We're Back (Sort of)

Boy, has Ophelia been feeling neglected lately. And, the neglect continued with the cake T. and I decided to make Saturday night.

This story actually begins Friday evening, when I was commissioned to take my friend M. up to Midway to fly out to see her friend in Mississippi. We're half-way up to Chicago, when M. turns to me and says:

M1: Hey, Mom has been looking for updates on Loving Ophelia -- what gives?
M2: (Drama Queens out) I'm an idiot and broke my camera a couple of months ago, and so haven't been able to take any pictures, and figured without pictures, what's the use?
M1: Oh

A few seconds go by...

M1: Um, dude, don't you have an iPhone with a camera on it.
M2: Shit.

So, here we are -- have figured out how to upload photos from the iPhone (which still needs a name -- suggestions?), and we're back in business. Unfortunately, Ophelia didn't make an appearance in this concoction, but that's ok -- she's just happy the blog is back in business.

As you can see from T.'s Vanna White impression, instead of going to the concert that we thought we would, we stayed home and baked a cake. A dulce de leche cake, to be exact. But, we figured several things out in this process:

1. Cakes that use eggs as levening agents suck.
2. We don't have enough patience for a cake you can't mix and dump in a pan.
3. We'd rather drink wine and eat cheese and order chinese food.

So, the final outcome of the cakes was that we baked them, looked at them, and eventually threw them away. What a waste. I tasted them, though, and they were awful. I'm not sure what happened, but man, they were bad. Tasted like a cross between cardboard and styrofoam. Yum.

Ophelia claims that it was because we didn't involve her in the process that the cakes didn't turn out. She may very well be right.

I also included some gratuitous shots of T. with wine, and T. with wine and greek cheese from Chicago (that's how good of a friend that girl is:). That's how we spent our weekend. It was AWESOME.

More later, I promise, now that I've got the iPhone thing figured out (thanks M.!). Shout out to M's Mom J.! I'm back!

Love,
Hibbs and Ophelia

No Pictures, but a Quick Update

Happy New Year (wow, we're late -- our bad). So, as you can see, things got a even more hectic after Thanksgiving. I got a little busy, between prepping for interviews, travels to MN and then to CA, add in a few Christmas celebrations, ringing in 2009, and trying to get some work done on my dissertation, Ophelia has been wondering if I forgot she existed. And, then when I did remember, and actually baked something, I couldn't take any pictures because I broke my freaking camera. Awesome.

But, life update -- I did, indeed, fly, and was fine. Took enough Xanax to anesthetize a horse, which might have also helped. It was pretty entertaining. I am fairly certain that I may have passed out on the plane home. I say fairly certain because, to be honest, I don't remember a whole lot about that flight. Probably a good thing. I really liked San Francisco, although the hills left a little to be desired for this fat girl. I do recall climbing up Lombard, looking up at my friends K&P and my brother, and thinking that the interviewing won't matter, because I may die of a heart attack right here. But, obviously, I did not die, so all was well. The brother and I did some really hilarious stuff -- rented a "Go Car" -- almost didn't make it up a hill, and spent a couple of hours in a helmet. Am going to make the brother send pictures of that. You really must see it. Ate LOTS of great food, especially seafood, and saw all kinds of things. I had never been to California before, and I really enjoyed it, even with the interviewing. Stayed up on Knob Hill (will save the hotel story for another time), and it was lovely. All in all, though, I'm glad it's over, to be honest. Now, I'm just back to working on the diss. Aargh.

So, long story longer, I have actually been doing a bit of baking -- did some cakes for my friend A.'s wedding shower (they turned out pretty well -- one 3-layer and one 4-layer), one for D.'s graduation, and just did two in the last couple of days for fun. Made Martha Stewart's banana cake, which was a hit with my good friend P.:), and made a amaretto toffee chocolate cake that I thought was pretty good. I think I am getting really good at frosting -- not so much the decorating, but making tasty frosting. I made this cream cheese one for the toffee cake that was quite good, if I do say so myself. Also snuck some peanut butter and jelly bars and some chocolate chip cookies in. So, all in all, with everything going on, Ophelia actually hasn't faired so badly. Just her glamour shots have. Going to try to work on that soon.

Tomorrow, I tackle some rosemary bread. I think I'll make some soup to go with it. Stay tuned -- we'll try to do better with posting!