Double Chocolate Layer Cake

While painting our bedroom yesterday morning, I was watching (or more like listening to) the Today show. They featured this Double Chocolate Layer Cake from Epicurius.com. I am dying to try it. I'm thinking of making it for Valentine's Day, but sort of want to try it out 1st. I'm off tomorrow & back to work Saturday & Sunday so I'm thinking of trying it out tomorrow to be sure I can handle it. Then I'll bring it to work so it won't sit at home for us to eat non-stop. I can't wait! (This pic is the one from the website, but I'll hopefully be posting a pic of my beautiful cake soon.)

Double Chocolate Layer Cake
Chef Ed Kasky used Callebaut semisweet chocolate for the cake and Guittard French-vanilla chocolate for the frosting, but any fine-quality semisweet chocolate will produce a wonderful result in either. Serves 12 to 14.

For cake layers: 3 ounces fine-quality semisweet chocolate such as Callebaut

1 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee

3 cups sugar

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)

2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

3 large eggs

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups well-shaken buttermilk

3/4 teaspoon vanilla

For ganache frosting:1 pound fine-quality semisweet chocolate such as Callebaut

1 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter

Preparation:Make cake layers:Preheat oven to 300° F and grease pans. Line bottoms with rounds of wax paper and grease paper.
Finely chop chocolate and in a bowl combine with hot coffee. Let mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.
Into a large bowl sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another large bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs until thickened slightly and lemon colored (about 3 minutes with a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a hand-held mixer). Slowly add oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture to eggs, beating until combined well. Add sugar mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined well. Divide batter between pans and bake in middle of oven until a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Cool layers completely in pans on racks. Run a thin knife around edges of pans and invert layers onto racks. Carefully remove wax paper and cool layers completely. Cake layers may be made 1 day ahead and kept, wrapped well in plastic wrap, at room temperature.

Make frosting: Finely chop chocolate. In a 1 1/2- to 2-quart saucepan bring cream, sugar, and corn syrup to a boil over moderately low heat, whisking until sugar is dissolved. Remove pan from heat and add chocolate, whisking until chocolate is melted. Cut butter into pieces and add to frosting, whisking until smooth.
Transfer frosting to a bowl and cool, stirring occasionally, until spreadable (depending on chocolate used, it may be necessary to chill frosting to spreadable consistency).
Spread frosting between cake layers and over top and sides. Cake keeps, covered and chilled, 3 days. Bring cake to room temperature before serving.

SCRABBLE

Since Chris & I have been married we have discovered our love for playing games together. We're both competitive, although I am no where near as competitive as Chris is.

Our favorite game to play is SCRABBLE. Chris has a wealth of random words stored in his brain that he loves to pull out & use in SCRABBLE. Amazingly, he usually knows the meaning of these random words too. I usually consult Webster's just to be sure he's right though!

We played SCRABBLE last night and amazingly I beat him with a final score of 343 to 282. That's a pretty high-scoring game even for us! I did get off to a great start though by being able to take the 1st turn and spell SHAKERS to use all 7 of my letters. That got me 84 points, and he never caught me after that!

WE LOVE SCRABBLE!

"Bitten"

Thanks to Oprah's show & a friend of mine, I have discovered the newest & best clothing line ever! Sarah Jessica Parker has just introduced her clothing line called "Bitten". Everything is less than $20...can you believe that? She has clothing & accessories for women sized 2-22. Her line is currently only available @ Steve & Barry's stores & not yet online, but that will hopefully come soon. Check out these cute clothes & amazing deals:

You can check out the complete collection of "Bitten" @ http://www.bittensjp.com/. I can't wait to hit up a Steve & Barry's soon!

