Friday, October 19, 2007
cake fixes most everything
There are few things in my life that can't be fixed with a little cake.
Yesterday was a pretty crappy day for me, and it had nothing at all to do with anyone or anything here in Washington. It was all California-related stuff: work, house, a little bank fraud thrown in for good measure. In other words, stuff I really can't do a damn thing about. For a control freak like me, that's hard to deal with. It shuts down my brain. Can't get past it. [At least I'm not trying to take my PhD exams right now, like two dear friends of mine are at this very moment (hi!). Actually, they're doing just fine, and are just about halfway through them. A superlative-laden post about them will come at a later date...I'm still composing it. ]
But back to cake. Today is a cake-loquium. That is, today is the department's grad student org-sponsored colloquium at which time there will be cake. I am in charge of cake today, because I love to bake and I like to be useful.
You want to know who is really useful? Shuna Fish Lydon, that's who. I am so grateful that she puts her recipes online. In January, you may recall that my friends and I ate a ton of food and all of her desserts at Aziza. I've made her cardamon chocolate chunk cookies. She is now part of the brand-spanking-new restaurant, Sens, in the Embarcadero Center in SF, about which she has written lovingly since its inception. I am seriously considering a weekend trip back to the Bay Area in a few weeks, and her desserts will feature prominently in my plans if the trip indeed happens.
But she does not live in my house, or in Eastern Washington, or anywhere closer than sixteen hours away. Thus, I am left to my own devices when it comes time to make cake. And cake I did make: Shuna's yellow cake (which prompted a text message from me to my friend that said something like "holy crap this is the best cake batter I have ever tasted," which is true), devil's food cake, and chocolate frosting.
Shuna, thank you for sharing your recipes. I will bet that this afternoon there will be 40 or 50 people who would also like to thank you for sharing them. I'm not you, of course, but I don't think I did a terribly shabby job with it all. It sure does taste good to me...
Yesterday was a pretty crappy day for me, and it had nothing at all to do with anyone or anything here in Washington. It was all California-related stuff: work, house, a little bank fraud thrown in for good measure. In other words, stuff I really can't do a damn thing about. For a control freak like me, that's hard to deal with. It shuts down my brain. Can't get past it. [At least I'm not trying to take my PhD exams right now, like two dear friends of mine are at this very moment (hi!). Actually, they're doing just fine, and are just about halfway through them. A superlative-laden post about them will come at a later date...I'm still composing it. ]
But back to cake. Today is a cake-loquium. That is, today is the department's grad student org-sponsored colloquium at which time there will be cake. I am in charge of cake today, because I love to bake and I like to be useful.
You want to know who is really useful? Shuna Fish Lydon, that's who. I am so grateful that she puts her recipes online. In January, you may recall that my friends and I ate a ton of food and all of her desserts at Aziza. I've made her cardamon chocolate chunk cookies. She is now part of the brand-spanking-new restaurant, Sens, in the Embarcadero Center in SF, about which she has written lovingly since its inception. I am seriously considering a weekend trip back to the Bay Area in a few weeks, and her desserts will feature prominently in my plans if the trip indeed happens.
But she does not live in my house, or in Eastern Washington, or anywhere closer than sixteen hours away. Thus, I am left to my own devices when it comes time to make cake. And cake I did make: Shuna's yellow cake (which prompted a text message from me to my friend that said something like "holy crap this is the best cake batter I have ever tasted," which is true), devil's food cake, and chocolate frosting.
Shuna, thank you for sharing your recipes. I will bet that this afternoon there will be 40 or 50 people who would also like to thank you for sharing them. I'm not you, of course, but I don't think I did a terribly shabby job with it all. It sure does taste good to me...
Labels: foody, grad school, misc life