Tasty Tuesday - Chocolate 101

Mmm, we all know that rich, melt-in-the-mouth quality of good chocolate. That taste sensation comes from chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa butter. Chocolate can vary in quality, of course. Lower-quality chocolate includes other fats, which raise the product's melting point, and offer a less distinct flavor.

Use the highest-quality chocolate and cocoa you can buy. Good chocolate has a glossy sheen and a smooth taste. Here's a quick primer on different varieties and their uses:

•Unsweetened (chocolate liquor): Made with about 50 percent cocoa butter, this is pure, unadulterated chocolate. Use it in cooking and baking, but don't bother eating it straight.

•Bittersweet: Made by adding cocoa butter, sugar, and vanilla to chocolate liquor, bittersweet chocolate has a dark, rich taste. Use it in baking.

•Semisweet: This variety is made the same way as bittersweet, but with more sugar. A classic for chocolate chip cookies.

•Milk chocolate: Sweet and creamy, this chocolate is made with milk solids, which give it its light color. For some people, milk chocolate is a clear winner over dark.

•White chocolate: Because it's made with cocoa butter and not chocolate liquor, white chocolate isn't strictly chocolate. Use it in baking, but don't expect a chocolatey taste--it's sweet and mild.

Humpday Help - Is It Love?

Does your heart ache and break when they're sad??
Then it's love.

Do you cry for their pain, even when they're strong??
Then it's love.

Do their eyes see your true heart, and touch your soul so deeply it hurts??
Then it's love.

Do you stay because a blinding, incomprehensible mix of pain and relation pulls you close and holds you there??
Then it's love.

Do you accept their faults because they're a part of who they are??
Then it's love.

Would you give them your heart, your life, your death??
Then it's love.

Now, if love is painful, and tortures us so, why do we love? Why is it all we search for in life? This pain, this agony? Why is it all we long for?

This torture, this powerful death of self? Why?

The answer is so simple cause it's...LOVE. It is such an addictive thing that even people who are not having it wish to experience it and share it with others as well.

Friday Photo

You gotta smile with Aaron Brumfield.

Humpday Help - Romance, Scottish Style

A young Scottish lad and lass were sitting on a low stonewall, holding hands, gazing out over the loch.

For several minutes they sat silently, then finally the girl looked at the boy and said, "A penny for your thoughts, Angus."

"Well, uh, I was thinkin' ... perhaps it's aboot time for a wee kiss."

The girl blushed, then leaned over and kissed him lightly on the cheek. Then he blushed.

The two turned once again to gaze out over the loch.

Minutes passed, then the girl spoke again. "Another penny for your thoughts, Angus."

"Well, uh I was thinkin' ... perhaps its noo aboot time for a wee cuddle."

The girl blushed, then leaned over and cuddled him for a few seconds. Then he blushed.

Then the two turned once again to gaze out over the loch.

After a while, she again said, "Another penny for your thoughts! Angus."

"Well, uh I was thinkin' ... perhaps its aboot time you let me pewt ma hand on yer leg."

The girl blushed, then took his hand and put it on her knee.

Then he blushed.

Then the two turned once again to gaze out over the loch before the girl spoke again.

"Another penny for your thoughts, Angus."

The young man glanced down with a furled brow. "Well, noo," he said, "My thoughts are a wee bit more serious this time."

"Really?" said the girl in a whisper, filled with anticipation.

"Aye," said the lad, nodding.

The girl looked away in shyness, began to blush, and bit her lip in anticipation of the ultimate request.

And he said, "Din'na ye think it's aboot time ye paid me the first three pennies?

Tasty Tuesday - French Silk Chocolate Pie

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup white sugar
2 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened baking chocolate, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 prepared 8 inch pastry shell, baked and cooled


Directions
1.Cream butter in a mixing bowl. Gradually beat in the sugar with an electric mixer until light colored and well blended. Stir in the thoroughly cooled chocolate, and vanilla extract. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating 5 minutes on medium speed after each addition. Spoon the chocolate filling into a cooled, baked pie shell.
2.Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.

Friday Photo

Okay, ladies, here's your bad boy cowboy, Franco Bcorelli.

Humpdy Help - Moonlit Night

A young woman and young man were at the beach one moonlit night. They were lying there looking at the night sky in each other's arms.

The young man looked over and asked the young lady, "If you could be on any planet up there, just you and I, which one would you want it to be?"

