Angel Food...Disc?

WHAT IS THIS CREATION???

Well...

I attempted to make an angel food cake the other night, after offering to bring dessert to my friends' house and then realizing I had no eggs at home. Not willing to pay $4 a dozen at Berkeley Bowl (PS - why does BB West have cheap eggs, but regular BB does not? discuss.), I instead went with a $2.50 box of angel food cake mix. Just add water! Easy!



The instructions said not to use a pan smaller than 10"x4", and my pan was definitely 9"x3", but I decided to go for it, pouring some of the batter into silicone muffin cups. The angel food muffins came out great, actually. Not so much with the cake. It looked beautiful in the pan, and I even turned it out onto a glass bottle (ok, a drinking glass, but still) per the instructions. But alas, as it released its grasp on the inside of my cheap IKEA springform-pan-with-bundt-insert, it flattened. Flattened miserably. See photo. Oy. It sort of resembles a large, flat muffin with a hole in the middle.

It tasted great though, and I suppose that's all that matters. I didn't take a picture of the finished product, because we were so anxious to eat it, but Mark and Erin can vouch for its awesomeness. Blueberries, raspberries, stawberries from their garden. Guittard chocolate chips melted and sort of mashed/spread over the top. It was yum. We were on a train to flavortown, as Guy Fieri might say on DDD (one of new my favorite shows, fyi)

A Sanctuary of a Yard

The rest of the house is kinda tiny (but wow, that kitchen!), but couldn't you just picture a peaceful little garden party out here? Kinda reminds me of my own yard, but with gorgeous trees.

The Trail Journal Has Begun!

Well, The Boy is officially hiking the PCT - they've completed a day and a half already, and he sounded chipper and excited when I talked to him this morning (the miracle of decent cell reception on the trail - and he leaves the phone off when he's not using it to save the battery).

I've posted the first entry in his trail journal, which I received on paper from his friend who drove them to the starting point, and he'll be posting more when they arrive in Etna around Sunday. If you want to read it, go to www.postholer.com/will - I will be posting updates here as well.

The adventure is on!

PCT Head Shave

He shaved his head because hair + sunscreen + superconcentrated bug spray + sweat - showers = gross. Also, why not? Start out the new adventure with a clean slate...erm...head.

Though as he says, "Turns out, shaving your head doesn't make you braver."

Here are some pictures from the great event, plus a shot of him and his hiking partner getting ready to leave, showing off his ~45 pound pack :-) Note: his partner's pack weighs over 60 pounds! This is the most weight they will ever have to carry (the first stretch is the longest), but still. Oof!

PCT Packing

On Thursday July 2, we packed the first four resupply boxes for The Boy's hike. We had to mail them on Friday July 3 before the post office closed at noon, so the pressure was on! On Friday, we also packed the other six boxes, which are waiting at a friend's apartment (he is in charge of mailing the rest of the boxes). There is a complete itinerary that has been shared with everyone involved (thanks, Google Spreadsheets!), and my apartment is feeling quite empty. I've had an REI explosion in my apartment for the last few weeks; it's weird that it's all gone! Good weird, I suppose...it's nice to have my space back, but it's kind of odd. We have spent so much time at REI and Any Mountain in the last few weeks, I may go through withdrawl. If you catch me wandering aimlessly around an outdoor adventure store, remind me there's more to life than buying camping gear and dehydrated food, ok? ;-)

Watch the embedded slideshow for a peek into our night/s of box-packing! Scroll down for a complete list of contents...note that the last 6 boxes carry food for The Boy and The Boy's "little" (6'7" tall) brother.



10 Boxes: Contents

• 140 Pop Tarts
• 9 Tortillas (this is only for the first 4 boxes - more will be shipped later)
• 32 lbs. trail mix
• 97 Clif Bars
• 69 Odwalla Bars
• 67 King-Size Snickers
• 55 Dehydrated meals (from Backpacker's Pantry and Mountain House)
• 10 Easy Mac
• 10 Tuna in foil
• 60 Hot Chocolate packs
• 23 Tea bags
• 12 "logs" of salami (in mold casing, so they stay fresh w/o refrigeration)
• 5 Dehydrated desserts (astronaut ice cream, mocha mousse "pie")
• 2 jars peanut butter
• 15 peanut butter packets (Justin's Nut Butters)

Also: extra sunscreen, soap, and bug spray

Adventure Boy

The Boy just left for his 2-month PCT backpacking trip. I'll post a full update on the packing and dehydrated food and resupply boxes and shaved head later...and for anyone who is interested, I'll be posting a link to his trail journal. I'm going to tag all the PCT-related posts to make them easier to find if you want to read up on his trip.

If you live anywhere along the PCT, maybe you'll see him along the way :-)

For now, I'm going to do dishes and straighten up my empty-feeling apartment. More later.

Straw Bale House

Check out this awesome straw bale house! Yes, it is made with bales of straw! It is really neat looking, with uneven (ie: not all rigidly square) windows, and a general feeling of coziness and warmth. It looks like a wonderful little respite - I can just picture myself curling up all cozy on the window seat (see picture below) or napping on the patio.

I found out about it through Tracey Taylor, for whom I used to babysit. On her blog, she highlights some really great and interesting homes in the Bay Area, including this one. Check it out. It's cool.

For more info on the benefits of straw bale houses, see this Chronicle article.

The Return of Mother's!

MOTHER'S COOKIES ARE BACK!!!!



That is all.

Trail Mixin'!

Since I am not currently employed, I'm helping The Boy prepare for his backpacking trip. Today, I mixed up 12 bags of trail mix. We planned on 1 gallon sized bag per week - he's going to be gone for almost 7 weeks, and his brother (for whom he is buying food) will be on the trail for 3. Since Bro is 6'7" and eats about twice as much as an average person, we figured approx. 5 weeks of trail mix would cover him for his 3 weeks on the trail. Thus, 12 weeks (12 1-gallon bags) total. Math!

Last night, we went to the new West Berkeley Bowl because their bulk section is much nicer than the one at the "old" Berkeley Bowl.

Our booty:
roasted salted cashews
roasted salted pecans
honey roasted pecans
roasted salted peanuts
dried apple rings
golden raisins
dark raisins
dried cranberries
Guittard mini chocolate chips
roasted salted pistachios
dried apricots
orange cranberry granola

Check out the crazy amount of nuts. That's a LOT of nuts!

Since (according to The Boy's much more complicated math...ok, it was basic math, but lots of it), he will still be low on daily calories, we're going to add some M&Ms and perhaps dried blueberries and more granola as well. Personally, I think this is pretty fun! :-)

12 bags weighing 2.5 lbs each

I actually *almost* perfectly divided them up when I made them. One was 3 lbs, one was 2 lbs, and I just scooped .5 lb out of one and into the other. Oh yes, such complicated work...but I was pretty impressed that 10/12 bags were exactly the same weight!

PS - HOLYCOWGUITTARD. Guittard chocolate is amazing. WAY better than any other chocolate chip I have ever tasted. From now on, I will be buying chocolate chips in bulk. Sorry Trader Joe's and Nestle, but these are just way better.

PPS - this is not *technically* cooking/baking, but I'm categorizing it there anyway.

Beach Bungalow

Hi there, Beach Bungalow. Can I have you? Please?

Not crazy about the blue chairs + blue floors combo, but I like everything else...