The Rain Was Here...

Short of doing the rain dance, we did everything last weekend we had to to get some quality rain: I had the car washed, the hubby let his windows down, I watered the lawn...and the rain came in on Wednesday, as usual, with a vengeance. Our suburb did not get it that bad, but down in Lancaster they had 13 inches and just this morning they declared that town an official disaster area. So, when it rains...

DFW's Dog Days of Summer...

...are here. We had our first two weeks in the upper 90s and last week we actually went over 100 F for the first time. I am still learning this Fahrenheit thing after almost four full years here--I guess if you were born and raised in a metric/Celsius system it's difficult to adjust.
But yes, it is hot in our metroplex, in our little quiet suburban neighborhood, and I have to water the tomatoes and peppers daily now. Poor tomatoes do not take the heat easy, but they are still producing, while the peppers really like this weather! My eggplant is still on the fence--it has flowers but it is yet to be seen if those will take or not.

 

Pfc. Hammer

This was just so cool I had to share (being the cat person that I am):
Pfc. Hammer Finds a Home

For Lisa: Hot Chocolate Cake with Fudge Sauce

I promised this to Lisa of Scream-of-Consciousness...besides, it's been a while since I posted a recipe anyway. Therefore:

Hot Chocolate Cake:

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Combine 2 cups of flour, 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. baking soda, 1 tsp. salt, and set aside.

Heat 1 inch of water in double boiler (I use a homamade one from 2 saucepans of slightly differing sizes) over medium heat. Place into upper pan 3 1/2 ounces semisweet chocolate broken into pieces, 1 1/2 ounces unsweetened chocolate broken similarly into pieces, 1 1/4 cup freshly brewed coffee, 2 tbsp orange juice (or 2 tbsp. extra coffee with 4-5 drops of blood orange essential oil which I used), 1 tsp. orange zest, finely grated, 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper, 1/4 tsp. cracked black pepper. Cover the top tightly with plastic wrap and heat for 6-7 minutes. Remove from heat and stir until smooth.


Coat 9x13 rectangular cake pan with butter and place parchment paper on it. Butter the paper slightly as well.

Place 1 cup very tightly packed brown sugar in bowl of electric mixer or into mixing bowl; add 13 tablespoons of unsalted butter. Beat on low for 3 minutes then on high for 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides. Beat on high until light in color and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes more.

Add 4 eggs, one at the time (take the eggs out from the fridge before you start he whole procedure otherwise they'll be too cold and 'curdle' the batter) while beating on high for 1 minute after each egg. Scrape down bowl before each adition. Add melted chocolate mixture at this point and beat on high until well combined. Add flour mixture and beat again until well combined. Whisk in a small bowl 1/2 cup sour cream, and add to cake mixture. Combine on high for a few seconds. Finish combining with a rubber spatula by hand.

Pour batter in prepared pan, spreading evenly. Sprinkle 1 1/2 cup of nut pieces (I used walnuts, the original recipe specifies pecans) evenly on top of batter. Bake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven, cool at room temperature for 15 minutes before cutting it into 12 to 18 squares.

Meanwhile, prapare the hot fudge sauce; you can use the same double boiler.
Heat 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream and 9 tbsp. unsalted butter in boiler over medium heat. Bring to boil. Add 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1 cup tightly packed dark brown sugar. Simmer until dissolved. Remove from heat. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before adding 1 1/2 cup shifted Hershey's unsweetened cocoa and 1/4 tsp. salt. Whisk until smooth.
Keep it warm.

To serve: portion 4 tbsp. of the warm sauce onto dessert plates, place 1 portion of the cake onto plate, top it with fresh whipped cream and a dusting of cocoa powder.

And don't ask me about the calories in this one...

No time for blogging, Mr. Jones...

These past two weeks had been rather busy both at work and at home, so there was almost no time for blogging for The Bunny...It seems, however, that this was a general phenomenon in my little circle of blogging friends. Except, of course, my dear husband, The Boxing Alcibiades, who posts about every day, quite rigorously (not that I mind it). But, yes, more posts are in order, provided work-life balance allows: we'd seen the new Spiderman movie over Independence Day weekend, had at least two (no, actually, three)great books to read over last week (see my sidebar on the right), and Neverwinter Nights, the computer game is really cool... Ah, and The Last Samurai, the movie (okay, flick) we watched on DVD last night, is really as horrid as I was told. There are two things in it that were kinda cool: 1. I finally learned what a fishpole is for (Chris-brother, this is for you!), and 2. you can see some amazing transmogrification of Japanese samurai into Mongol warriors. No, really. For clarification: this is the movie that Tom Cruise shot because he finally could get into a role where he's taller than everyone else.

More later: work beckons.