There isn't leftover chocolate at Valentine's. We overindulge in the gift at Easter rather than Valentine's. Or perhaps indulgence is the norm on Valentine's. Here's advice in preparation for the Easter leftovers.
"If you've ever tempered chocolate before (hopefully while consulting Kenji's excellent guide), you've likely had a good bit left over—whether you're dipping or coating candies, fruit, and cookies, it takes some extra chocolate to ensure you've got enough wiggle room to get the job done.
Now, an extra ounce or two of leftover chocolate is easily managed with a guilty glance and a quick finger to the bowl, but if you've got more than that, it can be saved and reused for another project. Not for tempering, as it's likely tainted with cookie crumbs, swirls of butter, or traces of caramel, but for baking, where such contaminants are both tasty and harmless."
Isn't this such delightful and enjoyable writing? Such good times we can have reading about the chocolate crimes of lingering cookie crumbs or caramel.
Did you know that there are such things as chocolate-related crimes? Parade writer Daryl Chen says they occur all over the world. He has a wonderful sense of humour:
WHAT HAPPENED: Online flower shop delivered box of fruit to a Canadian woman, instead of the “chocolate lovers” basket that her sister had bought and paid for.
THE CRIME: Cruel and unusual deprivation of chocolate.
WHAT HAPPENED: On April 8, a news story was published that began with the following sentences:
“The driver was wearing his tennis shoes on the wrong feet, and he could lift his arms only halfway to his chocolate-covered face when officers stopped him at a Tucson fast-food restaurant.
He seemed impaired. Yet there was no alcohol in the 44-year-old’s system.”
THE CRIME: Damaging chocolate’s fine reputation; disturbing the peace with a somewhat misleading opener.
There are more articles on chocolate crimes - here's an enjoyable example:
"Leave it to the Swedes to have the most twee crime spree ever. In February 2015, criminals made off with almost a thousand dollars worth of chocolate in three separate raids. One shop owner believes "there is a market for buying chocolate bars and dividing them up into pick-and-mix pieces.”
Is food crime on the rise?
There are 10 Common Crimes Against Pasta You Don’t Have to Commit (here). These get perpetrated every day! I find out that when I oversauce my pasta, that's considered a crime.
February always turns out to be a brightly coloured month for me in lightroom and photoshop. Here's a blue theme with these montages using the same crackled blue background. So many different effects - what do you think?
