Coming from Florida, I am pretty familiar with almost every town there.  I’ve swam and fished in many different parts of the ocean, on the east coast and the west coast.  I can say with all honesty that a town called Destin is one of the prettiest places in Florida.  It’s not your place for camping but just the opposite.  The destin condos are opulent and lush, the water is sparkling blue and emerald, and the nightlife and shopping make this a really nice place to visit for a vacation or even just a weekend.  Many towns on the beach like to advertise that their place is the best.  But as a former Floridian I can express the personal opinion that it does not get much better than Destin.

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Prep Time: 30 Minutes
Cook Time: 1 Hour

Ready In: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
Servings: 12
The butter rum glaze makes it special. An easy way to glaze your cake is to pour half of the glaze into Bundt pan, reinsert cake, then pour the rest of glaze over the bottom of the cake. Let absorb well then invert back onto platter.”

Ingredients:
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding
mix
4 eggs
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup dark rum
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup water
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup dark rum

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan. Sprinkle chopped nuts evenly over the bottom of the pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine cake mix and pudding mix. Mix in the eggs, 1/2 cup water, oil and 1/2 cup rum. Blend well. Pour batter over chopped nuts in the pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Let sit for 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto serving plate. Brush glaze over top and sides. Allow cake to absorb glaze and repeat until all glaze is used.
4. To make the glaze: in a saucepan, combine butter, 1/4 cup water and 1 cup sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat and continue to boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup rum.

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Rum cake may sound alcoholic-ky but don’t kid yourself.  This is one of the moistest cakes that you’ll ever taste.  The rum gives it flavor but the alcohol is baked away so this is perfectly safe for any age to enjoy.  Here’s the recipe.Prep Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients:

* —Cake—
* 1 cup chopped, toasted pecans or walnuts
* 1 18-1/2 ounce yellow cake mix
* 1 1-3/4 ounce (4-serving size) instant vanilla pudding mix
* 4 eggs
* 1/2 cup cold milk*
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 1/2 cup Bacardi dark rum
* —Glaze—
* 1/2 cup butter
* 1/4 cup water
* 1 cup sugar
* 1/2 cup Bacardi dark rum

Preparation:
Cake: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Sprinkle nuts on bottom of pan. Combine all cake ingredients. Beat for 2 minutes on high with electric mixer. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool in pan. Invert on serving plate. Prick top with fork. Drizzle glaze over top of cake. Use brush or spoon to put extra dripping back on cake.

Glaze: Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in water and sugar. Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in rum. Note: The rum will cause steam. Be careful not to burn yourself.

Notes in the Margin: I have made this cake many, many times. It not only is the perfect dessert, but I’ve had house guests who wanted it for breakfast. My husband keeps threatening to use it for French toast. I personally think that it’ll never get dry enough as it stays moist a long time. The longer this cakes sits, the better the taste. This cake freezes beautifully. Also, many of these cakes have been shipped to soldiers overseas. They got there just fine.

*I use milk for added nutritional value. Water may be used instead.

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This is the time of year that our minds start to think about deep cleaning as well as other methods for improving our homes and with the weather so nice outside we want to spend a lot of time out there also.  This means that we start to look for recipes for quick and easy meals, sandwiches especially.  Here are a few recipes for sandwich material.

Potato Salad

Peel and boil some potatoes, the amount depends on how much you want to make.  Try six large potatoes.  Cut them into cubes and boil them, but do not let them get very soft.  If you do, your potatoes will become mushy, more like mashed potatoes and this is not the consistency that you want.  If they break easily then they are too soft.  Put eggs into the potato water to boil, about two or three.  When done, drain the water out of the potatoes and cool the eggs by running them under cold water.  Peel and dice these into the potatoes.  Chop up some onions and add those in.  Some people like pickle relish in theirs, so add this if you are one of those.  Salt and pepper to taste, although it’s my opinion that the salt should be added to the potato water while boiling so that it seeps into the potatoes rather than just being on top.   Put in one or two tablespoons of mayonnaise, depending on the amount of potatoes that you cooked, start out with one.  If that seems to be enough, then squirt in some regular yellow mustard.  Mix together but don’t mash it up.  The mustard is probably about two tablespoons.  The mustard turns the salad yellow and adds flavor.  This is the recipe that my family always uses and everyone that eats it says it is the best that they have ever had.  I don’t put relish into mine but my Mother put it into hers.  In my opinion the relish makes it sweet and I don’t care for it that way.

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• Ingredients:
  2 cups raisins
  3 cups water
  2 eggs
  3 tablespoons liquid sweetener
  3/4 cup vegetable oil
  1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt
  1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  2 cups all-purpose flour
  1 cup chopped walnuts
  1 cup unsweetened applesauce

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour one 10 inch bundt or tube pan.
2. In a saucepan combine raisins with water and cook until the water is absorbed, cool.
3. Combine eggs, applesauce, vegetable oil, vanilla, and liquid sweetener. Mix well. Sift flour, baking soda, salt, ground cinnamon, and ground nutmeg into egg mixture. Stir until just combined. Mix in raisins and chopped nuts. Pour batter into prepared pan.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for one hour.

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