Gam's (Tia's) Lemon Cake w/ a twist

Good Morning All,
I figured that my first post should reflect so many different things about me, my life, my family, my historical .... did I say historical, my bad, I meant to say hysterical, way of being me. My life has been a whirlwind of trials and tribulations, very high highs, and some tragically low lows. But that's another post altogether. Anyway, for those of you who have followed me on FB, or any "Social Media", which I honestly like to refer to as "Social Meandering", Ok there I said it!!! Wow that was like, so empowering....well sorta! It's just that all the news isn't bad, there that's better, I'm a little rusty at this and have no editor to tell me what I can and can't say..so bare with me here.
   Most people think I have it all, some think I have nothing at all...perspective is an elephant, I meant to say irrelevant ... wow Freudian slip or not, it makes sense. For the past five years, I've simply been in love, with the most wonderful husband, and best friend a girl could ask for. We met and fell in love at first site 5 short years ago on July 31st, I never ever, ever saw that coming, as I had been outta circulation for awhile, or in other words, "living" in LA.... No offense to LA, there's nothing wrong with LA. That's fine for some people, I could have been living in Bum Fuck Egypt and no one would be the wiser! But I digress, so I left for home, Big Sur/Carmel/Monterey, surely there I would find my answers....well, the very first person I ran into was my darling Neva Case, who I had not seen since she was six, maybe seven... she loudly yelled my name across the Big Sur  River Inn/ Pub parking lot, and I did not look anything like my former self, except , my infamous laughter, and my crooked smile....she ran up to me with those beautiful, blonde eyebrows,and beautiful welcoming smile, sparkly eyed and brown as a berry, hugging me so tight like I would disappear as fast as I showed up, and low and behold, she now had littles of her own, they were playing at the Big Sur River Inn pool, Oceana was 9 and Kiana was 6, and Kiana was the spitting image of her Mama, and Oceana somehow looked like me oddly, I was totally baffled by all this action, I was road weary and had a terrible toothache, needed to sleep, so we spoke for a long while telling each other tales of our lives and I didn't want to but I had to drive to Monterey to secure my place to stay...well that didn't go as planned, because the girl I was supposed to stay w/ was now a meth addict prostitute....wow that was a hard one to take in, i mean we were flower children, love peace, granola. Well not no mo', so I checked into the Bay Park Hotel and I finally got my room, unpacked my bags..The world was my oyster, So my plan was to shuck it, find the very super special one, with the pearl inside, set the pearl on my bread plate, slather that gooey mollusk w/ Mingonette and suck it down. Days later, when I finally had gotten some well needed rest, I called my friend who I was supposed to go live with, and she was MIA...however, she had called her friend Greg Maggini to come check on me and give me a few bucks(10 to be exact,like that was gonna do a lot) so I could eat, me...eat for $10 dollars? I wanted Surf and Turf! Sushi! Oysters!

Jenni and Greg circa 2012 at the cabin....

Original recipe in Tia's writing

Given to us by Erin, Greg's younger sister. Excellent present!!!

And when Greg knocked on my door, I simply grabbed him by the neck and kissed it twice, then backed up to see his reaction... it was priceless.  So I'll leave you hanging for now, as I'd like to post this in the near future. I picked this recipe because it's so simple anyone can make it, and it's so sentimental, because it's Roxi, Gregory, and Erin's Mom's and Gramps' late wife's recipe. I'm quite sure we would have gotten along famously, she was a beautiful person and it shows thru all the people who knew and loved her. Thank you Gam, for giving me your son, he is the love of my life, my soulmate...my one and only forevermore. Not to mention two sister's and a father figure who I really needed, their kids and grandchild...whom I adore, and let's not forget, last but definitely not least, Greg's kids, Guy and Haley who I love so much. And for the rest of you, don't forget to pay it forward! LIVE, LOVE, LAUGH, COOK!!!
© jgmaggini 2017

The Dish

Da Dish before her morning coffee...Wha???

Ommmmmm.......

Tia's Lemon Lake:

The reason I picked this recipe is because it stands for everything Jenni's Dish started about...real recipes, tried and true, for real people, living real lives in real time. 

Not everybody has the luxury of all day to play in the kitchen, we have busy lives, we work hard, if there's a shortcut and it won't comprimise the recipe, take it! It's that simple, so with no further ado...

Cake:

1 Package Yellow Cake Mix

1 pack Lemon Jello

4 eggs

3/4 cup oil

3/4 cup water

Mix well and pour into your pan of choice, I've tried it many ways, I like to use a 13x9 inch pan and poke holes in the still warm cake in the pan, and pour the icing on while still warm. 

Icing:

Juice of two lemons

2 cups sifted powdered sugar

grated rind of two lemons

grated rind of one orange

Pour over cake while still warm, after poking holes in cake with a toothpick!

Let it rest while serving dinner, serve...Yum!!!

Ta Da! Ya, thats all folks!!!

Salutation to my wonderfully patient fans!

           It seems like a dream, to be where I am in life today, and as we all know...today is where it's at anyways.... It's like Janis Joplin said, "It's all the same fucking day man!" But it's not, because had you told me 6 years ago that I would be happily married to my beautiful husband and best friend, I would have laughed my ass off! If you had told me that my best friend would be the cute little girl I would take care of when she was 5 years old and that she and I have a baby together with me being Aunty Dad, I would be like, ya right!!! But its all true not to mention the house in Carmel that we are remodelling, kitchen first of course,then on and on and on.... a little at a time...or my gorgeous yard with its beautiful roses and vegetables and herbs, prize wining Gladiolas, but I guess you are just gonna have to wait and see then let me know what you think by coming here and commenting on posts and joining the blog , post on Jenni's Dish about everything you can possibly imagine, tell me what you want to learn about and learn, tell me your name, where you live! Is it close enough to come to a cooking class? Or a one on one personal day in the Jenni's Dish Kitchen?! Or would you like to hire me and my staff to come put on a party for you and your friends, or a lovely romantic dinner for two, catering to your every whim, of course! It's gonna be a fun ride and you're personally invited to join me on this journey into Food, Mixology, storytelling and having the balls to just be the real thing ....cause you can talk the talk.....but you are gonna have to walk the walk!!!Come on! Please don't doddle, try to keep up! Oh and for those of you who are interested in medicinal cooking, using herbs and things to spice up a healthy lifestyle, well we've got that too! So hang on to your brims buck-a roos, because we are gonna blow the top off of the normal day to day stuff! Let's think OUTSIDE THE BOX!!!! LIVE, LAUGH, LOVE, COOK!!!
©  Jennifer Green Maggini
📧 jgmaggini@gmail.com

New name same Dish

I finally found out how to change my name to Jennifer Green Maggini so .... Ta Da!!!