A Chocolate Cake Farm?

It all started innocently enough. John got a $10 gift certificate from our local grocery store (believe me, we're big customers) for his birthday. He finally got around to spending it last night (his birthday was some days ago). Naturally, he had to spend part of it on a birthday cake (mix - Terri was enormously delighted to do the baking - I have no idea when I last baked a cake).

So we enjoyed a delightful chocolate cake with rich home-made chocolate frosting after dinner. This started an interesting educational tangent. It had Gus pouring over the encyclopedia set last night to find out what Baking Soda was (and led to some discussion on the Periodic Table and the difference between elements and compounds - it helps that he has a nifty poster of the periodic table in his room so there is already some familiarity - I don't think I knew what it was when I was 11). Anyway, you can read about our tangent here. Dr. Thursday has added his own thoughts here.