today’s thoughts.
Yesterday was a long day. I spent the night before in Guyana, celebrating a birthday with a great group of friends. I roasted an entire beef tenderloin – I slathered it in a wet rub made of rosemary, thyme, tons of black pepper, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, salt and Worcestershire sauce. I have to say, for not having roasted a whole tenderloin (and in general not being great with meat) it turned out AMAZING.
As the meat rested in the fridge, I turned my culinary talents to baking a birthday cake.
Before I had arrived, I worked out an idea of what I wanted to accomplish with this cake. I wanted it to be as good as my two favourite cakes in the world – my wedding cake from Edible Art in Charlotte (almond something or other) and the cakes I used to buy for birthdays in Vancouver from Cupcakes. There was always something amazing about these cakes. Dense but fluffy. Moist without being ‘wet’. Flavourful without being overpowering. Delicate and strong. You know, perfect.
I’ve always said that I’m better at baking than I am at cooking, in general. I just have an intrinsic understanding of the science. That’s not to say I haven’t fucked up my share of baked goods, but for the most part, I know where and how I can play with recipes to achieve my goals.
This time, I decided to take this cake all the way to scratch. I started with basic ingredients and played with them. I even managed to Twitter my way through the entire cake making process! I usually have my twitter feed going on this blog, but I have no idea what happened to that when I changed my theme a few times last week. (Notice how I changed back in the end? That’s because this theme is still way better than most of what’s out there.)
So, what I ended up with was a fluffy, perfect, white Almond cake with Chai (spiced tea!) Buttercream Frosting. I have to say, between the roasted tenderloin and the cake, I impressed even myself that night!
Sadly, though, I somehow ended up missing my passport (but didn’t find this out until I was already about to go through customs in Guyana) and am now stuck in the US without my clothes or computer (THE COMPUTER, PEOPLE) for at least a week or so. I have trips that back up at the end of the month, so unless I drop 20 hours (and a trip to Athens, Greece), I’m not going to be able to see home for about three weeks. I hope I brought enough underwear.
I spent three hours at JFK in the flight attendant lounge yesterday after arriving home from the Georgetown trip, talking with managers and In-flight Call Center managers and Scheduling – doing everything possible to ensure that I’m not being irresponsible with my job. I wanted to fly and make money, and make sure that the airline isn’t left trying to cover trips that should already be accounted for. It’s my job, after all, and I need to keep it!
I finally got things sorted out – I have an appointment on Tuesday with the Passport Agency to get my new passport (which is pretty awesome, I get to take new pictures! I hated my old picture!) in Boston. I’ll take a train up in the morning and everything should be peachy keen.
At the moment, I’m in my favourite coffee shop, Cafe Romeo in New Haven, CT. I’m having a toasted everything bagel with chive cream cheese and a root beer. I’m about to start a column for Intrepid Media from square one, since my other column is on my laptop, in Georgetown. I guess that column will be for next month. The one I’ll write today is going to be pretty interesting, regardless. I’m thinking I’ll write about how bad luck can be good luck in disguise. Or the Fortuitous Nature of Randomness. Or Karma. Or…who knows.
how a coffee drinker makes coffee at a non-coffee drinkers apartment
So, living with Joel is pretty interesting. I think it’s *because* we’re so different that we get along so well. He loves my cooking, I love that the wifi is super-fast and I can play with different computers to learn how to take apart laptops. He likes that I’m helping him getting his life and apartment together, I like that I don’t pay rent, but I get to nest anyway. It’s kinda ideal, actually.
But he takes umbrage against microwaves and doesn’t drink coffee – EVER – and so I find myself at a loss for what to do other than trot down to the local overpriced coffee shop.
I figured it out.
First, boil water. On a gas stove. Don’t blow up the apartment. Mind the cords for random computers.
Second, prepare your bowl. There are no coffee cups, of course, so one must use the nearest clean bowl. And since there is, of course, no coffee; use instant. Nescafe for the win.
Third, add boiling water to instant coffee. Easy.
Add creamer as necessary. Delicious, this Italian Sweet Cream. Almost almond or coconut, but not quite either. I highly recommend.
Last, drink. Look as haggard as possible from over-sleeping. Forget to wash off your makeup. Photograph yourself drinking coffee out of a bowl whilst playing online roleplaying games, dork-tastically.
Filed under daily, foodoo, life, whatnot | Comments OffHappy Valentine’s Day, a day early!
I make awesome truffles. And it makes me SO HAPPY to make them. I should open a bakery, I think.
