Mayday, mayday!

So Nat had a birthday. on May the first. His mom and pop and sis drove down from L.A. and we all went out for Indian food. it somehow happened that i ended up paying, which caused a bit of a snafu. Turns out the 'rents wanted to buy their son's birthday dinner... who knew?!

They showed up around 8, at which time i was in the kitchen up to my elbows in raspberry filling, 4 layers of chocolate cake, almond/vanilla custard, and a huge bowl of frosting made from whipping cream and powdered sugar. There was no way i could assemble everything in time for us to eat dinner, so i stowed the cake half-finished. We got home rather late, 11:30 or so, and regaled Nat's dad with some Muay Thai fight scenes (from the movie Chocolate; i give it a 5 or 6 of 10) while Nat opened his last few presents. His total loot included a deluxe DVD of Labyrinth, a lavender tie, 2 books (one on physics and one on the search for El Dorado), a Jeff Buckley CD, and a Batman toy from Long's. What?! It was a joke. Besides, we're totally passing it on to a friend who turns the ripe old age of seven this month. At which point said Batman toy will become far from a joke- it will become The Most Important Thing in the Universe. At least for a little while ;)

Um, in any case, the family drove home, and i went back to The Cake. The modified Black Forest Cake, the one i bought fancy piping tips for and everything! Here's a tip for all of you new to the layer-cake thing: make sure you put the top parts of each cake round (the curved bit) upside-down as you stack. That way the filling won't just fall right off the sloped sides, the way mine did. Which, believe me, ain't no fun at one in the morning. Also, be sure said filling is thoroughly chilled, or else your kitchen will end up looking like the Raspberry Massacre took place in it. ::sigh:: Remember the cake-baking scene from Sleeping Beauty? Well if you don't, watch away:



Let's just say that i got in a little over my head, but i finally got it finished. At one-thirty a.m. We each ate a slice for breakfast ;) Totally worth it. And now that Nat's 34th is safely behind us, i can look forward to freaking out about my 30th. (ouch!) Not looking forward to it, i can tell you that much. But at least there will definitely be cake!

p.s.) here is the (finally) finished Cake. Fancy!

more "excruciating minutiae"

Why is the pope such an asshat? Is it because he wears an asshat? Seriously, what could possibly provoke someone into saying that condom use worsens the AIDS epidemic?

The Roman Catholic Church believes marital fidelity and sexual abstinence are the best way to prevent the spread of HIV.

Hey, wow, that's really... nice. i'm glad that you "believe" that, i really am. But um, try telling that to someone whose spouse cheated on them and then gave them HIV because they didn't "believe" in using condoms. They're just following your rules, right? Your friendly and helpful suggestions? For getting into "Heaven" maybe?

How about we all stop worrying about the "next" fucking "life" and concentrate on this one, howsabout that for a change?

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Unrelated: i made lemon meringue pie tonight. After a spectacular crust failure, i got back on track and am hoping it will be delicious. Certainly looks and smells divine... i bucked tradition and used brown sugar instead of white, added vanilla bean to the filling AND the meringue, and added some ground almonds to the crust. But Will It Float? i'll keep you all posted (because i'm sure you are just dying to know...)

Related to the Unrelated: i am hitting brick walls on the suicide-hotline volunteering angle. Hm. Need to keep looking. Especially now i have more fodder for my cannon: Making Pie. Also, Eating Pie. If someone tells me that they just can't go on, i'll say: but have you tried making lemon meringue pie before? smelled the fresh smell of a lemon on your hands you've sliced into it and squeezed it dry? Separated eggs while mulling over the spectacle of life? joined the offerings of cow teats and threshed-and-pounded grain into a flaky crust? carefully measured in the sugar and salt, stirred with a tool over a primitive flame and then baked the whole thing until your kitchen smells dreamy? mehtinks that if you were gazing upon the fragrant, browned peaks of meringue and salivating at the mere thought of all that underlying tartness, you'd be okay. at least for the nonce.

and the nonce is really all we have, isn't it?

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Carrot cupcakes: Success!

So, i got a great bicep workout grating another cup and a half of carrots, and this time everything went swimmingly. Didn't over-walnut the batter or overbake the cakes themselves. Had a little less maple syrup than i wanted for the frosting, so i added some vanilla extract and grated nutmeg on top. Not as maple-y as i would have liked, but still delish!

But seriously, enough about baked goods already, heather. Here's the really interesting thing i have to tell you all:

It snowed here in Las Vegas.

No, seriously.

If we had flown out here just two days earlier, our flight would have been canceled because McCarran International Airport was clooooosed. Four inches in the city itself! Six in Henderson, nearby! And it stuck to the ground! When our plane began its descent, the mountains surrounding Vegas (on three sides) were completely covered in white. It was a brisk 44 degrees when we got to my mom's house, and the backyard had a nice thick layer of snow on it! I'm sure her cactus garden was like, wtf? But they'll survive. And their little cactus memories will always have the frosty winter of '08 to remember.

