I am sure this is just me feeling this way and might not apply to most of you – but to me city girl – it’s one of the coolest things on earth to walk out into your garden, pick some fresh flowers, a bucket full of raspberries and a bowl full of strawberries, vanish into the kitchen and emerge with 6 glasses of the most tastiest raspberry jam, flowers for the table and the sweetest strawberries for dessert. Makes me feel like I could live off the land..hehe…..I know it takes much more to really live of the land but again for a city girl this seems pretty cool and instead of spending $40 on organic berries and a bouquet of flowers, I spent absolutely $0 as an added bonus – oh well Internet shopping will make these savings vanish faster than I can cook jam!

Besides picking fruits and making jams and desserts we also spent a weekend at Lake Chelan to celebrate Sam’s birthday and the guys took advantage of the Lake opportunity and were very happy taking the boat out for some fishing.

A quick pit stop in a couple of breweries and stores in Leavenworth is a must when we are on our way to Chelan to load up on our favorite sausages, cured meats and beer!

This weekend a milestone for the Sudore family happened – Nicole graduated from High school and soon will be off to go to the University of Washington and become a famous Astro physicist – or whatever she sets her mind on :-). So we partied hard to celebrate her accomplishment and too much partying always leads to 2 things: a headache the next morning and bad picture taking – I forgot to take a picture of the guest of honor…well the wine bottles and friends and family photo will have to suffice as proof!

The celebrations will continue and we will end this week with lots of Father’s days celebration – Happy Father’s Day to all the awesome dads out there (also to my dad in Germany – although they had their father’s day a month ago).

Why a post for Pineapple Upside-down Cake? Its Mike’s favorite cake and this version in a Bundt pan comes out really pretty and tastes as good as it looks! Might be worthy to give it a try and make for an awesome dad in your family!

Ingredients:

• ½ cup butter, melted
• ½ cup packed brown sugar
• 1 – 20-ounce can pineapple slices, juice reserved
• 1 jar maraschino cherries
• 1 – 3.4-ounce box vanilla pudding mix
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 6 tablespoons butter softened
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons brown sugar (packed)
• 3 large eggs
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sour cream
• 1/4 cup  + 2 tablespoons milk
• 1/2 cup pineapple juice

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degrees Celsius). Spray a Bundt pan with nonstick spray.
2. Evenly pour the melted butter into the bottom of the Bundt pan and top with the brown sugar.
3. Cut the pineapple rings in half and, alternating with the cherries, place into the butter-brown sugar mixture in the bottom of the pan.
4. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and pudding mix together. In a different bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until creamy, then add the eggs one at a time and add the reserved pineapple juice, milk and sour cream. Now sift in the flour mix and mix until blended.
5. Pour the batter evenly over the pineapple and cherries.
6. Bake for 40 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
7. Cool the cake for about 10 minutes before running a knife around the edges and inner ring of the pan. Invert onto a serving plate and slice between pineapple rings to serve.

Guten Appetit!