Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks

So while I was on vacation this last week, I had the chance to do a lot of reading.  One of the books I read was Nicholas Sparks, Safe Haven.  It takes place in Southport, NC which is one of my favorite places.  I was really excited to read this book because I found out that they are filming it right now in NC.  I loved the book and I am happy to say that yes someone dies but trust me you won't be sad about it.  The book is about a woman named Katie and she comes to Southport running from her past.  She starts to fall in love and she has to choose between continuing to run from her past or starting a new future.  The book was really good and I definitely recommend reading it especially if you are going to take it to the beach to read it :) 

The movie stars Julianne Hough, Josh Duhamel and Cobie Smulders.  The release date looks to be February 8, 2013 (imdb.com).  When it comes out I will be adding it to the movie section of this blog, and I will let you know what I think.

(All these pictures are from the movies Facebook page)

Enjoy,

Tabitha

Jamie Deen's One Bowl Chocolate Cake

So if you have not guessed so far, I love chocolate :)  This past week I was on vacation from work and decided I wanted to try a new cake.  I have been watching Jamie Deen's new show on the Food Network.  His show is all about making dinner for his family, its called Home for Dinner with Jamie Deen and I am in love with it.  On one of the shows he made a One Bowl Chocolate Cake, and I decided this week I would try it out.  So here is the recipe, and again this is Jamie Deen's cake recipe not my own so full props to Jamie Deen.

(Picture from the shows website, and this is where he is making the One Bowl Chocolate Cake)

Jamie Deen's One Bowl Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

Cake:
Nonstick baking spray w/ flour (I used regular PAM because I did not have the kind w/flour and the cake did not stick)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup warm water
1 stick melted unsalted butter, cooled
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Frosting:
1 stick unsalted butter
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups confectioners' sugar
2/3 cup sour cream

Directions

Cake:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray two 9 in round cake pans with PAM.
Add the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt to the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  Turn on mixer and let dry ingredients blend for a min.  Turn mixer up and while running, add the eggs (one at a time), the buttermilk, warm water, melted butter and vanilla extract.  Beat until combined, about two minutes.  The batter will be thick.

Evenly divide the batter between the two pans.  Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean about 30 minutes.  Cool in pans 10 minutes. then turn out onto wire rack to finish cooling.  Cool completely before icing.

Frosting:
Add butter to a medium saucepan over med. heat.  Add chopped chocolate and stir to melt.  Remove from heat.  Stir in cocoa, and vanilla. Using an electric mixer beat in the confectioners' sugar.  Slowly beat in the sour cream.  Let cool for 20 minutes.

Frost cake by spreading the frosting between the layers, then top with cake, and continue frosting the top and sides of the cake.

The cake was really good.  I was surprised by how much I liked the sour cream in the frosting.  Over all I would make this cake again.  :)

Enjoy,

Tabitha

Step Up Revolution (PG-13)

I know what most people are thinking when it comes to another Step Up movie, but let me tell you what, this is by far and away the best one yet.

So this weekend my two best friends and I had a mini BFF night out.  Ashton and I wanted to see the new Step Up movie and we were able to talk Dennys into going with us.  We had so MUCH fun, and the movie was different than the ones before it.  Yes it was still about dancers/dance crew and there was the classic oh no this happened how are we going to fix it situation.  But, wow really great movie.  There were a few main characters, but the main couple in the movie was Ryan Guzman and Kathryn McCormick.  They did a phenomenal job with the different dance sequences and they were a really cute couple. 

The movie is about this dance crew called The Mob and they do kind of a flash mob thing.  The opening dance mob with the cars was crazy amazing, you can see a good piece of it in the trailer.  Then Emily (Kathryn McCormick) comes and joins The Mob and the characters find out that their small part of Miami Beach is going to be torn down and a new hotel is going up.  So they start to use The Mob as a way of protest art, super cool.  I won't tell you any more about the details you will just have to go see this movie for yourself.  :)

However, I will tell you my two favorite parts, the first was in an art museum where they made the art come to life (this was really one of the coolest things I have ever seen in my life).  My second favorite part was the end dance mob, where yes Moose is back, (the only thing I can complain about is that he was only in the movie of a few mins.).  But anyways, the reason that the second dance mob was one of my favorite parts was because they show these guys jumping off container crates onto a trampoline and doing stunts/tricks.  Well, I had to look into that and I found a cool article on the New York Times web site called, Defying Gravity With Creativity written by Erik Olsen.  There is a video with the article that shows and tells you about this new up and coming sport called wall trampoline, it's amazing check it out and you will see why I liked this part of the movie so much.

