My Cake Runneth Over

My 9 inch cake pan was a smidge too small and luckily I noticed in time to place a tray on the rack beneath. The cake was delicious and the person I made it for enjoyed it so much, she had two pieces. Yay! Success!

As described in the recipe, it was dense and buttery…. And almond-y. Another one that is easy to keep ingredients on hand for an impromptu dessert.

Tomorrow I think I’ll try to throw together a berry tart with a vanilla custard. Oh my belly hurts just thinking about it…

Assuming, of course, that my AC gets repaired in the morning. Until then, I’m just sweating it out in P-Town.

Back to Reality

The worst part of taking a vacation is coming home.  I mean, I like being home and all, but the carefree days of vacation seem so far away.  I have chapters to read for class. Preparation for a test a week from today.  Clean house, mow the yard (again-damn rain!), lug the suitcases back up to the attic, and I promised to bake a cake for work tomorrow.  We have a few people leaving and I thought a cake might be nice.

Except my AC has decided to quit.

Great.  Hot as hell and I’m going to fire up the oven.  I’m a genius.  I called to make an appointment and with my school and work schedule, the best we can do is Saturday morning.  Not much I can do at this point but sweat it out.  I re-evaluated what I’m going to bake and it’s going to be a much simpler cake.  No Spanish Vanilla Torte for tomorrow, just a simple French Almond Cake.  Once again, a recipe from Orangette.  Hopefully I can find my springform pan.

Have I mentioned how much I missed baking?

Girls Weekend

First things first… I am so freaking exhausted. And it was totally worth it. Good friends, late nights, and laughing until everything hurts, who could ask for more?

There was a good bit of silliness of course:

And:

There was time well spent relaxing by the pool, exploring the resort and even a little time dodging wildlife…Including the rather large alligator in the lake next to the pool.

It was wonderful to spend time with 3 shockingly similar yet very different women. All of whom I’m proud to say are my friends. They made me laugh until my riblets hurt and supported me when some drama creeped in and threatened to ruin my vacation. I love them all and don’t know what I’d do with out them.

Thank you ladies…thank you for an amazing time.

Bittersweet

Although I’m enjoying time with the girls, my time here is playing out to be a bit of an emotional roller coaster. I haven’t been here for any real length of time since John died. (just one quick night before a cruise) and no matter how angry I have been at him for the lies and the messes he left behind… There are sweet moments and good memories that have been sneaking up on me from time to time. That goofy playful spirit that he had, when his demons were safely tucked away.

No one could ever begin to understand me, even if they think they do. Continue judging me, as you always did. I really don’t care.

Vacation

Ahhhh…. Fruity drinks, warm sun, sunscreen and a much needed weekend away with the girls

Cheers!

Happy Girl

Here I am, stuck in heavy traffic… all because it was raining cats and dogs.  It was a terrible downpour, the road was flooding and traffic halted to a stand-still.  Took me nearly an hour to get home today.  Generally I’m used to that, but my vacation is right around the corner and I was ready to get home to finish packing. Since I was stuck I pulled out my phone and snapped a few pictures of the rainy roads, cars throwing massive amounts of water and of course, pictures of me.

I had a late night followed by a busy day.  Last night I was busy tidying up the house, laundry and packing followed by a day filled with payroll, 401k disbursements and an audit…it was never ending.  Damn good thing I like my job.  And my life.  I realized that I needed to make some changes in my life and keeping myself in a personal exile was not going to get me to my happy place.  I said good-bye to the parts of my life that weren’t making me happy and opened myself to new opportunities.  You know what? It worked.

I think that even though I look a little tired, I look happy.  My make-up has worn off, my hair is messy and dyed a ridiculous shade of red… but I’m happy.

Not Bad for a Culinary School Dropout

I’m in charge of bringing dessert tonight. It’s been awhile since I’ve baked, but I really do love to it do so much. After searching through many recipes, I settled on a flourless chocolate cake. As with all simple recipes, the real trick is to use quality ingredients.  If you don’t buy the best it will taste like crap.

Behold my primo ingredients:

Fresh organic eggs, Godiva Chocolate and French full cream butter.

