Happy Mama's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! That does include animal moms, like the duck we have by our front door sitting on her eggs. Yes, our house is going to be the site of around 16 duck babies' births. I don't know how animals do it, but they always seem to know that we welcome all kinds of them and that we will feed pretty much anything that appears at our doorstep. So, we are patiently waiting for all those little ducklings to be born. What's cuter to see than the babies waddling after their mom?

I wanted to post a picture of Topkapi with her blue eyes. You can see she looks very dull, her scales are lacking brilliance and color, but in a few days she will shed the old skin and look brand-spanking-new. She will also shed her eye caps. All snakes have a scale covering their eyes, which, since they don't have eyelids, they use as protection. The only problem is that when they start shedding, their eye scales also turn dull and they can't see well. Some of the snakes, like CocoRosie, get very nervous and aggressive, which is understandable. You wouldn't like people picking you up if you couldn't see well, either. Others, like Barbossa, get even shyer, if that's possible. And still others, like Topkapi, Damascus, Talulah and Tybalt, don't really give a crap one way or the other. I guess it comes from being in human contact since they were born. They are so tame, they feel no danger in our presence.

Yesterday, my mom and I went to the beach. The water was really glorious, but the sun was murder. This Miami heat is really becoming unbearable, you can feel the sun cutting into your skin. It doesn't even feel like burning anymore, it's like a million little paper cuts appearing on your skin. I didn't get truly burned because I carry my SPF 50 sunscreen pretty much everywhere I go, but still I have a tan. Once again, I HATE tans. I'm like a vampire (not the Twilight ones, if my skin glittered like a high school girl's at prom, I would die again of shame) the less sun I get on my skin, the better. Oh well, the water was incredible, so it was worth it. We'll probably go back next Saturday, but this time earlier in the day so the sun is not quite as brutal.
I'll be baking later in the afternoon, so I'll probably post either the recipe, the picture or if I feel really inspired, both.

Ok, I just finished baking. Here is the recipe for a simple vanilla cake

3 cups flour
2tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup milk
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Add vanilla extract to the milk. Set aside. Beat butter and sugar. Add egss, one at a time, and beat after each addition. Add 1/3 of flour mixture to the butter mixture. Add half the milk to the batter. Beat well. Repeat.
Bake at 350 F. 30-40 minutes. Frost as desired.
Once again Happy Mother's Day!