I think we have all agreed over the years that I... am... a... nightmare. Remember the extra eyebrow incident? The ankle email sent to every American in Turkey debacle? The Worm? Those are just three examples off the top of my head. Now we have the Breakfast of Champions.You know how when you are at someone else's house and you try to do a good thing it never turns out the way you expected? Welcome to my life. Even though we were traveling to the in-laws for Thanksgiving, we wanted to have our traditional and delicious sour cream coffee cake. We brought most of the ingredients from home (so as not to pillage my in-laws baking supplies) and got to work late Wednesday night. I was a little lost in the kitchen but MH (my honey) was very helpful in pointing me in the right direction of the mixer, butter etc. Then we realized I forgot the cup of sugar, so I rummaged around on the counter and found a big canister of coffee and a small canister of sugar. Figures. MH has been drinking espresso since he was 8, so the larger coffee canister didn't really faze me. The batter was a little thick (kind of like dough) so we added more sour cream and then went into the other room to watch Rachael Ray while the cake cooked.
Sidenote: We love Rachael Ray's book - Express Lane Meals, but I am not so sure how I feel about her. Actually, I guess I don't like any tv chefs (is that cheves?). They make it seem so easy, and I am sure they don't cube all that food themselves. I'd like to have invisible help in the kitchen, too. Plus, she does wasteful things like throw salt over her shoulder. She didn't spill it or sneeze or anything, so technically I don't think the devil is after her. She seems to have pretty good luck, anyway. Like I said... wasteful. You know, Rachael, someone has to clean that up!
By now my cake was finished. We went in to taste it - you know, just to make sure it was done all the way through. I took a huge bite and immediately spit it out. MH thought that I was joking around because we often play the "Oh, that's disgusting, you won't want any" game so we can keep all the good food to ourselves. You can probably tell where this story is going, but I was blinded by the aroma of cinnamon. The only thing that crossed my mind was, "That must have been a bad spot." As if coffee cake has a "bad spot." The only thing that crossed MH's mind was, "Boy this cake must be really good if she is pretending it is that bad!" So we each took another big bite... and promptly spit them out into the garbage and sink. My mother-in-law asked what it tasted like. Our answers were a perplexed, "Salt!?" Apparently she wasn't so surprised. She asked, "What canister did you use?... because the small one is salt."
Yeah, I know, pretty predictable, especially after my rant about Rachael Ray being wasteful. Serves me right, I guess. MH and and my MIL were nice enough to stay up and make me another coffee cake. I didn't think I deserved it, but I think they were both afraid that I would try to make another one on my own.
