Christina Cooks: Memorial Day Edition
Posted by Gypsy on May 24, 2009
I’m getting a little behind on blog posts, but the timeliness of today’s dessert bumps this post to the top. Yesterday, Andy and I headed up north to Vista to enjoy a Memorial Day barbecue at Kristen and Allan’s place. I was tasked with dessert, as according to Kristin I “make the best desserts.” Before anyone decides to do that thing where they remind me that Memorial Day isn’t just about cookouts and liquor, let me remind you that my family a military family. My friends here are military or dependents. More than most people in this country, we realize how important this day is. But we also like to enjoy our long weekend because, fuck it, we’ve earned it.
Anyway, Kristen’s comment on my desserts put the pressure on to come up with something fun and unique. Only once have I served the same dessert twice and that’s because it was a last minute thing the second time. (It’s a source of shame we’ll not mention again.)
This fun cake was made using just a box of white cake mix, some white frosting, food coloring and sprinkles. I made the cake just like the box told me to, then set aside 1/2 cup of the batter (split into two bowls) and put the rest in a cake pan.
The two bowls of batter were then colored with food coloring, one red and one blue. (Any colors will work, of course, and this would be a great cake to make if you are looking to make it match a school or sport team’s colors.)
The colored batter was this spooned into the pan and swirled slightly with a knife to create that marbled look.
Once cool, I frosted the cake with a thin layer of white frosting. This is called a crumb coat and is used to prevent any crumbs from marring the surface of the cake. I then popped the cake in the freezer for about 20 minutes before putting on a thicker layer of white frosting. I chose to decorate with sprinkles immediately after so they would stick in the moist frosting, but there is also the option of popping it back in the freezer and then adding the sprinkles. Putting the sprinkles onto moist frosting allowed them to stick better, but putting them onto cool frosting may have made the design a little cleaner. It’s really a matter of preference.
And there you have it. According to everyone at the barbecue it was quite yummy. I will add that I tried to get photos of the cake after it was cut to show the marbled colors. Alas, it was eaten way too fast for me to get a decent photo. I guess you could use your imagination. Or make it and see/taste the awesomeness for yourself.
Enjoy!
I have a degree
Posted by Gypsy on May 12, 2009
Well, technically it’s not in my hand yet or anything, but that’s just because it takes about a month for the school to get it from the printers and then send it to graduates. However, nine years and four months from when I first took a college course, I finally have a bachelor’s degree. The actual degree is a Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Development. I’d describe what that means, but it’s very yawn inducing.
You would think after working so long for this I’d finally take a short break to give my brain a rest, but that would just get boring. Unfortunately, with the economy the way it is, jobs are few and far between. Especially when you take into account that Andy and I will be moving in the fall once he completes recruiter school. So instead I’m going to enjoy catching up on some reading and relaxing for the next 10 days before I start school again. This time I’ll be working on my Master’s in Business Administration, though I will continue doing it in an online setting through the same school I’ve been attending.
You may now begin congratulating me for how awesome I am.
Or, you know, making fun of me for my ridiculously huge ego. Either way is cool with me.
Killing time… and pieces of paper
Posted by Gypsy on May 4, 2009
Armed with a Springfield Armory XD .40 and a Taurus 24/7 .45, Andy, Charles and I hit up the shooting range the other day for a fun-filled afternoon of shooting and pieces of paper. We shot at paper targets, blew off some steam and damaged out ears a little bit; but overall it was pretty fun. The guys switched off shooting both guns because they are men and playing with guns is what they do.
As for me, I stuck to shooting Andy’s XD .40. For someone my size, that gun has a lot of recoil that can be hard to control and I’m not ashamed to admit that the .45 was just going to be a little too much for me. But I did hold my own fairly well with the .40. Including getting the paper guy a couple times in the face, once in the throat and a whole bunch of chest shots. If I were shooting something a little smaller with less kick, I would’ve done much better. By my weak arms can only handle so much. Ignore the nerdy looking glasses. It’s a safety thing, though they look absolutely ridiculous.
Ultimately, the guys were a little bummed because they each had rifles they wanted to shoot as well, but the range we were at doesn’t allow them. So instead they chose to show how badass they can be by shooting one-handed.
Unfortunately, there are no photos of Andy as he was the one taking them all. Yes, Charles and I are assholes. We’ll make it up to him.