My "bucket list"

There's a new movie out starring Jack Nicholson & Morgan Freeman called "The Bucket List". I am really anxious to see it. The plot is based around two terminally-ill cancer patients (played by the aforementioned actors) who leave the hospital & journey on an adventure to live life to the fullest before they die. I have had a "do before I die" list for years, so I pulled it out the other day & checked off a few things & added quite a few more. Here's how it looks:


Visit New York City at Christmas......check (Dec. 2004)
Stand in Times Square to ring in the new year
See the Statue of Liberty......check (March 2000, Dec. 2004)
Drive across the Golden Gate Bridge
Take the coastal lighthouse tour all over Maine
Stand next to a Giant Redwood tree
Visit the Grand Canyon
Travel to Alaska......check (June 2007)
Travel to Hawaii
Go to Yellowstone National Park
See the pyramids in Egypt
Take a Mediterranean island cruise
Go scuba diving (I've snorkled but never scubaed)
Go skydiving......almost check (on the books for Feb. 16th, 2008...ahhh, what fun!)
Swim with dolphins (I'm dying to do this)
Visit every baseball stadium in the U.S.......so far, I've been to Turner Field &
Wrigley Stadium
Travel across Europe (I'd really like to visit every European country, but definitely Italy,
Spain, England & Scotland)
Write a book

Still a lot left to do, but I think it's fun to have things to look forward to & dream for! Maybe I can check some more off of my list in 2008!

recap & Resolutions

Happy New Year (a bit belated)! I'm so excited to see what God holds in store for my & Chris' 2008!

Christmas was great. I ended up working Christmas Eve day & then we had only 14 patients so I got Christmas day off. We drove home Christmas morning so our families were thrilled about that. We came back to our house the Thursday after Christmas & then went right back to work.

We got a lot of fun gifts for Christmas this year. Chris & I had of course already done our Christmas when we bought our new LCD HDTV & our new desktop computer. Chris' parents gave us a digital home theater system with a digital DVD player & speakers to go with our new t.v. Chris is in the process of getting it all fired up now & we can't wait to see how it sounds. My parents gave me a Kitchen Aid stand mixer. I've been wanting one for a while now, but just wouldn't buy it for myself. I am so excited & can't wait to start using it. Chris got several new tools, a gift card to buy a wheelbarrow that he's been wanting for yard work, and quite a few clothes. We also got a new fireplace tool set & I got a bagless vacuum cleaner that makes cleaning the house so much more fun! My grandparents gave us cash, so today we went a bought a new desk for our office. I love it! Some of my other favorite gifts were: a subscription to A Taste of Home, fleece pjs & slippers, some Pampered Chef utensils, and lots of Yankee Candles. Hopefully soon I'll post some pics of some of our fun gifts.

After working last Friday, Saturday, & Sunday I went to my school orientation on Monday & then went back to work Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday. It's been busy to say the least. School started Wed. & is already off to a crazy start. I'm taking a Healthcare Populations course and Reseach Methods. It'll be a lot of reading & writing for both courses. Hopefully I'll survive.

I'm so excited about the new year. It's always such a refreshing time for me. After coming home & settling back in, we've done a little cleaning out all around the house & I'm hoping to have a yard sale to clean out more in March. We re-arranged our living room just for something different. I of course made the obligatory new year's resolutions, except that I fully intend to keep them!
*Jog/run atleast 3 times/week
*Take (& pass) my OCN exam (in May)
*Scrapbook & journal/blog more
*Take more time for me!
*Spend more time in prayer & meditation

Best wishes for a fulfilling 2008!

3 a.m. thoughts...

It's amazing the strange things you ponder at 3 a.m. I've worked nights last week & again this week, hence I'm awake at crazy hours like 3 a.m. I'm stealing Hollie's blogging technique of random lists, so here's my 3 a.m. crazy though list...


1. We had a holiday raffle for our floor yesterday to raise $ to buy all of patients holiday gifts to make their stay this time of the year a little brighter. We got great prizes donated & I bought $5 worth of tickets last week & won an iPod shuffle. I don't have an iPod but have been wanting one so I can't wait to take it home & put it to use! I am so excited!!!


2. I haven't seen Chris since Wednesday morning when he left for school. I miss my babe & can't wait to see him this morning!


3. It's now only 10 days until Christmas...ahhhh. It's crazy how when we were young it seemed like it took Christmas forever to come, now it feels like it comes faster & faster every year.


