Revelatory Caramel Cake

My dad turned 70 yesterday, so I'm going to visit on Sunday. I wanted to find a true "birthday-worthy" cake, so I was attracted to the Revelatory Caramel Cake in last month's issue of Food and Wine magazine.

The cake is white (no yolks) and is a cross between angel food and regular cake. The cake portion, while not difficult, flew in the face of the normal order of ingredients in baking.

The icing was unbelievable. There's no confectioner's sugar in it, rather it is a true caramel, cooked to soft ball stage (enter candy thermometer). It is REALLY difficult to get the sides pretty, as the icing needs to "set" after poured over/smoothed. It slowly oozes down the sides, and unlike traditional icing, it's difficult to fill in inconsistencies in the layers. I will tell you that it's a huge sticky mess, but the caramel puts Worther's to shame. There are really good tips and pix at Kitchen Parade.

I'm going to be thinking about the aesthetics of these sides....hummmm.

Spinach Chicken Alfredo Pizza

Normally, I don't follow the Neelys, but their Spinach Chicken Alfredo Pizza recipe looked pretty good.

Tale of Two Alhambras

I decided to make Alhambra for my boss for Christmas. She lives in San Francisco where it is always just a little nippy. I used lace-weight Malabrigo (in verde esperanza), but it turned out more forest green than the teal I had hoped for. While it's really pretty, it's extremely lightweight, so I decided to do another one with some Shepherd Sock (grapevine)that I had in stash. I think I like the weight of the sock yarn better than the very fine lace-weight. Next, I'm going to do Cerus with some Rowan Tapestry.

Who am I?

"If I am what I have and if I lose what I have, who then am I?"
— German psychologist Erich Fromm

Snow in the South

Here in the south, even minor bouts of snow tend to gob things up for a while. We have a small number of plows and resources to salt/brine only the highways and major roads. Based on this, those of us in the burbs (with no driving-in-snow skill) may be stuck for a while. The joke is about southerners flooding the grocery stores for milk and bread when a flake or two is forecast; I was far more worried about my stock of yarn and wine. I have some nice alpaca for the Aleita Shell and a bottle of Petite Sirah. I'll be fine, for a little while anyway.

San Francisco

When I tell people that I will be working in San Francisco for a week (which I did last week and will likely do 3 or 4 times per year), they tend to react with glee..."ooooh, that sounds so fun!". While it IS a cool place that is very fun, there are big differences in:

• Living in San Fran
• Vacationing in San Fran
• Working in San Fran briefly as a guest

I don't mean to sound ungrateful; I am happy that my SF teammates invite me and that we have an opportunity to get together for cocktails while I'm there. I love staying at the beautiful Omni San Francisco (see lobby pic) with it's luxurious bed.

What I do not like is the all day Monday and Friday airline extravaganzas and the attempt to pack a zillion meetings into the remaining three days. I similarly don't look forward to the backlog of emails and work that went unattended while I had all this "fun". I also would prefer not to spend $200 to board Snickers at the Pampered Pets Inn.  Admittedly, I could get out a little cheaper on that one, but it keeps my guilt in check.

While these trips break up the monotony of my life and give me the opportunity for new experiences, honestly I'm just tired.