Blogsam and Jetsam

Flotsam is the part of the wreckage of a ship or its cargo found floating on the water. Jetsam is cargo or parts of a ship that are deliberately thrown overboard, as to lighten the ship in an emergency, and that subsequently either sinks or is washed ashore. This is my personal blog version of the above. Loot freely.

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Location: The Hinterlands, Upstate NY

I'm annoyed that the world is going crazier faster than it used to be. But it's interesting to watch.

Friday, July 21, 2006

It's Friday...

...And we're all celebrating a successful first week of MIL. Including alcohol for the grownups.

Eldest Duckling and I have already made the fudge filling for the Elvis Truffles and I have the coating "chocolate"* standing by with grated paraffin ready for melting. Yes folks, the way to make chocolate shiny is to add a bit of petroleum product--sad but true. I suppose the truly organic could use beeswax and in an ideal world perhaps I would, but not when food-grade canning paraffin is sitting on the shelf of the local grocery.

Inspiration for the fourth dessert hit me while making the tart dough the other evening--that dough called for four egg yolks. As I was separating them I realized I would have four egg whites sitting around with no special plans and alluvasudden "Meringue Mushrooms!" popped into my head. "Excellent idea," thought I, since they look really impressive but aren't a bit hard to make, "but what WITH?" (the running commentary in my head isn't always grammatical.) Pondered for a while and thought "hmm...meringue is the dieter's friend and we don't have a 'lite' dessert choice...AH! Fruit salad!"

I'm chopping up whatever's around the house, marinating it in some leftover wine (or perhaps some Cointreau since there's no such thing as leftover wine,) putting it in little foil cupcake liners topped by a couple-three meringue mushrooms and calling it "Woodland Fruit Salad." Can't you just see that in fancy script on some bistro menu somewhere?

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intermission
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The fudge has cooled enough to roll into fat irregular ovals and we're putting them on some of my first-ever roll of cooking parchment paper. You can tell I'm rather invested in this, can't you? Yup, and that was before my oldest friend told me just this afternoon that "I never pictured you as the domestic type."

Ouch.

And "Oh YEAH? Watch THIS, [derogatory noun of choice]!"

Of course pictures will follow.

*I use quotes because "white chocolate" is actually neither. Nor are butterscotch chips, despite their supreme tastiness.

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