Holy crap

Lola 020
Originally uploaded by bzarcher

Dinner at Lola was incredible. Worth the 5 hour round trip, without question. As we drove home after dropping my mom off at the house, I didn't think today could get any better. I was thinking about how I'd blog the meal and explain everything. (I may well cheat and feed Alex my pictures and let him do the work with his notes!)

Then, after we got in, Alex and I sat down to open my presents....and a day I didn't think could get better did.

That is my new tuxedo black Artisan KSM150 Kitchenaid mixer.

That is the cure for almost 18 years of Appliance Lust. Ever since I saw the Frugal Gourmet using one, I wanted one. I told myself that someday I'd have a house and I'd buy one. Even after I learned how freaking expensive they are, I promised myself that sometime I would get one.

I'd been very close to buying one with my tax return, until I made the decision to just save it. Then I talked about getting one with Alex and was kind of looking at buying one when I got my bonus.

Turns out that Alex and my family had already covered it.

Tomorrow, we are grocery shopping. The only question is just what I will make with it -first-.

Then we need to figure out what attachments we should get next...oh, yes....

From Thursday to Friday to Today, and everything that happened, it may just be the best birthday ever.

Ooo.

The Theory of War As Conducted in StarCraft.

That looks like a really neat course, even if I don't have some of the math background this guy is using and would probably get quickly lost.

Tweets for Today

• 16:26 @BethanyM85 Nope. Rain. #
• 20:44 Dinner at Lola was worth waiting 4 months. #
• 01:47 Sorry about tweet explosion. Twitpic and Twinkle apparently went to war. #
• 01:48 @cbj1 - I had one of the best meals of my life with my family, and then got something I have wanted since I knew it existed. #
• 02:05 So remember how I mentioned how an amazing night got even better? This is why: flickr.com/photos/bzarcher/3298882231/ #
• 11:46 @worldmegan - Avocado chocolate dip? Can I get that recipe? #

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Because this weekend wasn't "Holy shit!" enough...

I got another present, aside from the mixer.

Turns out it's this.

Holy shit.

Weeble

...I can't decide what to make.

There is SO MUCH STUFF I can suddenly make.

I have no idea what to start with. I keep going "Yeah!" and making a shopping list and then going "Ooh, but wait I could do..." and making another list and then thinking of something else...

First project: Can....whoops....um, well. CAKE!

Well, after going to the GFS and Kroger for various supplies for the week + my mad science needs, Alex and I came home and I was going to make the mint drop candies detailed in the cookbook that came with the mixer.

Unfortunately, I added about double the cream cheese because I read 1 package of cream cheese, and not "one very small package of cream cheese." It tasted great, but it wasn't going to set up to be formed.

Of course, then we realized that I'd made an awesome mint cream cheese frosting.

After moving the frosting to a covered bowl for storage, I broke down the mixer, cleaned everything, and within about 5 minutes I had a pan of cake batter going into the oven.

The results should be done in about 10 more minutes, then we'll let it cool and see just what we got. :)

Edit: Ohhh, man. It's good! It's -damn- good.

I think the 'accidental' frosting is going to be kept around as a recipe for some time when I want to make chocolate mint brownies.