Happy Easter!

Well, we put an offer on a house! For those of you keeping track, it was "option A" ... it's really exciting but still doesn't seem real. We're going to hear back from them by noon on Monday-I don't expect for them to just say "OK" to everything we wanted but you never know! We went back to look at it last week (with my super picky Dad) and the house just seemed right. The bathroom isn't that small, after all. The kitchen is beautiful...and there's a huge backyard (which I suppose is both good and bad!) We crunched the numbers and we can afford this house AND we can afford to put some furniture in it!

I've started my LAST rotation of medical school - which is also surreal. I'm working at the University Health Services Clinic. Basically it's all college students, and mostly acute problems. It's sort of slow, but I get decent practice using an EMR, good opportunities to learn about acute problems (like food poisoning, sinusitis, etc), and since it's two weeks after spring break, I'm becoming and STD expert!!

Friday night was my last performance in the Humanities Festival - a talent show for med students/faculty. I did not get the opportunity to play flute this year but I danced with the "Rhythm and Bones Dance Troupe" which was a lot of fun. We practiced SO MUCH this past week so I'll be glad to have my evenings back, but it ended up all coming together and being a lot of fun. There were supposedly videos made, so I will post up links when I get the chance.

As far as Easter goes, it doesn't feel like it's quite here yet! The beginning of Lent was very stressful with my Grandpa getting so sick and passing away, then with my long hours on surgery, I just don't think I had time to process it. Also, we practiced dancing so much this week I've missed a lot of the Holy Week services. We went to the Vigil Mass last night because a family friend was confirmed. It was a LONG service but, as always, it was nice. It's Chris' one year Catholic birthday, too!

Unfortunately, I forgot to take photos of the cake before it got devoured at our Easter gathering...it was very yummy though, so I'll give you the recipe just to tempt you! :) The recipe comes directly from here, and there is a delicious and tempting picture for you to drool over for a couple months before you finally break down and make it. Or does that only happen to me?

CHOCOLATE BOURBON CAKE

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, more for greasing pan
2 cups all-purpose flour, more for dusting pan
5 ounces high quality, unsweetened dark chocolate
1/4 cup instant espresso (can use instant coffee)
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup bourbon whiskey (can use 1/2 cup), more for sprinkling
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar (powdered sugar), for sprinkling


1 Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a large bundt pan (10 cup capacity), or two 8- or 9-inch loaf pans. Melt chocolate in a microwave oven or in a double boiler over simmering water. Let cool.

2 Put instant espresso and cocoa powder in a 2-cup (or larger) glass measuring cup. Add enough boiling water to come up to the 1 cup measuring line. Mix until powders dissolve. Stir in whiskey and salt; let cool.

3 Beat softened butter until fluffy (2-3 minutes on high). Add sugar and beat until well combined. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract, baking soda and melted chocolate, scraping down sides of bowl with a rubber spatula.

4 With the mixer on the lowest speed, beat in a third of the whiskey espresso cocoa mixture. When liquid is absorbed, beat in 1 cup flour. Repeat additions, ending with whiskey mixture. Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Bake until a cake tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes for Bundt pan (loaf pans will take less time, start checking them after 55 minutes).

5 Transfer cake to a rack. Unmold after 15 minutes and sprinkle warm cake with more whiskey. Let cool. Sprinkle powdered sugar through a mesh sieve over the cake before serving.