Hi everybody! I was on business last week down in Florida.
The weather was nice but I'm glad to be back home in Indiana
(is that Al Jolson I hear in the background?).

We'll have a Valentines Day dinner a day early, since Monday
we will all be busy. I made a New York cheesecake from the
recipe inside the Philadelphia cream cheese package. It
looks good and smells good. I double the crust because I
mold it up the sides, and then reduce the rest by 20% to
25% to keep it from overflowing. I made this to take into
work. They family doesn't much care for cheesecake. I've
got two cans of strawberry pie filling to dump on top of it.

I made the Hershey's chocolate cake in two 9" pans for the
family. Both got really big splits in the middle. I've
heard that can happen if you overbake them, but the splits
were there when I opened the oven and knife-tested them at
30 minutes and they weren't done yet. The wife found some
cooling racks for the cake that are really nice. The
countertop underneath them gets soaked.

I think the wife is tired of the heavy-duty chocolate taste
that I get when I use the Hershey's icing, too. Any ideas
on a good alternative icing that wouldn't weigh so heavy on
the chocolate side?

When we come home from town I will make the icing and then
make some pralines for the daughter. She loves them but
they're a bit too sugary for me.

Oh! Happy Valentines Day!

Thanks, Michael