Greg's Peanut Butter Tardis Birthday Cake

Experiment 20110521

For Greg's birthday this year I wanted to try something a little different, so I came up with a new Peanut Butter flavored cake recipe.  It turned out well if not as strongly Peanut Butter flavored as I would have liked.  For a decorating theme I used Greg's interest in Doctor Who and one heck of a lot of blue dye to create the dreaded Peanut Butter Tardis.  Powered only by Peanut Butter it travels through Time And Relative Dimensions In Space!  Next step, Daleks out of Nutter Butter cookies.  ^_^

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Sam and Greg's Birthday

Experiment: 20100507
Greg and I decided to share a birthday celebration this year.  I asked Kathy to make me a huge peanut-butter chip cookie and I made Greg a very colorful Red Velvet Cake.  Considering this is actually the first real cake I've made this year I was a little disappointed, but I suppose I've just gotten out of practice.

Greg's Birthday and Thermite Experiment Part Two

Experiment: 20090515

When I asked my friend Greg what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday this year he said "You make great Red Velvet Cakes with the White icing... (yeah, I'm in a predictable rut...). As for shape, well feel free to think Steampunk." And thus, as foretold in the prophecy, his doom was sealed.... Err.... I mean, so then I made him a perfectly nice and normal cake with lots of Steampunk-ish flourishes.



After the cake had been devoured we headed out into the backyard for a second try at the Thermite Experiment. This time we increased the quantity, mixed the ignition mixture in with the thermite, wrapped a full coil of magnesium ribbon around the two iron bars, and used plastic army men to show the extent of the heat.







Here's a quick video clip showing just how much more energetic this attempt was than the last one.



And finally, just to add a finale to our geek extravaganza we finished the day with a Diet Coke and Mentos fountain.

King Tut's Grill

Adventure 090131

My wife, four of our friends, and I went to King Tut's Grill last night and it was delicious smothered in awesome with a side order of surprisingly cheap! This little place is tucked away in a corner of the South Knoxville community of Vestal in an ANCIENT ramshackle building with parking you have to get to through a narrow ally. Don't bring an SUV, you might not fit.

We called ahead for reservations and showed up real early to grab seats at one of the five tiny booths and tables and were still the second large group there. Once we were seated the owner Mo took our drink orders and brought them back in huge glass vases. My friend Carrie had been there before and strongly advised we share, so at Mo's suggestion we requested two orders of "the best Greek salad in Knoxville", two Egyptian platters, and two of the "Three Chicken" platters. Everything was fantastic and the servings were huge! Mo is a nut and did several slight of hand tricks for us while our food was being prepared. Once we had gotten most of the way through the meal Mo started up all the funky lights hanging from the ceiling, picked victims from the crowd for Karaoke target practice, started handing out masks and props and otherwise went into full fledged hosting mode. It was corny, it was hokey, and yet I couldn't stop smiling! For desert we shared orders of the baklava, basboosa, and the tiramisu. All of which were great. When we finally needed to head out the bill for six over-stuffed big eaters was only $101.

King Tut's Grill
4132 Martin Mill Pike
Knoxville, TN 37920
(865) 573-6021

Greg's Hello Kitty Birthday Cake

Experiment 080503

For some reason neither Kathy or I can remember now, (It must have seemed like a good idea at the time....) Kathy created a bright pink Hello Kitty Birthday Cake for Greg this year. It was incredibly bright, colorful, and terrifying. I had Hello Kitty nightmares the night after she decorated it. (Shudder....)




(Late back-log addition added on Sat 9/20/2008.)

Greg's Red Velvet Chocolate-Seashell Birthday Cake

Experiment: 070504

The only normal people are the ones you don't know very well. - Joe Ancis

I had liked the chocolates that Kathy had used to top my cake so much that Greg's cake was built around a box of seashell shaped chocolates we found. I'm still vaguely displeased with how my red velvet cakes turn out. They never seem to be as rich as my other recipes.





(Transferred from the original http://www.samthegiant.com/ website on Mon 9/15/2008.)