A Few Quick Notes 553

-Though I didn't spend much time outside today while the sun was up, my recollection is that it was a nice day (though maybe a bit chilly).

-Bright and early this morning started doing some dishes. Once I finished with the dishes I moved on to a single loaf-sized batch of bread. The bread looks good, but I haven't yet gotten around to sampling it.

-After a few hours of work I took a break to make a batch of hard candy. The break became somewhat extended when I managed to burn the first batch (the temperature seemed to jump from 300 to 350 in about 60 seconds). Fortunately, the second batch went according to plan.

What didn't exactly go according to plan was the shaping of the resulting candies. It turns out that they were a little harder to shape by hand than we hoped. Fortunate we were able to cut them in a way that resulted in candies of a reasonable size.

Now that we have something of a handle on the process we may try another batch in the near future.

-Even though I spent a while with the dishes the morning they have continued to accumulate through the day (I guess the baking and candy making projects haven't helped). I hope that somehow by the time I go to bed they are under control.

Failed impulse

Last night, as I mentioned earlier, I decided to have a beer or two to celebrate a successful week of work. Of course, to have a beer or two meant that I would have to head to the store to pick up the beer that I would later be drinking.

Shortly after indicating my intentions Rebecca and Jeannette asked that if I could pick them up some candy while I was shopping. Because I am such a nice guy I agreed to pick them up some candy, though they were a little vague about the type of candy they wanted.

When I arrived in the store a few minutes later I started haunting the aisles, just checking things out and looking for inspiration. At one point I passed an end-of-aisle display that contained a number of on-sale cake mixes. I was immediately tempted. I quickly settled on a 'Swiss chocolate' mix, though I didn't and still don't know exactly how a 'Swiss chocolate' cake is any different than a 'chocolate' cake. Anyway, I then made my way to the candy and icing aisles to get my other purchases. Of course, I then when next door to the beer store to complete my acquisitions.

Almost as soon as I returned home I started the baking process, though to much less excitement than I expected. Not surprisingly, given that I was using cake mix, things moved quickly and I soon had two cake pans in the oven.

Until this point things were going well. Everything was working out exactly as I might have expected. It was only when I took the cake pans out of the oven that things started to go awry.

Though the cakes look fine, they weren't particularly interested in coming out of their pans when I turned them upside down. Instead of forcing the issue I decided to let them rest for a while. This is a trick I have used in the past to some success (I have always presumed that it has something to do with the baked good sweating and then loosening any of the item that is stuck to the pan).

Sadly, in this case, even after the extended sitting period, the first cake pan was left with about 25% of its content when the cake eventually did come out. Of course, the resulting cake was still circular, just not particularly iceable or photogenic.

Given this outcome I decided to let the second cake pan and cake rest a little while longer. Sadly, even with this additional rest/sweat the outcome was similar, though maybe somewhat less dramatic.

Given these two unstackable cakes I was somewhat at a loss as to how I should proceed. Instead of really dealing with the issue last night I decided to just cover them and leave them until this morning, hoping that I would somehow come up with a solution.

My solution, as unglamorous as it was, was hardly even complete. This morning I iced the more complete of the two cakes (and then had two pieces for breakfast). The second cake is still laying covered on the counter. I have no idea what to do with it as spreading icing on each piece like you would jam on a scone just seems strange and I am otherwise drawing blanks about appropriate consumption means.

Anyway, this outcome was really not what I expected when I dropped $1.49 on a cake mix last night. I really thought that things would be easier and not nearly as cognitively complex.

If you have any ideas about what I can do with the uneaten remnants of the first cake let me know. I would prefer not just composting it in a few days, or once it starts showing signs of mold.

A Few Quick Notes 330

-Well, today was another rather unpleasant, overcast day. Though we didn't have too much rain during the daylight hours, we were hit rather hard last night. I imagine that all of the rain we have received in the past few days means that the local playing fields are drenched, which isn't good for our Ultimate game on Sunday, particularly as we are likely to have more rain between now and then.