4. I can't believe how cute my best friend & her husband's baby is! Her name is Scarlett & isn't she just sooo cute. I'm hoping to visit them in Boston in January to meet little Scarlett! I just can't get over looking at cute pictures like this!

5. Chris' work party is tonight at his boss & his wife's house. It's a Christmas party with a twist because we're having barbeque catered! It should be different. I'm excited because I'll finally get to meet their 3-month old daughter, Charlotte! I love holding babies!

6. I love BABIES, if that's not evident by how many times they've entered my mind at 3 a.m.!

7. I'm getting slightly anxious about starting back to school in January. I hope I'm not jumping in too fast!

8. An electrician is coming over this weekend to hopefully ground the outlet in our living room that we need to plug our new 32' LCD HDTV into. We can't wait to get it into it's place in our home.

9. I can't wait to open Christmas gifts even though our Christmas celebrations won't be until the day & 2 days after since I'm working...I love unwrapping gifts!

10. I love giving gifts. I can't wait to see everyone's faces when they unwrap their gifts from us. We put a lot of thought into our gifts this year so we hope everyone enjoys theirs!

11. I'm hungry but have no idea what to eat. In addition tho how crazy your thoughts can be at 3 a.m., it's also crazy what I might have cravings for or how hungry I might be in general. Eating helps keep me awake though.

12. We're going to hopefully unpack our new computer today. We've had it for over a week but just haven't had the time to break it out yet. We're hoping to find a new desk for it either this weekend or next week.

13. Isn't it funny how we spoil our pets...Sadie is getting gifts for Christmas like she was a child. My parents bought her 2 or 3 toys and so did each of my sisters. Of course Chris & I got her some toys as well. We're going to get her a new collar too, hopefully today.

14. I'm sleepy! Rightly so, as it's just after 3 a.m.. Only 4 more hours until I can see my babe & get some sleep.

15. I think my brain is tired of thinking now...

Our Home for the Holidays

Here are some shots of our home all decorated for the holiday season...

Our tree all lit up...

Our mantle with the stockings in place (including Sadie's even though it doesn't match my & Chris')...

My all time-favorite decoration-the ceramic Christmas tree my dad bought me last year...

Our icicle lights adorning our house with our candles lit in the windows...

Only 10 days until Christmas!!!

Home again...

Chris & I got back last night after a trip home to Conyers for the weekend. We enjoyed ourselves! We spent time with just my family & Chris will be seeing his family over Labor Day weekend at their lake house on Lake Hartwell. I unfortunately have to work over the weekend though so won't be making the trip with him.

I was finally able to see the birthday presents my parents got for me & I am so excited about getting them up here & situated in our home. I had been wanting a wooden rocking chair for our living room & my parents ran across one & bought it for me as a birthday gift. I hadn't seen in until this weekend & then silly me forgot to take any pictures of it! It wouldn't fit in my Honda, so my grandparents are going to bring it up to us in a couple of weeks. My parents also bought us this beautiful wraught iron baker's rack/display shelf for our dining room. We have just the perfect place for it, and I can't wait to get it here & start putting it to good use. I of course, don't have a picture of that either.

Sadie handled the ride to Conyers and back here pretty well this time around...thank goodness. My sister & brother-in-law, Cheri & Jesse, have a new Yorkie puppy, Wally, who weighs 6 1/2 lbs. right now. He & Sadie played very well together. Sadie now weighs 46 lbs. so we were really having to watch to make sure that she didn't accidentally roll over or step on him. I'll post some cute pictures of them playing together sometime this week.

We'll be making another trip home to Conyers in about a month for my best friend & her husband's , Lyndsey & Cameron, baby shower. My friend Courtney & I are doing all of the decorating so that should be lots of fun! I'm really looking forward to seeing Lyndsey & seeing how much the "little one" is making her belly grow. The "little one" is due December 2nd, and we all can't wait to meet him or her. I'm still convinced it's a boy. but for now it's "little one" to everyone since it won't keep it's legs open long enough for them to see the gender with ultrasounds...silly baby!

Well, I'm off to start boiling the chicken for our dinner. I'm making a new recipe I found for chicken pot pie & fresh green beans. I hope it turns out to be delicious!

