Heal My Life

New Mexico...

I took the photo, www.bighugelabs.com did the rest...

Tips, Fruit, Puppies and Pretty Pictures

Wow, I have so much to tell you.  I have a ton of photos too, but I'll have to sort those out and post them in some sort of order.  Of course, I've been so busy I'm spinning (not the kind that makes yarn either).  We worked late last night, and Anthony worked REALLY late last night getting a client's job to the printer.  The client, of course had changes at the final hour.  Don't you hate that?

We also had another client call and ask if we could get photos of their new product on the shelf of WF.  In New Jersey, By the 20th.  OF THIS MONTH!!!  I wasn't willing to call the formulation completed (my plate) and the graphics on the labels have been converted to CMYK but I still have an entire set of labels to do and get off to the printer (also my plate).  Then we have to make the first batch, get it to WF and convince them to take a photo and send it to us so we can send it to the client.  Everything takes longer than clients think.

In the consulting world it's called managing expectations, but Anthony has trouble saying no to clients. Sigh.  Why am I telling you all this? Just so you can see that I'm a posting slacker for  good reason.

Anyway.  The new puppy that adopted us last week has been officially named Suleiman the Magnificent , Sulei for short.  And magnificent he certainly is - to have survived the cold and neglect he experienced in his first months of life!  Part of the reason we are so behind is that both Saturday and Sunday he disappeared with the four dogs who live next door and form his "pack".  Saturday he was only absent for two hours, but that was an hour of crying for me.  Sunday, on the other hand, he went for a walk with our neighbor's house sitter, a lovely woman, and disappeared with the other dogs.  She assumed they all went home together, but when she got there, Sulei was missing.  She called us and asked if he had come home?  "No", I asked.... "Isn't he with you". 

That's when She and Anthony went back out to search the ridge line.  Then Anthony went out to search the neighborhood just below us in the car.  Then she came over for some tea and cookies, bringing these lovely tulips.  Then they went out again and stayed out for over an hour in the cold, snow and dark, calling and searching.  Needless to say, not much else got done on Sunday except that I got a lot of quality crying and sniffling in.

About an hour after Anthony got back, Sulei yelped and scratched at the front door.  I can't even tell you what a happy reunion THAT was.  It's truly amazing how fast a wiggly warm little puppy body can insinuate itself right into the deepest recesses of your heart.  And this one in particular.  So you want to hear the real story?  The dirt?  Of course you do, and even if you don't I have to tell it. 

Technically, Sulei is not a stray.  He belongs to the people in the trailer across the street from us.  We first met him on December 28th when Chan was visiting.  She and I had gone to the Folk Art Museum, lunch and a few other places.  We came home with groceries.  Our neighbors dogs were out in the freezing snow (they have thick coats and access to inside, so don't fret) and greeted us as we came from the car, arms loaded.  I stopped to pet and hug each of them calling out their names and telling them to come along (inside out gate) for a cookie.  As they ran ahead of us, I heard a horse little cry back up the driveway.  The tiniest, little black ball of fur cam stumbling and crying towards us.  He was shivering so hard he could barely walk.  Chan dropped her bags and scooped him up. 

After warming him and feeding him inside we fretted about what to do.  We knew all our neighbors except for the people in the trailer who had never come over and in fact were seldom at home.  Anthony went to the surrounding neighbors to inquire about the little guy.  He found out that the puppy did indeed belong to the people in the trailer and so, with trepidation and many tears on Chan's and my part, he reluctantly returned the puppy.  The man at the door said that the puppy must have gotten out when he was unloading the truck and they were just thinking about going to look for him. 

Right.  That was two hours ago.  It was below 10 degrees outside.

We didn't see the puppy for about a month and figured all was well.  Then one day about two weeks ago he reappeared.  Thin, with a dull coat covered with dandruff.  He joined in with our neighbor's "pack".  We assumed he was going home at night and so didn't worry - until the neighbor told us the truth - he had been attempting  to sleep in her house.  Her husband and son had carried him up to the trailer several times to no avail.  No-one was home to take the little guy in. 

