Ponytail Trap

I love this blog. This girl is seriously funny. She has caused me to share that, occasionally, I have slammed my ponytail in a sliding glass door. A ponytail is a young woman's hairdo. I am really too old to wear a ponytail on my head, yet I do. About once a week, I walk through the back door, shut said door, and get yanked back by my scalp. Most of my hair is outside while my body, all of it, is inside. Ouch and humiliation.

Lemon Verbena Pound Cake

I like to bake bread. I have my own sour dough yeast growing in the fridge. Very rarely do I bake cakes or cookies. Last night, I needed to make a cake for a rainwater specialist training course our master gardener group is hosting. Do I do get a box cake? NOOO. I have to use something out of the garden. Here is how I did it with the help of a couple of monkeys. As a reward they have their own cake to eat.

Lemon Verbena Pound Cake

3 cups sugar
1 cup butter
6 eggs separated
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup milk
2 tsp lemon extract
1 cup lemon verbena chopped fine
3 tsp vanilla

Cream the sugar and butter. (Middle Monkey's job)
Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks, but not dry. (Teenage Monkey's Job. He could not believe what an egg white will do).
Add the egg yolks, lemon extract, vanilla, lemon verbena, and milk to the creamed sugar and butter.
Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder together and add to the wet ingredients and mix.
Gently fold in the egg whites.
Poor the batter into a bunt pan and bake at 350 until a tooth pick comes out clean.
Cool and wrangle the cake out of the bunt pan (good luck).
Drizzle with lemon glaze.

Lemon Glaze
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar 2 tablespoons lemon juice.

Now a note on lemon verbena.

Lemon verbena smells awesome. It has the best lemon scent of any herb I have ever grown. I like lemon scented herbs; lemon balm, lemon basil, and lemon thyme. I even grow a Logan's hardy lemon tree. We have never had a lemon off of the lemon tree. Lemon verbena tops them all.