A Memoir of only 6 words?

Both the lovely Cakelaw and Amanda at Mrs. W's Kitchen have tagged me for the six word memoir. And the rules are as follows:

1. Write your own 6 word memoir.

2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration.

3. Link to the person who tagged you.

4. Tag 5 more blogs with links.

5. Leave a comment on the tagged blogs letting them know they're tagged.

Actually, Amanda tagged me a while ago, and I've been in the middle of reading various huge books from the library, Jane Eyre and The Cider House Rules to name a few, so limiting me to 6 words was something to think about. For example, after finishing Jane Eyre I had to make myself stop thinking things like "Once injured, I was wont to forget the pain of recovery and focus lightheartedly on the joys of skipping again if only I could bend my leg and sway like the bulrushes." OK so I have no real idea of how bulrushes sway other than what I've seen on PBS, but the truth of the matter is that Charlotte Bronte is really wordy.

As an aside, I just checked out Wuthering Heights, Portrait of a Lady, and The Scarlett Letter from the library, so be warned that posts next week may get super wordy. It's not that I'm fascinated with the reading list of the average parochial high school, it's that I never actually read the books I was supposed to read in high school. See, I somehow learned if I paid attention to class discussions, I would know enough for the tests. Well, that and many many of the Shakespeare books are on video (DVD now, it was video back when I was young). Thus the only book I read in high school was King Lear and that was only because the video was far more confusing than reading Shakespeare.

See what I mean about 6 words being difficult for me?

I decided to go with 6 unchanging things about myself. Things that will be the same now as 10 years from now.

Re-injured

Re-repaired (yeah that's the screw they took OUT)

Hopeful

Happy

Married

And on the last note, tomorrow is our one year anniversary, so don't hold your breath for a post.

And I tag:

Molly at Batter Splattered

Mary at The Sour Dough

Kitt at The Kittalog

Deborah at Taste and Tell

and

Miss. Von Schtoop at Calamity Shazaam in the Kitchen

Because they are all really cool fun blogs and I like them.

Dairy Hollow Cornbread

At the end of last month, shortly before my surgery I was contacted by Crescent Dragonwagon, the author of the Dairy Hollow Soup and Bread cookbook. That happens to be the lovely cookbook that the beer soup came from. It turns out that Mrs. Dragonwagon happens to have written several other cookbooks including a fairly new one called the Cornbread Gospels. She asked if I would like a copy to review.

I have a small confession to make here. Although I said "sure send me a copy" I am definitely not what one would call an expert on cornbread. Prior to receiving the book, I'd never actually made cornbread except out of the blue and white box mix. My mom has always just used the Jiffy mix too. So has my grandma. As it turns out this book is excellent for me. Unfortunately it arrived the day after surgery.

So there I was in a Percocet induced fog excited to get a new cookbook, but really unable to concentrate on what it said. As the fog cleared, mostly due to my stubborn resistance to taking painkillers, I started to read the cookbook. This was also something new for me, but Mrs. Dragonwagon had so much interesting information packed into this cookbook. There is all kinds of information on the differences between "Yankee" and "Southern" cornbread. There's information about cornbreads around the world. There's information about what to do with leftover cornbread. There's basically a TON of information in this cookbook.

My wonderful mother in law, was over at our house everyday to help change my bandages and cook me lunch and usually dinner for the Brain and I. She's very nurturing. I think I can say I have the best mother in law around. Anyhow, back to the subject at hand, she had seen the book arrive and we had several talks about cornbread, which she called Johnny cake. (Johnny cake information is also in this book.) So one night she borrowed the book (OK I sent it over with the Brain) and she made me Countryside Cornsticks. They were delicious. You'll have to take my word on this because at that point in my recovery I couldn't have found my camera if it was sitting in my lap. But they were delicious and now I was fully intrigued.

