31 Mar 2007: Crafting Again
Look, I moved the desk into my craft room:
It's so much better as a sewing desk, and it's much sturdier than the white table I was using. That table, by the way, is in the middle of the room at the moment (you can see it off to the right in the picture), which poses a problem. It's completely out of place and cannot stay where it is, but it's so useful there! I've been working on a new quilt, and I've got all the fabrics in baskets on the white table. I can cut them on the mat there, and then piece things together and iron the seams (on the ironing board that is also stuck in the middle of things). So handy, and so not aesthetically pleasing.
Here's some well-deserved crafting for everybody who's been suffering through all the food talk and photos:
I made the felt last week and whipped up this little pouch a few days ago. Perfect for pens, pencils, and a small Winsor and Newton set. I was going to embellish the pouch further, but I decided I liked it as it was.
I haven't got any photos yet of my quilt in progress, but I'm very excited to share it. I've patterned it after an arts and crafts style stained glass window, and I think it's going to look fantastic (she says, modestly). The piecing is a bit dodgy in places, but I think the actual quilting will cover the wonkiest bits. There are two main 'panels', and I've finished what I hope (!) is the trickier of the two. And I'm in the quilting zone, which is absolutely essential. In fact, I might go work on it now. . .
28 Mar 2007: Scotland Journal
Well, now here's a blast from my crafty past. Actually, this is from before I started getting seriously crafty -- just before, as a matter of fact, when I was studying in Scotland. I've always needed to have creative outlets, but during my first few years of college, those outlets were music (both organized, in the wind symphony way, and not, in the teaching myself to play guitar way) and general artsy things. I mentioned this journal a while back, when I made that other organizer, so here it is:
I made the front and back boards by cutting up and covering the back of a pad of paper. I can't remember now, but I probably bought a pad of drawing paper extra cheap at Woolworth's and used the back for the covers and the cut the paper for the inside. I 'laminated' the covers with clear packing tape, so they've held up pretty well. The front has a picture of Mew Mew -- one of my favourite shots of her -- and some crocus petals from the grounds somewhere. We lived in a massive house outside Edinburgh -- one of the (many) real treats about meeting Cally was that she knew exactly where I had lived!
The front cover says, 'give your heart to somebody' -- a line from a Paul McCartney song; the back has a quote from Jack Kerouac: 'Write in recollection and amazement for yourself.' A lot of my friends were in art classes, and although I wasn't, I spent a lot of time playing with watercolours that spring. I discovered Winsor and Newton watercolour sets while I was in Edinburgh and fell in love. There's a little art shop near the George IV Bridge that sells all the individual little pans -- they're like candy!
The journal was part diary/schedule book, part scrap book, and I took it everywhere. It evolved into a treasure from my time in Scotland; it's just filled with memories and all sorts of bits and pieces. Like. . . photos I took and printed in the makeshift darkroom in our basement:
There's a magic in film photography that doesn't exist in digital, but I never shoot on film anymore. I like to take a million shots of something without feeling like I'm wasting resources, and most of my photos wind up on a computer screen anyway.
Let's see, we've also got teeny, tiny watercolours:
Painted while sitting on a hill in the Lake District, overlooking Lake Windermere. I saw Miss Potter last week (an unusual movie, but I'm in love with it), and Beatrix, if you didn't know, moved to and lived in the Lake District, so there were many lovely shots of the landscape. My mother asked if it really looks like it does in the film and it really, really does. Forgive me for being a complete sap, but it gets lonely sometimes, feeling like I've left a part of myself in the places I love. Part of me is forever hiking around Windermere.
What else? Well, there are my schedule/journal entries, of course:
I could have kept a better record of my days, to be sure, but it's funny to see what I did write down. That February, I was about as ill as I've ever been, and those days on the calendar read 'Sick' 'Sick' 'Sick' and so on until I was finally 'Less Sick' and 'Hardly Sick at All'. It wasn't fun being so ill, and I wound up being stuck in Edinburgh alone over a long (traveling) weekend, but now I can see how fortunate that was. Traipsing around the city, just as I was beginning to feel healthier, really made me feel connected with the place.
Lastly, there's a bit of scrapbookiness:
A lot of Americans study in the UK because there's not really a language barrier, and they treat it as their home base while they explore the rest of Europe. I was very happy to stay in the UK; I could spend a hundred holidays traveling only in Britain, and not due to any small mindedness on my part (so I say, of course).
