GERONIMOOOOOOO.

Roughly 15 other people from VFC and I are going skydiving on Saturday in Georgia. I AM SO STINKIN' EXCITED. Even though I have no doubts that all will go well, please pray that we don't become smears on the ground (but if we do, to die is gain, right?).

Since I'm too stingy to pay the $85 to have a guy videotape me, here's what I guess it will look like.

Are ya kiddin' me?

I got home from work today and went into my room to change into some comfy clothes. As I walked into our master bathroom to look in the mirror, I heard what sounded like a helicopter fly by my ear. I then proceeded to watch this HUGE bee---no, DINOSAUR--- land on my UT shirt across the bathroom. A bee? Are ya kiddin' me? If it's not centipedes, it's humongus flying insects.

And since Gabby and I like food-related posts around here (I think you can HEAR us getting fatter), I made banana bread for the first time tonight and got to enjoy it with the lovely Kittrell family. I am just thankful it didn't turn out to be a banana-flavored brick. Props to Food Network for a scrumptrulescent recipe.

And last but not least, go Vols.

Food time!

Ok, so I've decided to pursue new culinary arts since I'm the main chef in the Dalton household (I think that's blasphemy to everyone who knows of James's skills... haha). Last night I was going through the Betty Crocker cookbook and saw a dessert that I'd seen on Food Network, so I decided I had to make it. I made two last night because we only had two containers to bake the dessert in, and I used the remainder of the mix this morning and had a tasty dessert with my lunch. I decided to photograph the experience for added salivation. Here it is!

Welcome to Baby Lava Cakes and 400 calories of pure goodness:

Here it is as a whole lil' cake

Here is the first peak into the yummy goodness inside

Here's a better view of the gooeyness... mmm...

Look at that lava pour out!

Good to the last bite

Quite easy and verrrrry tasty. Hope you all are drooling by now :)

UPDATE:
Ok, so I guess I'll type up the recipe for you to appease the hungry readers out there.

Lava Baby Cakes
Prep: 15 minutes Bake: 13 minutes Oven: 400 degrees F
Chill: 45 minutes Makes: 6 servings

1 3/4 cups (10.5 oz) semisweet chocolate pieces
2 tablespoons whipping cream (I used half-and-half b/c we didn't have any cream)
3/4 cup butter
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
Powdered sugar (optional)
Raspberries (optional)

1. For filling, in a small heavy saucepan combine 3/4 cup of the chocolate pieces and whipping cream. Cook and stir over low heat until chocolate melts. Remove from heat. Cool, stirring occasionally. Cover; chill about 45 minutes or until firm.
2. Meanwhile, in a medium heavy saucepan cook and stir the remaining 1 cup chocolate pieces and the butter over low heat until melted. Remove from heat; cool.
3. Form filling into 6 equal-size balls; set aside. Lightly grease and flour six 3/4-cup soufflé dishes or six 6-ounce custard cups. Place dishes or cups in a 15x10x1-inch baking pan; set aside.
4. In a mixing bowl beat eggs, egg yolks, granulated sugar, andd vanilla with an electric mixer [we're missing our mixer beaters right now, so I just did this by hand and added 2 minutes to the time] on high speed for 5 minutes or until lemon colored. Beat in cooled chocolate mixture [the butter & chocolate one you made 2nd] on medium speed. Sift flour and cocoa powder over mixture; beat on low speed just until combined. Spoon 1/3 cup batter into dishes. Place 1 ball of filling into each dish. Spoon remaining batter into dishes.
5. Bake in a 400 degree F oven about 13 minutes or until cakes feel firm at edges. Cool in dishes 2 to 3 minutes. Using a knife, loosen cakes from sides of dishes. Invert onto dessert plates. If desired, dust with powdered sugar and garnish with raspberries. Serve immediately.

Make-Ahead Directions: Prepare as above through step 4. Cover and chill until ready to bake or up to 4 hours. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking as directed.

