Thinking...or not?

I think I've sweated out all of my wit with all the running around I do. Maybe I need to clear out my mind a little bit...

Not too much to say.

Not much time to say it.

As of today.

I am working less. In theory. That probably won't happen, as I'm sure I'll end up putting in 40-50 hours weekly into chocolate...it's kind of becoming an obsession. The transition to madness would not be much of a change for me. Soon I'll be holed up in the Chocolate Necessities warehouse. My eyes will be permanently red from the fluorescent lights and my skin will be paper-thin from all of the handwashing. BUT! I'll be an expert chocolatiére!

In my "spare time" I've decided to teach three of my good friend and hairdresser's children beginning Spanish. I'm figuring out a fun way to go about it, and I'll start this Friday. There is a new program in Washington in which homeschooling parents are paid $1,000 per child per year for school materials and other miscellanea. In addition to the stipend, the program pays for children's private lessons in any subject. Tutors in these subjects get their names put on a list and are referred to other homeschoolers. I'm really excited to start, and I hope everything goes smoothly.

I've also been (kind of) getting more sleep recently. Usually I go to bed around 10:00 and sleep until 5:30. Once I get a bike, though, I'd like to wake up at 4:00 and bike to work. We'll see how that one goes. I've never been a morning person, but it's nice to get as much out of the day as possible. This morning I went to the gym for an hour before heading off to school.

Dance has also consumed a significant part of my life. The troupe is perfecting our first 3 choreographies and working on 4 new ones, but it's really beginning to come easier to everyone. Zils are still a challenge, but I've been practicing until my fingers turn purple!

Speaking of bellydance, there's a show this Saturday at Indian Flavors restaurant (best Indian food in town!) at around 7:00. Ruby and Sedona (Seattle) will dance. Sedona just won the Bellydancer USA competition, so it's pretty exciting to have her in town!

It's been awhile

Yes, indeed it has. I haven't really had much internet access nor time to blog lately, but school's back in session so I should be updating my blog.

I tried out the vanilla black pepper truffle, and it turned out pretty well, though I'd like to change a few things. We added medium ground pepper to the vanilla ganache, and I think I'd like more peppery crunch next time. I felt like the flavour was lost with such a fine grind. I sprinkled medium-ground pepper on top of the truffles, which added a nice little kick, but Kevin kept choking on the pepper...he liked it though. Overall, the truffle was pretty sweet since we used a white chocolate base. I liked the sweetness, though, and I think it will work in the future with a few minor tweaks. The pepper flavour was almost an after-taste, which is nice but not what I want. Next time I think we'll steep the pepper into the cream like a spicy chai. I feel like that will create a more balanced profile. Check out the truffles at either Chocolate Necessities location www.chocolatenecessities.com
My next project, time permitting, will be a curry truffle in a nutty milk base. Curry can be pretty overwhelming, and using a complex Spice Hut blend could be difficult to maneuver since some flavours are stronger than others, but we'll try it out.
My life has been fairly consumed by chocolate lately. The other day I was kind of on a manic adrenaline kick and I ended up working two days straight--twenty-five hours through the night...I got a lot done for sure, and I ended up cleaning up the store pretty well. Coincidentally, we had a health inspector show up the next day. Ah, life treats me well.

Sugar, sugar, sugar

I found five four-leaf clovers on my lunch break today. I was rather impressed with myself.

I also learned how to make coconut gianduja filling...which means I ate lots of coconut gianduja. (coconut gianduja=coconut flakes+white chocolate). Shu's back, so we'll be messing around with flavours before too long. We're trying to bring in a more savoury element to the chocolate, though Kevin, the head chocolatier and store owner, thinks spices and "food" flavours overpower the taste of chocolate. We've decided to prove him wrong......I have so many ideas floating in my head.....

• black pepper with Tahitian vanilla in a dark shell.
• sweet red bean paste in a bittersweet shell.
• BEER! We've done it before...Deschutes Brewery should be putting out their Abyss Stout soon, I can't wait.
• any herb, really. Now that Shu has perfected the tea truffle, we can infuse almost anything into the cream.

the possibilities are endless...

Oh, speaking of flavour, this cupcake-maker seems to have some pretty wild ideas: http://ecupcake.blogspot.com/
I haven't tried any of her recipes yet, but they look great. I like that she mentions any problems she encounters.

Art

Bellingham's Gallery Walk this Friday was wonderful. First, I went to see art by Erin Libby at the Blue Horse Gallery. If you have time, I suggest you check it out. Her art is very surreal and full of life and mischief. Some of Tammy Zlotnik's work was also on display as part of a memorial exhibit (one of about four in town!) I also checked out some of Tammy's work at Allied Arts. I also saw some art by Trish Harding (I can't remember the name of her studio, but it's in the same building as the Blue Horse).

I'm falling in love with a word.

I scribble it over and over.
I tumble it on my tongue,
stretch its syllables,
wring it dry,
dissect it until it sounds like some non-sound;
some extraterrestrial utterance...
the sound of wind on paper.

Yesterday

the last hints of summer lingered in the air, and I went for a walk around the neighborhood. It isn't quite autumn yet; that will be heralded by the sudden ripening of blackberries and the reddening of the maple leaves. All at once, the season will collapse on us like a building. Summer's hard work will come crashing down as tomatoes and pumpkins birth their last, only to be ravaged by death and decay.