The Sweet Life

Ah, my holidays have passed. I'm not counting NYE since I've only celebrated twice. I did a lot of baking and candy-making this year outside of work, and I'm glad it's over. This is also the first year I've had to work on Christmas and the first I haven't spent with my parents. I got the blues, but I tried to hang in there. Now I'm going to tell you a little holiday story. The Christmas Candy that Almost Wasn't I was excited about making candy this year. Usually my mom and I bake cookies, but I decided to break tradition (maybe part of the reason was I was homesick and baking reminded me too much of what I was missing) and make candies. I'd settled on four pieces of candy, at least two of which would be chocolate: cabernet truffles , cranberry pate de fruit, chocolate nougat, and salted caramels. After an entire day of shopping I was disappointed because I couldn't find many of the things I needed. My off days were split, and returning to...

You Are a Brownie Decadent and intense, you aren't for the weakhearted. Those who can deal with your strong flavor find out how sweet you really are. What Dessert Are You Most Like?

I used to volunteer at the Tree House Animal Shelter a couple of days a week before my allergies got the best of me. It is a no cage, no kill cat shelter with a special room for cats with FIV and a special program to socialize animals that have previously been abused so that they can learn to trust people again. So many cats in one place had me sneezing, but I made many new friends. It was difficult seeing the little kittens, but they were adopted faster than the older cats. Unfortunately, I had to give that up, but now they are raising money and I am able to use my talents to help a good cause. On December 14, from 6 to 9 p.m. the Tree House Animal Foundation will celebrate Lights of Love by remembering people and pets that have passed away. They will have shelter tours, gift raffles, a bake sale, and many other activities. Check out their website and stop by on Thursday if you can. If you can't make it, you can still send donations. For $10 they will illuminate a white...

My life is measured in minutes: 8, sometimes 2, 1, and 5. On the line at the restaurant, we fire (bake) a chocolate spice cake for 8 minutes, which goes on our Chocolate Share Plate dessert. If a souffle trio is also ordered, then we set another timer for 2 minutes, after which we fire the chocolate souffle for 1 minute, then put the tangerine and chestnut rum souffles in the same oven for 5 minutes. In the meantime, we assemble the rest of the desserts, or arrange the items on the plate and call off minutes to each other so that we can get everything out at the same time. Those minutes add up to hours, and days. I'm extremely tired. I've got a pain in my left calf (it's ok, if it was my arm, I'd think heart attack!), I'm exhausted, my body hurts all over in general. I haven't gone home on time in about a week, and went in early a couple of days last week so that I could get a head start on production. I keep telling myself all I have to do is make it to...