No doubt in my mind where you belong

This week, love has been an overwhelming theme in daily life here. Wednesday was Jasmine's birthday.

Jasmine is the hairdresser on the ship. People go into the salon, aka 'her magic little room,' and come out looking, but more importantly feeling, beautiful.

Wednesday was all about making her feel loved. The hallway around her room was decorated. We did a flash mob for her at lunch (see Facebook!). We had a picnic dinner on the deck. And ended the day with girls' night- encouraging each other, watching movies, eating popcorn and coke floats.

I volunteered to make some desserts for our picnic. Adding to the normal challenge that cooking/baking is here, Jasmine is gluten-free. She loves anything pumpkin and it took some internet/Pinterest searching, but I found a pumpkin trifle to make. Essentially, it is the inside of a pumpkin pie layered in a trifle.

Pumpkin Trifle- GF

- 1/2 C sugar

- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ginger
- 1/4 tsp cloves
- 2 eggs
- 1 can pumpkin
- 1 can evaporated milk


1. Thoroughly mix all ingredients and pour into a greased pie plate. Or cake pan, if that is what you have.

 

2. Bake at 425* for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350* and bake for another 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

 

3. Let cool completely, then break up into small pieces with a fork. Layer into a glass bowl with cream cheese frosting. (Cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, cinnamon- all whipped together with a mixer)

 

 

I didn't know how many people would be at the picnic, or if they all liked pumpkin, so I found a second chocolate dessert to make as well. Or I just selfishly decided to make two because I like to bake.

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Espresso Icing

- 3 large eggs, separated
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 mashed ripe banana
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 C cocoa powder
- 1/2 C sugar
- 1/2 C hot/boiling water
- 2 tsp instant espresso


1. Warm water over high heat on the stove. In a large bowl, mash banana and mix with egg yolks (set aside egg whites for later!) and vanilla.



























2. In a small bowl, combine chocolate and espresso. Add 1/3 C hot water (doesn't have to be boiling, just really hot). This mixture will be fairly thick.

 

3. Add chocolate/espresso mixture to banana and eggs. Stir to mix. Add more hot water slowly to loosen the consistency. It should still be a thick mixture.

4. Add sugar.

5. With an electric mixer, whip egg whites until soft peaks form. Slowly fold into batter, one scoop at a time, until just combined.

 

5. Pour into a springform pan, or any greased round pan you have available :) Fill another cake pan with water and place in oven with the cake.

















6. Bake at 350* for 40 minutes. The cake will have risen in the oven, but collapse as it cools.

At this point, the chocolate cake is quite bitter because of the cocoa. It is probably best not to serve this without any icing. I was a little worried that it would not be good to serve at all. But I did try to fix it with icing.

Icing is not my specialty. So we took some premade icing and added espresso and a little vanilla to thin out the consistency and add more flavor. We just continued this until it was thin enough to spread and tasted like espresso. And it worked! We topped the cake with these chocolate cookie things from the local pastry shop, and it was quite delicious.

 

Even though this day was about Jasmine, I was reminded so many times that day that this is what it means to live in community. We sat outside after dinner for 2 hours, being in the presence of people we serve alongside. All have unique stories, but all our stories have brought us here. 

"One of the most tangible blessings God gives us is his people. If you neglect your relationships to his people, you neglect one of the most powerful ways God wants to bless you now. You neglect one of the most powerful ways he shows you grace now." - Crossroad 2011

'Make You Feel My Love' - Adele