Fondant!

I figured this morning I'd whip a cake together for practice, then move on to finish the zucchini relish. You know, I just don't understand how youtube makes things look so simple! Frosting the cake would be the easy part, I figured. WRONG. Who knew it takes for-freaking-ever to smooth icing? Who knew that as soon as I pulled the fondant out of the fridge I'd get interrupted 1,249 times? The ducks, the phone, the ducks, the mailman, the neighbor, the ducks...well, you get the idea. But I finally did it.

I call this the "zebra print-meets-random flower-meets-green-food-coloring-RANDOM cake". AKA the "practice" cake. I practiced the zebra stripes so I could make one for Kaylee next weekend. I practiced the flower because, well, it just looked cool. I learned a lot today. First, no one pays attention to me until a) I'm in the bathroom or b) I'm elbow deep in sugar/flour/kitchen substances. The second one of those two things occurs, everyone in town comes calling/yelling/knocking/honking. What is it about a closed door that attracts children? Anyway. Second thing I learned, those cake leveler thing-a-majigs might just be worth the investment. Always buy a couple extra tubs of frosting (or just make my own next time). Warm water helps smooth the icing. Eating fondant by the handful leads to a tummy ache. Me, not the kids. You'd think I'd be old enough to know by now.

Next, it was time to finish the zucchini relish. I have a confession to make. Can you keep a secret? Canning is a lot of work and I get overly ambitious at the beginning of summer. "Yay, I can't wait for an overabundance of crops to can!" This attitude quickly turns into, "If I see one more zucchini I'm running away from home!" By the end of summer I'm ready to tell Martha Stewart to go to hell and take some zucchini with her. I made 7 half pint jars of zucchini relish. It was a lot of work (and mess, because I'm just messy in the kitchen), but the kitchen smells wonderful. Reminds me of how my aunt's kitchen smelled when I was a kid.

How do you get leftover cake batter out of your hair? Hypothetical question.