Wow...June is flying by!

I'm stunned that it's the last week of June already. At this rate, October and our big trip to "the Continent" will be here sooner than I can believe!

Mr. Hinkelgruber and I will be cruising to Alaska at the end of July, then it's the 'dog-days' until 30-years of marriage. And, they said it wouldn't last! (Oh, no one said that, it just seems to be what everyone expects you to say.)

This will probably be the last week to bake for a while, since I refuse to turn the AC on just so I can bake in the summer.

This is Rose Festival Season?!?

Six days of beautiful, sunny, summer like weather - really? During the first two weeks of June? Here? No time to complain! We had a raucous high-school graduation party, complete with piñata and waaayyy too much food. We may be eating potato salad and cole slaw for the rest of the month!

It's the last week with our Australian pseudo-son - he will be missed. It's berry season - strawberries are fully ripe, and I'm certain raspberries are not far behind. Mr. Hinkelgruber has a new camera toy (a fancy flash do-hickie) and it must be challenging because he's studying the manual. Me? I was given some brown eggs, so that means I get to blow them out and make little choir children Christmas ornaments.

How I love summer!

June is here!

Ok, ok, ok...it's been since Mother's Day. But, June is here and that means that once Rose Festival is over, summer might actually rear its head. Oh, wait, once July 4, has past summer will arrive. (So, we really will have some summertime weather later this week, but I have to bitch about something!)

It's graduation season, and we have a high school graduate to honor (great-niece) and our Australian pseudo-son will graduate from Oregon State. What a great couple of weeks we have coming up. (Coupled with the sad realization that we will again be empty-nestors!)

Happy Mother's Day!

OK, so it's a made up holiday - but I'm a mom and I'll take it! The younger Hinkelgruber son came up to see me (and brought a gift: macaroni necklace - makes a mom proud!), we went to brunch (can't remember when we last went out to breakfast!) and so far, it's been a terrific day.

Yesterday, Mr. Hinkelgruber and I went to wine country to pick up three wine shipments and (this will be no surprise to anyone) came away with waaayyy more wine than we had originally planned!

The weather has been gloriously summer like for this time of year and this is something you will not hear me complaining about!

"Feelin' Thorny?"

Apparently, that's a marketing campaign that the new women's soccer team, Portland Thorns, is having to abandon - too sexually suggestive. Too bad. I like it. In fact, I'm feeling thorny enough to attend today's opening day game, courtesy of our newest "son," an intern for the Portland Timbers.

Spring returns this week with temperatures supposed to reach the high 70's - so you know what that means?!? Deck drinking begins! WOOHOO!

It's the Easter Bunny...

For the first time in (oh, really, I can't even remember when) the weather on this Easter Sunday is bee-you-tee-ful! The entire weekend has been the stuff of legend.

To update you, the angel food cake last week - never happened. Well, let me fill you in...

I did bake a second one. Egg whites whipped perfectly (at least I'm pretty sure they were - they looked just like the picture), but again, the cake fell out of the pan and onto the wine bottle I had set it over. So, no angel food cake. Thank goodness for frozen pies - and they were delicious.

This week it's meringue nests with Peeps chicks and jelly bean eggs. All sugar, all the time.

It's clear from Mr. Hinkelgruber's menu, he's been sucked into the belief that summer is fast approaching. I'll remind him and everyone else: April's coming and there's a reason for "April showers bring May flowers!" You know the rain's a-coming.

Oh, and no April Foolin' - April 1 is the start of baseball season! WOOHOO! Batter up!

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!