Tag Archives: non-fiction

Experiments with chocolate

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I say experiments, because I’m not much of a baker or a cook. I’m purely in Food Survival mode most of the time, because at the end of the day when it comes to dinner prep, I want easy and fast. Hence, no great culinary feats for me.

Unless I’m inspired. And, oh my, file this post under I’m inspired. During a public library gleaning with the kids, I found Pure Chocolate (Divine Desserts and Sweets from the Creator of Fran’s Chocolates) by Fran Bigelow (with Helene Siegel.)  Look what I made with homemade crust (the crust construction always intimidates me.) According to Fran, this is one of the easier recipes.

chocolate tart

And it was easy. The most difficult aspect turned out to be setting aside time to make the crust, allowing for proper chill time (Stop snickering; I’d rather read than bake.)

Not sure if the crust is meant to slip that far down from the lip of the pan, but I’ll take it for my first attempt. Taste? It’s made with semi-sweet chocolate which only one of the kids didn’t enjoy (Peter made a face; silly child. He will come to the Dark Side, soon enough.)

The happy news is a copy of this book is going to come live at my house so I can conduct more experiments at my leisure. And look at that face! This child needs to be raised with good tastes in fine desserts. Plus I need more bakers around here. I can find the recipes, the kids can do the cooking. Washing the dishes can be the price I pay. Sounds like a win/win to me, no?

You can find the recipe on page 79 if I happen to inspire you bake your own Pure Chocolate Tart.

What I’m reading: mystery and food

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The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. I’ve had my eye on this title for quite some time. Every time I went to the library, it was never checked in. Hmmm. That’s a good sign the kids like it, no? Finally I got smart and put in a request. Now I see why it’s popular – it’s a fun fiction selection that will appeal to both boys and girls. When I’m finished with the other books in the series, I’ll say more.

Chocolate (A Bittersweet Saga of Dark and Light) by Mort Rosenblum. The history of food makes for fascinating reading. This year I’ve consumed (oh, pun!) Starbucked (A Double Tall of Caffeine, Commerce and Culture) by Taylor Clark and The United States of Arugula (How We Became a Gourmet Nation) by David Kamp.

What are you reading?

You can’t make this stuff up

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Played the Book Game on Facebook the other day.

If you spend any amount of time goofing off in online circles, then you probably know how it goes. Grab the nearest book, no cheating going to dig out a title that you know will be good or make you look smarter,  open to Page 56. Count down to Sentence No. 5.

Now the fun part: broadcast that sentence on your profile (Facebook, Twitter, where ever you normally express your thoughts.) Finish by laughing at all the random goofiness or wisdom coming from an author’s page.  I imagine there has been a lot of stupid sentences shared due to the Book Game.

Normally I don’t share space on my computer desk with books. I have papers, pens, notebooks, newspapers, along with various clutter that makes me look like I’m a serious producer of quality content. I don’t read books at this desk, so no books to grab.

But while writing that blog post about Committed last week, a friend threw down a Book Game challenge, and – finally! – Committed snuggling in the mess on my desk.

Open book. Count down. Sentence No. 5.

Are you ready for what Ms. Gilbert has for us?

As Jesus taught: “If any man  me to me and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:2).

Personally, I think Liz knows the Book Game and intentionally put that there, knowing someday it would be called upon to be written on many a Facebook profile or blog post. Wasn’t that nice of her?

Love it, love it.

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The scripture verse is in the chapter on Marriage and History; Gilbert has a lot to say regarding the Church and marriage. Anyone else read it? Care to discuss? The comments are open for you.

Committed Elizabeth Gilbert