Martha Stewart science experiment

Ewen ... no references to custard please, burnt or otherwise.

Well it was Stephanie Alexander actually (but Martha Stewart had a certain ring to it). Stephanie's 'mum's red devil's cake' from p 313. Apt description. And it worked so well last time though; as I sit here with the bathroom exhaust, kitchen exhaust, all windows open, Crabtree and Evelyn votives burning, all to no effect on the burnt-chocolate-smelling smoke wafting just below the ceiling, I do recall thinking, as I poured the cake mix into the pan about an hour or so ago, that the bubbling mix had a foreboding somewhat unfamiliar look to it!

10.20 pm on a school night. Downstairs neighbours are probably on the verge of calling the fire brigade. I do hope my work colleague (whose birthday in honour of which the cake was made) will be grateful for the thought.

Thoughts of all my culinarily (word?) proficient friends (Jac, Linds, Mum) as I head back to deal with the aftermath. A beer before bedtime may be in order. I discovered a very tasty brew whilst in Washington ... Hefe weizen.

Ball game

A sweltering 35 degrees and 38 percent humidity at 5:48 ... spent most of the afternoon at the Metrodome (the only indoor baseball stadium in the US - today I was glad to be indoors in air conditioned comfort). The Twins won, though it went into the 10th inning (if I sound like I know what I'm talking about, I don't ... but had a work friend there explaining it all to me).

Incident in the park

No pic today, just a vent / rant. Took the dogs to the park this morning early, as it is getting very hot now. They had a good time running around ... until Fin met the puppy with the thin-lipped (and, as it turned out, thin-skinned) woman at the other end of its lead. True to form, Fin was over-eager in his inspection of said puppy. The woman scooped up her puppy and started yelling things such as get your attack dog away etc. Unfortunately, picking up her puppy incited Fin to jump up and, to exacerbate things, connect with the thin skin of the thin-lipped woman (not badly, but enough for a bandaid). She was pretty out of control after that, asking for my name and phone number (which I was happy to give to her). She also wanted my address, but visions of being stalked overruled the weight of her angry response when I declined. Poor old Fin didn't know what was going on - and it didn't make it easier for him to calm down while she stood there with her puppy in her arms ranting at me!

I went to the car while she pursued me - I think she thought I was going to make a getaway (sadly my overweening sense of responsibility meant that this was not an option). As I did, two other dog-owners approached me and said they'd be happy to be witnesses on my behalf. Most people at this park are 'dog' people and know that dogs will be dogs. So that made me feel a little better.

I got back to the car and tried not to laugh as I saw the empty almond croissant bag on the floor and Fin and Tutu's 'it wasn't me' expressions. As I was driving home, the whole Judge Judy scenario was playing out before my eyes which welled up as I imagined the judge ruling that Fin had to be put down in spite of my pleading on his behalf ... nothing like a litigious country to enhance my natural paranoia.

Stay tuned. I'm sure there'll be another instalment.

Washington DC

Travelled to DC for work a couple of weeks back. Flew in over what I guess was part of the Potomac. They say Washington was built on a reclaimed swamp, but I did wonder how that could be as I descended the steepest, longest (moreso than any the London tube has to offer!), escalators into where the swamp should have swallowed me, to catch the Metro into the city each day.

Hu Jintau was in town during my visit. The Chinese Embassy was very close to the hotel where I stayed and, whilst out jogging one evening, I witnessed the whole entourage as it passed - federal cars (black, tinted windows etc), armoured people movers, police cars, motor bikes and helicopters - causing a major peak-hour traffic jam in the process. Fellow witnesses included several hundred brightly clothed and musically noisy Falun Gong protestors. The drums continued beating until about 10.00 pm that night! After the protests about the situation in Darfur this last weekend, I suddenly realised that this was probably a common occurrence for the City.

I crammed in some sightseeing on Saturday morning before heading home. Took a highlights tour (which was sufficient for info overload) of The National Museum of American History and then walked the length of The National Mall; nothing like Minneapolis' 'Mall', but a park about 2 miles / 3 km long that felt, as I walked it, about five times the size of Sydney's Hyde Park. Either side are about eight or so museums, part of the 15 that make up the Smithsonian Institution in Washington - there are a couple elsewhere in the country. The best thing about these museums (besides their contents) is that they're free!

The American History Museum has exhibits covering the wars in which the US has been involved, the government, through to popular culture (Kermit, Dorothy's red shoes from the Wizard of Oz, Lance Armstrong's Tour de France winning bike) and technology - kind of a strange mix. I saw a piece of the Berlin Wall (below) - can you believe that was 1989 ... felt my age as I read that.

After the Museum, I wandered the length of the Mall, past the Washington Monument, the WWII monument and Capital Reflecting Pool (again, similar to the one in Sydney, but about 10 x the size!), the Lincoln Memorial (looking in need of some renovation) and the Korean and Vietnam memorials.

I've wanted to see the Vietnam memorial (The Wall) since reading about it in Rick Atkinson's "The Long Grey Line", a book about the last West Point unit to leave for Vietnam in 1966. All of the names of the 58,000 or so soldiers who died are engraved on a polished black marble wall, not according to Unit, but by year in which they died. What was more moving were the small shrines to memory, created at the base of the monument, each one composed of a motley collection of items including miniature flags, letters protected from the weather by plastic, flowers, dog tags and other mementos. Thinking at the same time of the people from other countries who also died (230,000 Sth Vietnamese, between 4,000 and 5,000 Sth Koreans, 500 Australians, 351 Thais, 38 New Zealanders, an unknown number of Filipinos and an estimated 2-4 million Sth Vietnamese civilians).

Flowers had also been left at the WWII memorial, where each US State is represented, I presume in remembrance of those who've died in Iraq.