Mabelgeldine, Sooz, wintercat, mitchdesj, kitchendetective, sweetbetsy, sally2, rustyone, mustangs --> Wow! Thank you all for your nice compliments. You filled my bucket :) therustyone --> the effort was spread over two days. I started Saturday morning and my final piping was done and the cake carefully placed in boxes. Sunday around 3pm when I rushed off to shower and get ready for the party. Colleenz, cloud swift --> I did grease with crisco and used a parchment round for the bottom of the cake pan and then sprayed with baker's joy. Pretty much all the instructions in the cookbook. The bottom was OK. I think for one of the lemon cake layers, I should have let it cool some more. I think I will use parchment paper strips for the side as well next time. I am also thinking to make the jasdip better than pam coating to use intead of baker's joy as I did not like the spray as much. Cathy --The kids loved the cakes with many of them negotiating for a smaller slices of both as they wanted to try both. I was surprised how many 9-10 yr olds liked the lemon cake. Many of the moms loved the carrot cake and the lemon lovers loved the lemon cake. DH loved the carrot cake.. I do think the addition of 1TBSP of dutch cocoa makes this cake a lot better. DD loved the lemon cake the best. I must say I was very very pleased with the lemon curd.. I used to buy an occasional bottle to use with scones. Now that I have made it, I will make it instead of buying it. I must say I loved the precision and the clear writing from Rose Levy Berenbaum. My kind of cookbook. pink_warm_mama --> Here is the recipe from Marcella Hazan's Essential Italian Cookbook. It is not too sweet and tastes really good the next day too. Marcella called it a popular cake in Venice and said she made it for James Beard. Polenta Shortcake with Raisins, Dried Figs, and Pine Nuts Serves 6 to 8 (I got around 16 smaller slices out of a 9in round) 1 cup coarse cornmeal Salt 1 ½ Tbsp extra virgin olive oil Heaping ½ cup granulated sugar 1⁄3 cup seedless raisins 1 cup dried figs, cut into ¼ inch pieces 2 Tbsp butter plus more for greasing the pan 1 egg 2 Tbsp fennel seed 1 cup all-purpose flour A 9-inch round cake pan Fine, dry, unflavored bread crumbs Procedure •Preheat oven to 400°F •Bring 2 cups water to a boil in a medium sized sauce pan. Adjust heat to medium. •Add corn meal in a steady stream by grabbing handfuls and letting it run through your partially closed fist. With the other hand, stir constantly with a wooden spoon. If you add it too fast, the corn meal can clump. •Add salt and olive oil and continue to stir for about 15 seconds until the mush thickens and starts to pull away from the pan when stirred. •Remove from heat and add sugar, raisins, pine nuts, figs, butter, egg, and fennel seed. Mix thoroughly to combine. Add flour and mix to form a cake batter. •Smear cake pan with butter and dust with bread crumbs. Add cake batter and level with spatula. Bake 45 to 50 minutes. •When cake is still warm, loosen its sides with knife and shake to drop onto plate. Turn cake over again onto serving platter. Serve when it becomes completely cold.

Not exactly what you're looking for but if you don't find it, maybe glue this to plain white butcher paper.shelf edge rolls http://cgi.ebay.com/50s-Vintage-Look-Cherry-Red-Polka-Dot-Shelf-Paper-Edge-/230597902435?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0amp;hash=item35b0b4c063 It's out there. Etsy has it. Look at this one! If only I had the glass doors. http://tartdeco.blogspot.com/2010/01/whats-on-sale-vintage-shelf-paper.html Here is a link that might be useful: shades of the 70's!

So beautiful! I love them! They are perfectly hung. I also have art in my kitchen, and even made the cabinets on either side of my cooktop asymmetrical to allow for a small feature wall and a painting. I was thrilled when I found the painting in a local gallery for all the reasons that you knew your birds would be just right. It's a critical part of my whole enjoyment of the space and one of the first things you see when you walk in my front door. ETA: I totally agree with your recommendation to hang decent art in kitchens and bathrooms. I'm an artist myself and have worked in framing and conservation most of my life. Though a delicate work on paper that is improperly mounted will likely ripple if hung in a bathroom (or on an outside wall for that matter) and an encaustic painting will obviously melt if you hang it near a boiling pot of spaghetti, most other mediums are hardy and resilient if you use common sense to treat them with care. I was doubly thrilled to find the oil painting that hangs just to the left of my cooktop - it looks great and it meant I had no choice but to splurge on the Miele hood vent with con@ctivity (not sure if I've spelled that right) that comes on automatically so that I'm sure to use it when I cook. Lol! I'm sure the pairing will still need to be cleaned from time to time but the vent is fabulous.

OP that's very common where I am (Boston), so as to better match (v. drywall, which is very flat unlike plaster) 90+ year old homes' wood lath-plaster. No one installs (or it would be $$$$ to do so) wood lath plaster. Its all blueboard with a thin layer of plaster over the entire surface. No taping, no tape marks, very nice look. Let it dry out, then prime and paint. Better for sound insulation v. drywall. Harder to find studs in walls though. Better explanation from wiki: "Full coat interior plaster begins with a base. A hundred years ago it was wood lath, brick, or clay tile. Thirty years ago it might have been rock lath (a 3/8” x 16” x 48” sheet that looks a little like drywall), metal lath, block or tile. Today it is mostly metal lath or 1/2”- 5/8” gypsum base (also called blue board), similar to drywall but with a special type of paper to ensure a good bond. Next a scratch coat (made of gypsum plaster and sand) “keys” into the base and stiffens it for the subsequent coats. It is very rough so that the next coat can get a good bond."