Crap.

I already did it.  Haven't posted anything in a while.  I think I'll use the busy excuse, which is true.  I have been very busy. Working a lot saving up for my new move.

So, throughout High School and College I excelled more in the classes that gave you a little more creativity to your answers.  For example, I took Honors Calculus in High School, and did "okay".  Granted, most of my friends never even made it to Calculus, I have a little bit of a math-brain, but I did not enjoy it.  Psychology and Economics, and "uncertainty" of results have always interested me.  Physics? No fucking way. It was over my head, and I'd rather just know that when I drop a feather and a lead brick, that they will hit the ground. I don't need to know how fast they get there.
With this background story, I lead you to my definition of baking and cooking. Technically, baking is a type of cooking, as well as grilling, frying, sauteing, steaming...etc.  But the definition that  I am looking for is more along the lines of:
Baking:  Using science, precalculated measurements, and dry heat.
Cooking: Whatever you want.

So with that said, I have not really entered the baking field until this year, at my Human Services Job.  We even have a designated day where I bake with the clients (severely mentally ill), and they say things like, "Claire, you're so good at baking!" And that's when I really know their mentally ill. (joke). We have baked everything from those old fashioned Jiffy Corn Muffins to Whole Wheat Honey Bran Fiber Muffins (my own recipe that I tweaked!) to Ghiredelli Chocolate Brownie Mix in a Box.

Today, I baked with some Clients, and we made a Double Layer Lemon Cream Cake.

Fluffy white frosting, lemon cake, lemon zest and sprinkles on top of the icing with sugared lemon slices.
Deeeelicious.

Easter Sunday

Resurrection Weekend held a lot of fun.  First of all, it was about 75 degrees. J’s family came up to Stowe for the weekend.  He went snowboarding on the mountain, then swimming in the pool.  It was one of those bizarre-O end-of-winter-in-Vermont kind of days.  Although I had to trek it back to Burlington twice to go to work, I had a wonderful and relaxing weekend full of family, great food, good wine, in a tranquil Vermont vacation home setting.  This Easter I experienced a couple new things...all welcomed with open arms.  I enjoyed every single one of them.

New Things I Never Did:

Made pierogies without my Family

Ate spiraled ham

Went to Church on Sunday. (okay, I just haven’t done this on Easter in over a decade.)
Dyed and painted eggs with severely mentally ill (primarily schizophrenic) clients.

Woke up in Stowe

I want to do all of these things again.  Except, I think I still need a few pointers from my Polish ancestors on how to master the art of the ‘rogi.
Painting the eggs was a wonderful experience.  I haven't painted Easter Eggs since probably the last time I went to Church on Easter, but it was great.  We dedicated eggs to Jesus, pet cats, and other residents where I work, then made a bunch of egg salad sandwiches. Good times.

The UN-appetizing side of food.

Have you ever been to www.thisiswhyyourefat.com? If not, going there and looking at the monstrous food people have cooked and created may work as a diet plan due to loss of appetite.  Depending on your mood of course.  If you're having one of those shitty days where a big greasy triple 5 pound cheeseburger sounds good, then this website may backfire.  I thought of this website because today on a small news site, I saw that someone has cooked the largest meatball.

32 hours of cooking
327 pounds of beef
Weighing in at a finished total of 400 pounds.
This said weigh in was overseen by the Guinness Book of World Records staff.  The first 250 pounds were donated to Meals on Wheels, and the rest was donated to the 400 something people watching this whole ordeal go down.
Yuck.