Feliz cumpleaños, Señor!

It is only Tuesday, but the week has already been a bit stressful.  It started with a 7:30 am Monday morning meeting.  I love my 7th grade colleagues, but getting myself ready and out the door by 7:10 (in time to print the meeting's agenda and make copies) is not an easy task for moi even if I am not real high maintenance.  Then my computer died a quick but painful death in the early afternoon.  It was my well-loved school laptop in it's third year of life.  It was my companion and lifeline home while I was on sabbatical in France last year.  Luckily, I learned my lesson a couple of years ago about backing up my files when I somehow trashed the file with my whole year's work on it back in 2006-- and no, I had not backed up to our school server in a long time.  Loser move.  I had backed up about a week ago.  All my music, pictures and most of my work was restored and now is safely living on my new MacBook Pro.  Trevor and Karl, our computer gurus, are my heroes!  So, I am typing away again.  Then last night we got word that someone had spilled a drink all over our son's laptop at college.  Not good for him.  All his school work is on that laptop, not backed up anywhere.   After an emergency trip to the Apple Store to find out if his computer (bought in 2006 as a graduation gift) was salvageable, we found out it is not.  It would cost almost as much to repair it as it would to replace it.  So, get out dad's Visa.  Hopefully, the young lady in question will pay what it would cost to repair the old one without a fight.  I am now trying to think happy thoughts about it all.  Dad is too busy getting games going this afternoon to think about Visa bills, I hope. I do not think that the money tree we recently planted on the deck next to the dying tomato plants and the pot of lavender even has blooms on it yet...
Happy thoughts... how about my neighbor at school, Señor Glass.  He celebrated a birthday over the weekend and brought a cake he made in for us to sample.  My grandfather used to always bring birthday cake and ice cream to us, his little crumb crushers, on his birthday.  He was born on the 4th of July and I grew up living right next door to him.  I loved him dearly.  So, today's photo is of Señor's cake and the recipe follows.  It was truly another gâteau délicieux!  Here's to a great year, Señor!  Thanks for sharing.  You can bake me a cake anytime!

Tarta de Naranja (Spanish Orange Almond Cake)
"This is the first time I have ever made this cake.  I don't bake very often, but I do love oranges and I do love cake, so I thought for my birthday I would give this recipe a try.  I haven't tasted it yet, but I can tell you the kitchen smells wonderful, and the cake was very easy to make."-- Señor Glass

The cake:
4 eggs, separated
1/2 c. sugar
Grated rind of 2 oranges
1/2 c. blanched almonds, finely ground

The syrup:
Juice of 2 oranges
1/3 c. sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp. Cointreau (or any orange liqueur)

Preheat oven to 350F.

Beat the egg yolks, sugar and orange rind until fluffy and lemon colored.  Gradually beat in the ground almonds.  In another bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff but not dry.  Fold them into the yolk mixture.  Pour the batter into a buttered and floured 8-inch cake pan.  Bake for about 40 minutes or until the cake is well browned.  Cool slightly, then remove the cake onto a serving dish.

While the cake is baking you can make the syrup.  Mix together, in a sauce pan, the juice of 2 oranges, the sugar and the cinnamon stick.  Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and cool for about 10 minutes.  Stir in the Cointreau.  Cool, then brush or pour evenly over the cake.

You can garnish the cake with orange slices, sliced thinly and cut in half.

Bono appetit!