The Holiday Thread

Lord, cake sounds so good. Chocolate is my favorite kind of cake and considering how many calories are in a slice of cake, it's the only flavor I eat unless I'm a guest somewhere and feel obligated.

Funnily, I love baking more than eating sweet treats. I'm the kind of person who needs to follow up with a sandwich after a piece of cake.

Do you have a favorite cocoa powder that you use? I'm looking for something that will make my cakes and frosting richer tasting. I've been using Scharffen Berger cocoa and it tastes good to me but I'm always looking for new ideas.

I use this one, but it's a Dutch brand with a factory in Germany, so I'm not sure it's readily available in the US. I am however interested in trying the Valronha one because I love their chocolate.

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I went low carb for Lent but I started a week late so I have one more week to go. Happily, I've lost some weight but I'm going to have to be very careful to not gain it back. I'm going to continue with the intermittent fasting, though, because it seems to be working for me. I'll even go back to low carb if I have to because I am determined to lose this weight once and for all.

I have eaten worse than around Christmas because I was so stressed out (had a minor yet annoying legal case that cost me unnecessary money - I won, but as it never went to court I still pay my lawyer -, had to rush our cat to the clinic at midnight because she came home injured after missing for two days and we thought she might have been hit by a car, elderly relatives caught Covid, threw my back out and have been hobbling around worse than my grandma for days...just one thing after another)...I plan to get back on track on Wednesday and check in with my weight the first Sunday of May.

I like to research my food projects so naturally I googled inpiration pics and found this stunning blog/Insta:

Liv for Cake
 
Thank you, I had my right knee replaced last Aug and now my left knee replaced a week ago. Arthritis strikes with a vengeance sometimes. All good now. Itching to get back in the kitchen. I love baking/cooking.

Glad to hear you've made a complete recovery! Getting one knee replacement at a time is definitely the way to do it. One of my relatives had both knees replaced at once and it was an incredibly rough recovery for her.
 
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Funnily, I love baking more than eating sweet treats. I'm the kind of person who needs to follow up with a sandwich after a piece of cake.



I use this one, but it's a Dutch brand with a factory in Germany, so I'm not sure it's readily available in the US. I am however interested in trying the Valronha one because I love their chocolate.

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I have eaten worse than around Christmas because I was so stressed out (had a minor yet annoying legal case that cost me unnecessary money - I won, but as it never went to court I still pay my lawyer -, had to rush our cat to the clinic at midnight because she came home injured after missing for two days and we thought she might have been hit by a car, elderly relatives caught Covid, threw my back out and have been hobbling around worse than my grandma for days...just one thing after another)...I plan to get back on track on Wednesday and check in with my weight the first Sunday of May.

I like to research my food projects so naturally I googled inpiration pics and found this stunning blog/Insta:

Liv for Cake


Wow, that IG page is amazing! She really does beautiful work.

It sounds like life has been crazy for you lately but I hope it calms down and you get a chance to recover. A pulled back takes so long to heal, at least for me. Is everyone fully recovered from Covid? Is your kitty recovered?

What a relief that you won your legal case. I'd be stress eating like crazy if just one of these things happened to me. let alone all of them at once.

I found a Bensdorp cocoa at Amazon but it has different packaging than yours. Amazon also has the Valrhona cocoa but I'm trying to use Amazon less even though it's so convenient. I'll have to search to see if I can find it somewhere else. Thanks for the recommendations!
 
Wow, that IG page is amazing! She really does beautiful work.

Yeah, I'm a fan. I bookmarked several pictures because they are just so pretty.

Is everyone fully recovered from Covid? Is your kitty recovered?

They are on the mend and thankfully had a mild case it seems. Not sure if they already tested negative again.

Cat is fine too besides an area just above the tail that is still hot and swollen...we can't figure out if something bit her, someone pulled her tail or it's a bruise from whatever happened to her. We were not impressed to learn they missed that area while doing "complete" x-rays and examinations and charging us 450 bucks.

