Me in Melange

Cake Headquarters

Cake headquarters sounds like a good thing.  Who doesn't love cake, and wherever cake is "headquartered" has to be equally awesome, right? 

The answer is, not so much.  I will literally go CRAZY if Gia keeps baking as much as she has been.  I know it's a good activity, I know she's bored, but seriously, ANOTHER cake?  I can't deal.  She makes a huge mess, which she diligently tries to clean up, but let's face it, no 12 year old is going to clean up the way I'd want it cleaned up.  She tries super hard, but literally ever time there is something wonky going on.  Like today's cake, she only noticed half-way thru that she didn't actually have enough eggs because this cake called for 8 eggs.  Yes, you heard right, EIGHT!  I can't keep up with the flour, sugar, butter and eggs demand.  It's impossible.  So then she had to "half" the recipes, but since the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients had all been assembled already, she had to then measure out equal portions and the whole thing was chaos.  Just so you can visualize, she's making a sprinkle, 5 layer cake.  So 5 little 6 inch round pans, loads and loads of sprinkles, and more cake then anyone can realistically eat.

I'm really trying to channel my gratitude here, and stop complaining....but aaaaahhhhhhhh, it's going to send me over the edge.  All I do is clean the kitchen, buy groceries, and oh yeah, cook real food (i.e. anything without sugar) that most of them complain about.   When you can just fill up on sprinkle cake, why bother eating real food? I have more time, but not more patience.  When she asks me, "what do they mean by 4 eggs and 4 egg yokes?"  I want to snap, because not only does it seem self explanatory, I am just tired of answering baking questions (there are SO many).  How's that for being a bad mommy?  In case you are wondering, YES, I did do yoga today, and YES, I do seem strung a little tight despite's that fact...I see it too.

Other than that bit of complaining, I AM excited for Friday.  Why you ask?  Because, Friday is just suppose to be more special (quarantine or no quarantine), and even thought the schedule isn't changing all that much on the weekends, at least there are a few things I'm excited about.  One of them is that my yoga studio is doing a live class on Saturday night AND on Sunday morning.  The Saturday night class (Saturday Night Soul) is a musician playing a cello, and a teacher named Tony who has the most meditative and relaxing voice ever.  Sunday is my favorite guru teacher Alex that I rave about all the time. He's amazing and is doing his Soul Shakin' class.  The classes are free, so I'm going to post the link here: YoYo Yogi Studio  I know Sunday is Easter and the class is at 10:30 a.m. so it might be tricky for a lot of us, but trust me when I say, his classes are inspiring, so if you can swing it, fit it in.

Meanwhile back at Melange :-), we are doing a "fun-ness" Friday section, because funness isn't a word, it made us laugh, and we thought it would be well,....drumroll please.....FUN!!  So check out the section, there are some fantastic styles at 50% off that you can't resist: Friday Funness Section

Have a happy Friday, we made it thru another week of quarantine, and hopefully some of you are still drinking water, AND writing in your gratitude journal.  Any little bit is a win as far as I'm concerned!!  

Signed, ME {lv}

Making Bread

This morning I got a wild hair, and decided to make bread! Now, I'm not a baker. I love baked goods, and I love cooking, but baking has never really done anything for me. First of all, I'm bad at following a recipe because I try to take too many creative licenses, which is no good when you need precise measurements to get the perfect cookie, or rise in a cake. I appreciate it when people do it, but I've always just preferred to pick up treats from a local bakery and save my time and energy to make a wild mushroom risotto or corn chowder on a cold day. I'm having a few girlfriends over for dinner tonight (our husbands just left this morning to go to the PAC12 basketball tournament/game thing in Vegas) - and am super excited to show off my bread!! I think its a
little dense, but it looks pretty and smells incredible. Roasted garlic and herb...how can you go wrong with that?! I was tempted to throw some of the olive oil I used to roast the garlic in with the dough as I was 
mixing it up, but didn't want to throw off the delicate balance that is baking. In cooking, that would have been allowed...just saying. ;) I did save the garlicy roasting oil threw it in the tomato sauce...I was determined to us it! 

  

The bread turned out amazing! Defiantly a hit. It was great with a little (or a lot) of butter and a sprinkle of salt, or a little creamy herbed cheese. Was more of a focaccia type of bread, but that's not a bad thing. I would make it again when I have a second, or more like 4 hours, because it was a labor of love to say the least. Between the roasting of the garlic, mixing, multiple risings, 2 step baking process, its not just something you make on a weeknight whim. 

 

On a completely unrelated note, I have washed my hand SO MUCH in the last couple weeks. My skin is cracking and dry. My phone hardly recognizes my finger print anymore because my hands feel so raw. I know you can't find hand sanitizer or toilet paper in the store anymore, but with the rate I'm going thru lotion, I feel the need to stock up on that just in case everyone else is, too!! My long time love is the Kheil's Crème de Corps

https://www.kiehls.com/body/body-lotions/creme-de-corps/259.html?cgid=body-lotions&dwvar_259_size=8.4%20fl.%20oz.%20Bottle#start=1&cgid=body-lotions

, but since we've been carrying the Nash and Jones, I've gone thru 2 tubes of their lotion, its totally won me over! The smell is so clean and refreshing, and I love how it doesn't feel greasy. You can feel instant relief that lasts (I feel like that totally sounds like a cold and flu medicine commercial, but its true!). For every time I wash my hands, I have to put on lotion, and this stuff is making all the difference! Excuse the shameless plug - but I wouldn't say this if I didn't believe in it. ;)

 

Signed, ME {lv}