Surviving my first layer cake - and dinner party

Until last Friday, I had never baked a layer cake. I had made plenty of cupcakes, bundt cakes, sheet cakes, and pound cakes, but never a layer cake. So, two weekends ago, I decided my college friends' impending visit would provide me a convenient set of guinea pigs for my first layer cake attempt. Unfortunately, that weekend comprised a series of minor kitchen debacles, including a couple related to The Cake.

I was initially a little upset by the very minor issue of a single cracked layer - minor because it would have had a very simple fix. I could have just made that my bottom layer and shellacked it with plenty of cream cheese frosting. I say could have, because I didn't have a chance to give that solution a try. As I went to flip one layer of cake from the cooling rack to a plate, I dropped the plate, cake and all. *sigh* So instead of a red velvet layer cake, we had a red velvet non-layer cake. It was still a quite yummy single layer of cake.

This past weekend, G and I hosted our first non-family dinner party. In honor of the occasion, I decided it was time for red velvet layer cake, take 2. This time, the experiment - very carefully conducted - was a success. Unfortunately, the dinner party itself, while not a failure, could have been better. One of our guests is a vegetarian. Featured prominently on the carefully-crafted (but apparently not very well thought out) menu: beef stew. Oh dear... At least there was a trio of vegetarian side dishes (mashed sweet potatoes, caramelized pan-roasted brussels sprouts, apple-pear-fennel-arugula salad) that she could enjoy!

And now, it's time to face down Thanksgiving. Note that I say "face down" rather than a more positive word like "anticipate." Ordinarily, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, hands down. I just love the season, the food, the family time, the feast... Everything about it. Unfortunately, this year, some behind-the-scenes drama, misunderstanding, miscommunication, etc. have somewhat soured the Thankgiving experience for me. I'm just going to make a pie or two - at the risk of their being redundant, since I wasn't asked to bring them or anything else - and make the best of it, and enjoy the day as much as possible. Besides, there's always next year...