10 Degrees and Getting Colder

Can we just take a moment to note what a disaster this week was when it came to getting actual work done. Seriously - so awful. There. I feel better just having said it.

It wouldn't have been so frustrating except last week was the first week in a while where I felt like I gained some traction with work projects and life in general. But no sooner was I all like, "Finally, I've got my groove back" before the groove was gone. Then again, I'm starting to wonder if "my groove" is kind of like my sense of rhythm: nonexistent. 

Andy was home a good portion of the week, although the majority of his waking hours were either spent in a deer stand or scouting deer on foot. It's been all for naught so far, which feels a little strange considering how quickly last year's deer season was buttoned up. There's still another week left in the season and plenty of deer in the woods.

It's been a cold, snowy week. Running is officially hit or miss. I'm not sure I like it.
  
Despite getting next to nothing done this week, my Etsy shop took off like a rocket this past week. Sales galore, custom orders, oh my.  I thought I was ready for the holiday rush, but apparently not, especially since I was somehow sweet-talked into knitting five pairs of birdesmaid mittens for a wedding the second weekend of December. If you need me between now and the end of the month, I hope you don't mind my knitting needles tagging alone. Cripes.

Despite a little Etsy holiday stress, I'm feeling rather festive, which probably has to do with the fact that I spent yesterday afternoon perusing the local shops for gift ideas for the annual gift guide I compile. I have so many gift ideas swirling through my head at the moment and am inspired to do the vast majority of my holiday shopping locally this year. (Says the girl who says that every year and then ends up buying the majority of her presents from Amazon.)

I'm also thinking about doing all of my Christmas shopping with cash, to give local merchants a break on credit card fees and keep the pesky holiday credit card bill at bay. In other news, I'm completely debt-free at the moment. I finished off my student loans last week and vanquished my credit card bill this morning. Although I've never carried a balance on my credit card, it's rather exciting to have the total amount I owe anyone at the moment be $0.00.

I spent yesterday morning volunteering at our community Empty Bowls event, which raises funds for the local food shelf. (That's the bowl I took home, up above. If I'd photographed it in better light, you'd see what a beautiful sapphire blue it is.)  My summer schedule prevents me from getting involved with pretty much anything in the greater community, so it felt so nice to be able to give some time to a good cause, meet some new people, and reconnect with a lot of familiar faces. I contributed some treats to the bake sale component of the event and as I was cutting up my batch of Scotcharoos, it struck me that I may hem and haw about not getting any "work" done, but that those bars will probably do more good in the community than anything I would have produced at my computer. Consequently, I'm coming to believe that you can learn everything you need to know to get through life in a church basement (I'm not even talking about Sunday School here), but that's another post for another day. 

Today is Andy's birthday and I am not baking him a cake. After five years of trying to foist my family's tradition of birthday sweets on the poor man, I'm starting to realize he doesn't really give a fig if he gets a birthday cake, or pie. Perhaps a pan of cinnamon rolls are in the works, but we'll just see how this day goes, shall we. 

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A New Year

I turned 28 yesterday. At this point in my life, especially since I  live so far away from the vast majority of my friends, birthdays really are just another day and yesterday was no exception. In fact, we lost an hour of my birthday to daylight saving time, it snowed three or so heavy inches the night before which made my commute home from my parents' take an extra 40 minutes, I worked more than I played  (yes, I know it was a Sunday) and I capped the night off alone watching an HBO documentary about the 1980 USA hockey team since Andy was off at a sports show for work and didn't arrive home until the wee morning hours today.

Okay, so maybe the start of my 29th year doesn't sound terribly great on paper, but I assure you I had a perfectly lovely day.

For one thing, I'm rather glad to have missed out on being a member of the 27 club. Whew! My brother did subtly point out to me yesterday that I perhaps have not lived my life in notorious enough of a manner to rank up there with Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse even if I had met an untimely demise last year. You know what? I'm okay with that.

Honestly, I'm kind of excited about 28. I've always had a fondness for the number 8. My hockey jersey numbers were 8 and 18 and I remember both of those ages fondly. At eight I totally rocked the second and third grades (advanced reading group, holler) and met the love of my life (#notreallyelementaryschoolsweethearts), while eighteen brought my first trip overseas (hello lover, erm, London) , high school graduation and the start of college. So even if this belief is somewhat delusional, I feel as though 28 might just serve up something big, exciting, and wonderful. Maybe? Just maybe? Maybe not?

