Zig, Zag, Flee

It's not so much that I was hearing voices. I mean, that's not . . . you know . . . healthy. But, truth is, I wasn't. Healthy. Physically. 

Mentally, I was doing OK. A little depressed, a lot exhausted, but mostly OK. Well, except for the messages. 

Not auditory messages, visual. Delivered through a daily game I played. Seemingly mocking me at first, but later offering some pretty sound advice.

 

So, two things. The first one I'll give you the bare minimum in terms of information. Because I neither want to relive, nor will you want to hear all the gory details. And it was gory around here. 

Little by little, in the end of November through the middle of this month, we were sick. We being PurDude, (who was home from Boulder for 2 weeks for his brother's birthday, Thanksgiving, and Hanukkah), and then College Boy, and finally me.

PurDude's first morning here, he had respiratory symptoms. On his day 8, his brother exploded in the middle of the night, gastrointestinally. On day 11, I had respiratory distress and PurDude, still having his respiratory issues, was also exploding gastrointestinally. He went to an urgent care and they did lab work. All negative. He didn't have Covid, strep, flu, RSV . . . apparently, we were all suffering from . . . nothing.

 

Not to be deterred, I still made all the celebration meals, desserts, and snacks. So, at least I was functioning. And somehow it all got eaten. Whoever was well enough on any given day, ate whatever I'd made. Well, along with their jug of Gatorade.

Almond Cranberry Sauce Cookies

 

On day 15, with just some minor congestion, PurDude ran for his life, escaped, drove back to Boulder. Two days later, not to be left out, I joined the explosion party. And two days after that College Boy went for round two.

At the 3 week mark, everyone was pretty much better except for me, I was still coughing and congested.

Now the second thing: I play a lot of word games and post my results twice a day to my Baking In A Tornado Facebook page, where some friends there share their scores too. I wrote about it in Wordle, Nerdle, Curdle. I even wrote You Are What You Phrase, about the game Phrazle, which is the specific game choosing to mock me a few weeks ago.

I clicked on Phrazle this particular morning, PurDude was back in Colorado, College Boy was back at work but I, a week behind them, was still sick, and exhausted, and sad that our holiday celebrations were . . . how do I say this? . . . a shit fest. And although I was ready to play the game, figure out the elusive phrase of the day, I just kept saying to myself over and over again "how did this happen? How can we all be so sick with (according to the lab tests) absolutely nothing? Where did this come from?"

And there it was, the solution to the puzzle? Or a cosmic answer?

OK, that's just mean. Yeah, maybe we zigged when we should have zagged, but it's not like we had any warning. I mean, none of us are aware of having seen some big cloud of medical crud headed our way, so how could we have known to initiate evasive tactics?

Believe me, we would have. Zigged, zagged, or just flat out run for our lives.

The next day, since we clearly didn't zig, zag, or flee, Phrazle shared the only strategy left to me:

And the following day, I guess the advice was not to dwell on a ruined holiday season. Once I was better, apparently the puzzle gods recommended that I:

 

Finally, finally feeling just a little bit better, and hoping that with the illness was going the percieved subliminal messaging, I got to the Phrazle portion of my daily game routines. Hoping against hope, but afraid to look in the mirror, I wondered if I was starting to look human again. Seems Phrazle had reverted to snarky:

Oh, and btw, were you wondering about Hubs? Bet you can guess who it was who'd been tending to the boys while they were exploding. Well, let's just say this: Hubs . . . perfectly fine, from start to finish, not so much as one single wayward sneeze, dammit.

Almond Cranberry Sauce Cookies         

                                                                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients: 

2 sticks butter, softened

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup jellied cranberry sauce, room temperature

1/4 tsp almond extract

1 egg, room temperature

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup white chocolate chips

1/4 cup sliced almonds, chopped

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cover baking sheets with parchment paper.

*Cream the butter, sugar, cranberry sauce, and almond extract until smooth. Beat in the egg.

*Starting at the lowest speed, beat in the flour, baking soda, and salt until it forms a dough. Mix in the white chocolate chips and chopped sliced almonds.

*Bake for 11 - 13 minutes, until the edges start to brown. Allow to sit on the baking sheets for 2 minutes before removing to cool completely.

The Alternative to Alternative Facts

There is no such thing as "alternative facts". 

But . . . 

