The Time Has Come, My Little Friends, to Speak of Other Things

1. Truffles

I just discovered a fantastic recipe for homemade truffles, courtesy of Dorie Greenspan, the author of Baking: From My Home to Yours. I made them for my project club on Valentine's Day, and I'm not sure if anyone else was as big a fan as I was, but I really liked them. For others' benefit, I will post the recipe here:

1/3 cup heavy cream
6 oz. semi-sweet or bittersweet dark chocolate, very finely chopped or grated
2 tablespoons butter, very soft
Unsweetened cocoa powder

1. Bring the cream to a boil and pour it over the chocolate. Wait 1 minute, then whisk until the mixture is smooth and shiny. Whisk in the butter completely; cover and refrigerate for 3 hours or until firm.
2. Scoop out teaspoonfuls of chocolate, then squeeze and roll them between your palms to form cherry-sized balls - a messy job, but fun. (If the chocolate is too hard to shape, leave it on the counter for 20 minutes.)
3. Roll the truffles around in a bowl of cocoa, then toss them from hand to hand to shake off the excess. Cover and refrigerate until ready to eat.

This was my first attempt at making truffles and I was rather surprised at how well they turned out. The only thing I need to work on is making them look slightly more rounded and less lumpy, but I suppose practice makes perfect, right?

2. Striped Armwarmers

I have a relatively eccentric fashion sense, and therefore I am in love with a pair of striped armwarmers I recently acquired from Dancewear Solutions (http://www.dancewearsolutions.com/). They're very comfortable and kind of snazzy-looking. I consider them merely as an interesting fashion accessory; however, some of my friends are divided in their opinions over whether the armwarmers make me look like a jailbird or a zebra. I haven't yet decided which I would prefer to look like. (BTW - the P91 logo on the T-shirt in the picture above stands for Psalm 91.)

3. Biceps

I find myself actually somewhat proud of the fact that I have biceps, however insignificant they seem. According to my dad, that puts me in the minority of females. But since the only way I have biceps is from doing full-out push-ups, I suppose I ought to be proud of the results. (Of course, when one compares one's biceps with one's older brother's, one quickly feels very inadequate. Not the best way to build one's self-esteem.)

4. Colorful Socks

I'm a big fan of colorful socks. The only problem with them is that I wear mine so often that they quickly become holey. But I enjoy them while I can. :-) Above are my most recent acquiry, appropriately given to me on Valentine's Day.

These have traction hats on the bottom. Is that cool or what?!

All right. I've exhausted my supply of totally random subjects for the present. I suppose I ought to go and do something worthwhile now.