Last Sunday, the Brain and I momentarily ran out of food being delivered by neighbor ladies and friends and we decided that I would pull a chair into the kitchen and read off the recipe for the beer beans.(Beans are an important food to eat when you've been taking pain killers. Even I couldn't go cold turkey on the painkillers. I don't think I should extrapolate here, but trust me beans are important when taking painkillers.) So there I sat watching my husband cook for me. It was very sexy. I would have taken a photo, but he was in his drawers and that's only something I get to see. I did however get the brilliant idea that we should make something out of The Cornbread Gospels. He got the brilliant idea we should make cookies.

We compromised. While he ran to the store for buttermilk and a refrigerator full of nitrite rich meats, I mixed up these cookies and got them ready for the oven. But then when he got home I carefully mixed up the dough for the Dairy Hollow House Skillet-Sizzled Cornbread. Well, apparently I wasn't too careful because I mixed the baking soda in with the dry ingredients before I realized that it was supposed to go in the buttermilk. So I got it all mixed and the Brain handled the cast iron skillet part. What was the result? A fabulously crumbly delicious cornbread. Crescent Dragonwagon was right. I'm not going back to the Jiffy mix.

This recipe wasn't complicated. It really came together in a flash. Besides, it was great soaking up juices from the beans. And it was great leftover and reheated for about 15 seconds in the microwave with some cube steak a lady friend dropped off. And it was great soaking up the juices from the beans the same lady dropped off. And it was great cold with a thick slice of butter after an early morning physical therapy session. And now I've run out.

Fortunately for me, there are over 200 recipes in this cookbook. I've had 2 so I'd say I realistically have 99% of the recipes left to try. And try more of these recipes I will. I'm only having a hard time narrowing down the choice on which one to do next!

Sorry the photos are blurry, I hadn't quite gotten myself off the Vicodin by that point.

Dairy Hollow House Skillet-Sizzled Cornbread

from The Cornbread Gospels

Vegetable oil cooking spray

1 cup unbleached white flour

1 cup stone ground yellow cornmeal

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

2 Tbsp sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup mild vegetable oil

2 Tbsp butter

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Spray a 10 inch cast-iron skillet with oil and set aside.

2. Sift together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl.

3. In a smaller bowl, stir the baking soda into the buttermilk. Whisk in the sugar, egg, and the 1/4 cup oil.

4. Put the prepared skillet over medium heat, add the butter, and heat until the butter melts and is just starting to sizzle. Tilt the pan to coat the sides and bottom.

5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and combine them quickly, using as few strokes as possible. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake the cornbread until it is golden brown, about 20 minutes. Let cook for a few moments, and slice into wedges to serve.

It's Gold in my Family

There's an exciting blog event going on co-hosted by Pixie over at You Say Tomato, I Say Tomato and Rosie at Rosie Bakes a Peace of Cake. It's called "Putting Up" and it's about preserving foods, canning, also known as "putting up".

I may be a fairly large dork because my mom and my grandmas all canned and I just followed in their footsteps. Next thing you know I'll be doing things like quilting and making soap from bacon grease. I doubt it, but if I wanted to to really go back to my roots, I guess I could. So even when I was living in apartments in Kansas City and Ann Arbor I happily made preserves and pickles and chili sauce and what my sister calls "crack beans" (they're that good).

And last year I finally moved into a house and I had a garden and I went completely bezerk at "harvest time". So which recipe should I blog about for this putting up event? My chunk pickles are really good, but I'm planning on entering them for the county fair (I'm a HUGE dork) and it's a secret recipe that my mom won third prize at the Michigan State Fair many many years ago. Honest. I'm not lying on that one. I do love my canned tomatoes and there's tons of uses for them, but really they're super simple and nothing more than canned peeled tomatoes with salt. I can't reach the recipe book that has the "crack beans" recipe or the salsa recipe in them. It's in the bookshelf on the side of the pantry and although I'm now down to one crutch around the house (Hooray!) I'm still forbidden from attempting the pantry.

So that leaves us with the very old and very delicious Chili Sauce recipe. Chili Sauce is a tomato preserve that sort of resembles a homemade chunky ketchup. It's sort of like a tomato relish I guess. It's also treated like gold in my family. For Christmas one year my mother gave us kids all a jar of Chili Sauce and the family's secret fruitcake recipe and we were a bunch of happy clams. Yeah anyone who says they hate fruitcake has never had my mom's fruitcake. Unfortunately, the recipe makes far more than my little family of the Brain and I could possibly eat in a year and it's a lot of work, so I'm mostly reduced to begging my mom to make some every year. Oooops sorry, got off track there.

