back to school, join hands for the fall

[harborshore]

So it's September. School starts today (English for Academic Research--yes, it's a mandatory course), I turn 25 in 10 days (this feels less daunting than it did last week, which is nice), and my cat has decided to make up for the malfunctioning heater in my room by lying on my feet. Things are--I don't know, I like life today. I've edited someone else's story (♥), I've eaten a stellar breakfast consisting of unsweetened yoghurt, shredded apples, cereal and lemon zest, and made a chicken sandwich from last night's leftovers.

Also, last night I made Dimply Plum Cake from the plums my grandmother brought over. As much as the end of summer is a little sad, the fact that fall means harvest makes up for a hell of a lot.





Honestly, I don't care that some of the plums sank into the cake, giving it a somewhat interesting (read: lopsided and scrunchy) look. This was amazing. I made it with lemon zest instead of orange zest, because I don't like it when cakes get too sweet, and it worked out so, so well. I took it out about two minutes too early, so it was still slightly unbaked in the middle, but that also meant the edges weren't dry. And oh man, this cake was seriously fantastic.

So. If you have plums or any other tart fruit and you don't know how to get rid of it all, make this. I'd say adjust the spices a little if you use sweet fruit (the recipe suggests substituting peaches, for instance), but I'm sure it can be made to work for that as well.


ETA: I like my mandatory course! Sweet.

Also, leave it to Mikeyway to post the most hilarious response to the Oasis situation (someone write me Noel Gallagher as Terminator, quick! *giggles helplessly*). He's kind of my favorite, that one. (Mikey, not Noel.) Kind of a lot.

Comments

[wasoncedelight.livejournal.com]

Thank for all your help today, love. You are an invaluable cheerleader/beta/friend-of-all-trades. ♥

Your cake looks SO GOOD. As good as I usually am in the kitchen, I'm a pretty faily baker. Which means that you'll just have to be in charge of cakes when we finally get that commune going. :)

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

♥, darling. I'm glad I could help.

I find this so fascinating! It's the same thing! :D But I'll gladly be responsible for cakes in our commune. I love baking a lot.

[wasoncedelight.livejournal.com]

I've actually heard a few other people say the same thing, about cooking vs. baking. Baking is hard! You should teach me your secrets. :)

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

I suppose I just started with baking, so the whole cooking thing always seemed like the same thing to me. You know, you have a recipe and follow it. *grins* But I suppose baking depends more on being really strict about certain things. What do you find difficult about it? (It's one of my favorite things to do, so if you don't want me to babble about it, you should say so.)

[wasoncedelight.livejournal.com]

That might be part of my problem with baking, actually, that everything has to be so precise or things just don't turn out right. I'm very much a little-of-this, little-of-that kind of cook. :)

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

Hee, well, I can't help much with that except to advice to start with a super-simple muffins recipe or something, because the flavoring of muffins can be modified, so you'd still get your little-of-this, little-of-that, even while figuring out how to stay close to the rest of the recipe.

[wasoncedelight.livejournal.com]

That's a good idea! If I can master muffins (hee, MASTER OF MUFFINS), then I can try something a little more difficult.