Baking

I'm grabbing a moment in the midst of the sound of drilling coming from the next door neighbor, ethiopian radio blaring, brownies baking, eggs and potatoes boiling, and the rearranging of the garden to harbor a lot of friends.

Lately my tried and true brownie recipe has failed me. Hopefully it won't today! And the carrot cake usually gets much appreciation after people look at me strangely when I say it really is carrot cake. Until recently carrot cake was not a very well known cake. Dutch people like their slagroomtaart, tompouce, and vlaai.

Baking is something that's becoming more and more popular here. Or maybe I should say that the decorating of cakes is becoming more popular. A store opened recently here in town, called Mmmuffins. And guess what it sells? Cake decorating ingredients. Much to my disappointment, because I would have preferred for it to sell real muffins or at the very least baked and decorated cupcakes. Weird name to use. I'm guessing the owners aren't at home in the english language.

I have a minor reputation for the goodness of my baked goods. Imagine my chagrin when I made brownies for my sons football team and the darn things turned out as hard as rocks! But the taste was good, the laughing moms told me :-). A week later I made sure to drop off a lemon cake at two of the mothers houses. I really felt my reputation was at stake.

Last year I hosted a baking session at my house with a bunch of woman I know. My house is actually a bit too small, but it turned out to be fun anyway. Everybody made accomodations and we ended up having quite a spread of cupcakes, cakes and cookies. Maybe something to repeat sometime this summer.