They should call it hell food cake and mention that a beater is required.

Today conquered (halfway) a cake. My (not really because I’m not married to my boyfriend) nephew turned three yesterday. My (not really for the aforementioned reason) sister made a beautiful cake that sat on one of those pretty round cake holder-upper things. Anyway, upon seeing this creation I became immediately jealous and decided I could do that too. Commence an evening with Scott that was hormonal before and after a trip to my local and expensive Paul’s Market for oddities such as cake flour, cream of tartar, and egg whites. Turns out that angel food cake is meringue based, and that is the easy part. I called my mother several times as I happened upon weird details.

A tube pan? Yeah, that’s the weird cake pan your mother owns that has a whole in the middle but isn’t rounded like a bunt cake. Don’t have one of those. So I decided to go to bed and think about it in the morning.

Nine hours later…

As I pulled my owl apron over my head and pressed play on Scott’s ITunes, I was excited and ready for whatever came out of my oven. The beating of the eggs with tar-tar for encouragement went really well. Things looked like they should. Then the words “Don’t underbeat” glared at me for a good ten minutes. How was I supposed to know if my meringue was firm but smooth? I did what any college graduate would do: asked someone else and went with what they said to prevent self-fault.

Scott said it looked good. So, I began folding in my sugar mixture. Folding isn’t as hard as it sounds. Think stirring with no frenzy whatsoever.

Mom warned me to not fill my not-a-fucking-tube-pan very full because the rising of angel food cake is XTREME. (Not an actual quote but true to the impact.) So I split my already-halved batter into halves and baked that fluffy beaten and folded whiteness into submission.

So it burned… But only slightly and only in one corner!

And talk about the skinniest cake you’ve ever seen. SRSLY. One-fourth the thickness of a normal round cake is just awkward. The upside? You eat about twenty-five percent the amount you normally would. I recommend it for those monitoring the sugar intake. For the recipe I used, just ask Betty Crocker. She’s probably as irritating as my grandma is sometimes, but wow she knows stuff about the kitchen.

Oh! I almost forgot the best part: FROSTING. My frosting was extra awesome. I combined 1 large jar of marshmallow cream with one box of cream cheese and dashes of lime juice to taste. Food coloring suggested for the adventurous. If you’re like me, I would urge you to just make the frosting and eat it with graham crackers. YUMMY.

Views and Good Eats

So, in case there are any readers out there in the blogosphere that actually take the time to read this post, some background: I am Soul Friend Sarah. The other poster here is Soul Friend Jen. We met while working a horrid retail job at a local mall in a desert. We were surrounded by teenage girls who drank themselves into stupors and sexed it up without protection. So we bonded due to lack of crazy sex stories and drinking only on weekends and with our pretentious maturity. Four years later, this is our blog.

Recently I found myself with a bachelors degree and funemployed looking for work among the laid-off fortysomethings who actually have work experience. Sure, my degree says I work hard... to me. While perusing craigslist for the umpteenth time in a day and wanting to throw my virtual resume down a toilet while chugging as much gin as my large girl frame could handle without dying, I decided to take a trip. A trip to see my college roommates in Seattle. Away from the boy. Away from the house. Away from the craigslist. Though as it turns out, I've applied to ten jobs while being here.

I digress.

I fell back into my friends' company like we never separated. We went to Costco - there's a Costco here! - stopped to buy some vino, and prepared a great meal. We made a concoction that I like to call Mother Fucking Sweet. But a more appropriate person would call it a Queso Vegetarian Delight. When planning for dinner, Rachel mentioned she had half a can of black beans. I said, let's add queso and whole wheat tortillas.

Commence Costco trip followed by experimental cooking.

Recipe:
Melt milk and cheddar cheese in volumes that work for you with a sliced jalapeno pepper. MMM
Fry drained blackbeans and corn in ratio of your choice. Less corn = less starch.
Cook wild rice.
Heat tortillas.
Add salsa while saying something awesome like OPA!
Put together and don't forget a fabulous red that you find for less than ten dollars.
Enjoy with your best friends while making fun of republicans.

Best. Meal. Ever.

Afterwords, I would personally recommend googling John Stewart impersonating Glenn Beck but if that's not your style, try just enjoying good conversation with people you love and falling asleep facing a beautiful city skyline.

More Seattle to come.

Phoebe Photos and Bacon!

Though overcast and windy outside, inside the daylight shined through the blinds and Phoebe looked fabulous near the potted plants!


She's the queen of the dying mums! Don't worry, new plants (a peace lily and some cozmos) replaced those poor mums as of 4 this afternoon.










Along with overlooking this sad sight, Phoebe was a good sport in a mini photo shoot near the ordinary.

And if that wasn't enough for a relaxing Sunday, dinner was an experiment in Food Network's Giada's pancetta & balsamic vinaigrette dressing, or bacon in my case. I poured it over whole wheat pasta and roasted broccoli. A nice semi-fancy dinner for a evening re-watching Sex and the City.

Pardon the poor lighting on the living room floor =)