Tortitude

So, that was a productive morning. The cakes are baked and are now cooling on the rack. The pastry cream's made. I have to say I so prefer str8ontilmornin's recipe to the one from Tartine. It's less complicated and much tastier. I will never stray again. Also, I must not eat the entire bowl.

I've turned the ovens off, and what I might do is make the second batch of cakes later on tonight. It would be so nice to have that part done. This Cook's Illustrated master recipe for white cake is Jeff's favorite. It's also sort of weird. Though, I don't know how weird since I don't really make white cake often. You mix the flour, sugar, baking soda together with the butter to make moist crumbs, and then you add the milk/egg white/extract mixture in stages --beating at 1.5 minutes, 30 seconds, and then 20 seconds. It's weird, but not particularly difficult.

My remaining enormous complaint with the Cook's Illustrated baking recipes is that they don't give dry ingredients by weight. It makes life so much easier. I know not everyone has a kitchen scale, but I wish they would provide both.

Oh! I just had a sort of exciting thought. One of my other problems with this recipe is that it only makes two layers, and the Jeff insists on three. (I know, pushy isn't he?). So I'm always left with this third cake layer that I have nothing to do with. I think what I might do this time, is after I've poured the batter in the first pan, I can pour the remaining batter into two mini springform pans and make some totally other cake. It'll be great to have something to practice decorating on without having to make cake again! Woo! Hmmm, what other frosting would go great with white cake?

The kitchen is a bit of a mess right now, but I need a break from it. I think I"m going to snuggle with Brutus for a little bit, visit with Henry and Bailey, and then here's a list of household tasks I'd like to tackle this weekend (in itsy bitsy steps so I have lots of things to check off):

- Tidy dining room and arrange the new bouquet of flowers on the table
- Laundry
- Get rid of box of books on bedroom floor
- Clean up sewing table
- Tackle dresser/desk drawers
- Organize all the crap on top of the desk, so Jeff has more room
- Move sewing table into closet
- Flannel sheets on bed, and comforter cover change so I can wash the current set
- Drop off box of things to Goodwill
- Pick up dry cleaning
- Organize recipe book thing and get rid of excess magazines

We've unexpectedly been given Monday (Columbus Day) off, so that's sort of beyond exciting, too! Lots of time to get things done!

Do you know what the best thing in the world is?

SLEEP!

Especially, getting to sleep in after you've been staying up too late like you were some sort of college kid or something! (Although I have NO REGRETS because Jeff finds The Office as brilliant as I do and we loves it, yes yes we does precious!!)

OMG THE JOY OF SLEEP WAS MINE! I FEEL SO RESTED AND PERKTASTIC!! *spins*

And then I woke up to some smoochies from Brutus! And then I went to the kitchen and Jeff and I blathered drowsily for a bit! And then Jeff left and I worked from home some, and now I have to go to my stupid doctor's appt (BOO!) which includes a fasting blood test. (DOUBLE BOO!)

Things have been going so well these days, I'm fairly sure she's going to tell me I have three months to live.

But then! I get to have lunch with Jeff! And it'll be awesome! Though we don't even know where we're eating, but it doesn't matter because I'm freaking STARVING and am not allowed to eat food!

And then! I'll pick up my dry cleaning and get my new pants that are being hemmed! And then I'll come home and work until it's time to go to the gym! (Weightlifting day, woo! *grunt*) And then I'll feed the Brute and head to Ototo for sushi with Judy and company! Wheee!!!

All in all, a line-up for a VERY satisfactory Friday!

OMG IT'S ALMOST THE WEEKEND YOU GUYS!!! *twirl*

Well, it was a really nice weekend. And today was a really nice morning. Last night was the first night of Jeff's official move-in. His furniture is still at the house for staging, but he came over, used his own key, and joined the fun-in-progress. Sarah'd come over for dinner-and-catchup because we hadn't seen each other in approximately twelve billion years.

We sat on the newly-cleaned deck and chatted away while the channa masala finished cooking. It was too hot to eat, but that didn't stop us. And then Jeff came home. Not over, but home. Whee!

We'd randomly decided to watch a Buffy episode (Earshot) and had ourselves a good time. Sarah left around nine and Jeff and I finished catching up on the events of the weekend before going to sleep.

And then, it was just so damn nice to have both Jeff and Brutus still there in the morning. Instead of doing this over the phone, there was a cheerful, smiling bear in my kitchen, drinking coffee and eating toast. We've been playfully competing for Brutus' attention and I tell you --that is one happy cat. All purr-y and serene-looking. We're wondering if he's actually relieved to get away from the psychotic rage of Buffy (cat, not vampire slayer) who would periodically growl and smack him, even though he's more than twice her size and never attacks her.

I am sure this giddy high will work itself out and instead of beaming at each other over coffee, Jeff and I will lurch around in the mornings grunting, but for now, it's a fairly delightful way to start one's morning.