I've been hearing via the blogosphere that our 20s end up being our time for searching, stretching, and well, more often than we'd like to admit, struggling. Now our 30s on the other hand (or so I'm told) is when we really get to settle in and thrive. So although I have a few years (okay, two) to go before hitting the big 3-0, I do feel that I'm getting closer to a point in my life where I can settle down a little bit and enjoy the fruits of my labor. At least I hope so, because I rather loudly proclaimed to a colleague yesterday morning, "I'm tired of making hay!" in response to the infamous "make hay while the sun shines" quip.

I think we all get a bit weary of making hay every now and then. Last week my motivation tanked and decided to throw myself a little pity party over the fact that I live in the forest far, far away from the rest of my friends. (I may spend a little too much time alone in the winter.) But this week is not only a new week, but a new year for me, so I'm planning to head forth with a better attitude and a deeper acknowledgement of the beauty around me.

The amaryllis we received last Christmas is blooming again

At 9 p.m. last night, when I was telling myself, you have to work, you don't get to paint your toenails, I thought what the heck, it is my birthday. Just paint your toenails already. Maybe 28 will see me letting go of my delusion that I can and will work 14 hour days and then being consistently disappointed in myself for failing my lofty and unattainable performance goals? We can hope.

I'm sure this color (cranberry cream) was very trendy when I bought it in 2001

I spent the weekend with my parents watching the boys state high school hockey tournament (and a fair amount of Parks and Recreation in between games). Although none of the northern teams came out on top, I had a great time introducing my parents to the wonder of Twitter during the game - it was pretty fun to watch #thetourney trending away.

Oh, there was birthday key lime pie too yesterday. If you want proof of just how old I am, please note that I expressly requested a large piece of pie at my birthday dinner which . . . I could not finish. What is the world coming to?!

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March Forth!

Sooooo  .  . . who else out there is stunned that it's March?! I've heard mention of just how speedy this February was on at least two blogs and in several Facebook posts this morning, so I'm know I'm not alone in my incredulity. February may be a short month, but I'm pretty sure we only got a half February this year. Ah well, no reason to dwell on the time that's already flown by. Now's the time to march forth . . . into March!


While March has a reputation for being rather blustery and harsh at times (in lion, out like a lamb, eh?), I've always had a soft spot for this month. To me, it's a month filled momentum as we gear up spring and summer. Granted, all that momentum pretty much falls flat on its face come April's mud season, but I truly appreciate March's optimism before the dull reality of April sets in.

March is slated to be a busy month around here and I'm rather looking forward to it. Along with all of the regular goings-on, here's what's on the docket for March at Of Woods and Words:

Wrapping up two rather large freelance projects. It will feel great to finish them and even better to invoice for them. (Kidding about the invoicing. Okay, not really.)

Hockey tourney time! That glorious weekend of the year where I watch so much hockey and knit socks. God bless the Minnesota State High School Boys Hockey tournament.  

Hockey tourney time means birthday time and while birthdays have less and less significance with each passing year, I'm not opposed to a little birthday sugar (here's lookin' at you key lime pie) to start the new year on a good note. 

Beware the Ides of March. I'm not really preparing for anything truly horrific on March 15, but it is deadline day around these parts, so there's that.

St. Patrick's Day. I love any excuse to be sentimental about Ireland. (In case you hadn't noticed.) If you need help getting your Irish on, check out the fun St. Paddy's Day inspired items in my Etsy shop.

I'll be the lower peninsula of Michigan for St. Paddy's Day this year visiting brother and girlfriend with my mom. I'm looking forward to the trip (especially since we're flying rather than making the 15+ hour drive), but dear brother, please move to Hawaii.

Grand Rapids, MI

And once I return from Michigan, it will be spring. Huzzah! Time for starting seeds, days longer than the nights, and the start of cookouts!


Whether March came in like a lion or a lamb in your neck of the woods today, I hope you're also looking forward to a wonderful, full and fulfilling month.

