The Business of Life

I've been feeling very adult lately.  I'm working, managing my documents, baking up a storm, and experiencing what everyone in college referred to with longing as "real life".  A year ago I was beginning my final semester of college, and I could not have imagined where I would be in a years time. God is so good, isn't he?

So, what have I been up to lately? Well firstly, my bathroom is slowly but surely reaching completion. It's been a long process getting my room built, because the Ivanyenko boys and their friends did all of the work themselves to economize.  I don't mind the wait however, and looking back it's amazing how many people have helped with this building project. Even yours truly! I've been in the bathroom the last couple days grouting tiles and cleaning walls. Not without help, of course!

I've also been working at Mountain Springs.  The month of February is devoted to minor repair jobs at the campground, and as you can see from the photo above, I'm as ready as ever to grout tiles or paint walls.  Not without the occasional mishap, however.  I was taking all of the photos and paintings down from the walls in the office so we can paint, and I managed to break our big mirror. Not only did I break the mirror, but I cut my fingers in the cleanup process.  If I'm honest, my pride was hurt a lot more than my fingers!  Every assured me, however, that since it was my first day, they'd let it slide.

My final bit of grown-up real-life has been getting my documents figured out. By far, my documentation is the hardest part of my life in Russia. Hard, but not impossible! Fortunately, I have the solid advice of some people who've been here for years to guide me, but needless to say it's been getting a lot of my attention lately. 

Whenever things don't go according to plan, or when life here seems impossible for any reason, I try to remember to ask myself, "Who got you here? Who is on the throne? Who is in control and has always been in control?" It's been a crazy journey, at times stressful, but God has not and will not let me down. 

And now, because you know how much I love to cook, here's a recipe for you. A good friend of mine from Krasnodar came to visit this weekend, so I decided to bake a pineapple upside-down cake for the occasion. I used brown sugar that I brought myself, but all the other ingredients were available in Russia! Oh, no maraschino cherries, but aside from that all the other ingredients were a hit. Even if I run out of brown sugar, the cake itself was really fluffy and delicious.  So here you go!

Pineapple Upside-down Cake

Ingredients

For the topping:

5 tbsp butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

8 slices canned pineapple slices

pecan halves, for decorating

maraschino cherries, for decorating

 

For the cake:

10 tbsp butter

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup syrup from pineapple can

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions: 

1. Line a 10-inch cast-iron skillt with aluminum foil, completely covering the bottom and sides and extending extra foil over edges of pan. Preheat oven to 350F. 
2. Make the topping: Place butter in skillet, place skillet in oven and melt butter. As soon as butter is melted, remove and stir in brown sugar, carefully mixing well with a rubber spatula so as not to tear foil.
3. Arrange pineapple slices over butter/sugar spread. Place cherries in center of pineapple and pecans between the slices.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter, adding sugar gradually, and then add eggs and beat well. Stir flour, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl.
5. Combine buttermilk, syrup and vanilla in a small measuring cup. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk/syrup mixture, beating well after each addition. Spread batter evently across mixture in skillet.
6. Bake for approximately 45-50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Place a large cake plate over pan, and invert to remove. Peel off aluminum foil, pressing back any pineapple that may be stuck to the foil.

Пока ребята, Russian Jane