i think i've finally had enough, i think i maybe think too much

I'm super tired, but preparations for my grand Olympics party are proceeding exactly according to plan. I got up this morning, took care of stuff around the house, and then forced myself to go to a cafe and write for two hours (and finally, finally finish that Nick and Ellie scene that has been driving me nuts), since I can't completely ignore the fact that I'm supposed to be finishing this book while I'm obsessed with the Olympics. Then I went to a party supply store to get a plastic tablecloth to protect Terry's table from the depredations of drunks with food coloring, and then I went to Safeway to stock up on dry goods and mixers.

By the time I got home, it was approximately three p.m. And then I engaged in a baking death march and made four of the five cakes between 3:30pm and 7:30pm. I made lemon cake, chocolate cake, red velvet cake, and blueberry cream cheese cake - and they're all gluten free, which I'm super excited about. The lemon cake is the same recipe as what my mom and aunt make, but I used a gluten free white cake mix (modified per their lemon cake instructions by adding lemon zest and lemon extract). The blueberry cake is the one I experimented with a couple of weeks ago, but I baked it the proper length of time this time. The chocolate cake used a gluten free chocolate cake mix, and while I don't know exactly how it turned out, the batter was lovely. It's frosted with a homemade chocolate ganache, so if nothing else, the frosting will taste great.

The biggest challenge was the red velvet cake, which was a total experiment...I used the gluten free flour mix that I make from scratch using a recipe from the cookbook my parents gave me (involving brown rice flour, sorghum flour, corn starch, potato starch, potato flour, and xantham gum), and we'll see whether it's any good. And I made a homemade cream cheese frosting (dyed red, por supuesto), which turned out really well. I may have overbaked the cake, but we shall see...and anyway, I don't love red velvet cake, so if it sucks, I won't miss it.

But I was more than ready to take a break from baking by 7:30, so I left the house and met up with Terry for Mexican food in San Bruno. We hadn't really caught up since my conference, so roommate dinner was a good thing. Then we came home, I frosted the chocolate cake, unloaded the dishwasher, and washed up the last couple of pans (not hard, since I washed up after every cake, so the kitchen is still sparkling). You'll notice that I did not watch the Olympics -- I know, shocker. But I really need to sleep if I'm going to survive my party, and if I'm really good I may try to squeeze some writing in beforehand...we shall see. Goodnight!