Celebrate with a Cup-o-Cake

If you are still reeling and giddy over yesterday’s inauguration but didn’t have an opportunity to properly celebrate with a piece of ‘event cake’, don’t despair.

A few days ago, I was forwarded the recipe that is listed below, and if you are a dessert lover, and particularly a bona fide ‘Chocoholic’ you are going to love this.

Wish I knew who originally created this gem as I would like to give them the proper attribution because – it is the most dangerous cake recipe ever – I think even Julia Child (IMHO - the most recognized culinary diva of the last 100 years) would have approved! “Bon appetite!”

FIVE-MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
A small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using, which I would recommend) and vanilla extract, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts (high – although microwave temperatures can vary). The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed! Allow cooling a little, and tipping out onto a plate if desired, or partake straight from the cup.

ENJOY! (This can serve two if you want to feel slightly more virtuous). And, why is this “the most dangerous cake recipe” in the world? Because now we are all only five minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!

One Hundred Years from Today

How will historians of the future view us 100 years from today?

Since we are fast becoming a “Twittering,” sound bitten, Blackberry-carrying, social-networking-driven-society where RSS (really simple syndication) feeds chop up our daily diet of words and information, I have decided to leave my mark on this momentous day by providing a celebratory acrostic poem, which some chronicler of the century can easily digest.

An Inaugural Acrostic

Beginning
Against all odds
Repeating the oath of office as others have done before
Addressing the nation’s most pressing needs first
Changing the way Washington does business
Keeping promises and making new ones

Helping to create new jobs while protecting the environment
Understanding the plight of those less fortunate
Security within our borders and abroad
Supporting education and the arts
Energy independence
International diplomacy
National health care reform

Optimism
Bringing political parties together
Answering to the public with more transparency
Makeovers in banking, securities and commerce
All will sacrifice for the greater good

I too, have a Dream

Today we celebrate the birth of a man, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who dared to dream what many thought were impossible dreams.

On August 28, 1963, before a crowd of over 200,000, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., King, spoke words that would reverberate around the world, but would not truly be heard by all, nor fully understood, nor their intent be realized until 45 years later.

King had a dream.

He said, “When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.”

Yesterday, when President-elect Barack Obama, stood on those same steps and addressed thousands who had gathered for the ‘We are One’ concert, King’s vision became reality when Obama said, “Anything is possible in America.”

The promissory note that King once said was marked “insufficient funds” will finally be cashed tomorrow, January 20, 2009, when Obama takes the solemn oath of office assuming the mantle as our nation’s 44th President.

Tomorrow, our nation, joined as brothers representing every color of humankind, will not, as King said, “walk alone” but together we will be making a down payment and an entrance fee for what he envisioned as “the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.”

It will finally be the fufillment of King’s dream that will “make real the promises of democracy,” which were set forth in our Declaration of Independence – “that all men are created equal.”

If this dream could come to pass, imagine what our collective futures hold even in these troubled times?

Standing on the Memorial steps yesterday Obama said, "Despite the enormity of the task that lies ahead, I stand here today as hopeful as ever that the United States of America will endure ... that it will prevail, that the dream of our founders will live on in our time."

From another plane and through the passage of four decades we still hear the guiding voice of Dr. King - “I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.”

I too, have a dream.

What about you?

Eleven Wishes for the New Year: Wish Number Eleven

Wishes for World Peace: None of us have known this… may it truly become a reality in our lifetime.

Eleven Wishes for the New Year: Wish Number Ten

A wish for “grace”: May a measure of compassion, charity and charm be yours for the asking and this be the footprint you leave for others to follow.

Eleven Wishes for the New Year: Wish Number Nine

Today I wish you “time” – whether you beg it, borrow it, or steal it – remember to use it, not abuse it. May you have all that your heart desires to accomplish your fondest dreams. Fill the seconds between the minutes, and the minutes between the hours with your life well lived.

Eleven Wishes for the New Year: Wish Number Eight

A wish for “forgiveness” so that you never go to bed at night angry at someone… for something. Forgive and move on.

Eleven Wishes for the New Year: Wish Number Seven

A wish for beauty - may you find it from the breath of a rose; the sparkle of sunlight on water; the song of a bird or the pink cheek of a child – it is truly in the beholder.

Eleven Wishes for the New Year: Wish Number Six

I wish you laughter, as it is easier to smile than it is to frown. Always cherish the joyful child that resides in you.

Eleven Wishes for the New Year: Wish Number Five

A wish for knowledge and inspiration every day of the year that propels you to seek out and learn something new as you write the passages of your life. And, like a good book, may your novel be hard to put down and the end long in coming.

Eleven Wishes for the New Year: Wish Number Four

A wish to you for material abundance so that you may always have nourishing food at your table; a home to protect and surround you filled with treasures that delight your heart and may you always be able to share these blessings with others.

Eleven Wishes for the New Year: Wish Number Three

May you know spiritual wealth whatever your belief, and may you draw strength and comfort from a presence that is greater, yet part of us all.

Eleven Wishes for the New Year: Wish Number two

I wish you love. Open your heart to the possibilities. To need and be needed is at the very core of our frail and human existence.

Eleven Wishes for the New Year: Wish Number one

Today I wish you good health. Time has taught me that if you have this… everything else will follow.

The Power of One

The first day of the New Year and it’s time to ruminate on the word “one.”

It is a powerful word that conjures up meanings beyond the obvious numeric significance.

Punch in the word “one” into Merriam-Webster’s On-line Unabridged Dictionary and you get multiple categories as an adjective; pronoun; noun and even transitive verb.

“One” can be embraced as the deity who we invest our faith and beliefs, or something much broader “constituting a unified entity made up of or formed from or produced by two or more components or sources.” Curious indeed, that such a simple word can mean so much and in some cases more than “one.”

Placed in the month of January, “one” heralds fresh starts and brings the promise of renewal and hope in our collective futures.