I'm Baccck!!!!

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You can't keep a good griot down! It's been a rough 2014 with lots going on. I've been trying to keep in the kitschen but, it's been hard to document my work. There's been some successes and some flops. I've learned, laughed and eaten with those I love and that's the most important thing. Most recently I organized a meeting of the minds. I had me sweetie over (yes, I've got one of those now) to meet my PaPa. Now, if you follow my life, you know that my PaPa is a big deal around these parts. So I thought I'd give the occasion the sweetness it deserved with a new cake recipe. Since my PaPa loves strawberries so much I decided to try this upside down strawberry cake recipe.

The cake was simple enough.... but it called for making a strawberry syrup reduction and a meringue. Ya'll know I'm not a fan of egg whites but, with the help of my kitchen aid mixer and some creme of tartar I made it through. Check out the process!

Step 1: Sprinkle 1/2 cup brown sugar in the bottom of your cake pan.

Scatter sliced strawberries on top.

Ok... this doesn't look too pretty right now.

But just wait until I add the strawberry syrup reduction and the meringue!

I whipped those egg whites into shape!

Ta-da! I added some peaks for good measure.

You'll be happy to know the cake turned out swell and the meeting of the minds went well. I was the most awkward one there of course! PaPa and my sweetie talked about dude things and bonded over baseball. My gramps made a few quips at my expense per usual and we all had a laugh. Then my sweetie and I took a bike ride around town and had a beer! Here is his beer face.

Also recently a new tap room opened up in the area. It's called Null, and it's brought to you by the makers of Civilized spirits and Jolly Pumpkin beer. They also have some North Peak selections on tap. The soft opening came up as a suggested post on Facebook oddly enough. I called two of my bro friends and asked them to join me. What's more hip than cool people having craft beer and cocktails as a new cool place on a Wednesday night? The only acceptable answer is the North Pole!