Sugarbaby & Charlie (Not Sheen...The Other Charlie)

Do you have a Ree obsession?

It's okay to admit it. Lots and lots and gosh damn I mean LOTS of us do. Thankfully, my Ree obsession has waned over the past year. Something to do with a book deal, movie rights, television show and yada yada yada kind of turned me off. Don't get me wrong....before you start hurling tomatoes at your screen please understand that I still love me some PW. I'm just not as deep into all the mania as I once was.

Example- when we stood in line for three hours and took pictures of Marlboro Man's booty. Sorry but the pics were on my phone and never made it too the blog.

Or how about entering every single one of her giveaways for years! Or the time she actually replied to one of my tweets. That totally made my day.

Anyways, the whole point of this post (which I swear I am getting too) is that Sugarbaby got Ree's children's book, Charlie The Ranch Dog for Christmas and she absofreakinlutely loves it. Over the moon this child is. Its the only book we are allowed to read at bedtime. And lucky you....Sugarbaby wants to tell you all about it.

P.S. If you happen to be The Pioneer Woman or close personal friends with her, Sugarbaby would love for you to tell her that she loves Charlie and wants him. I told her that wasn't happening as Charlie was a celebrity dog, and probably has his own bodyguard just because of little girls like her.

The Huge Gigantic Really Long Kind Of Boring Remodel Reveal Post

Well folks here it is. The moment all one of you have been waiting for. It took nearly a month to complete (and hell it's really not even done yet) and almost two weeks for me to get off my rear and post about it. It was hard y'all. I'm not even kidding. A major major disruption to the SugarBritches household and blog. I know I lost some lovely readers along the way but I swear on my cast iron skillet that I will ignore you no more. Now let's get on with it.

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I had originally planned on refinishing an old dining room table that belonged to SUMS's parents. It was without matching leaf but I was determined to have a table big enough to seat my family. I took the problem to our neighbor, an older gentleman you builds furniture as a hobby. He and his lovely wife sold us our house and are the perfect neighbors. He told me that turning the leaf I had scavenged into a leaf for the table wasn't going to be easy but it was doable. Then he turned to his wife and said, "Well, we have a table. We're downsizing to a smaller one. Why don't you come up and look at it." So I did. And then....they just gave it to me. Loaded it up and hauled it to my house. The kindness and generosity of true Southerners gets me every time.

It seats six without the leaf and 8-10 (in a pinch) with the leaf. I was blown away, speechless even. They wouldn't accept money, just kept telling me it was nothing. So I did what any good Southern woman would do...I baked. This Upside-Down Caramelized Apple Cake was the perfect choice.

recipe courtesy Southern Living

1/2 c. chopped pecans

2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch thick slices

1 tbsp. lemon juice

2 tsp. vanilla extract, divided

3/2 tsp. ground cinnamon, divided

1/2 c. butter, divided

2 tsp. brandy (which i didn't have so I used Rum, of course)

1 c. packed light brown sugar

3/2 c. granulated sugar, divided

2 large eggs, separated

3/4 c. milk

1/2 c. sour cream

2 c. all purpose baking mix (I used Bisquick)

1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350. Bake pecans in a single layer in shallow pan 8-10 minutes until toasty and yummy smelling. Increase oven to 375. But remove pecans first. Okay?

Toss apple slices with lemon juice, 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract, and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon.

Melt 1/4 c. butter in a CAST IRON SKILLET (this is important y'all) over low heat. Remove from heat, stir in brandy or rum (mmmm RUM). Sprinkle with all of the brown sugar.

Sprinkle pecans over brown sugar and butter and RUM then arrange apples intwo concentric (wtf?) circles over pecans.

Beat remaining 1/2 c. butter with 1/2 c. granulated sugar with mixer until blended. Add egg yolks one at a time, beating after each addition. Add milk, sour cream, and remaining 1 tsp. vanilla, beating until just blended.

In separate bowl whisk together baking mix and 1/4 tsp. cinnamon and nutmeg. Add dry mixture to wet mixture beating until just blended.

Beat egg whites in another damn bowl at high speed until soft peaks for. Gradually add 1/4 c. granulated sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold into batter. Spread batter over apples in skillet.

Bake at 375 for 50-55 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool in skillet 10 minutes. Then run clean sharp knife around edge. Invert cakeonto serving platter and enjoy the yummy goodness that is RUM, I mean Upside-Down Caramelized Apple Cake.

And for those of you who wish to submit yourselves to my amateur videographer skills, check out the vlog below. I sincerely apologize for turning you on your side part of the way into it. I really wasn't thinking as I was shooting and only after watching did I realize. Also, I'm too lazy to re-shoot. And if it makes you a little queasy then I am really really sorry. Otherwise, deal with it.

I really must learn how to shoot better video. The quality is so poor on Blogger, it looks much

better in my media player so again...sorry. I'll try to learn some tricks or get some better software before I attempt anything like this again.