Susiej

This summer, our hill at the lake will be used in yet another ingenious way: to make ice cream for our root beer floats. I was tempted to buy the traditional ice cream maker, but there are so many choices; I quickly became overwhelmed looking at all the bells and whistles. And besides, I have all that boy power just dying to get put to use. Plus, the process of making ice cream by hand… literally…. in the can… is is a great way to introduce some lessons in science. There is the ice cream in a bag method; my boys would surely break the bag in the mixing process. So, I’ve decided to go with the ice cream in a can method.

1. The first challenge is finding the can. Many recipes suggest using a coffee can, but who buys coffee in a can anymore? A better idea is to ask for an empty paint can from the paint store. You’ll need two: A quart, and a gallon.
2. Ask your kids to tell you the freezing point of water — or teach them — 32 degrees F, or 0 Celcius. Then, ask them what happens when we put salt on icy sidewalks. Ask them to start thinking about why we need salt to make ice cream.
3. In the small, clean can, add one cup of milk or half and half, one cup of sugar, and one teaspoon of vanilla.
4. Optional: add one tablespoon of chocolate syrup — or frozen strawberries.
5. Use a hammer to seal the lid tightly.
6. In the larger can, combine the ice and rock salt. Use a thermometer to record the temperature of the rock and salt mixture.
7. Use hammer again to seal the lid tightly.
8. Take turns rolling the can down the hill, for about five minutes. This will “solidify” the ice cream.
9. Explain what’s happening: the ice melts and combines with the salt. This “brine” has a lower freezing point — lower than 32 degrees.
10. After five minutes of rolling, open the large can, and take the temperature of the ice. It will be colder than it was the first time.
11. Open the smaller can. The colder brine was able to get the milk mixture cold enough to freeze to a solid, to create ice cream.
12. You know you’re going to have to whip up another batch right now; the fun was really rolling the can down the hill.
13. An instant way to eliminate the ice cream headache is to put your tongue on the roof of your mouth. Teaching a toddler how to do this is something you won’t soon forget.

Pictures to come…
Thursday Thirteen

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Not only am I sharing a recipe for fair-style lemon-shake-ups, but I’ve also created a “system” to have the ingredients ready in your refrigerator, so you can make a lemon shake-up on demand, whenever the whim strikes you; or the kids. The secret to making lemon shake-ups at home lies in knowing the magic ratio: here it is:

Lemon Syrup: For every 1/2 lemon, add 1/2 cup of water to 1/4 cup of sugar.

Each Lemon Shake Up Needs 3-4 Tablespoons of Lemon Syrup.

Once you know the ratio, you can expand the recipe to serve a party, or keep a batch stored, ready to go, in your fridge. Here’s the method.

1. Wash and scrub fresh lemons.
2. Make simple syrup by boiling sugar and water for 5 minutes.
3. Let syrup cool.
4. Microwave lemons for about 5 seconds, to warm-up the lemon so that the juices will come out easily.
5. Cut lemon in half, and squeeze the juice. Rachel Ray swears by holding the cut side of the lemon up, and squeezing with your hand, and the seeds won’t drop into the bowl. I prefer to use my simple lemon-juicer tool — it pulls out lots of juice, catches the seeds, and the pulp, before it ever hits the bowl. It’s metal, and sturdy-enough for a kid to use.
6. Strain lemon juice to eliminate the pulp — if any.
7. Once the syrup is cool, add the freshly-squeezed lemon juice to the syrup.
8. Cover and refrigerate.
9. When you’re ready for your Lemon Shake Up, fill glasses with ice water. (Or fair-style paper cups, if you really want to be authentic.)
10. Add two tablespoons of the lemon syrup to each glass.
11. Stir vigorously, or find a way to cover the glass and shake.
12. Scrub a fresh lemon, and cut lemon into slices.
13. Add lemon slices to the top of each glass, or use a greater to add fresh lemon peel.

Also, do you cook or non-cook your strawberry jam? I cook, and I explain why, here.
Thursday 13

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The good thing about MP3 players is that now many of them come free with cell phones, giving you the power of the 2GB Ipod Nano with your phone in one single device. The bad news is that Itunes does not recognize most MP3 players and won’t sync the music to the device. Here, I’ll show you how to work around that quirk, and load songs from Itunes onto any MP3 Player in just a few minutes, probably seconds. How do I know this? Verizon gave me a $100 credit toward a new phone, so I picked up The Juke, primarily because it works like an I-Pod Nano. Then, my awesome babysitter showed me how, in 13 steps, to sync your phone to Itunes.
First, plug in your phone, or your MP3 player using the USB cable that comes with your device.

