Ornery Fuzzball

Happy birthday Scooter! You've made it to 16! Now that you are 16 you are a bit more ornery than you used to be. (Didn't know that was possible.) You have clear feelings on what you do and don't feel like doing. For example, you didn't want your picture taken for this year's birthday post, so you ran off as soon as you saw the camera.

I asked nicely, but you decided that you preferred to be inside. I suppose that is my fault. You are almost entirely deaf now, so other measures have to be taken.

Since your sense of smell hasn't diminished, you have no problem coming out for food. You'll even humble yourself for the good stuff. Ham, for instance, is worth sitting and presenting a paw.

You also aren't below licking every last bit of ham taste or treat crumbs off of someone's hand.

So happy birthday little buddy. You make everyone's day bright just by being around.

Yule Log Cake

Today is my birthday. Last year I was going nuts trying to finish start on the wedding shawl. This year is much more calm. This year the big thing that went on is that I decided I wanted a yule log cake. I know, I know, this isn't the right season for a yule log cake. But I've always wanted one and this year I had a willing victim husband who was willing to make me one. I have food allergies to contend with, so getting a nut-free... and now gluten free cake is a hassle.

It is nut free, stone fruit free, gluten free, but not taste free

So, two days ago he started the cake portion of the recipe. I came in to help a little ways in... but details, details. He started out using the king arthur flour recipe, but we cut out the booze and made the cake cream instead of chocolate.... and made the filling chocolate instead of cream. Apparently we can't leave well enough alone. Also, it was good I came in to have a look. The cake came out twice as thick and wasn't going to roll up right. I used my nemesis, the bread knife, and cut the cake in half. With two thinner cakes, there was only one thing to be done: make two cakes.

The next day we made the chocolate frosting using a betty crocker recipe. Liquid was definitely needed to get the frosting smooth, but water made things grainy. Luckily we had leftover heavy cream, so I added that and it smoothed things out. But that wasn't enough for me, oh no! For the vision to be complete I needed meringue mushrooms. We found great success using a recipe from Natasha's Kitchen.

Look! These are meringue cookies and they look like mushrooms! I love things that look like other things.

The only problem we had in all of this is that we lack certain tools, like, we don't own an electric mixer. So we made the cream filling with a whisk. That went ok. But we also made the meringue with our whisk... and broke it. Both of us were exhausted and sweaty after mixing meringue. But the mushrooms are so adorable! It was worth it.

I plan on gluing this back together, but I think that the design isn't right for us

After the meringue workout, we decided that we clearly needed:

1. A new whisk

2. An egg beater

I'm excited to whip cream and meringue with the egg beater. I imagine it will be a little less tiring.

The only problem we have now is who to eat the second cake with. The first one is coming with us over to my parents' house. The second we were going to share with the neighbors. But most of them came down with the flu yesterday and it doesn't look like things are getting any better over there. So.... who wants to come over for cake?