Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

I bought two rosemary truffles at Chocolats Privileges, out of curiosity, and because I like their basil and lime chocolates very much. I just tried the rosemary truffle, and am not impressed. It’s a mild flavor, but I don’t think it would be improved by more rosemary. Then I ate a basil lime truffle, which was good, as usual.

ETA: I bought two of the rosemary truffles, because I wanted to bring one home for cattitude to try. He said something like "I can see learning to like these." So, I will not be ordering that flavor again.

I have been to an athletic shoe (and clothes and gear) store, tried on shoes, and found a pair that fit! They didn't have it stock in the color I preferred, so they placed an order and the shoes will be delivered to my home.

Shoes aren't exciting, but I seriously missed being able to go into a store and try them on.

I walked from there along Cambridge Common and Church Street to L.A. Burdick, and bought chocolate mice and other candies. It was sunny and in the upper 50s F (12 or so C), and a very fine day to be walking rather than taking the bus a few stops.

Then I went to the supermarket and selected produce. It's still April, but I have a box of lettuce that isn't two days from expiration, and a few bananas of the ripeness cattitude and I like, plus bread and milk. A loaf of Pepperidge Farm pumpernickel from the supermarket, and an Iggy's baguette from the food shop next to my bus stop.

I called our old favorite chocolate shop in New York today, to order chocolates for us and for roadnotes. Mark Varsano, the chocolatier, started by taking my name and address, but it wasn't until I gave him Roadnotes's name that he recognized me. Probably some combination of there being more Vickis than Velmas, her distinctive looks, and maybe that she'd been shopping there longer.

It was interesting selecting chocolate over the phone, since I couldn't see what was in the display case today (the website gives some examples of what he carries, and then adds "and much more")—and I just remembered that I'd meant to ask for a cashew or pecan turtle. But once he had Roadnotes for context, along with my name, Mark said "you want orange peel and ginger, right?" and we went from there. Is that kind of memory normal for people who work in retail, or is Mark Varsano's unusually good?

On the other hand, Varsano's is the shop that made me think "I live in a small town, population eight million," because Mark didn't just remember that I prefer dark chocolate, he would ask after baldanders's health. And today, along with whether I miss New York, he asked whether I had a job. That wasn't random; I'd mentioned being laid off, and job-hunting, to him back in 2012. However, rather than trusting his memory, Mark is going to look at his notes to put together a box for Roadnotes, since that's a better/more detailed description of what she's likely to want than I could come up with. (I talked to cattitude in the middle of writing this post, and he says those notes were pretty sparse last winter; I wonder if I will be getting a call back.)

We chose to be optimistic about the weather and the chocolate not melting in transit, rather than spending lots of money on FedEx overnight (Mark mentioned the FedEx pp, but in tones of "I wouldn't recommend this").

---

I got out the trash-picked bosu (balance device) this morning, and tried standing on it and exercising a little. It was too easy, especially given that it's been over a year since I used one; when I was putting the bosu away I saw that, having been stood upon, it was visibly deflated. So, not worth keeping, but I am thinking of buying one.

Also in the self-care/maintenance department, I stopped at the supermarket pharmacy a couple of hours ago for a flu shot. I had a few minutes' wait after I asked for the vaccine, read and filled out the form, and gave the clerk my insurance card. The injection itself went smoothly. Like last year, it's costing me nothing (the insurer is paying $30), and they gave me a coupon for a discount on groceries. [ETA, for reference: I was given Fluvirin. Trivalent, which this season is A/H3N2, A/H1N1, and B.]

It was good to visit Montreal, not just to see rysmiel, excellent as that was, but for the city itself. I realized soon after arriving that I was soothing homesick parts of myself: walking from the bus to rysmiel's apartment, the air just smelled right. About 90% of that smell was clover, and I'm not sure of the rest—and there's clover out here, too. But Montreal has subway trains, and people handing out free copies of Metro outside the subway stations, and the trees and plants look right. (There are deciduous trees here, too, including my beloved maples, but the mix is different.)

So I figured I might as well indulge that feeling of being back at home, and visit familiar places. I'd have done some of that anyhow, I think, like going back to Au Bulle en Carre for the crepes; I might even have gone to Kam Fung for dim sum by myself on Monday while rysmiel was at work. (Sure, there's less variety than with company, but more variety than in a lot of meals: their excellent sticky rice, a few seafood dumplings, and a stuffed crab claw.) I would have gone to Marche Atwater for fruit and yogurt anyhow, but any other visit I wouldn't have bought apples in July; this time I did, because one shop had the northeastern varieties I like, and a few stored Cortlandt apples (they looked better than the Macintoshes) appealed as much as the berries and champagne grapes and red plums—which I also bought. I eat a lot of fruit this time of year. Rysmiel and I went to Juliet et Chocolat for dessert twice, and I had the chocolate raspberry brownie with a balsamic reduction both times, because it was so good the first time. I may even try to figure out how to make the reduction, which I think would go well with any good chocolate brownie.