This journal is my favourite memento from a favourite time of my life. I've never really got into the whole scrapbooking craze, and this is so much better in my eyes. It traveled with me, saw what I saw, and is part of the entire experience.
27 Mar 2007: Around the House
I know this is a familiar shot, but I had to capture this new bouquet before Booty gets to it. How could I expect a cat to resist those grassy fronds?
I bought that at the brand new Trader Joe's that's just opened in Maple Grove. I'd never been to one before, and while the food all looked great, I was underwhelmed by the selection. They didn't have what I'd specifically gone to look for, and I don't think I'd ever go there for general shopping. Given the hype around the chain, I suspect other branches must be more impressive, but I'll stick to the Wedge for my organic, hippy goodness.
I got this new-to-me table from somebody on craigslist this weekend. I really liked the old school teacher's desk I had in the office, but there wasn't enough room for my legs; I think it will be my sewing desk from now on. This table matches the other furniture in the office, and being able to see the floor underneath makes the room seem less crowded. Huzzah!
Booty, dreaming about the neighbourhood. Minnie and I, being the ones who actually go out in the neighbourhood, have been enjoying the warm weather lately. Rather, I've been enjoying the warm weather, and Minnie's been a bit of a baby. We go for our usual walk, and then she spends the rest of the day flat on her side on the wood floors. I laugh at her, because she has no idea how much warmer it's going to get.
I forgot to mention this!
The Crafter's Companion is in the latest issue of Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion magazine! I love this mag anyway -- it's one I always make sure to buy -- so it's extra exciting to see the book included. Crafter's will be available in US bookshops starting 1 April, which is good news indeed. Do you realize I still haven't seen it on a bookshop self?
24 Mar 2007: Stuck in the Kitchen
For somebody who enjoys baking as much as I do, I've been very lazy about buying cookie cutters. I never seemed to think about them until I needed to cut something out, and then I would have to resort to using a lid or glass (or make them snowflake-shaped). But I finally got my act together and got a nice round, scalloped cutter, tall enough to cutting out scones, from a cookery shop Sara and I went to in Stillwater. And THEN I found the set of mini cutters.
I've written about my love for 'sandwich' biscuits before, and I've also been fascinated by all things jam-and-biscuit related, ever since Jammy Dodgers entered my life. I made these buttery little biscuits the other day and put a dollop of my favourite blueberry jam between them. I actually made them before the Fruity Oaty Bars, which were then made in reaction -- needing something a little bit healthier! I've hardly et any of these biscuits, now that I think about it. I was mostly just excited to make the little cut outs!
I had sworn by No Knead bread a while back, vowing not to bother with traditional bread recipes ever again. But it's been over a week (maybe two weeks?) since I made any. It's just such a nuisance remembering to mix up a batch eighteen hours before you want it (more like twenty-two hours before, with the extra rising period and baking!). So yesterday, wanting bread for my lunch, I used up the remaining wheat germ I had to make Honey Wheat-Germ bread:
It's nice and soft, has a good flavour, and hasn't gone immediately dry and bland, which seems to happen with a lot of traditional bread recipes. I followed the recipe in The Bread Book almost exactly, though I did put in a bit more honey (1 Tbsp vs 2 tsp). Amazon seem to have got their cover images mixed up at the moment, so never mind the picture of fish they're currently displaying. It would be amusing if they weren't so annoyingly reliable for messing things up.
Time for a Fruity Oaty Bar. Has anybody tried making them yet?
22 Mar 2007: Edible Craft?
Baking is like edible crafting, right? Let's say yes, and then take a look at these:
As I mentioned in the last post, I've been feeling pretty lousy for not posting more about crafty endeavors. I've even been putting off writing anything, because I really wanted to be able to share something to do with fabric and bits of string. But I've failed you! Recent projects have either not got far enough to be of interest or have gone pear-shaped and therefore are of no interest to me. I even thought I'd write about the poster I ordered after seeing Fiona's, but when it arrived, the poster tube had been knocked about, and the poster itself now has a tattered side. Sigh.
Oh, but the food -- darn near perfect every time! It's a sign. I made a smallish batch of these bars earlier (I hesitate to call them oat bars, as they aren't really predominantly oat-y, but I don't like the name 'Energy Bar' either), and I'm pretty pleased with them. No flour, no butter, no granulated sugar (white or brown). Made from things that were just sitting in my cupboards (which is a pretty revealing look at what I keep stocked in my cupboards!).
