FEBRUARY 2022

Sunday 2022.2.27

WAR!

Can something be shocking but not a surprise? On Thursday Russia invaded Ukraine.

I agree with one report I heard on TV news — Americans have little stomach for more war. We've seen enough — Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. Ukraine is not a member of NATO. We are therefore not obligated under Article 5 of the NATO Resolution to send in troops to help defend the nation. We are not ignoring the crisis in Ukraine, of course. The USA committed resources to their country to help them get through the hardships caused by Putin's desire for empire. We also imposed sanctions on Putin and Russia to punish them for their actions.

One of the advantages of modern cable news is the minute-by-minute updates of the situation in Ukraine. This past week I had CNN news going all day on the desktop TV here in my home office. Even as I write this there are journalists reporting new explosions around Kyiv. It's frightening. At one point while I was watching the news I put my hands together and said how thankful I am I live in the USA where I feel safe.

Since the collapse of the USSR Putin has been seeking ways to expand Russian control into Eastern Europe in an effort to rebuild the former empire. Some of the countries that were once part of the USSR are now members of NATO; so Putin can't invade and occupy those countries without inciting a war with NATO.

What will the United Nations do, beyond passing a non-binding resolution? Probably nothing.

Some among the Ukrainian people are saying Putin is sick. I can't help but wonder what might happen if the autocrat is entering the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. Given his age, it's not impossible.

Using Leftover Crème Fraîche

In Wednesday's blog entry I wrote about making my own crème fraîche. It's so good, and easy to make, I can't help wondering why I bought a small tub of sour cream, which I had in my refrigerator. The formula for making it is simple: about 1½ cups (350ml) heavy whipping cream and ¼ cup (60ml) cultured buttermilk. Combine the two in a jar, mix well, cover lightly and let sit at room temperature for several hours, or as long as 24 hours until the liquid sets into a soft solid. Then refrigerate.

I made only enough of the Smoked Salmon Crêpes for the demonstration video. That left me with nearly a full jar of crème fraîche. What to do? I thought of Beef Stroganoff; however, I had no beef. What is my favorite red meat? If you've been following this blog for a long time, you know it's lamb. So that is what I used. I also had no mushrooms, but I wasn't making the dish for a video.

I try to keep raw lamb in the freezer. I buy the boneless leg of lamb at Costco and cut it into pieces of about 4 ounces (113g) each, then wrap them and freeze them. Sometimes I cut a piece of lamb very thin and sauté it with a little olive oil, sesame oil, soy sauce and a pinch of beef bouillon. Often I had a little sugar too. Then I spoon this concoction over steamed rice. It's quite good.

For my lamb stroganoff I also cut the lamb thinly, which I cooked in a little olive oil and garlic. Then I added some crème fraîche. For the pasta I made my own pappardelle, which is a long and wide flat noodle. You can use store-bought dry noodles, of course, but I like to make my own. See my Pasta From Scratch recipe to see how to make the dough. I use my pasta machine to make the long flat sheets of dough, which I cut it into strips by hand using a fluted cutter.

According to one of my pasta books, pappardelle is commonly used in Tuscany to accompany a ragù made with game meat, such as rabbit. I think the pasta works well with the bold flavor of lamb.

My lamb stroganoff had mostly a one-note flavor. Onions, mushrooms, maybe a little tomato paste, would have given the dish a more complex flavor. But, as I said, I wasn't making the dish for a video. I only wanted a tasty way of using up some of my crème fraîche. It was simple, but it was good enough for me. I enjoyed it.

Wednesday 2022.2.23

Experimentation

I want to try making smoked salmon crêpes; however, I gave away my crêpe pan. Not a biggie. It was cast aluminum and wouldn't have worked on my induction cooker. The recipe calls for "two 5-inch (13cm) crêpe pans." Would my small and well-seasoned carbon steel pan work?

