Cashing In on NOT playing hookie

All throughout my schooling (kindergarten to high school), I was pretty good when it came to attendance. I actually looked forward to going to school and never wanted to stay home- even when I was sick. I liked learning new things and was pretty boy crazy from the get-go, so that was the main driver in getting me out of bed. If it weren't for my parents making me stay home when I was sick or because they wanted to go to Vegas early, I probably would have had perfect attendance.

Now that I'm an adult, it seems I've become quite the opposite. I'll use any opportunity to call in sick or ask for a personal day. And, vacation days...well, I can never seem to have enough of those! Name any excuse in the book and I can almost guarantee you that I've used it. I actually keep track of the excuses I've used so I know when/if I can use it again. For some excuses, I even have (fake) paperwork to back it up.

Anyways, there's nothing much to this post really. I just thought it was ironic that I was so good in  attendance and, now, I'm pretty much over it. And, yes, you guessed it...I'm ditching work tomorrow, but I swear I have a good reason :)

Red Velvet Cake Balls = Black Diamond Course

Warning: This is a long post. I apologize for not having actual pictures because it would have made this one a lot funnier. I'm looking for a new camera so these posts are a little more personal. 

You know the person in your office who gives Valentine cards and bakes treats for everyone - that's me in my office. This year, I was inspired by Jill's Facebook pictures of her cake balls. I decided to get fancy too and tried my hand and Paula Deen's Red Velvet Cake Balls. I took a look at the recipe and figured it would be a piece of cake (no pun intended). HOLY CRAP...was I wrong!

First step is to make the cake, then crumble it, mix in the frosting and let it set in the fridge. This ended up taking a total of 2.5 hours to do plus the time to set the mixture. The recipe says you can let it set for 3 hours or overnight, I  chose overnight. Mixing the frosting and cake together took FOREVER. I only had a spoon to mix everything, so that could be why. The recipe says to use a hand mixer...what the eff is a hand mixer if not a freakin' spoon in your hand? Regardless, I'm pretty sure my right bicep is now slightly bigger than my left bicep.

After the cake mixture has set, you're supposed to use a melon ball scoop to form the balls. Yeah, a melon ball scoop does nothing. The recipe should say, "Now use your hands and start rolling balls out of the mixture (similar to making meatballs). DO NOT use a melon ball scoop because it does shit." Paula Deen says you're going to come out with 36 balls - I came out with 68. I blame the melon ball scoop for throwing me off. After you've formed the balls, you have to let them harden for an hour in the freezer. I placed my 68 balls in the freezer and went to the gym for a run - I felt fat from smelling everything and I had to do a taste test every now and then to make sure it was good :)

Once the hour in the freezer is up, the next step is coating them in white chocolate. I thought this would be the easiest step...NOPE.COM. I took 18 balls as my first batch and started getting ready to coat. I melted the chocolate in the microwave (that's what its bag said to do since I didn't have the fancy double boiler it recommended). I took the first one, swirled it in the chocolate so that it was fully coated, took it out, and laid it on the wax paper to cool. It was cute. The second and third one came out nicely too. When I started the fourth one, I noticed the ball was falling apart and left RED crumbs in the WHITE chocolate. It was also getting hard to swirl the ball with a toothpick. The chocolate started hardening and the balls were softening. The fifth ball tore apart in the chocolate. I stood there looking at my broken ball in the chocolate and decided to improvise a double boiler to keep the chocolate soft.

There I was with a bowl of white chocolate sitting in a pot of boiling water That's basically a double boiler, right? Nope. The chocolate started cooking and I basically made a white chocolate ball with red crumbs. FAIL. I started over with a new bowl of white chocolate, but by that time the cake balls were too soft to swirl. Balls 6 though 8 were a mess. I looked at my white chocolate that was still liquid-y, then at the 10 remaining uncoated cake balls. I knew I had to come up with something fast before the chocolate hardened again, then I thought of the chocolate factories that have a conveyor belt of truffles run under a fountain of chocolate and come out beautiful on the other end. I figured pouring the chocolate over the ball would have the same effect. It didn't.