The message will pop up on your screen that says new device connected. Then, a window will appear asking you “sync digital media files to this device.”

Ignore this, and click instead, the folder above that line that says, “Open Device to view files with Windows Explorer.” Click OK.

Then you will see a gray box that says “Internal Storage.”

Click this box to open.

Now you will see a folder named “music.” Click the “music” folder to open this folder.

If your device already has music loaded, it will appear here, otherwise, the folder will be blank. Leave this open, you’ll need it in just a few seconds.

Now, on your desktop, create a new folder named “MP3″. Leave this open.

Now, open I-Tunes.

Select the tunes you want to import, and physically drag them with your mouse to the new folder you just created, “MP3.”

While it’s copying these files, you will see that familiar windows graphic of papers flying out of a folder. Wait for this to complete.

Once the files are all in the “MP3 folder”, drag them to the “Music” that goes to the “music folder” of your MP3 player. Again, that familiar little windows icon of papers flying will appear. Once it’s done, the songs are now loaded on your MP3 player.

There’s something about creating that “extra folder” that acts like a buffer, so that the MP3 player no longer thinks they’re coming from Itunes, but simply from files on your computer … which they are!
Simple.

Thursday 13

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A list of 13 ways to deter pests and creatures from your garden.

This is what it all comes down to.  A few simple items that will either make or break our summer garden fort, made with Jack and the Beanstalk beans. I’ve been reading with horror about the varmints and diseases that will likely attack my pests once I place the plants for our 20-foot bean fort into their final growing spot at the lake. Lord knows, there are plenty of creatures up there willing to take a snack out of our foilage. The list includes deer, skunk, rabbits, groundhogs — all hungry, and ready to eat the plants.

So after fear, there comes great courage;, if you do your part to gather some research and facts. Good results come easier when you’re open yourself to moving with the flow of life, rather than against it. So, knowing that my kids will be eating many of the plants from the fort, and tromping among them with their hands and feet, I’m shying away from pesticides and herbicides. I’m going to be enviornmentally friendly, and organic, with my pest deterrent approach. Hopefully, the animals will sense what we’re trying to do and work with us to keep the plants safe. Ha! I can dream, can’t I?

This is what I’ve come up with:

1. Epsom salts sprinkled on the plants will make them bitter tasting to groundhogs and rabbits. The advantage to this method is that Epsom Salts can also be used to fertilize the plants. The downside, of course, is that the rain will wash away the Epsom salts, and I won’t be there to sprinkle more Salts, as we’ll return from the lake to tie up the school year. But, I’ll use it as long as I can.
2. Ammonia-soaked rags can be strewn along the perimeter of the garden, forming a stinky barrier to repel groundhogs, rabbits, skunks and opossoms. I am no stranger to this treatment. Once again, this will fade before I can reapply the treatment.
3. The reason the Groundhog is afraid of its shadow is obviously because he’s a fraidy cat. So, they run from any thing with motion. I might try hanging aluminum foil strips or pie pans from chicken wire. Pinwhells can even work, I’ve read.
4. Always, the best solution, I’ve learned is simply a fence. Using chickenwire, the fence will need to be buried underground, at least 12-18 inches, and 2 feet above the ground.
5. Plastic netting works for deer, raccons and opossoms. The idea is to string the netting on bamboo poles, leaving about 8 inches in front of hte garden, laid out in front like a mat. Racoons have senstive feet, and they don’t like walking across the netting.
6. Dial deodorant soap, and Irish Spring soap contains “tallow” which repels deer. Soap made with coconut oil will not repel the deer. Here’s the trick: Leave the soap in the package, to prevent the rain from washing away the soap too quickly. Drill holes in the soap so that you can run a string through the soap to hang them from trees, or the fence erected to get rid of groundhogs. Plan on one bar of soap for every three feet.
7. Castor oil is supposed to keep moles, groundhogs, chipmunks and squirrels away. Here’s a recipe. 1 tablespoon of Castor oil. 2 tablespoons liquid dish washing soap, 6 tablespoons of water. Put oil and soap in blender and mix until you have shaving cream. Add water, and continue to mix. Pour concoction in watering can, and pour over the yard. Again, the problem with this is, you must re-apply after the rain.
8. A horizontal border could be as simple as laying down crumpled black plastic, newspaper or aluminium foil, held in placed with rocks. Raccoons and skunks hate to walk on this stuff.
9. I could sprinkle black and cayenne pepper around plants to keep rabbits away. This also works for insects that eat plants. Lucky for me, I can buy a solution called Hot Pepper Wax that will adhere to the plants, and not wash away after rains. The company recommends you reapply every three weeks. This one will work.
10. Plant cucumbers. Raccoons and skunks hate cucumbers. But I wonder what will eat the cucumbers instead?
11. This one is my favorite… for slugs. Cut paper towel or toilet paper cardboard tubes and push them into the ground, around the plants, so that slugs can’t reach the stems, or the leaves! Pus the tubes into the ground so that the sleeve of the tube protects the plant from beneath, comes above the around at least 4 inches around the stem of the plant.
12. There’s no way around making this Manure Tea. Apparently, it prevents seedlings from getting diseases. Recipe: 1 shovel full of fresh or aged manure. 1 burlap bag. 1 5-gallon bucket of water. Put manure in bag. Tie the bag shut and put in bucket, and fill bucket. Leave a handle on the burlap outside the bucket, dry, so you can pull it out. Let the tea sit for 2-3 days, then pull out the tea bag. This tea is too strong to put directly on seedlings, so before using the tea, dilute it with more water, so that it looks like weak iced tea. Now, the diluted tea can be sprinkled over the seedlings.
13. Hydrogen Peroxide Spray. If a fungal or bacterial disease his hit the plants, despite the manure tea, I’ll make this spray. 1 Tablespoon of 35 percent hydrogen peroxide. 1 gallon of water. Mix the hydrogen peroxide into the water. Wear gloves when using this. You can use this to prevent disease, by spraying once a week, (or more if it’s raining a lot). But, they caution to wait until transplants are established before these are sprayed.

