Crochet Cupcake

"Chrissy Cupcake" is just one of the totally cute little crochet creations made by M. Patrizio, and available for sale at Etsy. The hip-hop octopus is too damn cute!

Truffles!

These truffles are courtesy of Barefoot Contessa's Hazelnut Truffles recipe. We made three batches: hazlenut, Amaretto, and Kahlua. They were all delicious - this recipe is recommended. And I learned the hard way that Frangelico is NOT for sipping! Good lord!
Tips if you want to try this recipe: start stirring the cream in the chocolate as soon as you pour it over the chocolate. We waited about a minute while we shuffled around the kitchen, and then the chocolate didn't melt completely from the heat of the cream, so we had to do some double-boiler action, which was a pain. On the second and third batches we added a splash or two of extra cream, which (duh) made the chocolate creamier, but didn't effect it's ability to harden. So that's recommended. And the extra cream is extra heat to help melt the chocolate. Overall, this is a really easy, good recipe and you can use whatever liquor you want. And don't get nervous when the heat of your fingers start melting the chocolate when you're forming them into balls (like I did). The melting just helps the nuts stick better.

Fresh Juice

G squeezed up some fresh orange/grapefruit juice this morning with this old-fashioned contraption that someone gave him as a gift. Man, makes Tropicana taste like sugar syrup. I'd drink this everyday if I could. I wish I liked eating oranges and grapefruits as much as I like the juice. According to Superfoods: Citrus flavonoids, which are found in the fruit's tissue, juice, pulp, and skin, are one of the reasons for the health-promoting attributes of citrus fruits and the reason that the whole fruit is so much more healthful than just the juice. Well, I guess fresh-squeezed is better than nothing. And this juicer is a real monster: it really gets a lot of juice out. It's heavy, but sometimes you need an extra hand to hold it down while you're juicing so it doesn't move around.

David Burke Flavor Sprays. Speechless. Totally speechless. Check out the flavors! Birthday cake?!? It's lucky for David Burke that there are people in this world who really, truly have no interest in real flavor, moderation, or health. I wonder if he has lazy susan's full of sprays at his restaurant. Hmmm...something tells me "no."

I think these would be better used in the subways: when the platforms smell like piss and garbage, a little parmesean cheese spray will take care of that! Or when some smelly weirdo sits next to you, spritz a little sour cream and onion spray their way and voila! No more B.O.! Potato chips! (link from this Dave Barry article).

Ok, to try and get your mind of that stuff, check out Leite's Culinaria's 20 Best Food Books of the Year. (Link from Bookslut.)

Popsicle Break!

I saw these little girls in Amsterdam - so cute! I didn't realize Popsicle is a registered trademark, which I suppose means unless you are actually refering to a Popsicle(R) brand frozen ice treat you shouldn't say "popsicle," but rather "I would sure love a red flavored frozen ice treat." Those are my favorite: "red" flavored twin pops, with the two sticks. I thought that would make a cute tattoo, but I would never do it.

As a quick aside, I am getting a digital camera for Christmas, so stay tuned for some brand new food photos in 2006. Yeah!

I'm very excited for the latest addition to the "Superfoods" book series, Superfoods HealthStyle: Proven Strategies for Lifelong Health by Steven G. Pratt, M.D. and Kathy Matthews. I'm a fan of the first Superfoods book, as is Kerry, so I'm sure we're both excited to see how Dr. Pratt takes the Superfoods theory to the next level. And he's added dark chocolate as a superfood! Perhaps this explains the influx of dark chocolate products at "natural" beauty stores like Origins and Aveda. Apparently this new book is a year-long, season-specific plan for incorporating the foods and other healthy techniques into your daily life, which is why they are releasing it at the end of December: so you can start right away on January 1, hung-over and miserable and desperate for something to make you feel good! Good marketing! Well, I'am going to be buying this as soon as it comes out and take a go at it. Anyone else up for the "Superfoods" challenge?!

Today's Intake

Breakfast: One packet of Kashi Heart to Heart Instant Oatmeal, water, Target brand multivitamin, 1,000mg Vitamin C tablet.

Lunch: tuna fish on whole wheat with Spectrum canola mayo, soy cheese, and red-leaf lettuce; "Big Grab" bag of Sunchips; water.

Snack: Santa Cruz organic applesauce cup (their apple-blackberry sauce is really good too!), small square of Innercalm dark chocolate purchased at...Aveda. Weird, I know, but I had to have the wrapper for my candy bar wrapper collection!

Dinner:Bean and cheese burrito, chips and salsa, and one glass of cabernet at Maryanne's on 7th Ave in Chelsea. Blah. We used to eat here all the time, then stopped, and now I remember why. My plate was just a pile of beans and cheese and tortilla swimming in oil, and I feel so full and gross. Salsa was good tonight though, nice and garlicky.

This really cracks me up: the Krug trunk. I can just imagine lugging this into a party and announcing "Champagne anyone?" to a bunch of bemused onlookers. Ha! I love how it has the "ruggedness to withstand long voyages." Long voyages to ungodly places that - horrors! - may be devoid of champagne! How about a chocolate trunk? Or a jellybean trunk? Even better...a pancake trunk with a flip-out griddle and a syrup bar and butter and chocolate sprinkles. Hell yeah! Throw in a bottle of champage and it's a brunch trunk! This has serious branding potential!