The Happy Day Project

It Is 6.40am and talking about the Happy Day Project , Alicia is challenging us fellow readers with, does not come easy at this time of the day. But the more I wake up (and the increase of the caffeine level in my blood stream does wonders too) the happier I am about playing race cars with my early riser in the weee hours of the day, thinking about how to put this challenge in words.

Sarge crashed really bad and needed a band aid

Remember yesterdays coffee and that 2 page to-do-list I was talking about???? Well naturally this list was designed to fail: No way I could get it all done . The laundry pile is still a masterpiece on the couch and the only ironing that happened to it, was was done by the kiddos sitting/jumping on top of it.

Nevertheless, I knew I could not do it all; instead I opted to add a little more to the grand mess by making a quiche( which was in the end not very appreciated by my little people(Had to make mac and cheese at 5.45am this morning for Stella to send to school for lunch; SAD isn't it?!) and baked a giant sheet of almond cake( not for us!!!!!)

Now I am finally getting to the point( Yes I like to use a lot of words, I guess):

I have the sweetest neighbor. She is always happy, seems never stressed and, oh I forgot to mention, she has 6 kids. Oh and she homeschools them!!!!!! I love my kiddos and all but I would go stir crazy if I would be in her shoes..... Even though she always seems to have the most positive view of things, I know she is a mama just like me and would appreciate a little sweet surprise!
So off I went to bring a huge plate of cake to her house. Was she surprised?YES .Was she happy? DOUBLE YES. Did she like it? She send me a text late last night, telling me that she had three pieces and that she is pretending it is low calories ;) So I would say it is safe to call the success a TRIPLE YES
It felt so good to do something nice for this sweet lady!

Hot and bubbly

Since this cake is really delicious and special to me( a good friend made it for me for our farewell party, when we left Germany over 2 years ago), I thought I would share it here:
It is a German recipe,which means it measures in the metric system and you need a scale( or go online and convert it).
Give it a try, it does not take long at all and is an absolute crowd pleaser and your house will smell heavenly!

Almond sheet cake:
Preheat oven to 350*F

Ingredients:
200g sugar
200g flour
200ml whipping cream
1tsp baking soda
1tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs

mix and spread on a square cookie sheet( see pic above)
bake for ten minutes

Ingredients for topping:
175g( 1 1/2 sticks) butter
200g sugar
2 tbs milk
200g sliced almonds

melt butter, add the other ingredients mix and heat for 3-4 minutes on stove

spread evenly on the previously baked base and bake for 10 more minutes.
That's all the magic