This is going to be a lot of work. But, I’m up for it. So, any ideas you’d care to pass on from your own experience? I need them!

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Do your cucumbers wilt on the vine before they even start to grow? Do your tomatoes get big wormholes before you get a chance to put a slice on top of your freshly grilled hamburger? Then your veggies need some friends, or companions, as gardeners like to call them. Here you’ll find a list of 13 plants, with their beneficial combinations.

Why? When you combine certain combinations of plants, they attract beneficial insects and birds, which keep pests from eating your seedlings down to nubs. This is why planting chives around your roses keeps the roses from getting diseases.

As I began researching “happy” plant combinations, I soon realized I had opened a can of worms. Companion planting is really “enemy science,” and creating a garden plan this way is like creating seating arrangements for a forced holiday family dinner that includes two volatile guests that “must be separated.” To truly understand a plant’s companion, you also have to understand the plant’s enemy – not just bugs, but actual plants. For example, I learned that Dill repels the squash bug that has killed my pumpkins for the last five years. Yet, be careful where you plant it, as dill will attract the tomato hornworm. Here are a few more “beware” combinations:

• Mint and parsley are enemies.
• Keep onions away from peas.
• Keep potatoes and tomatoes apart as they both can get early and late blight contaminating each other.

Companion planting was beginning to sound more like the very bickering and sibling rivalry I had hoped that my future 20-foot green bean fort would help me avoid all summer. The seeds may be called, “Jack and the Beanstalk,” but there was no magic in the packet, so to ensure their vital growth, I’ve figured out my summer fort’s companions here. I will not be growing corn, but I’ve included it here, just in case you may want to try it – because it seems to be very important garden friend.

