The short version

I've been trying to write a post about my frustrating experience with baking myself a birthday cake last week. When I told one of my friends about it, she laughed until tears ran down her face. Granted, we'd had a few drinks, but it really was funny as I told the story.  

When I tried to write about it, though, I couldn't get it to work and convey the humor of the situation, so here's the short version: I got way overambitious and attempted to make a huge chocolate cake with homemade buttercream. I also wanted to decorate it, despite never having any practice at that. I ordered a cake decorating kit with lots of bags and tips, watched a few Youtube videos, and gave it my best shot. I baked the cake on Thursday evening and left it to cool overnight, and then on Friday I started making buttercream and attempting to pipe borders and simple flowers.  

What a nightmare! Turns out buttercream is hard--not hard to make, but hard to get the consistency right. I did a thick layer of chocolate buttercream first, and it looked awful. Just awful. So then I made a huge batch of vanilla buttercream and made two more attempts to cover over my bad work...and it kept getting worse! Finally after three or four hours, and a trashed kitchen, I gave up for the day. I was disgusted with the whole thing and ready to dump the mess in the trash!

The next morning, Saturday, I knew I had to do something. The party was that night, and the cake was a wreck. So in desperation I went to the grocery store and bought two cans of Betty Crocker chocolate icing which I slathered liberally all over the mess, smoothed it out, dumped a bunch of sprinkles all over the top, and called it a day. And then I said to myself, "What the hell was I thinking?" and also, "Never again."

Two days of stress and effort, in pictures (and layers of crappy buttercream):

Next: the first two big blobs of cheap canned frosting I slapped on top of the wreckage made me laugh hysterically, and I had to take a picture. This summed up all my planning and effort perfectly.

GEORGIE WUZ HERE! 

Okay, but to be serious, the cake actually turned out to be...presentable. And tasty. You can't really tell from this picture, but it was huge and weighed a ton. Especially with two layers of homemade buttercream smothered in Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge icing and Sprinkles.

Sunday Supper--Birthday Edition

 

 

A friend of Gregg's gave him some duck eggs last week. They said they're good to eat and even better to bake with, but we both felt a little strange about it. Neither of us have ever eaten duck eggs, but there's a first time for everything!

Tomorrow being his birthday, I asked G. what he wanted for a special meal. His immediate answer was "Meatloaf!" Yes, out of all the things he could have picked, my husband chose good old fashioned meatloaf with real mashed potatoes for his birthday supper. I'll steam some broccoli for a side dish. So that's how I'm using two of the duck eggs, in the meatloaf, and three more will go into the cake I'm getting ready to pop in the oven. It's going to be pineapple upside down cake, and I'll post pictures of it tomorrow if it turns out pretty.

It's been a beautiful day here. Blue skies, fluffy white clouds, autumn colors in the trees, warm sunshine.....and we have a new President! I didn't realize just how stressed out I've been lately about the election and I feel so much lighter and freer today than I have in a very, very long time. Gregg says it's the best birthday gift he could have asked for! 

Every birthday is a good birthday

Yesterday was my wonderful husband's birthday. I feel so bad that it fell on the day we woke up to a new president that we both despise. But as Gregg pointed out, at least he was here to see it. Less than 5% of people with the kind and stage of cancer he had are alive five years later. His five year check up is next month. I don't care what happens in Washington as long as he's here and healthy.

 I love that man to pieces...