Today, I faced one of the biggest challenges of my life—to make something out of almost…well—nothing. I’m not talking about magically producing an object out of nowhere. I’m actually referring to cooking or baking something delicious out o the crappy ingredients I have at home. My family has been gone for a week and I haven’t had the luxury of time to go out and get some groceries. This morning, I totally regretted that I didn’t put shopping on my priority list. I was all ready to leave for work this morning—all dressed, with my make up on. Then I checked my blood pressure. Viola! It was 150/100.
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| Oooohh-la-la.... it's done! |
I took a deep breath, rested, and tried again after fifteen minutes. 160/110. My dad advised me to stay home. Stay home I did—stayed home alone all day. The first thing you do when you’re sick is to try to put something in your stomach. I opened the fridge. It was empty. I’ve never seen it so empty before…it actually broke my heart. I turned to the pantry…nothing in there either! There was just uncooked rice. I felt too sick to go out, and too sick to eat fast food. One friend suggested I eat the cat, but that was too gross. Another friend said maybe I could deep fry the goldfish. But they’re so small they’d probably just get stuck between my teeth, so I didn’t bother.
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| The aftermath--the only reason why I don't like baking...the pans I have to wash afterwards can drive me crazy. |
Think MOM… that’s what I had to do. My mom had magic. With Mama around, we actually get excited when the fridge is empty. She is an expert in whipping up something delicious out of whatever what was left in the pantry—usually ingredients we never cared about. Every time she wasn’t able to purchase groceries, she would take out her wooden recipe box and choose the recipe which contained ingredients we could find on our shelf. That’s why I did. I sifted through the box. Apple pie? Nope..apples and butter were not on my list of available ingredients? Chocolate crinkles? No eggs. Pizza? No tomato sauce. Then I found it…the perfect cake. No eggs or milk necessary. Only flour, sugar, a little salt here, a tablespoon of vinegar there. Voila! It was too good to be true. All I had to do was mix everything in the pan (a bowl wasn’t even needed!) and then bake it in the oven for a few minutes.
It took only about 50 minutes for the whole process, including the baking. After letting it cool for a few minutes, I found half a pack of whipped cream in the fridge and—well, whipped it with some sugar and a sprinkle of cocoa powder. I spread it on the cake and put it in the fridge to cool. The cake looked so perfect, I decided not to eat it and opted to starve instead. Good thing my brother came home earlier than expected, bringing with him grilled chicken for dinner.
Well, I’m glad I survived that horrible ordeal of starving to death. Thanks to mom’s recipe box, I was able to make something out of almost nothing. Hehe. Of course, I hated the cleaning I had to do afterwards. But who cares. The cake was worth it.
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| The cake that's so easy to make...it's crazy! |
3c APF
2c sugar
1/2 c cocoa
1 t salt
2t baking soda
1 t vanilla
3T vinegar
3/4 c oil
2c cold water
- Sift dry ingredients into un-greased 9x13 pan.
- Make three holes in the mixter, then add vanilla, vinegar; one for each hole
- pour in cold water over the mixture and stir well
- bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes
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