Last Day in Hemet

The temperature turned hot for our last full day in Hemet yesterday. As usual, the kitties melted like catsicles. The trailer is situated so that the sun shines where most of the windows are located on the RV, and so we've been closing the blinds to keep out the heat. It also means we have to take down the kitties' window perches, and this causes them no end of consternation. Smitty snoozes the day away on the quilts that ordinarily cover the window perches.

Sadie likes the area under the table where the floor is carpeted...right next to their toy box.

My day got off to a bang with the first of the "stitched inchies." I checked Instagram compulsively until 8:01 a.m. when the instructions for completing the first one were posted. Yay! Mine was stitched up in less time than it took me to wind the skein of floss onto the floss bobbin. These are so much fun.

Instructions for a new one will be posted each day through the month of February. It's not too late to join in. You can find the free pattern and instructions for coloring on the Crabapple Hill Studios website right here.

Okay, and on a hot day, I always think it's best to fire up ALL of one's heat-generating appliances, and so I decided to do laundry. But that wasn't nearly enough heat, and so I decided to bake a cake too. My propane oven, which works like a regular oven, is woefully inaccurate temperature-wise. I've been making more use of my convection-microwave oven. It always seemed like a weird appliance to me, but I'm getting used to it. It can be either full convection or full microwave, or a combination of the two. I can't imagine why anyone would want the combo, but it's possible. For yesterday's project, I used convection only to scale down a full sized cake and make this Apple Bourbon Bundt Cake for Two.

Isn't it cute? We had it for dessert last night with a dollop of Redi-Whip. It was very moist and tasty. Also, I discovered that one of the quart-sized freezer containers I use for freezing soup makes a dandy little cake keeper if you turn it upside down, using the lid for the cake plate.

Nifty, huh? So above the pictures, I've linked to the full-sized cake recipe from the New York Times. If you'd like to make a cake for just two (actually, four), here's how I did it. Keep in mind I baked it in a convection oven. You may need to bake it a few minutes longer in a traditional oven.

Apple Bourbon Bundt Cake for Two
adapted from the NYTimes
2-4 servings

Ingredients:

1/2 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more to grease pan
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more to dust the pan
2-1/2 tablespoons bourbon or rye whiskey
2 tablespoons candied ginger, chopped
1/2 cup golden brown sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
pinch grated nutmeg
1/4 cup sour cream
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1/2 medium Granny Smith apple about a 1/4 lb., peeled, cored, and coarsely grated
1/4 cup finely chopped, toasted pecans
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 T fresh lemon juice

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 3-cup bundt pan. In a small bowl, combine 1/2 tablespoon bourbon and the candied ginger. Let stand 10 minutes.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the brown sugar and butter on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the egg, until incorporated.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining flour with the baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sour cream and vanilla. Pour in the bourbon from the ginger mixture (reserve ginger) and whisk until smooth. Stir in zest.

With the mixer on medium speed, add the dry mixture and sour cream mixture to the wet mixture in three additions, alternating between the two. Fold in the ginger, apples and pecans. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until the cake is golden brown and a skewer inserted into the cake comes out dry, about 45 minutes. Cool in the pan 15 minutes, then run a paring knife around the sides of the pan to release the cake; cool, flat side down, on a wire rack.

While the cake cools, combine the 2 tablespoons granulated sugar and 2 tablespoons whiskey in a small saucepan. Over low heat, gently stir until the sugar dissolves. Stir in the lemon juice and take off the heat.

While the cake cools, make 10 slits on top with a paring knife and pour half the bourbon-sugar mixture on the still-warm cake. When the cake is fully cool, flip it and pour the rest of the glaze on the other side, then flip again to serve.

If you don't have a 3-cup bundt pan, you can find one on the Amazon website. This is the one I'm using. Also, if you want a non-alcoholic version of this recipe, I suggest substituting apple juice or apple cider for the bourbon. Websites will suggest substituting a lesser amount of non-alcoholic vanilla, but this is an apple cake. Apple juice or cider will simply give you more apple flavor for the same amount of moisture.

Okay, so that was a nice little diversion to the day. When it started to cool off, we were able to open the blinds again and put up the kitty window perches again. They're easy enough to take up and down. We simply slip the "hammock" from the suction cup on the window. When we're ready to put them back up, we re-insert them. The whole process takes about one minute. They were both happy to have them back again.

When we started the trip, Smitty was territorial about them, and they couldn't sit side by side like this in peace and harmony. Now, they are using them regularly side by side. Sadie could barely resist Smitty's tail flicking right in her face. I admonished her not to kick the beehive.

When the weather cooled off a little, Mike and I sat outside in the shade. All the while we've been in Hemet, we've noticed thousands of geese flying overhead. I took a picture with my phone yesterday. We thought they might be seagulls until we noticed them flying in an unmistakable V-formation yesterday. My guess was Snow Geese. I checked in with my friend Judy, from earlier in the trip. She suggested "Snow/Ross’s geese going to/from overwintering grounds near the Salton Sea, is my guess."

So after two weeks here in Hemet, we'll bid this place adieu and move on down the road. We're heading back to Pahrump, Nevada. We've been there before this trip, but just to stop and buy groceries. We'll stay two weeks this time around. There's a nice RV park there with an associated winery and a very nice restaurant. Next week, Erik and Mae will arrive for a brief respite from the rain in Portland. It'll be fun to see them. We have plans to visit Death Valley since they've never been, and we have some other ideas in mind too. No doubt, Mike and Erik will want to visit the Spring Mountain driving school where Mike attended a Corvette driving school a couple of years back.

My hand quilting is put away for now, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that it's about half quilted now. That was encouraging. For now, I'll get back to the fourth snowflake. Also, I'll be watching for the next inchy. There's much to do before we head out of town.