Truffle ADVENTURE

Fig 1.  The shuffle to summon the truffles

Chocolate Truffle Shuffles (Aka little balls of evil deliciousness)

Introduction:

     If you're anything like me, and I know you wish you were, then you friggin' love friggin' chocolate. Well, yesterday I was strolling through the grocery store, and I got a bee in my bonnet (it was a very festive bonnet and a very large bee) to make something from the label of something, that may not make a lot of sense, but that's how I write when going through chocolate withdrawals (I got the hippy hippy shakes).  Basically when you buy a product sometimes they have recipes on the back and I wanted to pick one from the shelf and make it (It was a weird day). Therefore, I went to my favorite aisle in the store, the baking aisle, (specifically the chocolate part of the baking aisle, which is probably totally cheating but who cares?!) the dark chocolate cooking bars were totally calling my name, which is odd because usually only the gummi bears do that to me, also dark chocolate is totally good for you, so eat up! 

     The recipe I chose was for chocolate truffles, although technically I don’t think you can call them truffles because they aren't filled with anything and they aren't mushrooms.  Oddly enough the etymology of the word truffle come from the Latin term tuber meaning “swelling” or “lump” (1), which really takes the air out of the elitist chocolate treat when you consider the name translates to the lazy sounding “chocolate lump.”  It was first created by Antoine Dufour in France (insert horrible French accent here, “Hee hee hee! ho ho ho!”),  quick trivia for ya my favorite French chef is the one from the Little Mermaid who sings “Les Poissons,” all he wanted to do was to catch crabs (2)!  Personally who cares about the history of these things!  The sooner I make them the sooner I can eat them!

Fig 2.  CACAO! Such a weird word, so ritzy,
I pronounce it ca-ca-o because I'm fancy!

Materials and Methods-

1 3/4 cups Cacao Bittersweet Dark Chocolate Chips(cacao)/bar pieces
1/3 cup Unsweetened Cocoa
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1.  In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer, add the butter and stir until melted.

Fig 3.  Butter "pieces" may appear larger in your web browser
because I may have forgotten about that part.

2.  Stir until melted, add chocolate chips, stir until completely melted and smooth.  

Fig 4.  Mmmmmmmm chocolate chunks.

3.  Transfer into a shallow bowl, cool, cover, and refrigerate until firm (~2 hours, if you spend this time doing the truffle shuffle you'll probably burn enough calories to eat the entire batch!!).

Fig 5. It took all of my willpower to not dive
in with a spoon at this point.

4.  Spoon out and roll into balls, roll each ball in the cocoa.

Fig 6.  I like rolling balls in assorted powders!
Fun for the whole family!!!

 5) Enjoy IMMEDIATELY or refrigerate for later!!

Fig. 7.  Your balls may be a little lumpy like mine, but no worries,
they're special in their own...well special way! Just put them in your mouth!

Results and Discussion:

      DELICIOUS!  Mmmmmm chocolate is goooood.  I brought these over to my parent's house to see what they thought.   They really seemed to like them, but let’s face it I am their son so they’re somewhat obligated to like whatever I make for them!  I tasted them as well and found they were melt in your mouth tasty!  I give them three chocolate lumps out of four! 

Supplemental Information:

     I haven't been super good about updating my blog, but that is due to my putting together and breaking down of my Halloween decorations.  As an added treat I'm going to include the footage of my display!! HUZZAH! Enjoy!

Lights off:

Lights on:

Literature Cited:
1.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate_truffle
2.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o1AIMofVHU&feature=related

WORM Adventure!!

Worms

Abstract:  WORMS, THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!!!

Introduction:  

Fig 1.  (Not pictured: this man's dignity)

      Worms can be defined as any of the various invertebrates that have elongate, sometimes flattened (platy flaties) bodies often without appendages (1).  They are a very important part of our ecosystem and take on much of the duties of decomposition to make fertile soil (2).  They are often used by the show Fear Factor to freak people out, usually with placement on the body, typically with the addition of dirt. This combination of slimy and slithery tends to freak people out.  The slime is actually excreted by the worm because it needs to stay moist so it can breath (3).  

     Well, that's all well and good, but if you're anything like me (and I know that's the case), you totally love Halloween (TWIST!).  Well it is just around the corner and I am just tickled orange and black about it!!  So, this lead me to the line of thinking as follows, "Me?" "Yes Me?"  "What would be a good snack on Halloween?" "I don't know, you should ask someone who drinks a lot to maybe combine alcohol and worms."  "What a fantastic idea!"  That is preciously what I did and thus the idea of alcoholic gummi worms was born.  I decided I must make them and perform an experiment to find the best alcohol/gummi combination!!