1. Beans: My prize plant; the foundation and roof of our fort. Beans help all the other plants by enriching the soil with nitrogen. There is a summer trio that makes a great combination: beans, sweet corn and melons. The three plants like the same conditions warmth, rich soil and plenty of moisture. Peas, and carrots, and Basil are also good companion plants. The herb summer savory is important to keep away bean beetles, while improving the growth and flavor of the beans. However, keep the onion, chives – all the alliums away from the beans. (See, I told you this was kind of complicated.)
2. Tomatoes: Basil is not only the perfect friend to your antipasto platter, but it’s also the perfect pest-deterrent herb to plant alongside your tomato plant. But, keep the corn away from the tomato plants.
3. Carrots: Plant with pole beans, radishes and onions and tomatoes. However, if you are planting the carrots with the beans, you must keep the onions away from the beans. Also, keep the dill away from the carrots.
4. Cucumbers: Plant with beans, cucumber, corn, nasturtiums but no strong herbs. Farmers will sometimes let the cucumbers grow up and over your corn plants, so they need no staking. Cukes also do well with peas, beets and carrots. Dill planted with cucumbers will attract beneficial predators. (But once, again, keep the Dill away from the carrots and the tomatoes!) Nasturtium improves growth and flavor. Keep Sage away from the cucumbers.
5. Chives: A workhouse in the garden that is known to prevent apple tree scab, and black spot on roses. (Give it 3 years to complete its work.) In the vegetable garden, chives will help carrot and tomatoes taste better, and will keep away aphids, Japanese beetles and carrot rust fly. Every year, my cucumbers are ruined by powdery mildew. This year, I’ll make a chive tea to prevent powdery mildew from taking over my cukes. (Cover chopped chives with boiling water. Cool, strain and put in a spray bottle and spray plants two or three times a week.)
6. Watermelon: Grow with corn, nasturtiums, peas, sunflowers, squash, cucumbers, pumpkins and radishes. Nasturtium deters bugs and beetles. Oregano provides general pest protection.
7. Dill: Dill repels the squash bug that will kill your pumpkin vine. You can always scatter dill leaves on your squash plants. However, dill does ATTRACT the tomato hornworm; so keep it far AWAY from your tomatoes.
8. Garlic: Garlic, like chives, is also the friend to the rose plant, as it repels aphids. The garlic plant accumulates sulfur, a naturally occurring fungicide that keeps your garden soil from preventing disease. Time-released garlic campuses, planted at the bases of fruit trees, supposedly kept deer away… so I may have to try this one for the garden.
9. Nasturtiums: An edible flower that is one of the best at attracting predatory insects. Expert gardeners plant nasturtiums as a barrier around tomatoes, radishes, cabbage, cucumbers, and under fruit trees. The leaves, flowers and seeds are all edible.
10. Petunias: I’m including this here, because this is my favorite summer annual, (I also love their smell) so I might as well put it to work. Petunias repel the asparagus beetle (nope, not growing it, but just thought I should know) and tomato worms. Apparently the Petunia also repels Mexican bean beetles, and the leaves can be used as a tea to make a potent bug spray.
11. Pumpkins: Pumpkin pals are corn, melon and squash. Marigold deters beetles. Nasturtium deters bugs, beetles. Oregano also provides general pest protection. As noted above, Dill can help me get rid of that squash bug… yet, once again; I have to make sure the pumpkins are far away from the tomatoes to do that.
12. Soybeans: They add nitrogen to the soil making them a good companion to corn. They repel chinch bugs and Japanese beetles. Plus, my kids love them!!!
13. Confuse the pests: I learned this from a wise gardening friend: Mix up your plants, flowers with the vegetables. The mingling scents will confuse the pests, and make the garden much nicer for you to look at.

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Gooey & Sweet — Chocolate-Covered Bananas, less than 100 calories each

Big snack manufacturers are trying to help us out with our weight-loss programs and diets with pre-packed 100-calorie snack bags. But have you tried them? They taste like Styrofoam. And, look how tiny the bag is! You’re left with your hand in an empty bag, wondering what happened to the loot, feeling sooooo hungry!

A good snack meets your needs on several textural and sensational levels. You’re not looking for a measly 100 calories, you’re looking for an experience. Maybe it’s creamy, crunchy, refreshing, salty and or even sweet. You don’t want dry, crunchy Styrofoam. Here’s a list of 13 snacks that will meet your taste sensation requirements, and still are under 100 calories. Enjoy:

1. Chocolate-covered banana. Cut banana in half, dip in low-fat chocolate syrup, and freeze. The kid in you will like it when you stick a Popsicle stick on one end.
2. Goat cheese on two slices of Melba toast.
3. Dill Pickle
4. 3/4 oz. pretzels dipped in Dijon mustard
5. 1 baked Sweet potato
6. 7 Gumdrops
7. 1 marshmallow. Just one.
8. 1 slice of watermelon
9. 1 cup of frozen grapes… delicious in the summer.
10. Feta cheese and 1 peach
11. 1 slice of whole-grain bread
12. Flavored herbal tea. Read more about how tea can help you to loose weight here.
13. Cucumber slices dipped in low-fat yogurt seasoned with dill, salt, pepper and thyme.

Life can be so simple sometimes. OK. now tell me your favorite, because I’ve got all these boys that will be home from school all summer, and I have to feed them all day!

