Sunday, March 9, 2008

Happy Birthday to Ryan!

Ryan turned 31 today--still a young buck. Every year he gets a made-from-scratch German Chocolate cake for his birthday (and I usually let him know how much work it is... it seriously dirties every dish in the kitchen, some of them twice!) so yesterday I set out to make it. I followed the recipe just as I do every year, but for some reason it was a total flop. The only difference was that I used cake flour instead of all-purpose flour. It didn't raise very well and it totally stuck to the sides (which I greased well!) and was so thin in some spots that it fell apart when I lifted it. I tried to do a little magic with the frosting--but I can honestly say that it was the ugliest cake I've made, ever. Ryan was of course very nice to me and assured me many times that it was yummy and looked good, and since he's the birthday boy, I'll let it rest at that. I was almost ready to start over again, but didn't have all the ingredients. Oh well... there's always next year!

We spent the afternoon with Ryan's cousin Jen (who spoke in her sacrament meeting today because she is leaving on her mission to North Carolina) and our family. A couple of days ago Ryan and I went with some friends to dinner at PF Changs (love the crispy honey chicken there!) and then to Wiseguys, a comedy club in Orem for their hypnotist show. I'm pretty skeptical about being hypnotized myself, but very willing to watch and laugh at others who let themselves get hypnotized. The group was pretty small (maybe 25 people, tops) so the hypnotist tried to hypnotize the whole crowd in order to get a few up on stage. I really tried to relax (maybe half-heartedly?) but found myself peeking at others while I should have been imagining a beautiful large balloon lifting my left hand. Imagine my surprise when I saw Ryan's hand in mid-air and his head slumped over. So out of the whole group, three were invited on stage and one of them was Ryan! The two others were weeded out, so Ryan was the lone hypnotized man on stage. The hypnotist was very humble and said it had never happened that there weren't enough people on stage for a show. He played with Ryan a little bit--Ryan couldn't recall his own name for the life of him and had a rubber nose for a few minutes--but then dismissed us all with tickets to return another night. It was pretty humorous!!

All in all we had a fun birthday weekend to celebrate my Ryan's birthday. He is so good to all of us and we are so glad that he was born 31 years ago!


**What do you think went wrong with my cake?
**Have you ever been hypnotized (do you believe in it?)?
**Do you want to go to Wiseguys with us next time we go to they hypnotist show?

7 comments:

Cheri said...

I think that cake still looks amazing! I'm sure it tasted great too.

I've never been hypnotized and I don't think I'll ever go for it. It just makes me uncomfortable. I remember being somewhere where several of my friends got hypnotized and did some crazy things, and I wasn't on board with putting myself in that situation. I do have my pride. :)

Sally said...

So sorry about the cake. I have had that happen many many times, where a recipe I know well goes south right when I need it the most, with no explanations. I have no earthly idea why. Luckily Ryan didn't care, and it wasn't for a shower or for inlaws or something intimidating.
As for being hypnotized, yes, many times! We tried HypnoBirthing with Anna, with mixed reviews. I was very relaxed the whole pregnancy, and relatively comfortable, which I credit to all the hypnosis going on, but when it came time to deliver the method fell apart a bit for us. No epidural, but lots of pain. There wasn't supposed to be pain! I wasn't supposed to perceive any pain! But I did... Troy was a very good hypnotist. I always went right away. Hey, he could work on Ryan, since Ryan is susceptible! Their work days could start being a LOT more interesting around there. I wonder where Michael falls in the mix? Things that make you go hmmm..

lAuRa said...

That's way funny that Ryan got hypnotized. I don't think i would ever want to be. But I agree, it's quite entertaining to watch other people do it. If it makes any difference, I think the cake still looks really great-I can't even make a cake look like that. lol =)

Dinner Club in CT said...

The cake looks profesh! I am dying to see what your cakes look like when you don't mess up. When we are town I will go to the comedy club any time as long as I get to see Ryan hypnotized. As for me I don't dare.

Janene said...

The only thing wrong with the cake is that I'm probably too late to get a piece! :o)

I turn 31 this year too, if you want to keep experimenting!! ha ha

I have a friend who does a type of hypno-birthing (at home). I think it's interesting, but personally, not to be messed with. I think there are probably some great things that can be done using the power of our mind that way though.

sara said...

That cake looks great. I've never used cake flour. Maybe that was the difference. Who knows? It still looks great and probably tasted awesome.

Anonymous said...

The cake looks pretty darn good. Just like everyone else said, at least it wasn't for someone else. I told Cliff I'd make a birthday cake for his girlfriend a few weeks ago. I started it late, and if fell (I still have no idea why) so I didn't have time to make a new one. It was a little embarassing because this was the first time we met her. Oh well. She said she loved it.

As for hypnotizing.. It seems to scary for me to try!