I don't say this often about commercials. They usually just serve as a bathroom or snack break. But I have been enjoying the CNN "facts first" commercials. They are right about their premise, we cannot change facts. And really, it's futile, a waste of time, to argue them. Here's the "but": although it makes no sense to argue facts, it makes every bit of sense argue about them. In fact, we should. It's what's we value the most about our democracy, and it's this practice that keeps us a democracy.

Sadly, it seems that we have lost the ability to debate.

If I break this down to its core, to something that comes up often in parenting, I bet most people can relate. If there was half of a cake left when I walked out of the kitchen an hour ago, and only crumbs when I walk back in an hour later, there's going to be a conversation. The boys could come up with a lot of reasons it's gone: friends were over and they all had a small piece, or Dad ate it (a favorite, despite the fact that Dad's not home), they accidentally dropped a piece on the floor while moving it to the plate, there are many things we can discuss. But if they try to tell me it's not all gone, we're done. Denying the truth is a conversation stopper.

White Chocolate Sprinkle Cake

I just don't see how persuasive discourse can be fruitful if those involved in the discussion are talking about different things.

If you don't start with a fact, you're building your case on nothing. Ultimately, it will fall apart. And it seems to me an act of cowardice, denying a truth. Whether you like it or not, admit it. Only then can there be validity in any position against it.

There's not a lot of change that can happen if we can't even come to terms with a what it is that is factual. And what's frightening to me, a true assault on democracy, would be a constant and continual blitz to deny facts, effectively diverting the conversation from the value that lies in debate. We do ourselves a grave disservice if we can't articulate our position because we're too busy arguing about what it is we're polarized about in the first place.  

We, in this country, are talking in circles. And we're getting louder and angrier and moving further and further apart. We're not discussing, we're not persuading, we're arguing. Why? Because we don't start with facts. It is not a sign of approval just to admit that something is currently so. We will find ourselves in a much better position if we can agree on what is and move on to debating what should be. 

There are no alternative facts, but there are alternate opinions. 

I hope we can get to them.

White Chocolate Sprinkle Cake         
                                    ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
1 cup milk, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup multicolored sprinkles

2 TBSP butter
1 (7 oz) jar marshmallow creme
2 cups powdered sugar
up to 3 TBSP milk
2 TBSP multicolored nonpareils 

Directions:
*Grease and flour a bundt pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
*Melt white chocolate chips until smooth when stirred.
*Cream the 1 1/2 stick butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs, milk and vanilla, then beat in 1 1/2 cups of the flour.
*Beat the melted white chocolate in, followed by the remaining flour, the salt and baking powder. Beat for 2 minutes. Fold in the colored sprinkles.
*Pour evenly into prepared pan. Bake for 35 - 45 minutes or until the center springs back to the touch.
*Cool for 10 minutes, then run a knife around all the edges, remove from the pan and cool completely.
*Spray a bowl, beaters and spatula with non-stick spray. Beat the remaining butter with the marshmallow creme and 1 TBSP milk. Carefully beat in 1 cup powdered sugar, followed by another TBSP milk, then the second cup of powdered sugar. If it's too thick, you can add the third TBSP milk. Place in a plastic bag, snip the corner and drizzle over the cake. Sprinkle with the colored nonpareils.

White Chocolate Peppermint Cake

12 Cakes of December

Please, please do not scroll down, look at how long this recipe is and “X” out. It’s long, I’ll have to give you that, but it’s simple. Believe me, I only do easy.

And while you’re not looking, don’t notice that there’s alcohol in this cake and think it’s not for you. I’ve given a non-alcoholic option to the recipe and it’s every bit as good. Pinky swear.

When Crumbs in my Mustachio asked me to be part of her “12 Cakes of December” project I was honored. Then I was terrified. I took a look at the other (read that to mean “real”) bakers in this project and i immediately moved on to being intimidated. I pretty much settled there, even tried to back out a few times. But here’s the thing, I always told my kids that when faced with a challenge you move forward and conquer your fears. Damn, my own words have come back to haunt me.

So here’s my contribution to the 12 Cakes of December. Hear me out, I’m going to take you through all the steps, if for nothing else than to prove that I can do it. Check out the other cakes: 9 are already posted, 2 more are coming, links to all can be found both at the end of this post and if you scroll down my Facebook page. If you feel as thought I didn’t embarrass myself, we’ll call it good.

