Friday, April 30, 2010

Chocolate Panna Cotta

A delicious new twist on an old Italian favorite. panna cotta(from David Lebovitz's website) With cocoa powder substituting the berry sauce, all you have to do is make the recipe, and add cocoa powder to it. So I


4 cups (1l) heavy cream (or half-and-half)
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, or 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
2 packets powdered gelatin (about 4 1/2 teaspoons)
6 tablespoons (90ml) cold water


1. Heat the heavy cream and sugar in a saucepan or microwave. Once the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.


(If using a vanilla bean, scrape the seeds from the bean into the cream and add the bean pod. Cover, and let infuse for 30 minutes. Remove the bean then rewarm the mixture before continuing.)
You can substitute the vanilla for chocolate.


2. Lightly oil eight custard cups with a neutral-tasting oil. (Any kind of cup will work, but the glass kinds work best)


3. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water in a medium-sized bowl and let stand 5 to 10 minutes.


4. Pour the very warm Panna Cotta mixture over the gelatin and stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved.


5. Divide the Panna Cotta mixture into the prepared cups, then chill them until firm, which will take at least two hours but I let them stand at least four hours. (Judy told me American refrigerators are colder than European ones. )

If you're pressed for time, pour the Panna Cotta mixture into wine goblets so you can serve them in the glasses, without unmolding.


6. Run a sharp knife around the edge of each Panna Cotta and unmold each onto a serving plate, and garnish as desired.


To make Panna Cotta with sheet gelatin: Soften 25g (approximately six sheets) in a liter of cold water for 5 to 10 minutes. Wring the sheets out and stir them into the warm Panna Cotta mixture in step # 4, until dissolved.


So, for mine, on the inside bottom of each custard cup, I added one layer of cocoa powder, pour the Cocoa Panna Cotta into the cup, and added another layer of Cocoa Powder. I refrigerated for about 2-5 hours, and to tell the truth, it tasted great.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Crochet Scarf

Sorry I haven't posted in a looooooooong time. Any way, I'm crocheting a scarf, and I'm posting the instructions. So here goes. I'm crocheting together a long chain of Eastern Stars, I can't find the patterns so sorry. I l;inked them together with 3 chain stitches and one yarn over, adjusted to the width of each petal. It's pretty long, I don't have pics, so you can kinda get the idea how vague this post is. Any way, here's the witch of mortinshire:
"King Hattuk? King Hattuk? Where are you?" Jasmina cried. She had been so concentrated with Sage that she hadn't paid attention to her surroundings. The king was no where to be found. They were in the middle of a desert, not the jungle! "Marcella, is this your magic?" Jasmina asked, only to hear, "This is part of your test to learn the way. You must escape back to the jungle on your own." Then, Marcella disappeared with the children, leaving Jasmina behind. "I've no training, how am I supposed to do this?" Jasmina asked the wind, for the wind was the only one there, other then the sand on the dunes. "Believe in yourself." cried the wind as it blew around and around, whisking the sand into patterns. The wind suddenly materialized into a little person. I person about the size of your pointer. Jasmina was astounded.
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Well, that's all for today!link

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Origami and Ribbon Projects

I have tried the ribbon one, and it turned out great. I was trying to find a way to recycle some golden ribbon left over from some time and I was trying to make a ribbon fish, but instead I watched this video from youtube over and over for one hour and doing it with it until I finally made it! This requires tons of patience and perseverance which usually I don't have, but with crafts... I manage to somehow. There are three parts to the videos, and it will be in the side bar. Remember, persevere, persevere, and persevere. Sorry I tried to find some pics, and my camera doesn't work, so no pics.
So for the magic rose cube, I found a very easy to understand video from this site from youtube. When you fold them right, they look SO pretty! I also found a Kawasaki rose instructions from youtube. Here.
There are leaves variations that you can find when you press the down button from the little box under the video. Have patience, since the Kawasaki rose video is 16 minutes long!

APRIL FOOLS FROM GOOGLE!!!!!!!

So today google changed its name to Topeka, saying Topeka, Kansas, a month ago, had changed its name to Google, so they were changing their name to Topeka in honor of Topeka, no I mean Google. But that's just an April Fools'. I hope.