Apparently I dropped a cucumber seed when I was planting in my container. Huh. I guess we’ll see how it does!
Escaped
Parchment paper
I love baking with parchment paper. I use it for cookies, bread, biscuits, chicken nuggets, and meat loaf, to name a few. Lifting a whole meat loaf out of the pan cleanly is probably the most satisfying! I cut a piece larger than my pan and press it in (I tried fancy folding, but it is just as effective to press it into the corners; the wrinkles don’t make much difference).
DIY dog cuddle bed
I read that some dogs find comfort in the donut style cuddle beds. I had some fleece and stuffing so decided to make one. I started by cutting off about 14” from one end of the fabric, from selvage to selvage. This will form the roll. Then I laid the strip loosely in a circle with ends overlapping a couple inches on the remaining fabric and cut a circle to the outside diameter. (If you want a stuffed base, cut two circles.)
To sew, fold the edge roll in half length-wise, with the circle inside and one section of the circle edge lined up with the edge roll cut sides. I used a jersey stitch on my machine. Start an inch or two into the seam.
If you have ever sewn trim into a seam, this is a similar technique. The center is sewn inside the tube, so that when it is turned right side out it lays correctly. It is a little fiddly sewing the layers together without catching unwanted fabric, and the circle bunches up inside the roll, but it turned out easier than I feared! It wouldn’t be a problem to make two circles so the bottom could be stuffed. I sewed the entire circumference of the circle, but to stuff it, stop short a few inches. I used polyfil to stuff the edge roll, but shredded memory foam would work too. If you cut two inner circles, stuff those as well before hand sewing everything closed. I ended up with some extra fabric on the edge roll, which I just tucked in before sewing.
Little brown skink
It finally dried out enough to give the grass a mow. This little brown skink scurried out of harms way and up the wall, so he got his picture taken. My mowing job was definitely subpar, but I’m going to blame most of the missed spots on playing “don’t jump there” with toads!
Insulating cake strips
My youngest suggested making chocolate cake to celebrate the end of the school year… that is definitely worth cake. I pulled up a new recipe for gluten-free chocolate cake and in the tips they recommended “insulating cake strips”. I had to look it up. Apparently someone discovered that if you insulate the sides of the cake pan, you get a flatter top, rather than a dome. That is all well and good, and fancier than I usually do for cakes (my cakes look very homemade), but can I make them myself? Like right now? Yes, yes I can. Here are some great instructions on how to make these using aluminum foil and paper towels. Well, then, I will give them a try.
They strips did seem to help reduce the cake dome. My cakes were still uneven. Not sure if my oven tray is out of level (it’s not, just checked) or if it is the curse of the chocolate cake (the last few I made were mostly inedible). Even with aligning the thick side with a thin side the finished cake was leaning. It look some camera angle magic to make it look sort of even. It tasted just fine! Hurray for edible!
