Hearts Full of Joy

The Worlds Best Chocolate Cake and Other Yummies

:The Worlds Best Chocolate Cake (really!):

Note: Usually I am all for making my recipes healthier. This recipe is my one big splurge, where I make an exception to that rule.

This recipe was originally "Hershey's Perfectly Perfect Chocolate Cake". It was modified by my friend Donna, whose mother was a prize winning cake baker. She says you should always add an extra egg, and use cream in place of milk. So we do. We made further modifications, making it dark chocolate and gluten free (but I include the regular recipe too).

Perfectly Perfect (Dark) Chocolate Cake

2 C sugar
1 3/4 C flour (we use gluten free flour, plus 3/4 tsp xanthan gum)
3/4 C cocoa (we use dark - it makes it so much yuumier!)
1 1/2 tsp baking poweder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs (Donna says 3, so we use 3)
1 cup milk (Donna says cream, so we use cream)
1/2 C oil
2 tsp vanilla
1 C boiling water

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two round cake pans.
Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil, & vanilla. Beat for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water. Pour into pans.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until middles spring back when touched. Cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pans to finish cooling.

Frosting

1/2 C butter
2/3 C cocoa (we use dark)
3 C powdered sugar
1/3 C milk (we use cream)
1 tsp vanilla

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Add milk. Then add sugar and beat until spreading consistency. Then add vanilla.

We couldn't find powdered sugar in Korea, so I tried making my own in the blender. It worked fairly well. Here's a recipe. The key is to do small batches of no more than 1 cup at a time.

 

And to make up for that less than healthy indulgence, here is a scrupmtious muffin recipe that is flourless, has no refined sugars other than in the chocolate chips (if you use a natural peanut butter), no dairy, no trans fat (if you use a natural peanut butter), and and batter tastes like a little bit of heaven. I just made them for the first time today, to share with our sister missionaries, and it was all I could to keep from eating the batter by the spoonful.

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Mini Blender Muffins

I also tried making them in regular muffin cups, baked them for 15 minutes, and they also turned out great. I even reduced the honey by 1/3, and I thought they were plenty sweet. But after 12 years in Japan, I don't like my food super sweet.

 

And another fun recipe I tried this week, since we can't buy cottage cheese in Korea.

How to Make Cottage Cheese

It was surprisingly easy, and turned out nice and dry like it is in Japan. I love it that way! I found that I like it better with a little salt added to it.

 

And since I had fresh cottage cheese, and left over Easter eggs, I also tried this recipe:

Estonian Egg Salad (with butter and cottage cheese)

This was really yummy too. We ate it on baked potatoes, since we are gluten free, and the family loved it. It is really heavy on butter, which I didn't realize just from reading the recipe, because I'm not used to measuring in grams. So I cut the butter in half, and it was still delicious.

 

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The Simple Life For Me

:Laundry hanging out to dry in our neighborhood, beind our apartment complex (in the background to the right):

One of the things that I am enjoying most about our life here in Korea is the opportunity for us to simplify. We moved here in our suitcases - 5 large suitcases, 5 carry-ons, and 5 large suitcase-sized boxes. So we didn't bring much with us. We have a simple apartment without a dryer, which is typical for Korea. We have a small kitchen with a tiny oven, not much bigger than the typical American microwave overn. And we don't have a car. We may get one. We haven't decided yet. In some ways not having a car makes life more complicated. But not having a car helps us get more exercise. We walk much more, and carry out groceries home from the store. And a lack of car also keeps life simple by not needing to worry about car insurance, car registration, drivers licenses, keeping gas in the car, repairs and maintenance of the car, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:Our laundry - mostly hapkido uniforms - hanging to dry on our veranda. I love hanging my laundry out to dry at home in Nauvoo too. But I am used to the option of using the dryer on cold, rainy days and when in a hurry:

I am truly loving it. Having fewer belongings frees up so much mental space, time, and energy that can be directed in so many different ways. It also helps me to focus on the basics and what is truly most important. We value each other more as a family and are less distracted, pulled in fewer directions. I am so grateful for this opportunity. We lived the simple life almost 20 years ago in Japan, when our family was just starting, and I have missed it ever since. How lucky we are to do it again with a new crop of children. I'm so glad that they can experience it too.

:our apartment:

And speaking of those children, after more than two years of having no teenagers in our family, today we officially have a teenager again. Mia came into this world 13 years ago today on a beautiful Easter Sunday. We didn't know about it until 3 days later, but throughout that Sunday I had a joyous feeling that something wonderful and significant was happening. I just didn't know what it was.

I'm making her request, our favorite dark chocolate cake, today, and grinding up my own powdered sugar in the blender, since I haven't been able to find any here. I'm also making gyoza and simmered kabocha (Japanese foods) at her request. I love that girl.

Going Home

Three years ago today my father passed away, after his struggle with cancer. His was one of 4 cancer battles my family has had, and he was the second to lose the battle. A friend passed earlier on the same day, after his much longer struggle with cancer. I heard that our friend had passed first, and at that time, it seemed like my dad was still several days away from going. I was so happy for our friend, and his family, and then later for my dad and our family too. It is so interesting to me that they were both able to go home on this day that is sacred to us - the founding of our church, and the date revealed by Joseph Smith to be birth of our Savior. It unique to share this sacred day with the family of our friend, and also with another sacred occasion, the General Conference of our church. And also with the Passover and Easter season, the time of rebirth and resurrection. It was a beautiful time to go home for both men, after two lives well lived.

My father was a dcotor, a family practioner, and our friend was in iridologist - he practiced natural/alternative medicine. They were both residents of a small town, and there was tension between the doctors and this friend in that town. But even amid some serious tension and unkindness, my father and this friend showed support and respect for each other. That has always made me happy.

 

I first heard this song, or at least really listened to the lyrics, a few days after my father "went home". It expresses so beautifully how I feel about his passing. There is a little introduction, you can skip to 0:50 where the song really starts. It's worth reading the lyrics. I look forward to someday "going home" and being with him and all my friends and loved ones again.

Savoring the Sakura

The cherry blossoms have almost come to an end, but we are savoring every moment that we can with them. The kids (and I) have wanted to take walks and take pictures every chance we get.

 

 

I was able to quickly snap photos of this beautiful elderly woman enjoying the blossoms. When I see elderly Koreans, I can't help but wonder at the difficulties and heartbreak they must have seen in their lifetimes - being conquered by the Japanese, having their country split in half and devestated by the Korean war and the evil of communism, the destruction of their cultural heritage sites, cities, and farmland, and the decades of economic devastation that followed.

The KTX towers.

 

 

 The Solbridge International Business School Campus (where Brock works) is comprised of this single tall building. I took the photo while the kids were playing on teh playground.

The view from our balcony now that leaves and blossoms are appearing. It was a hazy day, but still lovely.

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Sakura, Sakura

Sakura, Sakura

The cherry blossoms (Sakura in Japanese & Peojggot in Korean) have been the most wonderful surprise. They came earlier than expected, and are much more abundant than we expected. There are cherry trees everywhere. We don't see the huge, ancient cherry trees like we did in Japan, here they are fairly new, young trees, but they line the riverways, fill our parks and playgrounds, and make us very happy.

Sunday after church we went for a walk in the perfect weather, and enjoyed the blossoms.

cherry blossoms and plum blossoms along the river

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sharing the bounteous blossoms

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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