Cake?

We celebrated John's birthday at the end of July and the only thing the poor fellow asked for was cake with frosting. Well, he also asked for the creamy angel food dessert that Heidi gave us the recipe for. The man likes cake.

I can't make an ordinary cake. I have to try something new. So I search and search for something wicked and decadent and chocolate. And I come up with Nigella Lawson's Nutella Cake. Nutella, ground hazelnuts, chocolate ganache...I couldn't wait. Saturday comes and I wake up very excited to bake the cake. Ingredients are bought and waiting for me in the kitchen. This is a little work...grinding hazelnuts, whipping egg whites, folding into the batter, prepping the springform pan. And it goes into the oven and it smells delicious. I take it out on time and the edges look like they may be more done than I'd like. So I flip the clip on the pan to loosen the sides...but for some dumb reason, I think I can take off the side of the pan. The cake is hot. The pan is hot. But I've got my oven mitts. It went smoothly until I burn the side of my arm. I panic and try to balance the cake, but to no avail. It falls, upside down, on the stovetop in one glorious mess. Of course, I flip out and start crying. John runs into the kitchen, thinking I have seriously injured myself. "The cake...sob...and my arm...sob...and it fell...sob...and all I...sob...wanted was to make you a cake for your birthday...sob"

John was so sweet, he started scooping up chunks of cake with a spatula and putting it all on a cookie sheet. After I stopped crying hysterically, I decided to turn the chunks of cake into a trifle, layered with some ganache. It worked, but it wasn't as fabulous as I wanted it to be. There are no pictures of the glorious mess, but there's a picture somewhere of the trifle.

We celebrated his birthday with an incredible steak dinner at home. And "cake" and ice cream and movies. Not to mention, the angel food dessert I made on Sunday and took to his folks' with us. Oh, and Tuesday, my mom made Coke Cake for him. Did I tell you that he loves cake? And everyone loves John.

Little of this, little of that

I am having that feeling again. The one where the idea of cooking makes me sick and I can't even imagine going to the grocery store. Seriously, the idea of buying food, cooking it and eating it makes me nauseous. But I'm still eating...it's just take-out. I have an idea where this feeling originates, so I need to deal with it...

The sun is shining and it is beautiful out. I'm not sure how long it will stay this way. I am getting the urge to spring clean and think I'll start this weekend. We are going to Houston next weekend and it's nice to come home to a clean house.
And part of me needs a fresh start, a new way to approach something...I think coming home after Houston will give me a starting point. I'm not sure if this even makes sense...

I'm looking forward to this spring and this summer. There are no big plans and I am trying not to build up high expectations. I want it to flow, I want a natural rhythm, I want lazy days at the lake and Saturday mornings at the farmer's market and there I go with the expectations...

My birthday is in the spring and I've always liked that, it's a wonderful time to have a birthday. I like it when it's near Easter, this year it's the day before. If I live to be 104, my birthday would have been on Easter Sunday a total of 5 times.
I've never beenreally fond of making a big to-do over my birthday. I like it to be a little secret, a quiet feeling inside. And I don't need a lot of people with me, a very small gathering will do...