Busy Bakers

CAKE DONUT: We're still cranking out about one cake a month for Birthday Dreams. Recently, we signed up for a request from an 8 year old whose birthday party theme was "Donuts." Interesting. We called Birthday Dreams to ask how literal that request was. Did the birthday girl really want donuts instead of a cake? It turns out that she actually wanted a cake. OK, we can deal with that.

I went on Amazon and found there are actually a number of silicone molds available for oversized donuts. I ordered a couple (not sure which one I'd like best). We went for the bigger one when they arrived.

We used our standard chocolate cake recipe and filled the mold twice, producing two donuts about 9-10 inches across. We also baked a third layer in a standard cake pan, to act as a 'plate' of sorts for the donuts. We iced the plate in light blue, because that was the birthday girl's favorite color.

We stacked our two donuts one atop the other, first icing each one with some royal icing to make it look more like a decorated donut.

Everyone knows that sprinkles make any donut better, so we carefully spread multi-colored sprinkles atop the donuts.

We toyed with making smaller, companion donuts to go with, but weren't happy with them. We thought the big donuts looked good by themselves.

CJ and Annabelle were happy to make the reject donuts disappear.

A couple days later we took on a different, pretty big baking project. Kennedy had a bake off at school and wanted some help with it. He wanted something meant to impress, so if you're like me, your mind might go to Elvis. :)

I suggested we go with three different kinds of cupcakes, inspired by different iterations of Elvis.

During his '68 Comeback special, Elvis was smokin' hot. So we made dark Devil's Food cupcakes complete with heat from chili powder. They were topped with a homemade marshmallow meringue, and spicy Cinnamon Imperials on top. 

The Aloha from Hawaii cupcakes were coconut cake and buttercream, with some macadamia nuts for good measure. They were topped by an edible orchid to represent the leis Elvis wore in Hawaii.

Annabelle made adorable bejeweled custom cupcake wrappers for each one, to mimic Elvis' iconic white jumpsuit.

                             

Last but not least were the Viva Las Vegas cupcakes. Wrapped in gold foil, they were delicious banana cupcakes topped with crunchy peanut butter, then covered in a a browned butter buttercream and topped with a malted milk ball. Fantastic!

STOWAWAYS: Enough about baking, let's talk about bees. Recently, I read an interesting article in the New York Times about a program in Wisconsin that asks residents to stow their mowers away for the month of May to allow bees to gather pollen from the flowers of dandelions and clover in the springtime. 

It sounds like a great idea. I hope it catches on around the country.

Feeding Teens

DINNER IS SERVED: As is the new normal, I'm way behind on blog posts. I blame the pandemic for disrupting our daily routines so drastically.

Anyway, we have been keeping up with some routines, and that includes heading up a Teen Feed dinner service on the fourth Saturday of every month. 

To try to help keep it interesting for the volunteers and the diners, I try to come up with a different dinner service theme every month. For March, we went with "AM//PM," and served breakfast for dinner.

For the meal, bakers made 55 servings of French toast casserole. (I found a good recipe online for a large scale, pecan topped dish, although its instructions were a little wonky.)

We prepped 9-dozen plus scrambled eggs (with tons o' cheese), hundreds of hash brown patties, and 10 pounds of pork sausage. We also provided vegan alternatives to each of the preceding items. 

We had dozens of big ol' sliced oranges, and even some fun breakfast beverages.   

Naturally, we had powdered sugar and real, organic maple syrup to top the French toast.

Fortunately, we had four super capable volunteers helping out in the kitchen this go round. They were so good at prepping and serving, that freed CJ and Annabelle up to do some deep cleaning in the kitchen. Let's just say that it had been a 'good' long time since the floors were thoroughly mopped or the microwaves were cleaned.

Last month, our Teen Feed service fell just a couple of days before Fat Tuesday, so we went with a Mardi Gras theme.

We decked out the tables in purple, gold, and green, the colors of Mardi Gras, and had beaded necklaces and other decorations spread about. 

Our menu embraced traditional Mardi Gras food. Naturally, jambalaya was the main entree. 

I found a great recipe to make an enormous batch of it. Kennedy and I each prepped some of the ingredients ahead of time, and then collaborated and combined on site.

We made Maque Choux, a creamy corn dish, as a side. 

Our take on King Cake was cupcakes covered in Mardi Gras-colored sprinkles. The students who were volunteering with us in February had fun doing that job. 

The "Dollar Store Magic" necklaces and napkins made it all look very festive for our guests. 

We even served mocktails! The hurricane, a fruity punch, is the "official" drink of Mardi Gras. We didn't add the rum to our rendition. 

Shopping for this month's feast, I have to admit to experiencing some sticker shock. According to a recent article from Patch, "Proteins like meat, fish, poultry and eggs are up 21 percent in Washington. Fruits, vegetables, cereals and bakery items are up over 11 percent. Dairy and related products cost over 7 percent more." Given this, it sure makes me grateful we have such a wonderfully generous team that keeps providing for the teens month in and month out. 

