(e:terry) and I made this flourless chocolate truffle cake for (e:Paul)'s birthday. I thought I would write it down with modifications if we ever wanted to make it again. The fanciest cake I've ever made.

1 bag semisweet chocolate chips
7 squares unsweetened 100% cacao
3 eggs, 3 whites
2 sticks butter
3/4 cup sugar

We followed these directions minus the water bath and it worked out fine. We served it with a seedless raspberry sauce and Sweet Jenny's sweet cream ice cream.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease one 10 inch round cake pan and set aside.
In a small saucepan over medium heat combine the water, salt and sugar. Stir until completely dissolved and set aside.
Either in the top half of a double boiler or in a microwave oven melt the bittersweet chocolate. Pour the chocolate into the bowl of an electric mixer.
Cut the butter into pieces and beat the butter into the chocolate, 1 piece at a time. Beat in the hot sugar-water. Slowly beat in the eggs, one at a time.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Have a pan larger than the cake pan ready, put the cake pan in the larger pan and fill the pan with boiling water halfway up the sides of the cake pan.
Bake cake in the water bath at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 45 minutes. The center will still look wet. Chill cake overnight in the pan. To unmold, dip the bottom of the cake pan in hot water for 10 seconds and invert onto a serving plate.

Late but happy birthday Paul!
I love you and hope that your birthday was amazing, and your party this weekend is even better. Here's to many more years!
I'll leave the write up about the bougie bday to you.

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Also caught up in the health records trend, I am very happy with my resting heart rate but no so thrilled with my blood pressure. Prehypertension is now defined as 120 and my readings have been consistently over in the mid 120s or low 130s over 70s and 80s.

Some of it is mentally stressing about it, but I can't figure out what else would be contributing to it. I exercise, eat alright, am not too stressed and am generally pretty healthy.

Google tells me poor sleep quality (and I assume length) leads to persistent hypertension. If anything I think that may be it. I usually average 6 hours or less except weekends.

I'm sitting out in Orchard Park sprawl counting traffic for a study today. 7 hours counting cars, 4 in the office. It seems crazy but my company doesn't have enough automated counters for the study. (e:terry) and I think it'd be possible to come up with a cheaper/better device.

Definitely not as nice as it was in the summer but at least I have a data plan now, lol.


The cops just came up to me because I guess I look shady sitting in a parking lot.

Yesterday (e:czarkasm) undid her belt at Nietzsche's and sang at the open mic night. I'm not super muscial but I definitely thought she was one of the best (throat lady notwithstanding). She did four songs, I recorded her cover of Titanium.


Hopefully you're all regular now, Erica.