use real butter

Recipe: caramel cake with caramelized butter frosting

“…and try not to chew caramel.”

That is what the dental assistant told me after she cemented my temporary crown onto my molar. I smiled while my eyes darted about the room nervously – how did she know that caramel was front and center in this month’s Daring Baker’s challenge?

daring bakers: we knead to bake!

After all of the cooking and baking for this holiday, here we are slapped into sugar coma with the latest Daring Baker cake: Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting by Shuna Fish Lydon, as published on Bay Area Bites. A huge thanks to our wonderful hosts this month: Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity, ably assisted by Alex of Blondie and Brownie, Jenny of Foray into Food, and the always amazing Natalie of Gluten-a-Go-Go for the alternative bakers. I also want to thank our lovable Daring Baker founders: Lis and Ivonne, who continue to inspire and keep us in line!

adding water to the caramelized sugar

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: crustless pumpkin pie

Manisha had asked what I do with leftover turkey. I personally prefer the leftover turkey to the centerpiece turkey. This afternoon I had a turkey reuben sandwich (it’s just a reuben with turkey instead of corned beef) and Jeremy had an open-face hot turkey sandwich bathed in gravy. I’m debating what to do with the carcass – green chile stew?

I’m glad I got all of the cooking out of the way because today I went to have my root canal finished up at the dentist’s and OMFG!!!!! It hurt like a beyotch. I’m talking about the worst pain I have experienced in my life (and I have a fairly high threshold for pain). I’ve had a root canal before and I didn’t feel a thing, but today… They warned that if it hurt during the root canal, I would experience a lot of pain afterward when the numbing wore off. But my tooth doesn’t hurt at all now. They suggested chewing on soft foods.

freshly ground spices and brown sugar

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: cheater flan

This was supposed to be my week of relaxation. By relaxation, I mean getting shit done on my todo novel (it is no longer a list). But Mr. Tooth isn’t having any of that and we went in for a root canal today. It’s not all Tooth’s fault because I hadn’t seen Leyla in months and then there are things going on tomorrow and tentative things going on Friday with tons of medical appointments sprinkled in between for good measure and then I land face first on the weekend wondering where the hell my week went?

my week went straight into a roiling mass of hell

**Jump for more butter**