Toluu

Eclectic Glob of Tangential Verbosity

End of the RainbowYesterday

Early this evening, I got a call from Google Earth Evangelist, who said that there was a rainbow outside. She did warn me that it was raining some, but I immediately rushed out and there it was. My photos, as usual, don't do it justice, since it wasn't food, and I suspect it had faded some since she called me. It was still cool, though. I found it amusing that it looked as if at end of the rainbow there was not a pot of gold, but Duke's coal pile.

In fact, the rainbow was huge. It was particularly nifty looking at all this, because the chapel carillon was playing and it was extremely windy.

Mocha CakeJanuary 5

When I was a kid, my Most Faithful Reader's mocha cake was The Best Cake, in my opinion. I would constantly beg her to make it and occasionally she would. I never understood why she wouldn't make it more often. I made it twice right after I started cooking. I didn't feel like making it again until several years later. I finally understood. It's a pain.

It's really good, though.

• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup softened butter
• 5 eggs, separated, whites beaten
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 3 cups flour
• 4 teaspoons cocoa powder
• 5 tablespoons strong coffee
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Cream the sugar and butter. Add the egg yolks, buttermilk, coffee and vanilla. To make the coffee, dissolve as many spoonfuls of instant coffee into a cup of hot water water as you possibly can. or until you get bored. Mix together flour, cocoa and baking soda and then mix into the wet ingredients. Your electric mixer is your friend. Fold in beaten egg whites. Note that you should be using a big bowl, so you don't have to move everything to a larger bowl. Plan ahead.

Pour

Busy Making JewelryJanuary 4

I made a lot of jewelry during the holiday break, which was a refreshing activity. It was fun making this choker.

I didn't notice until I photographed this that the black tubular beads are extremely dark red. Fortunately, you can't tell unless you hold them up to bright light (or photograph them, apparently).

This is the longest necklace I've ever made and I'm really happy with how it turned out. It looks good either doubled up or as a single strand. I was aiming for flamboyant, but still classy, and I think it worked out just fine.

Taverna Nikos Blogging : New Year's EveJanuary 1

The Most Faithful Readers and I celebrated the new year early last night, at Taverna Nikos. They had some spectacular specials and I'd been drooling just at the thought of them for weeks.
My 2nd MFR and I started out by sharing a bowl of lobster bisque. It was absolutely full of small pieces of lobster. It was extremely good.

For his entree, my 2nd MFR had a half lobster, which had been cooked in tomatoes, herbs, red wine and brandy and was served with linguine. The few pieces I tried were delicious. My MFR, of course, had her traditional serving of calamari.

Blu Blogging : Chocolate Cabernet TartDecember 30 2008

Tonight Blu Seafood and Bar offered an ever so smooth and rich chocolate Cabernet tart. It was perfectly petite, but completely satisfying with dark chocolate ganache on a sugar dough crust. I did not share and I did not feel guilty. In fact, not only had I eaten a healthy meal prior to dessert, but I did my part to combat global warming by only eating raw seafood.