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Dear Reader,
Yes the day of love, hearts, roses and oodles of chocolate might be two weeks away, but my dining room looks like there's a party ready to roll this evening. I've invited my family to come to dinner on Valentine's Day, but I decided to decorate ahead of time. Seemed like such a shame for Snoopy and his "Be Mine" hearts to be hanging down from the ceiling for only one day, and then it's over--time to take everything down. Besides, when you start celebrating Valentine's Day two weeks ahead of time, it gives you the green light to start indulging in chocolate, too.
So get ready to indulge, I have the perfect chocolate delight for you to make this Valentine's Day. Charity, a reader at the book club, tried the recipe a couple of years ago, and she and her husband give it a "thumbs-up."
"Suzanne, I printed your Chocolate Lava Cakes email out YEARS ago, and have been hanging onto it, waiting for someone special to make them for. I held onto it through several boyfriends, and even a husband, without making them. Then I got a heart shaped ramekin in a silent auction, and knew what to make for my part of [this year's] Valentine's Day dinner.
The evening went perfectly. I had made the batter and put it into the darling dishes two days earlier, so all I had to do was pop them in the oven and have a perfect dessert. That was, of course, the plan.
We were both running late, dinner was late, the kids were getting irritable (one was getting sick) and we were exhausted by the time my husband got the kids in bed, and we sat down to dinner. We had a lovely dinner and then it was time for my grand finale.
I heated the oven and popped them in. When they were ready, I took them out and (tried) to very gently pop one out onto the plate. It flew out of the ramekin and splattered on the plate...lava running all over the plate with no room for my planned scoop of ice cream, delicately placed in the middle, so you got the hot and the cold sensations at the same time! I almost lost it. He came in to help me and I suddenly had the need to do it 'All by my ownself.' I tried mightily to hold the blazing hot ramekin and the plate I wanted it on with the giant oven mitts I had on...only to almost drop the entire thing on the floor. He gently took the whole thing out of my hands, gave me new potholders, and held the plate while I flipped the ramekin. The cake popped out perfectly, and we took them to the couch to snuggle and indulge in your fabulous dessert.
It was a perfect Valentine's Day--and a lesson in patience and accepting help for me."--Charity
You'll find the Lava Cake recipe at: http://www.supportlibrary.com/nl/users/susandemo/mweb/path2-3.html
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
* This month's Penguin Classics book is TOMORROW IS NOW, by Eleanor Roosevelt. Click the link below to start reading, and be sure to enter the drawing for your chance to win a Penguin tote bag: http://www.supportlibrary.com/bc/v.cfm?L=drclassqqxqB1AFE3FA4999&c=CLASSICS
AUTHORBUZZ: RISE (NonFiction) by Cara Brookins
My four kids and I live in a house we built with our own hands. But since my real jobs have been as a computer programmer and an author, you'd probably never guess we became a construction crew. We built our house because we needed a place to live after leaving a terrible domestic violence situation. And we built it because we needed a big impossible project to rebuild our family.
Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on RISE to read more and to email author Cara Brookins, you'll get a reply.
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