5 out of 5 Stars (should give it a 10)
Good Date Movie
WANT to see it again, can't wait for DVD

Enjoy,

Tabitha

*movie poster from IMDb
**video from youtube

Lemon Drop Cake

Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

So last week my Aunt Cissy came down from Indiana to visit with my mom, and I said that I would make them a cake. I decided on the Lemon Drop Cake by the guys at BakedNYC. I have already made one of their cakes, The White Out Cake, you can see what I thought about that cake here, White Out Cake.

Ever since I made that cake I have wanted to try another one, and I chose the Lemon Drop Cake. It was just as good as The White Out Cake and very similar to make. Again this is one of those cakes that if you do not have a stand mixer I would not try to make it. My aunt, mom and I really liked the cake, it was light and fluffy and the icing was my favorite part. To be honest I don’t usually like icing but these two cakes might have changed my mind on it. Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito did an amazing job on these cakes and I can’t wait to try another one. Next time though I am picking something out of their other cook book, Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented.

Enjoy,

Tabitha

Underworld by Meg Cabot

Finally my box from Amazon.com came, WOOHOO! and in it was my copy of Underworld, the second book in the Abandon trilogy. As I started reading this book it was so easy to fall right in where the first book left off. Underworld was terrific; it was more about John Hayden (Hades character) and his background. The story explained more about how he became ruler of the underworld and all the hardships that he has had to deal with. Also, this book gave more information about Uncle Chris and Pierce's family, which I liked. This book answered a lot of questions that I had after reading the first book and I appreciated that. I can't stand when all you get is question after question with no answers in-between. However, I must also say that while this book does answer a lot of questions it also give us some new ones to think about, especially about those dangerous Furies. I enjoyed reading Underworld until the last page and was so sad that I have to wait until next spring for the last book Awaken :(

Enjoy,

Tabitha

* The picture of this book can from here.

**You can purchase this book here.

The Cheesecake Factory

So every month my two best friends and I go out to dinner somewhere new. This month we went to The Cheesecake Factory, and I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was. I have heard that it is a little over rated and that the menu is too big and that the food suffers for this fact. However, I have also been told that the cheesecake is totally worth it. We went last night and I must say it was great, the service was wonderful and we lucked out with only a 45 min. wait.

I decided to start with one of their snacks/appetizers. I chose the Fried Artichoke Hearts.

I know the picture is not that great but they were, and I will be ordering them again.

For my actual dinner I decided to get the grilled cheese, I know! what a random thing to pick out, but I saw it on the menu and it was what I wanted. O Boy! talk about the best best best grilled cheese I have ever had and it came with french fries. Here is a picture of it, as you can see it was huge and under $10. (Keep in mind I had taken a few bites on the half at the bottom, I forgot I wanted to take pictures first and it just looked too good :).

So last but not least what is The Cheesecake Factory without cheesecake?  Well I got the Godiva® Chocolate Cheesecake. Here are the pictures and they say enough, chocolate chocolate chocolate.

BEST CHEESECAKE I have EVER had :)

Enjoy,

Tabitha

*To check out The Cheesecake Factories cheesecakes or find a Cheesecake Factory near you head to their website.

http://www.thecheesecakefactory.com/

Abandon by Meg Cabot

So, I love to read. I mostly read young adult, and recently I read Abandon by Meg Cabot and loved it. I have not read anything by Meg Cabot since I was in high school and I read the Princess Diaries, but when I saw this book I knew I would have to read it.

This book is exactly as the book flap says, "The Myth of Persephone...Darkly Reimagined". I don't know about anyone else but I enjoyed learning about the Greek gods in high school, it was interesting to learn about how other cultures explained different things. For example the story of Persephone, her story explained why the seasons changed. For more detail about Persephone's story check out what Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persephone) says about the Abduction Myth. Meg Cabot takes this myth and applies it to the modern world. The book is about a young girl named Pierce (Persephone) who has died and been brought back to life. However, as she tries to return to her normal life things continually go wrong and John Hayden (Hades) keeps popping into her life. I don't know if you can see it in the picture above but the cover of the book says "She knows what it's like to die" and then on the back "Now death wants her back." Tell me that does not get your attention. I know that it got mine. This is the first book in a trilogy and I just ordered the second one Underworld from Amazon it should be here today or Monday. The third Awaken comes out spring 2013.

So let me know if you read this book and tell me what you think about it.

Enjoy,

Tabitha

*the picture of this book came frommegcabot.com

**you can buy this book at Amazon.com

Hershey's Deep, Dark Chocolate Cake

        So my mom has been asking and asking for me to make a Hershey's Deep, Dark Chocolate Cake and today I gave in. In honor of the 4th of July and having guests over I decided to get to work this morning on the cake. It is a chocolate cake with chocolate icing (my favorite :). Also, it is a very simple cake to make especially if this is your first from scratch or homemade cake. Here is the cocoa you will need to make the cake and icing, Wal-Mart carries it and you can get a big container at a reasonable price.

