The Demi-God of Cake

Yesterday, Justin turned 30.

He says he doesn’t feel old. But he does feel miles from 20. I think 30 is a perfect age. You are no longer a silly fool, but not old enough to be a crotchety old fart.

Personally, I am looking forward to my 30’s. Seriously. But I am not complaining about being in my late 20’s. It’s not bad at all. 😉

So a birthday of this proportion calls for cake.

Yes. Cake. Go ahead and click this picture and read the story if you haven't already. I will wait.

Justin and I have read that entire website and find it brilliantly hilarious and silly. The God Of Cake is particularly good.

So I had the notion to make this cake for him in real life. An exhaustive multi-day search for multi-colored marshmallows commenced and I failed miserably. My friend Erica found them on the south side and drove them up to me. Because she is awesome and this was clearly an important mission.

Progress work.

Food coloring explosion.

A little help from B. Who hates the mixer. HATES.

And I give to you my replica:

OK. So maybe this is not the typical cake for a 30-year-old man. But I think he liked it. Happy Birthday, Love.

The Watched Pot

I know you aren’t supposed to hang out staring at the water on the stove. You aren’t doing anything to help it. The water knows how to boil on its own, and you are just a foolish human spectator.

I watch it anyway. It is boring, but beautiful, and lets me zone out.

Sadly, zoning out is a daily thing for me now. Not by choice. I’m feeling some guilt about this, as we are busy at work. I’m not on top of my game at all. Brainstorms? I usually love them. Now I am a spectator with little to add. Speaking in coherent sentences to freelance illustrators? Not really. I’m trying, I really am. It seems that my mind is occupied with growing a human. I wince during meetings while Baby B tries to exit out of my left side. Glad to know he is well in there, but oooowww. He needs a swaddling. If anyone on my team is reading this, a thousand apologies. I am probably not going to be the sharpest art director for the next 39 days.

Are there advantages of living with this distracted and mushy mind?

Ummmm.

derrrrr…what…wait…what was I talking about? Where am I? Huh?

Hey, want to see a picture of a pie that I totally messed up?

oops

Yeah, it is clearly a runny pie. But the good news is, we dumped it in a container and used it for ice cream topping for a couple of days. So how can I count that as a total failure? Some may even call it a win.

And something else that I (ahem, nature) accomplished recently is growing these little wonders from seed. I don’t think I have grown anything from seed since elementary school.

Not claiming this took brain power to grow or anything, but it's something.

This mushy mind is good for something after all. I can let my eyes rest on things that an overactive mind would pass up. I can relax into a comfortable stare in .2 seconds on just about anything. Uncooked pasta becomes interesting. Bread is beauty. My squirrel collection is the Last Supper. My life is not yet a blur. It feels more like someone sat on the remote and paused me. So I will stare at the still frame awhile longer, and enjoy the quiet peace.

Patrick is healing nicely. He just needs a few more years in the cast.

21 Week Banana (muffin) Boley

Last week was banana week. A 10.5 inch banana to be specific. Let me know if you ever see one of these, because that is ridiculously large. And most bananas are no more than 8.5 inches at best. But, this whole thing is ridiculous anyway, so I have officially stopped caring if the fruit is the right size or not. Because generally it just won’t be. All I know is that baby Boley is growing, so that is sweet.

This week, I am trying the patented Black and White Except Banana Filter™. Fancy. This is mostly due to my skin being a wreck. Hopefully, some sunshine will help with this problem. What ever happened to perfect glowing skin and hair during pregnancy? Yeah, I am wearing a headband here, too. Meh.

Porp has limited time for phone calls from the banana phone. She can’t be bothered.

Banana hands!

So the above picture may appear gross to you, but when making banana muffins, the more brown your naners, the better. These are prime muffin naners. I have written a couple times about this recipe, because it is one of my all-time favorites. If you only make one of the recipes in this series, make this one. Hundreds of thousands of people agree it is most delicious. Seriously. THOUSANDS.

Besides the bananas, there is a key ingredient that you cannot skip. The cinnamon, butter, sugar crumb topping:

Don’t forget to put it on the muffins BEFORE baking.

Then bake for 18-20 minutes and go see what Norp is up to. Clearly, she is exhausted from all her calls. She has assumed awkward harp-seal-napping-pose on top of no less than two perfectly fluffed plush blankets on her recliner.

Ta-dah!

Everyone will be a fan of these. Try eating them warm, paired with an ice-cold glass of milk before bed. Or warm in the morning with a cup of coffee. They are amazing even if you aren’t a big fan of muffins.

Quick Remedy for “Ugh” and “Meh” Days

Don’t be grossed out. It’s really good. They only way you are allowed to be grossed out is if you have tried it before and you already know it isn’t for you. The rest of you that are saying “BLECH” without any previously trying a peanut butter and pickle sandwich–shame on you. This is my favorite thing to eat if I get home from work too late to make a dinner, or the day has just been a total bucket of crap.

