Working on staying, thinking about leaving

There’s something that I have to say. But first a charming anecdote about baking. (Who doesn’t love a story about cupcakes?) Today was the day that I acted like the kind of woman God wanted me to be: One Who Bakes. I have a fun little dinner date with W&FA who recently returned from her European jaunt and also a midnight movie party to attend after. Homemade baked goods were in order. I thought cupcakes for the movie party because they're easy & fun and don't require utensils to eat them with. I wanted to jazz them up a bit so I decided that I would make them with an orange yogurt frosting (of my own invention). Cutting to the climax, the orange yogurt frosting didn't turn out so hot. So I decided to try Magnolia Bakery's famous buttercream frosting instead, sans problem! It turned out just fine and made icing the cupcakes extra fun. My only problem now is the fact that the recipe was so large I now have two pounds of extra buttercream frosting in my fridge. Which isn't much of a problem now that I think about it.




Which left me with one more dessert to make and a big bowl of wannabe frosting. Hmm...time for some ingenuity. Running through the list of ingredients I had added to make the frosting I realized that I was half way to a cake batter so I added some eggs and flour and voilà! Orange bundt cake with a dark chocolate glaze was born. (Which looks like a big chocolate doughnut in the picture. But it's not.) Too bad not all accidents can be this delicious.




So now down to the nitty gritty. The reason I wrote the blog. The thing that's been eating away at my brain and occupying my every thought: I want to go to Russia. This came out of nowhere and I never saw it coming but I want it really bad. Maybe even more than I want a pony. Something about the fact that it’s a completely foreign culture and language is what I want and need. I love Europe, I do, but there’s something very familiar and almost boring about it to me now. I’m very disenchanted by how touristy Europe is. My best trip in Europe so far has been Prague. I loved Prague because it (The Czech Republic) had only recently joined the European Union and was still using the Czech Crown for currency. Prague seemed to be a city still unknown to many tourists and maintained much of what I imagined was it’s original patina, integrity. I’m sure in the coming years it will become just as popular a destination as Munich or Venice or what have you, but something about it still felt foreign and exotic. The people were friendly and quirky, very different from what I’d seen before. (This is what I want, this different-ness.)

Russia seems huge and open with so much culture and history and foreignness! I want to be surrounded, have all of my senses pushed up against this unending unknown. I want Moscow and St. Petersburg and that wonderful sensual language drumming in my ear on a train through some town whose name I can't pronounce.

Back to reality, the only tangible thing stopping me is the tedious and expensive visa process. There are many forms to fill out and fees to pay before you can obtain a visa...& I don't know anyone willing to go through such a frivolous ordeal to accompany me on this adventure. (Does anyone else want Russia too?) Nevertheless I'm going to continue to research this visa process and figure out a way in because I must. I simply must get to Russia.