Some Updates on My Life as Une Jeune Fille Au Pair

It's hard to believe that I've been back for almost a month already.  To be honest, most of the time it feels like I never left.  And I don't consider that a bad thing, either.  I don't want my time here to end.  If I'm ever having an off day, I can always count on my host family to bring me out of my slump.  In all honesty, they make it pretty hard to be in a slump in the first place.

First I'd like to wish a (belated) birthday to N, my host mum.  She unfortunately wasn't home with us since she's in Davos for the week, yet that didn't stop us from celebrating.  I baked her a birthday cake for everyone but her to eat.  Then we gave her a call on Skype to sing her happy birthday, blow out her candles and eat the cake in front of her.  Aren't we kind?

Now a side note on the cake.  Since P (host father) can't eat gluten, I figured the cake we all ate in front of N had to be gluten free.  Baking without gluten isn't always the easiest thing to do.  Luckily enough, I found a recipe for an easy flour-free chocolate cake!  I was a bit disappointed there was no picture on the recipe page, but I figured I'd take a picture of my finished product and post it.  Then I realized why there was no picture.  The cake doesn't exactly look very...edible...straight out of the oven.  The "crust" turned out rock hard and looked like it has been shaken with earthquakes from the cake falling so much.  Oh, that's why gluten is so important...


In the end, all I needed was some Pillsbury icing (yes, gluten free!) to cover up the mess, and everyone was happy.  E even requested I make it again.  But not before asking if I screwed it up (he knows about my past baking experiences).  I of course answered, yes, I screwed it up.  He then said, "Ok, just make sure you screw it up again."  Gosh, I love that kid.

E has accomplished quite a lot this past week.  He won a tongue twister challenge at school, competed in a ping pong tournament with his best friend (and wasn't too bummed out when they didn't qualify), and has gone on a run every day (ya, a 9 year old that goes running.  You'd think I'd be inspired...).  To think that he's only 9, is so talented and smart, yet so polite and genuine, restores my faith in the future generation.  Maybe we won't all turn out to be useless couch potatoes.

Now as my week comes to an end, I'm very excited to pack my bags, and a borrowed set of skis, because I am off to Chamonix for the weekend to ski with three of my best friends!  We're loading up the "Soccer Mom Van" and heading out Friday night.  And luckily Groupon had a deal on ski passes, so along with our cheap hostel, it looks like it will be a fairly inexpensive weekend.

I'll be sure to fill you all in on Monday with pictures and stories while I'm lying covered in heat packs and complaining about how sore I am.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Food Fridays - Gluttony Edition

This past Wednesday was one of my staff's birthday.  Last year, I had set the standard for staff birthdays.  Another staff member had a birthday on the day I was working (unbeknownst to me until I arrived at work), so I ran out (on a break!) to Dairy Queen to get one of their delicious cakes.

This year, I had to one-up myself.

At the beginning of the summer, I made sure I was aware of when everyone's birthday was.  Then, when I found out there was a birthday that I would be present for, I made sure to casually introduce the subject of favourite desserts (specifically cakes) to the conversation weeks ahead of time.  Lo and behold, I discovered that O's favourite cake was a plain cheesecake with strawberries.  (I must say I was quite happy this was her favourite, since I LOVE cheesecake).

So on Wednesday, once all the staff had arrived, we did a little surprise for O and enjoyed some cake for lunch.

I love birthdays.

For the recipe, check out Cooking with Philly.  The recipe is very easy, but I found the centre took quite a long time to bake (far longer than the recipe).  It may just be the oven, though...

After 40 minutes in the oven

Added a layer of sour cream with sugar and vanilla

Sliced strawberries for my topping

Fresh out of the oven.  Browned on the sides since it needed to be in the oven for so long.

Finished!  I'm not patient enough to do a nice design on the top.  Sorry O.

My mum commented that this looks like a small party pizza...with candles.

Anyone have any cheesecake or other kind of cake recipe they'd be willing to share?  I'm also always looking for gluten free options.  This cake was almost gluten free.  If I substituted the graham crumbs in the crust for almond flour it would have been.