i will turn your face to alabaster

I should have gone to bed two hours ago, but I started watching Olympics coverage v. late (after ten p.m.) since I had plans tonight (a measure of my affection for the people I had plans with, since I didn't cancel on them). And since tonight was the women's all around gymnastics final + several important swimming races, I didn't want to put it off until tomorrow, particularly since I don't have time to watch tomorrow in addition to all the other preparations I have to make.

But today was good, even if it was mostly about getting ready for my massive Olympics party on Saturday. And by 'massive' I mean I have a lot of baking to do - I think there will be a v. good turnout, but we're all getting old, so while I expect I will do some shots of dubious provenance and spend Sunday regretting all my life decisions, I also don't expect this to be particularly rowdy. sssanyway, I spent the morning unpacking from my conference last week, doing laundry, etc. Then I spent the afternoon working on Nick and Ellie before throwing in the towel and working on my grocery list/preparation plan for the party. Nothing is hard, but baking five cakes requires some planning, and I don't want to forget stuff at the store and have to go back.

So I made my list, then decided to clean out the pantry so I have room for the stuff I'm buying. And then I made chocolate chip chewies with a gluten free flour blend - not that I need to bake anything else, but one of the cakes (red velvet) would be best if I baked it from scratch, and I wanted to test my flour mix on something I know how to make so that I could tell whether/how it was off. And I must say that the chewies turned out fantastically - there's just the slightest difference (some sort of grainier/nuttier taste), but I don't think anyone could tell they were gluten free. Yay!

After baking, I went to Whole Foods to pick up gluten free cake mixes, then went to BevMo to pick up rum, vodka, orgeat, gin, etc. Then I went to Chandlord's for what was supposed to be book club, but I think we're on summer break - this was going to be a watch-a-movie book club, but we didn't even bother to watch the movie. Instead, we hung out and wished Lauren a day-late happy birthday, and Chandlord made an awesome salad and some awesome homemade pasta sauce, and it was all v. lowkey and lovely. And then I came home and pounded through several hours of Olympics coverage - I know, you're so impressed.

And now I really need to sleep - I have to write, go grocery shopping, and bake at least three cakes tomorrow, so wish me luck. Goodnight!