She was fretting because she already has four BIG dogs and a very small house.  She was at a loss, this little guy wasn't housebroken.  So, what could we do?  I couldn't bring myself to confront the people in the trailer as this style of dog rearing is common to the native population and they wouldn't think anything was wrong with leaving a puppy outside in the freezing cold to fend for itself (our humane society even has a plea on it's website to take animals inside in freezing weather).  So we took him in. 

Eventually, I will have to go across the street and deal with this issue and I'll tell you the truth - I'm terrified.  One of our neighbors has had a similar thing happen with a pretty pit bull female.  She confronted the people and said she'd love to have the dog.  Their response?  "She's our dog - what do you mean you want her"?  SO the neighbor ended up paying for vet care and spaying, which the owners seem to have no problem with, but they won't turn over the dog.  Hence, I'm afraid to ask for Sulei.  Until I can work up the courage, we let him outside to play with the big dogs, and he comes back here after every play session. 

No-one from the trailer has ever come looking for him.  I can only pray that they never do and maybe I won't ever have to go over there. Maybe.

I hadn't really intended to tell you the whole story of Sulei - but I'm so enraged about it all that it just slipped out.  In truth of fact a disproportionate number of pets in New Mexico are abandoned and neglected.  It's  a cultural phenomenon and an enormous problem with no solution in sight. 

But, I did promise you Fruit and Tips and I won't renege.  Tips:

1. When housebreaking a puppy, the easiest way to accomplish it is to monitor feeding and drinking times.  Puppies have small digestive systems and will invariably have to "go"  within fifteen to twenty minutes after they eat and drink.  If you carry them outside at that point - they'll "go" outside! 

2. When they do have and accident, and of course they will, don't yell at them, yell at the mess.  We yell at the pee, which is the only accident Sulei still occasionally has (he's very smart and hates to upset us).  He hangs his little head and goes to his sleeping place to hide.  We then pet and hug him to reassure him.

3. Puppies chew EVERYTHING.  Substitute a toy to distract them.  Soft toys that squeak are great for this.

4. Sulei has discovered a place in the wall that apparently is over a mouse run.  He started digging and chewing at the spot and even made a small hole!  I tried the usual bitter apple sprays - but they wore off in a few hours and we was back at it.  I racked my brain until finally, a light bulb went on.  I mixed straight cayenne pepper in a little egg white and brushed it on the spot. the mixture dried nicely and it stuck! Sulei went after the spot (which is at the corner of his bed) and came out sneezing and licking his lips.  He hasn't touched it since that I know of!

OKAY, Now for the Fruit.  Check this out - this company, Ripe To You sells bergamots!  The fruit! Seriously - I never knew you could buy the fruit, I've never even seen one - I thought only the peel was used for the oil that is sprayed onto tea giving us Earl Grey!  I'm going to order some Seville oranges and make marmalade!  YUM!!!

ps... I was goimg to put in more photos, but my internet connection is NOT cooperating, so I'm going to call this post done.  Hopefully I'll be able to get more photos up into flickr.      

                         

The Cat in the ... YARN. A Survey

Note to self: DO NOT try and spin any of the fiber you have stashed away in anticipation of the day you get your spinning wheel, unless you can verify for certain that the person who made it *HAS NO FREAKIN CATS!

Well Dear Readers, I did it again.  I pulled out some gorgeous fiber in shades of deep greens with hints of mustard, a pale green sparkle and touches of red, and started spinning it on Sunday.  By Sunday night I was rocking and crying with a swollen face, completely unable to breathe through my painfully swollen nose and sinuses.  And I an NOT a good mouth breather.  By three AM, after much medication, I was finally able to breather through my nose.  The pain had subsided and I was able to go to sleep.  Anthony, on the other hand, went into my fiber room and removed, in it's entirety, MY SPINNING FIBER STASH!  When I woke up on Monday morning, it was sitting, triple plastic bagged in the corner of the office. 

