Cake face

I keep swiping at my chin, thinking I still have cake batter there. That's what I get for so voraciously licking the spatula.

Among the essentials in my kitchen are all the items needed to make a cake, should I feel the need some Tuesday evening. Flour, sugar, chocolate, eggs, butter, spices. We always made cakes from scratch, so I never got into the whole box thing. (Although box brownies always turn out better than my from-scratch attempts. I haven't figured that out.) My mom always had a stand mixer, so making cake was pretty easy. Well, after spending 10 minutes beating egg whites by hand (let me tell you, it helps to be listening to upbeat music and hopping around at the same time), I say, Who needs a mixer?

Last week during my house arrest/flu/dog sitting, I watched a lot of Food Network. One of my favorite episodes was the spiky-haired guy driving to different diners all over New Jersey (huh, I should have done that). One of the diners was a tiny, crowded place with no microwave, freezer or mixer. They made the waffle batter by hand in huge tubs. That's impressive. Almost as impressive as me doing squats while maniacally whisking egg whites.

Seriously. I think people rely too much on shortcuts, prepared items, fast foods. I do, too. But tonight I made up a sort of sweet/sour/spicy chicken/pineapple/broccoli stir-fry thing, over jasmine and brown rice and bulgar (cooked all together—why not?). My dinners usually turn out best if I don't measure or use a recipe. But cake still needs a recipe.

Brrring. That's my cake. Now for the frosting: my patented no-measure mixture of semisweet chocolate chips, cinnamon, vanilla, butter, milk, powdered sugar and sometimes red chile. ... Actually, this time it's a strawberry-accented chocolate with almond extract and a dash of allspice. Hey, why not?

Comments

[Bonnie]

Sweetie, I'm so glad you're feeling better and blogging again. I've missed you so much. Oh Joy! Oh Delight! mums