 stick(s) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup(s) packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup(s) granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon(s) pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup(s) bittersweet chocolate chips
4 ounce(s) bittersweet chocolate, chopped
5 tablespoon(s) heavy cream
2 1/2 tablespoon(s) light corn syrup
2 tablespoon(s) crème fraîche
Directions
1. Make the cookies: Preheat the oven to 375°. Spread the nuts in a pie plate and toast for 8 minutes; let cool, then chop.
2. In a bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, and salt. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle (or using a hand-held mixer), cream the butter with the sugars and vanilla at medium speed, about 1 minute. Beat in the egg.
With the mixer at low speed, beat in the dry ingredients. Beat in the walnuts and chocolate chips. Spoon level tablespoons of the dough onto 2 ungreased baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, until firm.
3. Make the ganache: Put the chocolate in a bowl. In a saucepan, bring the cream and corn syrup to a boil; pour over the chocolate and let stand for 1 minute. Whisk until smooth. Whisk in the crème fraîche. Refrigerate the ganache, stirring occasionally, until thick and spreadable, 1 hour.
4. Bake the cookies for 12 minutes, until golden; let cool on the sheets for 2 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
5. Sandwich the chocolate-chip cookies with the ganache and serve.
Mar12
12 Years A Slave: Why I’m Glad it Won Best Picture
I wanted to share this absolutely amazing assessment of the movie, “12 Years A Slave” with my readers. I have had my own ambivalence about seeing the movie. I try not to be an emotional cutter and movies about slavery tend to affect me so deeply that I am immobilized for longer periods than I choose to be. I consider myself a student of African American history, yet, there is such a difference when you observe the oppression from a book or a class versus a movie. I think there is so much residual guilt for those of us who did not live through that time. Could we have endured slavery with the same grace, strength and courage as our ancestors.? Perhaps there lies the pain…
12 Years A Slave:
Why I’m Glad it Won Best Picture
“Joyce is right about history being a nightmare –but it may be the nightmare from which no one can awaken. People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them.” –James Baldwin, “Stranger in the Village.”
If you follow me through social media you know I’m used to visiting plantation landscapes and dressing in the type of clothing enslaved people would wear. I’ve cooked the enslaved way in many states across the former Confederacy and Border states. I’ve picked cotton and worked in tobacco fields. I’ve been in rice and sugarcane fields in the Lowcountry and Lower Mississippi Valley dodging teenaged gators and poisonous snakes. Plantations blind with darkness don’t scare me and I almost take comfort from the spirits that have surrounded me. I have been in their presence—for real—and the ancestors have been both welcoming…
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Mar11
Louis Vuitton Fall 2014 Ready To Wear Collection
Anticipation was high as everyone awaited the morning debut of Louis Vuitton’s Ready to Wear Collection. With the return of the renown Nicholas Ghesquiere after almost 2 years, the whole collection remained a mystery with no hints in any fashion direction whats so ever.
Curious to see what was in store, seats where filled with everyone from the Princess of Monaco to fashion great Jean Paul Gaultier. All the finest of leathers were used, but in the most unique of ways in only Ghesquiere could do. Enjoy!
Credit: Style Pantry
Mar11
Lupita Nyong’o The Dreamer
Rarely do I embrace celebrity and definitely not for celebrity alone. But, I think Lupita Nyong’o is a dreamer front and center and someone who folks from any generation can aspire to be. We can start with her sense of style and fashion and praise her for much more, her sense of purpose. #Dreamer #beautiful!
Egos & Buffaloes 