Giving In (Sort Of)

 

 

I am by no means a coffee snob, but I do know what I like. And I like my coffee brewed in a percolator. There's just something with its gurgles and hisses that I just find soothing. Free coffee is scarce at work, so I usually bring a thermos of coffee along with my full travel mug. But that is when I remember to prep the perc or get up early enough to make some coffee.



 

The ladies locker room was recently bequeathed a Keurig. Now, I respect people who own these things and lovethemtodeath, but I just don't think it makes a good cup of coffee. But it's quick and the clean up is self-contained. So I  relented and picked up a box. For emergencies only. And I sure am not going to like it.

 

Now if we only had half & half...

Moons Over My Pie-y Cake

Something happened yesterday that has not happened in a very long time.

I was phone-less.

Yeah.

I plugged it into the charger while running around getting things ready for the day. Ran out the door and remembered I didn't have my phone as I was exiting 787. Not that it really mattered... it was a busy day at work, but it was weird.

M, being the nice guy he is, brought it in when he came in for work.

I am pretty sure this would not have happened if I had decided not to bring a cake into work.

Monday was my co-worker's actual birthday, but I thought it would be nice if I made something to celebrate. I'm still pretty new here and still in the "getting to know you" phase of it all. One of the gifts co-worker received was a tote full of pinwheel cookies.

"I know Moon Pies are your favorite, but I figured this would be close to it."

Well, that was easy. I looked up recipes for moon pie cakes, and settled on one from the Serious Eats website. Go on, look it up. It didn't seem that hard, but making marshmallow frosting seemed daunting. Still, I was up for the challenge. I printed out the recipe and headed to the store after work.

Because of my interest in cakes of late, I had most of the ingredients at home. I grabbed more butter (amazing how much of this stuff I go through!), dark chocolate, unflavored gelatin, and graham flour. Did you know that graham flour is a type of whole wheat flour? I didn't, which would explain why I had such a hard time finding the stuff. The other shoppers must have thought I was nuts walking up and down that aisle trying to find graham flour. But I found it, and after cleaning up the kitchen from M's most recent round of renovations, I started on the cake.

Cake

Mix the dry ingredients together, mix the wet ingredients together, and then mix them all together. I was contemplating swapping out the AP flour with cake flour, but I didn't want to risk messing up the thing. The addition of whole wheat flour (and I guess the brown sugar plays into it as well) will darken the batter, and gives it that graham cracker coloring I'm used to. Maybe whole wheat flours do that in general - I don't work with the stuff very often.

The recipe calls for the use of two 9-inch round pans, but a taller cake, so I used an 8-inch pan and collared it. I probably filled it a little over half, and had enough batter left over for six cupcakes. Placed both in the oven and went back to some Netflix watching. The cupcakes were done in about 30 minutes. The middle of the cake was still a bit fluid, needed another 25 minutes or so before it was done. Left the cake out in the sun room to cool and went to sleep.

Marshmallow Frosting

Because it is marshmallow, I figured the best time to make it would be the following morning. Which meant four in the morning wake up. Crazy, yes... but I was determined to make this an amazing cake!

After making this frosting, I think it's safe to say making marshmallows shouldn't be too hard. You just have to get over the fear of piping hot sugar flying at you. Wear long sleeves and it's not a problem. And maybe glasses.

While the sugar/water mixture was coming to a boil, I leveled and torted the cake. I may have been a tad too generous with the cake spray, because the cake seemed pretty greasy. I started making this with the hand mixer, but it was taking much longer than the recipe stated. So into the stand mixer the frosting went and soon after I had what looked like fluff. Placed the first cake layer on the cake circle and a generous amount of the frosting. Smoothed it out to the edges and placed the second caker layer and more frosting. I need to work some more on my icing technique, but for a pretty crumby cake I did pretty well. I was going to add more of the frosting, but it started to set so I quickly dusted a small pan with corn starch (that's what you use, right?) and spread the remainder in there. Put the cake back in the sun room to set while I worked on the chocolate sauce.

Chocolate Drip

Pretty simple enough - heavy cream and corn syrup heated to a simmer then mix in chocolate. I gave it a shower/getting ready for the day length of time to cool down before pouring over the cake. It was still pretty runny because not only did it spill over the side of the cake, but also off the cake board and onto the turntable. Cleaned up as best I could and boxed it up. Dishes were left for M.

Results

There are no pictures in this post. Because I didn't have my phone. See how it all ties in? The co-worker with a birthday liked it, and others mentioned that it did remind them of a Moon Pie. Success! I dropped a slice off in M's department and he shared it with his co-workers. He didn't tell me what he thought about it.

I can't tell  you what I thought about it, because I haven't tried it. I like the baking and giving them away to people, but I don't want to actually eat these things. Not that it's diet reasons. I think I'm starting to lose my sweet tooth. But there is one slice left. And it's waiting for me.

I'll have to get back to you on what I think of it.

Free Time

Work is at a stand still for me this afternoon, and there is only one thing that will make my remaining time here today enjoyable.

Free coffee.

At 2:45 the coffee shop downstairs gives away the remaining brewed coffee (free of charge) as long as you bring your own cup.

AHHHHHH!! Commence caffinated hijinx!

Sure, the coffee is super strong, and at times slightly burnt... but it's free. And free is always drinkable.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to take a little walk.