Just a note:  The recipe for the cake and icing are also on the back of the container. But here it is as well. Again this is HERSHEY'S Deep, Dark Chocolate Cake and not my own recipe so full props to Hershey's because this cake rocks.

 
Cake:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup Hershey's Cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup boiling water

     Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Add remaining ingredients except boiling water. Beat at med. speed 2 mins. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin) Pour into 2 greased 9" pans or 3 8" pans and bake at 350 for 30 to 35 mins. I recommend checking with tooth pick after 25 mins. Cool for 10 mins. And remove from pans. You can also bake this cake in an oblong cake pan but make sure you test it with a tooth pick after 25 mins.  Cake is done when tooth pick in middle comes out clean.

Icing:
1 stick butter (melted)
2/3 cup Hershey's Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

      Blend with mixer med. speed until smooth; add more milk or powdered sugar if needed for desired consistency.

Enjoy,

Tabitha

The Amazing Spider-Man (PG-13)

So today I went to see the new Spiderman movie and I have to say it was really good. I was skeptical about it because the Spiderman movies have been done. However, I liked this one better than the others. The action was amazing and it felt so real when Peter Parker was jumping from building to building. Also, the love story was great; Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone make a really sweet couple and her dad played by Denis Leary did amazing. By the way Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are now two of my favorite actors. Overall not only was the movie full of action it was pretty funny as well. I hope that you all give this movie a chance because it was surprisingly different from the ones that have come before it, and it was well made. The small differences in this Spiderman movie make a world of change. So like I said give it a chance, go see it this weekendJand tell me what you think.

Notes:

5 out of 5 stars

Good Date Movie

I would definitely see it again (totally buying the DVD).

Enjoy,

Tabitha

*Movie poster from www.imdb.com

Happy Independence Day Everyone

Good morning and happy 4th to everyone.

I hope that you all have a wonderful and safe 4th. Please come back this evening for two new posts; one is for the new Spiderman movie and the other will be a cake that I have baking right now, it is Hershey's Best Chocolate Cake. Yummy :) I will be sharing the recipe with you or if you just have to have it now the recipe is also on the back of the Hershey's Cocoa container.

Enjoy,

Tabitha



*Clip art from http://www.webweaver.nu/clipart/ 

White Out Cake

Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

http://bakedshop.com/banewfrinba.html

*This book is available on amazon as well however; the one from bakedshop.com is signed by the authors.

 

I made this cake last month for my best friends 21^stBirthday and she absolutely loved it. It was a big hit with the party guests as well. She also told me that when she took the left overs home her younger brother wanted to know if I would make his birthday cakeJ. So over all I would say huge SUCCESS. This is the first cake that I have tried out of one of the Baked cookbooks and it did not disappoint. (Just a note: if you don’t have a stand mixer I would not recommend making this cake).
I can’t wait to try another cake from this cook book. Also, Baked has two other cook books out with another due out this fall called Baked Elements: Our Ten Favorite Ingredients, I can’t wait to buy it. There are many things that I want to make out of these books, I have also tried their No-Bake cookie recipe which is in Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented and love them as well. If you would like more information about Baked NYC just visit their web site http://bakednyc.com/.

Enjoy,

Tabitha

Snow White and the Huntsman (PG-13)

So a few weeks ago I went to see Snow White and the Huntsman staring Kristen Stewart, Charlize Theron and Chris Hemsworth. All I can say is wow they did a great job on the movie. The scenery was amazing and the action parts were very well filmed. It was good seeing Kristen Stewart in a new role other than Bella. However, there was a scene in Snow White that looked like Bella at the end of Twilight when she gets bitten by James. Other than that she did great and let me tell you what, Charlize Theron was scary, she played the part of the evil queen perfectly. My favorite part of the movie was how they kept it to the story of Snow White. If you have not seen this movie I recommend going it was very good.

Notes:

3 out of 5 Stars

Good Date Movie

Yes I would see it again

Enjoy,

Tabitha

*Movie poster from www.imdb.com

Welcome

Welcome to Sweet North Carolina,

First off blogging is new to me so please bear with me. I am really excited about starting this new adventure in blogging and I hope that you enjoy the posts that you find on this site.

 Just a little about Sweet North Carolina, this blog is going to be about different desserts that I make. The majority of which will be cakes. I love to bake and find really good recipes to follow.  I have been baking for many years and cakes are my favorite thing to bake.  Most of my cakes are requests that I get from friends for their birthdays but I also like to bake just for fun. 

 A little about me personally is that I was born and raised in North Carolina.  I am 28 years old and as I said I love to bakeJ.  My other passions include any and every kind of craft, reading, music, TV and movies.  I am a teacher at a preschool in North Carolina and I also teach faith formation at my church on Sundays.  Last but not least I am addicted to Pinterest so if you would like to follow me there please do. http://pinterest.com/mikagaildavis/

Enjoy,

Tabitha