Nutrition facts per serving: 621 cal., 47 g total fat (27 g saturated fat), 285 mg chol., 291 mg sodium, 50 g carbo., 3 g fiber, 8 g pro. 26% Vit. A, 8% Ca, 16% iron

Chef's notes: I prepared these last night starting at 4:30 p.m., served them at 8:00 after dinner, and had one left over which I ate at noon today. The cake rose a little more after sitting overnight, but tasted pretty much the same. I think the filling wasn't quite as runny as last night. I filled the dish 3/4 of the way up and it only rose a few centimeters, so don't worry about it baking over the top. Beware of using Corningware soufflé dishes if you don't have a rubber pot holder! After inverting on a plate, those things are too heavy to pick up with a normal terry cloth pot holder. If you have ramekins with corners, those might work well to hang onto. The cakes hold together well, and our first attempt at freeing them from the dish didn't destroy them. For those "balls" they tell you to form with the filling, I just cooled the filling in a 10-oz. Pyrex bowl and used a spoon to scoop up the filling. I didn't touch it with my hands, and it warmed up very quickly anyways. You can just scoop it out with a spoon like ice cream and plop it in the middle of the cake. If you'd like to only make this for two people, these are the proportions I used:

1/4 cup chocolate pieces for the filling; 1/3 cup chocolate pieces for the mix.
1 tablespoon whipping cream (or half-and-half)
1/4 cup butter
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1.75 tablespoons granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1.75 tablespoons cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
Powdered sugar (optional)
Raspberries (optional)

Happy baking!

This bugs...

Ummm... if Gabby thinks her fruit fly infestation is bad, I think I can one-up her.

Last night I was getting in bed and I looked at my sheets and saw what I thought was a piece of lint or string or something (I didn't have my contacts in, so it could have been a bear for all I knew). So I went to flick it... and it MOVED. It was a CENTIPEDE. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I had a centipede ROMPING AROUND IN MY BED. Uggggh, barf. Luckily, Julie's the man of the house and she squished it. It could have latched onto my pupil or something.

HELP!

Ok... they've found me. 3 years and 10 miles away, I've been found out... by the horrid fruit flies. Once inhabiting apartment 215 CD in Humes Dormitory for endless months (all because of some rotten apple and rotten orange that we got move-in weekend that never left our fridge)-- they have found me out in Rain Tree. I wrote about our infestations in North Knoxville earlier, but apparently West Knoxville is just as prone to having annoying and infuriating pests. You can blame it on our building-- it has *quite possibly* the most unsound structure (as evidenced by the curve in the back wall on the porch where you can see underneath the bricks or the fact that none of the doors shut right-- or you can blame our kitchen, which is currently holding bananas, open watermelon, open cantaloupe, grapes, apples, and peaches-- hey, we like fruit-- what of it?! Many a fruit fly has died just trying to enter the heaven that is our refrigerator. I find their cold little carcasses SOOOO close to the goodness of the fruit, but alas-- one can't fly when one'sbody temperature is a mere 40 degrees farenheit. Muahaha. I sound evil now, don't I? Well, they wouldn't be such a pain if they weren't so darn bold! They fly right up in your face and into your eyeballs every five seconds without a care in the world. You'd think they'd fear the creature that is 2000 times bigger than them, but they don't! It's amazing. God made some fearless creatures... for me to squash. James got so tired of me staring off in the distance and crouching like a cat before going *SMACK* with hands that I think he has deemed fruit flies out of season for hunting. I'll have to find new prey now... please send bug spray...

Short people got... no reason...

I read a news article on MSN yesterday that said researchers discovered evidence proving that tall people are smarter than short people. Also, they said that research has shown that short people make significantly less salary than their taller coworkers.

Clocking in at a whopping 5'2"..... I'm doomed to remain a broke-as-a-joke idiot.

Just thought you should know.