Saturday Soliloquy

I need more coffee this morning. Is there more coffee? Never mind. I'll make tea. Then, after I suck down two cups I can put the tea bags on my weary eyes.

So, after 22 miles on Wednesday, 54 on Thursday, and 65.75 yesterday I feel surprisingly good - a bit weary with some sore spots, but quite functional. The biggest surprise is my eyes. I rode through several construction zones and I think the dust and exhaust fumes irritated them. At any rate, some eye drops and tea bags should do the trick.

As of this morning, ALL our fundraising is done - unless, of course, YOU still want to give to the American Lung Association; We're still more than happy to receive pledges. It's just that we have finally passed the minimum and don't HAVE to raise any more. :-D

Halleluiah!!!!!



I'll let them dance for me...I'm resting today!

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Got the quilts done and turned in. Please don't look too closely - I put a great deal of stock in the saying, "Done is better then Perfect"!

I made 2 like this with different backings:



Then I did these two from materials the girls picked out:



Considering the fact that quilting is not my forte, I think they came out pretty good. :-D

Soon (as in the beginning of next week) the quilts will be in Swaziland warming some adorable little orphans. We have friends (the Qs) who are missionaries there and other friends (GoatLady and Sarah) who are flying to spend a month with them to help them get a goat herd started. Wish I could ride along with them!

Sarah just graduated from homeschool and already has her CNA license. I was privileged to make her graduation cake:



It was French vanilla with raspberry filling. Quite tasty if I say so myself!

I also had the honor of making a birthday treat for one of the gals on our worship team. Usually the birthday goodies are made by our sweet and talented Mary, but she had hurt her neck. So she passed on the request for strawberry shortcake to me.

I spent the whole morning in a quandry; Should I make shortcake biscuits? or cake? I prefer cake, but maybe the birthday gal grew up with biscuits. Which one should I do? Aaaack!!!

So I pulled out the cookbooks and hemmed and hawed and wasted time on Facebook and prayed and pondered and finally settled on making a homemade spongecake.

It. was. incredible.

Happily, birthday gal LOVED it. :-D So did Mulletman. So did my girlies.

Looks like I'll be making that spongecake again!

Here's the recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks in the whole wide world, Joy of Cooking by Rombauer and Becker. I have the 1975 edition. There are variations to the recipe, but I'm only writing out the one I actually made. Remember to have your eggs at room temperature for maximum volume:

Sponge Cake

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Grate 1 tsp lemon rind into one cup sifted sugar. (Yes, I sifted mine.)

In a large bowl beat 5 egg yolks until VERY light.

Gradually beat in the sugar.

Beat in 1/4 cup of boiling water.

When cool (it won't take long), add 1 Tbl lemon juice.

In another bowl: Sift before measuring: 1 cup flour

Resift flour with 1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt

Add the sifted ingredients slowly to the yold mixture. Stir until well blended.

In a separate bowl, whip 5 egg whites until stiff but not dry.

Gently fold the whites into the yolk mixture.

Scrape batter into an UNgreased tube pan.

Bake about 45 minutes.

Hang pan upside down until cool, then gently remove cake.

Bon Appetite!

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Ok...I guess that's all I have to say for the moment. However, I am also posting on my Trekker blog. You may want to pop over there to read how I almost killed a fellow cyclist yesterday... (That post probably won't be up until 9-ish am EST )