As I was the walking wounded all day on Monday, which was difficult since Monday is our busiest day here at HMH, I didn't have an opportunity to mourn my lost stash.  Yesterday I was feeling the loss a bit more keenly, and by today - I'm just devastated.  So now that this has happened to me twice, and I have had to bypass yarn and fiber from cat owning spinners and dyers more than once,I have to ask:

What's the deal with fiber people and CATS?  There seems to be a disproportional number of fiber people who are cat owners as opposed to dog owners.  Perhaps it's just that cat owning fiber people take more cute photos of their fur babies than dog people.  Anthony thinks that fiber people are nesters, and cats are nesters, so nesting people are attracted to nesting animals.  I don't really buy this, as if that were the case, fiber people would also be attracted to rodents, and know some who are, but too few of them to qualify for this study.  Seriously, I can't shake the feeling that fiber people are cat people. End. Done. Period. 

So Indulge me.  Take this little survey, and then send all your fibery friends to take this survey, so I can satisfy my curiosity once and for all and dispel my notion that fiber people are indeed cat people!

Free Online Surveys

 

* Disclaimer:  Please know that I have nothing against cats particularly, and hold them in rather high regard.  They are less needy than dogs and can be left alone with a bowl of cat food, a bowl of water and a fresh litter pan for the weekend.  I even had a cat, Brucie, briefly as a child, clearly before we discovered my allergy.  I cried when we had to give him away.  It is only because of my allergy that I have begun to notice this peculiar link between fiber and cats and not because I dislike them.       

I WON

Honorable Mention and a $25 gift certificate to Baby Brewing for my baby onesie entries on Mommy Needs A Review! 

Here are my entries, and the winner in red:

5 minutes of whoopee, 3 years of poopy.
Change Agent
Nope, your life will never be the same.
I get more play than you do!
This is the easy part. Wait until I’m 16.
So you think I’m fun now? Wait until 3 AM.
Trust me - wailing like a banshee works every time.
So… when do I get to shop for shoes?
So… when do I get the pony?
Hey you! Where’s the milk? (this one was my fav, but there's no accounting for taste)

See, I knew my snide sense of humor would pay off some day. Thanks Ellen Mary!   

Snow Day!

Which you never actually get if you work for yourself and you work at home.  But I plied two skeins of yarn!  Pics to come...

Hmmmmm....

$4675.00The Cadaver Calculator - Find out how much your body is worth. From Mingle2 - Dating Site

Mingle² - Dating Site

Revenge is Best Served With Caviar

My daughter forwarded this to me today.  I just had to share.

She spent the first day packing her belongings into boxes, crates and suitcases.

On the second day, she had the movers come and collect her things. On the third day, she sat down for the last time at their beautiful dining room table by candle-light, put on some soft background music, and feasted on a pound of shrimp, a jar of caviar, and a bottle of spring-water.

When she had finished, she went into each and every room and deposited a few half-eaten shrimp shells dipped in caviar into the hollow of the curtain rods.

She then cleaned up the kitchen and left. When the husband returned with his new girlfriend, all was bliss for the first few days. Then slowly, the house began to smell.

They tried everything; cleaning, mopping and airing the place out. Vents were checked for dead rodents and carpets were steam cleaned. Air fresheners were hung everywhere.  Exterminators were brought in to set off gas canisters, during which they had to move out for a few days and in the end They even paid to replace the expensive wool carpeting.

Nothing worked.

People stopped coming over to visit.

Repairmen refused to work in the house.

The maid quit.

Finally, they could not take the stench any longer and decided to move. A month later, even though they had cut their price in half, they could not find a buyer for their stinky house. Word got out and eventually even the local realtors refused to return their calls.

Finally, they had to borrow a huge sum of money from the bank to purchase a new place. The ex-wife called the man and asked how things were going. He told her the saga of the rotting house. She listened politely and said that she missed her old home terribly and would be willing to reduce her divorce settlement in exchange for getting the house back.

Knowing his ex-wife had no idea how bad the smell was, he agreed on a price that was about 1/10th of what the house had been worth, but only if she were to sign the papers that very day. She agreed and within the hour his lawyers delivered the paperwork.