I have a small nonstick skillet, which is seven inches (18cm) across the bottom, and it is induction compatible. However, I really wanted to use that carbon steel pan, which has a 5-inch bottom.

I should also point out that I did not have any smoked salmon. The experiment strictly involved the crêpe batter.

The directions say to brush the pan with melted butter and then wipe out the excess. Okay, but at the recommended cooking temperature — "medium", which is around 265°F (130°C) — the butter burns (actually the milk solids in the butter), making one very ugly crêpe. The temperature at which whole butter burns is 250°F (120°), too low for medium heat. A good alternative is Clarified Butter (the water and milk solids removed), which has a smoke point of 375°F (190°C), well above medium heat. Did it work?

Hoo boy you bet it did! I made four beautiful crêpes. How did I eat them? I spread each with a very small dab of butter and then drizzled a little honey on top before rolling them up.

As for the cooking temperature, I found that between 250 and 260°F (121 - 127°C) to be the ideal setting on my induction cooker — 2 to 3 minutes per side.

Flipping

Flipping the crêpes was another challenge. They're so small and delicate. I have a stainless steel fish flipper, but it is too large. The metal edge doesn't slide beneath the crêpe easily and it often tears the edges a little. Then, in one of my kitchen gadget drawers, I found a small silicone spatula. I never used it for anything. It was simply too small to be useful. However, it flips a crêpe easily, sliding under the edge without causing any damage.

Now Step Two

The original recipe calls for crème fraîche. You can buy it, of course, but it's so easy to make it yourself, I can't help but wonder why you wouldn't want to. Okay, it's not a five-minute task. That's enough time to get it started, but you need to wait all day for the natural processes to work. Overnight is even better.

Use a clean jar, about 1½ cups (355ml). Sterilize it if desired. (My Instant Pot has a sterilize function.) Fill the jar about halfway with heavy whipping cream. Add ¼ cup (60ml) of cultured buttermilk. Add more cream to nearly fill the jar. Give it a good stir, then cover with paper towel or clean fabric, secured into place with string or an elastic band. Let the jar sit at room temperature all day, at least 6 to 8 hours. Before going to bed, place the jar in the refrigerator.

The following day you'll have a jar of delicious crème fraîche. Although it is similar to sour cream (which I really like), it has some advantages. The flavor is milder and it holds up well in cooking.

However, by bed time my jar wasn't filled with crème fraîche. It was still a liquid, although slightly thickened. I decided it needed a little help. I placed the jar on top of the TV cable box, which is slightly warm, about 100°F (38°C). By morning it was thick and set. Crème fraîche.

Salmon

As for the smoked salmon, maybe you've seen those double packs they sell at Costco. Each pack has 12 ounces (340g) of sliced salmon. I only needed 10 ounces (283g) for my crêpes. I'm thinking I can use the extra to make Smoked Salmon Quiche again, but rather than making a full pie, I'll make Mini Quiches again. I should have enough salmon for two batches. They freeze well.

Covid

These days you can't think about Covid without wondering what the next variant might be. Now we know. The Omicron BA.2 variant is spreading here in the USA and could become the dominant strain soon.

I went grocery shopping this week. Although the county lifted the mask mandate, it was good to see most people in the stores wearing a mask. Nearly everyone was masked.

However, on Monday I was blowing my nose all day, feeling like I was coming down with a cold. It's so easy to feel paranoid about the pandemic.

Sometimes a runny nose is nothing more than a little allergy. So I waited to see how the symptoms developed before using one of the at-home test kits I received free in the mail. By the following day the symptoms were gone.

And, Finally, Ukraine

Would anyone like to speculate what might have happened if Putin had invaded Ukraine while Trump was president? In the news (CNN) this morning there was something about Trump praising Putin's strategy in Ukraine.

Sunday 2022.2.20

A Celebration

Last week was a bit of an observation, if I can call it that. Friday the 18th was the date I purchased my Haier portable washing machine back in 2018. It still works perfectly. No leaks, no failing functions.

