You Give Good Love

Today (Tuesday the 25th) is SJ's birthday. I'm going over his house to make him my world famous Meal-in-a-Bag (shrimp with linguine). After that we'll have cake (which I baked) and open presents.

I'm not sure if you could tell or not but I don't cook or bake well. Tonight I tried baking SJ's cake. I bought a non-stick cake pan and some cake mix. I followed the directions to a T. I think Betty Crocker did a great job because the cake batter was very tasty!

I bought two dark 9" round cake pans. It said if you use round cake pans or dark cake pans to subtract 2 - 5 minutes of cooking time. But it never said what to do if it's both round AND dark. I think I got it out in time because it passed the toothpick test and it wasn't burned.

I waited for it to cool completely before putting the icing on it. The only problem was, both round cakes rose in the middle. I didn't know what to do. So I just put icing on top of the one and plopped the other one on top of it.

Then I started to put icing on the top cake and on the sides. But the bottom cake had such a big bump in the middle that the two didn't come together well. So there's this huge gap on the outer edges. I figured I could hide the gaps with frosting.

I thought, "Oh, he'll never notice."

But then I noticed a little fissure on the top. I smeared some more frosting to cover it and went back to the sides. After I filled in the gaps on the outer edges I was pretty happy with it. But then I noticed the top of the cake had a HUGE CANYON-LIKE CREVASSE on the top.

I just hope it tastes better than it looks. I don't remember having these problems the last time I baked a cake. Of course, I was eight and was using my sister's Easy Bake Oven, but that's besides the point.

HAPPY TUNESDAY MOTHERFUCKERS!

Everyone knows I'm a huge hard rock fan. But I'm also a huge pop lover. Unfortunately, today they don't make much pop music--it's mostly Hip-Hop. It's okay, I'm just not a fan.

But I am a fan of the very first Whitney Houston Album. It will be album #2 in my top six memorable albums.

I bought this record before Whitney fever hit. I can't remember the first single, maybe You Give Good Love, but I heard it and immediately bought the record. (Yes, the record AKA LP--that's long playing record for you youngins). That was in 1985. I can't believe it's been over 20 years. I'm fucking old.

I was immediately hooked after playing the record for the first time. I thought Whitney was so beautiful and had such an amazing voice. I listened to this record every day for probably a year. I almost always listened to it in the shower and sang along.

I haven't really thought about it or listened to it in years. But it's definitely a piece of my history. If you like your pop with a little R&B, check this record out. I'm listening to it for the first time in a long time and it still stands up pretty well. Some of the faster paced songs are really 80s, but it's still good stuff.

Here's a little dedication to SJ--You Give Good Love
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