Make the cake first. You’ll need 3 9-inch cake pans, alcohol if you choose to use it, and some pretty basic cake ingredients:

While the cake is baking, you can make the frosting and the filling:

Once completely cooled, the layers are sprinkled with white chocolate cocoa mixed with alcohol, but you can use just the cocoa or skip this step altogether:

Assemble the cake and filling and you’re ready to frost:

Please note that this is a dense cake, not a light and fluffy cake. My family loved it. Since I made the  . . . ahem . . . combustible version, none were allowed to drive for a week after. 

Links to the other beautiful cakes:

12/1 Lemony Thyme's Chocolate Truffle Pirouette Cake
12/2 Cooking from a SAHM's Strawberry 'n Cream Cake with Tea Berries
12/3 Moore or Less Cooking's Coconut Tres Leches Cake
12/4 365 Days of Baking & More's S'more's Cake
12/5 It's Yummi's Pomegranate Lime Bundt Cake
12/6 The Rowdy Baker's Brownie Bombe
12/7 Hun . . . What's for dinner's Chocolate Roll with Candy Cane Whipped Cream
12/8 Chocolate, chocolate and more's Egg Nog Pound Cake
12/9 Manila Spoon's No Bake White Chocolate Cranberry Cheesecake
12/10 My White Chocolate Peppermint Cake!
12/11 Crumbs in my Mustachio's Hot Cocoalicious
12/12 Tampa Cake Girl's Red Velvet White Chocolate Cheesecake

White Chocolate Peppermint Cake

                                        ©www.BakingInATornado.com

 
Printable Recipe
 
Ingredients, Cake:
1 stick butter, softened
1 1/2 cups of sugar
4 eggs
¼ cup oil
¼ cup water
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup White Chocolate Liqueur OPT: 1/4 cup water
¼ cup Whipped Cream Vodka  OPT: ¼ cup water
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 pkg white chocolate instant pudding mix
2 TBSP Peppermint Schnapps OPT: ¼ tsp peppermint extract
 
Ingredients, Filling:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
½ cup powdered sugar
¼ cup Peppermint schnapps OPT: 1 tsp peppermint extract
1/3 cup peppermint candies crushed fairly finely (About 10 candies)
1 cup heavy cream
OPT: red food coloring
 
Ingredients, Frosting:
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup powdered sugar
¼ cup Whipped Cream flavored Vodka  OPT: 1 tsp vanilla extract
 
Ingredients, Assembly:
3 TBSP White Chocolate Hot Cocoa (make according to package directions) mixed with 3 TBSP White Chocolate Liqueur OPT: use just the cocoa or skip this part altogether
2 TBSP White Chocolate Hot Cocoa mixed with 2 TBSP Peppermint Schnapps OPT: use just the cocoa or skip this part altogether
 
Directions, Cake:
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 3 9-inch round cake pans.
*Beat the softened butter with the sugar until smooth.
*Beat in the eggs, milk, water, oil and liqueur (or water).
*With mixers on low, incorporate the flour, baking powder, salt and pudding mix. Then raise speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes.
*Put 1/3 of the mix each into 2 of the baking pans. Mix the Peppermint Schnapps into the remaining 1/3 and pour into the third prepared pan. NOTE: WHEN PUTTING THIS PAN INTO THE OVEN AND WHEN TAKING IT OUT, REMEMBER WHICH PAN HOLDS THE PEPPERMINT LAYER.
*Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the center springs back to the touch. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove and cool completely.
 
Directions, Filling:
*Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar and peppermint schnapps until smooth. Mix in crushed candies. Add red food coloring if desired.
*In a separate bowl, beat heavy cream until stiff peaks form.
*Fold heavy cream into the cream cheese mixture.
 
Directions, Frosting:
*Beat all ingredients until stiff peaks form.
 
Directions, Assembly:
*Put one of the 2 layers without the peppermint onto a plate. Pierce the top with a fork and very slowly drizzle half of the cocoa/white chocolate liqueur mixture over the top and allow to sink in.
*Cover with ½ of the filling mixture.
*Put the layer of the cake with the peppermint in it on top, pierce and drizzle the cocoa/peppermint mixture and allow to sink in. Cover with the other half of the filling mixture.
*Top with final layer of cake, pierce and drizzle with the rest of the coca mixture.
*Frost sides and top with the frosting.  Decorate according to your preferences.
*Keep Refrigerated.