It's a small machine, which makes it portable. It's on casters and I roll it into the bathroom and hook it up when I need to do laundry. I love the ease of it. Just push a few buttons and let it do its thing. I especially like the spin function, which removes so much water from my clothes they dry quickly. I have two clothes lines in my home — one over the bathtub and another out of the way in the office. I use the office line because the window fan helps the clothes to dry in even less time, especially on a day of low humidity.

Being so small, 7½ gallons, it doesn't use much water and it doesn't wash many clothes per load. But it's suitable for one person. And at my age, automated chores make life much easier. When the machine is not in use, it's easily stored in a closet.

Happy Presidents Day

Presidents Day is tomorrow. Some of you might be enjoying a three-day weekend. I'm retired; so everyday is a holiday for me.

A Strange Dream

Occasionally I blog about my dreams, if I can remember them when I wake up. Friday morning I dreamt I was working in a college costume shop, part of the theater complex, and I was given the task of documenting their collection of makeup ideas. There were boxes and boxes of computer discs. Some were DVD movies, others contained photographs.

Think of the 1960s. In a lot of movies and magazine photos the men had a mustache. Do you remember the Fu Man Chu mustache? Besides the mustaches there were examples of hair styles and facial makeups. Think of the characters in the Wizard of Oz — the Cowardly Lion, the Scarecrow and the Tin man.

So I had to figure out a way to catalog all these ideas and there were thousands of discs. No one knew what was on them. I woke up stressed because it was too monumental a task. But something good came out of it.

Organization

In past blogs I mentioned the fact that I have two desktop computers. The one on which I am writing this blog is disconnected from the internet to keep the data safe. I haven't been hit with a compute virus in a long time, but when I did it was a nuisance to recover everything. I keep backups.

This computer is also the one I use for producing my cooking videos and Kitchen Vlogs. Those are backed up to external hard disks and Blu-ray data discs. Everything is numbered and stored securely and there is a database program in which I have all my recipe videos cataloged. However, that database is on the other desktop computer, which is connected to the internet. If I were to lose that database, it could be recovered from a backup, but why not keep it safe on this computer where the files are?

This came to mind because I recently updated my will. Choosing an executor for a will can be difficult. A much younger friend or relative might be a good choice. I added a friend as the executor. The will bequeaths to another friend, who is HTML savvy, this computer and all my video and web site backups. The plan is to make certain my YouTube channels will continue to be available to the public after I'm gone. He won't add new content, but I trust him to maintain the content I produced.

On Friday morning, after waking up from that weird dream, I moved the database from the other computer to this one. And then I did another backup.

Ants

I haven't written about ants in a while, and for good reason. There hasn't been any in my kitchen, except for the occasional lone scout looking for something to tell the colony about.

I've blogged about my ant bait traps. Very finely chopped chicken meat mixed with boric acid powder and sealed in little plastic pouches to store in the freezer. When ants appear, I punch a hole or cut off a corner of the plastic and place the pouch where the ants will find it. They bring the poisoned chicken bits back to the colony, which kills the nest.

This week there were a few ants on my kitchen counter. There weren't many, but enough for me to pull out a bait packet. On Friday morning there was a heavy stream of ants visiting the bait and by evening the ants were gone. Yesterday morning there was no activity. Once again, the poisoned bait successfully eradicated a colony.

Wednesday 2022.2.16

Inflation

Yep, it's real. Early in the pandemic, actually on December 24, 2020, I ordered a case of canned baby clams from Amazon, 12 10-oz cans to a case. The price was $29.93. I use them for Clam Chowder and New England Clam Cakes. I used the last can last month; so I ordered another case. The price had gone down a little. It was $25.87. In the past three weeks the price doubled to $52.72. I'm glad I ordered when I did.

