CAKE, not just a dessert

I am a big fan of cake, both the dessert and the band. The band has an excellent website, full of political musings and things of that nature. Their most recent newsletter included a bit about their 100% solar powered rehearsals and recordings. Awesome!

As for the dessert, mmmm. We recently brought a sheet cake that was probably 3-4 9x11 cake pans in size (so about 9"x4') home. Why would we have a cake that large? It had been purchased for the class reunion and then remained unopened and forgotten in the back of my sister's car during the formal dinner. After the fact the was stressed out about finding a home for it. Julie filled two 9x11 pans with cake, ate some, plus we gave about two 9x11 pans worth to some homeless people (still in the fancy box). Eventually I told Hobbit to take the cake to work. Her co-workers would demolish it. She was embarrassed and refused, until she actually asked and they all got excited. We managed to get rid of the rest of the cake by setting it on a table, first come first serve, at her work. I've never seen so much cake, I hope I never see that much again! It wasn't milk free, which means I couldn't have any. Thankfully it wasn't carrot cake, then I would have had to eat it (promptly becoming ill).

This week is the week-long celebration of Ganesha. The Oregon Zoo's timing in regards to the first viewing of their baby elephant couldn't have been better (his first public appearance was in the week celebrating an elephant-headed god). In celebration of Ganesha and a new baby, we drew chalk elephants on our patio. They're lovely. Speaking of the patio, the royal burgundy beans are amazing. You can check out the company we buy seeds from here or just a photo here. Even the smallest one (roughly 8" tall) is flowering. The tallest (maybe 2' tall) already has beans growing. I love purple or blue foods (potatoes, beans, carrots, etc) more than the other varieties (non-purple or blue) and am quite excited about these plants! The tomatoes are some of the best I've ever eaten, the carrots turned out yummy though not very productive, and the cucumber is starting to flower. Oh yes, the peas and lettuce are sprouting already. This container gardening is pretty neat.