Lockdown Day 3 - Kitchen Things

Do you know what has bothered me most about this lockdown so far? Cooking. I'm not the world's top kitchen queen, and would far rather decorate a cake or plate a meal than actually make it, so this idea of having to make multiple meals a day, 7 days a week is taking its toll. There's no relief of a ready-made meal (those are always sold out by the time I get online) or the luxury of someone else making the food for me. Not only am I running out of food; I'm running out of ideas too.

Add to that the fact that it is Sam's 5th birthday tomorrow. It's panic stations here. Of course, we aren't going to have anyone coming around, so you would think that I am off the hook, so to speak - but since when has a five-year-old cancelled a party? No, my Sam had his heart set on a Pikachu cake. I searched and searched for something I thought I may be able to pull off. I found a 3-ingredient sponge cake recipe, and I was just about to make the icing when Sam remembered that he, like his brother and father, hated icing. His solution: I was going to have to eat all the icing off the cake before they ate it. It was a hard no from me.

The cake Sam actually wanted

Eventually, Sam settled on an alternative: cake with caramel. Of course, I had no caramel.

Thank the Lord for the internet and the copious amount of Bigger Bolder Baking I have had to watch with the boys over the years. There I found a caramel recipe, and quickly decided that was not something I was going to try under lockdown conditions. Fortunately, on that same page was a link to Homemade Dulce de Leche, which is even yummier than caramel, and so I spent my evening (seriously, it takes over 2hrs to make) doing that.

So here's another thing lockdown has brought me: I have been forced to make do with what I have at my disposal, including my seemingly limited skill. And the funny thing is, when you know there are no other options, your effort often exceeds your expectation.

Of course, we haven't actually had the cake yet. I'll let you know tomorrow how it really turned out.