thought I would share this for the holiday season!

Preheat oven to 325˚
1 box yellow cake mix. I used something like ultra moist golden butter recipe or something. It doesn't really matter.**Disregard the directions on the box
1 3.4 oz box of jello instant vanilla puddin' (the smaller, normal sized box, not the big one)
4 (yes, 4) eggs
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup rum
Dump everything in the bowl of your super duper red stand mixer with the paddle attachment on it and mix on low until incorporated. then scrape down the sides of the bowl, and (now this is important) crank it to high until the batter lightens in color and thickens noticeably. It won't be super thick, but it's easy to recognize when it sort of changes. Usually 3-4 minutes on high. Don't use the whisk, or it'll whip too much air into it and you'll have something resembling styrofoam. I made one that I just sort of mixed together and stuck in the oven and it wasn't as good.*
Oil and flour a bundt pan. Make sure you get all the nooks and crannies.*
Dump a half cup of walnuts evenly around the bottom of the pan. The recipe calls for finely chopped, but I just sort of whacked the bag a few times with a rolling pin, resulting in fairly large pieces. This way the cake batter cooks into the nuts giving it that praline like quality.*
Dump the batter in the pan. Now, not to sound anally retentive here, but be careful not to slop it on the sides or the middle thing on the pan. This cake is a pain to get out of the pan anyway, and crusty splatters of batter make it all the more difficult.*
Once you have all the batter in the pan, give it a little twist and smack it on the counter a couple times to let the air bubbles come out. Then, take a flat rubber spatula and smooth out the top. This will be the bottom of the cake and no one will see it, but if you don't do this, it can sort of rise weirdly and unevenly leading to a lopsided cake. If you smooth it out, it'll all be even.*
Bake in the middle of the oven for 55-60 minutes. Check at 45 just to make sure.*
Let it cool for about 10 minutes.*
*
While it's cooling, make the soaking glaze:
*
Melt a stick of butter in a medium pan
Add 1/4 cup of water
1 cup of sugar
Bring it to a boil and stir constantly for 5 minutes. BE CAREFUL, this is REALLY hot and it likes to foam and try to boil over. Keep stirring it and it should be fine. It will get thicker and the bubbles will kind of stack up on top of each other.*
Remove it from the heat and add 1/2 cup of rum and a teaspoon of vanilla. It may bubble up for a second when you put therum in, but it won't explode or anything. Probably.*
OK, we're almost there.*
Now try and remove the cake from the pan. I've found that if I take a butter knife and run around the outside and the middle, it makes it easier. Basically you're just making sure the damn thing won't fuse to the pan when you add the soaking glaze, forcing you to eat it with a spoon standing over the kitchen sink. Don't ask how I know.*
Anyway, pop it out of the pan, then right back in.*
*
Then take a chopstick or something roughly the same size and poke holes all the way through the cake about every inch or so. Seriously, you want A LOT of holes.*
Then pour the soaking glaze on. Usually I'll pour half directly on the bottom of the cake, then the other half around the rim of the pan where the cake has pulled away from the pan. Yes, I know it sounds fussy, but if you just dump it all on the bottom, it'l be soggy on the bottom and dry on the top.*
Now let it cool completely, about a half hour or 45 minutes more.*
*
While it's finishing cooling, you can make the other glaze.*
*
Sift 2 cups of powdered sugar in a bowl. I just set a wire mesh strainer in the bowl, dumped the sugar in it and shook it into the bowl, Again, it's fussy, but it makes it easier to mix and it comes out better.*
Melt a half stick of butter and pour it in the sugar along with 2 tablespoons of orange juice and a teaspoon of vanilla. You can also add a teaspoon of grated orange zest for a little more flavor.*
Stir it all together. It won't seem like that little bit of liquid will be enough for all that sugar, but it will. Do this by hand with a wooden spoon. If you do it with the mixer, it will A.) cover your kitchen with powdered sugar*
and B.) whip too much air into the glaze making it brittle. Pop the cake out of the pan on a plate and then drizzle the glaze over the top.*
Now the really hard part: Let it sit for several hours so it soaks up all the soaking glaze evenly and the other glaze sets.*
*

so tonight I am going to make some sort of a hamburger/brat type thing.  and we are going to have a black eyed pea/vegi type salad to go with.  ill post plated pics later this evening.



 

that's what I was looking for don.  I was just trying to give TRN options for when he chooses to tackle this. 

