Folks, it is official, I'm a blogcrastinator. Not by choice mind you, so I hope you will let me slide again this month. I just didn't realise how busy life has gotten lately, I can't say I have had much time for myself, let alone for B and the pup. Quite sad actually and I feel sooooo drained. I don't know how working mothers do it. Props to them because all I have is a husband and a pup. Oh! Back to the challenge for the DB's this month is held by none other than Mary and Sara . I present to you...FRENCH BREAD!!!!!!!  read more »

Clockwise from foreground left - Marzipan Snowballs, plain with tempered dark, Crystallized Ginger rolled in Gingersnaps, plain topped with cocoa nibs, peppermint rolled in mint hot chocolate powder, plain. Marc and I have gone through many truffle travails the last two weeks, and even though I feared we would be defeated, we (Marc mostly) pressed on and prevailed. Among other things, my rather unpleasant flold (103 degree flu, sniffly cold), and the general speedy lunacy that is the holiday season, really threw a monkey wrench in our chocolate adventures. My fantasy, (oh…how naive) was that we’d make a few different flavors of truffles over a couple of days, and tra la la, have beautiful pictures for posting and tasty truffles to bestow well before Christmas. Hmmm…apparently there was another plan at work, and it included me having to take a back seat role for fear of delivering more than just chocolate (i.e., cooties) to our loved ones, and we finally finished the last batch today…December 30th. Truthfully, we did create some delicious chocolate treats, but they are just a little late. AND we have some good pictures, but they took an inordinate amount of doctoring on Marc’s part to be presentable. Making ganache (truffle filling) is easy, fun and incredibly versatile. If I had really known how much precision is necessary with tempering, I would have practiced and gotten through the learning curve some other time of the year, and just made what we knew worked, right before the holidays. Temper, Temper Before we get into truffle making in a general sense, there is a little background you should have on tempering chocolate. All chocolate bars you buy commercially are tempered. They have a clear glossy sheen, and snap crisply when you break them. Whenever you melt chocolate, it loses it’s temper. Meaning that if you just melted it, and then it hardened, the chocolate wouldn’t return to that crisp glossy state. Tempering chocolate is a precise chemical series of events. The effects of tempering come from the formation of beta crystals. When you melt tempered chocolate, you melt those beta crystals, and if you want to re-temper, you need to bring the chocolate up to a high enough temperature to melt completely, but not above 125, otherwise it’s scorched and can never be tempered again. Then you need to bring it down to a low, but still melted temperature to encourage the beta crystals to form. Then the key is reheating the chocolate to a particular 2 degree range in order not to let all other detrimental (gamma, alpha, etc.) crystals form, but still maintain beta crystals. Tricky, huh?  read more »

What is there for me to not love in Chincoteague? There is the pristine beach of Assateague, the abundant and beautiful wildlife, the talented artists, and the friendly people. It's a paradise for me.

I have just one problem with Chincoteague - the food!

Chincoteague is hardly known for five-star cuisine even among the seafood lovers, but if you're not a seafood lover, eating can be tricky. Chincoteague is famous for its oysters and its proximity to Maryland means plenty of good crab as well. When I see big steaming pots of shellfish coming to someone's table, I really wish I did like the stuff, but I don't.  read more »

I know, I know. WORST. BLOGGER. EVER. But you have to understand, since my last post, I've been slowly going a bit insane. I finished renovating my house. I sold my house. I went to Cuba. I bought another house. I got a new job. and I'm having a GIRL! So yeah, it's been a little busy!  read more »

When I chose the theme for the January edition of " Waiter, there's something in my... ", it was in the good effort to finally overcome my fear of making a proper (read: meat-based) terrine. I do enjoy eating them, especially when foie gras is involved, and these little earthenware pots of terrines are also pretty much the only way I tolerate liver. But it was not to be, I succumbed to the pressures of my own hectic schedule and ended up making something I was more familiar with: a vegetarian one. Who would have thought, though, that the majority of bloggers out there would go for a meat-free alternative?  read more »

They're popping, they're popping! (Let me preface by saying that I'm a raging nerd for just linking to this song . What it's doing on my ipod is a mystery. I was trying to come up with a title to this entry, and I couldn't shake the lyrics. Hey, it's catchy!) Welcome to the April Daring Bakers Challenge - Cheesecake Pops! Elle and Deborah are our hostesses, and I could reach through the computer and hug them!  read more »

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amoreee. Wouldn't this cake be perfect to make for your sweetie on Valentine's Day?  read more »