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| Easter eggs (Photo credit: StSaling) |
Easter for me was crazy as hell and as
usual way too much stress to celebrate a Pagan-turned-Christian
holiday when I don't hold with either clan. My family are all still
Christian and for them, the food, and the chance to spend time with
those people I don't get to see often, I participate. Since my family
is so large, shopping for each person is impossible so every year my
sister and I put together a small, individual arrangement of homemade
confections (yes, we do make them by hand). This Christmas it was
truffles (over 150 were made) and chocolate peppermint bark.
For Easter Alissa (My very own, personal pain-in-the-ass, aka: sister.) and I had planned on making everyone their own chocolate egg with their favorite filling, fruit-nut, peanut butter, etc. They're basically the same egg you pay $15+ for out of the cataloge or in the Store around Easter (they're cheaper to make and taste better because you can control the quality of the chocolate you use). Suffice it to say that between work and writing the new book and all the work I've been doing on this blog (You've noticed all the changing, haven't you?). I honestly forgot Easter was yesterday and the Eggs take days to make, so I chose to throw a cake together last minute.
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| A layered pound cake, with alternating interstitial spaces filled with raspberry jam and lemon curd, finished with buttercream frosting. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
A layer cake needs a minimum of 2 days
to prepare, but I usually set out 3 days. The reason being that the
cake needs to cool completely, be removed from the pan, then left to
sit in the air for a full day (or most of one) to start to dry out so
that when it's time, the top of the cake can be removed (you want a
level layer) and the layer manipulated. Since I have a small oven, I
bake my layers thick and cut them in half. So, 10 AM I set out to
bake a cake that takes 3 days to make and Easter Dinner was scheduled
for 3 PM. I had a rough (and by that I mean you can tell it's a cake
but in no way does it look as decadent as it actually is) cake ready
by 2:45 and we were out the door.
Around 100 feet onto the toll road my
tire explodes. The jack handle/lug nut removal device that came with
the car was cheap garbage (I hate your guts, Saturn) and so the bolts
became stripped and stuck and the tire was not coming off. So it was
call a tow truck or drive the just over 3 miles home (I used to run
that stretch of road every day) or drive home on the bad tire. We
drove home, my aunt came and picked us, and the giant 15+ pound cake,
up and took us to grandmas.
My dad stopped out and got the spare on
and I spent all of Monday afternoon before work running around trying
to get new tires. Walmart has no tires, well their computer says they
have one, but it's a liar. Good Year can order the tires, but I need
them right then and there, so I move on. Firestone finally has the
tires I need, and the way the guy was talking $68/tire is a steal,
but then they charge you disposal and valve stems and labor and road
hazard and eventually you owe $171 for 2 tires, after waiving
everything the guy doesn't refuse to let you waive.
I now have brand new tires, and it only
cost me one hell of a headache and $171 and change. All that said, I
hope I didn't bore you with 700 words about my crazy life but I don't
really blog about me that often, given I prefer to write about what
I'm interested in at the time of the blog-writing and my life really
isn't all that interesting, most of the time. I felt the last 2-3
days deserved a post for posterity at the least. Anyway, let me know
how your holidays went, was it a disaster? Or was your family smart
and left for the Bahamas days before Easter?
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