What I wasn't homesick for was heat waves, but I got one; Montreal averages cooler than New York City, and I think it was even hotter in New York that weekend, but this was humid and oppressive, and papersky and rysmiel have no air conditioning. During the worst of it, I was lying flat on a bed, wishing the fan was more effective and thinking "rule 1, stay hydrated," because I didn't have much focus for more than that. Fortunately, the Musee de Beaux Arts is air conditioned, and we'd wanted to see their Chihuly exhibit anyhow.

On the way back from lunch after the museum, we stopped at Camellia Sinensis so I could buy some green Darjeeling tea, which they hadn't had in at least two years. I knew from their website that they had gotten it, but I wanted to at least smell the tea before buying. I have now brewed a cup, and it is good. I don't think I can really compare this Happy Valley green Darjeeling [yes, I know, I didn't name the tea garden] with the Selimbong I got years ago, even though I still have little bit I'd been hoarding, just because of the age difference. On the other hand, I might try brewing a cup of each, rather than just tossing the Selimbong or letting it continue to age in my cupboard.

One morning while rysmiel was at work, before the weather got horrible, I made tea and then sat on the balcony with a book, reading and thinking fondly of sitting out there the previous summer, with cattitude, papersky, and rysmiel.

( some travel details )

Mostly harmless.

I got this bar of milk chocolate with dried tomato at New Year's. papersky bought it for jonsinger because he likes new and different food. Unfortunately, Jon can't eat anything with dairy in it, so I offered him a trade (she'd gotten me a bar of dark chocolate with orange peel, which I knew would be good, but I can get chocolate with orange peel any number of places).

I had expected this to be weird and possibly wonderful, or possibly a complete failure, but weird enough that I'd been opening and eating other chocolate first. A couple of weeks ago, I decided that this would be the next chocolate bar I opened.

The bits of tomato are too small to be really noticeable, at least to me and cattitude. No real effect on flavor or texture. A supertaster, or someone with a strong aversion to tomatoes, might notice the difference. So, what we have is decent milk chocolate. As such, we probably will finish it, but we both prefer dark chocolate to milk.

The maker is "Bovetti Artisan Chocolatier," in France; it was imported by Fleur d'Olive, Richelieu, QC J3L 6S3. I see that it was marked as best before 01/31/2010, but while that might affect the quality a bit, I don't think it's why the tomato was so faint.

This is an extremely rich thing, really closer to fudge than cake. It's easy, can be pareve (the recipe originally called for butter, but I used margarine and everyone was happy), and my family loved it. I offered to make another one for next year; it's too rich to be a reasonable thing to bake for two or three people, but it's fine for ten or twelve; with nine, we had leftovers, and the other desserts were mostly ignored. This is of the "rich, and fits the rules for Passover" category, rather than having been designed specifically to be kosher for Passover.

Yes, papersky, it measures almost everything by volume. The amounts seemed forgiving.

This can be baked in an eight-inch round cake pan, an eight-inch pie plate, or anything of similar dimensions. If you're using a square pan, that would be about 6 by 6.

• 4 ounces dark chocolate, in small pieces. Use chocolate chips, or cut up other chocolate. With chips, I used a measuring cup.


• 4 ounces (=1/2 cup, =1 stick) butter or margarine


• 3/4 cup sugar


• orange extract, probably about a teaspoon (optional)


• 3 large eggs


• 1/2 cup cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 375°F (I think that's about 190°C or gas mark 5, but check before baking if your kitchen doesn't speak American). Grease your pan. Cut an eight-inch round piece of wax paper, put it in the bottom of the pan, and grease the top of the wax paper. (I suspect it would be easier to cut the wax paper to size before greasing the pan. I don't actually know if this step is necessary, if, as I did, you use a glass pie plate, but the recipe said to do this, and it seemed to work.)

Put the margarine and chocolate in the top of a double boiler, with the water on the bottom barely simmering. Melt, stirring regularly. (If you have a microwave, sure, use that instead, but do stir regularly, and use a large bowl.) When they're completely melted, turn off the stove (or microwave) and remove the top half of the double boiler from the still-hot bottom half, putting it on a heat-safe surface.

Whisk the sugar in thoroughly. Next, whisk in the orange extract and the eggs, again thoroughly. (The orange extract was not in the original recipe, and I don't remember if I added it before or after the eggs. It probably doesn't matter which. The amount is basically "one glug from the nice four-ounce container of orange extract I got from Penzey's." The great thing about getting orange extract in containers that size is that it encourages me to use it liberally, not hoard it the way I'm likely to if I have the tiny vial from the supermarket.

Now, sift in the cocoa powder, and whisk just until blended. If you spill some of the cocoa powder in the process, guess at how much and add it back.*

Pour this mixture into your greased pan. Put the pan in the oven. Bake 25 minutes or until a thin crust forms on top of the torte. (I set the timer for 26 minutes, actually, because I have a slightly slow oven, and it had a crust then so I took it out.)