How to make sure you are doing it right:

1. Use dill pickles. Boars Head are the best. Or any kind that you buy in the refrigerated section. Beware of warm pickles.
2. Use natural peanut butter. Most of the other stuff is too sweet for this kind of thing.
3. Toast the bread. It is just better.

If I mention that this is one of my favorite comfort foods, people generally turn up their nose or ask if I am pregnant. I am not. If I find someone that also likes these sandwiches, we generally get along well and gush about the goodness of the peanut-pickle combo. Then the conversation turns to other combos such as Fluffernutters, Nutella and Chocolate, and banana-honey. The next time I am in New York, I plan on visiting this place.

This morning I am feeling much better than I was last night. And it may have to do with the amount of sugar I have consumed before 9 a.m. I woke up at 6 and made cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for my office mate Michelle’s birthday. I had to test the frosting of course.

They look worried.

Mama and baby during cooling stage.

The Day Off

There is a lot happening in this post, so if you are here for the pretty stuff…just scroll.

Splendid! I did a extraordinary job of enjoying myself all day long. Even though it was cold, the sun was out in a crispy blue sky, which means my mood was at least 40% better than it would have been on a cloudy day.

I did get up early as planned. While the coffee was brewing, Peapod delivered my groceries at 6:20 am. I had spent a whole 5 minutes grocery shopping online the night before. You should try it if you live in Chicago. I will rave about it at length if you want to talk about it in person.

Before Justin left for school with his packed lunch (that would be lost on the Metra within the hour 😦 ) he read my post from last night as usual. No grammar/spelling mistakes were noted. So I am guessing it was just too early to spot them rather than the post actually being written properly.

I left the house at 9. Camera in tow. Parka as well. It wasn’t too bad out if you stayed on the sunny side of the street. As I enjoyed this sunny street thing, I quickly realized that nothing was going to open until 11. Most of the people I passed this morning before the shops were open were weirdos or dog walkers. Or both. I decided to cut over to the residential Richy McRicherson part of Andersonville and just wander around for awhile. It really is a fantastic place to live if you have the money to be there. A little nest of nice in the middle of a busy city. Most of the houses and yards are gorgeous, with the exception of the exceptionally bright blue one. I have included that for your viewing pleasure/confusion.

Cold/Red/Snot face was threatening to settle in, so I hopped back over to Clark and into the Taste of Heaven restaurant across from the Brown Elephant resale store. I ate the world’s best cherry scone as I waited. Please go eat it. No butter is needed. If you don’t like cherries, the woman who served it to me also recommended the blackberry. There are about 6 other flavors as well. If you are there after noon, eat the Jeanine cake. I actually would have eaten it this morning, but it wasn’t an option yet. Madness.

I sat at the sunny counter, eating my cherry scone companion and sipping a perfectly crafted latte. Watched the weirdos and dogs go by. When I started to spot normal neighborhood people and some children, I realized that the shops were now open.  I went from Brown Elephant, then to Brownstone Antiques, across to Women and Children’s Bookstore, and then Foursided and Marguerite gardens.

Curiosities were plenty, cats in store windows were adorable, and treasures were gathered. No one got mad at me for photographing anything, and the sun kept me warm. Flowers were bought along with a milk glass pedestal bowl, a flashcard with 6 rabbits on it, a tiny squirrel figurine (50 cents!), a bud vase, large quantities of potent catnip, a book about vampires (Ann Rice instead of Stephanie Meyer…it was 50 cents!), and a cute cosmetic canister with gold stars on it. The four hour wandering of my neighborhood was a happiness success. I think the highlight of the adventure was the sign on the piano at the Brown Elephant that begged the idiot public to have sense before banging on the keys. The creepy award for the trip goes to the weird part taxidermy horse that was on sale for $800 at the Brownstone Antique store. I didn’t get a good angle because I was rushing to get away from it. So nasty.

At home, the cats were eager to get drunk on the catnip I had brought them. Porpus really went at it. She rolled in the sun and nip for sometime, while Schween stole remnants from the sidelines. She then batted at her own shadow while Porp passed out in the background. I also wanted to hang out in the sun, so I sat in a warm spot—sans catnip—and read about vampires. The rest of the afternoon involved a sun nap, orange soda, Jeopardy and brownies.

Curry brownies! Made like regular brownies from scratch, but with the addition of coconut and curry. Based on my favorite chocolate from Vosges. They turned out really well, but I would make a few changes next time. I will type up the recipe when it is perfected.

The evening ended with italian sausage soup with tortellini. My favorite. Justin’s picture of happiness for the day I am sure. Soup coma followed the meal. Souuuuup. mmmmmllllllaah. Seriously.

Here are the 48 pictures of happiness narrowed down from a about 457328549. Favorites are enlarged. Woot!

Cherry Scone from Taste of Heaven.

PLEASE

Rarr. Foursided Dino in flashcards display.

Drunk kitteh

❤

Curry is in the foreground. Now in my belly.