I don’t know who is eventually going to win, but I did notice that Trump appears to be losing:
Lo-o-o-o-o-o-ser
Anya’s 10th Birthday Cake: Strawberry Whipped Cream
Ingredients:
- 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin powder
- 4 teaspoons water
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 Tablespoon maple syrup
- 1/4 cup strawberry reduction
Method:
- Place water in a heat-proof container and sprinkle gelatin on top. Allow to sit for at least five minutes to hydrate. Place container into a pot of water (water should not come too close to the top of the container — we just need a little bit in the pot to make a water bath). Simmer until gelatin is clear and liquid. Remove from heat and allow to slightly cool.
- Add maple syrup to whipped cream and beat until soft peaks form.
- Slowly drizzle gelatin into whipped cream (beating as you pour).
- Slowly add in strawberry reduction and continue to beat until firm peaks form.
Anya’s 10th Birthday Cake: Strawberry Reduction
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs frozen strawberries
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Method:
Place frozen strawberries in a large pot, sprinkle with salt and drizzle with lemon juice.
Over medium heat, heat until strawberries begin to break down (stirring frequently).
Lower heat to simmer and cook until volume is reduced by about half.
Cool and refrigerate to store overnight.
Anya’s 10th Birthday Cake: Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Whipped Cream
Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Whipped Cream
Course: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: MediumServings
12
servingsPrep time
1
hourCooking time
40
minutesIngredients
14 oz all-purpose Flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
226 g unsalted butter, room temperature
284 g sugar
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
170 g egg whites, room temperature
125 g strawberry reduction, room temperature
170 g heavy whipping cream
Method
- Preheat oven to 350F. Flour three 8″ cake pans and set aside.
- Whisk together the cream, strawberry reduction, and lemon juice.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, place the room temperature butter and beat until smooth and shiny.
- Gradually add in the sugar, beating until the mixture is fluffy and light colored.
- Add the egg whites, one at a time, and beat at a medium speed.
- On a low speed, add about 1/3 of the dry ingredients followed by 1/3 of the wet ingredients, mixing until mostly incorporated into the batter. Repeat until all ingredients have been added.
- Divide the batter evenly between the three pans.
- Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes (a cake tester should come out clean).
- Place pans on a wire rack to cool for ten minutes, then turn the cakes out onto the rack and allow to cool.
- To assemble, place a cake on the cake plate. Cover with strawberry reduction, and top with a second cake. Cover with strawberry reduction, then top with the third cake. Coat liberally with strawberry whipped cream and serve.
Commentary
- This year, Anya chose a strawberry cake. We looked through a lot of recipes online and merged a couple into what we hoped would be a very strawberry flavored cake. It was — the strawberry whipped cream was specially tasty. I think it could have used more strawberry reduction between the layers, though the cake was already very moist.
Access Digital Newspapers through the County Library
Your Cuyahoga County Library account can be used to gain free access to the electronic editions of a few national newspapers — including New York Times and Washington Post. You just have to use the links from https://cuyahogalibrary.org/read-watch-listen/digital-library/newsstand to get a few days of free access.
Kahtoola MicroSpikes
I picked up a pair of MicroSpikes and NanoSpikes at the end of last season as retailers were clearing out their winter gear. These are awesome for walking in the snow and ice — I wasn’t sliding around at all.
The negative five degree temps (negative thirty with windchill) taught me that I’m not quite done purchasing winter gear — my balaclava kept most of my face warm, but ski goggles for the little bit of skin around my eyes away from the blowing ice.
Recipe: Tomato and Pear Salad
Ingredients (1 serving):
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp maple syrup
- 1 tomato
- 1 pear
Method:
- Remove stem and core from tomato and pear. Cut each up.
- Put tomato and pear in a bowl and drain juice (to remove acid).
- Mix together the salt, pepper, lemon juice, and maple syrup.
- Put the tomato and pear into non-draining bowl.
- Pour the dressing onto the pears and tomatoes.
- Eat and enjoy!
4K v/s NanoCell
We did a side-by-side comparison of the LG UQ75 and QNED80 — I was surprised at how different the picture was — there are so many more stars visible, and the background black space was much darker. Since both were basically the same price, the QNED was certainly a good purchase.
| UQ75 | QNED |
 |  |
Ash Kit
Ash Kit is doing well — he stays in Anya’s room at night, and I’m trying to train him to pounce on Anya to wake her up when the alarm starts in the morning.
Accessing Records – Cuyahoga County Probate Court
We went up to the County Courthouse today to view some old probate records — just like the recorders office, this is all stored seemingly forever and available to the public to review. There is a room where the microfiche is stored in cabinets.
Each drawer is full of boxes — when you search the Cuyahoga County probate court records, newer records have files in the “Docket” that you can view. Older cases don’t.
They do, however, contain a record that provides the film roll number.
And each file drawer has a list of numbers housed in the drawer — to find the film for this case, I needed to find the drawer with roll 03575
Voila — here’s the roll. Each box indicates the range of case numbers imaged onto the roll … I confirmed the case number I wanted was in that range.
They also have a film viewer computer — if you select the type of film, the screen will give you a little animated video with instructions on loading the film. Look for that in the lower right-hand corner of the screen.