I've been doing parts of the cake inbetween stretching our my geriatric feeling back...made the Genoise sponge (much prefer that to simple sponge as the tiny amount of butter goes a long way in making it extra soft) and custard for the German buttercream, and I think I'll assemble tomorrow.
 
Yeah, I'm a fan. I bookmarked several pictures because they are just so pretty.



They are on the mend and thankfully had a mild case it seems. Not sure if they already tested negative again.

Cat is fine too besides an area just above the tail that is still hot and swollen...we can't figure out if something bit her, someone pulled her tail or it's a bruise from whatever happened to her. We were not impressed to learn they missed that area while doing "complete" x-rays and examinations and charging us 450 bucks.

I've been doing parts of the cake inbetween stretching our my geriatric feeling back...made the Genoise sponge (much prefer that to simple sponge as the tiny amount of butter goes a long way in making it extra soft) and custard for the German buttercream, and I think I'll assemble tomorrow.

Did they give your cat steroids to help the swelling? For $450, I'd expect some spectacular vet work, although that does sound comparable to what our emergency vet charges. I'm lucky to have the same vet for over 20 years who charges very reasonable prices but he's booked weeks in advance so we have the emergency vet as (very expensive) backup.
 
Did they give your cat steroids to help the swelling? For $450, I'd expect some spectacular vet work, although that does sound comparable to what our emergency vet charges. I'm lucky to have the same vet for over 20 years who charges very reasonable prices but he's booked weeks in advance so we have the emergency vet as (very expensive) backup.

Nope, just painkillers. We think they never noticed - we only noticed it the next morning too because when we first saw her we were completely focussed on the dirt everywhere and the fact she was barely able to walk.We had to drive an hour to the next open clinic because literally none of the local vets is still doing emergency calls. Our own vet has an emergency number but tends to not answer late at night (it was midnight, so we waited 15 mins and then started looking), and all the other clinics only take emergencies until 9 p.m. Can you imagine having a horribly injured or poisoned pet or a pet with seizures and having to drive an hour? WTF.
 
Nope, just painkillers. We think they never noticed - we only noticed it the next morning too because when we first saw her we were completely focussed on the dirt everywhere and the fact she was barely able to walk.We had to drive an hour to the next open clinic because literally none of the local vets is still doing emergency calls. Our own vet has an emergency number but tends to not answer late at night (it was midnight, so we waited 15 mins and then started looking), and all the other clinics only take emergencies until 9 p.m. Can you imagine having a horribly injured or poisoned pet or a pet with seizures and having to drive an hour? WTF.

One of the selling points for our house was the fact that there is a 24-hour emergency vet 5 minutes from it. When we drove there at 4:00 am with our beloved dog while he was having a seizure, it seemed like the longest drive of my life. Or at least it did until we drove home without him. Now I drive out of my way to avoid seeing it.

I'm so sorry they missed her tail injury but I hope your cat has a speedy recovery! If she's anything like my cat, the tail is a huge part of her personality.
 
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Ugh, this breaks my heart.

It was one of the most difficult times of my life because only a few days earlier, I suddenly lost my eldest sibling to a stroke. My sick, sweet dog held on until the first day of DH's vacation. It was almost as if he knew I wouldn't be alone and he could let go.

To get back on topic, were you able to get the cake made in between back spasms? What's on the brunch menu?

I made the spinach frittata for breakfast and DH requested filet mignon for dinner so that's our plan for the day. I try to only eat poultry but DH isn't quite on board with that yet so I have to compromise occasionally. There will be plenty of broccoli and potatoes for me to eat. I'll probably have a few bites of filet before I split the rest of it between DH and the dogs. None of them ever say no to my leftovers :P
 
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Pets are miraculous, aren't they? I am positive he hang on until he felt you had the support you needed. I'm so sorry you had to go through two devastating losses in such a short amount of time.

I did make the cake (took pics also) and will try to post in a bit (I'm forever running late and have 15 mins to get dressed and over to the birthday person's home haha).

We just did breakfast and added yogurt, fruit salad and homemade granola...brunch for the lazy :lol:
 
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