Leaked Steubenville Rape Video

A group of guys sitting around and making jokes about how "dead" the girl is and  about her rape. Sickening.

The Sourdough Cake that Wouldn't

As I mentioned in my last post, I gave up cake for Lent which was a bit inconvenient considering that this month's Sourdough Surprises challenge is cake. I decided to make mini bundts so as not to add to the growing collection of cakes that I can't eat in my freezer.

I really wanted to experiment but decided to keep it simple and make a chocolate beer cake. I used this chocolate cake recipe from King Arthur but since I only made a quarter of the recipe, I didn't use eggs but added a little vinegar and a extra liquid. I also swapped half of the milk for Red Stripe beer.

The recipe called for making somewhat of a poolish and this is where I made a huge mistake. As I mentioned, I was using half milk and half beer. The polish called for mixing the milk, starter and flour together. I wanted to add the beer later so I didn't add it. Apparently I forgot that I was making cake and not bread. With less liquid, this was perfect kneading consistency and I got a little mix-happy. And that meant GLUTEN!

There was really no way to "dissolve" all those gluten strands and there were specks of gluten strands in my cake. I could have tossed the batter and started over but really, that's a waste. I knew it wouldn't taste bad. It would just have a lump or two in it. Yeah.. that didn't sound appealing to me either but hey. I baked it anyway.

It smelled great. I could smell the beer. And since the batter tasted good, I assume the cake itself might be good too. Who knows? On March 31 I will be able to tell you. The recipe used a really yummy look frosting that I really wanted to make. But since this was only heading into my freezer and not to a friend as I had originally planned, I decided to just skip it. Yeah, the pics would have been really great with the frosting but I can't be too concerned about it.

After Lent, I will try this again. I'm sure there are great cakes elsewhere for you to drool over so hop on over to the other blogs and have a look.

On Lenten Sacrifices

We never gave up anything for Lent when I was growing up but I was always fascinated by others choosing a "vice" and trying to abstain for the 40 + days. I tried in the past, halfheartedly, and never succeeded. I think I'd make it a week before I was back to doing whatever it was.

It's always hard to find something to give up though. I could give up meat (and all animal byproducts) but I did that for 30 days one November (yes, that meant I did not have turkey on Thanksgiving) and while it wasn't extremely difficult, it was just a lot of work trying to plan my meals. Also, I know that I can do it so it's no longer that much of a challenge.

I don't drink coffee or sodas. I no longer eat ice cream by the pint per meal. I don't eat that much chocolate anymore either. Besides, I gave up chocolate when I had TN and I'd rather not give it up again. So what can I give up? Well, someone suggested that I give up cake. Yes, cake. I am pretty sure that person will no longer be my friend but I decided to try anyway. It didn't help that the day before Lent started, I made an Oreo stuffed chocolate bundt cake. What do I do? Eat as much as I can on Fat Tuesday or freeze it and forget it? I decided to freeze the remaining slices. Forgetting has not been that easy.

I have thought about cake every single day since February 13. I have craved cake every single day since February 13. The funny thing is that I know that I probably would not have had much cake anyway but the fact that I can't have it is driving me crazy. I NEED CAKE. Last weekend I made over 4 dozen cupcakes for a shower. Do you know how many I had? ZERO. I did have a lot of frosting though. A LOT.

The hardest part about baking these was not knowing if the cupcakes were moist enough and if the frosting paired well with them. I have one of each flavour combination in my freezer so on March 31, I can feast. 

Now you may have realised that while I talk a lot about cake, I also talk a lot about sourdough. I'm also doing the Sourdough Surprises baking challenges each month. Do you want to guess what this month's challenge is? I'll give you one guess. 

Yes. Cake. 

I'm still not sure what to do about this. Bake it, blog about it but not taste it until March 31? Skip the challenge? Decisions. Decisions. I'll figure it out this weekend, hopefully. And hopefully sourdough chocolate cake isn't what makes me break down.

Did you give up anything for Lent? How's that going?

Whole Wheat Sourdough Tortillas

I'm linking up with Sourdough Surprises again this month. When I saw that the challenge for this month was flat bread, I was ready to make them immediately. In fact, I think I made these whole wheat tortillas two days after that initial post. What can I say? I love tortillas.

For these tortillas, I combined my favourite non-sourdough tortillas recipe from the Homesick Texan and this sourdough tortilla recipe from Teresa at Discovering Sourdough. I used the weights from Teresa's with 100% white whole wheat flour (I love Ultra Grain's) and used milk like in Homesick Texan's. I only made a third of the recipe because almost 3 lbs of tortilla dough is definitely too much for me.

