There are times in our lives that are defining, life changing.  I was so lucky to witness one such moment yesterday at Kathianne’s.  After she and I sat down to the most satisfying lunch of luscious split pea soup (my favorite!) and yummy rosemary cheese biscuits, her husband arrived home.  Now, I did not know that her husband was a trauma surgeon, our friendship is that new.  But trauma surgeon he is and he had come home to check his final test scores that would determine their future.

The yummiest lunch

I am thrilled to report that I was fortunate to catch their special event on film. But the doctor is private and would prefer not to have his photo online. Understandable.

I quickly took my leave so they could start celebrating. A million congrats to you both.

Time to get home – so much to do!  It was Mrs. Walker’s birthday and I could not let the day pass without baking her a cake.  I decided on a chocolate mayonnaise cake with seven minute frosting.  Super tasty!

The recipe for you:

Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake
Adapted from The Red Hat Society Cookbook
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup granulated sugar
4 heaping tsp cocoa
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F.  For the cake, sift the flour with the baking soda.  In a large bowl combine the sugar, cocoa, mayonnaise, milk, vanilla, and flour mixture. Pour the batter into two 8 inch greased round cake pans.  Bake for 25 minutes. Cool

Time for the frosting.  I used Paula Deen’s recipe found here.  It is fantastic

And now some photos:

ready to frost! remember to use parchment paper under your
cake plate so you don’t have icing everywhere!

Like this

Halfway there

Good to go!

My frosting skills are getting better. They are still very homespun, but what can you do?  Well, if I ever want to go to Carnegie Hall, the answer is “practice, practice, practice….”

Frosting completed, I happily walked my cake next door to a very surprised Mrs. Walker.  And not a moment too soon, either!  Just after I arrived, Mrs. Walker’s daughter Cheryl, grandson and great grandbabies drove up.  I was tickled to share in one of their special moments as Cheryl’s granddaughter (who couldn’t have been all of 4 years old), sang Happy Birthday.  It was adorable.

And again, I quickly took my leave so they could celebrate as a family.  I’m getting good at this.

And for my own special moment for the day? Besides getting to be a veritable fly on the wall for everyone else’s magical times?  It came that night as Eric whisked me off to Sotto Sotto, a very high end restaurant here in Atlanta.  In the small and romantic room, we dined on sweetbreads with trumpet mushrooms, fungi risotto with black truffles, tortelli di mele – raviolis with sausage, apple and sage, and an amazing special of tagliatelle with lamb ragu. We shared the stories of the day, held hands and gazed in each other’s eyes.

The special moments are everywhere. Take a second to absorb it all.

Happy Friday, Darlings!

xoxo, Patti