Exclamation points all over the place!
Since classes and assignments have ended, my days have lazily degenerated into lots of time spent on the couch, alternately sleeping and watching movies, and then going out and quite ruining my liver. Hence the lots of sleeping to work off the hangover, you see. It's surprising how quickly I can slip into this mode - or perhaps, not too surprising. As one houseguest said, "As far as I can tell, all you do in LA is loaf around". Well then, all the more reason for you to list programs in this fair city high on your residency match list! I also don't think I've had to pay for my own meal in over a fortnight - goshdarnit, I love visitors who take care of me like that! But I also like having my apartment to myself, just me and the couch, coalescing into one seamless whole.
Haa. It's not that bad. Pretty soon, I'll have to start doing some research that I put off doing during the quarter, and I've repicked up tennis and have some rallying scheduled over the next couple of weeks . And there's been a lot of shopping, which is totally exercise. And my evenings are scheduled tight all the way up 'til Christmas. Busy busy, even with a distinct lack of schoolwork!
I am also planning my trip to Paris! Paris! Yay! I cannot believe it's been over 3 years since I've been there last. So if you'll be there (hi, Jen and Laurie! Isn't it great that our trips overlap?) at the end of March, let me know!
(I am also tentatively working on a trip to Spain for the end of the summer. Why didn't I do this much travelling when I actually lived on the East coast? Oh well! So if you will be in Spain in roughly mid-September - well, we haven't gotten so far as to choosing where in Spain to go to yet. I'm thinking Madrid, Córdoba, and Sevilla, as I've already gone to Barcelona and I really need to expand the places where I go, and the person with whom I've travelling has never been to Spain at all, I don't think. Any suggestions?)
And cooking. It's been dropped over the past month while I've had to focus on work, aside from the making of chocolate chip cookies to sate some chewy chocolately cravings. Unfortunately, that also means that I had virtually nothing, ingredient-wise, in my apartment with which to cook, and I'm just too lazy to walk the half a mile it is to the supermarket to pick up stuff (Yes, I walk, primarily because parking is a bitch, and it's a nice stroll. This time, as is generally the case, I was too lazy to change out of my pajamas.). So on a lazy Saturday afternoon, in between Two Weeks Notice and Mostly Martha, I decided to make this chocolate cake because I had all the ingredients for it.
I couldn't help but sample a bit when it was fresh out of the oven, even though I was going out to dinner in a scant hour. It's a rather elegant cake - while it looks dense and super-chocolatey, it's anything but. It's not too sweet, which I prefer as my sweet tooth isn't really that strong, and the chocolate flavour, though distinct, isn't overpowering.
The fact that it can be made with the barest of kitchen staples without the need for any perishable ingredients is definitely a point in its favour, and I'll be remembering this cake when I need to whip something up last minute. It would make a refined finish to a dinner party, along with small cups of espresso (or in my case, with my dinner parties, another big glass of wine or two). Frosted with a rich chocolate ganache, I bet it would be a stunner. It also might make a great base for petits fours. Stuff to think about!
(A side note: this is a vegan cake! Who knew?! So in case you have to whip up something vegan some day, here you go!)
(Another side note: I have this totally painful and totally purple bruise on my knee. How did it get there? Dammit, mass quanities of alcohol!)
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