Argh.....

Wow, what a day I had yesterday.............. I hardly know where to begin! Thinking back over it, it seems like yesterday was about a week long. I had more culinary catastrophes yesterday than I have had in months and months. Looking back, the whole day was kind of humorous, but didn't seem that way as I progressed through it.

The day started off wonderfully. I began by making pancakes for Roger, Alex, and myself. While I was mixing them, I was thinking about the first time I tried to make pancakes on my own... :) I had to smile. :) Then, after my two peanut butter pancakes with maple syrup, Roger and I left to set up a Japanese bank account.... About an hour later, I got back to the apartment with no bank account. Then, I remembered that we were celebrating Coen's first birthday that afternoon. I set about to make cornstarch cupcakes. I made up the first batch by hand, and put 6 of them in the oven. I cooked them, and as soon as I took them out of the oven, they all sank! So then I decided to put the next six in the oven, and cook them so long that they couldn't have the possibility of falling! I cooked them for 30-40 min. They did not fall!!! And surprisingly, they were not too hard to eat either. From that point on, I cooked them all for 30 minutes. Then I made a second batch, and they all turned out well. By the time I finished all of those, it was lunch time. Abi made lunch, and she, Alex, and I ate. (Roger was not back yet.) Directly after lunch, I remembered that I had a lesson with Hinako-Chan at 4:15, and had allowed Eastin to finish all of the papers that I had printed out earlier in the week. So I sat down for about 45 min. to make new work sheets for them. As soon as I finished that, I started on the icing for the now cooled cupcakes. I started by whipping cream, coco, and powdered sugar together, and making beautiful whipped cream icing. Then I added the last ingredient, and it all melted into what looks like chocolate cottage cheese. It was a disaster! So! After that, we decided to make regular chocolate icing, which meant beating together (by hand) butter and sugar, and chopping up bakers chocolate and melting it. I ended up chopping the chocolate in pieces using a very large knife. They looked more like they had been ground than chopped. I admit I was frustrated by this point, and needed something to grind. The chocolate presented itself at the perfect time. After starting the second batch of icing, and being distracted by hanging out a load of laundry, Hinako arrived. I left the icing and the laundry unfinished, took a few deep breaths, pulled myself together, and gave a cheerful English lesson. Directly after the English lesson we had Coen's party, with an 'ice-your-own cupcake' party. That was fun, and I took some adorable pictures of Coen and his first cupcake. :) Then Abi and I made dinner. She did everything but the salad. She gave me the job of washing and tearing the spinach, which perhaps, was a mistake. I was so tired and absent-minded by that point, that I ended up more like pureeing the spinach. Abi says that she walked into the kitchen, and I was tearing and re-tearing the spinach with the blankest stare on my face. She said something about it, and I looked down and realized what I was doing... Anyway... it didn't change the taste. :) So yesterday was very tiring for me.... It didn't help much that I was running around all night chasing a ferret in my dreams either...

This morning I feel much better!!! I woke up and had my cereal, and then the cold coffee that I got for free at the 7-11 two days ago... I don't think I've ever had such a concentrated dose of caffeine and sugar before. The taste was not exactly what I was expecting! After the first sip I don't know whether I almost fell over, or jumped into the air. I drank the whole thing. Now I feel really good! :D

Hopefully I will not have any more days like yesterday, but looking back on it, I have to laugh at myself. It makes a great story! If it had been a movie, I would have laughed all the way through. Especially the part where I was so determined to make the cupcakes not fall. They actually turned out well in the end. I successfully made something gluten-free! Today promises to be much calmer. This afternoon is the big concert for Alex. I will tell about that later, as this is already really long...

My love to you all!

Hannah