3/4 cup Quick Oats
1/4 cup Almonds
1/4 cup Peanuts
1/4 cup raisins
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup dates
1/4 cup Honey-Nut Wheat Germ (I actually used 40g)
1/4 cup Milled Flax Seed
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp Honey
1 Tbsp Molasses
1 Egg
1/4 cup Ovaltine powder
Put the first six ingredients (from Oats to Dates) in a blender, and use a chop setting (or similar -- or use a food processor) until everything is chopped down pretty finely and evenly. Set that aside and stir together the remaining ingredients in a bowl. Add the oat-and-fruit mixture and stir until combined. Grease an 8"x8" pan, pat down the mixture to fit, and bake at 350F for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, allow to cool in the pan for five minutes, and then tip it out and cut into bars. Cool completely and then wrap them up and store in the fridge or freezer (or belly).
Easy peasy, lemon-squeezy! It's particularly satisfying to chop all those things up in the blender. I've never owned a food processor, so I'm not used to that feeling of power, but I really enjoyed watching everything get minced together. If more men used blenders, I should think there would be far fewer wars.
They're rather similar to flapjacks, except without all the fat and golden syrup (so they can't actually be THAT similar, I suppose!). I've only recently started using milled flax seed, and it really lends a fantastic texture to food. Makes things very silky and, well, fatty -- but good fatty. I would have rather used sunflower seeds than peanuts (or just double the almonds), but like I said, I used what I had on hand. Adding Ovaltine was a particular stroke of genius, I thought; it's fortified with various vitamins, not too bad for you -- and it's chocolatey! Perfect.
18 Mar 2007: In the Kitchen
Oh dear! Every post on the front page has a picture of food in it, but not very many have nice crafts. Sara and I were discussing this the other day -- the fact that blogs are personal and therefore follow their authors' interests (which rarely remain squarely in one category). I was hoping to post about the quilt I'm working on, as I was also hoping to actually work on it, but I haven't got any further than washing and refolding the fabric.
Instead, I spent most of the morning in the kitchen:
First up was seasoned almonds. I tossed plain almonds first in a mixture of egg white and water and then in the seasoning (mainly chili pepper and garlic salt), and then I roasted them in a low oven for an hour. Very good! The problem with almonds (and all nuts, really) is that they're so moreish. One has to really be firm with oneself!
Almonds finished, it was on to the bean burgers. I've been wanting to try making bean burgers from scratch, and this first go has turned out pretty well -- it's given me something to work from, anyway. I grilled one in the panini press for lunch:
Cantaloupes were on sale today, 2 for $3, so I think I shall be eating a lot of it in the next few days! I still have soup to make for the coming week, but perhaps I'll put off working on that and instead pay a bit of attention to the fabric side of my life!
18 Mar 2007: On Not Being Perfect
One of the things I love most about Living the Good Life is the message that you don't need to be perfect to be doing a good job. In the case of going green, that can mean doing what you can -- reusing shopping bags, conserving water in the home -- even if you can't go whole hog and move out to the country and build a straw bale house (which Linda and her family are doing, incidentally). Even a little bit of good is still good.
I remind myself of this every so often in a lot of different realms, and it's a philosophy that can be a big help if you're trying to jump some (figurative) hurdles. Walking one mile is better than never getting out the door; eating more fresh green veggies is better than popping another tray in the microwave. You don't need to run a marathon or know the function of every vitamin to make a positive change.
But enough of that positive talk! I'm at the point where I need to have a subtle shift in the way I've been doing things. As Minnie and I up the distance on our daily walks, I'm left with more calories to 'fill' each day. I've made such a habit of the way I eat throughout the day that these calories almost always are left until the evening, when I eat them in the form of dessert. Desserts. Sometimes three desserts.
Oh, the embarrassment. To be fair, one of my desserts is usually a bowl of cereal -- hardly an extravagance, eh? I love having multiple desserts, but it's getting ridiculous, especially when there are nutritional holes in my diet that I could be filling. The change I want to make is moving the calories 'back' in the day -- eating more for lunch and dinner. I want to eat more useful things like almonds and less sugar (she says, having just made scones AND frozen yogurt).
