Maximum Frosting

I was in a nasty mood Saturday and needed something to binge on. Looking through the cupboards came up with nothing. No chips, no cookies, no chocolate, no nothing. I wandered the house aimlessly looking for something to help cheer me up but again I came up empty. Back to searching the cupboard for me.

On the second pass through the food cupboard I noticed a tub of chocolate frosting that had successfully hid from me the first time. This was no ordinary tub of frosting though; it was one of the oversized tubs us chocolate lovers use to smoother our Duncan Hines cakes with (or are they Better Crocker cakes, whatever). After a short thought, I figured I shouldn’t just sit down and go to work on the tub of frosting because I was sure to polish it off. I doubt the wife would be too impressed when she got home from work and discovered me sprawled on my back in front of the TV with an empty tub of frosting being tossed around by the cat.

In the end, I decided I should bake a cake and just eat any remaining frosting. So off I went to bake a cake. Unfortunately, we don’t have the round pans I am used to so I had to bake the cake in a 9x13 pan. Little did I know at the start of this baking adventure that this size of pan was going to help me maximize my frosting to cake ratio. I assembled the ingredients and mixed them all together, strictly adhering to the instructions on the box, and put the thick chocolate mess into the oven to cook. I then started brainstorming how I could make this rectangular shaped cake into a masterpiece.

When I was done, my cake was far from a masterpiece but it sure tasted good. Instead of cutting the cake into fours and spreading frosting between every layer like I was envisioning, I just cut the cake in half. I then spread frosting on the bottom of both halves, stood them on their cut ends with the frosting acting as glue, and proceeded to spread icing on all visible surfaces. Before I was done, there was icing on every surface except the bottom and the bottom was only about four inches in width, tapering in at the edges. Every bite yields ample frosting. The only downside to it all was that I was so excited about spreading a plethora of frosting on the cake that all I left myself to eat was a small tablespoon. Ah well, the little bit of frosting still tasted wonderful and the cake is perhaps the best cake (from a box) that I have ever had.

Lost Time

As I emerged from a meeting this afternoon, a person from my past crept back into my mind. It wasn't exactly the person that tickled my memory but rather what this person said after a similarly boring meeting a couple years ago: “there is one hour of my life I would like to get back”. Yet again I am left to wonder why I am even a part of these meetings.

February 2008 Quotes

hard work is what separates good from great. - Dan Dawson

Be curious always! For knowledge will not acquire you; you must acquire it. - Sudie Black

When things go wrong, you'll find they usually go on getting worse for some time; but when things once start going right they often go on getting better and better. - C.S. Lewis (The Magician's Nephew)

We need people in our lives with whom we can be as open as possible. To have real conversation with people may seem like such a simple, obvious suggestion, but it involves courage and risk. - Thomas Moore

Other things may change us, but we start and end with family. - Anthony Brandt

What another would have done as well as you, do not do it. What another would have said as well as you, do not say it; written as well, do not write it. Be faithful to that which exists nowhere but in yourself…and thus make yourself indispensable. - Andre Gide

The great tragedy in life is not death but never having lived. - Edgar Dale

I have always believed that if an adult has thought carefully about his future, then he knows what is best for himself. - Pierre Elliott Trudeau

To test what is true, you must listen to your heart, your inner voice, for that is where the spiritual world is usually manifested. - Darryl Brock

Nobody has ever domesticated mankind. We are thus a wild species, as wild as the day we first went howling across the savanna. - Whitley Strieber (Communion)

And when I leave this planet, y'know I'd stay but I just can't stand it - Oasis (Half the World Away)

Saying goodbye, why is it sad?
Makes us remember the good times we've had
Much more to say, foolish to try
It's time for saying goodbye.
- "Saying Goodbye" from The Muppets Take Manhattan

I’m convinced...that there are some things you have to do decisively, without cooperative federalism. You’ve got to do it alone, otherwise it will never be done. - Pierre Elliott Trudeau

Others have it worse than me…which is not to say this is good, don’t get that idea, but others have it worse. - Stephen King (Apt Pupil)

What if I could give it back to you?
Pluck out the pain...
...and give you another life?
One you could never imagine.
- from Interview With a Vampire

Send me better men to deal with and I will be a better man. - John Alexander Macdonald

I believe that we are successful when our ways are suited to the times and circumstances, and unsuccessful when they are not. - Niccolo Machiavelli (The Prince)

Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless. - Mother Teresa

Treat a child as though he already is the person he's capable of becoming. - Haim Ginott