Dark chocolate molds

So, I have this flat sheet mould that I used to make the chocolate fish. The mould was from a kit to make soap, but that's a crafty adventure for another post.

Directions to melt chocolate

1. Water-bath / double boiler method

a. chop chocolate into smaller pieces and put it in a heat-proof bowl that fits snugly on top of a saucepan that has been filled with water.

b. Bring the saucepan to a simmer and stir the chocolate until it melts completely (it should look smooth and shiny); be sure to have the stove heat low enough so that the water doesn't boil. Turn off the heat once the chocolate has all melted.

Directions for Tempering Chocolate

The Cooking for Engineers blog has a good explanation of how this is done and why it is different than just melting chocolate.

Filling the mould

Spoon the chocolate into the mould, but don't overfill it. If the chocolate is still warm, you can gently swirl the spoon around in the melted chocolate to fill the detailed parts (like the fish's fins). Tap the mould on the counter to settle the surface of the chocolate as well as release any air bubbles.

Refrigerate the mold for about 30 minutes until the chocolate has set. Invert the mould onto a wax paper or parchment paper and chill it again.

Now then, I need to find a natural way to keep this chocolate from melting at room temperature. They look fine after having set in the refrigerator; but there's not a whole lot I can do with it.

Banana bread notes

Lately I've just been obsessed with making bread in this antiquated bread machine I nabbed from my parents' room-of-lost-and-forgotten appliances. I made banana bread last night and the dough did some crazy rising, mushrooming over the top of the baking bucket thing. I think the two ripe bananas (instead of 1/3 c mashed banana) made the dough extra gassy and I only mixed up two of the bread machine recipe book's recipes.. a sweet butter bread and banana bread. One calls for 1/2 c water, the other wants 1/4 c water; since I didn't notice that until it was too late (1/2 c water was the first ingredient in), I thought I'd add an additional 1/4 c flour. I also didn't add the full 1 1/4 tsp active dry yeast 'cause I didn't want to open another packet of yeast just for the 1/4 tsp. That didn't seem to affect the bread at all.

Tastes great and it's not like any moist banana bread you'd get at a store. It's not dense or heavy. It's airy, moist and very banana scented. I can't think of a bread texture that this reminds me of.

The curry bread still sits relatively untouched in my fridge. I don't think that the woodland creatures near me would be interested. I should let it dry out and crumble it to make something else...

When making bread...

The recipe calls for dried onion as one of the ingredients for curry bread. I don't like onions and don't eat onions, if I can help it. If I swapped that out for powdered garlic, would that still taste ok? Also, it seems that my area had a power surge and the electricity flickered.. resetting the timer for the current loaf (oatmeal bread) in the bread machine. Seeing how it's just in the first kneading stage, I wonder if an extra 10 minutes of kneading will affect how it rises. Hmm.. Making bread at home seems easier than going out to the store to buy, except now I have to go to the store to buy things to eat with the bread.

Garlic in a jar

Sure, garlic in a jar is nothing new. You can get it at the grocery store, peeled, minced, or sitting in some funky liquid like olive oil; but garlic is pretty darn cheap and it only takes a few seconds to prep garlic this way rather than buying some pre-packaged stuff. Want to keep garlic fresh like when you bought it, but live in a climate where your garlic either sprouts like mad in the cupboard, rots in jars in the cupboard, or goes all wonky on you in the fridge? Try this method, then decide what's best for your cooking style. 

Keeping Garlic Fresh 

Take a clean glass jar with a screw-on lid. Take a garlic bulb (or several bulbs if you bought in bulk). Take the outer paper layers off the bulb, the ones that encase the bulb but not the paper that encases the cloves. Break apart the bulb into individual cloves. Put the cloves into the glass jar, screw the lid on, and put the jar in the fridge. That is it. When you need garlic for whatever purpose, simply prepare the garlic cloves as you normally would.

A quotation for early risers

"When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?" "What's for breakfast?" said Pooh, "What do you say, Piglet?" "I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet. Pooh nodded thoughtfully. "It's the same thing," he said. --A.A. Milne, Winne-the-Pooh (1926)