Feb. 11th, 2012

mrsbrown: (Default)
Last night Rose nagged for cupcakes.  I put her off for a while and then went outside with MrPeacock for some personalised fighter training.  When we came back in the cupcakes were in the oven and MsNotaGoth was putting Rose to bed.

Later, after we'd eaten some and noted their delectability,  MsNotaGoth asserted that the taste difference was in creaming the butter and sugar.  She declared that she, "loves creaming the butter and sugar, it's my favourite part."  When I asked her which recipe she had used she bragged that it was all from her head and that she had been making cake since she was 6.

But the recipe for cake that I've used since my children were small has melted butter.

I contemplated that exchange this morning and congratulated myself on using that recipe so many times that MsNotaGoth can make cake whenever and whereever she wants (including with solar oven while camping on the beach in Crete - another story).

Then I thought about how much I like that recipe I inherited from MTB's grandmother (Hilda's neverfail chocolate cake) with its melted butter.

And I flashed into a memory of when I was about six (or maybe 8) and making cake with my Dad.  I had been involved in the making of lots of cakes by then and the cake instructions included creaming the butter and sugar.  But Dad was impatient, I think it was the first cake he was involved with, or he didn't really want to be making cake with me.  (The joys of single parenthood).  And the butter was hard, so Dad made me melt the butter.   And the cake was a bit dry and not as nice as the cake we both knew we should have gotten from that recipe. 

When I say "made me", I remember a serious argument.  I argued for purity and Dad used that scornful voice he uses. I suspect quoting my mother was a bad move.

I'm going to blame that story, and my father, for the fact that when I found a recipe that worked with melted butter it became almost the only cake I make.  Except for that boiled fruit cake that also involves melting the butter.

Hey!  I could also blame my mother!  She decided (or was too poor to and then got pig headed) that she didn't need a mechanical cake beater.  In the days when butter was stored in the fridge and we didn't have microwaves, that meant really hard work with a wooden spoon to cream the butter and sugar.  Unlike MsNotagoth, I hate creaming butter and sugar.

Edit: MsNotaGoth likes creaming butter and sugar because she uses her hands to do it, and then gets to lick her hands clean.  I'm sure I've taught her to wash her hands before cooking btw.

mrsbrown: (Default)
Last weekend was awesome, I had a great time and really enjoyed mostly getting all the things done.

It was a little compromised by Monday and tuesday however, when I had my traditional, "oh my god I'm so tired" response to getting my period on Tuesday., and slept all afternoon Monday instead of working.

By Wednesday all thoughts of a superproductive week had gone out of the window, although I met the work deadline of the week - just!  I had ordinary but normally productive days on Thursday and Friday.  Oh, I did copy a gauntlet pattern on Thursday evening and I also did stuff last night.

But what about today?  If I had the enthusiasm of last week I would already have been out of bed for 2.5 hours, but I'm still here and I've just started my third cup of tea courtesy of MsNotaGoth. (I made the pot of tea, she just poured the most recent cup).  What shall I do this weekend?

1. Finish the first 10 slides of my presentation - I'm presenting to my team on Friday when they're going to help me with the content of the last 5 slides.
2. fix my sword
3. put a couple of 20min sessions into clearing the crap in my Family room
4. design a round tent for our latest commission, also decide if we're going to get it done before Festival (looking unlikely)
5. Do something physical

Based on my current thinking/emotions, I think I'm going to get up, eat pancakes and bacon, clean up some Fam room and maybe mop the kitchen floor.  When I sit down from that I think I'll work on my presentation for at least 2 hours.  Then I'll work out what next.

Or else I'll update this with a timetable.  It was very useful last weekend...
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