Let cool at least a little while; if you're baking for an event three days later, put plastic wrap or foil over the top of the torte, and refrigerate.

When it's time to serve the torte, cut into small pieces. As dessert after a serious seder meal, this serves nine, with a bit to take home to impress the houseguest who didn't arrive in the city until after the seder, and the beloved who was working too hard to join your family for the celebration.

The recipe I was working with suggested topping this with whipped cream. I didn't for the same reason I used margarine, namely that one of the people I was baking for can't eat dairy. I'm not sure whether that would make it too intense, or whether home-whipped cream with absolutely the minimum of sugar would actually cut this somewhat.

*Somewhere around here, cattitude, who was helping, intoned "Be certain that the rum is of the highest quality."**

**see The Bakery Men Don't See

I had lunch at the local diner with cattitude and then headed downtown. First stop was the gym, where I had a good workout in pleasantly uncrowded conditions, probably the last such I will have for at least six weeks. (After New Year's I'll be mostly if not entirely going at the end of the workday, and the gym is always most crowded in January.)

Exercised and showered, I walked over to the New Balance store, where they were friendly and helpful about exchanging my sneakers for the right size. I explained that I needed a women's size eight and had gotten a men's. The salesman took a quick look in the box, then verified that I wanted 8EE, went in back, and brought out the correct shoes. I tried them on, walked around briefly, checked the size label on the tongue of the shoe (which says both 8 and 39), and noted that they left shoe is a little tight at the little toe. He assured me it would be fine in a couple of days, which matches my general experience of leather shoes, but also means I should break them in gently, not dive in to wearing them for a full day.

From there, feeling good about things, I got on the train and went down to Greenwich Village. Varsano's was open, uncrowded, and had a wide selection of chocolates available--I'd thought they might have closed early, or sold out of some things. I told Mark Varsano I didn't need ginger this time--he offered to take a look for it as soon as he saw me--and got a selection of creams and truffles, plus some orange peel and one cordial cherry for Cattitude. Thence home, and it was still light out.

( gym numbers )

I think religion persists because it brings comfort in a way that little else does. (This, of course, assumes that chocolate is a religion.) —Elissa Ann, on alt.poly

I got two each of Varsano's chocolate (solid coating) and cocoa-dusted truffles yesterday, figuring we could do comparisons.

I just took out one of each, to have with my tea. I much prefer the chocolate: not only do I like the solid shell, the ganache/filling is more intense in the chocolate truffles.

(The other two are for cattitude, so we can find out if he agrees on this one.)

It's a minor hardware problem only because I solved it fairly quickly. When I got home from the gym and some errands this afternoon, the apartment door wouldn't open. I verified that I had in fact turned both keys in the appropriate directions: the problem was that the lock/doorknob assembly was too loose to unlock the door. I tried asking the superintendent for help, but he wasn't in. I went back upstairs, made a pointless attempt to use a plastic card on the door, and then thought about door and latch positioning and how to alter it. I took one key off my keyring, so I could use the deadbolt key to pull the door toward me while turning the other key in the lock. It opened, I reassured julian_tiger (who had been meowing loudly as he heard me out in the hall), got a screwdriver, and tightened the screws on the doorknob. Again. I've lost count of how often cattitude and I have had to do this in the last couple of years. It may be time to talk to the super about replacing the hardware.

Other than that, I had a nice workout. I took my partners' advice, namely "don't push yourself too hard" and "have fun at the gym," and did cardio and some weight work, but less of the latter than usual. I've definitely lost some ground in terms of how much I can lift over the last couple of months; I'll get it back, but it may take a while.

After gym and Chinese food, I tried on headphones at J&R (earbuds, and many other headphones, hurt my ears), and then went up to the Village for tea and spices. I spent a pleasant little while in Aphrodisia, talking to one of the cats, scooping out chives (which we had run out of), and then sniffing four kinds of cinnamon and deciding on the Vietnamese. Then I wandered around looking idly at other things while waiting for the shopkeeper, who had stepped outside in an apparently unsuccessful mission to warn someone that the place they wanted to park would get them ticketed. From there, I headed west to McNulty's, and restocked my supply of Assam tea.

My other stop was Varsano's Chocolate, now settled into a new location across the street from the old. I told Mark Varsano I'd missed him, because the move had taken longer than he'd expected. As I started looking at chocolate, he said he didn't have any ginger right now, but could make me some; I declined, because I have ginger ice cream in my freezer. I have an assortment of chocolates, including creams, truffles, chocolate-covered fruit, and a 72% cocoa chocolate bar that he tossed in as a free sample. Mark also asked after roadnotes; I have passed along his greetings. It's a neighborhood shop sort of interaction, except that I neither live nor work in that neighborhood.

( gym numbers )