The Last Piece

I did my job and helped finish off the leftover cake. And no, I didn't cut it up to get that. It was just there and  thought it was a bit strange - birth at the end.

Delicious deep thoughts.

Off to a Good Start

Salad, steamed broccoli, and what I'm hoping was some baked chicken. I'm not sure what direction I see my eating habits going in this new year, but I'm guessing it's the healthy route. Or at least striving toward healthier habits. 

Working Meal - Holiday Edition

Saving lives people... I'm saving lives here. Not time to make a meal from scratch. And then there was the thing about me trying to make it to ShopRite before they closed. But Merry Christmas!

By the time I got there, they had closed. It was 6:30.

The sign on their door said they were open until 7.

I may have yelled in frustration has the staff yelled to me through the doors they were closed. And I may have angrily told me walking toward the store to not even bother... they decided to close early.

Let it slide, girl. Let it slide.

(deep cleansing breath)

Anyways, that drive to Albany ate up what little break I had between cases so I made a pit stop at the golden arches just so I wouldn't pass out. Cheeseburgers, fries, chocolate chip cookies, and a coffee. Not the most nutritious, but it was quick and easy to eat while driving back to work.

Did I regret it? Absolutely. I'm still burping up that onion smell, and just thinking about what I wolfed down this evening makes me feel sick to my stomach.

But you do what you gotta do. And try your best to remember to bring some healthy foodstuffs with you the next time you're on call.

There ya go... got a resolution for the new year. BOOM.

Perks of the Job

Working across the street this week, and I was bummed because it's supposed to be free food galore at work. But when I took a quick look at the board this morning, I saw scribbled at the bottom "LUNCH TODAY PROVIDED BY ____________"

Free food? Begin happy dance!

I wasn't expecting much. Pizza seems to be the standard when it comes to free hospital lunches - it's cheap and can feed lots of people.

But we got Panera sandwiches, chips, drinks, and from what I heard, some cookies. By the time I got out of my room the selection was rather limited - so I went with the Mediterranean Veggie. Can't say I've ever had it before, but it was actually pretty good. Slightly soggy, and normally I hate soggy sandwiches... but it was paid for so whatevs.

Carbs & Fat = Wonderful

Don't hate. It really hit the spot this morning during my fifteen break.

Fifteen Minute Break

I’ve been working at a new location this week. An orientation of sorts… not sure if it will be a permanent thing. But some people that I work with that work at both sites did so a double take whenever they’d pass me in the halls.

But it’s been fun. Everyone’s been nice. And I love the cafeteria. So much better and less expensive. They even have a coffee club card! I have been using it religiously – only four more cups of joe and then it’s free!

It’s DD coffee, which I know those coffee snobs out there will complain about, but whatever. You can complain all you want, it beats the stuff they brew in the break room. Although I wish they would brew hazelnut and not french vanilla.

Baggin' It

Not really much to see here, folks. Donated a bottle of wine for a basket raffle we held at work. Actually not sure if it's any good. It's a Spanish wine, and it was on sale - all I really needed to know. Anyways, I had to bring this bottle of wine into to work, and I tried to be as inconspicuous as possible. 

And how did I do this? By bringing it in a brown paper bag.

Yeah. Like that really hid it was a bottle of wine. I had co-workers walk by and comment "oh, a bottle of wine? What are we celebrating?"

Bah. Next time I'm going to carve a space out in a PDR or something. No one would expect that. And really... do those things get any use anymore? Everyone has smartphones/tablets/techie things.

When Bad Things Happen To Good Toasters

I feel like things would be better if they’d let us have a toaster oven at work.

It's Early and I'm Cold

You wouldn't know it, but I've got the electric fireplace going and I'm walking around in my pink Snuggie while I wait for this fryer to warm up. And why am I doing this when I have at least another hour of sleep?

Fall Pig Out.

My job was to bring in lumpia... well, more like I was told I was doing it. But I learned things... grew up, and I can say with some conviction that I now know how to roll eggrolls.

How true this is, we will see. But for now, I've got some food to fry.

Post-Halloween Goodies

Great thing about the days after a holiday is that your co-workers bring in food they don't want to keep in their house... leaving you to enjoy in the excess.

Leftover cupcakes? Why yes... gimme.

posted from Bloggeroid

Work Snacks

More free samples from work. Normally I’m not a fan of vanilla flavored foods, but this wasn’t too bad.

Greek Yogurt

Free samples at work!

Baked French Toast

We had a breakfast buffet at work a couple of weeks ago. At first I wasn’t going to bring anything in, but I was kinda put on the spot about it and decided to make baked french toast. Really simple to make, especially since you do the majority of the work the night before. Baked it first thing in the morning, and it was still hot when I brought it in. And what do you know? Someone else brought BFT… and it was pretty much all gone by the time I got there.

Lesson learned – just give cash next time.

Cake... On Them

Job gives its workers free dessert on their birthday. I went with carrot cake.

Soup and Salad Luncheon

I brought neither. I made a cake. Cinnamon swirl with cream cheese frosting.

End of the Day

I'm not cleaning up after them.

Tasty Fat Tuesday

Jambalaya, collard greens, and french fries. For hospital food, it was pretty good. Now it has me in the mood for indulgent food.

How will you be celebrating today?