Alaska by Sea Recap...

I'm finally getting around to finishing my journaling about our Alaska trip. Things have been very hectic lately with work and Abbey was visiting this past week so I've been away from the computer for the most part. I'm condensing our cruise experience into one blog entry.

We boarded the Sapphire Princess on Saturday, June 21st. We had taken the bus to Valdez where we caught our ferry boat to Whittier where we then boarded the ship. The immense size of the cruise ship is more than I could fathom. It was so huge! My mom, Chris & I enjoyed lunch at The Whittier Inn, a quaint hotel right on the waterfront, before mom & I boarded the ship since Chris had to head back here to Durham.
After saying goodbye to Chris for a week, :-(, we boarded the ship and set sail about 8 p.m. Saturday night. We cruised all day Sunday and Monday before we were able to set our feet on solid ground again. The scenery, when you could see anything other than water, was phenomenal. We spent much of the 1st two full days on board exploring, shopping at the boutiques, and of course seeing shows & eating, eating & eating.

Monday we cruised through Glacier Bay National Park. There are over 20 glaciers contained in this area. The largest and most famous is Marjorie Glacier. I posted some of my favorite pictures of Marjorie below. We got to experience glacier calving which is when pieces of the glacier break off and fall in the water forming floating ice sheets. The neatest thing about the calving is the sounds you hear before the glacier actually breaks off. It sounds like a thunderstorm within the glacier. It was an awesome experience.


Tuesday was our first day in port and we docked in Skagway, AK. Skagway was historically a mining town in it's prime. After docking in port, we disembarked and mom, Cheri, Abbey, Jesse & I headed to our glacier flight adventure. We took about a 15 minute helicopter ride and then proceeded to land on a glacier, walk around on the glacier for about 45 minutes and then ride back. It ranks right up there as one of the neatest things I've ever done. Not too many people can say that they've walked on a glacier. I drank glacial water, in fact one of the picture below is of me doing just that. The water is so blue & crisp. The other pictures are of me geared up riding on the helicopter and then the glacier that we walked on!

Wednesday we spent our day in port at Juneau, the capital of Alaska. That day's adventure was whale watching. We saw quite a few humpback whales but for the most part all you ever got to see of the whale was it's fin and tail. Very rarely do humpbacks come fully out of the water like we all had imagined. We also saw lots of bald eagles, other birds, and lots more beautiful scenery.

Thursday we docked in Ketchikan, Alaska which still thrives today as a fishing town. My grandparents and I adventured out here on a boat trip to see over 20 eagles' nests, plenty of bald eagles, a lighthouse on a small island, and an authentic totem pole village. We enjoyed spending that few hours with just the 3 of us.

We spent much of the time outside of our port adventures picking up souveniers and doing some shopping.

We cruised all day Friday and docked in Vancouver, Canada early Saturday morning. We disembarked the Sapphire Princess for the last time and began our journey home!

Copper River, AK (June 19th-20th)

It was a quite a journey down the Denali Highway to get to Copper River. It was over an 9-hour ride down the unpaved, narrow road on our motorcoach, but it was a very scenic drive. Bob, our bus driver, was quite the tour guide. Along the way we saw glaciers, caribou, waterfalls & stopped for strawberry rhubarb pie at what we would term a "hole in the wall".

When we arrived at the Denali Copper River Lodge we could immediately tell that we would love it. It was very secluded and the view from anywhere around the lodge was phenomenal. Mt. Wrangell & Mt. Drum sat centered right behind the lodge. The lodge was smaller and more personal than any of the other lodges we had stayed at thus far. Chris & I enjoyed the hiking trails cut around the lodge. Here's a picture of the lodge looking down from the 2nd floor balcony.

