She’s still growling, spitting and hissing at Byron, but otherwise, she’s now a complete attention whore.
Look who’s coming out and being social (and a trip hasard)
Author: admin
[recipe] Chocolate cake with chocolate coffee buttercream
240 g all-purpose flour
395 g sugar
65 g unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp (8 g) baking powder
1.5 tsp (9 g) baking soda
1 tsp (2.5 g) kosher salt
1 tsp (2.5 g) espresso powder
225 ml milk
1/2 cup (99 g) vegetable oil
2 large (100 g) eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
225 ml boiling water
Preheat oven to 350F/175C. Prepare two 9-inch cake pans by spraying with baking spray or buttering and lightly flouring.
Add flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt and espresso powder to a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk through to combine or, using your paddle attachment, stir through flour mixture until combined well.
Add milk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla to flour mixture and mix together on medium speed until well combined. Reduce speed and carefully add boiling water to the cake batter until well combined.
The cake batter will be very thin after adding the boiling water. This is correct and results in a delicious and moist chocolate cake.
Distribute cake batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center of the chocolate cake comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes, remove from the pan and cool completely.
Frost the cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting.
Frosting:
130g softened butter
200g sugar
50g cocoa powder
1 tsp espresso powder
50ml milk
Dissolve espresso powder in a little but of boiling water then mix with milk.
Whisk butter, sugar, cocoa powder and coffee/milk until smooth.
Take your chonk to work
…and then bring him home soon after
I tried to bring Byron to the office today. He passed the behavioral assessment without issue, but then the fun began when he saw Katy leave (without him) and refused to go back to the dog-friendly office we have to use (in the equivalent of the siberian gulag of campus).
After several strops, I got him back to the office, but then he went into full guard dog mode, where every door opening or voice he could hear bug not see made him woof and growl. I was slobd in the fog office, but the people on the other side of the wall were starting to grumble, so I cut the test short and went bzvk home to finish my day.
We’ll try again soon.
Crazy exciting Friday nights!
Organizing the Tupperware cupboard with my new deli tubs. Rock on!
When your cat has an emotional support hamster
The dog is a weirdo
First off, he’s a giant cuddlebug and doesn’t like the cold.
He’s also obsessed with busses, so walking past a bus stop can sometimes be an exercise in getting him past the benches and waiting for a bus to come take him home.
Did I mention he’s a giant cuddlebug who would live in my pocket if given the chance?
He loves going to La Rive and licking milk foam.
He’s the bestest boy. He’s a nutter, but he’s our nutter and I love him.
psycho-kitty, qu’est-ce que c’est
We can’t call her kitten of Doom because Reenie had that TM’ed, so psycho-kitty it is for now. Once she’s realized that hissing doesn’t do shit, she actually turns into a fusspot. Katy thinks that one night we’ll just find her sleeping on our face or something.
[recipe] olive oil orange poppy seed cake
210g (1.5 cups) plain flour
2.5 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
200g (1 cup) caster sugar
2 tbsp poppy seeds
Zest of one orange
60ml (3 tbsp) fresh orange juice
120ml (1/2 cup) olive oil
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
120 ml (1/2 cup) Greek yogurt
60 ml (1/4 cup) milk
Preheat oven to 180C/350F/160C fan. Grease and line a loaf pan with baking or parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl, add flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, poppy seeds and orange zest. Stir briefly to combine.
In a separate bowl, add orange juice, oil, eggs and vanilla. Whisk briefly just to break up the egg yolks.
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, along with the yogurt and milk, and gently mix until combined – but be careful not to over mix. Spoon batter into prepared pan.
Bake cake for approximately 35-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Transfer cake to a wire rack to cool completely.
Pretty stabby pointy cutty thing, done!
It has character flaws, it’s far from perfect, but for a first fully completed knife, I’m very happy with the end result.
Now I need to think about what I want to do next.
Dry January