Out of my 18 balls, 3 came out decent. That's a 16% success rate, which would be an "F" if I was going to grade myself. However, if I had to grade the taste of the final product, I would give it an "A" with a happy face. With a sigh and in partial defeat, I went to go watch The Office and a surprisingly funny episode of 30 Rock (I don't usually watch 30 Rock because I don't think it's that great, but I was SO over doing anything because of the damn balls that I just left it on NBC and watched). Needless to say, I'm sitting at work now without valentines to give and no home-baked goodies for everyone to fawn over.

I have 50 balls in the freezer right now. Should I event attempt finishing them? How the hell do you keep melted chocolate liquid-y enough to swirl? Is it normal that my hands are still kinda red from rolling balls last night?

Below is a picture of Paula Deen's cake balls and a link to the recipe. Proceed at your own risk.

Paula's Cake Balls 

Happy freakin' Valentine's Day. 

A Change is Gonna Come

The past couple months have felt like a punishment that I've endured kicking, and screaming, and crying the whole way through. In many ways, it was a punishment for making bad decisions and being an irresponsible, carefree twenty-something. Of course, I'm referring to having to work 7 days a week, sacrificing time with family and friends, and not indulging in unnecessary expenses like I used to. Now, that I'm getting an idea of the changes that lie ahead of me in the next couple months, I'm thinking what I've been going through wasn't a punishment but more of an experience in being a grown up with actual responsibilities. Hopefully, I was paying attention because I'm going to have to apply what I learned to the upcoming situations:

- No weekly paycheck from Macy's. Yes, you read right. I'm not working at Macy's anymore. I've managed to get out of the financial hole I dug for myself and felt good enough to let go of the second job. I turned in my resignation letter yesterday. However, I'm just out of the hole. Now I have to fill it in and plant a tree that will bear yummy fruit and help lessen air pollution (hey, I'm just going with the analogy). Basically, I'm at zero right now (instead of negative) and now I have to build up. Thanks to April and her financial plan for me (she's so smart!), I have a strategy to pay down credit cards, take care of the bills (car, utilities, mortgage, etc), and start saving. I'm not going to be perfect at this, I know, but I'm going to be a helluva lot better than I was last year.

- The Mama Bear might be moving back in with me. My mom isn't the best planner. She likes to have a Plan A through Plan AB and then will let you know at the 11th hour what plan she's going with. I chalk it up to her being a Gemini and wanting to have a gazillion options to choose from. Well, one of those plans is to move back into the condo at Diamond Bar with me. As of yesterday, this has a 60/40 chance of happening (60 in favor of coming back). I actually welcome her coming back (although she already drove me crazy yesterday, and that was just lunch). I'm able to save even more money, I get a freshly cooked meal every night, and I'll have someone to talk to at night. I'm okay with her not coming back too because I know it will be hard on my brother because he will have to commute to his school in Corona. The logistics of that is going to be insane for everyone. What do I want to happen? Good question, I guess if I really had to say, I would want them to come back for a little bit and then move back out when my grandpa and his wife come back from the Philippines (that, of course, is one of my mom's many plans too). We'll see how it plays out.

- Officially buying my car next month. The lease on my car ends on March 9th. I want to buy it and have been doing research on how to do that and get a good deal for it. I'm very intimidated by anything having to do with loans, financing, etc. Part of the problem is I'm not educated enough to really know what I'm talking about in negotiations. Hopefully, I can figure out all the terms and what I need to do in time. I really do love my car (his name is Max, by the way), so I hope I can keep him at a great price! The car websites say to shop around for car loans. If I can figure that one out, I'm buying myself some jewelry for conquering that monster. I'm hoping I don't have to negotiate this by myself, but I don't know anyone else who's had to buy a car at the end of their lease, so for now it looks like I'm going at it alone.

Well, those are the three major "tests" that are coming up where I can prove to myself I don't make the same mistakes twice and that I've grown up a bit. I feel somewhat ready to face the challenges ahead, which is cool because I usually feel like a chicken with my head cut off. I tend to panic and worry, so this is an unfamiliar, yet refreshing change of pace. 

Hopefully, at the end of this, I can listen to "Miss Independent" (by Ne-yo) and fee like he's talking about me ;)