Friday morning the men headed out before 6 a.m. to go salmon fishing on the Klutina River. Us ladies headed into the little town of Copper Center to explore. There wasn't a whole lot to see, but they did have various locally made products, so this is where I bought our birch syrup & my blueberry vanilla candle that smells oh so delicious. We had been anxiously arriving the men's arrival back at the lodge & were waiting for them in the lobby when they finally got back. They had each caught atleast one Alaskan King salmon & they all were thrilled. Each tourist can only keep one fish each so the rest had to be thrown back but they were all ok with that. You could tell that they had such a great time. Here are some pictures of my bebe fishing, an action shot of him reeling it in & all the men with their fish. It was especially neat because we paid for the salmon to be shipped to our house after we got back so now we have 13 lbs. worth of Alaskan King salmon that Chris caught in our freezer waiting to hit the grill..yummy!

Friday afternoon we took a jet boat tour on the Wrangell & St. Elias Rivers. We saw quite a few bald eagles and got to pan for gold again. We all enjoyed taking our turn riding on the very back of the jet boat. Here's a cute picture of Chris while we took our turn on the back of the boat.

Next....Valdez to Whittier to board the Sapphire Princess!

Denali, AK (June 18th & 19th)

From Fairbanks we headed to Denali via train. The train had glass all around so that you could see pretty much everything from wherever you were walking/sitting. We had breakfast on the train, which was neat. The ride was long, but scenic.

Once we got to our Princess Denali Lodge we quickly settled in and headed out to explore. That evening mom, Cheri & Jesse, Chris & I went whitewater rafting down the Nenana River. IThe preparation was quite an adventure since we all had to get dressed in dry suits that nearly sealed us off from getting wet since the river is fed from glacial melting hence the water is super cold. We had a great guide & a great time. We did class III & IV rapids! There was a bit of squealing going on!

After we got back from rafting, Chris & I set out to walk on some trails near the lodge since it's stays light nearly 24 hours! We took a bike trail that took us from the lodge to the entrance of Denali National Park. It was quiet for the most part, and all of a sudden we heard a little scrambling in the trees to our left. If really sounded like something small though. We sped up a little regardless & walked down the path a little further. I turned around & crouched down to see a she moose feeding on the bushes there. The picture below is a picture of her as she crossed the path behind us.

The next day, Chris I got up at 6:30 a.m. to start our hike up Mt. Healy. Chris had picked this particular trail even though we only had tennis shoes and no hiking boots. It was hot even that early in the morning, there was mud all along the trail, and it was very steep the last half-mile. I was a bit miserable on the way up, but the view from the top was so worth it. We enjoyed that alone-time we had together. Here are pictures from the hike up Mt. Healy.

That afternoon, we took a guided tour of Denali via school bus. It is probably the most beautiful place I've ever seen! Although the park covers over 6 million acres, there is only one road cut through it that is merely 93 miles long. Only the first 13 miles of that road are paved. The park service only allows school buses to travel on that road unless you have a special resident pass. Our tour guide, Mary Jane, was great as we took our 8 hour trip in the park. We saw bald eagles, golden eagles, & other birds; Dall sheep, brown bear & bears cubs(from a long distance), caribou, hares, artic ground squirrels, a fox and lots of wildflowers along the way. Here's one of my favorite landscape shots...

That evening, Chris and I took the same path for our evening walk where we encountered yet another moose &....her CALF! Too cute! We nearly walked by them because they were hidden in the brush eating willow leaves. We slooowwwwlyyy backed away & let them have their peace. They walked out right in front of us & crossed the road. Here's a picture of the two of them.

Then we hit the long, dusty Denali Highway...

Fairbanks, AK (June 17th & 18th)

We landed in Fairbanks, AK (at the smallest airport I've ever seen!) @ 1250 local time, or 0450 our usual Eastern time. Yes, it was still light outside too! We had been in route their for over 14 hours by the time we landed. Here's a picture of Chris with a stuffed polar bear in the airport after we landed.We were rather exhausted to say the least. It was 0200 by the time we made it to our lodge & to bed.

Our Monday started nice & early with a Riverboat Cruise down the Chena River. Along the way we saw a bush plane land on the water next to our boat, we saw a four-time Iditarod winner's dog sledding camp complete with the dogs :-), and we got off the boat to tour the Chena Village establishment. On the way back up the river, we enjoyed lunch & snacks. We ate smoked salmon on crackers, which I loved & Chris even ate a reindeer hot dog!