But this is what I like about the every-little-bit philosophy. You can make a small change, turn it into a habit, and then move on to the next small change. It builds up and builds up, and you'll never be perfect (it's a cliche, but I'll say it anyway -- how boring!), but someday you'll pause for a moment and realize how far you've come. I mean, honestly -- I'm making adjustments because I walk too far? Who'd have guessed!
What little changes would you like to make?
15 Mar 2007: Stillwater Goodies
In an effort to use up my remaining holiday days before the end of the month, I took yesterday off and went to Stillwater with Sara. We arrived in time for lunch, which was the only disappointing element of the day -- apparently The Main Cafe doesn't consider omelettes to be lunch food. I'd been thinking about that omelette since the night before! Maaaan.
Still, I recovered, and we managed to get in some quality antiquing.
This anniversary tin of Avon talcum powder cost more than I usually spend (which isn't to say it was expensive -- I just like to find things that are dirt cheap!), but it's so pretty. I love art nouveau motifs. Is it fair to say art nouveau is similar in style to Charles Rennie Mackintosh, who is in turn similar in style to Frank Lloyd Wright? I like all three, and they're very connected in my mind (despite their differences), but I don't really know about these things. The eras seem right, anyway.
Behind the tin, you can see an Easter postcard I bought the last time I went to Hopkins. It's so sweet; I don't think I'll have the heart to put it away after Easter! You can also see the progress of my apple orchard back there. I had to fell one of the trees earlier today, as it seemed a bit poorly, and I didn't want it to contaminate the others. I'm still waiting on my first crop of apples -- I'll keep you updated.
I also picked up the glass carafe on the table there. I saw a few of these yesterday, including one that had a nice glass lid (but with a pattern I didn't care for). This one was the cheapest of the lot AND I like the pattern AND it has a (plastic) lid -- the others were lidless. I hadn't been looking for this, but once I saw it, I realized it was just the thing I needed. I've been wanting to drink more water, and now it can come chilled from the fridge, with no plastic-y taste.
I made the bag in the background specifically to take with me when I thrift/antique. I often buy postcards and other trinkets, and a bag with extra room is just the thing to drop them into (after I've paid for them!). It's nice and light, so as to not weigh me down (speed being essential when thrifting), and it showcases one of my very favourite Liberty prints. Perfect!
12 Mar 2007: Horizons, Broadened
I usually make a shopping list before heading off to the supermarket; if I don't, I tend to put just about anything that catches my eye into the cart. Obviously, I didn't put enough effort into the list this week, because I came home with all sorts of things, including corn grits (for polenta) and falafel mix.
It was a good week to go adventurous at the supermarket, though, because I've been feeling a little bit in a rut lately. Well, maybe not a rut, but as though I hadn't had a really good food discovery in a while. When I was at the check out, the clerk asked me what I was going to make, and I stuttered awkwardly for a bit, the way I do when I don't really understand a question (it always seems inappropriate to say, 'Repeat your question, but this time include some clues as to what you actually mean.'). After all, all I was buying was groceries -- how do you answer that question when you've got ingredients for a week's meals?
Anyway, she held up the corn grits, so I said, 'Polenta.' Then she said I must be a very good cook. That was nice, but it got me worrying. Was polenta trickier than I thought? It didn't seem so different from making oatmeal, but maybe I was missing something. Well, it must be a popular myth (or the clerk had no idea), because there was no trick to it. But how tasty! Polenta is on the list of things to start eating more of.
I also made some pitas this afternoon, which were simple as you like to whip up. They're fairly small, though, so even my three little falafel balls had no chance of fitting in. After I took the photo, I tore open the pita and made a (tasty) mess of the whole thing. I was sure I didn't like falafel -- that sort of 'sure' you can be when you've never tasted something. I have no idea why I was suddenly compelled to give it a try, but it's love now. I made mine from a mix; anybody got a good recipe I should try someday?
Just so you know, I was ill for only one day, in the end. By the next day, I was feeling just about back to normal, and I'm pretty sure it was down to the muffins. Excellent!
08 Mar 2007: To Cure What Ails Me?
For a while now, I've been pretty unstoppable, as far as getting ill goes. I can remember only a couple of minor colds in the last year, and they were quick to pass. So it figures that a trip to the doctor has knocked me out. It was just an ordinary trip, and I decided to get back up to date with my Tetanus booster. I do a lot of climbing around in piles of rusty nails, you know (barefoot, of course!), so I thought it couldn't hurt.
