Déjà vu All Over Again

In junior high we were required to take Home Economics - one semester of sewing and one of cooking. The boys were required to take shop, which I would have loved to take as well but girls were not allowed; boys couldn't take Home Ec either. 

We've come a  l-o-n-g  way, baby! 

     

Case in point - my senior year I participated in a sit-in as a protest that girls could not wear pants to school - not even nice pant suits, which were very popular then. We had to wear skirts or dresses with hems no more than 1 inch above the knee (and yes, we would have to kneel down and be measured if there was any question), and stockings or hose. Of course, the day of the sit-in was one of the last days of the school year, and we were pretty sure there wouldn't be any repercussions. I think it was still a few more years before slacks were allowed - jeans, at least another decade!

But I digress.

I loved walking into the big room where we had our cooking classes at Valley Jr. High. It was a room with separate kitchens set up, each with a range, sink, cabinets and table. We were divided into groups of 3-4 and assigned our station. We would all meet together for a lesson on what we would cook that day and received very specific instructions on how we were to do it. Everything was to be carefully measured and stirred, cooked, baked, appraised and graded, cleaned up, and then we were able to eat what we had made. It was a little weird eating Cream of Wheat at 2pm, but everything else was OK.  My favorite lesson was the one on blancmange pudding. Mmmmmm, yummmmmm! 

After that lesson my friend Debbie and I went to her home every day and made a big pot of it and ate it before anybody else came home. My family was happy when I made some and actually shared it with them.  I'm forever spoiled, and will never, ever think Jello pudding is good enough (sorry, Bill Cosby).

This is the information I pulled up on blancmange since I don't think too many people know what it is anymore:   
The term blancmange is derived from the Middle English blankmanger, from Old French blanc mangier : blanc, white (of Germanic origin) + mangier, to eat, food (from Latin manducare). Several medieval recipes for blancmange have survived, and the dish is mentioned in the prologue to Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

Of course, I never made the plain vanilla stuff, only the chocolate variety, which would not really be blancmange I guess.

I can't remember how long it has been since I made up a pot of blancmange....at least 10 years or more. I'm not even sure my children have any memory of having it. I think I haven't trusted myself to make it because I would probably start  making it and eating it secretly on a daily basis again. But when I saw this recipe in a magazine billed as a "good-for-you chocolate treat" I threw caution to the wind and immediately whipped it up - after I went to the store for the chocolate & coffee...


Mocha-Cinnamon Pudding

1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons instant coffee mix (I used decaffinated Folger's)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
2 cups lowfat chocolate milk
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, very finely chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Whisk the sugar, cornstarch, coffee, cinnamon, and salt in a large saucepan. Whisk in milk over medium heat, then cook for about five minutes, stirring occasionally at first, then frequently, and constantly at the end, until mixture thickens to pudding consistency. Remove from heat; add chocolate and vanilla, whisking until chocolate is smooth. Serve warm or pour into bowl or 5 individual serving bowls, placing plastic wrap directly on pudding surface to keep a skin from forming. Refrigerate up to five days.

It was very easy to make, I think easier than I remember the blancmange being, because you don't have to bring it to a boil and stir it for a period of time. The texture was really smooth and nice, but I think the cinnamon and DECAFFINATED coffee (breathe, Brei!) flavors just got in the way.

Tomorrow I'll be making a plain Jane version. Maybe or maybe not I will share with Keven & Kris.

Nice enough to look at twice

I am in the process of polishing off the last of the Birthday chocolate, which is pretty amazing because my birthday was the end of August and I've made it last clear into October! (Nobody needs to know that I made a haul on chocolate this year, though.) 1 chocolate covered biscotti and 3 dark chocolate truffles to go....

I Can't Believe....

that I didn't eat one bite of Belgian chocolate while I was in Belgium*....but it's OK because I brought lots of it home to savor and (maybe) share. I was too busy eating all the other yummy food, like chocolate croissants and rice pie and tomato crème brûlée and Kate's famous spaghetti and Paul's famous barbeque and fish soup and fresh macarons and shrimp brochette and....well, check out pictures here:
http://laurie-hitandmiss.blogspot.com/

*The sample we were given in one of the chocolate shops doesn't count because it was white chocolate, and that's not the real deal!

I Digress...

Saturday indulgence, 9:30am

 
Sadly, this blog has become nothing more than a confessional for my errant ways. But I know that just around the corner there are some great adventures with chocolate which I’m just going to enjoy. Patience, please!

Chocolate Happens

I haven't had much to write about on this blog for a while because chocolate is what inspires me, and I haven't eaten much of it lately. However, yesterday I went into the lunchroom at work and, lo and behold, there were three boxes of donuts. And milk. So I ate half of a chocolate donut with frosting and drank a glass of milk.

When I went back to my desk Juliana had left me a whole donut with chocolate frosting and cream filling, and a glass of milk. It wasn't very long before it was all gone....

.... nope, I'm not even embarrassed to admit it, and I really don't like donuts all that much!

Oh, Crumb

For the past 3 months I have been diligent about exercising and eating well, to the point that I have hardly eaten any sweets, including, believe it or not, chocolate. I haven't binged once! This weekend I was feeling pretty proud of myself because we have had two events where really, really good food was served and I managed to be quite reasonable about it. Friday night the chocolate cake looked divine. Keven gave me one bite of his and I was completely satisfied. (When he offered me a second bite I only ate it because I didn't want to be rude.) Tonight at an open house there was another marvelous array of food and desserts, including LOTS of chocolate goodies. I was pretty proud of myself because all I had there was a glass of ICE WATER!!!! I was literally giving myself pats on the back and congratulating myself on being so dang good.

While we were gone a friend returned a casserole dish, which she had thoughtfully filled with heart-shaped brownies. I ate two (Keven only knows about the first one). They sure were good. I had to go brush my teeth to keep from eating more, but I'm already thinking I'll have one in the morning before I go running...

Oh, Fudge

Can you believe that I'm not really a big fan of fudge? Too often it is just too sugary and the chocolate flavor is overwhelmed by the competition. However, some of the best fudge ever was made by my oh-so-sweet mother-in-law, and I would guard a gift of her fudge like a mother bear. Spending years perfecting the art, she told me she learned that the best thing to do with a batch of fudge that didn't measure up was to spread it on graham crackers and let the boys have at it. I think they will always be thankful for her generosity! One of my favorite gifts from her was a sauté pan with a batch of her homemade fudge in it. YUM! Is it weird that I still think I can smell the chocolate all these years later when I make an omelet in that pan?