Cake and Choreography

I made a cake this week from scratch. I usually don't put in the effort on cakes for some reason like I do on other things. Lately, that has been bothering me. I have been trying to remove a majority of the premade and box foods in our diets, and I have been feeling much better about my cooking skills and food choices as of late. Part of my hunt for better food has involved looking through old issues of Cook's Illustrated that I have but never was able to cook out of due to time issues. I really love this magazine as it takes a more scientific method approach to cooking and improving recipes. In my searching through for a dessert this week, I found a recipe for applesauce cake found in their September and October issue from 2006. It was a little bit more work than a mix or packet, but the results were really that much better. I decided to take a page from Jane Brocket's Blog and take a picture of my cake on a fancy plate.



The china only gets used on special holidays, but I have to say that looking at cake on this dessert plate makes me think I should crack them out more often. China just makes everything look better.

Today I am going to work on jogging again and also hit the choreography. I have gotten mid way through the tough opening of the song and look forward to the free flowing part that I seem to have in my head already. I am excited and think today will be a very productive session, and hopefully, I did not just jinx myself! I am hoping to finally get the shirring foot to work this weekend. I am going to work on trouble shooting with Dan to see if he can figure out what I am doing wrong. He is a wonderful sounding board and usually finds the obvious things that I seem to always miss in these situations. I really want my skirt for the start of level 2 at Fat Chance Belly Dance next week. While I could have had this skirt done last week if I would have hand gathered it, I really want to learn to use my machines for these things. It will speed up any projects that are similar in the future. Here is to hoping for a successful day.