GIANT UPDATE POST

I haven’t written a post in a looooong time. Hello again! Here is what has been going on!

The first major reason why I haven’t been writing is I adopted an adorable puppy. His name is Kubo and he requires a lot of attention – especially the first couple months of having him home. He is now 9 months old. He is an expert cuddler, loves to play fetch, goes with me everywhere, and is a tiny fluffball filled with a large amount of happiness.

The second major reason why I haven’t written is I have been on a ‘refined-sugar is evil’ train for a few months now and it isn’t stopping. I have physical anxiety (hence Kubo is also an important registered emotional support dog) and am very in-tune with my body and sensitive to what it feels. A few months ago I was having a really bad week so I decided to test out some dietary/lifestyle changes. One item that came in my top things that have a huge impact is eating refined sugar. Specifically, when I don’t eat as much, I have significantly less pain. So I decided no more refined-sugary things (with the exception of some dark chocolate) because it is worth it to not have pain. So I have had to learn how to make desserts using honey or the like which has taken a bit of an adjustment period to figure out. I’ve got it down now though.

Okay with the explanations out of the way, let us go through memory lane and look at pictures of some favorites I’ve made while I’ve been gone. Maybe I’ll make some of these their own post soon – if you are especially interested in one let me know 🙂 And I’ll try to remember to post what I make from here on out even if I don’t believe there’s a much to say about them; I mean, there’s always pictures and those are always nice.

Rose Truffles – made in December. I wanted to make a flower-infused truffle and roses are a good winter flower. I soaked rose petals from my mom’s garden in cream before making the ganache for these. Painted with colored cocoa butter and decorated with chocolate crunch ball “flower”.
Chocolate Christmas Ornaments – December. Used a mold to make the ornament shape and then hand painted them with colored cocoa butter and tied a string through the hole.
Pomegranate Truffles – November. Plain ganache mixed with pomegranate syrup. Enjoyed by my Thanksgiving guests.
Cookie dough bonbons (right), pumpkin truffles (bottom left), and mascarpone truffles (top left) – October. Made a huge batch of chocolates to bring to a halloween party and enjoy all November.
Chocolate Jack-o-lantern and chocolate leaves – October. Made these for Halloween decorations. The leaves were made by picking leaves from outside, pouring chocolate on them, and then peeling the leaves off after the chocolate hardened. The Jack-o-lantern was made by first making a chocolate pumpkin using a mold and then carving out the holes using a paper clip that I would make hot with fire which could then melt the chocolate away.