 

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The Poke Cake of Glory

I've always been a proponent of homemade food. I deeply believe that homemade food tastes better than anything pre-made or pre-mixed that you can buy. My pantry shelves are free of cake and brownie mixes. There's no tube of cookie dough in the fridge. And heaven's forbid that a can of frosting cross over the cabin threshold. That stuff'll kill you.

But we all have our weaknesses. There's almost always a can of cherry pie filling in my pantry, in case I have to whip up one of my nearly-famous cherry cranberry pies. And I try to have some "emergency" Jell-O on hand because honestly, when I have the stomach flu, all I want is a bowl of Jell-O and a glass of flat ginger ale. (Andy does not get this, but that's what I was given during my annual bout of stomach flu as a child.)

And Poke Cake. I have a weakness for poke cakes.  

You know the recipe, right? You take a white cake mix, bake it up in two layer pans, then poke the cake all over with forks and pour a Jell-O mixture over the cake. Once the Jell-O's set, you slap the cake together with a heavy layer of Cool-Whip. It's corporate recipe writing at its finest. In fact, besides the Rice Krispy Bar, I'm not sure any other corporate recipe has taken such a hold on America's kitchens.

My brother loved poke cake so much that for many years during his adolescence, he requested it for his birthday. Not just any poke cake (which you can make with any combination of Jell-O flavors, like orange and lemon or berry blue and raspberry, or . . ..), but the Christmas poke cake, where one layer is lime flavored and the other is raspberry flavored. His birthday is in July. 

I don't know why, but my mother and I were talking about the merits of poke cake the other day. (I would argue that the pure trashiness of poke cake is one of its virtues.) "What's poke cake?" the ever curious Andy asked. My mother and I stared at each other in horror. I wasn't sure that you could call yourself a Midwesterner if you'd never consumed a slice or two poke cake.

So Andy requested a poke cake for his birthday last week. Strawberry, if you please.

"Oh, but I want a homemade cake," he said.

Well, okay. 

While I was somewhat suspicious that a homemade cake would be sacrilege when it came to poke cake, I decided to try out this funfetti cake recipe which I pinned a while back. Except I left out the funfetti - what with Jell-O and Cool-Whip being key ingredients, I figured that the last thing the cake need was sprinkles. (Feel free to argue this point, but I actually don't like sprinkles much. Sure they're adorable, but they taste terrible and are texturally unpleasing on top of . . . brownies, cupcakes, ice cream, whipped cream, anything.)

My mother also suggested I try frosting it with actual whipped cream, but I poo-pooed that as "too rich." (And trust me, I never poo-poo whipped cream.)

Here's the final result in all of its (mostly) artificial glory:

What I learned:

I may not actually like strawberry jello that much.

I do however like this recipe for homemade cake quite a bit. I will make it again, complete with the 3/4 cup of multi-colored sprinkles.

When you pair strawberry jello with a lemony flavored cake, you get a cake that kind of tastes like strawberry lemonade and that is by no means a bad thing.

A homemade cake does not compromise the integrity of a poke cake, but it will dry out faster than a box mix cake. 

Cool-Whip may disgust me as a substance (Whipped vegetable oil! Whipped corn syrup!) but it is a tasty, tasty, easy-peasy frosting.

Have you ever had poke cake?

 

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A Truthful, Toothful, Tuesday Post

I'm going to take a cue from a friend who frequently adopts the list format for her blog posts to save time. When you make lists, you don't have to worry about completing your thoughts or making a point. And since I'm back at the cabin, at least for the time being and am woefully behind on all sorts of stuff, here's what's been going on lately . . . in list form.

1) You guys! Did you know that Thanksgiving is a mere 9 days away? What the what? How did this happen?! I'm going to have to bake pumpkin pies next week already.

2) It's Andy's birthday today!

To celebrate, I made him a bourbon molasses pecan pie from the latest Better Homes and Gardens. As soon as I took the pie out of the oven, I realized I'd forgotten the vanilla.

It's official: I can not make birthday treats without forgetting some crucial ingredient. However, I feel Andy's pecan pie will fair better without vanilla than Dad's pumpkin pie did without sugar. . . maybe. 

3) It's also deadline day. (Note the lack of exclamation points on that statement.)

