Photo: Thinkstock

Godiva executive chef chocolatier Thierry Muret spends his days tinkering with double chocolate raspberry truffles and cherry cordials (it's a tough job, but somebody has to do it). And with Godiva's collection of baked goods, which will have a new line on sale in the fall, Muret learned to master the art of mixing, baking and frosting. Among the most valuable lessons he picked up: freeze a cake after baking it. It keeps the cake incredibly moist and, as a bonus for frazzled cake decorators, makes it a lot easier to cut--and, in turn, frost.

After mixing the cake batter (and at Godiva, all cake batters are chocolate--go figure), pouring it into the pan and baking it completely through, Muret pulls the cake out of the oven and lets it cool on a wire rack until it is lukewarm enough that he can handle it. He removes it from the pan and then wraps the entire cake with cellophane wrap--and this is crucial--twice. You must wrap the cake tightly, he says. Then he puts it in the freezer overnight or for eight hours.

[Next: the icing on the cake]

Photo: Alice Supply Co.

It's officially hump day--but to help Friday come a little faster shop these fun finds all under $30.

The Laundress for J.Crew Collars and Cuffs Stain Bar, $7. Don't have time to get to the dry cleaners? Rub away the ring around the collar of your favorite white button-down with this gentle stain remover.

The Little Yoga Mat, $25. Help your tiny yogi Zen out with one of these pint-sized mats.

Alice Supply Co. Hammer, $26. You might be more interested in doing manual labor if your tools were covered in bright, bold patterns like these.

Speak Up Tattly Temporary Tattoo, $5 for 2. Forget your hairbrush--apply one of these mini microphone tattoos to your thumb and belt your favorite tune into your finger instead.

Make Your Own Havianas, starting at $25. Create customized flip-flops: Choose everything from the color to accessories for the straps. You're guaranteed to be the only one wearing them at the beach.

Every week, we'll be letting you know about new releases the editors at O and Oprah.com couldn't stop reading. On sale today...

Photo: Thinkstock

I had a childhood friend who was like the kung fu master of snacking: she had complete and utter control over the food she ate. While my ten-year-old self would occasionally inhale an entire row in a package of greasy, store-bought cookies, she would thoughtfully munch one Nutter-Whatever and declare herself satisfied.

I thought of her with guilt last week, while I was tipping a package of peanut M&M's into my mouth (what? It was a rough week), and with enormous respect today when I read about a new study that explains the addictive power of high-fat foods. To measure how taste alone affects the body's response to food, scientists from California and Italy fed different groups of rats liquid diets high in one of these three substances: fat, sugar or protein. As soon as the fatty liquid hit the rats' taste buds, their digestive systems began producing endocannabinoids, chemicals similar to those produced by marijuana use, and these rats showed a craving for more fatty food.

Fat is necessary for proper cell functioning, one of the study authors told The New York Times, explaining that "we have this evolutionary drive to recognize fat, and when we have access to it, to consume as much as we possibly can." The problem is our prehistoric ancestors weren't out hunting deep-fried Twinkies, so we've got to outsmart these biological impulses.

I personally find the study reassuring. If we accept that most of us don't have the same snack-mastery--call it willpower, or fortitude, or discipline--as my old friend, and if we acknowledge that one high-fat potato chip will probably lead to a binge, we may be more likely to think twice about indulging at all. Or at least, to save the benders for when we really, really need them.

Wednesday is already hump day. But Tuesday is "you" day: a day when you have the energy to do--or plan--something fresh and unexpected that might just turn your whole week around.

Photo: Alainna Lynch

Lauren Shockey has spent time working in restaurants around the world, getting first-hand experience butterflying chickens to mincing cases of shallots, as she recounts in her new book, Four Kitchens: My Life Behind the Burner in New York, Tel Aviv, Hanoi, and Paris. Despite her hands-on learning, though, Shockey still relies on a handful of cookbooks to get her through dishes from a basic tomato sauce to gift-worthy pink peppercorn cashew brittle. Here are the five she thinks belong on every chef's shelf.

Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan
Hazan's one of the cookbooks I grew up with--my parents cooked from it--and it's a really good overview of Italian cooking, by region. The recipes are fairly simple, and Hazan uses ingredients you can find at your local grocery store. My favorite pasta sauce of all time is her tomato sauce with butter and onion. It's just canned tomatoes, butter and onion.

Today we were reminded of an important if tiny distinction, especially those of us born just in time to take advantage of Title IX. This meant hearing from our mothers about “all” that we could do—and then taking to the soccer fields and running tracks, and trying to figure out what the heck the “all” was.  The potential was exciting—for us and for our mothers, aunts and neighbors who weren’t invited to join high-level sports and almost yanked out when they did (hello, Boston Marathon 1967).

 
And yet, seeing the US women’s soccer team on the front page of The New York Times sports section and the women’s golf U.S. Open on the inside has given us a whole new micro-thrill. [LN2] With good reason: For the first time in years, the Americans aren’t favored to win this World Cup (competition in women’s international sports is heating up—drama!).

 

Yesterday, the U.S. team played Brazil, who has Marta, the Pele of women’s soccer. The game itself had ups and downs of the kind that have you muttering, no way. As in: no way did they just do that!

 

(And the quotes afterward—from the players to the coach—were lump-in-your-throat inducing. Really, go read them.)[LN3] 
 
“Running low on hope and time, the Americans were surely beaten...” reported the Times, as well as the Detroit Free Press and the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “And then, with one of the most thrilling goals in U.S. history, they weren't.”
 
Not U.S. women’s sports history. In sports. Full stop.

 

Which means if you are 7- or 10- or 12-years-old, you no longer have to [LN4] imagine that something is available to you. You witness to it, from the actual women playing the sport to the front pages story in newspaper giving them their due.

 
That was today’s discovery. That there’s a difference between hearing what women could do and seeing what this very minute, they are doing. The difference between the girls we used to be and the girls right now, who can look at these women and think, “I can do what she did...and I can do it even

This morning, those of us who were born just in time to take advantage of Title IX noticed one more small result of the 1972 legislation (prohibiting gender discrimination at schools that receive federal money). Back then, we heard from our mothers about "all" that we could do—and then we took to the soccer fields and running tracks, trying to figure out what the heck the "all" was. The potential was exciting, for us and our mothers, aunts and neighbors who weren't invited to join high-level sports and almost yanked out when they did (hello, Boston Marathon 1967).

And yet, seeing the U.S. Women's World Cup victory yesterday on the front page of The New York Times sports section and the U.S. Women's Open for golf covered inside has given us a whole new kind of joy, especially the soccer story.

It was also covered, via AP reports, in The Detroit Free Press, Atlanta Journal Constitution and elsewhere. With good reason: For the first time in years, the Americans aren't favored to win this World Cup (competition in women's international sports is heating up—drama!). The team played Brazil, who has Marta, perhaps the current Pele of women's soccer. The game itself had ups and downs, and the quotes afterward—from the players to the coach—were lump-in-your-throat inducing. (Really, go read them.)

But it was this sentence in The San Francisco Chronicle that got us: "Running low on hope and time, the Americans were surely beaten. ... And then, with one of the most thrilling goals in U.S. history, they weren't."

Not U.S. women's sports history. In sports. Full stop. Which is nice. But what's nicer still is that it means if you are 7 or 10 or 12 years old, you don't have to imagine a woman doing one of the most thrilling things in U.S. sports history. You can watch it here.



Elsewhere you can watch female Olympic hockey teams, LPGA golfers and collegiate lacrosse players compete at top levels, and you will read about their victories and losses in the papers. Also thrilling, no?

That was today's discovery. That there's a difference between hearing what women could do and seeing them do it this very minute. The difference between the girls we used to be and the girls right now, who can look at these mightily talented women and think, "I can do what she did...and I can do it even better."