Hot smoky valentine's

J requested something chocolate for our dinner, so I consulted my stack of yet-to-be-tried magazine recipes for inspiration. We agreed upon a mocha-chocolate cake with chocolate marscapone frosting. It sounded amazing (and the pictures were even more mouthwatering!), so we ventured out to the store for some esoteric ingredients - marscapone and instant espresso powder - that don't usually grace our shelves.

Everything was going well, albeit a little hectic since I was making the cake and frosting simultaneously, until the cream that was coming to a boil on the stove did just that. It boiled, and boiled over before I could catch it! Needless to say, the cream was quickly removed from the heat, and I went about finishing the rest of the cake and frosting. I popped the thick, gooey cake layers in the oven and proceeded to the park with J and the dog to enjoy a little fresh air while the cake baked for 30 min. We got home just in time for the first timer to go off, and luckily the cakes needed a few more minutes so I took my damp coat and muddy shoes off and went back to the kitchen. At the second timer, the layers looked perfect and out they came, onto the stovetop. I thought nothing of it while I left them to cool, and sat down on the couch with my sweetheart. A few minutes later, though, he looked at me and said, something is burning. I could have sworn everything was turned off, but something was definitely charring, so I ran to the kitchen only to find that I had left the burner that had been heating the cream earlier on and it was now in the process of heating my cake layer!

I was horrified! J ran to my aid, and we attempted to rescue or salvage what we could of the burnt layer, but it was no use. The burnt aroma from the parchment paper/cake crumbs/pan had penetrated the entire thickness. No amount of cutting (or frosting) was going to make it better. The saving grace was that he was perfectly happy having a one-layer Valentine's Day cake instead, and the mocha marscapone frosting made up for the lack of a second layer. Here is to love (and chocolate) making all things better.

Day 5 and other rambling thoughts

It's midway through my 5th day of counting calories and valiantly trying to get to the gym regularly (2 times is better than none, right? It would have been 3 but I forgot my shorts on Wednesday...) Save for the *freakin'* raisin bran muffin from Costco - who would have thought a bran muffin would equal 600 calories? I thought these were good for you - I have made it through with pretty reasonable calorie counts this week. Every day except yesterday netted around 1400 calories, and I did not feel very hungry either. One of the biggest obstacles when you are dieting is feeling hungry or deprived!

I work in a few calories "wiggle room" so that I can have a piece of chocolate or a cookie here and there, which makes the rest of the journey seem not quite so bad! You can't feel that deprived at the end of the day when you finish with a Ferrero Rocher!