These were really, really easy and when I finished making them, I immediately filled them with enchilada filling so that I'd have enchiladas for lunch that week.

I can't wait to see what's in store for March. I'll be travelling a lot in March and hope I have time to make whatever it is.  Be sure to use the linky below to check out what others made this month.

Stealing Tweets

Today I'm guest posting over at Cucumber Juice talking about content theft - specifically, a major newspaper stealing a tweet. Join me over there!

The VW Ad

I have been asked by a few friends about my thoughts on the VW ad. Have you seen it? White male from Minnesota feeling all irie because of his VW? As expected, the Jamaican accent sucks but who cares? The ad is hilarious!

Why are all these people talking about racism? Minstrel shows? Blackface? Say what now?!! Did we watch the same ad?  How on earth did this turn into a race discussion? So what if Dave is white? Can we stop trying to find racism in everything? Oh and newsflash - not all Jamaicans are black! Yeah, I know. Shocking. Yup, we have lots of white Jamaicans running around. Asians too - it's quite a melting pot.

I heard someone else say something about exploitation. You mean the ad is portraying that "don't worry; be happy" vibe? The same one that the Jamaica Tourist Board pushes? Oh the horror! Someone else said that Jamaica isn't really a happy place. Low blow, sir. Low blow. Yes, we are having lots of problems right now but that doesn't mean the people aren't smiling, making the best of the situation and getting happy (see what I did there?). The most ridiculous comment was that Dave was walking around the office doing nothing and interrupting people at work and so it was showing Jamaicans as not being productive.  Again, say what now? This person obviously spent way too much time over-analyzing the ad. We may have watched a different ad too because Dave was clearly in a board meeting at some point. Ugh. Do I even need to point that out?

Let's just all "chill like Winston". I love the ad. I love my country. Thank you VW! Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go pack a suitcase for a long overdue visit to the land of my birth.

On (Online) Dating

I've been thinking about dating a lot lately, partly because I think I may be seeing someone (more on my unwillingness to make that a definite later) and also because dating stories have been in the news/social media a lot lately.

We all know the Manti Te'o story, right? Let me just say that I have a difficult time believing Manti's version of the story. Manti wants us to believe that for at least 9 months and possibly since Nov 2009, he spoke to this girl on the phone every night and all this time it was a prank. Which girl has that much time in her life to talk to a guy every single night as the part of some elaborate hoax that someone else is orchestrating? Even in my 100% single days (as opposed to the 60% single I am right now?), I did not have that much time to waste.

This Manti story also comes along when "catfishing" is now a part of the daily lexicon. I haven't seen MTV's Catfish or the documentary on which it is based but I know the premise. Meet someone online. Fall in love. Find out it's not real. I don't know if these persons were having daily telephone conversations also or if everything was based online. Maybe one day I will watch to see if I can learn what the motive is behind catfishing. Are there catfishing clues that these victims are oblivious to? Are they choosing to ignore warning signs?

Have you ever dated someone you met online? I technically have. We met on a forum that I frequented in undergrad. Most of us were Jamaican students living in the US. It was a great forum and I met a couple lifelong friends and acquaintances. I don't know if it ever occurred to me that what I knew about this guy from the forums could have all been faked. I don't know if I ever thought too much about the dangers of meeting up with him that first night. I didn't meet up with him alone but I think all the persons in the large group of us that met up that night were strangers to me. The others had met each other at various times before. Is it something I'd do again? Technically, I am (see 60% single). I think that being a part of the forum changed the dynamic and didn't make it a typical online dating scenario. But still, we met online. Several persons who met in that forum went on to get married too. It wasn't a dating forum but many found their soul mates there.

Yesterday I saw an article about a woman suing Match.com for failing to warn her about the dangers of online dating. She broke it off with her date after four days but some months later, he brutally stabbed her. Should Match.com be held liable? Is it Match.com's job to warn us that the people we meet online could turn out to be psychos? Frankly, the people we meet offline could also turn out to be psychos so I am not sure what Match.com's responsibility is. I do know that there are several disclaimers in their ToS though.

Even when you meet with someone offline, you can never be too sure that the story they are telling is true. I know that there are several things that are easier to fake online but we have to be careful both on and offline. I feel extremely bad for this woman who was attacked by her deranged former date. I don't feel bad for Manti though. Maybe he spun the tale because of media attention. Maybe he is trying to hide something.

In any case, as I talk more and more to this guy online, I can't help but wonder what our first meeting will be like. Will we ever have that first meeting? We could lose interest before then. Will it be as effortless as it is online and on the phone? Or will it be awkward? Will I be too nervous? What will we learn about each other in that offline environment? Will it be a turn off?

We'll see, I guess. We'll see.