I couldn't wipe the smile off my face all the way to the bus station.

The day the cleaning lady comes is like Christmas. I only have her come out once every few months and the place is so sparkly afterward! I really, really hate doing floors of any kind.

I got up around 7:30 because I needed to clear some of Jeff's boxes off the floors so she can vacuum and also to just tidy up my own crap. She's coming at 10 and I'm happily done with the bulk of it. Just need to haul out some recycling from the kitchen. And maybe I'll start tackling the fridge.

BUT OMG ALSO. Do you guys know what today is?? Today is the day that Brutus comes to live with me!!

BEHOLD HIS GLORIOUSNESS!



That reminds me, I need to go to Mud Bay to buy him treats and toys. I can't wait to spoil him rotten!

I hope it's not too traumatic a change for him. He's such a sweet-natured kitty.

Ahhhhh, back to work. *whipcrack*

When I read up on Philadelphia Zoo's big cat exhibit, I knew that they were the reason I was flying to Philly--the STC conference was a distant freaking second.

I know, I know. You get it. I like cats. But they were so close!! And so pretty!! And I really want to hug them SO DESPERATELY. I still feel like I sold out my childhood dream of working with them. And Jeff says that if one approaches me ever, I am not to hug them. Which I think is just sad.

Anyhow. I took a lot of pictures (only a subset is below). I'm a terrible photographer. My camera is very old. And it took me forever to think to turn off the damn flash, which would have made a difference in some of these shots at least. Click on any of them for a bigger, better view.

So I present to you, My Inadequate Gallery of Big Kitty Photos. Please look at them and tell me you love big cats, too. Thank you.




( KITTY!!!! )

It's been a busy but really fun weekend. I did nothing I said I would do, but I can't say I much care!

Friday
I took the the day off, met Jeff for lunch/market, lounged with kitty and book (rough life). I'm finally re-reading Harry Potter 6 and enjoying it much more than the first time. The only reason is that I was so anxious to find out who fucking died (even as much as I thought I knew), that I burned through it in record time. I wish she would stop saying ANYTHING about the book. I don't fucking need a hint. Take as much time with the books as you need, because they're worth waiting for, but please stop forcing anticipation for events. It spoils the experience. Though I can imagine the pressure on her is immense to give clues, I don't understand why. I don't want to know until I read the damn book!

Saturday
Pete and I went to see The Illusionist, which we both loved. I loved everything about it really, even the ending, even if I made some correct guesses about what I thought was going on, even if the ending spelled things out in ways people found obvious. Such an enjoyable, well-told, well-filmed story. Then, went to play with Odin and nearly died from teh cute. God, kittens. Is there anything else quite so glorious on this earth?

Sunday
Had brunch/pedi with Judy, then Jeff picked me up and we ran errands (groceries and a Simply Dessert's Mexican Chocolate cake). Then we drove to his place and spent the rest of the day making masses of absurdly good food. It was a damn lot of fun because we work really well together in the kitchen (and well, everywhere). I juiced approximately 9 million lemons for his fabulous lemon curd. It was very sweet because Jeff kept thanking me, but the reality is I love parties and all the assorted chaos that goes with them. Plus, it's really nice to feel both needed and wanted. Then we went and played with Odin and again, died from teh cute some more. Jeff picked up Odin and rubbed him against his beard and the purrs would not stop. I said that that was an unfair advantage and threatened to rub Odin against future leg stubble. Chris fed us pizza and we watched Project Runway together. (Die Evil Jeffrey. DIE DIE DIE. He shouldn't be allowed to share a name with Jeff.) Jeff dropped me off at home around 9 or 10 and I started to prep the potato salad I was bringing and nearly died laughing when my first step was to juice more lemons.

I was so hyper from the day, I could not fall asleep. And when I finally did--I still woke up super early and ready to bounce out of bed.

Monday
Chris's bday! Drove to Chris and Jeff's place around 1 and helped set up for the party (in-between cooing at Brutus and Buffy). And then just had a lovely time with their extended group of friends who are really all awesome. There's something about a big group of bears that makes me feel completely comfortable. Jeff and Chris had laid out an amazing spread, the food was glorious and the party was a rousing success.

On a dark note, my fucking plumbing problem seems back. The water stain I hadn't cleaned up yet is wet again, and I'm supremely frustrated. This will more than likely mean that the drywall will have to be cut and I'm going to go ballistic if the association doesn't cover this round, since it's the exact same problem in the exact same spot, etc. It also means re-painting that wall once the drywall is repaired and I could just cry. But then I realize that it could be 10000000000x worse, and I chill out.

Tomorrow is my first day acting as condo treasurer and I need to do all kinds of crap at 8AM that I'm not thrilled about. But, I'm hoping it'll just go quickly.