A week later the man and his girlfriend stood smiling as they watched the moving company pack everything to take to their new home.

And to spite the ex-wife, they even took the curtain rods!!!!!!

I LOVE A HAPPY ENDING, DON'T YOU?

Who ARE These People?

Seriously, who does this: http://faerycrafty.blogspot.com/2007/08/poor-pups.html ?

There was a horrifying story on the news last night about a mansion in Saddle River, NJ (just over the NY/NJ border from us) that was found to contain over 100 live and dead dogs and cats.  It was filthy and the animals left alive were dirty and diseased.  The couple's layer said they had the best intentions - but it just got out of hand and they were depressed over the loss of their business and the foreclosure on their mansion.  Right.  Does anyone actually believe that it's okay to take your depression out on small animals?

Frighteningly, these people are our neighbors!  That's right, they live next door to you and me and they look just like the rest of us.  They even go to church and temple.  Take my next door neighbors for example. Vegetarian, modestly dressed, church going folks who regularly visited the sick and passed out religious tracts (although the value of said tracts is seroiusly debatable since they blamed the Jews, yes in writing, for all the ills of the modern world)

Last week, said next door neighbors moved out without taking thier two cats. She claimed she couldn't find them (they were outdoor cats) when it came time to actually pull out of the driveway.  She left food for them.  Great. A couple of days later, one of them was hit by a car right in front of their house.  The husband showed up a day after that, loaded the other cat, who was sitting on the front porch crying, into his car and was about to drive off and leave the poor dead cat in the street, when my stepmom stopped him and demanded he bury the body.  His reply?  "I don't have a shovel." Hers? "Wait here, I'll get you one."  She supervised the digging and burial in his backyard.

I can't tell if there are actually more of these incidents, or there are just more of these sorts of people*, or we have relaxed morality to the point of idiocy, or we just have greater access to stories about them through the Internet.  But it seems like mistreatment of animals is growing. 

Abusers: here's a heads up - picking on ANYTHING smaller than you are is bullying pure and simple.  Your punishment?  A death sentence would be far too kind.  How about a taste of your own medicine?  But wait, that would be cruelty to inmates and as a civilized society - we're not supposed to be above that.  Right.   

* see Idiocracy

Remember Me?

I've been absent.  Not from my life, which has been full to bursting, but from my blog, and all of you.  And I'm sorry.  It isn't because I don't want to share all of the things that have been keeping me so busy, but because I've wanted to share it all too much and my mind runs on much faster than my fingers can type.  Does that make sense?  I've tried to sit down and type all of the things I have been thinking and feeling for a couple of weeks now, and haven't had the intestinal fortitude, or the typing skills, to do it.    

But a friend sent me a funny this morning and I just had to share it.  Many of you have seen this before, but as I hadn't, it may be new to some of you.  And it embodies my thoughts about spirituality these days, more on that later, so here it is:

The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid-term. The answer by one student was so
"profound"  that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, Of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well:

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic(absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some
variant.

One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving.

As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than One of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, We can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. 

Now, we look at the  rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the  volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added. This gives two possibilities: 

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose. 

2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the 
temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it? If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my freshman year that, "It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you," and take into account the act that I slept with her last night, then number two must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not 
accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct......leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last  night, Teresa kept shouting "Oh my God."

THIS STUDENT RECEIVED THE ONLY "A"

There was an article in this month's issue of AARP magazine (yes friends, I am old enought to get AARP) that talked about the spiritual beliefs of the over 50 crowd.  Apparently, more of them believe in an afterlife than had been noted in previous years. Some of them believe in Hell and Heaven.  A few of them believe that there is nothing at all after death.  Interesting that people's beliefs are changing over time.  I can only attribute this shift to the introduction and subsequent adoption of Eastern religions, primarily Buddhism, in the US over the past three decades.  Personally, I have never believed in Hell and Heaven as "places" and have always thought, even as a practicing Catholic, that we all got as many shots at it as we needed to reach higher states of consciousness.  Re-incarnation in other words. 