Materials:

Fig 2.  I have accumulated quite a bit of liquor!

- A plethora of different Alcohol (I chose little airplane bottles because they're so cute!)

- Gummi related paraphernalia 

Methods:

1)  Set up gummi objects in booze as follows:

Fig 3. A-C:  Various gummi set ups, they all looked pretty much like this, but I included the one's that I thought looked the best/had sassy pictures on the label.

        (A)                                                                (B)                                                            (C)

     A)  Tequila Gummi Worms

     B)  Courvoisier Gummi Worms

     C)  Gin Gummi Worms

     D)  Brandy Gummi Worms

     E)  Captain Morgan Gummi Worms

     F)  Pear Vodka Gummi Worms

     G)  Vodka Gummi Worms

     H)  Sugar Cane Rum Gummi Worms

     I)  Whipped Cream Vodka Gummi Worms

     J)  Vodka Sour Gummi Worms

     H)  Vodka Sour Patch Kids

2)  Cover and allow to marinate for about 3-4 days in the refrigerator.

Fig 4.  This is my fridge, chill out and don't judge me!

3)  CONSUME/get crunk!

Results and Discussion:

Fig 5.  I'd say they about doubled in size, this would have been a perfect time to get a comparison shot of before and after, but I didn't so now we both have to live with that!

     The worms really expanded in size, I hadn't realized before that the heads were so round!  Would that make them more gummi snakes than worms? I would recommend completely submerging the worms next time as some had crunchy bits in them, which was somewhat distracting to the palate.

     For this experiment I required the assistance of my lovely and talented friend Kate.  She is a professional food taster (allegedly) and works with alcohol.  The following are the comments and score for each combo.

     Fig 6.  Me (left) and Kate (right) about to seriously masticate/drink (drasticate?) some worms!

A)  Tequila Gummi Worms-  Similar to a margarita, Ole!  Although Kate found them "somewhat offensive" (Kate- 7/10; Me- 6/10)

B)  Courvoisier Gummi Worms-  Reminds me of the Nineties with that rapper song, "Pass the Courvoisier." Things were all going deliciously until I swallowed and then it had a big ol' aftertaste.  (Kate-3/10; Me: 3/10)

C)  Gin Gummi Worms-  Just like Christmas time, sugarplums and pine trees...ahhh.  Kate's take:  When it hits the bitter portion of my tongue...things go to hell.  (Kate-4/10;  Matt-5/10)

D)  Brandy Gummi Worms-  We both agreed they were not very remarkable and not entirely unpleasant.  (Kate- 5/10; Me- 5/10)

E)  Captain Morgan Gummi Worms-  I enjoy a little bit of Capt in me now and again and this worm was no different!  Kate's take:  The spiciness is good, more of a "people pleaser", definitely better than the brandy. (Kate- 6/10; Me- 5/10)

F)  Pear Vodka Gummi Worms-  Nothing really offensive about it, not really blown away by the flavor combo.  (Kate-5/10; Me- 5/10)

G)  Vodka Gummi Worms-  These really maintained the gummi flavor and were quite pleasant. Kate's take:  They have a pleasant alcohol burn no weird flavors. (Kate- 8/10; Me-9/10)

H)  Sugar Cane Rum Gummi Worms- These had a lot of an alcohol kick and didn't have too bad of a flavor.  (Kate- 7.5/10.25; Me- 7.75/10)

I)  Whipped Cream Vodka Gummi Worms-  These were very nice and creamy tasting, you really couldn't taste the alcohol, which is very dangerous.  Kate's take:  If you want a booty call you get your booty call to eat some of these, than you find a dark corner and... (Kate- 7/10; Me- 8/10)

(A)         (B)
Fig 7.  A)  My "ruminating" face B) Kate likes it!

J)  Vodka Sour Gummi Worms-  Soft and tender texture, somewhat gritty.  Kate's take:  As disappointing as "Mr. Softy."   (Kate- 0/10; Me- 1/10)

(A)      (B)

Fig 8.  A-B.  We did not enjoy the sour gummi worm monstrosities, these are our "dissapointed" faces, take note, it may help you in the future!

