THE DAILY TABLE::Another Day, Another Cake

"You think about today--how to get through it, how to survive it. When you wake up tomorrow, another day is behind you." - John Grisham, The Racketeer

Reading chapter 2 of John Grisham's newest novel this morning, I came across these two sentences. It resonated with me and stayed with me all day long.

How do you get through another day of everyone demanding everything under the sun from you? Of dealing with people who can at times be clueless, inconsiderate, or simply have no significant thought for you to ponder? Of having to deal with yet another person pointing out the obvious? "Your daughter is quiet" (of my middle daughter).

What you end up saying is "Yes, she is". What you'd like to say, on the other hand, is something along the lines of "The sun is shining and the sky is blue. Her eyes are blue too. Her hair is cinnamon-colored. And your point is???"

The seahorse::play date at the park

Being quiet is not a disease waiting to be cured with medication. There is no need to fill every waking moment with distractions. When is the last time you sat in utter silence even for 5 minutes? What about a mere 60 seconds? It's enlightening...at least it can be. Kind of like hot yoga.

Although the above quote referred to how to survive in prison, it can easily be applied to the daily grind. Sometimes you are able to change a situation. Other times, the situation is out of your hands. Complaining about it nonstop will do nothing for your peace of mind and physical health. So, when you face a challenging or annoying situation, do something to change it or stop complaining (unless you're German). Go for a bike ride. Or better yet, go bake a cake. It will make you feel better. Especially if the cake turns out better than you'd expected.

Today's cake was yet another of my rustic cakes. I haven't used a mixer of any kind for quite some time and am liking it. For version #4 of my banana cake, I used mascarpone instead of the usual full-fat yogurt. The crumble factor was low to non-existant. Of course, my son skillfully manages to make crumbs out of anything. Half of the cake was gone by the time dinner was over.

Showing off his strength? Or not realizing he could push the Plasma Car to the garage?

I was thinking of making a Grand Marnier puffy pancake (also known as a Dutch baby) for dinner. I even went out to get another cast iron skillet to make two as we've always been left wanting for more with one pancake. Reluctantly, I decided against that idea and instead made a slightly modified version of my Potato Cabbage Gratin. Instead of baking both the cabbage mixture with the mashed potatoes on top, I simply served the cabbage mixture on top of the mashed potatoes - directly in a soup bowl. The girls had leftover spaghetti with Parmesan (with Cinnamon later deciding she wanted mashed potatoes as well) and Sagey had...you guessed it - a flour tortilla. Oh, and cake. He will never refuse cake. If he did, I'd worry that he's sick.