badaboom

poorly composed iPhone photo ;) it's centered in real life!

ballpoint pen & paper

Anatomy, I took it briefly in high school for a quarter then dropped the class. I just remember looking at  many slides of somethings under a microscope and the teacher requiring extremely detailed drawings of what you saw otherwise you'd automatically get a not-so-stellar grade. In retrospect, I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be a science class and not an art class.

Hawaii

I am itching to travel again. I went to Hawaii last April and it was the first time I had been on a plane since maybe ten years ago. Hawaii was of course, gorgeous, and I loved the warm beaches and the slow pace of things there. Reminiscing through photos.

Check out those storm clouds, it rained at the beginning of our hike.

Above the clouds after watching the sunrise.

I was lucky enough to spend my birthday there, best one yet!

Ikea

Ikea, the land of going-in-with-nothing-in-mind-to-buy-and-coming-out-$50-poorer. Actually, Target is like this too. Maybe I just have a shopping problem...

I went to Ikea with my brother on Monday because he wanted to buy a shelf for storage in his room. I didn't need anything, but came out with more things than him. Oops.

One of the things I got was the Ikea Produkt, which is a battery-operated milk frother. And it was only $2.99! In my opinion, the best part about buying coffee is having the first sip - hot and frothy. Yum. I tried out the Produkt this morning with my coffee. I'm not very picky about my coffee - my morning coffee routine involves heating up a cup of milk in the microwave, removing the nasty skin that forms when you heat up milk, and then stirring in some of Trader Joe's instant coffee. Fancy, I know.

So I did all that and then it was time to use the frother. I quickly learned that it was best to leave at least an inch of space or so between the liquid and the top of the cup or else you'd end up with coffee-milk splatter all over your counter. Slight mishap aside, I am extremely pleased with my $3 purchase. Foamy coffee all day, everyday.

V-Day Truffles

Valentine's day was one of my favorite holidays when I was in elementary school. The teachers always threw a party and we got to drink punch and eat cupcakes instead of learning. The best part though, was the card exchange. The night before I'd carefully inscribe my classmates' names on each of the 30 Sailor Moon (or whatever was cool that year) Valentines my mom had allowed me to buy from Target.

Anyway, back to the card exchange - it was like Halloween except you didn't have to dress up (which I supposed would've been cool if you weren't a self-conscious child who one year went as a "cowgirl" aka a kid wearing jeans, a flannel, and a bandana, carrying a whip which may or may not have been the kind used in S&M. Actually this happened again in college, except I swapped the jeans for a mini skirt, because you know, college. And minus the whip.) and knock on strangers doors - I got candy, pencils, stickers, and little toys along with the Valentines from my classmates. It was awesome. And then at night I'd take the special Valentine given to me (and you know, 28 others) from some little boy I thought was cute and sleep with it under my pillow...

This Valentine's day, I decided to make truffles. I went to Michael's yesterday and bought these cute little candy cups, boxes, and a candy mold just because it looked cool.

Here's the recipe:

Yields about 20 1-inch balls. Mine were a little smaller so I came out with around 30.

Ingredients:
- 8 ounces of bittersweet chocolate - chopped or chips (I used Ghirardelli chips)
- 4 tablespoons of heavy cream
- 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- cocoa powder
- OPTIONAL: Kahlua and instant coffee (in lieu of vanilla) for flavoring, white chocolate for drizzling

I made a makeshift double boiler to melt the chocolate without overheating it. I put about an inch of water in a pan, turned it on medium-high, placed a stainless steel bowl on top of the water, and put the chocolate chip/heavy cream mixture in it. Be careful not to get water in the chocolate bowl. You could always microwave the chocolate/heavy cream - start at ~15 second increments until just the bottom layer of chips is melted. Take it out and stir and the rest of the chocolate chips should melt as well. 

Since I wanted to make half regular chocolate truffles and half coffee chocolate, I split the melted chocolate mixture between two bowls and stirred in the vanilla in one and Kahlua and instant coffee in another. I used 2 capfuls of Kahlua and maybe a teaspoon of instant coffee (powder).

Refrigerate for a hour to an hour and a half.

Now the fun/messy part! I found it easier to mix the chocolate around with a spoon (it'll be kind of hard) and then make balls out of the crumblier bits. Form 1 inch balls (or however big you want) with your hands. The chocolate will melt from the heat of your hands unless you are a vampire or a snowman; I read online that you can dust in a little bit cocoa powder to keep it from getting too sticky.

Now, if you want, you can roll the ball around in some cocoa powder and serve them that way. If you'd prefer dipping them in chocolate, you can prepare another makeshift double boiler (or microwave) and melt chocolate chips in there for dipping. I didn't measure how much I put in (oops) but just added more as needed. Stir and remove from heat. 

It was cold this morning so I didn't have much of a problem, but if the truffle balls don't harden back up after you roll them, you can stick them in the fridge for 15 minutes before dipping them in chocolate.

Stick a toothpick (I didn't have any or anything resembling toothpicks so I used a pair of chopsticks, haha) into a truffle ball and quickly swirl it around in chocolate, then wiggle toothpick out after you place the coated ball on a cutting board (I used one of those bendy plastic ones, not a stiff one)/parchment paper/whatever floats your boat. Repeat. If you want, you can sprinkle nuts on top before the chocolate hardens. 

I had some trouble melting the white chocolate (the first batch I made turned really crumbly and I had to throw it out) but eventually I successfully did it in the microwave. I added a few drops of vegetable oil before microwaving to help achieve the smooth texture. 

I didn't wait for the coated milk chocolate to dry - I used a small spoon to drizzle the white chocolate on top and it was fine. 

I left the truffle balls on top of my cutting board (at room temperature) until the chocolate shells hardened (30-45 minutes). You can pop them in the fridge for a little bit to speed up the process.

When they're hard, you can use a knife to cut off the feet/arms/what have you to clean them up a little. Eat all the deformed ones that can't be saved. 

Pop them in your cute little cups (I don't know why I'm talking like this) and you're done.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that round does not stack on top of round very well, so I guess my boyfriend only gets a box of 8.

So, these are mine, all mine! Just kidding, I actually feel sort of sick and probably never want to eat chocolate ever again. You know what I said about eating all the deformed ones? Probably a bad idea.

Earlier in this post, I mentioned that I bought candy molds. You can see in the last two pictures that I did use them. However, I don't think they're meant for being used this way. Case in point: 

Looks just like the picture! The last one I squished with my palm out of frustration because the chocolate wasn't filling the mold and I could see a bunch of air bubbles. Appetizing, I know.

Or maybe I'm candy-mold incompetent? I dipped the truffle ball in chocolate and then stuffed it into the mold with my chopsticks and then added extra chocolate to fill the mold. They looked slightly better after I shaved off the excess chocolate at the bottom and put them into the cups. The cups make everything look better.

Should've eaten the one on top before taking the photo.

In the future, I'd definitely stick to making them without the mold. Maybe it can double as an ice cube tray. 

Cocoa dusted, milk chocolate/hazelnut coated, milk chocolate/white chocolate drizzle. Cute red cups. Cups, cups, cups.

bahlog

I am terrible at this lolol maybe third time's the charm??