The same can be said for Cento brand San Marzano tomatoes, which I use for making Marinara. When I ordered a case of six 28 oz. cans early last year the price was $22.14. This week the price is $44.27. Fortunately, by not buying organic (I don't believe organic is better) I was able to save considerably. The cans are $3.82 each. Six would be $22.92, about the same as I paid last year. I ordered seven cans to bring the total up to $26.74 for free Amazon shipping, saving $12.95.

My Cell Phone

In Sunday's blog I wrote about the durable case and screen protectors I ordered for my new phone. They arrived earlier than expected — on Monday rather than Wednesday. Knowing they were "out for delivery," I covered my windows and prepared my video camera to shoot a Kitchen Vlog about them.

The installation process was blissfully easy. I edited the video that evening and I uploaded it to YouTube yesterday.

The video is a little long — 18 minutes — but it's actually two installations in one: The Otter Box Defender phone protector and the Supershieldz tempered glass screen protector.

I Also Cooked

On Monday morning I made a pot of Split Pea Soup. I cut a few corners. I did not have ham hocks, but I have a jar of Better than Bouillon Ham Base in the refrigerator. I also have some Serrano ham in the freezer (and it amuses me when people tell me I should never use it as an ingredient when cooking). I prefer the ham base because I always purée the soup after it's cooked. I like a smooth Split Pea Soup and the cooked ham doesn't purée well.

When the Split Pea Soup is gone I'll make Lentil and Sausage Soup (I have plenty of lentils out in the shed), but instead of Italian sausages I'll use up some of that Serrano ham in the freezer.

By evening the pea soup was cooled and portioned (after I enjoyed a bowl for lunch) and packaged for freezing. I put seven portions in the freezer. Okay, that's a compromise of my New Year's resolution to add nothing new to the freezer, but I didn't buy anything. The split peas came from my food storage out in the shed. And for dinner I cooked another of the beef ribs I have in the freezer. There is one left.

Those Cans of San Marzano Tomatoes

They arrived on Tuesday. Seven cans with 28 ounces of tomatoes in each. With the weight of the cans maybe the total weight was 12½ pounds (5.7kg). They were not packed with the weight in mind. Every can was dented in the box, some worse than others. As far as I could see, no seals were broken, but I wasn't going to take any chances. I opened the cans and sealed the contents of each in a vacuum bag before storing them in the freezer.

So that was another compromise of my New Year's resolution.

Meanwhile, I wrote a bad review on the Amazon web site. They won't publish it because I was critical of Amazon shipping, not the product.

Sunday 2022.2.13

New Phone

Last month I wrote about my eventual need to replace my cell phone. T-Mobile will retire its 3G network on July 1st. My old Huawei phone, which I've had since 2002, will no longer work. It certainly isn't a great phone, but it was free 20 years ago and it worked flawlessly. Even the battery remained reliable all these years.

I dreaded the idea of buying a new phone. My last experience, with a salesperson named Sasha, was traumatic. She started out by promising she could get me a $900 phone for $200. I let her try. When the price reached $700 I stopped her. All her assumptions were wrong.

On Wednesday I went phone hunting. There was a different salesperson at the T-Mobile booth. His name is Mark and he is one of the nicest persons I've encountered in sales. I showed him a picture of a phone I was considering for $500. He said they have a model that does all the same things for half the price — a Samsung Galaxy A32 5G.

He asked me the right questions. "What do you use a phone for?" Just for calling. "Do you ever go on the internet?" Nope, my Huawei didn't have access. "Do you use Spotify?" I don't know what Spotify is. Questions like that. I don't even take pictures with my phone. He said the A32 would be more than satisfactory and the price was certainly good. He never tried to sell me up to a higher price. Instead, he saved me money. I bought the phone.

Does Size Really Matter?

It's big, much bigger than my previous one. It's the largest one I've ever had.

