2014 - Book 18

"Deadline" - Idaho

This book was interesting and thought-provoking. It's the story about a high school senior who gets diagnosed with a fatal blood disease (the book doesn't go into specifics) and is told he only has one year to live. He chooses to forgo treatment in order to live his last year looking healthy on the outside at least, and he keeps his diagnosis from those closest to him. I can't say that I agree with all of his theology (he often has dream conversations with "Hey-Soos"), but to read of the passion in which he tries to live his last year and the lessons that he learns, is a pretty good experience. It is a good reminder to always tell the truth, try and have a purpose for your life, love the ones closest to you as well as you can, remember that you're not the only one with big secrets, and to give the other guy a break as often as possible. So it wasn't my favorite book I've read this year, but I did enjoy it.

Here are the two tasty treats that I have to share with you this week: pinata cake, and deep, dark, flourless chocolate cookies.

First off, I have to say that both of these were fantastic. The pinata cake was a huge hit at our taco pot-luck at work. No one wanted to cut into him because he was SO cute :) It was very time-consuming to make, and a lot of the reviews on the recipe were bad, but I put mine in the freezer overnight in the two sections, and just assembled it right before eating, and it was fine (no falling apart problems). It wasn't a huge surprise, but in the taste department, it just tasted like a boxed cake and canned frosting, but it was so cute, I didn't even care :)

CUTE :)

As for the cookies . . . YUM. It's an interesting recipe because it's made without butter or flour . . . a bit strange for a cookie, but they turned out great. I used about 2/3 bittersweet and 1/3 semi-sweet chocolate. This was initially because I didn't have enough bittersweet, but I'm glad I did because I think they were "dark" enough, just the way they were. They were super easy to make too, and soooo tasty.

Mmmmm

Go try out these recipes (the cookies at the very least), and have a great week.