Wrong! Their 'slight fever' has turned out to be a fever, aching limbs, a headache, and a general lack of energy. Bah. In between naps and moaning, I made some muffins to fix myself up:
Carrot, raisins, flax, AND wheat germ -- that should do it! It's funny: I remember making something quite similar to this in seventh grade Home Ec. -- I think the teacher called them Sunshine Muffins. We all hated them, because they contained carrots and raisins and not a single chip of chocolate. I think my friends bribed a table-mate into eating the entire batch, by agreeing to do the washing up.
How things change, eh?
I'm pretty happy with this recipe -- they're not too sweet, which gives one the perfect excuse to sprinkle on some cinnamon sugar. I can't be sure, but I think they're making me feel better. Take that, modern medicine!
06 Mar 2007: Pyrex Delights
I got in my car today and actually went somewhere. Hopkins! That's where I went. Because they have great big piles of old things there, and sometimes I like to paw through the piles and bring some of it home with me. My original purpose was to find some juice glasses, but it wound up being more of a pyrexy day.
I found this creamer and sugar bowl in the 'Clearance Corner' -- only $6.25 for the pair! Sometimes I try to imagine what it would be like to be a typical young person, which is a stretch, but I've come to the conclusion that most young people aren't excited by Pyrex. This is an interesting but confusing concept, and I'm relieved that I can decide when and where to interact with these people.
I've been filled with the Easter spirit lately, and when I say 'filled with the Easter spirit,' I mean 'delighted by the Easter candy aisles at Target.' Other holidays have been trying to catch up, but Easter was really the pioneer in taking well known chocolate bars and shaping them in a festive way. Butterfingers, Snickers, Almond Joy -- all egg-shaped! What could be better?
I like to have some chocolate in the house at all times, just in case of an emergency. I ran out at the end of last week, so I had a legitimate excuse to shop the Easter aisle today. Did you know that they make Hershey's Kisses filled with different things? I was torn between coconut and peanut butter -- the latter won out, because you can't mess up chocolate and peanut butter. But I'll be keeping my eye on the candy dishes of others to see if I can't sample one of those coconut Kisses. Genius!
05 Mar 2007: Surfaces
I went to my tax lady this weekend. Good news -- I didn't earn enough during my two months in the States last year -- no need to file in the US! And as if that weren't enough, I also found a 'new' shaker at the antique store. It matches my Corningware odds and ends:
I'm using it for cinnamon sugar, which is exciting to me, because I've always had to make cinnamon sugar in small batches or keep it in a little bowl, which just isn't satisfying. Now I've got the sugar at my fingertips! Cinnamon sugar whenever I want. On anything! The power is at my fingertips.
I know I've mentioned it before, but I like that butcher block cutting board so much that I hauled it all the way from London. Of course, 'cutting board' is just a name; I never cut anything on it. There's one scratch on it from when Rob was slicing cheese ages ago. I had to bite my tongue when he was doing that, because I knew how ridiculous it was to get upset with somebody for using a cutting board for its intended purpose. But, no -- I just use it from rolling out dough.
This is what it would look like if I had wooden countertops (which I'd really like someday -- the cutting board is like my honorary wooden countertop). It's actually a pine shelf I got from the Pier 1 clearance store a while back. They were selling these additional armoire shelves for 99 cents! And heck, who doesn't need four pine shelves at that price? I have actually got a plan for these, but for now I'm just playing countertops. A favourite game among many strange children, I'm sure.
02 Mar 2007: Bits of Nice
One nice thing about all this snow is that, even though it's been cloudy all day, everything is covered in white outside, so the light bounces all around and the world is bright and cheery. I love how full of light this house is! Through the looking glass:
I like the slow evolution of a home space. Looking back at pictures from even a month or two ago, I can see how I've settled into the rooms and got a better feel for their personalities. I actually undertook my first furniture rearrangement this afternoon. Well, that's what my kind does when they're stuck inside with nothing else to do -- they move furniture. I shuffled the living room around, and I'm going to see how I like it over the weekend. But back to my dresser:
I got a pair of these bookends the other day, for hardly any money at all. (Look at the larger image to see them in a bit more detail -- they're very pretty!) I also got that box of soap, mostly because the box is pretty, but also because it's the biggest bar of soap I've ever seen. I'll be lucky to find anywhere to set it down in the shower.
