Have you ever noticed how, in European films, the protagonists usually have pretty menial jobs? Amelie was a waitress in a cafe. Penelope Cruz was also a waitress in Volver -- and in that movie, Penelope's sister does ladies' hair in her apartment. In these movies, the main characters live in small, efficient apartments and take the bus everywhere. When I was in college, my best friend K. studied in Scotland for a semester, and used to tease them endlessly about their British soaps. "Don't you know TV is supposed to be about glamorous people??? Like 90210! Who wants to watch regular people live their lives?"
I did my taxes last week, and there's nothing like TurboTax to make you call into question your life choices. Its handy step-by-step formula asks you a series of questions.
"Did you get married in the last year?" No.
"Did you add dependents or otherwise change your dependent status?" No.
"Did you buy a home." Um, no, Turbotax. How about you lay off me? Damn.
At the end of the session, TurboTax illustrated for me, in helpful bar graph form, just how much less I earned in 2009 vs. 2008. (hint: a LOT less)
To cheer myself up, lately I have been pretending I am European. Tonight, that meant having a friend over for Arroz con Pollo, drinking tons of wine, and eating after 9pm. Also, there was cake. Delicious, simple cake with whipped cream.
Orange-Yogurt Cake
adapted from Martha Stewart
Unsalted butter for pan
1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
1/2 cup plus 3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1/2 cup plain whole milk yogurt
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1/4 cup plus one Tablespoon orange juice
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large orange, zested and cut into segments
Powdered sugar, for dusting
(Martha says add 1/4 cup vegetable oil. I totally spaced on adding it, and loved the cake anyway)
Preheat oven to 350. Butter an 8 inch round cake pan. Stir flour, 1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, yogurt, orange zest, 1 Tablespoon orange juice, egg and vanilla in a bowl. Pour into pan. Bake until tester comes out clean (25 minutes). Let cool on a wire rack.
Put zest in a bowl. Stir in 1/4 cup orange juice and 1 Tablespoon sugar.
Dust cake with powdered sugar. Serve with orange mixture and whipped cream.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I love the tag "make believe."
ReplyDeleteYou should keep posting little snippets like this...a recipe, a song/movie/show/book you like, some random thing that annoys you etc. I hope that you do mostly because reading that first part - about the Turbotax - completely feels like something you and Kelly and I might talk about on the 5th floor of Dirksen or rant about to Caleb and Richard in that chair between their desks with Andrea walking through that side door of the main office. All that everyday conversational stuff is sorely missed. This was a good reminder about how frequently we'd just talk about/rant about random everyday happenings in our lives. Do more of it! Please? Makes the world feel a little smaller somehow.
...And, you know my wish is your command!