Tootsie Rolls

Today's topic is how to make Tootsie Rolls: Ingredients: 1/2 cup honey 1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 Tablespoon coconut oil OR butter, melted 1/4 cup powdered sugar  pinch of fine sea salt 1 cup tapioca flour (may need slightly more or less) 1/8 teaspoon of orange extract (optional- it gives that “fruit-flavor” which is reminiscent of traditional Tootsie Rolls) Tootsie roll's popularity was due to the fact that it didn't melt in the heat, and was a low cost candy.  Who came up with the tootsie roll recipe?  Leo Hirschfeld - a poor Austrian immigrant with some family candy recipes.  This was at the turn of the last century.  The story varies about how Leo got to being a wealthy candy industrialist.  One version as he made Tootsie Rolls, named after his daughter's nickname, in his Brooklyn shop in 1896, and then 'merged' with Stern & Saalberg   The one he gave was that he worked his way to the top of the Stern & Saalberg company, invented the Tootsie Roll along with other candies and machines for which he he had U.S. Patents.  However, mergers and changes pushed him out of the company, and he wasn't as successful on his own.  He committed suicide in 1922.     He is in the Candy Hall of Fame.  Did you know there is a Candy Hall of Fame - candyhalloffame.org?  It looks like they had their 2018 event this past weekend.  Inductees come from companies like Jelly Belly Candy Co and IT'SUGAR.   The glorious days of candies seem to be past to me. We may have seen the rise and fall of sugar candy:  sugar content is now the subject of controversy - articles like 'war on sugar' indicate demand for sweet snacks has dropped and that sales are slowing with a bleak outlook ahead. We'll find out. On to our rust pictures today.  These were taken at Calamus Winery last year - macro images of  the rusty shed.  Such delightfully new rust.

Wrapping Up 2015 with a Panda Test

You can easily find the top stories in 2015 that are negative and heart-wrenching.  I found sunnyskyz.comand it has happy news, but it is Huffington Post who brings us "Find the Panda".   Call it panda-monium. On Dec. 16, Hungarian artist Gergely Dudás (also known as Dudolf) posted an illustrated puzzle to his Facebook page asking his followers to “find the panda” amongst a flurry of snowmen. That post went viral. Some people found the puzzle easy, others found it difficult, but Tracy Lynn Heightchew of Louisville, Kentucky, found it familiar. In fact, it reminded her of a picture that hangs over her kitchen sink. She decided to post her real life version of “find the panda” on Facebook. “I knew that everyone would enjoy this too.” So, can you find the panda in the picture above? Don’t worry, the panda is there, we’re not trying to bamboo-zle you. TRACY LYNN HEIGHTCHEW “It's a photo I bought at a thrift store,” Heightchew told The Huffington Post of the August 1978 picture that was originally snapped at a Junior Achievers National Conference in in Bloomington, Indiana. It includes a bunch of kids wearing silly glasses and clothes. Many of whom are holding different stuffed animals. Heightchew stared at the photo for years until one of those stuffed animals finally popped out at her -- a panda. “I love pandas, so the day that the panda jumped out at me, years after I bought the pic was a sweet day for me,” she said. [SPOILER note: Still can’t find the panda? Here is the answer] TRACY LYNN HEIGHTCHEW Even with the red circle, I can't tell what the shape is.  So I'll move on to our picture today - Finalist in the November Betterphoto Contest.  It is an Ensata (Japanese) Iris that I got for the garden this summer. As well, I've published a photo essay about the Calamus Rusty Shed at Lifeashuman.com.  It's here.