Bird Brain

 

MONKEY WRENCH : Yesterday was one of those days. Booked to the gills, with work starting at 6 a.m., plus multiple other Zoom meetings, a Tacoma round trip, a White Center run. It was a schedule with no wiggle room whatsoever.

Things got more complicated at 9:06 a.m. when CJ walked in the back door (after taking our dogs out) and announced, "There's a bird on the patio."

I was rushing to get a cup of coffee between meetings and brusquely respond, "Yeah, there are usually about 20 birds out there." (We have two busy bird feeders.)

"But this one's on the ground. I think it's hurt," CJ implored.

"Aw geez, just what I need," I think, heading out to the patio. I look around and say, "I don't see him."

"He's over there," CJ pointed.

I still couldn't see any damn bird.

"Here!" he said, walking over to a tiny greyish brown blob near the edge of the patio. Even with my glasses on, I thought it was a dirt clod. But it was pulsating. And it had a long, thin beak.

"Oh no. That's a hummingbird," I sighed and then swore. "Dammit. This is not on the schedule."

The hummer's eyes were closed and he was barely able to remain upright. I put a little patio table over the injured bird to keep the rain off him, told CJ I *had* to get to a Zoom meeting, and asked him to start doing the Google to figure out what we were supposed to do with this poor creature.

CJ enlisted Annabelle's help, and they learned they should put the injured bird in a shoebox with a towel on the bottom, that it should be placed in a warm, dry place, and that he needed to be fed frequently.

CJ and I had to head to Tacoma, so Annabelle gently collected the hummer, placed him in his temporary shelter (a shoebox from Annabelle's closet), and she babysat the bird for a couple of hours.

I wasn't able to get back home until noon. Upon arrival, I was so happy to see that our little patient looked ever-so-much better! No longer a gray blob, he had all his beautiful humming bird colors! He was hopping about his box and eagerly eating from the feeder!

Annabelle had done some research and after SO MANY calls, located a vet/wildlife rehab center who would accept the patient. The address was in Kent - which isn't too terribly far from us - 20 minutes or so, I surmised.

About 1 p.m., we loaded into the car and I punched the address into Waze - egad! The center was actually up in the Cascadian foothills in the little town of Black Diamond, some 45 minutes away.

I sighed and then swore. "Dammit. This is NOT on the schedule."

But what's one to do when a sweet little hummer is depending on you for its very survival? Well, you drive the bird to Black Diamond, that's what you do.

During the car ride, our little charge was feeling so much better, he actually managed to crawl out of a little hole in the shoebox. :0 Fortunately, Annabelle was able to scoop him up and return him to his cardboard recovery center.

We were very happy to hand the hummer off to the kind folks at Puget Sound WildCare. They immediately whisked him away to warm, safe confines, and reported he was already eating more.

I suppose we'll never know what happens next to that fine feathered fellow, but we do know that he didn't suffer a miserable death, drenched, cold, and alone, on our patio.

Last night, a friend told me Aztecs believed that hummingbirds were the souls of warriors who died with honor while fighting.

Though it was not on the schedule, I'm happy we were able to help that little soul yesterday.

Foodies

BOXING DAY: On Tuesday, February 8, I worked a shift closing a King County Elections box in West Seattle. 

KCE has dozens of badly drop boxes around the county, and each one of them has to be manually closed by elections staff at 8pm sharp on voting day.

Another KCE employee and I staffed the box at the Highpoint branch of Seattle Public Library. It was fun visiting with voters, many of whom walked up to the box with their cute dogs.

Fortunately, we didn't have any late voters show up after closing time. It's always a bummer when that happens.

PLEASING BEES: We're so happy to see that 'our' bees have wintered over (at least so far)!

They are out and about on sunny days above about 45 degrees F, working hard to try to find pollen. This one in the photo was working our rosemary bush, one of the few things blooming right now. We've been setting out bee feeders to supplement.

If they survive until spring, it will be the first time one of our colonies had made it over the whole winter. Fingers crossed!

PREPPERS: Recently I decided that is like to try planning our fingers a week in advance. Historically, my "plan" had been just kind of winging it every night. 

By planning ahead, I figured we'd make less trips to the grocery store, eat more fresh produce, have less food waste, and maybe even save some money. That, and planning ahead meant mixing up the menu instead of eating the same ol' stuff all the time.

So, I made a list of seven entrees and seven vegetable-centric sides and went shopping.

One of the meals we made was tonkatsu okonomiyaki, a Japanese dinner.

For the main entree, tonkatsu, we took thin pork cutlets, did a flour and egg dredge and coated them in crushed pork rinds. They cooked up quickly and perfectly in the air fryer.

The Japanese cabbage pancakes were fried on the griddle.

Both were topped with Japanese mayo, Kewpie, and home made tonkatsu sauce, which was delicious!

This dinner is a new family favorite!