I made another loaf of no knead bread today. It's hard to imagine eating store-bought bread now! The recipe has been all over the place, but I keep using the one from the Star Tribune. I made my first loaf last week, and it was good enough that I enjoyed every slice, but it was too salty, didn't rise enough, and I had a heck of a time trying to get it off the towel. So this time, I used a little less salt, a little less water, added a leetle bit of sugar, and disregarded the call for a flour dusted towel and instead used plastic wrap. Much better!
Look at that! What a nice loaf of bread. I bake it in a 2.5qt Corningware casserole dish with a glass lid, so it comes out square.
I was leafing through the March issue of MS Living (so, February's issue, which I got at Half Price books on Wednesday -- and so paid only half the cover price -- excellent!), and in the Things You Should Be Doing Right About This Time of Year section, she advises planting your cold weather vegetables. Sitting at my kitchen table, I read that and then looked out the window at the multiple feet of snow covering my backyard. And then, oh, how I laughed. The only thing I'm growing right now are my mighty apple trees:
Grow, grooow! I'm expecting my first apple harvest any day now. Annnny day.
02 Mar 2007: Snowy Thoughts
It was snowing when I woke up this morning, and I'm pretty sure it's snowing right now, and it hasn't stopped snowing at any point in between. At a rate of x snowflakes per second over a period of n hours, that's a lot of snow. I shoveled the paths this afternoon, and by dinner they were already covered again by several inches of snow. Bah.
I'd like to think that days like today suit this little house and bowl. They came from the Isle of Mull, and what could be more homey to them than grey skys and high winds? I was disappointed with the weather for a number of reasons, but namely because it prevented me from taking Minnie for our daily walk.
We've been walking about three miles every day, which is just the right distance to take the edge off Minnie's energy and to make me feel like I've made an effort. Well, I needn't have worried about missing out on my own physical activity -- shoveling the paths was such hard work (we're talking about ten to twelve inches of damp, HEAVY snow, whew), I crawled through the door afterwards, crying for a cup of tea. I nearly crumpled into a heap on the floor when I saw that my mug was all the way in the other room.
It sounds like a lot of schools and businesses in the area will be closed tomorrow, and now the joke's on me for working from home. Oh, I suppose having a great job and a super boss and all that outweighs one snowday, if I'm going to be fair. But seeing a sea of white outside my window doesn't really inspire industry; it makes me want to curl up under a duvet and read. Oh wait! That's part of my job! Score.
01 Mar 2007: Chocolate Cake
Do you know what I had for my early morning snack? (That is -- between breakfast and the midmorning snack.) Chocolate cake:
See, children suspect that adults have all the fun, but they don't even know the half of it. Of course, I work from home, have a little cat to keep my lap warm, take my deer-like dog for a walk every day, and have chocolate cake if I want to. So I'm pretty lucky.
And what do you suppose is in this box?
Cute, huh? I made it myself, with stamps I made myself, and labeled it with a sticker I drew myself. Too much time on my hands? No, sir! Because I dropped this off at my parents' house this afternoon, and surely they deserve an elaborately folded cake-carrying box. Because the pieces of cake were so small!
Yes, I only made a tiny cake, in my tiny 6" cake pan. I wanted to try out a cake-making trick which I recently learned about, although I suspect it's well-known in some baking circles. See, you decide how many eggs you want to use. Since I was making a mini cake, I only used one egg. Weigh your eggs, in the shell, and write down their weight. My egg weighed 60 grams. Weigh out the same in flour, sugar, and butter, and that's what you use to make your cake! Well, in theory. This is what I actually used:
- 4 Tbsp butter (about 60g)
- 5 Tbsp caster sugar (60g)
- 1 egg (60g in shell)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 2 Tbsp milk
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour (60g)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2 Tbsp cocoa (optional)
Preheat oven to 350F. In a small bowl with high sides, cream butter and sugar, beat in egg, vanilla, and milk, and then carefully mix in flour, baking powder, and cocoa (if using). Once combined, mix on high until light and fluffy. Place batter into a greased and floured (you can 'flour' with cocoa if making a chocolate cake) 6" cake tin and bake for twenty minutes.
Now, I'm not going to say this is the Most Sinful Yet Heavenly Deluxe Chocolate Fudge Dream Delight cake, because it's not (I'd like to try that, though!). It's just a regular old sponge cake. But it's nice to have a recipe for such a small amount, and you could definitely sweeten it up with some frosting or chocolate sauce! Yum.