H)  Vodka Sour Patch Kids-  Pretty tasty, although the texture was all wrong, very mealy.  Kate's take:  What happened friends? (Kate- 1/10; Matt- 2/10)

(A)    (B)

                                  Fig 9. A)  Before, looks somewhat suspicious  B) Gross Kate...Gross.

     Our favorites that we thought would be the best party snack food were the regular vodka worms and the tequila ones.  You'll notice as the sampling went on the notes became somewhat more confusing, this is mainly due to the fact that you can't really tell how much alcohol they absorb.  All I can say is we were feeling fine by the end of our tasting.

Literature Cited:

1)  http://www.thefreedictionary.com/WORM

2)  My Brain

3) http://www.worm-farming.com/worm-facts.html

Rainbow ADVENTURE

Rainbow Roses
(1)

Introduction

I was on my weekly shopping constitutional when I spotted several pots of gaily colored flowers not normally found in nature.  I was immediately overcome with an irresistible urge, so I quickly went to use the bathroom, and then decided I needed to make some pretty plants myself, and what’s prettier than a rainbow?

Many retailers have taken advantage of the method vascular plants use to take up water and some nutrients termed transpiration.  This process, common to all vascular plants, is where evaporating water on the surface of the plant causes water (and some other nutrients or dyes if you add them) to be drawn up through the roots and the xylem of the plant, ultimately ending at the surface of the leaves and flowers (2).  The most popular flower plants that are colored with this method are chrysanthemums, carnations, hydrangeas, some species of orchid, and roses.
The ability to make colored flowers has been known for millennium, however in 2005 Dutch grower Peter van de Werken used a special combination of 7 dyes with roses to create the first Rainbow Rose (3).

Materials

Figure One:  So few things required! This one will be a breeze!

1) Budding white roses (I totally used an old-ass white rose from Cub, because it was only a couple of bucks as opposed to a 15 dollar bunch!  What difference could it make right?!)
2) Dye of some sort (I used food coloring because it was sitting on my spice rack!)
3) Some way to contain the dye while being able to insert the plant into it (I had many great ideas including glass vials from work, but I didn't want to worry about disinfecting them and who wants roses filled with unknown protein? My luck I’d probably create mutant roses that would take over the world… I've seen “Little Shop of Horrors” I know how that ends… (Sorry that thought kind of got away from me, I used zip-lock bags, because I bought them from Costco and now I’ll never ever run out!))
4) Sharp implements (Like scissors)

Methods

1)    Take rose and cut the stem into as many slits as colors you are going to use, I forgot I was making a rainbow and used four colors, because rainbows in my world are not so showy. 

Figure Two:  It took me about a thousand shots to actually get this in focus because I have ADD and therefore cannot FOCUS oh my goodness is that some dude walking his dog?! PS- I have been diagnosed as making up having ADD in order to get out of tricky situations. Please make a note of it. PPS- When writing figure notes they should probably only relate to the picture and not include PS's in them.

2) Put dye in each baggie/receptacle and insert stem portion into them.

Figure Three: Ohhhhhhhhhhh so pretty!  Maybe I should just decorate with bags of food coloring!  But then they would probably just dry out and be all crusty which would not be cute at all!

3)  I secured each bag with those plastic strip things people always use in TV shows to keep people restrained while they’re kidnapping/interrogating them.  The fact I have so many is not to insinuate I’m doing any aforementioned kidnapping or interrogating, but as an ex-boy scout I always try to be prepared…just in case.  Ok  I’m not saying I've thought that that situation would actually arise, but you never know...This train of thought brought to you by the “Supernatural” marathon I've been watching.

Figure Four:  Zip-ties used to secure each part of the stem into the bag, totally not to interrogate the rose.  Although I'm sure that would be a "thorny" situation (tee hee)

3)  Wait for about a week and BAM! You have Rainbow Roses...kinda

Figure Five.  OH MY GOD IT'S SO AMAZING IT BURNED THE CONES IN YOUR EYES OUT SO ALL YOU SEE IS WHITE WHERE YOU SHOULD SEE BEAUTIFUL COLORS! You'd better get yourself to a doctor ASAP!

Results and Discussion

Well the lesson I learned this week is that attempting to make rainbow roses using an older rose does not work very well. 

I was hoping for a result something like this:

What I got was more like this:

Lesson learned!  Making multicolored flowers was much more difficult than I thought, and in the hopes that it would look better I let it sit forever until it started disintegrating and all the petals fell off.  Some may call it being too stubborn to admit that maybe the experiment wasn't working, but I chose to call it determination.  May all your flowers be more rainbowey than mine!

