It’s a good thing I quit drinking. It’s been 12 years since I’ve had a cocktail, but I gotta tell you, the other day I was considering mixing myself a big, fat, dirty martini!

I’m determined to get the Etsy store up and running. Lots of you have been asking me to buy pots for more than a year now, and we’re almost ready. If you’ve been following me here and/or on Insta, you know that Tech Angel Mary and I have had many setbacks, including her husband’s battle with leukemia (he is doing great and back to work), website management concerns, and kiln wiring problems. But we’ve made a huge amount of progress!

The pots are made, photographed, measured, and posted. We’ve worked out most of the details of packing and shipping. Sunday, I sat down to take care of registering as a tax entity with the State of New York. Yup. Sales tax. OK, I told myself, I can handle this. I got a little worried when I saw the 50 page pdf instruction manual!!!! Calm down, I admonished my inner child, this can’t be as scary as it looks. You’ve had a business for 26 years, how hard could this be?

Well. I won’t bore you with the details of how the on-line forms DON’T WORK. I decided to throw myself on the mercy of my accountant. I was very proud when I thought of that. I’m not a person who is good at asking for help. I decided to embrace this as an opportunity for spiritual growth. Then I looked at the calendar. Perfect. My timing is brilliant. This is simply the most ideal week of the entire year to ask an accountant a SALES TAX question!!!

I left the poor man a message. A member of his office staff called me the following day. I was surprised, astonished and delighted. Is it possible that they are so well organized that they are going to help me with my little sales tax problem NOW? Then she said the reason she was calling was to tell us our income tax forms are ready to be signed. That’s when I considered getting out the olives. But instead, I decided to make an Emergency Dessert.

Now. Let me be absolutely clear. I am not advocating eating, especially eating sweets, as a healthy way to deal with craving a drink. Changing your focus of attention, however, is an excellent coping strategy. And I am here to tell you that it only took 1 minute for me to forget all about the taxes and to make this delicious dessert, which I then shared with my skinny runner husband.

It’s easy to keep the ingredients for this quickie confection on hand. I know, some of these “mug cake” recipes are pale substitutes for “real” treats. But I promise, this version is terrific. The texture is somewhere between pudding and cake, it’s buttery and sweet, and toasty from the nuts. A little hit of salt brings out the depth of the caramel flavor. It’s best with an extra drizzle of syrup and a small scoop of ice cream.

One Minute Sticky Toffee Bowl Cake

This recipe calls for Cane Syrup, specifically Lyle’s Golden Syrup. If you can’t get it or don’t want to buy it, you may use an equal amount of honey, rice syrup, maple syrup, brown sugar, or dark Karo Syrup. It’s equally good with pecans or walnuts.

Serves 1

1/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
3 tbs butter
3 tbs date pieces
3 tbs sliced almonds, toasted
3 tbs cane syrup
2 tbs whole milk
generous pinch sea salt

Choose an all purpose bowl that will hold roughly a pint of liquid. Put the butter, syrup, and dates in the bowl and microwave on high for 20-30 seconds, until the butter is just melted. Add the remaining ingredients and microwave for 45 seconds or until the batter bubbles and puffs. Top with ice cream and serve. You might want an extra little drizzle of syrup and/or coarse salt.

PS My parents, who are still down in West Palm Beach for the winter (as you can see, it’s still snowing here) have been catching up on blog posts. Loads of love, Mom and Dad, this one’s for you!