Also, if you’re looking for a way to keep the kids occupied in the car, or during summer vacation, get your own free download of the award-winning audio adventure “Billy Brown And The Mystery Package.” Read more about Billy Brown, here.

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These really make me laugh, although I know I should probably take these more seriously. I wish phone numbers or email addresses were attached to visitors IP addresses. Then, I could kindly direct them to more appropriate places for help.

1. Like this poor soul who wants to know if ice cold soda (nice try) can really burn calories. So google sends them here. (See number 12 for more on this weight-loss themed search.)
2. And what kind of guys asks, How to hypnotize my wife. Lucky for his wife, google sent him to my post about giving your wife belly dance lessons. Now she can hypnotize him. Isn’t google just so clever?
3. Optimism seems to be a recurring theme among my google searchers. No where is this more evident that in the brave soul who actually typed, How to make a great sleepover awesome, and soon quickly learned that there are actually 13 reasons not to host a sleepover. I do hope they made other plans, and did something simple and shorter, and took the kids to a movie instead. When I go to sleep at night, I like to think that I at least spared some fellow-human being the trauma of a good sleepover.
4. This one has me puzzled. A person actually typed in the google search bar: skunk biological clock. This confused even google, as yes, it was a skunk, and yes, I do have a new biological clock. Any takes on what they were searching for can be left in the comments. I’m puzzled. Maybe they were breeding skunks? Thank goodness, someone did search this exact phrase: “how to get rid of skunk smell from being run over by your car.” I don’t know anything about smell that runs over by your car, but I hope they got a good laugh about the whole thing.
5. What are the chances that someone else would actually have an “opossum sleeping in their garage too? ” I wish this person would have commented. We could have bonded… we have so much in common.
6. Another person wants to know “how to make a person dream about someone.” Desperate measures lead her to how to make a dream come true. Later that same day, someone else typed, “I saw my dead mother.” Odd, don’t you think, that the person went to the computer with that information?
7. I know those neti pots can really get complicated… you know, mixing the salt water, getting the water temperature just right, and then actually tilting your head parallel and holding it parallel while your pour the salt water up your nostril. But what really did go wrong when the person on the other end of the computer typed, things that can go wrong using a Neti Pot? I shudder to think of the horror the befell the pour soul.
8. One search always amazes me, not because it’s a weird search or anything, but because this search is so popular, and so constant. No matter what month it is, or how far we are away from Christmas, a few people, mostly from Europe, pop in with this search: “Scientific proof that Santa Exists.” What’s up? Are scientists actively working on this? The answer is obvious… I’ve outlined it all here in black and white. There is no need to spend more of our precious resources on solving this question.
9. There were the kids who flooded google with this search in December, Where does my Mom hide my presents. Here, I gave away all the answers as kids across the world began looking under their beds. At least the dust bunnies were cleared out before Christmas morning. I admit, I am a little ashamed of myself for giving away all the secrets. I thought I was trying to help.
10. I wonder if this was the same kid who misspelled this search, “How ot kiss.” Of course, I explained it all.
11. Who would even want “an adult Pinocchio costume?” Get a grip. Pinocchio is a kid. Try Geppetto.
12. This hopeful searcher asks google simply, How can I burn calories without even knowing it? Could be the same guy who typed, how to cook meat bloody red. While another searcher, gets straight to the point and wants to know, is sex the best way to burn calories? Is this the same as burning calories without even knowing it?
13. The whole search string ended when someone typed, “What do you wear under yoga pants?

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For some people, spring, and fall, means one grave thing: allergy season. Sniffing, sneezing and watery eyes are not just a nuisance, they can lead to those dreaded sinus infections, and then work their way through to bronchitis. Do I sound as if I’ve been there? I have. My doctor has several names for hay fever, including nasal allergies, sinusitis, pollinosis or seasonal allergic rhinitis. Hay fever remedies should start sooner, rather than later. Many of these have the best impact if we start them before the symptoms start. Here are 13 to try.

