Oh, For the Love of Chocolate

Bon-Bons
Ingredients:
1 box mix of cake (plus ingredients needed to bake cake – eggs, water/milk, oil, etc)
1 container icing
Chocolate or white chocolate bark
Sprinkles or nuts for decoration

On Day 1, bake the cake, following the directions on the box. Once the cake is baked and still hot, transfer the cake from the oven into a large mixing bowl, and then mix in the icing. Chill this mixture in the refrigerator overnight.

On Day 2, roll the cake/icing mixture into balls, smaller than golf balls. Space them evenly in Tupperware containers, insert flagged toothpicks into them, and chill them in the freezer overnight.
And finally on Day 3, melt the chocolate bark in a double boiler over medium heat (slow-boiling water in bottom pot, bark in top pot). Using the toothpick as a handle, dip each bon-bon into the melted bark to coat lightly, then place the bon-bons on baking parchment paper to cool. Sprinkle each dipped bon-bon with nuts and sprinkles immediately, as the bark coating hardens quickly. Let the full batch of bon-bons cool for at least a half hour before transferring them to a serving platter – the bark cools quickly, however the base of each bon-bon takes a bit longer to harden.

Refrigerate any left-over bon-bons. Each box of cake mix and icing yields approximately 50 bon-bons for the size that I make.

-Ambra

The Blood of Jove

I love wine. I am an amateur enthusiast – by no means do I understand enough about wine to be a connoisseur. But I have learned enough to order good wine with confidence, and without breaking the bank. I haven’t always loved wine, and until a few years ago the only adult beverage I could drink without making a bitter face was tequila. But that’s a story for another time. Today, I share my limited knowledge of wine, and I hope to embark on a new journey to educate myself enough to one day raise my glass with other enthusiasts and not be regarded as an idiot.
I use to drink Merlot. Why? Because I didn’t know any better. Eventually I got tired of the headaches, and the inconsistency of each bottle. Then I started touring vineyards and wineries of the Texas Hill Country, and all those trips matured my taste enough for me to realize that Merlot is crap. I’ll only drink it now if it is highly masked in a Super Tuscan blend, and listed last on the bottle. I prefer a full-bodied red wine, and I really enjoy spicy (for lack of a more appropriate and educated term). I like Shiraz, Syrah, some Pinot Noir, some Cabernet, Tempranillo, Malbec, and Sangiovese. What is also interesting is that on these tours through the Texas tasting rooms, I come home with more white wine than red. Does it mean that I prefer white to red? Absolutely not – let’s just get that straight right now! Texas makes incredibly good white wines, and dry, just how I like them. I’ve grown to love local Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc, which pair well with our spicy food here in Texas. I’ve also enjoyed Chenin Blanc and Pinot Grigio from these wineries. And I must note that I think sweet wine is for sissies, like those Californian hippies. That’s right, I will not buy wine from California if I can avoid it. They are almost as arrogant as the French. Well…my state is bigger and better than their state…period. I have an appreciation for Italian wines, Latin American wines, and Australian wines. This is what I know now. And I must reiterate that I am a wine drinker, not a collector, not a connoisseur.

Two years ago for my birthday I received a book, Windows on the World Complete Wine Course, and I haven’t touched it. I’ve talked about it, but it has collected dust...shame on me. I think I will start with chapter 1 this month.

More to come…

-Ambra