Since making a Renaissance outfit for my dear husband in black, I realized he reeeeeeaally needed a hat to top it off, so I made one. He wasn't thrilled about the style, but it did look good on him!

We looked good together too! Unfortunately when I covered the straw hat base with interfacing to make it taller, I also removed all stretch from the hat, making it too small for my husband's head. He was a trooper and wore it for most of a morning and long enough for pictures though.

Oh well, lesson learned, and I didn't spend much on supplies. I saved the hat in hopes that someday someone with a MUCH smaller head could use it.

There is something about a man dressed all in black... I tell my hubby my favorite outfit of his is blue jeans and a black t-shirt.  Hey, he's not much of a formal wear kind of guy, but he does have definite fashion opinions. Any excuse that gets me designing for him I'll pounce on, and to have an excuse to use black is even better, even if he is the most difficult "client" I've ever worked with. ;)

In a previous post I started in on an outfit for him that would match a set of brown/yellow/green/orange German inspired Renaissance dresses Kate is working on.  Well, I went ahead and made the green and black silk dresses, and Kate assumed we were wearing just those this spring.  I assumed I had all summer to work on the black and green coordinating costume for my husband and started on the brown and green version.

Then I committed myself to a purple commissioned dress for "L", got sick for a week, and spent another weekend away to a family funeral...Let's just say these past two weeks have been a whirlwind of last minute costume creation. Cue last-minute panic, not unlike tech/dress rehearsal week during a stage production.  I don't have many process pictures for this one, but this has been turning out pretty good.

I chose cotton duck cloth as the base fabric, knowing my husband wears through clothing faster than anyone else.  He actually loved the contrasting gold fabric, which were scraps from my sister!  And given the chance again I would NOT use duck cloth in a household with pets.  That stuff attracts fur better than almost any other fabric I've seen.

The last thing to complete my Renaissance Man is a hat.  He thinks it's unnecessary.  I know otherwise.  If it's before 1800, head covering is mandatory unless you're a young maiden looking for a husband. 

I'm hopeful though - I found a $3 hat at the dollar store to base it on, and I know my mom has some pheasant feathers I can beg off her.

And I promise I'll get at least one good complete outfit picture!

Our Dad really loves lemon desserts, but his complaint is that it's never lemon-y enough for him. He wants both the lemon flavor from the peel AND something very tart. I don't blame him!

He also complains every time we make up a recipe and don't write it down, or can't repeat it because it used up leftovers. These fly-by-night dishes he calls recipes from the galley of the Flying Dutchman since they appear out of nowhere, never to be seen again.

Well HA HA DAD! I WROTE THIS ONE DOWN! They're really quite tasty, and I've gotten compliments from other lemon lovers that these really hit the spot. Starting with a cake mix helps, and you absolutely must start the cream cheese layer with softened cream cheese. Plus, it's easy to get the top glaze too stiff so it might take a couple tries to perfect this recipe. I don't think you'll mind "disposing" of any mistakes. I never have!

Triple Lemon Punch Cake Squares
Cut these small – each bite packs quite a bit of fresh lemon flavor!

Ingredients:
​
1 box lemon cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 ½ packages cream cheese (12 ozs total)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
4 lemons
½ to 1 cup powdered sugar
2-3 tsp. cornstarch
3-4 Tbs water

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 350˚ F. Mix cake mix, 1 egg, vegetable oil, and the juice of 1 ½ lemons together until smooth.  Spread evenly in the bottom of a 9x13” glass baking pan. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, cream together the cream cheese, remaining egg, sugar, and juice of 1 ½ lemons.  When the cake comes out of the oven, pour cream cheese mix over the hot cake. Bake for another 20 minutes or so, until the cream cheese is set in the middle. On the stovetop in a small saucepot, whisk together the powdered sugar, cornstarch, and juice and zest of the remaining lemon. Bring to a boil to thicken.  If the mixture is too thick to pour, thin it out with a little water. Pour hot glaze over the hot cake. Let the whole cake cool completely on the countertop before cutting into 1 ½ inch squares.