I can’t wait to sample it. I’m not a huge sweets person, but I’ll make an exception this time.

Update:

O.M.G

I’ll take it as a major compliment when after sampling a bite, M tells me that it’s better than anything he’s ever had in a restaurant. It was rich and smooth and the perfect balance between the dark chocolate and the sweetness of just the right amount of sugar in the batter. The topping was hand whipped heavy cream sweetened with just a touch of agave nectar. I was afraid I over cooked it since it resembled a large, round brownie but the inside was pure decadence…. hopefully the picture captures how smooth the interior was.  I only snapped one picture because I just could not wait to dive in.

Should you wish to impress folks at your next dinner party, here’s a link to the recipe over at Orangette.

Final Exams, Day 2

Ah, yes.  Another artsy fartsy picture from Hipstamatic.

This is the last page of my study guide for my Calculus final.  My fate will be determined at 3:45 today.  I know I bitch so much about this class.  It is truly the hardest class I have ever had to take and my confidence in my knowledge of the subject is quite low.  I haven’t given up yet, but I just don’t do well with these cumulative exams.  I can learn something like this in pieces, but to remember all of it on one test… it’s not one of my strengths.

College, for me, at this age is such a roller coaster.  I start the semester on a high and I’m excited about learning new things.  By mid-terms, I’m drifting down and ready for a break.  Then the excitement builds again, knowing I’m closer to the end than the beginning.  All of it comes crashing down at final exams.  I’m frustrated, tired and simply exhausted by the fact that I feel like I spend too much of my time juggling work and school work.  By the time the semester break is here, I’m so ready for a rest and I question why I’m doing this.  I feel like I just want to get off the ride and stop.  However, by the time the next semester starts…. the excitement has built up again and I’m ready for the challenge.

But today… well, I just want today to be over.  I want to remember enough to pass this class and not repeat it.  If I do repeat it…. well, I’m not going to think about that right now.

The Week in a Nutshell

I can’t believe it’s already Friday.  What a busy week it’s been. This will be quick but full of pictures.

Monday, while working on my paper I whipped up a big pot of soup.  And I wonder why it takes me until the last minute to finish the paper, I was so distracted and I decide make soup too….

I’m still using up that package of Bob’s Red Mill Very Vegi Soup mix.  It contains a mix of lentils, split peas, barley and pasta alphabets.  I sautéed some onion and carrot, added 1 cup of the mix and 6 cups of water.  I let that cook until the mix was tender, then I used my immersion blender and pureed a can of diced tomatoes.  In the pot it went along with a diced potato and I finished it with a spoonful of not-beef bouillon paste.  When the potatoes were nearly tender, I added some chopped kale and seasoned with red pepper flakes.  It was soooo good!

Wednesday I was getting ready for work and Phyllis was giving me the cold shoulder:

She cracks me up sometimes.  She just sat with her back to me and would not look at me for the longest time.

Last night I had some delicious baked tofu. Nothing too complicated here.  Just pressed tofu, then marinated in diluted soy sauce, sesame oil and siracha.  I found a packaged mix by Near East that had quinoa and brown rice.  It was delicious and I had to have something green, so peas were added to the plate.  I thought I’d highlight the difference between a regular iPhone pic and a Hipstamatic shot.

Lastly, I’ve been working my towards my goal of dropping some weight before my big birthday… Here I am, I’m down another five:

I took a ridiculous self-portrait at work.  I never realized that my top was so low… Yikes!

Anyway… the weekend will be filled with studying.  The semester will soon be over! Yay!

Walking On Sunshine

Ah, the title of one of my least favorite 80′s songs. However, it pretty much sums up my day.

My yard may have flooded…

And my brunch date didn’t go as planned because the weather was crappy.

So crappy that the street flooded too…

At least the ducks were having a good time.

Anyway, the plan changed and we decided to meet at the mall and see a movie. There weren’t too many choices so we settled on 21 Jump Street. I used to love that show when I was in high school and even though the movie wasn’t quite the same I really enjoyed it. Of course, it could have been the company I was enjoying more than the movie.

It was a wonderful afternoon and as I made my way back home later that day, through the rain and flocks of ducks, I felt like I was walking on sunshine.