-On top of all of the rain we have been getting it has also been quite humid. This humidity is making things quite unpleasant. It seems that I feel sticky and unpleasant even though it is only in the high teens.

-Amazingly, the plants seem to be continuing to grow even though they haven't received much direct sun in the past few days. It seems that the beans, those in the planter and those next to the column, are growing more quickly that they have grown so far. With regards to the beans near the column, I am hoping that I some of them will complete their first loop in just a few days.

-Neil surprised me with a purchase he made this afternoon. It seems that while he was shopping he encountered a set of port sippers at a local store. These items are designed to allow one to drink from the bottom of your glass of port to reduce oxidization, and thus have a better port drinking experience. Obviously a well stocked apartment shouldn't be without a set of these.

We decided to test them out with some Newman's Port this evening.



-A few days ago Neil surprised me with another purchase, an apron. I was quite pleased to get this apron as it should allow me to keep some of my clothes a little cleaner while cooking.



-While I was making my way through the grocery store this afternoon I decided to pick up a pound of butter. While I was checking out prices I discovered that one of the brands was on sale for $2.50, a price which is about $2.29 less than normal. I scooped us six pounds, four of which I have stashed in our freezer. I may have to head back before Friday to pick up a few more, opportunities like this don't come along every day.

-A few days ago I received a candy thermometer from my sister. Today I decided to flip through the Joy of Cooking and find a recipe to make. Eventually I settled on Turtles, which are basically pecans, caramel, and chocolate. While they don't look like much, they are quite edible. I am generally pleased with the results given that it was my first attempt at candy making in a number of years.



-I am incredibly tired. I didn't get to sleep until the sun was rising this morning and then didn't get a chance to take a nap today, and it is now past midnight. Unfortunately this means that I wasn't able to use my sleep shortage to get myself to go to bed early.

What's going on here, we had a plan people

For the past several days Neil and Rebecca have been foreshadowing the possible arrival of the Easter bunny. While I wasn't into this at first, I am since become a little more excited. I shocked myself by going so far as to make myself an Easter basket from recycled goods.

Anyway, we agreed to get up at ten and learn together whether or not the Easter bunny visited. It is now after 10:30 and I have heard nothing from them and am starting to get a little antsy.

The Easter candy rush is starting to wear off and be replaced by a caffeine withdrawal headache and hunger pangs. Hopefully they manage to get themselves together before I starve to death in my bedroom.

Let the Bunny Massacre Begin

At some point yesterday Neil and I realized that we still had not put all that much thought into who would be baking the Easter bread, and when the baking might take place. In the end I rather aggressively volunteered to bake the bread while Neil and Rebecca went to the grocery store.

Before too long the bread had risen for the first time and was ready to be punched down. I was particularly impressed with how nice the risen dough looked before it was deflated.



After the dough was deflated/degassed, I rolled hunks of the dough so that I could create the bunnies. In total I made 18 bunnies. I am quite shocked that I ended up with exactly two pans worth even though I didn't really take the time to divide the dough before starting.



I was a little surprised at how long they took to bake. Given their size I would have imagined that it would have taken much less time than it did.



Obviously we were a little short on counter space for cooling.



Neil tapped into the goods while they were still steaming, thus commencing the bunny massacre, which will presumably continue until at least tomorrow. If things go as Rebecca wants them to, some of these may be iced at some point. at the moment, I think this is most likely to occur at some point tomorrow morning before breakfast, though we haven't really planned that far ahead.



In other easter related news, I finally got my act together and made myself an Easter basket (as I have been promised a visit from the Easter bunny). I impressed myself by making the basket almost entirely from recycled materials.



Also, as you can see, mine is the only one with kitties.

Is this something I should be worried about?

A few days ago I noticed a troubling trend in my apartment, that certain jelly beans were being left behind uneaten (as seen below). Does this mean that someone in my apartment might be prejudiced? I am starting to thinking troubling thoughts about my roommates, hopefully none of them are true, but I am starting to wonder given this rather observable behaviour.