Yesterday we had a very mellow Labor Day celebration at my family's house. It was just us, and my brother-in-law John's brother Brian, who is family! I made the following chocolate cake from a recipe I found on Epicurious, and which my good friend John Joyce has been making for years. It came out perfectly in our new oven!

CHOCOLATE CHIP WALNUT POUND CAKE

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
3 cups sugar
6 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon vanilla
a 12-ounce package semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350°F. and butter and flour a 3-quart bundt pan, knocking out excess flour.

In a bowl whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda.

In another bowl with an electric mixer beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, and beat in sour cream and vanilla until combined well. With mixer on low speed gradually beat in flour mixture until just combined.

Pour about half of batter into prepared pan and sprinkle about half of chocolate chips and walnuts over batter. Pour remaining batter over walnut mixture, spreading evenly, and sprinkle with remaining chocolate chips and walnuts. Bake cake in middle of oven 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean, and cool in pan on a rack 1 hour. Invert cake onto rack and cool completely.

Your friends and family will love this cake! It is yummy!

One rant: In the past, Nestle made a 12 oz. bag of chocolate chips, which was exactly 2 cups. Now they have cut down the size of the bag to 11.5 oz. It's another way of raising their prices. I resent the sneakiness involved --- how dumb do they think we consumers are? I used Ghirardelli chips instead, which are absolutely delicious. Screw you, Nestle!