That said; last night, for myself, I crystallized the fact that we create out own Hells and Heavens right here on earth.  This line of thought may seem trite and tired to you.  "Duh - of course, so what?" You may be thinking.  But it was made so sharp and clear to me after the day I had with my daughters, one of whom is fretting about her job and life and the other whom is fretting about her weight and whether we'll be safe in our new home and state (more on this later) and in particular, whether or not we'll have water in case of a drought.  She worries, that one, about everything.  Which is what leads me to the reason I am writing this particular post when I have so many other things to tell you about.

In the face of all the fretting, both on Holly's part and mine (and believe me, I fret enough for all of us about everything too), I became overwhelmed with worry.  Will we have enough money, will we have enough work, will HMH do well enough, will I have friends, will we be okay in the new house, will we be okay in the "wilderness", will missing the girls be bearable or will I crumble, will I be able to create freeform there, will I be able to write there, will I be able to deal with the fact that we are no longer in the "civilized" Northeast, and will going to the post office everyday to pick up the mail because there's no mail delivery drive me crazy after about a week.  And that's only the tip of the iceberg.      

While we were standing outside at the car (and I was being eaten alive by mosquitoes) saying goodbye for the evening, I had to reassure her that we would be okay.  That we would NOT run out of water in the desert, and that I would in fact make friends once again in the new place and that she would be able to come and see us whenever she wanted and that we would in fact come home on a regular basis;  flying in the face of my own fears and pushing them out of the picture so I could comfort her.  I realized that I had entirely to many fears and worries to actually spend any more time worrying about them - I had too much work to do.  I had no time for the Hell on Earth of worry I had created - I needed a Heaven. 

I wish I could tell you that right at that moment I let it all go and like a baptism in the river, let the light of freedom from fear wash over me.  But that's not what happened.  What did happen, was that I was able to acknowledge the fact that we might be making a mistake by moving across the country to a place we have no knowledge of other than what we saw on vacation and read in the Santa Fe New Mexican - but we wouldn't know that until we got there.  And that was okay.  I realized that life is full of mistakes and bad decisions and that I would probably make a hell of a lot more of them.  And so what?  I could either beat myself up about them, or move on and remedy them as best I could.  I could fret in anticipation of the next mistake, or boldly step ahead into my future trusting that everything will work out - one way or another.  In other words, I could create Hell or Heaven all by myself.

I sincerely hope. in the Buddhist scope of things, that next time around, I will have accumulated enough merit to have a "better" life.  But honestly between you and me?  I think this one hasn't been all that bad, and like Heaven, it's getting better all the time.      

Next: Stay tuned for more about the move!

So What's New?

I know, I've been REALLY bad. But honest, I've been terribly busy.  One day soon, I'll reveal all, but in the meantime I want you to know that I haven't forgotten about you all, and I have been doing at least a thing or two besides slaving away in front of this computer.  So, you can see that we've not turned into slugs, some photos:

First, Anthony's first crop of Lion's Mane mushrooms!  Okay, I know it can't really be called a crop, but I'm pretty proud of him for getting this far as the conditions he has to work under are antediluvian. And they're a little hard to see inside their sterile plastic bag, but that's them, on sitting on top of their growing medium.  The second shot is the Lion's Mane just prior to being consumed.  And yes, they really do taste like lobster! 

Next: Charlotte, my five year old granddaughter graduated from Kindercare!  Her class put on a play and she was a moth.  She was so adorable I cried.  The woman to the left is my talented daughter Chandra.  She designs children's knitwear and will soon be having her designs knit in Nepal!   

Okay, so these are not really photos of anything I've been doing... and it's true I haven't been doing many fibery things lately except working a bit on current projects, but I have been baking a bit though I have not photographed everything and I did not participate in this month's Daring Bakers Challenge: Bagels.  But, from the Essence Of Chocolate  I did make the Chocolate Shortbread with Cacao nibs and sea salt.  I didn't photograph them for a reason.  They were delicious.  SO good in fact that the batch didn't survive the second day.  But they didn't turn out as neat looking squares, they puffed and were light and crumbly, which means I over beat the dough.  Sigh. That's what I get for trying to do too many things at once - lack of attention to the task at hand. You can see the cookies (done correctly) over on my talented Daring Baker Sister Anita's blog .

