Spring screams, "Angel food cake!"

I've made angel food cakes before - not as light as what you see in stores, but passable, so I decided the weather was so gorgeous (and, I had a dozen egg whites left over from some desserts I had made for a dinner party we went to) that an angel food cake was in order. This time I learned some things:

• Stiffly beaten egg whites are beautiful in the mixing bowl and make for a lovely presentation at first in the oven, but...
• fall after 30-minutes
• fall further after an additional 30-minutes
• Those folks that tell you, "turn the baked cake, in its pan, over a narrow necked bottle - don't worry, it won't fall out," are lying. Not only did my cake fall out, it glued itself to the counter top pretty solidly. Well, to be honest, I've never had one fall out before, so I'm chalking this one up to the over beaten eggs, also. 
• Oh, and then it falls even more and is soggy, soggy, soggy. (6-1/2 inches to 1-1/2 inches in just under 90 minutes!)

The lesson? Don't over beat the egg whites! Soft peaks, means soft peaks - no matter how beautiful a stiff peak is! Make meringues if you want to stiffly beat egg whites!

But, not to be defeated, another angel food cake is in the oven, seemingly baking just fine. Fingers crossed. 

This week, I'll be making a second attempt at madeleine cookies. That's one of the recipes for my online baking group. I made a batch Thursday, and was not impressed, so have to try again. Will fill the 'madeleine forms' less full and bake them fewer minutes - we'll see if I'm happier with the fact I spent the money on the pans. 

Menu looks like Mr. Hinkelgruber went old school this week and there's nothing wrong with that!

As promised...

There's only one thing I don't like about the weather getting better...I feel guilty staying indoors in front of the television. Lucky for me, today was not one of those days!

Trashy rom-com movies, Harry Potter, and past episodes of formulaic television police dramas - what could be better? Oh, and I got to knit all day long, too!

Finally, Happy St. Paddy's Day! Don't forget to wear your green!

Apparently, it's been a while...

So, I've neglected the family blog...I'll try to do better in the coming weeks. (Oh, as a special treat, you'll get one today...and tomorrow!)

The Cubs played a spring training game today - and both split squads won...WOOHOO! And, they play again tomorrow!

Spring's coming, the daffodils are daffing and the weather's getting better and better!

Superbowl Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!!!

The paper this week had recipes for three different guacamoles, so that's how today's menu began - "Let's have guac, on Sunday!" (By-the-way - Costco had Hass avocados 5 for $3.99 and they were beautiful! Only one of the fifteen I bought was even remotely bad, and even it had just a couple little brown spots.)

I just watched "Puppy Bowl IX" on Animal Planet, and man-oh-man, are those little guys cute. There were at least six of them I'd love to own. (Is owning dogs like cats - any more than three makes you a crazy dog lady?)

Mr. Hinkelgruber and I made it through the longest month of the year: January! That means we're one month closer to spring and summer. WOOHOO! It's almost drinking on the deck time!

Here she is...

I promised you all a photo - and here she is. I'm very happy with her and now it's time to begin another!

Back in the saddle again...

So, it's been a while.

I've gone to the beach with my "Hip Chick" friends - five days and seven women... What that really means is lots of talking, laughing, snacking, drinking. Now it's time to come back to the real world. I must say, the thing I missed most was Mr. Hinkelgruber's cooking. They all cook well, but not as well as he does!

I finished a lace shawl - once I get it blocked, I'll post a photo of it. It is beautiful, if I do say so myself.

Time to head to the gym - yea, I didn't really miss that at the beach!

Oh, yeah...I know...some of you got an advance copy of the menu and Monday's item was different from what is showing on this week's post. That's because my baking group is supposed to make the pizza for Tuesday, and Mr. Hinkelgruber had forgotten. So....

This past week saw a visit from the elder Hinkelgruber son's friend from Chicago and the younger Hinkelgruber son acting as wedding photographer to one of his high school friend's wedding. We've had lots of visitors.

And, finally, it's official: the Hinkelgrubers are going to Italy! Next October we're heading for the European Chocolate Festival - I can hardly wait! I think I may have to make a concerted study of different chocolate recipes - a dirty job, but someone has to do it.