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

Carbomb come alive/And it's coming after you...

My brother was once a huge Slipknot fan, so when I first saw this recipe, entitled "Carbomb" cake, I thought of him, and the song "Car Bomb," featuring Slipknot, from which the above title hails. Frankly, I found them a little creepy, but you know, to each their own. But, I thought freaky was also appropriate for a post about this cake. This was a new adventure, one I wasn't sure I wanted to tackle. It looked so crazy good in the picture, though. It's called a "Carbomb" cake because of the drink, as well. Apparently, you sink a shot of Irish Cream into a glass of Guinness and chug the thing. I remember doing root beer barrels, but I had never heard of a "carbomb" -- I guess we can all learn something.;)

This cake includes three different kinds of alcohol -- Whiskey, Guinness, Irish Cream. The chocolate cake itself is made with a can of Guinness, the frosting with Irish Cream, and the caramel sauce with Whiskey. Now, it's not bad, although the whiskey caramel sauce is so, well, whiskey-ie, I can almost not eat it, and I love whiskey. It's strong. It looks so pretty, though -- do you see the decorating job? Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. So, I was super excited and forced my celebrity taste testers to come over to my house to marvel at the three story wonder, and of course to have a piece. I sliced it, and it was a mess to serve (it's so tall). But, once we got it all under control, we sat down, and had a bite. I expected to be overwhelmed. Instead, I was underwhelmed. I always thought I liked buttercream frosting, but as it turns out, I don't, at least not the way the homemade ones tell you to make it. It's not dense enough, nor is it flavorful enough. The cake overpowered the frosting, and the Whiskey overpowered everything. Aargh. I think Ophelia is glad I didn't implicate her in this one. Oops, did I just do so...:) Since I have thumbs, I can do what I want.

I mean, it's not horrible, as cake is cake, but this won't be one I try again. Back to the job market stuff.:) Do you think that it's ok to offer cakes as a part of your job packet? If I ship a cake with my CV, it couldn't hurt, right? Right? Just not this one.:)