Heaven or Hell?

I've always thought of hell as a really hot place. Like really hot. Hotter than Houston in the summer. Hot enough to fry not just eggs, but entire chickens on the sidewalk hot. Melt your shoes hot. 115 degrees hot? Maybe. That's how hot it was in Palm Desert this weekend....but low and behold, it felt like a little piece of heaven. This weekend I spent 24 glorious hours sweating out the anger, sadness, uncertainty and confusion of the last month. I was surrounded by the healing presence of girl friends, cacti and Texas sheet cake*. I enjoyed dips in the pool, quite time in the perfect chenille upholstered chair and uninterrupted conversations about everything from shampoo (see sevastyle.com for more information) to Senator Obama. Ok, not much talk about Obama...but everyone else is talking about him, right?

This weekend was heaven my friends....pure heaven.

*Texas Sheet Cake

Cake:
1 cup butter
1 cup water
1/4 cup cocoa
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
Frosting (see below)
chopped pecans

Frosting:
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup cocoa
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
1 box (1 pound) confectioners' sugar, sifted (4 1/4 cups sifted)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Cake: Combine butter, water, and cocoa in saucepan over medium heat; heat until butter melts. Add sugar, flour, salt, eggs, soda, sour cream, and vanilla; mix well. Pour into a 15x10x1-inch jelly roll pan. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes. Spread frosting over hot cake and sprinkle with chopped pecans.

For frosting, combine butter, cocoa, and milk in a saucepan; bring to a boil. Add remaining ingredients and mix well with electric mixer. Spread over the hot sheet cake then sprinkle with chopped pecans.