Baking Soda for cleaning around the house?

Here's a thought....where does baking soda come from? As I was watching Oprah with Dr. Oz, he stated that baking soda is the best cleaning agent. The reason being that it is all natural; there are no chemicals, which in turn is great for the environment. I thought I'd give it a try, the box only cost me $0.87.
To my surprise it works great! But as I was cleaning with this little gem, I thought to myself, "Where does baking soda come from?" I really don't have any idea, but just wondering if anyone knew.

The Mailman

Is the Mailman the new Milkman?

As I was looking through my mail the other day and realizing how much junk mail I receive versus something that is worthwhile; I starting thinking about the "extinction" of the mailman. Will the mailman be eliminated as the milkman was? Please don't get me wrong, I don't want to see the loss of any jobs. The fact is that a lot of our bills can go paperless and I would not be surprised that the utility companies will one day (soon) have that option. I don't believe that the US Postal service will be eliminated completely, but it's service(s) will change.

This is our "milkbox."

Autum Spice Cake

I thought some of you might enjoy this!

• 
  
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
• 1 cup shortening
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon Dutch-processed cocoa
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

DIRECTIONS

• 1. Heat oven to 350°F. Line two 9-inch cake pans with parchment paper and lightly butter. Beat butter, shortening, and sugars together until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until smooth and light. Stir the buttermilk and vanilla together.
• 2. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and spices together in a large bowl. Alternately stir the flour mixture and buttermilk, in thirds, into the beaten butter. Blend well with each addition.
• 3. Pour batter into the pans and bake until center tests clean -- about 35 minutes. Cool cakes in the pans on a rack for 30 minutes, unmold, and cool completely before frosting.

Our first blog EVER!

Hello All!


This is my very first blog ever! I always thought of starting one up but I had my doubts. What did I doubt....beats me! Fear not, my MySpace page is not going to be put out by any means. This is just another outlet.

Happy future reading!

The Iron Chef

Here's something I would like to do. I would like to be a judge/taste tester for the Iron Chef. It seems like the coolest thing to do. The plates look to yummy. It's just a thought.