Another Birthday and a Kitchen Floor

Yesterday was my daughter's 22nd birthday. She's the one in law school. She's also my number one cake decorating assistant, so I had no alternative but to decorate it myself.

Did I ever mention that I really don't like decorating cakes? It's something I started years ago, and now just have no way out. This one was a lazy mom effort, using the "flower tip" and some green lines to act as vines.

In case anyone ever needs a lazy person's way into a fancy cake, here's how to make a marble cake: use a yellow cake box mix (I use 4 eggs instead of 3 to kick up the flavor a bit), and hold about 3/4 cup of batter out of the pan. Stir in 3 tbsp cocoa powder, and a few drops more water if needed to make the consistency right. Drop the chocolate concoction in random spots across the cake, swirl into the yellow batter with a table knife, and bake as usual. Instant marble cake! People will think you worked a lot harder, and you needn't wise them up!

And since a couple of you reminded me, here's my finished and beautiful kitchen floor.

The tile is very similar to what was there originally, but since my son reinforced the sub-floor, it should no longer flex, and I shouldn't end up with cracked tiles. This was one of the better ones; I could actually lift pieces out of some of them. Count me as a happy camper!
Of course, my son plans to rip out the breakfast room floor next week and start putting down this maple flooring. It'll be another long week in paradise, but at least I won't have Christmas breathing down my neck, and my cooking room will be completely usable!