I liked how Annabelle wrote the items' names in hiragana on our white board.

Another night I made a super tasty pork stir fry.

Another thing we finally tried is a "sheet pan" dinner - a mean where everything is cooked on one big cookie sheet. In this case it was Gochujang chicken with roasted winter vegetables.  

It was amazing! Everything was cooked to perfection, and the flavor was on point.

Another culinary adventure was a baked pasta dish involving a block of feta and a bunch of cherry tomatoes.

The recipe went viral on TikTok after a food blogger from Finland posted it. Grocery stores in Finland couldn't keep feta on the shelves for awhile.

The recipe worked! I used gluten free rice noodles and added a little Italian sausage. The whole family raved about this one!

We also tried a red curry Thai soup . I liked it, but was in the minority.

Everyone was a big fan of one side dish adventure - cheesy white bean tomato bake. Super simple - just minutes to make, and our home grown basil was a great topping touch. (I used the Instant Pot to cook Northern beans instead of using canned, but canned would have been just fine.)

Another story side was Brussels sprouts air fried in a basalmic reduction sauce, with a few squeezes of fresh lime. Yum!

So suddenly this has turned into a food blog, ha ha.

King Sized

FEEDING TEENS:

"I always look forward to your service. Your food is always so enticing." - Teen Feed staffer on 1/22/22.

Last Saturday was the fourth Saturday of the month so that meant we had our hands full with a Teen Feed to do list.

Our menu was called "Plays on Pizza." Interestingly enough, we didn't serve any pizza whatsoever. Rather, all of the foods were inspired by a pizza dinner. 

Several people (us included) made pizza soup. The bowls were topped with fried pepperoni, grated Parm, shredded mozzarella, and chopped basil. The bowls were beautiful, delicious, and nutritious.

By friend Thy used our big griddle to cook up dozens of Hawaiian pizza-inspired grilled cheese sandwiches on sourdough rounds, with provolone, pineapple, Canadian bacon  and American cheese melted to perfection. 

Thy and her son also tossed a beautiful Caesar salad with Romaine from Dana, plus lots of cheese, creamy Caesar dressing that we made, with olives and croutons. It was super tasty.

                                         

Dessert was fun! Our team baked an array of dessert pizzas: Caramel, Reese's peanut butter, chocolate chip, cinnamon roll and more. 

There was even an Italian soda station.

We boxed up 25 dinners to go for the nearby ROOTS shelter, and then waited ... and waited for the walk in diners. By the end of the hour long service, we had only served a couple of handfuls of in-person guests. It was so unexpectedly quiet, Teen Feed staff actually went out and walked the neighborhood looking for unsheltered teens to invite to dinner. 

Our Teen Feed kitchen lead shared that multiple University District service agencies are reporting a smaller number of people seeking services in the area very recently. Of course, everyone would love to think this is because less people need services, but the actual reason remains a mystery at this point. Stay tuned!

It very well could be that we will be asked to provide less food next month, depending on attendance between now and then. Of course, we had to make sure none of the great food went to waste, so we delivered leftovers to the Tiny Home Village on MLK Boulevard early Sunday morning so that they could have a fabulous lunch! 

WINTER GARDEN: A couple of weeks ago, I assembled a Christmas present I received from Christian. It's a little countertop herb garden. Actually, in our case it's a fridge top garden. 

There are a couple of kinds of basil, some parsley and some dill that is growing like a weed! 

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: A couple of days ago, we undertook a sizeable project - procuring and removing a king sized mattress. Once we got the SUV started after about 13 tries, the kids and I picked up the new mattress at the Alderwood Costco. While there, we had to get a rotisserie chicken, of course. 

We took the new mattress to Mukilteo and wrestled it into G&Gs place. That was the 'easy' part. Then we had to wrestle the big ol' mattress out of tight quarters. However, we had the right tools (a tarp, straps, and a mechanic's creeper/roller) and a good plan. With some teamwork and careful communication, we got it moved without incident. After work, Christian arrived and strapped the behemoth to the top of the car. Then we drove a couple of miles to a mattress recycling facility, an experience that actually gave me nightmares that night, ha ha.

CENTER SHOTS: Last week, Christian and I went to watch the Kraken play at Climate Pledge Arena. Here was the view from our season ticket spots. We're at the end where the Kraken shoot twice per game.

The game was a lot of fun - they actually won, which has happened very infrequently this inaugural season. 

Seattle Center was illuminated in an array of bright colors. I had to stop for a few photos.

MEANWHILE, IN OUTER SPACE: After traveling 1.4 million kilometers from Earth, the James Webb Space Telescope is now in the spot in space where it will start to take images. 

The image below was made by a single 300-second exposure. Unfiltered, it was remotely collected with the “Elena"" (PlaneWave 17″+Paramount ME+SBIG STL-6303E) robotic unit available at the Virtual Telescope Project. The red arrow points to the tiny white dot that is Webb.