it's hot here. sometimes. luckily, we have a nice patio to enjoy the warmth when it's not so baking. right now it is, but that's what we have air conditioning for. or, the ceiling fan. if you position yourself right, it can be comfortably cool, even with 100 outside and no a/c inside. unfortunately, these last few days i have taken a liking to sitting at the red table in the kitchen, and there's no fan. so i try to move as little as possible. 
it works surprisingly well.
today, that is. yesterday was a more active day for me. but now the lawn is moved, the leaves are raked [why do leaves fall in the summer at all? thomas?], the dishwasher is emptied, and the marble cake is made.
 

was made, that is. and has been eaten. i took my time beating the eggs [certified humane raised and handled, mind you] in one by one, and the result was really noticeable. in the Batter, that is. i didn't eat much of the cake. but i always taste the batter. one great thing about baking by yourself, without mom, as when i was little. i get to eat as much of the batter as i like! and no cake later because i feel like i have to lie down on the couch. but it's well worth it. 
this marble cake was left unmarbled. i made one two days before, marbling didn't turn out well in the form i used. but i wanted to use this form, because i had just bought it for a buck or so at a thrift store. i also used another form yesterday. for a second cake. didn't work out so well. it's a pipe with a lid. lid at the bottom, but the batter in, klappe zu, affe tot. it starts smelling, i open the oven door, and the dough had come out at the bottom, squeezed through, onto the bottom heating thing. i skillfully ^^ cleaned up the mess and filled what was left into a mini loaf form.
i suppose this is why the form was at the thrift store to begin with? to keep this tragic cake fate from happening to another apronista, i put it into the recycling bin.

speaking of thrift stores. i had yet to find someone who is quite as passionate about themostbeautifulintheworld 50ct cups and the like as i am, when i met deb. before we went on separate trips, we were able to squeeze in a very short excursion [we only had 2 hours]. there were treasures aplenty to be found at the hindes hospice thrift store. for example, two cups for 50 cents each. and little pour thingy that i have already eaten breakfast out of, since i have no use for it but had to have it. at fifty cents, i splurged.
back to the coffee cups. the most perfeitu green color, no handle, curvaceous shape.
 

this is one cup with coffee in it. traveling in the car, the sun was shining through the window into the cup, onto the coffee, and mirrored at the wall of the cup. sigh. the beauty.
 

and here, same cup. nescafe instant coffee with soymilk. mmmmh.
the soymilk even foamed itself. happens when i finish a pack. i always shake before. i'm a shaker.
 

whereas earl the dog is a sniffer.
 

earl the dog always knows what's going on his empire because he never ceases to observe.
 

and he's very stealth.