A New Year With a Glance at the Past

The First of January --

This is the time of year that many of us reflect on the previous year, look toward the next, 

and write a few resolutions. 

I'm not making many resolutions.  A long list tends to failure.

I have a few goals in mind, but not set in stone at the moment.

I didn't give last year my best, and I want this year to be different.  

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The end of the year is a special time in our family.  

Zane was born the last day of the year, and this year he turned 10.

My first grandchild is in the double digits.  

He's changed from a little boy to a big one.  

He loves to read and play board games.

He loves computer games and his tablet.  

This year he wanted me to make his birthday cake.  

He wanted a layer cake--4 layers.  

At first he wanted black frosting, but we talked him into Lego blue.  I had the idea then that I would put primary colors in between the layers and went looking for red paste food color, forgetting what time of year it is , but there was none.  

I found red frosting and knowing I had yellow, green and blue colors at home I was set to go.

I have four 8" cake pans so I carefully measured the batter so I could divide it evenly between the four pans.  It sure looked like 4 cups in the big measuring up, but after I put the first two layers in the oven, another cup of batter in the third pan, ...

and there wasn't a cup to put in the last pan.  So, I divided what batter I had between the last two pans and had layers of different sizes.  

I used some things called "bake evens", adjustable heavy cloth thingys you dampen and put around your pan so the cake doesn't rise up in the middle and you don't have to waste a lot of cake cutting off the top to even it out.  That worked, if not like a charm, satisfactorily enough that when I piled them up, my cake only leaned slightly.  

The trouble began after I frosted and stacked the layers and began on the royal blue color I wanted for the outside.  

Being the messy, not picking up after myself cook that I am, I had various colors and powdered sugar and utensils scattered over my counter, and carefully adding the blue paste, noting that I didn't have any too much to begin with. So, I keep adding and mixing and adding and mixing and not looking what I was doing grabbed the green paste color and got this ---

Teal

And no more blue coloring.

I went into town to Walmart and no paste blue color.

No gel primary colors.  Was I going to have to buy the blue, brown, black and some other color I don't remember just now, to get my blue?

Then I saw a torn box of the primary colors and carefully holding it together purchased it and got in into the house and there I discovered I lost the red color.  

Thankfully, I didn't lose the blue.

This was as good as I could get. 

I'm sorry I didn't get the blue I wanted, but circumstances and ineptitude were against me.

I put some cocoa in the teal frosting hoping it would look more, er, edible, but to no avail.  If you eat it with your eyes closed, it's good.

What to do with it?

The only suggestion I've received is to use it in graham cracker cookies.  You won't be able to see the color that way.  

Zane decorated it, and we ate it all up.  

Happy Birthday, Big Guy!!