Last night I had a meeting here at the house (I’m the new Council Cub Camping Committee Marketing Chair, which is a long-winded way of saying that I’m the person who’s going to do her level best to increase the number of attendees at Cub Scout summer camps). Anyway, I used the meeting as a (poor) excuse to make my favorite cake in the entire world–you know the one I mean–the one where you take a box of Devil’s Food cake mix, add a box of instant chocolate pudding, 4 eggs, a half cup of oil, a half cup of water, and a cup of sour cream. You mix it all up, and then you add an entire bag of chocolate chips. And then you bake it and then drizzle it with melted chocolate.
Bliss.
So the meeting people arrive and I get them drinks and just as I’m about to serve the cake–”I’m sorry, we’re both allergic to chocolate.” So I put the cake away and we had our meeting and I had to FORCE myself not to keep turning around to look at that cake. I could smell it and hear it and I WANTED IT.
I’ve never sat through such a long meeting. Even though it was only an hour.
And as Eric was saying our goodbyes at the door, I was already back in the kitchen, cutting a slab of that cake. And it was as good as I’d been hoping. Better, even.
Today, I’ve had to stop myself from cutting “just a little piece” of that cake all day, forcing myself to wait until after dinner. I know it’s going to taste even better than it did last night because I’ve been waiting longer for it. I might even wait until the kids go to bed to enjoy it, so I don’t have to censor myself.
—
On another note, I’m kind of excited that the produce market by the Morgan Hill Community Center has walnuts and almonds now for $3.99 a pound. It almost doesn’t matter if they’re any good, because toasting them and baking them in biscotti makes it a moot point (as long as they’re not bitter). I’ve been saving plastic ice cream buckets with lids so that I’ll have sturdy, secure containers to use to ship them back east. Maggie, it’s not a surprise, ok? I solemnly swear that I will send you an obscene amount of biscotti for Christmas, hopefully in puppy-proof containers.
—
Luke is diligently working on his Christmas list. That kid loves lists. Number one on his list is plastic army men that we can use to decorate the sand forts that we like to build on the beach. Hannah isn’t big on lists, which is fine, because unless she can start keeping her room cleaner, there won’t be any Christmas. Her room is…gross.
—
Time to get the homework train started. and I need to start reading the new environmental sustainability book I picked up at the bookstore today so I can spend the whole day writing tomorrow. It’s a pretty basic book, but for some reason it’s pushing the right buttons for me and I’m getting some good ideas from it.
Ta for now!