So Chili Sauce (and the secret family fruitcake recipe) is guarded in my family. It's saved and stored until the perfect moment for using. Well unless you make it yourself like I do and then you can lavish it on top of hamburgers or mix it with Miracle Whip for some very tasty salad dressing. My sister Super G makes short ribs with it. My vegetarian brother once said it's tasty on a bean loaf. It's fabulous in Beef Brisket with Beer, which I'm giving you the recipe for, but no pictures because I can't go down those scary basement stairs. And I really really like it when making Sloppy Joes. See I never grew up with Manwich because there was always Chili Sauce in the house. And frankly, now I think Manwich is icky. But I have it in my pantry because I am a good wife. But if you want a sloppy joe, go with the chili sauce.

Chili Sauce

Family recipe courtesy of Caroline Fritz my great grandmother

2 red and 2 green bell peppers

1 cup celery

1 cup onions

1 peck tomatoes, peeled

pickling spice bag

1 pint vinegar

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup salt

pepper

1 Tbsp dry mustard

Grind vegetables and put all ingredients in large pot. Boil. Stir often as it scorches easily (and once it scorches the little black floaty bits are hard to get rid of.) When the chili sauce is thick (probably 3+ hours later) seal in jars and process 5 minutes in boiling water.

Pickling Spice Bag:

1 stick cinnamon

1 Tbsp celery seed

3 Tbsp pickling spice

Tie all the ingredients together in cheesecloth (or in the cut off toe end of a new and very clean pair of panty hose).

Beef Brisket in Beer

Family recipe courtesy of Dorothy Hunter my grandmother

3-4 lb brisket

1 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup chili sauce

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1 12 oz can beer

garlic salt

Trim excess fat from meat. Season with salt, pepper and garlic salt. Put in roaster. Mix onion, chili sauce, and brown sugar with some beer and pour over meat with remaining beer. This cooks down to almost nothing. Cover and bake at 350° for 3 -3 1/2 hours. If not brown, bake uncovered for 10 minutes. Let stand a few minutes before carving. Add water and 2 Tbsp flour for thick gravy.

Spiced Carrot and Zucchini Quinoa

Today was the first day of physical therapy. It's amazing how in 2 weeks my leg has shriveled to downright puny. My therapist and I had a long discussion on what I could and couldn't do and although I'm sure she thinks I'm chomping on the bit to get back to athletic life, she also says that a metric century (62 mile bicycle ride) in November is a "realistic goal". Yippee! Being the third knee surgery I was pretty scared she was going to tell me that rehab was going to be more conservative. But all my random leg lifts on the couch have apparently done me good and she said that she's pleased with my strength and happy with my range of motion. I can now bend my knee a whole 96 degrees. That's better than I thought I could do! So between chapters of the Cider House Rules I'm flopping around like a fish out of water doing my exercises. I will be strong again!

But what does this have to do with food? Not a whole lot. I'm still eating food the ladies in town are making. I really have to get the recipe for the cube steak that came over on the weekend. It's seriously yummy. But today's recipe I made a while back and is really really healthy. It even contains a food my mother considers as one of my special fancy foods. Quinoa.

Quinoa isn't a new food. It's actually an ancient food from South America. The leaves are edible, but good luck finding them in a grocery store out here in North Central Ohio. Or really I'm not sure where you can find them. Maybe in New York City. Or probably South America. Anyway, I digress. Quinoa, pronounced keenwa, is a pseudocereal because it's not a grass. The ancient Incas called it the "mother of all grains". We eat the seed part of quinoa and it's a complete protein, meaning it has a balanced distribution of all the amino acids. This makes it a very good meal for vegetarians. Quinoa also is gluten free, which is important to a whole lot of people. (thank you wikipedia)

Quinoa also comes in different colors. The white kind is most readily available in larger supermarkets. The red kind tastes a little nuttier than the white kind. Quinoa is also very easy and quick to cook, but they should be rinsed several times before cooking to remove their natural coating of saponin. If the quinoa isn't rinsed the saponin can make it taste soapy and that's no good.

