Volunteer Park

While home for the holidays last week, my Mom & I took an impromptu walk (meant to be run) through Seattle's Volunteer Park a few blocks from home. Initially, we marched out the door with grand intentions of working off the 50+ chocolate salted caramels we I consumed in a holiday-induced binge, Lululemon gear on ready for max exertion. Instead, on a whim, we re-routed our course through the nearby park for a more scenic backdrop from grey city streets. Man, am I glad we did. Not only did we time it perfectly just as the sun was setting, bathing the already-beautiful grounds in all sorts of magical light, but we made up for the so-far lackluster workout by climbing to the top of the park's historic water tower. All 106 spiral stairs.

Of course, I've climbed these stairs before. The park's soaring oak trees, yawning stretches of grass, winding walkways, and stone wading pool are all familiar faces to me from a childhood spent in its greenery. But the last time I climbed the water tower was a distant memory from more youthful years, and now the circular stairwell looked especially steep.

Much to our surprise, exhilaration replaced reluctance when 106 stairs later (plus a few stops along the way to snap pics but in reality catch our breath) we crested the final step thigh muscles and dignity intact. Take that youth! We still got it!



And apparently so does the water tower. Her charming brick glory shimmered especially bright in the late afternoon sun.

After much ooh'ing and aah'ing, the descent proved far more enjoyable filled with our excited chattering over the water tower's loveliness as if we'd just discovered an unknown hidden gem in the city (ah vacation brain!). High on park life, we stopped into the Conservatory too, warming ourselves beneath the leafy palm trees and swampy air.

Finally, just as the setting sun dipped below the horizon, our wandering took us by the infamous "doughnut" sculpture with the sun's last rays peeking through the center just perfectly.

 Well done, Volunteer Park. Well done.

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Flourless Chocolate Cake

The prospect of making this cake intimidated the heck out of me. As still somewhat of a novice baker, I've yet to attempt anything "flourless" in the kitchen. The thought of missing so crucial an ingredient (even gluten free recipes call for some form of flour) gives me the heebee jeebees. So, what's a fearful baker who's conveniently home for the holidays to do? Call in the big guns: DAD. You might notice much older (and wrinklier?) hands in some of the pics; wouldn't want you thinking those were mine. To be perfectly honest, my dad baked this entire cake. I just supervised and annoyingly peeked over his shoulder the whole time snapping away. Does that make me a bad blogger? If so, what a delicious cheat and done only with the best of intentions. If you like chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate, this cake is for you. Who needs flour?

We worked from an old, dusty recipe torn from the pages of a nondescript newspaper circa 1992, so I can't properly credit the original source, but a similar recipe can be found here.

Ingredients:

1 lb bittersweet chocolate or four 4 oz. bars (we used Ghirardelli's bars here)
2 sticks of unsalted butter
1/4 cup hazelnut liqueur (or coffee, almond, chocolate)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
7 eggs at room temperature
1 cup sugar


Directions:

Preheat oven to 350° F. Butter a 9-inch springform pan, line with parchment paper, and butter the parchment. In a saucepan, simmer the bittersweet chocolate (broken up into pieces), butter, and the coffee liqueur. When the mixture is fully melted & smooth, stir in the vanilla extract and set aside to cool. While that's cooling, beat your eggs for several minutes until they're fluffy (don't worry if this takes a bit longer than you expect) and add the sugar. Combine chocolate mixture with the eggs/sugar and blend. Pour batter into pan and bake for one hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out virtually clean. Let cool in the pan, then loosen springform and remove. When the cake is fully cooled (we allowed it to sit overnight), dig out your sifter and sprinkle powdered sugar over the top. In a pinch, use a sieve for this step (amateur hour in this house!) and feel free to throw in a paper cutout of your favorite holiday shape to form the "blank space" in the center. We went with the obvious--a tree! Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

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