:-/

I actually had something to say, but I got distracted looking at other people's profiles and also reading blogs. Perhaps the physical act of typing will jog my memory. It wasn't the typing that did it, it was the getting up to put the jeans in the dryer and seeing the cake that did it.

I tried out a new recipe for dessert for game last night. It's called Scandanavian Gold Cake and it is from the King Arthur Flour Baking Companion: The All-Purpose Baking Cookbook. I love that book, my parents gave it to me for the Christmas before last. My boyfriend gave me a copy of the Cookie Companion last Christmas (he's a good boyfriend, there are many reasons I keep him around). Anyway, the cake turned out very well. I overbaked by about 5 minutes, so it was a little darker and drier than it probably should have been. This is always a danger with cakes in the pound cake family, since they don't have much moisture aside from the eggs and butter. There was maybe a quarter of the cake left after game (just for reference, there are 5 of us and this is a cake that is supposed to be cut into 20 to 22 slices) and less than that once I got it home to the boyfriend. I love it when a recipe works out. I'm definitely putting that one into the make again category.

I'm still learning to bake in my oven (I've lived here for slightly less than a year), propane seems to burn hotter than regular natural gas (I think, what do I know about what gas comes out of the gas lines other than it burns). It's also harder to control the temperature. I know this is true on the stovetop, and it seems to be true in the oven as well. I've only used the broiler once, and I was super careful because they were ultra thin porkchops. Bone-in, but super thin and they cooked in about a minute and a half (okay, maybe 10, but still, it was fast). I have a thermometer in my oven to keep track of the temperature (partly because the marks are almost gone on the knob, but also because not all ovens heat to the temp it says on the knob), and starting at about 350 the thing runs 10 to 15 degrees hot. Which makes a huge difference in bake times. Before that it runs pretty close to right, but can be between 5 and 10 degrees hot. Which, while not as big of a difference, does effect bake times. Especially in thos critical final 10 minutes. Luckily, I cook by smell almost as much as I cook by timer. :-) I've only ever actually burned burned one thing. Lemon bars I was making at a friend's house. I think his oven ran really hot because the things were supposed to bake for 25 minutes and they were burned at 15. Not that it matters now, and not that it really mattered then, I'm just saying.

The weirdest baking experience I ever had was when my mother's oven turned off on me while I was baking banana bread. I went to check on it about 10 minutes before it was supposed to be done and it wasn't even close, so I shrugged, closed the oven and set the timer for a little longer, When I went back the next time, I noticed that the oven was cool (not cold, just cool) and the pans weren't particularly hot to the touch. So, I turned everything off and then back on again, but it didn't turn back on. At this point, I have half baked banana bread (which, while delicious, is hardly edible) and a non-functioning oven. So, I run across the street to the neighbor and ask if I can borrow their oven (which is on par with borrowing a cup of sugar, but completely different). Luckily, Chuck was home and willing to let me use the oven. In return, I gave him some banana bread, once it was completely cooked. When my mother came home from work she turned on the oven and it started to heat right up. Several years later, they replaced the thing because it had pulled the same trick several times.

The moral of the story being, of course, if your stove doesn't work. Get a new one. :-D

Phrase for the week: Okay, crazy lady

Talk on ya later,

Harley