Like that vampire my agent wants me to write about, well, I'm bitten by blogging. Bitten, smitten by the blogging bug--writing about next to nothing, kvetching, philosophizing in these mc essays is oh so much fun, such wonderful therapy.
That and I'm also back by popular demand. Oh yeah. No less than three people--thank you Karo, Suchi and my husband for keeping the faith. Hey, you with the slow smile, my husband counts even though all he said was, "You stopped writing your blog?"
Now if only I could think of something to talk about today. Lets see...
Oh yes, I attempted to make chocolate candy last night. Melting chocolate pouring it in a mold, filling it with chocolate ganache and then sealing them. Have done the first two steps. One step stands between me and delicious chocolate. Sounds easy no?
Not.
I saw a demo at the French pastry school and thought, hey this looks easy. If an intelligent cook like me cannot do this who can?
Wrong. Chocolate as it turns out is a finicky customer. Hard to work with, let water touch it and you're dead--the chocolate just curls and tightens up into an unrelenting mess that won't yield to the most desperate of pleas. The temperate of the water bed in which it melts has to be just so. And the caramel ganache I had to make to fill the chocolates with!! The less said the better. Burnt three batches of sugar, I did, before I managed to get a reasonable batch of caramel to which I added chocolate to make chocolate ganache. Ganache. Sounds tres tres chic, no?
Anyway, my respect for candy makers, the preposterous amounts they charge for designer candy not withstanding, has gone up. I still ache at paying $3 for a ganache filled truffle but now at least I know what went into making them. Talk about losing your appetite for the stuff though. I was sick of chocolate for several hours after cooking with it. Have you noticed, most pastry chefs are skinny. Just tired of eating the stuff, I suppose. I think there may be a diet book in this...hmm..." Never eat the product," the French pastry chef said during the demo while us audience members were salivating at the sight of his concoctions. And boy was he skinny.
Oye ve. I must go now to seal the bottoms of the candy I have filled with the ganache.
My only fear...the candy won't pop out of the molds like they did at the demo. I just know it. They had that "hee hee we're stuck here in this mold forever" look when I put them to set in the fridge. And don't pry them out with sharp objects they've said or you'll ruin the mold.
Ach...will cross that bridge later.
Gotta go. Check in again soon.
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