This Spiced Carrot and Zucchini Qunioa recipe I found on Epicurious.com and it really makes a tasty dish. For people who need meat, this makes an excellent side dish. I ate it for lunches as a nutritious and tasty meal all in itself. It's the kind of dish I feel good eating, because it's so tasty and yet I know I'm doing something excellent for my body. Like growing my muscles.

Oh and those 62 mile bike rides are really more like a string of 6, 10 mile bike rides (yes, plus 2 miles) with rest stops with Gatorade, fruit, and Snickers bars in between. And you get all day to do it. Well a large portion of the day. They're a lot of fun and really not that difficult to do. Usually if you get a flat tire or something, other bikers will stop to help you and there's a support vehicle that keeps circling the route. The American Diabetes Association, in most states, has a Tour de Cure every summer that has a 62 mile (100km) option that I did once near Grand Rapids, Michigan with the Queen Geek and had a tremendous amount of fun. They do also have shorter routes too. These bike rides are a great way to support a terrific organization, spend a healthy afternoon, and eat Snickers bars guilt free. What I'll do for a guilt free Snickers bar....

Spiced Carrot and Zucchini Quinoa

from Bon Appetit

4 cups water

2 cups quinoa, rinsed well, drained

2 Tbsp dried currants

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup olive oil

2 medium carrots, peeled, cut into small cubes

2 medium zucchini, trimmed, cut into small cubes

1 Tbsp Hungarian sweet paprika

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Combine first 4 ingredients in heavy large saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until water is absorbed and quinoa is tender, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add carrots; saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Add zucchini; saute until tender, about 3 minutes. Mix in paprika and cinnamon. Add quinoa to skillet; toss to blend. Season with salt and pepper.

Cupcake Shipping part 3 and Success!

First let me point you in the direction of the lovely (and I really mean lovely) Marti of Standing Still. Marti is a fantastic potter and you can buy her stuff here. She also has a terrifically witty blog and great long red hair. She also has a really fun countdown until the current administration is over and we get to have a new president who can't possibly be as bad as the one we've got now.

The lovely Marti lives in Minnesota. And Minnesota has been pummeled with snow. Seriously it could still be snowing there now. Winter has an even firmer grip on Minnesota than on Northern Ohio. So one day when I was just doing nothing because it was too yucky to go outside, very cold rain or something like that, a feeble cry came out of Minnesota. Please. Send. Cupcakes. How could I resist?

Now Marti's son, who is really a cool kid, happens to be even pickier about fruit than I am, likes dark chocolate and doesn't like nuts and so on. So I made him my version of Mexican Chocolate cupcakes. I should say I was talking to Super G and she suggested it and she's lived in Mexico for a little bit, so I'm taking her word on what exactly Mexican Chocolate is. Basically it's dark chocolate with cinnamon and a little cayenne. At least that's what MY Mexican Chocolate is.

I topped those off with a matching dark chocolate ganache and put them in the newest version of the cupcake shipping prototype.

How did I update the old cupcake shipping system? Well instead of an 8oz clear plastic cup, I went with a 7oz paper cup. It's more Earth friendly, at least in my head it is. And the smaller cup meant that it would hit the slipless point quicker thus cutting down on the amount of movement of the frozen cupcake in the inverted cup. Like so. (I am a math geek, not an artist.)

The slipless point is important because once the cupcake hits the slipless point then the cupcake if inverted (the cup would then be right side up) would not be able to slip further into the cup, thus damaging the frosting. So through my shipping exploits, I have learned that a firmer cupcake works better for shipping. Freezing is imperative to maintain freshness and moisture in the cupcakes. The Ziploc bag definitely confines the cupcake to the cup, is more reliable than cling wrap for this purpose and helps to maintain freshness. Also the smaller paper cup protects the sides and the tops of the cupcake better. I also learned not to send cupcakes to family members. They don't take photos.

Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature

1 1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 large eggs

1 cup milk at room temperature

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 18 muffin tin cups with paper liners.

Whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cayenne together in a small bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla extract. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition and scraping down the bowl in between. Add the flour mixture in 4 additions alternating with the milk. Begin and end with the flour. Beat briefly after each addition until incorporated. Scrape the bowl frequently. Once everything is combined beat for 1 minute on medium speed.

Evenly distribute among prepared muffin cups and bake for 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center has only a few moist crumbs sticking to it. Cool completely.

Mexican Chocolate Ganache

1 cup heavy cream

1 (12oz) bag Special Dark chocolate chips

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 pinch cayenne

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Put the chocolate chips in a medium bowl. Heat the heavy cream until just barely simmering. Pour the heavy cream over the chocolate chips and let sit for 1 minute. Stir until all the chocolate chips are melted and the mixture is smooth. Add the cinnamon and cayenne. Let the chocolate mixture cool in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Add the powdered sugar and beat with a handheld mixer until it is at a spreadable consistency.

Frost the cupcakes and add some festive sprinkles.

So there you go.

Success at last.

Bring on the Soup!

So one of the interesting things about this recovery from knee surgery, other than Jane Eyre is a pretty good book even if it is a billion pages long and makes me think in long and flowery sentences in my head, is that I am being barraged by soup. I don't really mind. I'm fairly certain the Brain doesn't mind either. Actually it's not just soup, but soup has definitely made a strong showing.

First we had my mother in law's chicken noodle soup. It was very yummy. Then she made us her corn chowder soup which was really really really good. And she brought these delicious corn sticks from this brand new cookbook I'm really chomping at the bit to tell you about, but you have to wait until I'm up and cooking first. Sorry. Trust me it's worth the wait. Then my mother in law left for South Carolina to visit with my very lovely brother in law and sister in law who I'm excited to go see this summer. However, my "nurse on call" who happens to be a really fun lady who's best friends with my mother in law, kept up the flow of soup and brought us some delicious chicken soup and some really yummy cobbler. She also dropped by this afternoon with some chocolate chip cookies for me. I've been told we're getting a pot of beef barley soup over the weekend too.

I'm going to have to get a move on with the physical therapy or I'm going to end up like Jaba the Butt. Although the cookies came at an opportune time because I'm just about out of medicinal chocolate. And the cobbler, while way more delicious than cobbler has any right to be, does not fit well in a pocket and thus makes it hard to carry around on crutches. Well and keep the pants clean-ish.

One thing I can say about small town living. Each one of these women make better soup than me. But you know what I can make?

Macaroni and Cheese. I'm not talking the Kraft Mac 'n Cheese that along with Van de Kamp Fish Fillets was a staple throughout the Fridays of Lent of my childhood. I'm talking about the gooey rich deliciousness of homemade macaroni and cheese. The luscious bite of the sharp cheddar. The garlicky breadcrumbs. The smooth smooth cheesy-ness of it all. The stuff I never make just for us, because of that dreadfully malodorous lactose problem. Yeah, but I know it's good because whenever I have an occasion where the other ladies are making their delicious soups, I make macaroni and cheese. And I save a tiny little casserole dish just for me. What do you take people who are layed up for a while?

As a little update. I saw the doc today and although I still can't drive, I'm starting physical therapy and I'm allowed to bend my leg more. Well, allowed is probably not the right word. I can bend it about 50 degrees and now the lockout is set for 90 degrees. If you want to imagine what my life is like, I spend most of my time laying on my back on the couch with my leg on 6 pillows reading books. This would be bliss, except sometimes my leg hurts pretty bad, and I'm really tired of laying on my back on the couch. It's at those moments when I attempt to bend my leg the amount it's supposed to go and I try fun stuff like leg lifts. I'm actually getting pretty good at those. I don't see the doctor again for another 3 weeks, but I'm hoping if I try really hard, maybe I'll at least be off the crutches by then.