So, Bobbee...being the calculating trained warrior NCO that you are.  Take the appropriate action, Execute!

WOW............that just may have to be a quote.

homemade chicken noodle soup with homemade turkey stock from yesterdays 2 smoked turkeys.

your getting civilized now bobby with a dining room table, next thing is youll tell us that you got yourself a wife.............;D

nice.  is it going to be just for automotive or will other type projects be going on as well?

I would love to have one of those.  I just have not been in a position to get one.

welcome michael,

if there is something that you need assistance with, please let on of the staff know and we will do what we can to assist you.

never thought of that concept........

why do armored vehicles not get shut off in the field?

1. armored crew members are superstitious

2. you cant just start armored vehicles and slam them in gear and take off like you can a car, they take time (Abrams tanks have a jet engine)

3. metal/armor plating gets cold really quick, a running engine keeps it warm

4. hydraulic fluids work better/quicker when warm and not cold

5. the demand of the electronics

6. you must be able to react in a split sec

7. etc

8. armored crew members are superstitious



why do armored vehicles NOT get started on Fridays?

1. armored crew members are superstitious

2. murphy is a nasty asshole with a sick sense of humor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3. there is a lot of hydraulic fluid and fuel in an armored vehicle that can cover a very LARGE area VERY QUICKLY, and there is normally not enough dry sweet left over from the week to properly do the motorpool shuffle

4. if it breaks, you don't get to go home until its fixed (regardless of rank, time, location, temperature, weather conditions, etc)

5. its the end of the week, you are tired, want to go home and have coke and spend time with your family

6. murphy is a nasty f*&^%$g asshole with a sick sense of humor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

7. armored crew members are superstitious

and armored vehicles never get shut off while in the field........!!!!  that is a HUGE NO NO!  the other big NO NO was/is armored vehicles DO NOT I say again DO NOT get started on Fridays unless its an emergency.

no hitting from big nate, i am a scorpio and i do like to get revenge in more creative ways............;D

Lard, tallow, fat addition for homemade sausages.......

I started at 0830 GMT this morning.

At 0930 GMT I had the coals smoldering away and she was holding steady at 225deg. 

Now it is just fine tuning all of the ports/vents to get her figured out so she can run on her own and to see just how long 1 basket of coals/wood chunks will burn at 225deg for.

Once I get the controls figured out, I will put 2 fatties on to help with the seasoning, and just because I wanted some smoked sausage.

does anybody have anything to share?

http://faithtap.com/2153/a-christmas-hallelujah/

I have been compared to the hamms bear

everybody say hi to norm, he shows up every blue moon from out in left field.  he normally drops off a doozie as he is travelin thru............;D

i got diesel yesterday for $2.03 yesterday at circle k

replace the junk pumps on cmax with the kennedy one

he built the fire box with 1/4" specifically for this build

vacuum pump is correct.  an awful piece of equipment.  https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=vacuum+wound+pump

so i just had probably one of if not the funniest incident i have ever had to deal with while on duty. 

a young private with the knowledge of many a wise man (18yrs old) who is still inprocessing decided to go to an adult establishment and partake in some activities that involved sins of the flesh.  while this wise young man was partaking in these activities, he all of a sudden ran up a $900 bill.  the 2 employees faild to mention the said price for activities/services rendered and told him that they would drop it to $700.  well when he went to leave the establishment, he was stopped by the security folks and told that he could not leave until he paid his tab. 

well, his battle buddies left him hanging as they DI DI MAU'd back to base.  my counter part in another BDE gets a hold of this info and lets me know whats going on.  well from this point, i called this wise young man and find out what happened and how he is going to get it fixed.  he tells me that a friend is coming with some money. 

about 90 minutes later, in walks this wise young man with his Battalion (BN) staffy duty nco.  i asked him some questions about how this happened, gave him a little advice being as they provided him with an illegal service that they cant really/truly enforce.  i gave him a little more grief just for G.P. and told him to have a nice night (or what was left of it) and that i would not put this incident in my log because no law enforcement were involved and no body got hurt cept young mans pride and wallet for that matter.  this is deffinately the first time that i have ever had to deal with a man getting rolled/duped by ladies that were wearing nothing but their smiles............ :o

oh what a night!

what i find funny about all of this, is that it never seems to happen anywhere near a military installation.  not that i want it to, just an observation......

looks nice, hows the compressor working under the bench?