Boca!

There has been a recent flurry of activity in my life, including going back to school. I do hate going back to school!!!! But it's fine. I'm actually glad be enrolled in some of the classes I'm taking this semester considering the political atmosphere this fall. 

Anyway, for my last day of "summer vacation" Kevin, the puppies and I hiked some mountain in the Mount Jefferson wilderness park. The hike was steady and beautiful, all lush scenery and trickling streams. But the top! Well, a little below the top- is Boca Cave. You climb into it and the soil is red and damp. The cave itself is enormous. Its like a big spooky cathedral. Once you're inside, you turn around and look at Mount Jefferson through the mouth of the cave. The view is nuts. Jacky and Hiro are regular cave dwellers. Someone at the bottom warned us that the dogs wouldn't like it, but was he ever wrong! 

Speaking of dogs, I would like to mention the passing of my childhood dog Hattie. She was a small but fat Corgi. I spent most of my time with her making fun of her and her short legs. She barked at everything and only got in trouble a few times in her long life. She was my moms companion, and I would like to send my mom all of my love, and you should too. 

At the top of this post you might have noticed some kind of beautiful dessert. What is it? you're wondering. Well I'm here to tell you, its a plum cardamom upside down cake, and I made it last week. We have a few friends who claim to be pizza allstars, so we invited them over to prove it. They really are. We had a lot of pizza that night, and a lot of wine. And then we had cake. I made it in our cast iron deep skillet from start to finish- who knew? First you caramelize the plums in brown sugar and butter, and then you pour the sponge cake batter on top and pop the whole thing in the oven.  Success!! Careful with cardamom- that's a crazy and intense spice.