Self-sabotage.

Ugh. Why do I do this to myself? I definitely was overreaching today with my goals.

Fordski made his amazing salsa, and it was a hit.

The banana nut bread turned out GREAT. Then it was all downhill from there.

I misread the instructions for the cake, and while it turned out and tasted great, the look was off. Also, I have not had success in the past in trimming cake for layers, so I didn't bother this time, making it look even more goofy. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, though. The icing was pissing me off. I don't have a double boiler, so I put a small pot in a bigger pot full of simmering water. While mixing the condensed milk into the chocolate chips, I dipped the upper pot too low and a bunch of water seeped in, ruining it. So I made another batch, and almost did the exact same thing. But I saved it by dipping a paper towel to soak up the bit of water.

Next was the rice and beans. Arroz con gandules, or rice with pigeon peas. First I put the rice in before the water was even boiling. Wrong. Then the rice was about done, when I realized...I forgot to put in the damn pigeon peas. The rice turned out great, but what the hell was wrong with me at this point?

Fordski's pork tenderloin turned out FANTASTIC.

I had not time to make tostones.

Drunk Kris commented as I was making quesitos that I seemed a little wound up. Ya think?! Ugh. The recipe for quesitos was stupid. I'm sorry, but the size of the pastry and the amount of filling don't work out. I used a third of the amount that the recipe calls for and it was still WAY too much filling, spilling out everywhere. And the time in the oven? Uh, NOT EVEN CLOSE. Seriously, the author of this recipe fails.

This is why there are no pictures. Everything was delicious (or so my friends told me), but in my opinion none of it stood out visually. (With the exception of the salsa and pork.) I promise, when I make each of these again, ON THEIR OWN, I will take pictures and share the recipes. The quesito recipe is going to require some tinkering. They still tasted AMAZING, but the even after doubling the time in the over, the dough was chewier than it should have been.

I made butterbeer, thought, and it was GREAT.

Sometime this autumn I will have my friend Drunk Kris guest post on here. I've promised him a couple of my pumpkins to make wine and beer with.

Good night!