We’re continuing to party like pirates this week with a yummy swashbuckling recipe!

I’m pretty sure this is exactly what they served on real pirate ships just before those bloody marauders went a-plunderin’ & a-pillagin’. 

Drunken Pirate Rum Cake

Oops.  I mean…

Drunken Pirate Rum Cake

Cake Ingredients:

4 eggs, separated
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cake Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Beat egg whites until stiff.
Add 4 tablespoons of the sugar.
Beat egg yolks with remaining sugar.
Add egg whites.
Fold in dry ingredients.
Add melted butter & vanilla.
Pour into greased & floured 9 x 13 glass pan.
Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.
Remove from oven.
Poke holes in cake.
Pour hot sauce over warm cake.
Sprinkle with chopped nuts &/or toasted coconut.

Sauce Ingredients:

2 cups sugar
2 cups water
1/2 cup rum

Sauce Directions:

Boil sugar & water to soft ball stage (235 degrees).
Remove from heat.
Add rum.
Pour over warm cake.
Before sauce is all absorbed into cake, sprinkle with nuts &/or coconut.

Now use your razor-sharp rapier to cut a slice, then dig right in with that hook you’ve got for a hand & enjoy!

Ahoy, mateys!

It’s here!  It’s finally, finally here!

(No, not MUST LOVE VAMPIRES.  Though that is right around the corner. :vamp )

National Talk Like a Pirate Day is finally here!  I’ve only been waiting for this since about September 2oth of last year!

So what have we done in the past to mark this momentous holiday?  We’ve made lists of our favorite pirate movies & books…  We’ve shared pics of our pirate—& pirate wench—costumes…  We’ve talked like pirates, of course, & named our favorite from the big screen & raunchy romantic literature…

I think we should do all of that again, if we want…especially talking like pirates.  I mean, it’s called Talk Like a Pirate Day so that’s kind of a requirement!  But otherwise, it’s a Talk Like a Pirate free-for-all!

I’m going to provide you with a recipe for some hearty pirate grog (which can also be considered our Drink of the Month, if you like) & then let me buxom beauties decide what else we should do to celebrate.

And fair warning—any swashbuckler who thinks her peg leg is too good to participate will be forced to walk the plank!

Pirate Punch

Ingredients:

32 oz. can pineapple juice
12 oz. can orange juice concentrate
6 oz. can lemonade concentrate
5 cups cold water
1 quart 7-UP

Directions:

Mix ’em up, serve, & start drinking like a pirate who can handle her…well, there’s no liquor in this, but still!  Enjoy!

“Happiness is itself a kind of gratitude.”
~Joseph Wood Krutch

Happy Sunday!

I hope everybody is having a wonderful, fabulous week!  It’s been a good one here in The Dungeon, but busy.  So busy! :purplebat

This week, I AM HAPPY that I was in the right place at the right time.  Just yesterday, as I was leaving for an appointment, there was a little white dog in the middle of the road.  And it was a busy section of town, too (highway nearby, gas stations & truck stops, major traffic).  So of course I jumped out of the car & raced to its rescue.  Thankfully, a couple other people were trying to do the same, & two other women were actually holding on to two other dogs at one of the gas stations.  They (the dogs) were all together—four total.

At first, I didn’t know what was going on.  Then I started to think one of the dogs kinda looked familiar.  I said, “Roscoe? & the little white dog’s head came up.  Ah-ha!  I knew these dogs!  I knew where they lived!  Texted the gal I thought they belonged to (who is a dog rescuer, which is why she has so many of the little darlings; all different colors & breeds & sizes LOL) & she freaked!  Turns out, they’d all been in their outdoor pen, but one of them must be an escape artist & let the whole brood out & taken them on a Grand Adventure.  (I’ve got one of those, too, & have been there/done that, so I could sympathize with her mini panic attack.)  Well, once I knew where they’d wandered away from, I scooped them all up, put them all in the car, & drove them home.  And they loved it!  They were so cute, looking out the windows, the little white one sitting on the middle console like a queen.

So that was my very good deed for the day!  My neighbor was so happy to have them back, & so relieved none of them had gotten hurt.  (The fact that none of them got hit or killed really is a miracle, let me tell you.)  She must have hugged me & said thank you about a dozen times.  Which is exactly what I’d have done if somebody rescued my babies!  And just like the day I scooped my amazing Pekoe Boo (a.k.a Little Mr. Interstate) off the side of I-80, I feel extremely blessed to have been in the right place at the right time.  Because no one else who was helping to catch & hang on to those dogs would have had a clue where they belonged or what to do with them.  And I’m very grateful I did, or I may have had to bring them all home with me!

Whew.

I AM HAPPY—& very, very excited!—that tomorrow is Talk Like a Pirate Day!  You know what that means…oodles of swashbuckling (hopefully scruvy-free) fun here in The Dungeon all week long!  Well, okay, there may be a stray day when I lower the Jolly Roger, but otherwise…all week long!

I AM HAPPY that MUST LOVE VAMPIRES will be released in just over a week!  (Happy Bat Dance! Happy Bat Dance! :dancingbat )

And I AM HAPPY to have gotten most, if not all, of my Street Team packages out to my wonderful Street Walkers.  If you’re on the team, watch your mailbox—promo goodies & chocolate gifties are on the way! :batmoon

So things are heating up!  Lots of fun & excitement is just around the corner.

But now it’s your turn to share your happinesses (?) & gratitudes (?).  (Hey, those might be real words; you don’t know! :face )  We wanna hear the good stuff to set us on the the right path for the coming week!

Now to announce the winner of this week’s Free Book Friday giveaway—the Vegas-set (& therefore kinda MUST LOVE VAMPIRES-related ) Just for Kicks by Susan Andersen…

:dancingbat   Donna Cummings!!! :dancingbat

Congratulations, Donna! :drinkonme   Please contact me with your mailing information, & I’ll get your book out to you as soon as I can!