Tri2Cook

You go to what most people think of as Northern Ontario and then drive northwest about 1,000 km or so. If you draw a line between Winnipeg and Thunder Bay I'm about halfway-ish between the two but further north.

Yep. And I did a search of their Canadian online store... no such critter to be found. It's ok, I have a little time to look around. I'll figure out something I can work with or just scrap the idea and use another shape.

That's it. I think there was something to do with the ingredients too though. Something about the rose water and the cucumber representing the namesake characters.

I like that one. Their Eeyore's Requiem is a good one too. Edit: I don't recall the rose water disappearing in the mix, I'll have to try it again. For some reason, I seem to remember there being a joke hidden in this one, a little naughty double-entendre. I hope I'm not making that up because I can't seem to find the supporting evidence I was sure existed.

On closer examination, I was less correct than I originally thought I was. They are actually about 1/2" x 1/2" and about 1/2" thick. So now we're at the too small end of the scale. Starting to think the whole "melting hearts" idea for Valentine's Day is going to have to go a different route.

I wanted to mold it in silicone heart-shaped molds but the smallest one I found has hearts that are 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" x 3/4" thick. I can adjust the thickness by how full I fill them but 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" is too big for a one-bite piece so I probably won't do it in that shape. But just for general knowledge, does it pop out of silicone molds without too much trouble? Edit: Found some that are 3/4" x 3/4". That should work.

I don't think you'll get anybody looking down their nose at a Daiquiri or Mai Tai here.

If you like it, that's all that matters. I used to make the same disclaimers when posting here until I finally realized I don't give a flying fork about someone else's approval. So now I tend to think more in line with that old Starkist tuna commercial... I don't want cocktails with good taste, I want cocktails that taste good. Of course, quite often they can be both.

Wanna trade? It's -40 here and I'm not feeling the urge to bake anything so I'm fine with it being warm.

I don't have plans for anything special for New Year's eve, food or activity. New Year's day is going to be the 12 Hours of College Football. Still deciding on some sort of snack to munch on while I bounce between the Peach Bowl and Citrus Bowl (and an occasional Outback Bowl score-check) mid-day. Then it's a pot of chili and jalapeno cheddar cornbread to accompany the Rose Bowl. The Sugar Bowl starts late enough that I probably won't be doing much in the way of eating by that point. Most likely a beer or two tomorrow then water the rest of the time... football is going late and work comes early on Tuesday. Trying to convince myself to make a tiki drink or two tonight to welcome the new year by ending my shame at still not having used the tiki mugs I bought last summer. When I was a youngster, we used to put a jar of mustard and a jar of grape jelly in a crockpot until it melted together then tossed in Little Smokies and let them go on low. That way we could just grab a few whenever we wanted and they were always hot. I've made it a few times with the addition of dried chili flakes or a chopped habanero or two. I've never seen the Little Smokies where I live now and I didn't enjoy it as much when I tried it with meatballs so I haven't had it in many years.

That's exactly where I stand on turkey. Nothing I actually dislike about it but don't love it enough to want to ask for it either. My late wife loved turkey so she'd do them for Thanksgiving, Christmas and sometimes Easter if I didn't complain. If I had complained, she would almost certainly have done something else because that's just the type of person she was... so I didn't complain. With all she did for us, eating turkey with a smile on my face a few times a year so she could enjoy it instead of feeling bad because I didn't really want it was easy.

Yep, that's the plan. I remembered you posting about using it for the meltaways and being really happy with the result so I was already going to do that when I decided to ask about using meltaway as a filling.

Thanks! I was going to use the EZtemper silk whether I shell them or not so I'll just shoot some of it in a couple shells before I frame the rest and see how I like the result. I mainly just asked in case it was an already known bad idea but since that's not the case... a testing we will go. As soon as I get my coconut oil, that is.

How difficult are these to handle if you don't coat them in powdered sugar? With the commercial versions, you have to go from wrapper to mouth without much hesitation or you get messy fingers but it's doable. Is it the same with these or do they really need that coating? I'd like to pipe it in shells but I have a feeling that would spoil the meltaway effect.

Christmas dinner for one - I have a hunk of beef in the sous vide tank that will be accompanied by either potatoes of some sort or mac and cheese (gonna call an audible on that one but leaning towards the mac) and brussels sprouts. I grabbed a nice baguette from the store because baking wasn't in the plans for this morning and Anna N's occasional pictures of her leftover beef sliced on a baguette have been calling my name for quite a while now. And now that the store won't be open again until tomorrow, it occurs to me that I forgot to grab horseradish... so that will be a small visit from the Ghost of Christmas Disappointment. The older daughter gave me a nice selection of import and craft beers so I'll look through those and see if any sound like they'd work with the meal. My original plan was to pay homage to Christmas Story and make some North American-ized Chinese takeout dishes and have a tiki drink or two but laziness won the day so that isn't happening.

Thanks everybody. I don't need a large amount, at least not for now, I just needed to verify that I should use the deodorized stuff. The ~400 gram jars I can order from amazon will be plenty to get started with if there's none at the local store.

They sell one on amazon that's no more expensive than the regular stuff at the local store with free shipping so it should be easy to get. It wasn't something I planned to have done before Christmas anyway but I'll check at the store again first just to make sure I don't order it for no reason. Do these wind up being similar to icy squares in texture?

I suspected that would be the case but I've never used any type of coconut oil for anything so I wasn't sure how strong the regular stuff is. I'll check the store again to be sure because stuff changes there all the time and I haven't looked recently but this will probably have to wait until my next amazon order.

Are we using regular off-the-shelf whatever's at the grocery store coconut oil for meltaways or tracking down the deodorized stuff? I've wanted to try them for a long time but wasn't sure if the stuff at the store was going to make them taste like coconut mint or coconut peanut butter meltaways.

Thanks! I saw your lemon mint bar in that earlier picture but for some reason it didn't connect when I posted my question. I'd prefer to do the recipe with the fresh mint leaves but the stuff at the store really does look bad right now. I wanted some for the ganache and some for the tiki drinks I was planning to make during the holidays... both are going to have to live without it this time.

Was planning to do Greweling's lemon mint ganache until I saw the condition of the mint available at the local store right now. I have pure peppermint oil so I'm considering pressing on using that instead of the fresh mint. I've seen substitution recommendations saying 1 drop of the oil for 1 tbsp chopped fresh mint but Greweling's quantity is given as "45 leaves". I'm perfectly fine with just adding a drop at a time and tasting but I've never made this ganache before so I'm not sure what I'm aiming for in mint intensity. Anybody done this one that can give me a general idea of how powerful the mint is in the end result?

Makes sense. Airbrushing molds hasn't been going that great for me right now. We're having an early run of very cold weather that makes keeping my work area warm enough to not have to fight with the airbrush difficult unless I'm willing to bump the thermostat up so high that the rest of the house is hot and the oil and electric bills skyrocket. So I'm pretty much relegated to finger painting and splattering right now... that or keeping the air in the house blue while I fight with the airbrush. According to the tracking, that second gun I ordered is at the post office now so maybe being able to switch between them will help.

Interesting... that's the opposite of how I view it. I tend to do everything in molds with laziness being a hefty part of the reasoning. I consider things I have to dip to be the royal pain in the arse.

Not sure how I managed to not see this last year and almost again this year but it looks like it was a lot of fun on both occasions.

That makes sense. Thanks! And it really wasn't a criticism, that's a beautiful cake.