The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 251 (751)

It looks as if another federal covid aid package will be approved. The deal in the Senate is for less than half the amount requested by POTUS but does offer enough to maintain testing capacity and continuing ongoing research. It specifically does not cover global aid nor would it continue a program of testing, treating, and vaccinating uninsured Americans. Part of the total amount will use unspent funds from the March 2021 aid package. 

The CDC will undergo a month-long comprehensive review and evaluation with the aim of modernizing its systems and processes and changing for the future. The program's announcement contained some great examples of business-speak. The review will "solicit suggestions for strategic change." After the "collective effort," the agency will develop new systems and plans for how it should be structured. And in the best one I read, the goal is to find "new ways to adapt the agency's structure to the changing environment." I read that and immediately posed the question (to myself) of whether a bureaucracy, especially a federal one, could change fast enough to keep pace with changes in the environment. The proposal noted that the CDC's infrastructure has been neglected for decades and that "never in its 75 year history has CDC had to make decisions so quickly, based on often limited, real-time, and evolving science."

After 750 days or just one day less than I've been writing this blog, South Africa is ending its national "state of disaster," otherwise known as a "state of emergency." "The end of the national state of disaster is a firm statement of our determination to live our lives and rebuild our country, even as this virus remains in our midst." Sounds like the "live with the virus" coming out of a growing number of other countries. Just over a third of the South African population is fully vaccinated. While this is a high rate for Africa, it is not at all up to the level of most developed countries. Looking at vaccination as well as recovery from covid, 60 percent of the population have some form of immunity. In recounting the state of disaster, one article noted that early on there were limits on the types of clothing and footwear that could be purchased, a policy intended to keep people from leaving their homes. I'm having trouble wrapping my head around that one. 

A short post but one that means I don't need to feel pressure to write something when I get back from the orthopedist about my knee. I really hoped I would not see the othopods again for a year, which would be my replacement right knee's fifth birthday. In the meantime, wrap your head around the fact that The Professor asked for a German chocolate birthday cake and neither the (in)famous Joy of Cooking or the Good Housekeeping Cookbook had a recipe for one. Betty Crocker did, though, have one online. Guess what I'll be doing Saturday night after a day at the quilt show. We'll have a joint birthday celebration for The Pofessor and Son #2 on Sunday evening ... after another day at the quilt show. 

Is it Pronounced "pica-key" or "pie-cakey"?

Younger son has, for the last several years requested a pie baked inside of a cake for his birthday. He asked for it again this year, but I decided to mix things up and see if I could bake a cake inside a pie. Indeed, I could, and younger son thought it actually turned out better than the various capiekes (pronounced cah-pikes) have. The photos below are from the pilot piecakee that I did two weeks before the real one, which did not look too much different from the one shown here.

That's just a pie, you might be thinking, but not if you look at its inside. 

If you want to make one of these, it does help to have a (very) deep dish pie pan. Step one is, obviously, making a pastry crust and placing it in that (very) deep dish pie pan. I could show you a photo of that, but (1) you probably already know what that would look like and (2) I forgot to take any photos until I got to the step of adding the upper pie filling.

That's a lower pie crust topped with cherry pie filling, chocolate cake batter, and a second layer of cherry pie filling. Next is adding the top crust. I made this easy on myself and used a cake mix and canned pie filling. For the pilot, I only used one can of cherry filling, which meant that I didn't have enough for the whole area. I remedied that in the final, birthday version.

Note that the top of the unbaked crust seems a bit lower than the top crust in the above photo showing it post-baking. Cake batter always rises--the finished cake is higher in the pan than the batter alone was--and that's what happens here as well. In terms of temperature and time, I baked it much as I would a pie. The first 15 minutes were done at 425 F; the last 30 to 40 minutes was done at 350 F. If you're still thinking that it might not work, here's a close-up of a slice.

Nice browned, flaky pie crust, cherry filling, and normal looking chocolate cake. Now if I could only find a way to work the icing in.