The big article I was worrying about a couple weeks is due today, but I actually sent it a week ago: I just had to get a cd of accompanying photos for the article in the mail today. I feel pretty calm about the whole thing. 

However, today's also deadline day for the publication I write for monthly. I have more flexibility with this deadline and luckily all of those articles are under control. I still have about an article and a half to write before I call it a day though.  

4) Our internet is finally back!!

I'd love to tell you how helpful the internet provider was in the whole ordeal, but the truth is, after multiple calls to tech support and customer support, the person who actually fixed it doesn't even work for the company. It was a frustrating two weeks, to say the least, but like Ma Ingalls used to say: "All's well that ends well."

5) I have teeth again!

See:

Last Monday, the dentist reglued my veneer on. On Wednesday I decided to eat a frozen cookie. Needless to say, the reglued veneer did not stay cemented in place for very long. So it was back to the dentist's yesterday where they put a permanent coating on my tooth. Grand total of the tooth ordeal = $200.  However, they suckered me into scheduling a cleaning, so they haven't quite finished milking my bank accounts yet and Christmas is still a no-go around these parts since I'll be subsidizing the dental office employees' Christmas celebrations rather than my own this year. 

5) In answer to the deer questions from the last post, the deer is absolutely not hanging anywhere in the cabin. Did I say cabin? I didn't, didn't I. Shed. I meant shed. The deer's out in the shed. I will admit I forgot it was in there on Saturday when I head out to the shed to grab some gardening supplies and I was very startled to find that I wasn't alone out there!

6) So many chores to take care of before winter's here in earnest. Last bit of firewood to split and stack; a ton of venison to butcher, process, and freezer; the dock and boat still need to come out; and all on top of the normal money making business of every day.

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What are pepitas?

As much as we like to think we treat all birthdays the same, the truth is all birthdays seem prone to a certain amount of seasonal influence. Summer birthdays will hold on to a resentment about their largely ignored birthdays well into adulthood. (Who knew bringing birthday treats into school meant so much?!) Birthdays right around Christmas will inevitably get neglected. And no matter what the season, it seems birthday sweets will always be influenced by the outside weather.

As an early spring (as in, the snow is just starting to think about melting) birthday, my birthday sweets have usually been citrus based: lemon filled layer cake, key lime pie. There's something about the tangy promise of hot places in a citrus dessert that proves to be just what you want at winter's tail end. Meanwhile, the autumn birthdays bring about heavier desserts. Just last year, I made Andy a chocolate stout cake (hello Oktoberfest!) for his mid-November birthday and I whipped up a pumpkin pie which I neglected to put sugar in for my father's late October birthday.

My father's birthday was yesterday and after last year's disaster of a pie (he literary had to poke holes in last year's sugarfree pie and drizzle it with maple syrup to make it palatable), I knew I needed to redeem myself in the birthday baking department. I decided to make a cake from the cover of the latest Fine Cooking which Dad had taken a shine too.

Here it is: Brown Butter Pumpkin Layer Cake - Fine Cooking Recipes, Techniques and Tips

The recipe looked straight forward enough, although I decided to make a couple minimal modifications to the recipe (see note below).  Then I noticed a slight problem. The recipe called for pepitas. What the heck?

I'm no pastry chef, but I'm fairly familiar with all the ingredients that would normally be involved in baking a cake. And pepitas? That was a new one for me.

In the whole foods co-op, I had an epiphany. Turns out pepitas are just hulled pumpkin seeds.

Now: what's the need for all the sugarcoating? Can't we call a pumpkin seed a pumpkin seed? Don't half the problems in the world come from refusing to call something what it really is?

But as I roasted pepitas and pecans in melted butter and tossed them in brown sugar, I started to have second thoughts about my indignation over the sugarcoating of pepitas.

Maybe all that sugarcoating's not so bad after all.

(Note: I followed the directions for the Brown Butter Pumpkin Layer Cake basically verbatim. However, to ease transport of the cake, I baked all the cake batter in a 9x13 pan and increased the baking time to 40 minutes. Many other reviewers of the cake complain about its richness. I resolved the richness problem a bit by just putting a half batch of frosting on top. A half batch of frosting looks a little skimpy, but the topping classes it up and the cake is one rich puppy even with half as much frosting on top.)

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