Betty Crocker Cookbook #23: Chocolate Cake (pg. 101) and #24: Fudge Frosting (pg. 115) - 160124/25

Last Sunday was a remarkably productive day for this project, partly because this cake counts for two recipes.

It's chocolate cake, so I'm not sure how much I can say beyond "Delicious!". Of course.

However, I ran into some trouble with the frosting. The recipe includes heating most of the ingredients to a slow boil, then cooling for 45 minutes before adding the powdered sugar and vanilla. I messed this up, by boiling everything, but I don't think that really bothered the icing sugar. The more serious error was my decision to ice the cake the following day. I had to re-heat the frosting, and then I didn't let it cool enough.

The cake came from my oven. The frosting came from Mordor. Notice in the photo it's attempt to cover the land (i.e. my countertop) with Eternal Darkness. I had to put the whole thing on my balcony to allow winter to stop the spread.

Update!

Sorry I haven't been updating around here. To let everyone know I haven't abandoned the blog, here is the result of a quiz.

Created by Oatmeal

Actual updates to follow, when I get sufficiently motivated. Soon, I expect.

Sunday Drive 2: Pike Lake Provincial Park

Pike Lake Provincial Park
Sunday, October 18, 2009

My supervisor, Steve, recommended I visit Pike Lake Provincial Park when I told him about my plans for weekly exploratory journeys around Saskatoon. It’s not very far away, and according to the website it’s a popular family get-away destination.

I needed to pick up a tiny part for my Prelude – I’d lost the cap for the power steering fluid reservoir. My neighbour, who owns an Accord of similar vintage, recommended a junkyard to the south and west of Saskatoon. I found it without difficulty (it’s well signed), and wandered between the rusting hulks for a few minutes. There are 2 old Preludes and 1 old Accord in this particular junkyard with parts in common with my Prelude, so I was able to find the reservoir cap, and they charged me nothing for it. I’ll probably come back sometime to get some other parts – I’d especially like to replace the seat-belt buckle on the front passenger seat. It works as it is now, but it’s tricky to get the belt unbuckled.

Valley Road, near the junkyard. The neighbourhood is a mix of turf farms and berry farms, for the most part. This road is remarkably flat and straight. I think it runs in a near-perfect straight line for about 8 kilometres.

This being central Saskatchewan, there are some grain farms around, too.

Pike Lake Park is at the end of highway 60, about 30 km south of Saskatoon’s west end. It’s a little odd to be driving along at 100 km/h and then suddenly have to stop at a park gate. As at Blackstrap the previous week, though, the entrance office was closed and nobody was around asking for money. I gather that during the summer, it costs about $7 per car to visit for the day.

There are a couple of campgrounds, which were behind closed gates, and a central green space adjacent to the lake and swimming pool area.

The swimming pool facilities. Pike Lake itself is behind these buildings, beyond the screen of trees in the background.

There is some playground equipment clustered near one parking lot bordering a large lawn spotted with trees.

Pike Lake was clear and smooth, with some ice on the surface near the down-wind side.

The geese more or less have the park to themselves.

I saw one other vehicle there, a minivan in another parking lot. I think I met the dog of the owners of that minivan, as a medium sized pit-bull-like dog had a bit of a sniff while I was walking around.

On my way back to my car I found Boba Fett. Here he surveys a patch of sandy desert terrain. I’m pretty sure there are no sarlaccs in this part of Saskatchewan.

Day of the Ninja!

Today is the Day of the Ninja! Huzzah! All us non-ninja (nonja) get to emulate true Ninja today.

Here's a picture of me as a ninja:

Me hiding in the shadows, waiting to totally flip out and kill someone. Note that I am still a mammal.