Hair Cut and Cake

Last night I got myself a new haircut by my favorite hair cutter (roommate Lisa) and then while she was cutting my sister Jess's hair I stuck around to chat obviously. Jess told me that as she left the house her husband, Michael, hinted that he would be ok with her coming home with a treat. I thought for a second what I could whip up for a treat for my favorite (and only) brother-in-law and came up with this:

Actually, here's the secret: I had a cake in the freezer from like a month ago. I just whipped up the frosting. But it was awesome frosting: Vanilla Bean Sour Cream Frosting. Thanks to my African vanilla beans (carried lovingly by a coworker home from her work trip to Tanzania) and thanks to the extra sour cream I found in the fridge, and thanks to the single layer of chocolate cake I had sitting in the freezer just waiting for a special occasion. (Clearly Michael merits a special occasion-- he also tells me everything I make is delicious so my pride gets a hold of me and I want to send Jess home with treats for him.)

And here's my haircut:

It's really not that different, but I kind of have some bang-y/fringe-y/swoop-ies again. That and my hair curled real nice today.

And today is also my first bare-legged day in what feels like six months. And I'm wearing sandals that have been under my desk for just as long. It feels awesome.

A few things on my mind

A couple things on my mind:

1. I've decided I should take a cooking class. So, I'm going to take one when I'm done with my get fit, get skinnier program (cough, diet). Anyone out there interested in taking one with me? I think you shooooooould...
2. I just looked in the mirror in the bathroom and realized I have a zit brewing right in the exact spot a bindi would be. What do you think people would say if I wore a sticker on my forehead tomorrow?
3. I made a cake for my friend Erin's birthday party on Sunday and thought I'd show you a picture.

Things I'm looking forward to in the next few months:

1. Hitting up Pennsylvania this weekend for a last hurrah before Debbie moves to California.
2. Making a room change to the basement. With Deb moving I thought I'd mix something up in my life.
3. House sitting for a coworker in a couple weeks for a couple weeks. I'll be a DC resident for a bit. I'm pretty excited about it.
4. Going up to NYC to see The Hunger Games movie with former DC residents and awesome friends. (Bus tickets were purchased yesterday. We're so excited.)
5. Going to California for Debbie's wedding.
6. Going to Oregon less than a day after Debbie's wedding to see Emma who comes home from her mission!

Cooking vs. Baking

Yesterday at lunch I half read my book and half thought of what I wanted to make for dinner. I thought, "I have chicken and tilapia in the fridge, you could bake one of those, add some vegetables and maybe some rice, or something." Then I felt my mind rebel and think, "But wouldn't you so much rather have cookies? Like those Coconut Lime ones? Or what about those Coconut, Toffee, Chocolate chip ones? Oooh! That Raspberries and Sour Cream thing? Mmmm, that would be good." And then I continue to daydream about things I could make and the thought of dinner comes creeping back in and I have to figure out what (whine) healthy thing I should make for dinner.

My name is Lauren and I'm a sugar-oholic.

I love sugar. I love treats. And I love turning butter, sugar, egg, flour, baking soda, and salt into something that looks, tastes and smells awesome. I love baking.

I mean look. How awesome is it, that all this:

turns into something like this? 

or this?

Really awesome. I know.

 

It doesn't help my sugar addiction that I have a rather large amount of cooking blogs I'm subscribed to, and that means I see the cookies or cakes or whatever is made and it's just so appealing to look at. Or, I type in stupid things like "favorite cookies" into google and the thing to catch my eye is Epicurious and I'm a gonner and start thinking of cookies to make tonight.

But I think I figured it out part of my problem, creating something totally out of some basic ingredients is so much more appealing than cooking some veggies until they're soft and a piece of meat until it's no longer raw. It's partially the process of combining ingredients that's so appealing, but the finished product, that soft, chewy center and slightly crispy edge of cookies or the soft, spongy yet moist cake with frosting, that does me in every single time.

Humility

I think it has been established that I like to bake. Like a lot.

So when it came to my attention that my roommate was throwing a birthday party for her sister at our house I decided I would volunteer myself to be the cake baker.

My inspiration came from these two cakes:

Meaning, I baked the cake on the left and then did whipped cream and strawberries like the one on the right.

It was delicious. Lots of people liked it. Many told me how good it was. I was feeling like a really awesome cake maker. (You know, thinking stupid things like, "I should always make cakes." "I wonder if I could open a bakery." "I hope everyone here wants me to make a cake for their birthday.") Until I walked into the living room and talked to some new guy who I--

a) had not met, and
b) didn't know his name, but he has a stupid name, think Mormon church history type name*, and
c) have since decided we probably won't be friends, which I told him so later...

--told me that the cake was dry*.

Who tells someone they don't know that their food was bad??

Someone with no tact*. That's who.

And the worst thing is, he was right.

There were some inherent problems with the cake. The fact that I baked it the day before and left it in the fridge for almost 24 hours before releasing it from it's cling wrap binding; or that I  didn't give it enough time to warm up to room temperature before serving; or the fact that the whipped cream didn't get a chance to seep into the cake and soften it up a little either, all contribute to the problem.

But give me a break! I had a really busy day!

(I was also humbled at my softball game on Saturday, did I tell you I'm on a softball team? I'm on a softball team. But I was humbled at the game when I showed up to play, feeling really awesome because I had had a really good practice the week before and had been told that I had gotten, like, 110% better, which is saying a lot really because I'm not that good, but I think I could be good, but this is my first time ever playing so cut me some slack ok? But at my game Saturday I stunk it up so bad (try striking out more than once) that I was actually subbed out for more than one inning, try half the game. And you know who subbed me out? My roommate's boyfriend. Yup, that hurt. And I had thought the league was all about having fun! Guess I was wrong there...)

So since this was a really long story I'll give you the quick summary of what I learned this weekend:

1. I'm not that great of a baker.
2. I'm an even worse softball player.
3. Guys with church history names* aren't that nice* and probably won't be your new best friend.
4. Strawberries purchased at Trader Joes are DELICIOUS.
5. Even if one person says your cake is bad it's ok because this cake was gone in record time. So, it must have been really good.

*deal-breakers.

picture are from Martha Stewart and I am Baker

Salted Caramel

A few months ago Laney and I were in Bethesda and decided to stop into their branch of Georgetown Cupcake before dinner. (Great idea to have dessert first. Also, side note about the Bethesda branch of the cupcake store? Zero line. It was awesome. I will never wait in the Georgetown Cupcake line.* Its WAY too long.) Anyway, they had a Salted Caramel Chocolate Cupcake and it was divine. We loved it.

So when I asked Laney what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday last month, she asked for a Salted Caramel Cake. And Martha Stewart helped me out when I googled for a recipe and I ended up making the Sweet and Salty Cake by Baked Bakery in New York City.

The real cake, the one make by Baked Bakery is SO much prettier than mine. Check it out HERE.

I also want one of those spinning cake stands, but isn't this blue one cute?

I think this is my favorite picture of the cake. It was so rich the pieces had to be really thin.

And now the cake was totally destroyed but the layers were thick and the frosting was delicious.

Things I want to get better at:

• making frosting. I don't know why but mine wasn't that smooth, and I had it mixing forEVER. Maybe my butter was too cold. But next time, I want it to look like professional frosting. 
• frosting cakes in general. I don't think I'm BAD at it, but I'm not good either. I need a spinning cake stand and a frosting spatula.
• making caramel. I may have burned it BAD and ruined a pot. It took me three tries to get it correct.

Would I do it again? Oh, you bet. It was really fun.

P.S. All pictures taken by the lovely Debbie.

*source