Chocolate Fondant Rocks

Ever since seeing an episode of Masterchef Australia where they made chocolate fondant I've been dying to give it a go myself. They are like little chocolate puddings with molden chocolate inside that oozes out like lava, mmmmm. So its onto the internet to download a recipe (Gordon Ramsay, can't go wrong!) and into the kitchen. I make the mistake of mentioning it to Bonnie and the next thing I know she's invited herself and Luis around for a taste test.

So this is what they are supposed to look like:

and this is what they looked like when they came out of the oven:

(like the Fangbanger Tee?)

and this is what they looked like after turning out of the ramekin:

and this is Bonnie sampling the chocolatey goodness that is undercooked chocolate fondant

and this is what they look like when you serve them in the ramekin to support the fondant in maintaining its shape

and this is the happiness that a yummy chocolatey dessert can bring

But I am not defeted, I am determined to get it right, stay posted for future chocolate fondant attempts

What Recession?

Bye bye Bumblebee..... hello Batbike

Dali Likes Rhinos

Thanks to Luis having to work late, I was able to score a free ticket to the opening night of the Salvador Dali exhibition. As its sponsored by Mercedes there were some nice cars out the front and lots of stuck up people inside making educated remarks on what Dali was trying to convey on each painting, consciously and subconsciously. Apparently Dali was sexually frustrated during the early days and this is represented by the many flaccid body parts he painted, often propped up with sticks (see pic below). There were a lot of people that didn't really understand the unsaid rule of staying out of a persons personal space so there was way too much touching (more the shoving kind rather than the inappropriate kind). Anyway some of my faves from the night are below

Apparently Dali liked rhinoceroses and thought their bottoms looked exactly like a folded sunflower..... so imaginative.

Bonnie and I having our own Dali moments after the show

Dr Dopey Update

So I've been told off for not updating the blog for some time now, though there's not a lot to tell. But here's a synopsis anyway:

• I fell in love with my Sony ebook and was devastated when it broke 3 weeks after receiving it
• Thanks to my Aunt Lois, I've become addicted to crappy vampire fiction and have managed to read the Twilight and Sookie Stackhouse series (ebooks of course!) amongst others that are too embarrassing for a 30+ yr old woman to admit to be reading
• I'm really looking forward to the 2nd series of TrueBlood starting next weekend (vampire series)
• I semi-successfully completed kite surfing lessons and while it didn't quite meet my expectations (see image below) I did manage to stay on the board for 3 seconds before face planting into the water. A shark sighting not far from the beach saved me from further embarrassment


• I've signed up for the Around the Bay in a Day, a 210 km bike ride around Melbourne's Port Phillip Bay. Its my first time and I'm a little nervous about making the distance but I've got till October to train, should be right, no worries

• I survived a week long training course on strategic finance and once again demonstrated an uncanny ability to use poor judgement by participating in a You Tube show off
• We've finally settled a long standing bet at work on the release date for a new product, with the winner Sam, receiving a slab of her choice. She kindly donated it to the team so after several false attempts we finally managed to get everyone together to polish it off. One of the highlights of the evening being Terrie's "landslide" jelly slice

• I'm a bit wary about going on holiday in October, with a 4 day hike planned across Hinchinbrook Island, located off the coast of northern Queenland. I've got to carry all my gear and food and tent with the only bathing facilities being potentially croc infested waters. Plus its close to stinger season and I'll need to keep an eye out for the giant bird eating spiders when squatting in the bush. It'll be an experience

• and finally, I'm dreaming of summer.....

Images of America

Frozen fields on the Dopheide family farm

Dopheide cows (fake and real)

Wind turbines in Carroll

Spending quality time with the family

Ever wonder what a cactus looks like on the inside, no? Me either, but when I stumbled up this one I was fascinated. Its made up of a whole lot of tubes running up along the body and arms of the cactus.

BOSTON

Food, food, food

Mini burgers - Beef brisket on left (that's for you Doug) and normal Cheeseburger on right.

"Steamers" - steamed clams, apparently a New England delicacy (below).

Our local sales rep Rob (above) demonstating the preparation process required before eating: remove clam from shell, pinch at white body with left hand and roll brown skin off of the neck with the right hand (like taking off a condom) - see that brown snot-like stuff dangling from his hands. Then eat, delicious? You've got to be kidding me!

Rob made up for the clams by taking us to Mike's in Boston's Italian district for cannoli and marzipan fruits. Can you spot the marzipan hot dogs?

The Great Carmel Roll Bake-off

My Grandma's carmel rolls are famous in our family. She always bakes them for me when I visit and when word gets out Grandma's making rolls everyone comes around. However, this time Grandma was in hospital recovering so I decided to give it a try. No one in my family has been able to reproduce Grandma's rolls and they all looked at me sceptically when I said I wanted to make them. I heard story after story from aunts and cousins, all who had tried but failed. My Uncle Larry, also well known for his culinary creations, thought his recipe was pretty good too and so began the great carmel roll bake-off. The sceptical looks from my aunts changed to looks of horror, no one challenges Larry to a bake-off and wins. After sampling his home-baked ham and twice-baked potatoes I was beginning to realise the mistake I had made. This was an event no one wanted to miss out on and my Aunt Lois and Patty were on the phone in a flash, calling all the other aunts, uncles and cousins, converting my quiet lets-see-if we-can-make-Grandma's-carmel-rolls breakfast into a full on Dopheide family brunch. Larry was out the door without a sound - he wasted no time getting to the grocery store for the fixings needed for his carmel rolls. I started to panic.

According to Grandma its easy to make her rolls, a dash of this and a dash of that, but what exactly is a dash? Also, she doesn't own any measuring cups making it very difficult for the scientist in me to accurately measure out the ingredients. So the engineer in me (a little bit has rubbed off over the past 7 yrs) says near enough is good enough and dived right into the task of assembling the rolls with my Aunt Lois looking on and adding helpful comments such as "I'm not sure thats what Grandma does", "Does that look right?", etc. Set them up, leave overnight to rise, stick them in the oven in the morning, easy, right?

Me preparing the rolls

Rolls before and after rising - so far so good

Larry and I showing off our rolls

End result: 1/3 pans presentable, 3/3 pans edible, 36 carmel rolls consumed in under 2 hrs. I call it a success but were they better than Larry's? Undecided but one thing is definately true, as my cousin Jill says, "Its hard to be Grandma".

Beef Brisket Bonanza

Doug's been raving about Beef Brisket for as long as I can remember - all the rest of us could do is say well show us! After several appointments with his local butcher reviewing American beef cut charts and viewing cow carcasses Doug was finally able to get a cut of meat that was close to the brisket (though according to Doug not exactly right). This weekend he cooked it up with all the fixin's, including biscuits, beans, macaroni cheese and bomb shelter slop (I think thats what its called). Picking Valentines Day for the grand revealing probably wasn't the best idea but the unromantic of us came along for a sampling of southern cooking Doug style.

Doug with his slow cooked brisket (12 hrs on the Weber)

Brisket with all the fixin's (bomb shelter slop at 3 o'clock)


Voula chowing down on some mac cheese (above) and her home made pumpkin pies for desert (below)