Zucchini Cake and Bike Camping

When I opened this month's issue of Martha Stewart and glanced down at this smartly photographed sweet cake recipe, my eyes widened and my belly sang "glory glory hallelujah."  Zucchini Bundt Cake with Orange Glaze, I whispered......and my heart beat faster.  I knew immediately that I had to make this cake.  So within 24 hours I was grating zucchini with a wild passion unlike any other.  The smells that emanated from my kitchen while this beauty was baking were almost unbearable.  I was salivating, staring into the oven, flipping the light on and off.   Impatiently waiting.  Meanwhile, I boiled the the sugar water to make the CANDIED ZUCCHINI!  That's right.  CANDIED.  ZUCCHINI.  Sounds odd, right?  And it was.  At least, on it's own it was.  But once I pulled the bundt out of the oven, covered it with the sweet spiced orange glaze, I delicately arranged the strips on top.  Perfection.

The cake itself isn't extraordinarily sweet, which is how I prefer it.  The orange glaze and candied strips add the tart sweetness and zing to every little morsel, without overpowering the subtlety of the cardamom and anise.   A round of applause, once again, to the Martha Stewart team for creating another flawless recipe.  It's in this month's issue, so pick one up while you still can.

After eating nearly this entire cake all by myself, it was time to work off some of those calories with some bicycle camping!

A couple days ago we decided that we wanted to get out of town for the night.  Neither of us owns a car, so biking seemed like our best option.  We loaded up our gear, strapped it to our bikes and headed towards the Clackamas River.  It was only about 40 miles, but there was a significant amount of climbing, and the heavy load weighed us down a bit.   One adventure after another finally lead us to the majestic Milo McIver State Park, where we set up tent and proceeded to devour everything in sight. 

It was incredibly relaxing being out there in the middle of the week.  Quiet, peaceful, secluded.  The rest of the night was spent by the fire filling our bellies with wine and cheese.  We refueled the next morning in Historic Estacada, where we stuffed ourselves with personal pizzas and coffee before the trek home.

Somehow the ride back to Portland wasn't nearly as difficult, but I arrived feeling exhausted and completely spent.  I'm a little sore today, but looking forward to another opportunity to get back out there and do it all over again.  It really makes you appreciate your surroundings when you have the time to take it all in at such a slow pace.  Can't wait for the next trip!

Also, I have a new item in my etsy shop.  I'm selling this original illustration:

It's also available as a print and laptop skin on Society6:

I hope you like it!  Indecision at it's finest....

Ok, kids.  I'm going to leave you for now and try to get going on some projects.  Take care, and I'll be back soon.

xo

Tweet