traveling light

Cocoa Nightmare

So one tradition in Mark's family is that every year his mom has baked him a "Buttermilk Cake". This has been a tradition in their family, passed on through the years. They are extremely delicious cakes, and always something to look forward to. Now that I we are married, Mark's mom was gracious enough to pass the "Buttermilk cake" baton on to me. However, since we were in Iowa the day of Mark's birthday a couple weeks ago, I decided that we would wait until tomorrow night to have the cake. You see, my birthday present to Mark was tickets to go see the final US tour of "Les Mis" at the Ordway tomorrow night. (It's his favorite show...he's not a huge "musical" guy, but this is one he really likes). So, in a way, we will be completing his birthday celebration tomorrow night, so it makes sense to eat the cake then. This meant that after I got home from work tonight (around 9:30), I realized that I would need to bake his cake tonight. So I waited until he went to bed, then around 11 (yes, 11) I set out to make the cake. All was going well until I got to the part of the recipe that called for 7 TBS of powdered cocoa. I had purchased some Hershey's baking cocoa just for this purpose awhile back, so I got the container out, took the plastic lid off the top, and then realized it had one of those "vacuum seal" type things on it. I briefly considered peeling the seal off. "Nah, too tight", I thought. Then I thought about poking it with a pair of kitchen shears. "Nah, then I have to get those out. It's late; I don't have any time to waste.". So...what did I do? I pressed my thumbs into the seal, in an effort to "pop" it. And boy did it pop! In fact, it wasn't a pop, it was more like an cocoa explosion! Suddenly, there was cocoa EVERYWHERE! We're talking PILES...on the counter, on the stove, all over my recipe book, on the microwave, in the utensil container, on the salt, on the rug, and...on ME! The entire front of my shirt was covered with brown, and there were layers of cocoa on my sleeves! So...it's 11 pm, I'm halfway through the recipe, I'm covered in cocoa, and I've destroyed the kitchen! And I'm standing there laughing - by MYSELF!

I doubt that ever happens to Rachael Ray.

Stay tuned for my next column where I will describe my continual habit of letting the water in the bathroom sink overflow...

I'm quite the home-maker, let me tell you! :)

posted by Nikki @ 10:04 PM