Nothin today

I was home looking after the rugrat while the wife was sick today. Wasn’t able to get to the gym while tending the deathly ill, but I did manage to get my son out to gymnastics class. That kid with his stupid electronic game was there, but today he also had a toy car that played Rock Around the Clock over and over and over….

While I sat there (with my ear plugs on) I was able to read Higdon’s book, Marathon, again. Select sections on speed training. His intermediate plan for the 1/2 marathon has tempo runs and intervals and I wanted to 1) figure out what the terms meant (5 x 400?), and 2) I needed to know how to do them. So I read up on that. Apparently, a High School track would be a good resource for have set distances already laid out. It should be easy to find one locally.

And I also want to ask why I can’t stop eating grilled chicken. I grill alot of chicken and no matter how full I am, if I see the grilled chicken, I have to have at least a small piece. Sometimes I will cut a section off one of the pieces before it gets put away in the fridge. My wife will pull out the chicken and it will look like some animal has been hacking away at the chicken. Just have to have a taste. Its almost as bad as having to eat the chocolate.

Speaking of chocolate, I made 104 truffles this weekend. I had promised them to the guys (yes, guys) at work because they were complaining of not having any recently. I was pretty impressed that I could get them all done from start to finish in about 3 hours. I tried to make them a little smaller to see if it would help with the cracking problem I have.

Did I mention this? Sometimes when I am coating the truffles, as they cool, they crack and the ganache oozes out. Couverture shrinks as it hardens (crystal growth and tighter packing of molecule stuff), but it shouldn’t shrink that much. I kept the truffles at room temp for coating (70F), thinking that if they were cold it might be causing the problem. Maybe next time I’ll try colder. Or less cocoa butter. Or less cream so the ganache is dryer. Or I’ll just cover them all with extra decorations and nobody will notice.

My son helped with the truffles. Actually, he helped with cleaning one of the beaters afterwards. I did the other. Bad Jon.

Starting weight: 182.6 (11/24/04)
Current weight: 176.2 (but not for long if I don’t watch the chocolate!)
Target weight: 170.0 (1/31/05)

This entry was posted on Monday, December 13th, 2004 at 10:14 pm and is filed under Food, General, Just chocolate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

9 Responses to “Nothin today”

  1. susan
    December 14th, 2004 06:06
    1

    Making truffles is quite a process, I gather, based on your last description. I hope the guys appreciate your hard work.

  2. Karen in Calgary
    December 14th, 2004 12:20
    2

    I grilled so much chicken the first year we were married, my husband claimed he was beginning to grow feathers. Yum :)

    If I made truffles I can guarantee very FEW would make it out of the house. You’re so brave to promise them to the guys at work!

  3. Pamalamadingdong
    December 14th, 2004 14:11
    3

    (truffles)
    Good job with the weight.
    Did you need my (truffles) mailing address or any reason (truffles), cause I don’t mind sending it to you (truffles).

  4. Dawn (aka Pink Lady)
    December 14th, 2004 14:45
    4

    You read my mind Pam. I had a truffle the other day and while eating it I “oh’d and aw’d” so much my coworking thought I was having …. ;-) And that was the store bought kind…I bet homemade would be so much better *drooling*.

  5. Rachel
    December 14th, 2004 17:13
    5

    Mmm, truffles sound delicious; who cares how they look? I’ve been on a molten chocolate cake kick lately, which is a lot worse than craving grilled chicken. I’ve made molten chocolate cakes twice in the past week, both times with Ghiradelli baking chocolate and Haagen Dazs as an accompaniment…

  6. Dani
    December 14th, 2004 21:27
    6

    So I made truffles last night for the FIRST TIME. And they turned out decently and definitely tasty. At one point my friend came into the kitchen, while I was shaping the ganache balls, and he said, being ironic, “You look like you’re having fun.” To which I replied with a sincere excited squeal: “I AM! This is SO much fun!” And it was.

    Thank you for showing me the way! :)

  7. Beth
    December 15th, 2004 14:33
    7

    You can have all my grilled chicken. That’s just the sort of kind, caring, generous vegetarian I am.

  8. tracy
    December 16th, 2004 10:46
    8

    I bought a melon baller to use the next time I make your truffle recipe. Didn’t get to make them for all the folks at work like I had hoped. I’ll let you know if it works when I get to try it..

  9. Bex
    December 18th, 2004 17:34
    9

    Ooohhh … love truffles. Kudos to you for making them for xmas and giving them to your friends. Have any left over?

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