Tee hee hee!

Yes, that is the sound of my geelful giggling. My loving boyfriend bought me surprise fabric last Friday! And didn't he do well?

I'd been telling him about the lovely fabric shop down the road, Sew to Speak, and how fabric from there would make a great Christmas present por moi.. Well, he just happened by it, stopped in and bought me a couple of 1/2 yards of delight! Both are by Amy Butler, and I cannot tell you why, but I feel oddly rich holding this fabrics in my lap. I'm not sure what they'll be made into, but I can't wait to find out myself.

In other news this weekend, after an eventful day bargain hunting groceries, panicky fall yard clean up work and recovering from attending the OSU/Penn state game the night before, T and I decided there was no better way to relax than make a complicated, rich desert. I bring you - the Sachertorte!

(I know, the pictures are a little stark, but the litghting in the kitchen does not make food look yummy.)

Travis found the recipe while leafing through The Kitchen Bible, by Brigitte Hafner. This oh-so- lovely new book has about a million pictures, which, as we all know, makes a cook book good! Every dish has a color picture, and the table of contents is simply a table of pictures arranged in handy ways, like level of diffculty, or hot or cold deserts. And it has a beautiful cover - check it out. We, simple people that we are, chose someting from the "Deserts to Impress" section.

After much chocolate chopping, egg seperating, beating of whites, folding, baking and glazing - there is was, our sachertort. Apparently it's called that because it was invented by a Mr. Franz Sacher, in 1832. Anyway - it's a dense, seriously chocolate cake, layered and coated with apricot preserves, then glazed with dark chocolate. And even though ours came out a teensy tiny bit dry (don't ask) it's still damn good cake.