I went back to work on Monday. This blog is not about my work life, but I must say that working a full-time job is exhausting! I didn't expect it to wear me out so quickly. I thought I was tired when we got to Vienna because of an accumulation of stress and long hours from many years of working. My first week back hasn't been stressful. I've felt fairly productive, but not under great pressure about anything. And yet, Monday night I almost fell asleep on the bus ride home. I've been using knitting to stay awake since then, but it isn't easy and I feel pretty worthless at home in the evening. I really hope I acclimate soon because if I don't, the crafting is going to be scarce around here.
I haven't been a total slug, though. Tonight, I made a red wine chocolate cake from a recipe in German. This is (I think) the cake Jutta made for E'Yoak's birthday. It doesn't look the right color to me, but I'm hoping it's ok. I don't know how many grams are in a typical "packet" of baking powder so I guessed. I may have guessed low. I was happy to have purchased three packets of vanilla sugar in Vienna. I may have to bribe my favorite Vienna chef to send more. I foolishly ignored everything I know about mixing a cake and followed the directions. I was also too lazy to chop the chocolate super fine (I really can't blame the fact that I wasn't sure what the directions were telling me to do). I just flipped the cake out of the bundt pan to find a pale cake with lots of chunks of chocolate in it. It is a bit darker than the pink batter I poured into the pan, but it doesn't really look like a chocolate cake. I think this will require more tests.....
Good night, sleep tight!
*as in Ms. Parton "working 9 to 5...." I know, you knew that. But maybe someone from some far corner of the earth is reading this and wondering what on earth got into me.
6 comments:
You know that you can make your own vanilla sugar, right? If not: Just put a kilo of sugar in an air tight container, push in a pod of vanilla (I'm not sure whether you should cut it up or not, but I usually puncture it all around) between all the sugar and leave in there for a week. The sugar will then take on the scent.
work - what a drag. It's good to be in a routine - but some days you're so tired from work that you don't get to do anything for yourself:( Hopefully you'll get a bnice relaxing weekend afetr this first week back. Fondling some wollmeise may help.
You'll get your sea legs back and then you'll be fine. It just takes a bit of adjustment. MYM.
Is there an IKEA in MN? They sell vanilla sugar. Hope that your energy level evens out soon--make sure you're getting enough sleep & nutritious food!
Chocolate cake will definitely help.
Well, dear friend, don't worry about IKEA. Your Viennese chef will gladly send you enough packages of bourbon vanilla sugar in your August birthday package which will surely arrive early enough for Christmas bakery. At least I hope so. We miss you ! your chef and sous-chef gino (or the way round ?)
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