I've had a week. Highs, lows, highs, lows. The highs consisted of several projects that seemed like really fun and creative endeavors at first, but that ultimately resulted in a series of mishaps, frustrations and several big messes.
1. Making a cake from scratch. And I know some of you consider "from scratch" to mean out of a box, because to be fair, you DID make it instead of buying it from a store. I took "from scratch" one step further and decided to use some recipe from Better Homes and Gardens (my first mistake). So off I went to the grocery store to buy buttermilk, because I pretty much had the other ingredients at home including flour ... whole wheat flour. I decided this cake was going to be "healthy" (strike two). Everything went smoothly until I tried to get the cake out of the pans. Apparently I didn't grease my pans well enough (strike three) so the cake came out in pieces. Joe and I took a few bites and we both proceeded to make that face where you put something in your mouth that doesn't taste quite right, but you know you need to chew and swallow it even though you would rather spit it into a napkin. Ultimately the whole wheat flour was the problem. So I guess the title of this story should be corrected to read: "Making a cake from scratch using whole wheat flour."
2. Making my own Valentine's Day cards. How Martha Stewart of me. My mom had shown me a few of her cards that she made and I decided I should make some cutesy cards to send to family and friends this year. I've managed to make 4 cards, two of which are absolutely hideous that I can only give to my mother because she is required by law to like the crafts I make and to proudly display them on the refrigerator. Maybe she can set these cards on the top of the refrigerator where no one can see them.
3. Stamping Brandt's handprint on aforementioned self-made Valentine's cards. In theory this was going to be the cute part of the card ... his little handprint there, next to some sweet sentiment like "be my valentine" or "love" or "be mine." How precious. Well, things didn't go as planned ... as they usually don't when you have an 11.5 month old and an ink pad. I rolled up his sleeve (because that single act was going to prevent any messes, right) and then smushed his hand into the ink pad. He didn't enjoy me holding his wrist so tightly so of course he squirmed and then started arching his back to get off my lap. Oh yeah, and I'm wearing a white shirt. I managed to press his hand into the card. Meanwhile Joe is frantically trying to get me a wet towel to wipe off his hand, which we managed to do without much of a fight. Once I looked at the card I realized how awful this plan was, considering I chose red ink (for Valentine's Day, you know) ... except it was a darker red so it kind of looked like a bloody handprint. Brilliant. My mom gets that card.
So ... I think I might abandon the card making for now, although I still might make his birthday cake "from scratch" ... however this time "from scratch" means Betty Crocker.
Pain in my ass.
2 comments:
I'll gladly accept any card from Brandt and display it on my fridge. I hope that we can make some cards together this weekend and maybe use a different color ink for the baby's handprint.
As for the cake....oh, well!! I'm sure that there are several great uses for whole wheat flour...cakes not being one of them. In fact I'm starting to eat only things made from whole wheat and not white flour from now on. This whole idea comes from talking to a lady that I play Bunco with. She told me about balancing protein and carbs, but the carbs can't come from white stuff like flour, potatoes, pasta, etc. In theory your cake sounded like a good, healthy idea. I'm sure that there is a suitable substitute for white flour...I just don't know what it is because I have a disability when it comes to cooking or baking!!!!
Love,
Mom
Aw man, *I* don't get the bloody handprint card?!
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