So of course, Nat and i made snowmen, and i found out something very wonderful indeed: he had never made one before! His first snowman, and it happened in Las Vegas! Unbelievable... you know, last time he was here it was 120 degrees out, and windy, and we felt like we were in a convection oven every time we stepped outside. Truly bizarre.

Anyway, since my mom has a digital camera, i might be able to put some of the photos up here....



..so yeah! There's your proof positive. Mine is the small, silly-looking one, and Nat's is twice as big and strangely buxom. It was much fun. They lasted the night, and we decided that if they were still standing in the morning that my brother could kick them down. (we all really wanted him to.) So today, their demise came. Leaves flew, rock "buttons" fell to the ground, only rocks once more. i think this was a prelude to our trip up North. i know that all of us were feeling a little unprepared, but now we have been ushered in to the time of snow. Some of you out there are already living it, i'm sure. It's just been awhile for us :) Can't wait to see it falling, though. There is nothing quite like it.

Happy December to all.

p.s.) sorry about the weird formatting- we had some issues getting the pictures on.

failed: carrot cake cupcakes.

What a bummer, because i could tell these would have been mighty tasty. Plus, it's harder than you might think to grate 1 1/2 cups of carrots on the small side of the grater... well, you win some, you lose some. Maybe i'll wake up tomorrow and make them again? And this time i won't put in too much oil... grr! It's the maple-cream cheese icing that's really driving me, anyway; maybe i should just make that and call it a day (and grab a spoon).

So San Diego had a rainy day on Sunday. And everyone fairly panicked about it; tonight and tomorrow more rain is expected, and boy are the emergency crews preparing... for the rain. Seriously, rain! Sprinkles, even. Yeah, this is definitely gonna be the "fierce winter storm" they love harping about. ::cough:: not. These people should maybe cover the ice storms in the Northeast, maybe then they'd calm down a little.

Found an H and an x tonight. The first was a fall(en) twig, the second was a perfectly symmetrical shadow. Swear i'm gonna get a digital camera soon, then all of this will be a tad more interesting.

Must be inwardly freaking out about The Holiday Trip To See the Family- i've got horrible blemishes on my face, as if i were attacked by bees, or mosquitoes. WTF? This is like the time that Nat and i took our trip to Europe (in 2004). When we took off from Pittsburgh, i was a-okay, dermatologically speaking. 7 hours later, when we landed in London? Yeah, not so nice. i had the ol' pizza face, and all it took was a trans-Atlantic flight! Good times. (and probably bad genes- no offense, mom and dad.) It's a good thing i'm already extraordinarily un-photogenic, because these are sure to be doozies.

Anywho, enough with the vanity. Have you all heard about the hole in Earth's magnetic field? Pretty interesting. Always nice to be humbled by the awesome forces of the universe...

And, we finally watched The Happening last night. Been looking forward to it since it was first released. Ay, chihuahua- what a disappointment. I'm not ashamed to say that i've enjoyed each M. Night Shyamalayan film i've seen (although strangely, not Unbreakable, so much), and that my favorite so far was The Village. Go ahead, judge me. But The Happening was just too much, or rather, too little. The acting was atrocious (who knew that Zooey Deschanel was The World's Worst Actress?), the directing was obviously off, and the script was actually laughable.
Sample scene (vague minor spoilers, but really, who cares?):
Marky Mark: "Ask [your daughter] if anything has happened in Princeton."
Woman talking to daughter on cell phone: "Has Princeton been affected?"
Unseen daughter on other end: [unintelligible answer]
Woman: "She says everyone outside is dead! (sob)"
Daughter: [something else we aren't allowed to hear]
Woman: "honey, just stay in that room..."
Daughter: [blah blah blah]
Woman: "...don't open that door for no one..."
Daughter: [blah blah]
Woman: "..just stay near the window..."
Marky Mark: (what seems like five minutes later) "Wait, are you telling me that everyone is dead?!"

...And that was quite possibly the biggest delayed-reaction line delivery that i've ever seen. Awful, awful stuff. I'm not sure if this can really be conveyed through type. The cockeyed nursery guy was the best character, and the crazy old lady absolutely should have been the twist ending that we all wanted to badly. Instead, we get a weak affirmation of the silly hypothesis that's been floating around the whole movie, like a dandelion puff trying to catch soil and take seed. Boooooo.

Um, time to go! i think our last Netflix rental will be the Puppet Film of Jiri Trinka, just because i don't think i'm going to be able to find that anywhere else. Know what i'm sayin'?