I've got 5 job interviews, 1 phone interview, and 4 at the upcoming MLA in Chicago. And there could be more. To anyone at all familiar with the academic job market--this is pretty good news, though also not in any way a guarantee of a job. It also means I have a whole butt load of preparation to do to get ready for these suckers. And sure, I could have started today. But you know, this sort of news makes me agitated. And it's holiday season, i.e., it's BAKING season. Plus, we're expecting a butt load of snow tomorrow. Nothing that Bflo can't handle, no record-breaking or anything, but enough to be damn inconvenient, to make it inadvisable to drive anywhere, and to make it necessary for seemingly the entire Bflo population to go grocery shopping at the exact moment that I did, because it was a freaking disaster area if I've ever seen one...
On the other hand, I started my holiday baking, and some baking that was just for fun. And there will be more tomorrow, though I've got to be sure to squeeze in some actual work as well.
Anyway, I made another lemon poundcake. Check it out:
Not so shabby, eh? I even glazed it this time...so hopefully that will work out. But I put in a lot of lemon zest--that's the key. As I suggest in the title of the post, there is no such thing as too much lemon zest. The more lemony tangy sweetness, the better. I also started making molasses cookies--they're actually icebox cookies (for the unintiated, this means that you let them chill in a roll in the refrigerator, then slice and bake them), and I'd actually passed this recipe to my mom before making them myself, and she gave them such rave reviews that I felt I had to give them a whirl, seeing as I am enthusiastically PRO-molasses cookies. Not everyone is, of course...Some people will only be ok with a cookie that's got a chocolate chip in one form or another in it. But a molasses cookie full of spice, that's chewy with some real *bitiness* to it--well, just let me at it. And judging by the taste of the dough, it looks like this recipe is indeed a slam-dunk...a molasses cookie of total awesomeness.
And since I'm posting baking, here are two other recent episodes: Exibit A) Chocolate Sour Cream Cupcakes w/Chocolate Buttercream Frosting, made for my office's holiday party:
Exhibit B: Apple-pear pie I made after returning from Thanksgiving and having other kinds of pie, and feeling inspired to make more pie, though I found myself a trifle rusty, and made this bad boy a leetle, just a leeetle too sweet, but somehow I managed to stomach it...
Ah...apple-pear pie. It looked a bit more impressive up close, with the little bubbles of appley-peary juicy syrup running up through the slits in the crust--though as I said, I'm a bit rusty.
Nevertheless, it did not suck by any means.
And tomorrow, the molasses cookies will be baked, pumpkin cookies will be baked, and perhaps, just perhaps, sugar cookie dough will be made and refrigerated. And I will eventually get to use my brand new high-heel shaped cookie-cutter. And the high-heel shoe-shaped sugar cookies (that's some alliteration!) will be decorated ornately and scrupulously. And they will be distributed to high-heel shoe loving people. And it will be good. Yah. And then there will be pumpkin scones, baked with the leftover pumpkin from the pumpkin cookies. Ahhh. Life is good when time is devoted to baking.
Note to self: Try to exercise self-control.
Note to Moon Goddess: I'd be happy to give you the recipe to the molasses cookies; next post, I promise. Unless I figure out how to make it available via the comments to the blog--which I haven't quite figured out yet....
