Baking Crazy

If we took a holiday,
Took some time to celebrate,
Just one day out of life,
It would be, it would be so nice...


Ack! My inner 80's Madonna is showing. I can't help it. I'm going on vacation! I have two days and a wake up before we leave to spend a fun filled week in Oceanside. Lazy days poolside and at the beach. I only have two definite plans:


 1.) Take the kids to the San Diego Zoo complete with white, sandy beaches; cleverly simulated natural environment; and wide-open enclosures. (Baked goods to the first one who can tell me where that quote came from withOUT cheating!)


2.) Meet the fabulous Gini Koch, author extraordinaire, for the first time in person. We've been pals for 5 years and next week she'll be hanging poolside and at the beach with me. Which is why I'm baking crazy.


She has put in a cake order. She would like a fancy 7-layer-zebra cake with butter cream frosting, thank you very much. So being that I've rubbed her nose in all my baked good deliciousness all these years I felt compelled to comply with the demand. When my mom found out I was baking Gini a cake she wanted one -- the rum cake my grandmother makes. So I got out the recipe and made my mom a rum cake. I've been ducking my sister for days to make sure she doesn't try to get a cake out of me. On top of that I made a ton of banana bread (white chocolate, dark chocolate, and plain), oatmeal raisin cookies, and chocolate chip cookies to take with us as well.


I was going to bake more but there's only two days til I leave and I haven't even started doing laundry yet!