In Eckleburg's Eyes - 8/26/2008

On Monday, SMA and I set out on a mission as only we could. SMA had recently seen the Wilton Checkerboard Cake Pan Set and it inspired him to make an orange and white checkerboard cake for a party celebrating UT’s football season opener. We set out to get the ingredients and the aforementioned set. Naturally, this took many, many minutes to do so.

We ate lunch at Soccer Taco and then the adventure began. Here are the stops along the way. If you know Knoxville, you know we made a large (and completely unnecessary) loop. Admittedly, this was done in part so I could visit thrift stores in between cake shopping. (Note: The photo is of topless doll cake toppers that were displayed at most of the stores we visited. They were very disturbing. Not quite as disturbing as my need to take a photo of them but problematic nevertheless.)

• Food City (5941 Kingston Pike)
  
• Kroger (4440 Western Avenue)
  
• Joann Fabrics and Crafts (154 N Peters Road)
  
• Party City (8503 Kingston Pike)
  
• A.C. Moore (250 Morrell Road)
  
• Food City (284 Morrell Road)

The cake had better be good! Had we stopped at Michaels we would have hit the effeminate trifecta of A.C. Moore, Joanna, and Michaels. Thankfully, SMA saw only one person he knew on this escapade and he could not even remember that guy’s name.

We learned many things on our journey. Two lessons I will share: 1. We learned that Wilton has seemingly cornered the market on cake decorating and we thought about investing or at least reporting them as a monopoly. 2. We learned that even in Knoxville, Tennessee, orange food coloring is almost impossible to find. We settled for purchasing red and yellow in hopes of mixing them to produce orange. Both of us (chefs that we are) are both skeptical of this method. (There will be a sample cake before the party.)

Not only did we buy all of the necessary supplies, but we also found this wonderful Power T Silicone Muffin Pan. (Sure, they make this monstrosity and not orange food coloring!) It is surprisingly flimsy and we are fairly certain muffins would melt into the pan. Still, we could not resist the urge to purchase it. I will let you know how the cake and muffins work out. The season opener is on Labor Day.

On Monday night, I stopped by MoFoS before joining JTH and JDM (the former Mr. X) at Applebees. JDM brought his friend Amanda.

The one mystery that was not revealed in Monday’s dramatic edition of Eckleburg’s Eyes was the identity of Ms. X. She was JDM’s long-time girlfriend Amanda. They have since broken up. Hence she will heretofore be referred to as Old Amanda while the girl at Applebees on this night will be known as New Amanda until I know their last names. New Amanda’s best friend is also named Amanda so if and when I meet her, I may go to numbering Amandas. We will cross that bridge when we come to it.

This was the first time I had met New Amanda. I liked her very much. She is a 21-year old Farragut High School graduate and current UT student who works at a daycare. She also plays handbells at St. Mark United Methodist Church. While this is very admirable, unfortunately the handbell choir practices on Monday nights making it difficult for her to attend our basketball games. I had high hopes of her captaining a cheerleading squad for the team.

Speaking of which, the league begins on September 8th and is actually on Mondays. (I had been given the wrong date and times by a source who shall remain nameless, only that he appears in this post.) This change makes us lose two players, including RAW, presumably our leading scorer. We have added SH, JDM’s best friend, but need one more player.

JDM has received some good news recently. He was awarded a substantial grant for his schooling. Also, his sister has discovered that she is expecting a boy. The child is due in December. JAH (the father) and JDM are already preparing a basketball regiment for the child. He should be tall given his genetics and whether or not he is athletic, he will be fundamentally sound.

Finally, the biggest news from Monday is that I paid MPW for our UT basketball season tickets. He has applied for a (minor) upgrade from last season. We may sit a few rows closer (we cannot sit farther and still be in the stadium) and perhaps closer to the center. I for one and hoping for a return to 315A.