Fool Proof

 First off, let me just say here that SK is ALWAYS asking me why I have to try new recipes.  I am beginning to think he is correct.  No, I know he is correct.  In my travels here in this small flat, I found a recipe book, with recipes from past senior missionaries here and in Europe.  I found this great one from a woman who runs a very successful cooking blog.

It is very close to a recipe that I have used for years, with an unbroken line of successes.  Why tamper with it right?

I did.

Tomorrow is Elder Reynoldson's birthday, and we are having a district council....7 young missionaries and us.  I also promised the whole zone - 13 young missionaries - that I would make them chocolate cake.  Tomorrow seemed like the perfect time to try the "new and improved" fool-proof chocolate cake, or as my daughters and I know it:  "Death By Chocolate."

There is a catch, two actually.  You have to use a cake mix.  I did.  They are expensive, but I thought it would be worth it.  You have to use Jello Instant Chocolate Pudding.  They are very expensive.  I got six boxes on Amazon for 14 pounds, roughly 18 dollars or more.  I thought for this once it would be alright to spend so much, because the cake is really good.  

I sent away for the pudding, which came yesterday - after two weeks waiting.  I made twelve little cakes and two 8 X 8 cakes. Every single one came out of the oven without having risen much at all, and then fell flat. (two cake mixes, two boxes of pudding, about $6 worth of chocolate chips and several hours of my time in the kitchen)  Argh!

I couldn't imagine what went wrong with this fool-proof recipe.  I'm certain it is that it had extra oil and water.  SK kindly hoofed it to the store again, and I made one last recipe which is in the oven - of my own "Death by Chocolate."  In the meantime, I cut up all that other fudgy-to-the-max cake into cubes and toasted them in the oven.  I'm going to give them out as brownie bits for ice cream!

No matter which direction he goes, SK ALWAYS drops by to hello to Bill, who was actively fishing today.

Today has been somewhat intense.  I started out watching another senior couple teach a Pathway course.  It helped just to watch.  I had a Zoom call from a man from Germany who oversees the whole program, along with the other one from France.  He was extremely kind and patient and helped me understand a great deal more.  Later in the afternoon, I had a Zoom call with the couple who taught this morning.  They walked me through a typical week of teaching, which further calmed my fears.

I will need to spend a great deal more time tomorrow if I can (after the district council and the birthday lunch) working at it, and THEN I must work on the lesson.

SK played tennis again today with the young elders and a man who is investigating the church.  Monday, SK won as many as he lost and came home feeling pretty exultant.  Today, he dismally reported that "everyone who played with me lost."

But he will get better.  He hasn't played in years, and it is amazing that he can even hold his own with all these young men.

Soon I will watch another Institute class by another teacher, but I will have to miss our own Young Adult Institute.  I have watched so many tutorials, and I have watched other people show me how to host a Zoom class, and I have watched as others have toggled between WISE and CANVAS, and they all assure me that once you get the hang of it, it's fool-proof.

We'll see.