The young woman lies there for a minute staring up and thinks and then replies, "I think it would be Venus, it sounds like a place of romance."

She then turns to him and asks him the same question.

He lies there and with a sly smile replies, "Uranus."

Tasty Tuesday - Deep Dish Brownies

My all-time favorite, make-from-scratch brownies recipe!

Ingredients
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 eggs
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt


Directions
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8 inch square pan.
2.In a large bowl, blend melted butter, sugar and vanilla. Beat in eggs one at a time. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Gradually blend into the egg mixture. Spread the batter into the prepared pan.
3.Bake in preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Let brownies cool, then cut into squares. Enjoy!

Sinful Saturday - tickle me

I had to post this one. I couldn't stop laughing. Serious Ziggy Stardust lace-up arm sleeves feature black faux leather accented with metal grommets and lacing on one side accented with feathers around the cuff. Can be worn alone or as an accent for a top/shirt. Velcro closure. Unisex.

I think I'll run out and pick this little number up.

Friday Photo

How would you like Luke Guldan to be your private trainer?

Thursday Thirteen - 13 more Love Sms

14) If you live to be 100 yrs, I want to live to be 100 yrs minus one day, so I never have to live without you. I Cant live with out U..

15) I knew I would look back on my tears and laugh, but I never thought I would look back on my laughs and cry. Please don't hurt me darling.

16) Everyone hears what you say. I listen to what you say. Best Lover listen to what you don't say.

17) A memory lasts forever, Never does it die. True Lovers stay together And never said goodbye. Donot say good bye to me my sweet heart.

18) A road to a your house is never long for me. Because you are in my heart house.

19) I'm not the same since i met u, the days turned longer the nights turned colder and u will always have a special place in my heart just 4 u :) I LOVE YOU

20) love is when u don't want to go to sleep because reality is better than a dream. I will not sleep 2day. Waiting for you

21) Last night I looked up at the stars, And matched each one with a reason why I love you. Till I cannot matched

22) When I saw u afraid 2 meet u,When I met u, afraid 2 like u,When I liked u afraid 2 love u,But now that I LOVE U .I am afraid 2 lose u. love me for ever

23) If I would be a tear in your eye I will roll down on your cheek and die on ur lip and if you would be a tear in my eye I will never cry by a fear of losing U

24) Love makes life so confusing and difficult but without love would you want to live?. With out you I cannot breath also. Because my heart is with u

25) If you love me like you told me please be careful with my heart you can take it; just don't break it ..

Since I didn't have a 13th Sm, I'll just give you some eye candy.

Humpday Help - Great Sex

Did you hear about the fellow that was talking to his buddy, and he said, 'I don't know what to get my wife for her birthday. She has everything, and besides, she can afford to buy anything she wants, so I'm stumped.'

His buddy said, 'I have an idea. Why don't you make up a certificate that says she can have two hours of great sex, any way she wants it. She'll probably be thrilled!' So the first fella did just that.

The next day his buddy asked, 'Well, did you take my suggestion? How'd it turn out?'

"She loved it. She jumped up, thanked me, kissed me on the mouth, and ran out the door yelling -- I'll see you in two hours!"

Tasty Tuesday - Double Chocolate Mocha Trifle

This is a great party dessert for the chocolate lover in all of us. Optional: decorate top with canned whipped topping swirl and shaved chocolate curls. Make sure you get a little of each layer in every serving. Enjoy!

Ingredients
1 (19.8 ounce) package brownie mix
1 3/4 cups cold milk
2 (3.3 ounce) packages instant white chocolate pudding mix
4 teaspoons instant coffee granules
2 tablespoons warm water
2 cups frozen whipped topping, thawed
3 (1.4 ounce) bars chocolate covered toffee bars, chopped


Directions
1.Prepare brownies according to package directions. Bake and cool completely. Cut into 1 inch cubes.
2.In a medium bowl, whisk together milk and pudding mix until mixture begins to thicken. Dissolve coffee granules in water and stir into pudding mixture. Fold in whipped topping.
3.In a glass serving bowl, layer one-third of brownie cubes, one-third of pudding mixture and one-third of candy. Repeat layering until all ingredients are used. Chill 30 minutes in refrigerator before serving.

Mojo Monday

"If toast always lands butter-side down, and cats always land on their feet, what happens if you strap toast on the back of a cat and drop it?"
~ Stephen Wright

My question is: "What would happen if you put butter on the back of the cat and dropped it?"

Off to write the next best seller... have a great week!