Viktoria

Also, Darienne, I'm very sorry to hear about your spinal stenosis. Hopefully you get some relief soon. I've heard good things about acupuncture and pain treatment. -Viktoria

I recently read a book that made a lot of sense to me. It was called "good calories, bad calories" by Gary Taubes. Taubes is a science journalist for some well respected professional science journals, as well as The New York Times, etc. In this book he went back and looked at all of the diet and nutritional studies in the literature, and tried to summarize what the data really says, primarily for cardiac risk, but also for obesity. His conclusion is that there isn't a lot of data to support the low fat, high carbohydrate diet that has been mainstream for the last 40 years or so. Of course the premise and book are not uncontroversial. The book is dense with a good deal of breaking down of individual studies. It's certainly not an easy read. But as a scientist myself, it really resonated with me. He's written a more recent book, called "why we get fat" or something like that, which is an easier read and expands on some of the themes in his first book. Neither of these is a diet book, neither has a detailed menu plan or anything. But I've changed my eating habits since reading that, as well as my families. After about a month, I noticed a dramatic change in my hunger and full signals, as well as my sugar cravings. I dont really snack anymore unless i'm hungry, which is rare except at mealtime. 2 months in and I've lost 15 pounds without counting anything. And I've found the concept of balance and moderation easier to follow. My husband is tired of hearing me talk about it. But for someone who's had a weight problem for much of my life and still has more weight to lose, to be without food anxiety is nearly a miracle, further weight loss or not.

Thank you! It means a lot coming from you all. I recently splurged on a few new molds, and am still working out the kinks. I only had some basic shapes before. I'm still looking for a hedgehog mold, if anyone might know where to find one. I have only just begun to play with color, as well. I can't afford to get too many of the ones from chef rubber yet. I bought some powdered colors from the local cake supply store, but they don't work very well. I think that she did appreciate the work. I think the guests were surprised that they were home-made. No one seems to expect that this kind of thing can be done out of a home kitchen, if you have the right tools.

I have a magnetic mold for spheres. Big difference, besides the magnets of course, is the hemispheres on one side of my mold have a hole in them so you can fill and seal. I actually haven't played with mine yet. I would imagine with yours you'd have to do them like you do larger hollow chocolate molds: create the two halves, and then assemble post-facto.

Cranachan truffles: Thickened raspberry puree with an oat infused whipped cream white chocolate center, honey and Glenlivet Scotch whisky. I think I need a slightly different mold for this one to get the ratio of fillings right, and I didn't get the shells defect-free. I also tried using lustre dust for the first time, and wasn't very happy with the results. You can't see very well in the photo, but the whipped cream chocolate center has a great texture: light and fluffy. Sadly, these didn't make it to the baby shower on time. But I did make several others for the event: peanut gianduja, earl grey (I tried painting the tea cut rim, and bottom with gold, but it didn't have the effect I wanted), raspberry, chocolate, caramel, and solid dark chocolate hemispheres. I made a big tray for the party, and then gave my friend this little box just for her for after. The mom to be was very happy.

I would vote for the pumpkin caramel. And I thought they looked very nice in the picture, even if you were't happy.

I'm not a huge fan of marshmallows, which seems to be blasphemy in some circles. Peeps in general are pretty nasty, but they transform when you brûlée them My husband can't stand anything flavored with artificial banana. I think milk chocolate flavored "chocolate" you can find around Easter particularly awful.

My kids are pretty young, so this isn't too far back for me. Both of them were early eaters. Some pediatricians want you to wait till 6 month, but both of mine wanted to try foods by 4 months. Our pediatrician had us start with cereals (typically processed and flaked for quick rehydration) mixed with whatever milk you give your child. Then veggies and then fruits. We moved pretty quickly to feeding them whatever we were eating. Certain foods that are typically allergenic, like egg, cows milk, etc, our Dr recommended to avoid for the first year. Honey was delayed longer. Finger foods for our kids were cheerios, cooked baby carrots, these flavored puffed rice snacks and these weird dehydrated yogurt snacks also known around my house as baby crack. My kids also liked eating peas cooked soft and rice by the handful, which gets everywhere.

I should have posted again earlier to thank you Willow and Kerry for your suggestion. Unfortunately work and munchkins got in the way. However, Thank you! I started with a half recipe of the Greweling white chocolate ganache. I substituted in honey and whiskey in the recipe. I also ignited some of the alcohol, since the intended audience can't have it. I split that batch into 2, set one half plain in a loaf pan to act as control, and the other half I set over a thin layer of thickened seedless raspberry jelly (warmed and extra pectin added in) that I'd done the night before. I chilled both and let set over night. Then I footed and cut into squares (I have yet to do that uniformly, but still). Then I dipped in tempered semisweet chocolate as that's what I had on hand. The family tested both the bare ganache centers, and the finished product. Both very tasty. The raspberry variety was a big favorite. The bare center with raspberry on it was really nice. However, for the cranachan tasting goal, I'm not sure it worked. I think the creaminess was good. But I couldn't taste the honey or the whiskey. Also, the white chocolate flavor was very prevalent, which might just be a factor of the chocolate I used. I might try a 2nd attempt with more of each honey and whiskey. I think this time I'd try it moulded, though, since enrobing the raspberry variety was a pain. Anyway, here's the final product of the first test batch.

White chocolate brownies with salted caramel swirl for my husband's birthday It's more or less my regular brownie recipe with white chocolate substituted, based on something from Cook's Illustrated. Turns out pretty well, though I don't think I have the recipe balanced quite right as it stays gooey in the center a lot longer than regular brownies. Though since they're not brown I guess I should call them something else....

One of the recent additions to IBS treatment is an elimination diet called the FODMAPS diet. Fodmaps stands for fermentable oligo-, di-, and monosaccharides and polyols and wheat is a big one. So many people with gastro issues stop eating wheat products and feel better. Because it's so prevalent now, they attribute it to gluten, when in fact it may be the fructans.

Hello Everyone! As many before me have said - This is my very first post after much lurking. I'm not a pro. I don't even consider myself a terribly skilled amateur. But I am ambitious. I have a stumper that I'm hoping people here can help me solve. I'm not sure this is exactly the topic to pose it in, (perhaps the flavors topic is more appropriate) but I've been so impressed with what people are working on I'm hoping someone will have an idea. I'm trying to make a truffle based on the Scottish dessert Cranachan (KRA neh ken). It's a surprisingly tasty dessert of whipped cream flavored with honey and whisky, toasted oats and raspberries. My friend served it at her wedding. I'd love to make this for her as a surprise for her upcoming baby shower. I've got pieces of it figured out, I think. Reduced raspberry puree, toasted oat praline, but I'm at a loss when it comes to the whipped cream, honey, whisky analogue. It's supposed to be light, fluffy, and not overly sweet. I think the sweetness level, and body make a white chocolate ganache (butter or cream) unsuitable. Fondant would be out for the same reason. I was thinking perhaps of italian meringue buttercream, or maybe even just italian meringue? I've looked over a couple of the books I have (Shotts, Greweling) and nothing really popped out at me as the right direction. Might anyone have any thoughts? Thanks in advance Viktoria