Today was a wonderful day. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I requested that we arrive to Stoat & Mal’s a little early so Weasel and I could go shopping. I didn’t even find anything worth trying on. I have some ‘rules’ about tops that I have to follow or I end up looking stupid. For example, I cannot have capped sleeves, they make my shoulders look even wider. Weasel found several cute things and ended up with a new skirt and a cute shirt. I’m not entirely sure how to go about getting new clothes.

Anyway, when we got to the house Stoat had already started on the cake [in terms of getting ingredients out] so I dived right in. It is always fun to cook with a chef. He is so knowledgeable and he knows all these little ‘tricks’ to make things easier. For example, lining a circular baking dish with baking parchment. I’ve usually put the paper in and folded it along the sides; it worked okay but I didn’t love it. His method:

• cut the paper a couple of inches wider than the dish
• fold the paper in half several times [it'll form a triangle]
• turn the baking dish over and place the point of the paper in the middle
• measure the height of the dish and leave the same amount hanging over the edge, trim the excess
• cut several slits along the ‘height’ of the paper [from the outside edge going toward the point]
• when you unfold it, it fits perfectly in the dish and the slits mean there is no bunching on the edges

The cake turned out beautifully and I learned a lot about where I’d be going wrong before. I think I just never had enough air in the batter. It was so much fun and I’m definitely going to be trying others. I also have a better understanding of icing and I think I’ll do better with that now too. I love cooking with Stoat.

I also got to play many games; Rummikub, Scrabble and Uno. Lovely conversation as usual. I got to discuss my knitting projects with Mal, she was very helpful. I’m going to start one for me and one for Weasel. My plan is to take my pattern to the haberdashery and ask them to help me pick appropriate wool and circular needles. I’m really excited to do this. I’m also going to start practising the pattern for a couple of others I want to try.

There were a few presents too. My big thing is the domestic hearing loop. It hasn’t arrived yet, but it should be sometime this week. So I would have something on the day though, they gave me a wonderful wooden jigsaw puzzle with a crossword puzzle on one side and a sudoku puzzle on the other! I’m really excited to give it a go. Weasel and Horatio also conspired a bit. There were two boxes, a little one and a small one. I decided to open the small one first. It was a copy of the 100 classic books for the DS. Weasel explained that she felt bad I wasn’t able to use her copy because she always took it to work. I said that was all well and good, but I didn’t have a DS. Then the penny dropped. The big box was of course my very own DS. I’m really excited and I was so surprised. So huge thank you to Weasel and Horatio for the planning and execution of a most wonderful birthday present.

I even managed to blow out all of my candles! Last year I couldn’t even get a look in. I took a big breath and I did it! Lungs won’t keep me down.

I’ve had two people express an interest in the things that I cook. So I will share my recipes when I make things, but at the bottom of the Debbies so those that are uninterested won’t have to look. I got this from my Mom a while ago, don’t know where she got it.

Sweet Potato Bean Burritos

Bean Mixture:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup water
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
3 tablespoons soy sauce

Sweet Potato Mixture:
4 medium sweet potatoes, cooked*
2-4 jalapeños, diced
1/4 c fresh cilantro

12 whole wheat tortillas (warm them up if they are too hard to roll)*
4 ounces shredded Mexican cheese*
4-6 oz cheddar cheese to top burritos*

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Heat oil in a medium skillet, and saute onion and garlic until soft. Stir in beans and water, and heat until warm. Stir in the chili powder, cumin, and soy sauce. Let this bubble away for at least 15 minutes until water is reduced, meanwhile you can get the sweet potatoes ready.

Mash the cooked sweet potatoes. Chop up the jalapeño peppers and add them to the potatoes. Add the cilantro and combine it all together.

Divide bean mixture and mashed sweet potatoes evenly between the tortillas, add cheese and roll the tortillas. Place them on a greased baking sheet. Top with cheese. Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven.

Serve, topped with salsa and/or sour cream.

* I peeled and sliced the sweet potatoes, then boiled them until they were fork soft. I only used four tortillas; making four giant burritos was much more fun. I lined the bottom of the tortillas with cheddar cheese, put the sweet potato mixture, then the bean mixture and rolled the burrito, topping it off with lovely lovely Mexicana cheese.

Note: This was almost too hot for me, I think next time I will half the amount of chili powder and add an extra jalapeño. Sour cream made it more than edible though!