Shamrock Cake

I was going to use a recipe today for an "easy" Mardi Gras braided cake...... the recipe came from an eBay seller... she tucked a copy of it into a package of St. Patty's Day pins that I had bought from her.

The recipe calls for Pillsbury cinnamon rolls...... you unroll each of the pre-sliced buns and take two of them and twist them together, making a round shape as you go, attaching each of the braided rolls, and you end up with a large circle of braided dough. After it bakes, you spread on the white icing they give you, then sprinkle colored sugar on top of that (Mardi Gras colors of green, purple and yellow).

I took that idea and tweaked it.... I made the braids with the dough, but I shaped the circles into shamrock leaves, and a smaller piece of the braid for the stem. So right now on a large cookie sheet, I have two shamrocks waiting to go into the oven in a little while. When they come out, I will spread on that white icing, then sprinkle green sugar on the top. Now if that isn't the perfect dessert for a St. Patty's Day lunch, I don't know what is.

Plus, I've got my green glass dessert cups rimmed with shredded coconut and sitting in the fridge, and we bought two flavors of ice cream to serve in the cups.... Irish cream and mint chocolate chip. The dessert table is going to look as green and as festive as the lunch table.

Spring has sprung here..... the trees that lost their leaves in January are full of buds now..... the azaleas are in bloom and the roses are ready to burst. We've got to get hold of a landscaper to get the front flowerbeds in some kind of order. I'd like that done before Easter weekend. I'm still waiting for call-backs from those that I called last week. Can they all be that busy? So hard to get a bunch of estimates... you spend so much time just waiting for people to call you and set up an appointment.

While I was getting the cinnamon dough shaped into shamrocks, I was watching a real estate program on the Home & Garden channel. They said if you want the "island feel" of Hawaii without the super-high prices and the far-away location, then Savannah, Georgia is the place to live. I can believe that..... when we were in Savannah, everything was as slow and as easy and as relaxed as Hawaii. There's lots of riverfront there, as well as oceanfront properties. And Tybee Island... true laid-back island living. Only thing is, you don't get the perfect Hawaiian weather all year long. But it would be easier to get a dog a three cats to Savannah than Hawaii.