Dichroic Reflections

fudge, sinuses, and beads (but not all at once)

Reporting in, as usual.

The fudge didn't work out too well. I haven't
tasted it yet, because I was waiting for it to set, but I'm not sure that will
ever happen. At the moment, it dents when you touch it, like slightly underdone
brownies. If I ever try it again, I'll use heavy cream; this time I used half-and-
half partly because that seemed a reasonable compromise between the heavy cream
that Mark Bittman's How to Cook Anything called for and the "rich milk"
(what the fuck is that?) listed in the Joy of Cooking. Also, the cream I
had, though only a couple days out of date, was chunky (ewwww) so I had to run to
the corner drugstore and they only carried half-and-half. Then, after fudge cools,
you are supposed to beat it vigorously with a wooden spoon until it loses its
sheen; I gave up on this part about 2 minutes before my arm would have fallen off.
I suspect this soi-disant fudge will taste OK, but it might have to be eaten with
a spoon. The brisket was good, though.

The Joy of Cooking has
always been my staple cook book. These days I'm leaning more to the use of How
to Cook Anything because its recipes tend to be simpler, yet it's just as
exhaustive. I still don't quite trust it entirely, though, so I tend to check back
against the JoC. In this case, Bittman's book won out, because its instructions
(not to mention the ingredient list -- "rich milk indeed!) were clearer. I've also
had good results with Sundays at Moosewood but that's more of a specialty
book. It has vegetarian versions of a wide range of ethnic
foods.

I've got crap in my sinuses. It's either a cold, a
sinus infection, or a reaction to the changing weather. Hard to tell, at this
point. It's only bothering me above the neck, and I can still breathe, at least.
WARNING: disgusting subject below!

But sinus
clogs, at least for me, lead to much puffing out the nose, eventually rewarded by
a clot of gunk flying into a tissue. Sometimes the gunk flies on its own, and then
I'd better have a tissue nearby or risk grossing out anyone in sight. It's one of
those bodily functions, like taking a good shit, that's oddly rewarding but best
carried out in private.

---Disgusting section over