Just like the old days

For years I got up very early to be at the pool at 5 am when they opened and swam for an hour. I'd get home by 6:30 and start my day. Most of the year, daylight does not begin here until after 6:15.

When first the pandemic and then the broken bridge killed my swimming I started sleeping in. I'd forgotten the lovely of early morning.

I love the morning dark. For some weird reason it is just comforting like soft clothes.

This morning I woke up about 2:30 and dozed but never really went back to sleep. By 3:30, I was really awake and debating whether I should still lie there or just get up. I took a vote and got up. I did my treadmill. I got coffee. I internetted and here we are at 6:30 and it's still wonderfully dark out. The ac is off and the door is open. I'd forgotten how loud the garbage collectors are but they are gone now and it's quiet. Biggie is a little confused but since the birds are still asleep, he's sacked out on the couch.

Missing a few hours of sleep will not kill me. If I get sleepy, I'll go sleep. If not, maybe I'll go to be early and watch the rest of the baseball game tomorrow morning. It's really lovely to have options. And I really appreciate each and every one.

I might bake a cake today. A mini cake. A one layer 6" spice cake. Maybe.

Probably a mistake...

I just dismantled the air conditioner (again) but this time I put it away. I'm declaring Summer OVER!! (you may take that to the bank, opakele, we earned it).

Thar she is resting in her cubby for the winter.



Behind the bright curtain. And Biggie is inspecting his much smaller, tidier Winter cat door.



DONE!

I even updated the spreadsheet. It's my twice yearly ritual. I'm always so grateful to install it and get cool again and just as grateful when I no longer need it.



I hope this does not Murphy's Law us into another hot spell!

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GREAT baking news. I put a half dozen ginger cookies in a zip lock bag and they remained crisp the next day. Then I took that bag with the 5 remaining cookies and popped it into the freezer. I took out two of the cookies this morning to test. Once they were room temperature, I did the test and they were as crisp as when they originally came out of the oven!!!!

This means, I can have fresh baked home made ginger cookies at the ready ALWAYS! This is excellent news. Just excellent.

Now, for sure, I'm making a cake.

Baking Lessons Du Jour

This is 1/3rd of a boxed mix not made according to directions. This looks like a plan but... not so fast. It rose WAY over the top and I had to cut it down mid-bake!! This amount of batter needed to go into two of these pans.

But even cut down, it sure did come out nicely. Evenly. And so I just cut it in half and made a two layer cake anyway. This two layer cake is proportioned really nicely, as opposed to the other one.



This is a very small cake and that is a very small piece. My hand is there for perspective and it does not work for that at all so you'll have to trust me.

I used an icing that I had not tried before. It's a cream cheese and heavy cream icing with powdered sugar. I think I need to work on ingredient proportions to that it comes out thicker but it is mighty tasty. I need to work on my icing technique - a lot. But, having a thicker icing will make a difference.

The cake (spice cake) is good. Really good, actually and the icing works with it. There are some uneven spots due to mid bake surgery. I'm going to leave this cake out, covered and that's the only storage testing. It's not good enough for full lab work.

It was a nice assignment and I learned a lot.

OH! the internets suggested that I add a bit of lecithin to the icing to boost the color. I can't see any different so I'm thinking the internet might be wrong. Can you imagine?????