I've thought about it; however, in discussing with a friend who has known us for years and has some more of the nitty gritty details...he'd never go. He's one of those man-child people who cannot handle being wrong. Not that I'd expect a therapist to tell him he's wrong, but the slightest hint of him being steered to change his ways and he gets defensive. As he puts it, "You know what you signed up for." Even when I've found angles to make him more receptive, he's horrible about following through long term. I might see a week or two of improvement and once he thinks I'm placated enough, he goes back to whatever he was (or wasn't) doing.
It's not so much tolerating them, but I've got a few friends who felt it reignited the "pleaser" side to them after they were on it for a bit. They said the fog had at least lifted but it had made them less combative/argumentative, to the point that they felt like they were ushering back in some of what they were trying to curb. I have always had side effect/inverse type reactions to many meds, so it concerns me with my history.
I never made what I had in mind. I just wound up buying a Pepperidge Farms coconut cake and topping it with cut up Almond Joys. I can try and write out what I was planning on doing had I baked:
The cake basics:
3 Cups of All Purpose Flour
3 Cups of Granulated Sugar
3 Sticks of Unsalted Butter
6 Large Eggs
1/4 TSP Baking Powder
1/4 TSP Salt
1 Cup of Sweetened Coconut Cream (like the kind used for mixed drinks- I like Goya's)
Coconut milk at the ready to get it to your desired consistency (I tend to go on the dense side)
1/2-1 tsp extract - I often stick with vanilla to balance the flavor but you could get coconut extract
Bakers Joy to coat cake pans
*I do not use shredded coconut in the cake itself because I like my coconut cake to have a smooth texture, just like a plain pound cake. The coconut cream and milk make this possible
- Cream the butter and sugar
- Add in eggs one by one until fully incorporated
- Technically should have dry ingredients combined/sifted in a separate bowl and add in a bit at a time, alternating with the coconut cream/milk, until fully mixed... making sure not to overmix.
- I usually add the extract last so I can taste the batter to make any final tweaks
- Bake at 325 until done *depends on the oven. My old oven was more in the 35 minute range while the current is more like 42-45. I just start monitoring around 30 and use a toothpick to test as the center starts looking done.
- Once done, you can level them while they're still in the pans and then remove them once sufficiently cooled.
This is supposed to be a pound cake, so I go slow with the cream and milk because I want it to be dense enough to still stick to the beater. i.e. I do not want it dripping off like a looser cake mix.
The ganache:
It's a pretty basic ganache that I had in mind, although...I planned to mix dark and milk chocolate to be closer to the candy bar. This is a decent tutorial if you've never made a pourable ganache.
Make ganache perfect for frosting, glazing, dripping, or even truffles. Learn what ratios are best for milk, dark and white chocolate, and how to fix common ganache problems.
sugargeekshow.com
*no recipe here, but I planned to "sprinkle" the top with almonds (probably slivered or chopped). I had not decided yet if I was going to leave them raw or toast them, but toasting would probably make them hold up better as they can get mushy when exposed to moisture for a while.
The frosting:
I tend to go for variations on American buttercream. I don't have specific measurements, but I start with 1 stick of unsalted butter that I whip for a minute or two, about 1/4 tsp of salt, and add in whipping or heavy cream as well as powdered sugar until I'm at my desired consistency. I'm usually looking for a crusting buttercream, so less liquid to make sure it sets up a bit hard. I wanted almond flavor for this cake. Bare minimum, I was looking at adding in almond extract instead of vanilla; however, I considered tossing some warmed marzipan into the mixture to give it more depth. I was just using it to crumb coat and dam the layers, so it didn't need to be pretty.
The filling:
Here's where things got iffy as I found a number of random recipes. The one that made the most sense and seemed the least contrived was mixing unsweetened shredded coconut with sweetened condensed milk and then salt + vanilla to taste. I saw one note on this recipe saying powdered sugar might be good to have handy if you want it sweeter but don't want to add any more moisture with extra sweetened condensed milk. This is another one of those without specific measurements where you add until you obtain the desired texture/density. I was going for filling, so I needed it more on the dense side.
So, I am starting over a with new NP. I'll stick to my regular MD for antidepressant expertise. There's a time and a place for NPs and there's a time and a place for MDs.
Then they offered him an electric Ford F150, which he would have taken, but he knew it would be too big for the parking spaces at the resort. So, he paid more money to get a gas car. Then he went to take his injectable and it malfunctioned, so he had to contact the drug manufacturer, who got him a voucher for free replacement. It only took a day for CVS to get it in. But it was kind of a headache and he had to jump through a lot of hoops to prove he wasn't scamming. I always get so anxious when I have to travel and it starts the day before I fly. It's not the flight. I am fine once I am seated on the plane. It's the TSA line, it's the crazy line up to board the plane that get to me. It made me feel nauseous and I'd gotten sick once I got to my resort. Then I think the heat helped crank up my nausea to 11. But I enjoyed myself after my stomach settled down. I didn't eat much or drink many adult beverages last week (too hot for either one), but I also didn't return home feeling like a bloated tick, either. There are upsides to visiting in the summer, such as an empty resort pool and really not needing reservations for dining. But there are downsides--not all activities are available in the off season and of course, it's like being on the surface of the sun.