I still have most of my former cell phones. I once had a Nokia, but I don't know what happened to that one. I might have traded it in or it might be in a box somewhere out in the shed. The new phone is a bit unwieldy because of its size. I worry I might drop it; so I ordered a protective case for it — an Otterbox Defender. It's supposed to be a good case; however, I suspect it will have one drawback — there will probably be no eyelet for attaching a lanyard.

I like a lanyard when I'm carrying something expensive and bulky. There might be a way. The case comes with a holster, which I will probably never need. In a video I saw an eyelet on the back. The case is scheduled to arrive later this week; so I'll know then.

It might be more case than I need. As I said above, I've had my Huawei for 20 years. There isn't a scratch or other blemish on the screen. It looks like new. It should. It mostly sat on my desk like a desk phone. And, for added protection I might not need, I also ordered tempered glass screen protectors. If everything arrives by Tuesday, I might do an unboxing video and post the link here on Wednesday. If not, then Sunday for sure.

I also downloaded the User's Manual in PDF and I've been working though it slowly, learning several things about my new phone. There are very few settings needing to be changed. And I don't want lots of apps. It has the only two things I wanted: a 3.5mm jack for my headset, which I use all the time, and custom ringtones.

I make my own ringtones. On one computer I have a Text-to-Speech app. I can type "Eric is calling" in the app and it will then convert it to voice and store it as an MP3 file. I load the MP3 into my phone and set it as the ringtone when my friend Eric calls. Rather than looking at the phone to see who is calling, I hear "Eric is calling." I know without looking.

Better still, I didn't need to do much to set up the new phone with new ringtones. Most were on the little micro SD card that was in the previous phone. I only needed to move that to the new phone and my ringtones were there. So easy.

And so I spent part of Thursday morning setting up my contacts list in the new phone. It wasn't a lot of work; I don't have hundreds of contacts. And a few that were in my old phone don't need to be in the new one —we're not friends anymore. So it was easier to create a new contacts list manually than try to transfer the list to the new phone through the cloud.

And a Little Good News

We received a good report from the Water District. "Even without additional rain, the District has enough supply to avoid the need for demand reduction requirements in 2022."

January wasn't a productive month for rain — hardly a drop of rain fell — and so far February appears to be a repeat of January. Currently, we are at about half the normal rainfall for the season. "Normal to date" looks a little better — 88%. And the reservoir is still below 50% capacity. If March doesn't surprise us with significant rain, this rain year will be a disappointment.

The good news for us is that most of our water comes from wells. Pumping water uses energy; whereas, water from the reservoir follows an energy-efficient gravity fed system. The county is investing in more solar panels to help offset the energy requrements.

And there is more good news. The La Niña pattern in the Pacific is collapsing. That pattern steers rain storms away from Southern California. With the La Niña gone, next winter could be a "normal" year for rainfall.

Wednesday 2022.2.9

Cast Iron Maintenance

I had a craving for something with chicken and maybe some guacamole and cheese. I have some cooked chicken in the freezer. And I still have plenty of Maseca Instant Corn Masa Flour — the flour we use for making tortillas from scratch. I thought of Flautas.

I hadn't used my tortilla press in a while. I didn't even know where it was. I found it out in the shed. There were a few very small rust spots on it and that disappointed me, but it was also to be expected. The press is made of cast iron and only minimally seasoned. I have cast iron pans and even though they are seasoned by the manufacturer, I season them really well after I purchase them.

According to my research, the best oil for seasoning cast iron is flaxseed oil. Not only is the oil high in omega-3 fatty acids, it is 57% alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). It's that ALA stuff that polymerizes, cross-linking radicals (or something like them) into the hard coating that protects the cast iron. And, this being winter, running the oven at a high temperature for an hour in the morning is a good way to warm up my home.

So that was the process. I carefully sanded off the rust and then I applied a very thin coat of flaxseed oil on all the cast iron surfaces, top and bottom. Then I placed the tortilla press in my oven and cranked the temperature up as high as it would go — 550°F (290°C) in my oven. After an hour I turned the oven off and let it cool.

