Death By Chocolate

The Chocolate S'mores Keyboard hijacked my brain, now my mind keeps drifting to Chocolate Thoughts.

By Naoko Tone and Atsuyoshi Iijima. Hisashi Hidano`s “c.red “412-810″ by HIMAA{images found swissmiss.typepad.com}

We had chickens when I was a kid, and soon we were overrun with eggs. Tired of scrambled and hard boiled eggs, my mom and dad looked for recipes that would use a lot of eggs. In an old Betty Crocker cookbook they found the recipe for Chocolate Chiffon Cake with Brown Beauty Icing. It used a glorious 7-10 eggs! Still absolutely the best American icing recipe ever. No sickening powdered sugar sweetness. It tastes like chocolate truffles. And the light chiffon cake is the perfect counterpoint. My family had this for dessert for about eleven months straight. I'm not joking. It was heaven.

When I got married and began hosting my own dinner parties, I soon learned that while planning the party I would have giddy excitement and elaborate plans to make a seventeen step Double Chocolate Truffle Sacherorte with Blackberry Coulis Reduction, or some such, for dessert. But the gritty reality was that day of the party I didn't even have time or energy to make Rice Krispies. So Peg Bracken's Pots de Chocolat recipe from her Appendix to the I Hate Cooking cookbook became my never-fail-to-please standby. It's rich. It melts in your mouth. Its simple presentation always evokes oohs and ahhs. And it takes about five minutes to make. Tops. There is a god.

I now welcome all chocolate ramblings, recipes, and recomendations. I'm sure I will also be adding more... and more... and more to this topic.

If Only

Best. Baby Shower. Ever.

I was expecting this...

{Ribbon Gothic by Ataxia}Instead it felt like this!

{VE Day UK 1945}No Funny Hats. No Diaper Pin Games. No Cream Cheese Sandwich Loaf.

Just Fresh Flowers. Great Food. Lots of Passing the Baby Around and Happy Conversation.

It was everything a shower should be - pure celebration. Our genius hostesses booked a table at the wonderful Tillicum Place Cafe, ordered lovely food, then sat back and let the afternoon cheerfully take it's own course. Three and a half hours later we slowly and reluctantly pulled ourselves away.

I am so doing this next time I host a baby shower; I don't know why I never thought of it before.