Bad Baking

I have been talking about baking pumpkin muffins for a couple of weeks. I decided last night that tonight was the night. I made sure that I had all the necessary ingredients, or so I thought. After adding the dry ingredients to the batter, I noticed that it was more watery than usual. I have made these muffins many times before, so I knew something wasn't quite right. The batter tasted okay, but it didn't thicken like it should have. I went back over the recipe to see if I missed something or if I had put in too much of something, but I didn't. I thought I would cook them for the required amount of time and see what happened, but I wasn't optimistic.

When the timer went off, I pulled the pan out of the oven. What a mess! It looked like the batter had merely boiled in the pan. I think Valerie thought that I must have put too much water in the batter, but I reviewed the recipe and knew that I had measured all ingredients correctly. The only difference I could point out is that I now use eggs from cage-free hens but different eggs shouldn't affect the thickness of a batter. Then I had another thought: the only ingredient that I wasn't mine or bought recently was the flour . It was some that Valerie had in a plastic canister--needless to say, we don't do a lot of baking--at her old apartment, and we've been here for a year. Still, I doubted that the kind of flour could make a difference, but if it wasn't flour in the canister, it would make a big difference. I opened the flour and stuck my finger in it. It was sweet. I tasted it again, and I knew: it was powdered sugar! DAMN!

Of course, we didn't have any other flour either. Valerie offered to go to the store tonight, but I told her that I would bake the muffins tomorrow or Thursday night. I really wanted a muffin tonight, too. (Funny side note: I didn't get angry, which is surprising because I would have been a total bitch about the mix-up in my previous relationship. Valerie really does bring out the best in me.) The worst thing, though, is that now I have to clean up the kitchen, and I didn't even get a yummy muffin out of the work that created the mess.

What an amazing moment!

I am so happy with my fellow Americans tonight. Valerie, our CGF (closeted gay friend), and I watched the results at a GLBT watch party at a local. It was very exciting and a lot of fun.

I'm not sure that I ever believed that I would see anyone other than a white male be president in my lifetime. However, once the primaries were over, I did start to believe that America was on the brink of a historic moment of our own making. Even as late as this morning, I still resisted believing the polls were correct. I just didn't want to be disappointed this time.

Well, tonight, I was exhilarated by Obama's win. I texted some friends when CNN called it for him, and I was brought to tears by my African American friend Lois's text: "I can hardly believe it! I cried! Then I danced! A black man will be president! I never thought in my lifetime!" Then she texted this a few minutes ago, which made me laugh ruefully: "They didn't want to give us 40 acres and a mule so dammit we will take 50 states and a White House."

My African American friend Charles, whom I have known since junior high, only had this to say to my "OMG! We have a black president!": "Yes we do." I was very touched by Charles's reaction to Obama's acceptance speech at the Democratic convention. To think that at 44, you can finally believe that someone like you could actuall be president. How sad that it took so long, but how great that it finally happened. Almost all of my nieces and nephews are biracial, and now they can all know that someone like themselves is going to be president. This is truly a great day for America.

The negative for tonight/today is that all the same-sex marriage measures appear to be passing. I just don't understand why Americans are so stupid about same-sex marriage. Tonight, though, I can not dwell on the negative.

OBAMA!!!!!!

New addition

I have a very large extended family, and this is the newest member, my niece's daughter. Isn't she beautiful!

It's kind of funny that before she was born I really wasn't happy about this niece having a baby, but as soon as I saw her, I forgot about those feelings. I actually felt hopeful about my niece and her seemingly bad choice of a boyfriend. He was taking care of the baby at the hospital, changing diapers and feeding her, as much as my niece. I hope it's a good omen for their future.