Of Paper Boats and Chocolate Cakes...

Have you had a week where all you wanted to do was crawl under the comforter and just sleep the week away...try this week for me...Monday saw K1 leaving for a trip to Europe, K2 was running a temperature and throwing up...a visit to the doctor and a prescription of antibiotics later, I decided to keep him home vs. send him in to pre-school...the rest of the day was spent entertaining the little one and keeping him hydrated...need I say the rest of the week was busy -- meetings, I lost my voice talking too much with a sore throat...Thursday saw me craving a respite and I wanted to bake a cake...I am not much of a baker but trying to bake a cake from scratch is therapeutic. My mother is old school, she really believes you need to bake a cake to perfect measurement and timing while I am a lazy baker...I throw things together and 90% of the time the end product is absolutely delicious...the other 10% of the time - talk to my dog!

I had half a bar of dark belgian chocolate ( this is 1/2 bar of a 1lb bar, so about 200 grams of pure 72% dark chocolate). I melted this first in a hot bath. I added in a pat of butter to the melted chocolate and whipped in about half a cup of all-purpose flour, then I added in some evaporated sugar (3 tbspoon), vanilla essence, Baking Powder, 3 Organic Brown Eggs and , 1 tspoon instant coffee, baking powder. Meanwhile I pre-heated the oven to 350 degrees F...Grease the cake pan and pour the mix in. I pretty much bake the cake till my nose tells me its done...no exact timing....the cake was dense and rich...not too sweet but delicious. I call this my "No-Recipe Chocolate Cake Recipe"...vs. a "No-Fail" Recipe...because honestly I don't know if I can recreate the recipe, everything was so spontaneous, random and unmeasured...

Tonight I made a paper boat for K2...my first one in 22 years. I actually had to look up the web to find a DIY instruction to make the boat, I had forgotten...he is excited and has finally fallen asleep with the paper boat in hand...it took me about 15 minutes to make the boat (yeah! don't call me artistic) but to see that smile on K2's face...PRICELESS

For the weekend I want to leave you with this poem by Emily Dickinson filled with pathos and yet a weird sense of hope

Adrift! A little boat adrift!

(I)Adrift! A little boat adrift!
And night is coming down!

Will no one guide the little boat

Unto the nearest town?

(II)

So Sailors say -- on yesterday --

Just as the dusk was brown

One little boat gave up its strife

And gurgled down and down.

(III)

So angels say -- on yesterday --

Just as the dawn was red

One little boat -- o'erspent with gales

Retrimmed its masts -- redecked its sails --

And shot -- exultant on!