Ultimate and balls

Ultimate season is here. I played ultimate several days a week all through college, and only sparingly since. I definitely hadn't gone to a practice since 2008. On moving to Colorado for grad school, I thought maybe my ultimate days were over. I know so many people who have been seriously hurt playing. And there are so many other things to do here, right? I didn't miss it until I started playing again. Now I don't think I can stop.

Playing ultimate is one of the only situations in life where I feel like I can be my crazy self with people I hardly know. I'm usually super shy until I know someone for a month or so. Maybe its because I learned the sport with my best friends. Maybe it's just because I'm good at it. Either way, I am happier during ultimate season. And I like myself more. Which rocks.


In other news, I defend my PhD thesis proposal in front of my committee today. Wish me luck! I can hardly believe I'm actually doing this crazy thing.

When I was a small child, I used to eat cake in a most appalling way. I would mush the frosting and cake together into a sweet goopy paste. I did the same thing with a lot of food. Everything is homogenous and even. And it's not gross, because it gets like that in our tummy anyway. Or something. I think I've always been a little obsessed with ratios in my food. Even now, I can't eat lucky charms because I have to worry about having the exact same ratio of marshmallows to cereal bits in each spoon.

Potting soil? Biosolids? Or cake bits?

Anyway, this recipe enables me to connect with my inner cake-mushing self. I used a store-bought chocolate cake mix, because I was feeling lazy and made dulce de leche for the frosting. On that note, I love dulce de leche. It's like magic. Condensed milk into pot; 2 hours later, dulce de leche out. For dipping, I used a package of that funny white candy coating stuff. I didn't look at the ingredients for fear of being creeped out. Sprinkles help too.

Cake Balls
adapted from seemingly everywhere these days

• one 13x9 baked cake, any flavor (from a box or otherwise)
• one batch cake frosting (homemade or store-bought)
• one package candy coating (or tempered chocolate if you're good at that. I'm not)

1. Bake the cake however you like and let it cool completely.
   
2. Mush the cake in a bowl a little bit at a time. Add the frosting and mix.
3. Form the cake goo into little balls of your favorite size and place on a cookies sheet. Stick them in the freezer for a couple of hours.
4. Melt the coating or chocolate over a double boiler. Take your frozen cake balls out and dip them.
   
5. These keep best in the fridge.