Literature Cited:

1. http://cdn3.blogs.babble.com/being-pregnant/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/pFc4jkWyd4QXeRtdG.jpg
2.  Peter A. Raven, Ray F. Evert, Susan E. Eichhorn (1999). Biology of Plants. W.H. Freeman and Company. pp. 576–577.
3.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_rose

Cacti Adventure!

Little Cactus Bits

Fig 1.  This is what a cactus looks like, Ima gunna eat it!!

La Introducción:

If you're at all like me, and I'm sure you are, then you've no doubt casually been perusing your local grocers and asked, "What the heck is up with these full sized cacti pads and why are they for sale in the vegetable section??"  Well apparently it means that my local Cub Foods has a large Central American/ Mexican population near it!

These pads are from the Prickly Pear Cactus and also known as Nopals or if you bastardize Spanish as I am wont to do then you call them Nopalalalalalalalalalalalalalas, which causes quite the kerfuffle at the cash register.  Central Mexicans have been eating them since before the Spanish came with their pox blankets (1)! The best time to find/buy these leaves is in the early spring, however as I am a maverick I bought them in late spring, so probably got subpar cactus, but it's my first time trying it so I won't know any better!   Make sure you avoid the wrinkly ones and you'll be fine!  It's quite the big business in Mexico producing around 150 million dollars every year (2), they can really pack away the cacti!  You can prepare nopalalalalalalalalalalas by grilling, boiling, frying, or whatever decent things you do to a vegetable. If I've learned anything watching "Dora la Explorer" with my nieces I know Mexicans occasionally hide small mammals in them as well!

Fig 2.  No swiping YOU FILTHY ANIMAL!

El Materialioes:

Fig 3.  Time to fry us up some NOPALALALALALALALALALAS AREBA!

1 Cactus Leaf
1 Egg
1/2 tsp lemon juice
3 Tblspn Milk
2 Tblspn flour
1 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp sea salt








La Methodoes:

1) Chop the nubbins off your cactus and remove any stray needles.  Wash in cool water until you're muy satisfiedo.

Fig 4.  This process is the most time consuming part.  If you're like me and impatient you'll just start ripping them off with your fingernails!

2)  Cut into strips about 6in long and wide enough to fit into your mouth.

3)  Combine eggs, lemon juice, and milk in one bowl.  Beat with a fork or whisk until combined.

4)  In a second bowl combine the rest of your ingredients.

Fig 5.  If it looks like this, then you did it right!  Felicitaciones!

5)  Dip a strip first in the egg bowl, then in the flour bowl.

6)  Heat a frying pan with about 1-2 tablespoons of oil (olive or otherwise) over medium high heat. Now toss in your cactus strips!  It helps if you shout olé at this point (or if you're in Minnesota you can just shout OLE and Sven), I know it helped me.  Cook for about 3-4 minutes turning infrequently until browned.

Fig 6.  Hear that sizzle?!

Fig 7.  We did it, we did it, Lo hicimos, we did it! Hooray! 

El Resultoes y La Discussion:

These were actually pretty tasty, although I am currently recovering from a cold and can't taste a whole lot, but what I could taste was very good!  They tasted similar to green beans and I think they would taste simply cactastic in a dish with chicken, onions, Mexican cheese (queso), and mushrooms to see if anyone notices the difference!  I tried to pan fry them without any dipping in the egg or flour, but this led to a drastically smaller cooking time and I tragically burnt them, I could definitely taste those (they tasted like burning).  I would completely recommend these to anyone trying to branch out or try new things (that's why it's called Mex-I-CAN!), except it's annoying trying to trim off all those nubbins!  I give it 9 out of 10 OLE's!

Literatureo Citedo:

1)  http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Articles/Ethnic-Unique-Foods-Ingredients-645/nopalitos.aspx
2)  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nopal

Apple ADVENTURE

Spooky Shrunken Apple Heads

Introduction:

This year I'm going to try to make more homemade decorations for Halloween instead of buying them from the store.  Hopefully my house looks spooky and not cheap and jumbled! This week I decided to make Shrunken Head Apples!  Originally this was from a kit from Vincent Price so you know it's gotta be good!

Fig 1.  Original packaging for shrunken head kit, although I'm guessing mine will look less awesome then the professionals!

Materials:                                                                  

Fig 2.  Implements for our creations!  