In the afternoon we headed on the City of Gold tour. We rode a train into a mock gold mining village where we learned how gold used to be mined, how it's mined today, & then we panned for our own gold. I ended up with $8 worth of gold & Chris had $4 worth. On the way back to the lodge, we stopped and saw a portion of the Alaska pipeline that spans 0ver 800 miles across Alaska. They managed to construct that entire pipline in just over 2 years! Because of the oil revenues in Alaska, residents do not pay state taxes & each year receive a check from the state with an interest payout from the oil profit of the year...how nice! Here are pictures of Chris & I panning for gold & the Alaska pipeline.

We finished the evening off at an Alaskan Salmon Bake. They had all-you-can-eat prime rib, grilled salmon (delicious!), fried cod & hallibut, a salad bar, baked beans, hush puppies, & of course desert. No sweet tea though...that's all we were missing. I only found sweet tea once while we were gone & it still wasn't sweet enough for me. I survived though!














Off to Denali...

Home Again!

Well, I've finally made it back from the Land of the Midnight Sun, Alaska, where we had an awesome 2 week vacation! Actually, I've been back since Sunday morning but I've been incredibly busy since then. I was supposed to fly in at 2350 Saturday night, but instead I got home at 1030 Sunday morning...yuck. I had airline delays/missed flights that aren't your fault. Oh well. I made it home safely & that's what really matters.

We had a great time on our trip. I'm planning to journal it all right here on my blog! So, be looking for that to be here soon. I'm working this weekend so I'm hoping to start either Sunday night or Monday.

I got back in on Sunday & then we headed down to Chris' parents lakehouse on Tuesday evening to spend the 4th there. It was a nice relaxed holiday & we got to spend some quality time with Chris' parents, Erin, & his grandparents. It meant I didn't have much time at home after coming back from Alaska before going back to work, but it turned out o.k.

Sadie missed us so much while we were gone. Chris said she was so happy to see him when he picked her up after her week stay at the kennels. They said she had fun there. I think she does miss having other puppies to play with, but we're so glad to have her home!

Our garden has done well in some aspects & horrible in others. Our squash has flourished. We've picked over 50 squash!!! I'm cooking everything possible with squash in it! I'm going to try baked & hollowed sqaush next week. However, the deer ate all of our string beans which is a real bummer. I love fresh beans! Our tomatoes look great & should be ripe in the next couple of weeks. We'll have some bell peppers too. I can't wait to make stuffed peppers with fresh bells.

Keep checking back for Alaska vacation updates & pictures.

Pictures at last

I have picture updates at last.

My lovely sister, Abbey, who graduated from high school at the end of May & is on her way to Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College,the first of many schools on her joruney to becoming a physician.

A picture of my "permanent buddy", Courtney, at her rehersal dinner after Lyndsey & I gave her a wedding cross-stitch we jointly made as a wedding gift for her & Bryan.

A cute photo of Courtney & Bryan at their beautiful wedding on June 2nd!

A recent photo of me & Sadie just hanging out...

Our enormous squash plants that we've pulled 12 squash from so far this week. We'll miss some while we're gone to Alaska, but Norman & Louise, the neighbors, will enjoy it for us.

That's all for now. I'm off to finish cleaning the house & packing my bag so we can head off to the airport in the morning. Alaska, HERE WE COME!

The Computer is Back!

Chris was able to get our computer working again! We ended up just buying a hard drive that luckily resolved the problem so we only spent $60! That definitely saved us quite a bit of money. I'm at work tonight, but when I'm home either tomorrow or Friday I'll add pictures to a post. I've got lots of pictures to share!

We leave for Alaska on Sunday! We're all getting very excited. I can't wait to have stories & pictures to share with everyone when we get back. Tonight's my last shift of work for over 3 weeks. I think I'm getting a much-deserved break from this place.

I've registered for the GRE on July 30th, our 2nd anniversary!, so I've been prepping for that in my spare time. I hope that goes well so I can start applying in the late summer.

Enough updates for now. I'll post pics soon.