Wow. It has been a loooong time. Ready for my sob story? Because here it comes...Over the last few months I've come to realize how precious is this thing that we call time. Time! What a sneaky thing you are. A few months ago I had so much of you -- almost too much. It was March and I had an offer for a job that didn't start until the end of August. I had 6 whole months to relish California while I slowly finished up my thesis. And now look at me...I barely have enough of you to sit down and write a post.
The last few months have been some of the craziest in my life. I went from being a graduate student on the verge of completely losing all motivation to an assistant professor. Sounds like a big change, but honestly, I don't think much has really changed. Sure, I'm in a different location, with a (dare I say it) real job, and a real (non-stipend) salary. But inside, I am still the same grad student -- stressing over deadlines, working late hours, and trying to hold on to every last bit of motivation I can find. It's been a challenge to say the least.
The hardest part is being away from those I love. I am in the middle of the country (literally) thousands of miles from anyone I love and sometimes I can't help but wonder if it's really worth it. Honestly, I'm still not sure. But this is what I've got myself into, so I might as well savor it while I've got it.
OK, enough rambling. I'm ready to talk food. I'm almost embarrassed to post this, but I'll do it anyway. This was supposed to be my submission for some past Daring Bakers challenge -- so long ago, I don't even remember the month, and right now I'm too lazy to look it up. The challenge was to create a Swiss bombe: basically cake-covered ice cream. That's right: Cake. And. Ice Cream. Together. Dessert doesn't get much better than this.
The swiss roll cake was really fantastic. Of course mine looked less than perfect, but the taste was phenomenal. Light and moist with the perfect amount of sweetness. I made two flavors of ice cream: vanilla bean and french vanilla (sorry, forgot which recipes I used), and added a layer of chocolate ganache. I made a mini bombe and a deconstructed version. Personally, I liked the deconstructed version better. But that's just me sometimes: disorganized and random (sshh...don't tell my students).
I also want to thank all my readers who left me the most endearing comments on my last post. After not blogging for so many months, I missed it terribly, and now I know why. Reading your comments and knowing that someone out there actually (somewhat?) cares about what's going on in my kitchen means so much to me. Seriously, your comments really touched me.I really hope to be blogging regularly again soon.
Here are the recipes for the cake and ganache.
