I was fixing a birthday cake for a member of my pod the other day and decided to try something new. Here’s what it was supposed to look like:

The cake itself used a fairly small amount of flour and a can of chocolate syrup, so I knew it would be moist. It is a single layer cake with ganache poured over it. The instructions said:

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until just set in the middle. Allow to cool in the pan for 30 minutes, then remove from the pan, turn the cake upside down on a wire rack set over a sheet pan and cool completely.

Total disaster! What the instructions should have said was “bake until cake is thoroughly set in the middle”! As it was, when I turned the cake over, the insides started dripping through the wire rack (I guess that is why the directions call for it to be set over a sheet pan). The cake was so tender, in fact, that the wire rack was leaving deep marks even on the part of the cake that was set.

So now, instead of having a cake that was even across the top, I had one with a huge dip in the center. If I had tried to pour ganache over it, the ganache would have just pooled in the low areas. I didn’t really have the time or the energy to whip up any other frostings, so I ended up calling it a “gooey” cake and served it to the birthday boy with ice cream (I also made cookies as a backup).

One of my projects during this pandemic was to put all the recipes I have made and all the recipes I want to make into one place. I started going through each of my cookbooks and putting recipes I want to try into my recipe software program. I have now finished going through my physical cookbooks; I still have a lot of my ebook ones to go.

I decided to print out what I have done so far on 60-weight, half-letter size paper and put the recipes in binders. I have just under 500 recipes at the moment, so here’s what they look like:

I have two books for baking (deserts and breads) and four for cooking. Each book has a few page protectors in the front pocket. The recipes themselves are in alphabetical order and I have an index that is both alphabetical and in divisions such as “Poultry”, “Vegetables”, “Appetizers”, etc.

Now I just take out whatever recipe I’m going to make, slip it in the sleeve, and put it on the counter. I must say, the system is working out very well so far!

Back in 1978 I was at Officer Candidate School in Rhode Island. The school made sure that all of us who were staying over Thanksgiving vacation had a chance to have a holiday dinner with one of the school’s officers and I signed up for it. I don’t remember much about the meal except for one thing: instead of turkey, our hosts served ham.

Having been raised Seventh-day Adventist, I had never had pork products. But I was already throwing that upbringing behind me: I was reading books on evolution (gasp!) and had voluntarily joined the military (another no-no). I figured I might as well start throwing out the dietary restrictions too and took my first bite of ham.

It was soooooo good!

Since then I have had the occasional bit of ham on a sandwich and enjoyed it in dishes like soup or beans. But I had never fixed it; it seemed pointless when many of the people I cook for wouldn’t eat it. Yesterday, though, I had invited some friends over to celebrate a birthday. The birthday person said they really enjoyed ham and I decided to fix one. So I bought my very first ham from the local supermarket and heated it up on my Trager grill.

It was sooooo good!

Now I just have to figure out what to do with all the leftovers.

The Ember cup I mentioned in an earlier post has enabled me to start drinking and enjoying hot tea. So I have now embarked on the adventure of finding out just what teas I actually like.

There are two main characteristics I am looking for in my tea. First, I want to actually taste something with a lot of flavor. Most teas that I have tried are too weak; they taste like barely flavored water. The main hot teas, heretofore, that I have somewhat enjoyed are the mint teas served in such places as Turkey and Morocco, very strong brews, indeed. Second, I want a caffeine-free brew as I am drinking it in the evening.

The teas I have found so far that have these characteristics are herbal teas, so I am starting to try those out. First I tried a “chocolate” tea. I did not find any chocolate flavors; it just tasted sort of muddy. I have also tried a buttermint tea. Not bad, but not great. The winner so far is “Sangria Zinger”. It actually tastes of fruit and is very pleasant.

As to how I brew: the Ember mug holds about 10 ounces, a bit more than a standard mug. The instructions for most teas tell you to pour boiling water over the bag and steep for 4-6 minutes. What I end up doing, though, is using two tea bags in my big mug and steeping for 10 minutes or so. More tea and more time seems to be the right combination for me. Once it cools down, I find myself with a terrific tasting brew that I can sip for quite some time.

The only problem with this routine is the time involved: I have to plan ahead by almost 30 minutes: 2 minutes to boil, 10 minutes to steep, and 15 minutes to cool off enough to sip. The whole process is quite enjoyable and worthwhile, but not nearly as easy as filling a glass with ice and pouring a can of soda!

The Ember Mug is one of those things that sounds way too frivolous to buy for yourself, but ends up being really useful. I got one as a gift this Christmas and it is unexpectedly turning out to make a real difference in what I’m drinking.

I like hot drinks, but the temperature range I like them at at is very narrow. I am either scalding my tongue or wondering why bother with something so tepid. I have seen the mug warming coasters, but that means you are tied to the coaster and must live with whatever temperature it puts out.

The idea behind the Ember Mug is quite different: the warming element is in the mug itself. It does recharge itself on a coaster, but while you are actually drinking, you can take the mug anywhere and it will keep your drink warm.

Better yet, it doesn’t only keep it warm, it keeps it at the temperature that you want. I bought one of these mugs for mom so that her Postum will stay warm throughout her lengthy breakfast. I have her Ember set to 145° (the highest setting the mug has) and it keeps it at a perfect sipping temperature for her throughout the morning. It also works great for her when she is splurging on hot chocolate at night in her arm chair.

Knowing that mom can drink liquids at a way higher temperature than I can, I started my mug at the default 135°. While I could handle that, I am much more comfortable with my tea at 132° (125° is way too cool). It’s weird to me how much my brain is just expecting the tea to be cooler each time I pick it up and, instead, it’s the same temperature every time.

Now I’m starting to experiment each evening with different herbal teas. More on that in a later post.