9.47 am

We went out for breakfast this morning, to one of our favorite little places in town. We call it the "pirate place" because the old menus had something vaguely pirate-like about them. Not the best food in town, but friendly service, and quick, and the hot chocolate always comes with a mountain of whipped cream and chocolate syrup on top. We got there around 7:15ish - well ahead of the Mother's Day rush - found a table, and then sat and watched the two waitresses make eye contact with us multiple times as they washed their hands, brought a coffee pot around for refills, and chatted with the manager. In short, they did just a about everything they could to kill time without actually taking our order.

We were so frustrated that we walked out. I'm not sure if it even registered to the waitstaff that we were leaving because they hadn't even bothered to say hello. It's one thing if the restaurant is busy. We both understand how that goes, and we've got a ton more patience than most diners, I'd imagine. But to sit at a table, while the waitresses are finding things to do because they're not busy, while they seem to be deliberately ignoring us was a bit much. So we went over to Doug's, which is fantastic, where our favorite waiter was over in less than a minute.

9.53 am

The task for the day: to make a cake with an oven that tends to shut off in the middle of the bake cycle and refuses to turn back on. It will be a yellow cake, with slices of strawberries in it, with vanilla butter cream frosting with chocolate covered strawberries on top. If I can get it to cook, it should be a great cake.

1.55 pm

Cake baked. In a friend's oven. Strawberries simmering on the stove with a bit of Madeira and sugar, to make a strawberry-jammy-type filling. Butter on the counter getting soft for use in butter cream frosting. Strawberries dipped in chocolate and cooling. I'd forgotten how much fun baking is.