“Wrinkles merely indicate where smiles have been.” –Mark Twain

When you decide to spend 100 days being mindful about your life, you spend a lot of time reflecting on the people in it. Today’s reflection is about Candice Dunbar. Candice is another Oki friend, but she was one of the first. When we first get to EDIS in Okinawa, we have to introduce ourselves at the staff meeting. I will forever remember Candice’s introduction, “….y’all, I have resting bitch face, but I’m not really a bitch, I swear…” She wasn’t lying.

Candice was not only a friend, but she was one of my dive buddies. We have gone on multiple dives together, and they are always fun. There was this one dive that we did and we were down below 80 feet, which if you don’t dive, is the depth where you could begin to Narc. This is a phenomenon where at certain depths, some people experience symptoms like being high. It is different for everyone, doesn’t happen to everyone, and may not happen to the same person twice. On this particular dive, a few of us Narc’d, and as we were snorkeling back to shore we talked about it.

Someone said everyone had cat faces, another person got really silly, and for me everything slowed down. After we described our individual experiences, Candice made the simple statement, “The Ocean is so silly.” This made all of us laugh, not because it is a super funny statement, but because it perfectly summed up the dive.

Candice has a way of making moments eternal. There are many moments in our friendship that I remember because of a simple statement or something silly/ fun that Candice said/did. She will chase a turtle with me, follow me into a dark hole, and wander around looking for glass floats on a deserted island.

Candice’s personality is the opposite of her initial impression. She exudes the statement, “Never judge a book by its cover.” Candice may have resting bitch face, but she has active kindness personality (I just made that up, so don’t judge me). From sunshine Fridays, where she brought in treats for everyone, to graciously slowing (like way down) her stairway to hell (I mean heaven) work out, Candice is the type of person that makes a place for people in her life.

She is a fabulous physical therapist who has a passion for working with others. She cleans herself up, but isn’t ever afraid to get dirty. Candice is happy, not because of where she is, but because of who she is with. If you learn anything from Candice, learn to be versatile. To be happy where you are, because of who you are and who you surround yourself with. When you can find happiness in people, you can be a person who can make a moment eternal.

After all, “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments that take our breath away.” –Maya Angelou

This recipe is about the mirror glaze. There are going to be two attempts for this recipe, as I did it, I had some issues with my microwave, and it got me a little upset so I forgot to dirty ice the cake before using the glaze. Although, the glaze turned out lovely, and hopefully it works out on my second attempt.

Step one:

Choose any cake you want and bake it. I used pumpkin/cream cheese for the first recipe, and Cookies and cream for the second recipe, then dirty ice it with a simple vanilla butter cream.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese cake

½ cup butter

1 ½ cups sugar

4 eggs

2 ½ tsps. Baking powder

2 tbsps cinnamon

2 tsps nutmeg

2 tsps all spice

1 tsp ginger

2 cups pumpkin

1 cup milk

½ cup cream cheese (or 8 oz package)

2 ½ cups flour

*Cream the butter and sugar using whisk attachment on mixer, and then add remaining ingredients one at a time in order. Add the flour ½ cup at a time.

*Bake 350 F/ 175 C for about 30-35 minutes…if you are using my microwave, just give up now!

Cookies and Cream (I used blueberry Oreos for a little change)

1/2 cup butter

4 eggs

2 1/2 tsps baking powder

2 tsps vanilla

1 cup heavy cream/cream

2 1/2 cups flour

1 package Oreos, crushed or blended (don't take out the cream filing, it tastes better this way)

*Cream the butter and sugar using whisk attachment on mixer, and then add remaining ingredients one at a time in order. Add the flour ½ cup at a time.

*I put all the Oreos into my Ninja blender and let it do the work for me!

*You will add the crushed Oreos after everything is mixed.

*Bake at 350 F/175 C for about 30-35 minutes or 20-25 for cupcakes.

Mirror Glaze

*In 1/2 cup warm water add 2 tablespoons plus 1 tsp of unflavored gelatin, then mix gently. Let rest for 5 minutes (or more if needed).

*In medium sauce pan, bring the following to a gentle boil

1 3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

*Once mixture boils add in the gelatin and continue to stir until dissolved.

*Remove from heat and stir in 1 package or about 15 ounces of white chocolate chips.

*Strain through fine mesh into separate bowls (one for each desired color).

*Allow to cool until not hot to touch

*Pour over cake or splatter/drizzle on cake, whatever you want it to be.

*Do not touch, allow to sit for about 20 minutes

*Baker's notes:

One, make sure the cakes is throughly cooked before removing from pan. If you have a microwave that thinks it is an oven and likes to trick you into believing that it has fully baked the cake, I recommend using smaller cake pans...just to be sure. There was no tricking me the second time I attempted these cakes, and it turned out much better.

Next, when you are adding the gelatin, use a rubber spatula and make sure to really get all of it out of the bowl.

It is easier to add the food coloring to the bowl before pouring in the frosting. Also, make sure the cakes are smoothly frosted and make sure you use white frosting so the colors show up. Lastly, make sure to put the cakes on a rack and then put them over parchment paper that is lining something with sides, this will make clean up A LOT easier.

The mirror glaze sounds complicated, but it is actually pretty easy. You will need something to strain it, because white chocolate chips do not dissolve all the way. I used a tea strainer and it worked great. I also poured the glaze into a tea cup and then strained it so I had a better grip.