Here is Martha's six-layer salted caramel chocolate cake.
Here is my version of the same cake.
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I forgot to sprinkle the cake with salt |
Despite its ugly duckling appearance, it was a spectacular Christmas dessert, with a low effort to taste ratio. I also made this pumpkin mousse tart with gingerbread crust, which had an agreeably tangy flavor from the goat cheese.
The kids were happy with their presents, and I've learned that having a child move into a real grown-up apartment provide a whole new scope for gift giving. Pro tip: If you're going for the "brown paper packages tied up with string" look, use painter's paper rather than kraft paper. It is much easier to work with, as it has a thinner, wrapping paper-like quality. It's also cheaper. I bought a roll for something like $8 and there is still enough left over to wrap all of next year's gifts.
I trust everyone had a pleasant holiday? Or, if not, that enough time has passed that you can pretend that you did. Now that Christmas is past, I am feeling very brisk and efficient and mistress of my domain; a major deadline has been met. I am now going to clean all the things; something, I can only manage to do every two years.
So far, I've managed to clean mine and Jon's room. I'm fairly minimalist when it comes to stuff, but among other things, we have a drawer that contains nothing but back issues of Creative Needle and Australian Smocking & Embroidery. Underneath the bed, I found not one, but two vials of adenosine, that must have come home accidentally in Jon's scrubs. .
This has inspired an offshoot project: wear all the shoes. I own twenty-four pairs of shoes, including snow boots and running shoes, and I usually wear just six or seven of them. So I am giving each pair a one-day test run, and if the shoes aren't working for me, they're getting donated. Today, I'm wearing a pair of square-toed loafers with clunky heels. They're not fashionable, but, they were once my go-to shoe for office/funeral can't tolerate stilettos today occasions. Surveyed in the bathroom mirror at work, they're not too awful, although I should have dusted them before wearing them to work. I think they are keepers, for now.
I got this image from ebay, but they are an accurate representation.