Macaroni and Cheese with Garlic Bread Crumbs

from Gourmet

For Bread Crumbs:

2 Tbsp unsalted butter

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 large cloves garlic, crushed

2 cups bread crumbs

1/2 stick unsalted butter

1/2 cup all purpose flour

3 cups whole milk

2 cups heavy cream

1 Tbsp dry mustard

1 lb macaroni

2 lb extra sharp cheddar, grated

Make bread crumbs:

Heat butter and oil in a 10-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat until melted. Toss in garlic and bread crumbs, stirring until crumbs are golden. Transfer to paper towels to drain and season with salt.

Make Macaroni:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Melt butter in a 3-4 quart saucepan over moderate heat. Add flour and cook, whisking 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk, cream and mustard and simmer, whisking occasionally for 3 minutes.

Cook macaroni in a 6 to 7 quart pot of boiling salted water until just tender. Drain in a colander and transfer to a large bowl. Stir in white sauce, cheese and salt to taste.

Pour macaroni mixture into a 13x9x2 inch casserole dish. You can either pile it high, or also spoon some in a small casserole dish big enough to fit the excess. Sprinkle the garlic bread crumbs on top of both casserole dishes. Bake the casseroles in the middle of the oven until bubbly. About 30 minutes for the big one and much less for the little one.

Cupcake Shipping part 2

My sister Super G, is a high school math teacher in Brooklyn. She calls frequently and most often if she's upset it's because of her job. See apparently there are a lot of politics involved in our school systems. Just listening to my sister's trials and tribulations makes me think that all high school teachers should get an hour at the bar with reduced drink prices. You know, like Ladies Night, or Happy Hour. I mean she really puts up with a LOT.

One night she called and was telling me about this student. Now this student happens not to like women, non-Jamaican people, or learning. Whatever. He can like what he wants. Except then he starts picking a fight with this other little girl because she's not Jamaican. So my sister sends the girl out of the room and the boy student with the list of dislikes just kept going. SO she sent him to the dean. The dean proceeded to send the boy back. I don't think the dean likes to do her job. But that's beside the story. So this boy was returned to class and proceeded to invade my sister's personal space and yell at her. My sister is a great teacher because she did NOT 1) Punch this idiot in the nose. It would have been my first choice and thus I'm not a teacher. 2) Laugh at the boy and ridicule him in a manner to relieve him of some of his feelings of self importance. or 3) Walk over to her desk and pull out a fifth of bourbon and drink it straight from the bottle. My sister is a much better teacher than I ever could be.

Once she calmed down and told me about the incident and she said that at least she wasn't teaching this boy every day, I decided to include her in the cupcake shipping project. She was pretty excited about it. I also called my brother B and asked if he would like to participate in the cupcake shipping project. He lives in Portland, Oregon. SO I packaged up two sets of delicious Jamaican Me Crazy cupcakes and sent them off.

Super G had trouble getting them from the post office because I made a silly mistake in addressing them to her. But she said that one of the cupcakes had been smooshed (I did that in the packing), one was perfect, and the remaining two were all right. She didn't take pictures because her husband had the camera. I don't think he got any cupcakes. I haven't heard from my brother about his cupcakes. And frankly I keep forgetting to ask.

Oh and I forgot to point out in my last shipping cupcakes post that the reason the frosting is protected in an upside down disposable cup is because the cup gets narrower as it reaches the bottom. So the cup will no longer be wide enough to allow the cupcake far enough towards the bottom to squish the frosting, if it were turned upside down.

Jamaican Me Crazy Cupcakes

Cupcakes:
1 3/4 cup cake flour
grated zest of 1 orange
1 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 medium very ripe bananas, mashed
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp rum flavoring
1/2 c. shredded sweetened coconut

Combine flour with soda, salt, and zest, set aside. Add lemon juice and buttermilk to bananas and set aside.

Cream the butter and add the sugar gradually. Beat well. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the rum flavoring. Alternate adding dry ingredients with banana mixture. Starting and finishing with the dry ingredients. Fold in coconut. Spoon into paper lined cupcake tins and bake at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes or until they test done. Let cool on racks before frosting.

Frosting:
2 Tbsp butter
1 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp rum
2 Tbsp milk

Beat butter and powdered sugar together. Add rum. Then add enough milk so that frosting is spreading consistency.