Of course, there is a down side — the smoke. As the oil burns and polymerizes, it smokes. A thin haze could be seen in my home during the hour. Despite the cold outside, I opened windows and turned on my fans. But what a difference a little flaxseed oil makes! When I took the tortilla press out of the oven it was a shiny jet black. It looks great.

Unlike my cast iron pans, the tortilla press isn't used for cooking. It only needs to be protected from moisture and rust; therefore, only one coating might be enough.

And as for the cold outside and the window fans, by 10:00 in the morning it was already 72°F (22°C) outside and slowly warming up — and it's February. I love living in Southern California.

And Speaking of Weather

The forecast for tomorrow is sunny with a high of 81°F (27°F). As I write this blog it's already 85°F (29°C) outside here right now. Did I say it yet? I love living in Southern California.

Something New (sorta)

I've done it before, but setting it up can be a bit frustrating. Now that I am using the induction cooker on the counter in front of the camera, the idea of using my GoPro Hero6 for overhead shots seems important again. I used to move the camera to the front of the stove to get those clips. Now I never need to move my camera for videos. I really like that, but I need those shots of the food in the pan.

On Monday I did a video of Sweet & Sour Pork Ribs and once again I positioned my GoPro above my food as it cooked. After editing the video (it's on YouTube now) I was very pleased with the results. The overhead shots ramp up the quality of my videos quite a bit.

Sunday 2022.2.6

Today's Feature Recipe

Today's feature recipe is Chocolate Mousse. As I mentioned on Wednesday, I successfully escaped a disaster. I almost ended up with chocolate scrambled eggs, but I was saved by a little science — the difference between the melting point of chocolate and the cooking point of egg yolks.

The video was published this morning. How well will it do on YouTube? I can't guess. Sweet & Sour Chicken did well for a week, earning enough revenue to pay for itself. Now it has joined most of my other recipes, having declined into obscurity. As I've said numerous times, of my 420 recipe videos, only three are popular. Those three support this web site.

Beef (or Lamb) Stew

On Friday I decided to make Beef (or Lamb) Stew. My mom used to make Beef Stew fairly regularly. It wasn't the finest food, but we ate it and we were satisfied. It was convenient because everything was cooked in one pot — meat, vegetables and soup.

I wish I could remember how she made it, not that it matters very much. As I said, it wasn't a great stew. It was hearty and it fed us.

Did she use her pressure cooker, and if so, for how long? What would the pressure do to the potatoes and carrots? Would it turn them to mush? I have a pressure cooker cookbook and a little research gave me an idea.

Start the meat and stock in an open pot. Skim off any scum that rises to the surface. Then cook 15 minutes at high pressure. Let the pressure subside naturally, then add the chopped vegetables. Use a standard pot lid (my glass Instant Pot lid fits perfectly) and continue cooking until the vegetables are tender. Finish by stirring in a cup of frozen peas. Allow to rest for several minutes, taste for salt, then serve.

Here again my pressure cooker and induction cooker rose to glory. It was so easy to set things up and then just walk away. Let the cookware take care of itself.

If I have one complaint, it's the regret. Why didn't I learn to do this dish many years ago? I could have made it every winter. This stew is truly delicious! I'm happy I wrote down a recipe. I can replicate my success as often as I want to. This stew will be added to my repertoire of winter soups to enjoy every winter.

If everything goes according to plan, the recipe and video will be featured next Sunday, February 13th.

What's Next?

I want to do the Sweet & Sour Pork Ribs next. I have what I need. However, I just put five covered bowls of Lamb Stew in the refrigerator. I'd like to wait until after those are used up.

South Park

As I also mentioned on Wednesday, the latest season of South Park premiered this past week. It seemed to be a debate on whether or not people should be forced to wear masks. In the cartoon it was pajamas. There were some funny moments. Mr. Garrison is back, now with his latest squeeze, Rick; however, someone named Marcus might be a problem in future episodes.