You may want to take this time to laugh maniacally...I know I did!!

1)  Apples (Granny Smiths are the biggest, but since we're not eating them just grab whatever you want, they don't have to be perfect so just buy them already!!)

2) Whole Cloves (Spoiler these are for the eyes so you don't REALLY need them unless you want blind faces and/or googly eyes)

3) Grains of rice (these are for the teeth!)

4) 2 tsp salt

5) 1/2 cup lemon juice 

Procedure:

1)  Mix together the lemon and salt, peel your apple,  coat it in the lemon and salt mixture, wince at how much it hurts getting salt and lemon in a paper cut you didn't realize you had, curse Vincent Price, uncurse Vincent Price out of fear of ghostly reprisal.

2)  Use a small knife to cut out the eye sockets, nose, ears, and mouth.  Use big details as small ones are for losers and you won't see them once they dry.

3) Shove whole cloves in the eye sockets and rice chunks in the mouth hole.

4) Place your creation on a wire frame in a warm dry place, I chose work as the added benefit of freaking out my friends and all the weird looks just adds to the whole creepiness of Halloween. Also, who needs a friggin wire frame when a window frame will do (actually the wire frame probably would have helped a lot).  These need to dry for about 2 weeks, so I hope you planned ahead and started doing this early!  All my friends make fun of me for making Halloween happen months in advance, but who's laughing now?!

Fig 3. One of the perks of doing an adventure at work is getting helpers!!

5)  Insert fishhooks and fish line to hang up and around your humble abode!  Perfection!

Results and Discussion:
                                 
Well carving these at work was a REALLY good idea! It was both fun and I could enlist my coworkers to help me!!  After carving each apple we set them up to dry.  Here's some picture selections of the drying process.

Fig 4. A)  This was day 1. B) Day 3 of dehydration. C) I really should have kept better track of the days I took these pictures...um...Day  7 probably, this is when the mold began.  D) Day 12.  E) Day 14, DONE, oh what a world what a world!


A) 

                                                         B)

                                                                                                                C)

D) 

E)

I did have some problems with mold growing but that's because my workplace refuses to turn on the air before 10am (which is why I'm always sweating at work).  However, a bleach bath (~10% bleach solution) soaking for about a half hour worked wonders!  Although make sure to wear the proper PPE when working with bleach (gloves and labcoat/apron if you're not "cool" enough to have a lab coat!

They turned out very nice however next time I'd store them somewhere a little drier to avoid mold growth, and try hanging them up/setting them on a wire rack to dry to avoid the squat appearance that they got..  You can add spooky toppings like glued on doll hair (from creepy doll collection) or dried plant material from a craft store! You could also make them a jaunty hat which looks just plain cool!

Supplementary information

Well now what are we going to do with all these extra apples?! We can make my favorite pie of all time...Apple Pie!!

Apple Pie

Fig S1.  YUM!  

Materials and Methods:

Fig S2.  There really aren't too many ingredients!

1 frozen pie crust (my grandma always used store bought crust so that's good enough for me too!)

1/2 cup unsalted butter

3 TBS all-purpose flour

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

6-8 apples (I prefere homeycrisp, pink ladies, or fuji apples)

1) Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Peel, core, and slice apples.

Fig S3. Probably the most time consuming part of this recipie, where's my coworker when I need her?!

2)    Melt butter in a saucepan and stir in flour to form a paste.


Fig S4.  Paste!  I wouldn't recommend eating it though!

3) Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil reduce temperature and simmer.

Fig S5.  My favorite things to cook involve a lot of SIZZLE!

4) Place apple slices in crust and cover with a lattice

Fig S6.  Be careful with the lattice, it can be a little tricky!

5) Gently pour the sugar and butter mix over the crust, be careful now you don't want to lose any precious fluid!!

Fig S7.  Yum!  It took all of my self-control to not just chow down on this right away!

6) Place in preheated oven for 15 minutes (make sure to put something under the pie so as to catch any drippings). Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F and continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes or until apples are soft and you can't resist eating some pie!! 

Fig S8.  You'll notice the apples have shrunken from their mound similarly to our apple heads, this is because there's a lot of friggin water in apples!!!

I must admit I've made this recipie several times so I didn't really have any problems except of course for spilling over some of the caramel mix, which pretty much always happens so don't feel bad if it happens to you too!!

References:

1)  Vincent Price.  Shrunken Head Apples.  1970's sometime!