I also made, from the same cookbook, the Chocolate Chunk Cheesecake which was AWESOME!  I did make a couple of changes to the recipe though.  First I added extra vanilla, then I baked it in a water bath.  It came out so creamy I got weak in the knees after my first bite: always a good sign.  You can see the original recipe as well as a photo of it baked without water (and it really is pretty that way) here, at allchocolate.com.  I honestly did take photos of mine but do you think I can find them? 

Chocolate Chunk Cheesecake

Adapted from THE ESSENCE OF CHOCOLATE by John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg

Makes 12 servings

If you bake it without the water bath, this cheesecake will puff when baking and may run over the rim of the suggested pan size.  Although I baked mine in a water bath, I used two pans just in case - an 8" and a 6" since I was planning on taking the little one to my daughter. The next time I bake it - I'll use a 9" pan or three 6" instead of the 8".  Why look for trouble? 

NOTE: I should tell you that baking cheesecake in a water bath results in a white top.  If you prefer a puffy brown top, bake it directly on the rack without the water, and increase the beating times to create a fluffy filling.

For the Crust

2 1/2 cups chocolate wafer cookie crumbs made from store-bought cookies
8 tablespoons (4 ounces) unsalted butter, melted

Directions
In a medium bowl stir together the crumbs and melted butter. Press the crumbs into the bottom and at least halfway up the side of an 8-inch and 6 inch spring form pan. Refrigerate for 20 minutes. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat oven to 375ºF. Bake the crust for 10 minutes, remove from the oven and let cool on a rack. Wrap the outside of the pans carefully with a double layer of aluminum foil or a single layer of heavy duty foil.  Lower the oven temperature to 325ºF.  Put on a full kettle of water to heat it.

For the Filling

3** 8-ounce packages cream cheese, at room temperature*
1 cup granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
2 large eggs at room temperature*
2** cups sour cream at room temperature*
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon dark rum (I'll use 2 next time)
10 oz. 70% bittersweet chocolate, chopped into 1/4-inch pieces

* Having the cold ingredients at room temperature is very important.  It's the only way you'll be able to blend them without beating in too much air, thus creating a softer, creamier texture.
** This recipe creates a soft and creamy cake.  If you like your cheesecake a bit denser, use 4 8 oz packages of cream cheese and 1 cup of sour cream instead.

Directions
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, blend the cream cheese, sugar and salt on medium speed just until combined - do not beat!  Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the eggs and beat again, just until combined. Add the sour cream and vanilla and mix on low for an additional 2 minutes, or until the batter is smooth and creamy. Scrape the bowl and paddle as necessary. Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the chocolate.

Place the two foil wrapped pans in a large roasting pan.  Pour the batter into the crust. Spread it evenly with a small offset spatula.  place the roasting pan in the preheated oven and pour hot water into the roasting pan to halfway up the sides of the cake pans.  Bake for 55 minutes to 1 hour, or until set.  If you are using one smaller pan, you can take that one out of the oven at 1 hour and leave the second one in for an additional 15 minutes or so.  Turn off the heat, prop open the oven door with a wooden spoon, and let the cake rest in the oven for 30 minutes. (don't worry about taking the small one out early, not resting in the oven didn't affect it at all)

Remove the cheesecake from the oven and cool on a cooling rack for 30 minutes, then refrigerate for at least 4 hours to chill and firm, or preferably overnight.

Run a palette knife or icing spatula around the edge of the pan, remove the spring form ring and carefully transfer the cake to a serving plate. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until serving. The cheesecake can be refrigerated up to 3 days or frozen for up to 1 month.

I also made another batch of the diplomat cream from last month's daring baker challange (this time it came out just fine).  I baked a sheet of puff pastry, cut it into squares, mounded the diplomat cream on top, added a dollop of chantilly cream, some caramel sauce and a sprinkling of cocoa nibs.  YUM!   

So that's it for now.  See you later!