I gave up on the cookies yesterday. I ran out of a couple key ingredients so I went a different route. Actually, I gave up on baking anything for the remainder of the day yesterday as I once again turned Rice Noodles into Rice mush. Bah…it was just a weird day.

I had our suitcases packed, but it has been chilly here and had to pull out pants for the kids (yeah…73 degrees feels chilly, especially with the wind). Yesterday after my baking catastrophe I spent the day knitting Skew socks, mittens and a hat (that turned out to be too small, my oldest child has an enormous noggin’). I can’t hurt myself knitting, and it’s relaxing. I don’t know what it is about moving, other than the fact that every move we’ve done is 2000 miles +, but about 5-6 weeks out, I stop sleeping. I remember this happening when we moved from San Diego to here and it seems to be happening again. So, I’m not sleeping (which is probably why all the craziness is happening, fatigue). The sleep I do get is between midnight and 3 am, which is not nearly enough to energize myself for a day with two toddlers, but lots of coffee fixes that.

My husband thinks that I have lost my mind, luckily, the feeling is mutual. I think there is an underlying fear with every PCS we do. See, the first PCS I did with my husband we had to drive from Maine to Washington state and then to San Diego. We stopped at a sketchy cherry stand in Northern California because my husband loves cherry’s (and I was 6 months pregnant, I’d eat anything). Drove another 300 miles, then we went to an undisclosed fast food restaurant for a salad that has as much fat in it as a hamburger from the same ‘restaurant’. Got to the restaurant ordered food and my husband turns and asks if I have his wallet. You see where this is going…no wallet. It was gone. License, military ID, credit cards…all of it, gone. When you call a civilian bank (for the sake of the story we’ll call the civilian bank, Bank of Outsourcing or…BOO) they don’t understand why on earth you would move without having an address to move too and they get really confused. The male representative that calls himself Jennifer Aniston, can not wrap his head around where he is supposed to send the new debit card. As my husband went on with this call, I almost did what most pregnant women would do when they are laughing and ‘have to go’. I’ll admit, it probably is confusing for a bank like BOO to understand why someone would pack up all of their stuff and move from Maine to California with nowhere to live, but…BOO, it happens everyday. 4 months later, my husbands wallet arrived in the mail, minus the cash, of course, but his ID and everything was safe.

So you can see why I might be a little stressed. Trust me, losing your wallet 1/2 way durning a PCS, partial DITY…not good. The funny thing is, thinking back to it, I remember crying, laughing and trying to figure out what we’re going to do. The answer? Joint accounts. I was really freaking out for no reason because I have cards for those accounts too, but in moments of panic, I lose all rational thought. Probably why I have been a little crazy lately.

You know the ‘Molten Cakes’ that they have at every big chain restaurant? I know Chili’s has them, but I’m sure Applebee’s and other like places do too. I like them. Food always makes me feel better (yet some how when I eat, I lose weight and my husband gains weight, I’m fairly positive he is holding a grudge against my metabolism).

I love them. There is something so yummy about hot, gooey chocolate, ice cream, whipped cream…chocolate. So, at 7 am I decided that I should make them.

These are really easy to make:

Chocolate Molten Cakes (you’ll need 6- 6 oz Ramekins)

Adapted from Cooks Illustrated.

Butter and flour Ramekins, set aside in a jelly roll pan (or something like that), preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Melt butter and chocolate chips in a double boiler.

Beat Eggs, vanilla, salt, sugar on high speed in stand mixer until it triples in size (took me about 7 minutes).

Pour melted chocolate into a large bowl, add egg mixture and spring flour over the top. Fold until it is evenly incorporated. Spoon into ramekins and bake for about 15 minutes.

Easy peas.

I just ran a knife around the cake and flipped it onto a plate. It was so pretty. I sprinkled some cocoa powder on top and made some peppermint whipped cream.

Then…I dropped the whipped cream bowl on top of the cake and the cake EXPLODED. It was like chocolate bomb.

My mom always told me it doesn’t matter what it looks like before you eat it, so I ate it anyways.

Yum…I feel so much better. 4 cups of coffee and chocolate molten cake. Today is going to be GREAT!