Baklava .... Epic Fail !!!

You just have to laugh when you bake your favorite dessert that has NEVER failed ... and the taste test results in a fail of epic proportions!!  Baklava ... one of my all time easiest recipes to make ... baked itself into oblivion.  With my first bite, my teeth became permanently glued together.  I'm not kidding ... and did I mention I just came from the dentist?  I started to panic a little, with visions of myself at the hospital, not able to talk.  With nothing working, I made a quick cup of hot coffee to try and melt the hard candy holding my mouth shut like a mouse trap!!  The syrupy sweet liquid you pour over the treats had become hard as granite.

When I finally got my mouth open, I breathed a big sigh of relief ... no trip to the dentist will be required.  The worst part was still to come.  How on earth am I going to get this mess out of my one and only baklava pan.  I tried cutting, heating, banging and finally chiseling (with hammer and chisel) after soaking it in water... all with zero results.  I would have taken a picture, but you would have lost your cookies, if you know what I mean.  I seriously considered throwing the pan away and getting a new one, but it's bad enough that I have to toss the inedible treats.  I finally filled every pot I owned with water and put them on the stove.  After 6 quarts of boiling water, it melted the goo on the bottom enough to come out in one large chunk.  Just for fun, I even whacked it with a hammer once it was safely in the garbage can ... and it did NOT break.  Maybe I should pay more attention to the recipe next time!!!

The morning sunrise made it a little better.  I was shivering due to the cold breeze, but couldn't help just staring at the sky.  Actually, I'm hoping not to see this sight every morning.  I would really like to be able to sleep in!!  Trouble is, the time change will soon have me up at 4:00 am instead of 5:00.

As the sun finally came over the edge of the earth, it looked like everything was on fire.  That definitely got my mind off the baklava!!

With three more spools of thread in stock, I was able to finish stitching the main sections together for my quilt.  The orange and brown are for the borders, but I'm not sure I like those colors now.  Maybe a trip to the quilt store in Sonora is in order.  They are always so much better at choosing fabric than I.

Most people don't know I'm a music fan.  I played in my grammar school band for three years, even making the Honor Band.  Learning to play the guitar was always on my bucket list ... I tried playing banjo for awhile, but it's pretty hard to find instructors in this part of California.  So here's my new "guitar/banjo" ukelele!! Bet you never thought you'd see THIS at my house.  I've already learned five chords (You Tube baby) and my fingers are bloody.  I do remember having to play every day until calluses build up to make it easier.  I ground off all the fingernails on my left hand, unfortunately exposing the quick underneath.  This learning curve is going to be painful!!

I'm doing some smoking today ... the BUTT kind of delicious, tender morsels of pork smoking.  At least I can't mess that up ... just put it in the smoker and turn it on!!  Hmmmm maybe I better zip it ... no use awakening the BUTT fail Gods!!!