Wednesday 2022.2.2

South Park!

The new season of South Park — Season 25 — begins this evening. I can hardly wait.

Scum Scooper

As I promised in my last blog entry, I did the video of the skimmer and uploaded it to YouTube.

It isn't an important video, as far as videos go, but I had some fun with it. It might interest those who make stock and are looking for a better way to skim the scum and fat off the broth as it cooks. The skimmer worked well for me and I highly recommend it.

Comfort Food

Monday evening I felt like I wanted a dinner of comfort food. I wasn't feeling low or upset about anything. I just wanted some of that food I remember my Mom making when I was a child — something we called American Chop Suey.

It's an odd name. It makes me think of vegetables sautéed in a wok, Chinese style. Chop suey is often said to be a dish created in the USA by Chinese Americans; however, Wikipedia says its origins are in China.

The name "American Chop Suey" is common in New England. The dish is know by other names throughout the USA. It has its origins in Italian cooking, being mostly macaroni with a ragù meat sauce of tomatoes, onions and ground beef. It is sometimes garnished with Parmesan cheese and I was surprised to learn some people season it with Worcestershire sauce.

I always make more than enough, putting a bowl of the meat sauce in the refrigerator. It tastes a little better if heated a day or two later. I meet with a friend online every Wednesday for lunch; so I like to have a slice of pizza or a bowl of macaroni to eat. The sauce is convenient to heat in the microwave oven while I'm boiling more macaroni.

When I first tried to reproduce my mother's recipe I was never satisfied. Something wasn't quite right. It was the onions. After I learned to caramelize them before adding the ground beef, the flavor was exactly how I remembered it.

Mom would come home from work during lunch and prepare the sauce in her electric frying pan, cover it, and return to work. I'd come home from school and smell that delicious aroma. I'd tear up a slice of bread, add a little of the sauce and eat that as an afternoon snack. I made the mistake of leaving the bowl in the sink one day and when my parents got home they yelled at me for eating some of the sauce. I was told never to do it again. I didn't. I always washed the bowl and put it away when I was done.

A Little OCD

Thankfully, I don't suffer with Obsessive-Compulsive Distorder, OCD, but I do sometimes get a little finicky about this web site. With the end of January it became time to add another year to the Blog Archive.

There is that header thing at the top of every page. I looked at all the blog archive pages for 2021 and saw some inconsistencies. I won't bore you with details, but I did spend about an hour examining the code for those pages and I eventually set them all to the same basic design. It was tedious — in fact, too tedious to examine 2020 (maybe some other time) — but I feel better about things. Does anyone ever look into the archives? Probably not, but it's a sort of history of this web site and I like having it there. And sometimes I need to word-search it to find something I wrote about in the past.

Chocolate Mousse

Yesterday I videoed my preparation of Chocolate Mousse. It was amusing, and thankfully I got away with it — I made a potentially costly mistake. I was supposed to mix the butter and sugar with the chocolate in a bowl and place that over simmering water to melt, then add the egg yolks later. I added the yolks with the butter and sugar. Uh-oh. I did a quick bit of research online. Eggs cook at a higher temperature than the heat at which chocolate melts. I monitored it very carefully and the result was not melted chocolate mixed with scrambled eggs. Phew!

The mousse came out very well. It wasn't as light and fluffy as I would have liked — perhaps I was a little too rough when folding in the beaten egg whites. But it was rich and delicious. I have one complaint about the recipe. It says "Serves 6". I divided the mousse between six dessert dishes and when I started eating one, I couldn't finish it. The dessert was too rich. When I write the recipe I might say it feeds 8 to 10.

Today I plan to edit the video. If all goes well, it will be published on YouTube on Sunday.

Home | Recipe Archive | My Blog | Minute Meals | About My Recipes | About the Cook | Blog Archives