Notes from a bemused canuck
Went walking through the tulip festival on saturday with El Chonk. He got lots of love, as is normal.
This marks my 6th year as a volunteer for Divinum – every year since 2018, except when it got cancelled for Covid. Still having a blast. I know a lot of the producers by sight, some by name, and I can still schlep 8 crates of glasses in one go.
This year, Jem came as well on Saturday night, and she described it as a 10/10 evening :)
Snippets:
– The Vino Argentino stand completely changed their offering from last year, and I didn’t think it stacked up as well
– Discovered that SRV Vins in Crissier imports the wines from Farina, which we visited in Valpolicella last spring.
– Met a nice Ozzie man, who wooed Katy and Jem with wines. Met a nice sommelier lady who might be a good candidate to organize wine tastings for the work wine club
– Tried some Margaux and Saint-Estèphe wines, which would cost you a kidney to buy and wouldn’t be really good to drink before another 5-10 years.
– (Re)discovered some local Swiss producers (Brantard, Ours) which make nice things.
I live on the hope that tomorrow will be a better day.
And I think he loves me.
This is so me!
The night from Sunday to Monday was a bit of an adventure for the Chonk, and not in a good way. He had a massive allergic reaction to something – exactly what, we don’t know – and broke out in hives and swelling. We made a 00:30 visit to the emergency vet in Etoy for antihistamines and cortisone shots, and then I spent the next hour cleaning all the floors (again, but with plain water this time) to make sure it wasn’t the floor cleaner I’d used earlier in the day that wasn’t the cause of the problem.
He went down like a rock, and spent most of monday completely wiped out. Seemed to perk up this morning.
She’s still growling, spitting and hissing at Byron, but otherwise, she’s now a complete attention whore.
240 g all-purpose flour
395 g sugar
65 g unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp (8 g) baking powder
1.5 tsp (9 g) baking soda
1 tsp (2.5 g) kosher salt
1 tsp (2.5 g) espresso powder
225 ml milk
1/2 cup (99 g) vegetable oil
2 large (100 g) eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
225 ml boiling water
Preheat oven to 350F/175C. Prepare two 9-inch cake pans by spraying with baking spray or buttering and lightly flouring.
Add flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt and espresso powder to a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk through to combine or, using your paddle attachment, stir through flour mixture until combined well.
Add milk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla to flour mixture and mix together on medium speed until well combined. Reduce speed and carefully add boiling water to the cake batter until well combined.
The cake batter will be very thin after adding the boiling water. This is correct and results in a delicious and moist chocolate cake.
Distribute cake batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center of the chocolate cake comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes, remove from the pan and cool completely.
Frost the cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting.
Frosting:
130g softened butter
200g sugar
50g cocoa powder
1 tsp espresso powder
50ml milk
Dissolve espresso powder in a little but of boiling water then mix with milk.
Whisk butter, sugar, cocoa powder and coffee/milk until smooth.
…and then bring him home soon after
I tried to bring Byron to the office today. He passed the behavioral assessment without issue, but then the fun began when he saw Katy leave (without him) and refused to go back to the dog-friendly office we have to use (in the equivalent of the siberian gulag of campus).
After several strops, I got him back to the office, but then he went into full guard dog mode, where every door opening or voice he could hear bug not see made him woof and growl. I was slobd in the fog office, but the people on the other side of the wall were starting to grumble, so I cut the test short and went bzvk home to finish my day.
We’ll try again soon.