1. Chamomile Essential Oil. Simply add a drop (so strong, one drop is all you need) of pure chamomile essential oil, or melissa essential, to a tissue and sniff often. Simple, but powerfully effective remedy.
2. Clean, clean, clean your nasal passages with a Neti Pot.
3. Horseradish. Peel horseradish root, and place in food processor or juicer to create a pulp. Add the juice of 2-3 lemons. Store in a glass jar in the refrigerator. Take half a teaspoon at a time between meals, until the sinus and mucus area is cleared up.
4. Apple Cider Vinegar. My favorite remedy is back. Even before hay fever season starts, mix vinegar with 1-2 teaspoons of honey in a glass of water, three times a day. Continue this through the entire hay-fever season.
5. Eucalyptus. Add two or three drops of eucalyptus essential oil to a bowl of hot water, put your head over the bowl, and make a tent out of a towel. The Eucalyptus will move right into your sinuses to loosen the mucus.
6. Thyme, Rosemary and Peppermint. Pick the leaves off the plants you’ve picked up at the grocery store and throw them into a bowl of hot water and follow the instructions above, making a tent of the steam. No leaves? Raid your spice rack. A tablespoon of each herb should do the trick. Or, you can always use one or two drops of the essential oils. Thyme has always been very good to me when I’m suffering… somehow this herb gets right into the chest and heals deeply.
7. Echinacea. Health food stores usually have echinacea tea available. Drink the tea, six times per day.
8. Oregon Grape. This tincture is also available in health food stores. Take one teaspoon of the tincture three times per day.
9. Garlic. If you can stand it, eat three cloves per day to help fight a sinus infection.
10. Quercetin is an antioxidant, called flavonoids. You can get capsules at health food stores. The dosage for hay fever is 200 and 400 milligrams three times a day.
11. Omega-3 fatty acids. Fish oil capsules are one source. (Not for those who are on blood thinners, or for those who will or have had surgery). Or you could take one tablespoon of flaxseed oil two to three times a day. Or, one ounce of walnuts.
12. Vitamin C has antihistamine properties. Take at least 500-1000mg per day.
13. Homeopathic Remedies, include Euphrasis, NuxVomica, Allium Cepa, Gelsemum and Pulsatilla

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I made my first Guinness Cake 3 years ago for my husband, brother and Father. My brother and I visited our Dad in Detroit, and the cake never quite made it. I ate it all myself. I can be wicked sometimes… but really, some things are just too good to share.

My Irish friend made me my first Irish Guinness cake after my third son was born. I had given birth naturally, and this cake, she said, was the perfect food to help a nursing Mom get her strength back. In Ireland, when you give blood, and after certain surgeries, Guinness is offered, because of its high iron content. Guinness is also bursting with B vitamins, flavonoids (antioxidants) that are better than vitamins C and E keeping bad LDL cholesterol from clogging arteries. A study at the University of Wisconsin Coronary Thrombosis Research and Vascular Biology Laboratory found that Guinness proved to be about twice as effective at preventing the blood platelets from clumping and forming the kind of clot that can cause a heart attack. So, with this news, this makes a Guinness Cake healthier than my non-white flour snickerdoodles.

At 4.2 percent, Guinness is lower in alcohol than most beers, matching Coors Light. Guinness is also lower in carbohydrates and calories than most beers, low-fat milk and orange juice. I drank some of this rich dark stout straight from the tap in Irish pubs, and never once considered this thick beer light, but so it is. So, indulge yourself in this “healthy” recipe for Irish Guinness cake. I’m making one today… I promise to share…. maybe I better double this recipe.

• 8 oz soft butter
• 8 oz soft brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 10 oz plain flour
• 2 level teaspoon mixed spice (think pumpkin pie spices)
• 8 oz raisins
• 8 oz golden raisins
• 8 oz walnuts
• 1 bottle of Guinness

1. Pour just enough Guinness over dried fruit to cover. Let soak overnight. (f you’re really thirsty hungry, skip this step, and just move on.)
2. Cut a piece of parchment paper to line the sides and bottom of an 7″ pan.
3. Preheat over to 325 degrees.
4. Cream butter and sugar.
5. Gradually beat in the eggs, one at a time.
6. Fold in the flour and mixed spice. (Do this by hand.)
7. Drain fruit, reserving the beer, and add fruit and walnuts to the mix, folding in throughly.
8. Stir in 4 tablespoons of Guinness and mix to a soft dropping consistency (you may need to add more Guinness if not soft enough).
9. Turn into prepared 7 inch tin. Bake 325f for 1 hour and then reduce heat to 300f and cook for another 1.5 hours.
10. Allow cake to cool in pan.
11. Remove cake from pan and prick base.
12. This is my favorite part… Spoon remaining Guinness over the cake every hour or so.
13. Store the cake for a week before cutting. Yeah… right!

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