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 »

Peel and stuff hard-cooked eggs for easy Easter dish.

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 »

Today's vegetable recipe: An easy-easy recipe for pumpkin dip, just cream cheese, pumpkin and spices. As dips go, unusually healthy with high proportion of pumpkin to cream cheese and sugar. Low carb. October 1, my hometown farmers market makes a magical transformation: the row of farmstands becomes a pumpkin patch playground, the perimeter lined with hay bales. Little ones play bumper tractors as the moms and grandparents look on, often recording the squeals of delight. Out front is a pile -- more of an engineering feat, really -- of many-sized pumpkins, minis to mammoths. When my Lady Dog was a puppy and teaching me to heel, the farmers market water spigot was a frequent destination. During that first October, as we approached, she would warily eye the pumpkin pile, the bulbous shapes, the alarming color, sensing I always figured, the frightening faces of the pumpkins' inner jack o' lanterns. Mustering bravery, she would bark -- furiously, wildly -- pulling at the leash to attack the vicious orange creatures. Isn't October grand?  read more »

Happy Independence Day!! I don't know about you, but our 4th has been quiet and uneventful. Dave and I slept in, watched some tennis, and went for a walk. Weather permitting, we'll go check out the local fireworks after dinner - and if not, we're off to the movies! Now, I had been hoping to share our dinner with you today, but on their current schedule, my 7-hour maple baked beans won't be ready until next Tuesday... so I thought I would share this lovely dessert with you instead!  read more »

This one's for Inv Robbins, who died on Monday after helping to make about a zillion kids happy by creating the first American food franchise: Baskin-Robbins. When I was a munchkin, I loved Baskin-Robbins. There was a BR store within walking distance of all my usual haunts and they gave you free ice cream on your birthday. Even better, my older brother's best friend was a shift manager. For him, this mostly meant he, at 17, got to herd 15 and 16 year-olds, which I am sure was a pain. For him. I, on the other hand, thought that the point of being a shift manager was free banana splits. Not for him. For me. Since then, I have switched to making my own ice cream.  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 »