Rolla49 Potholders and Caramel Sauce

A while back I posted about the airbrush booth that my friend Jim made.  He is an uber talented carpenter, and it is thanks to him that I have a beautiful kitchen with hand carved teak counters and custom made cabinets to make my 1903 kitchen look original.  But lets face it.  Behind every talented person is an equally talented partner, and Jim's wife Maria is an inspiration beyond compare.  She is a woman after my own heart.  One day we were talking about "toys" that we wanted, and she wanted a plasma cutter to do metalwork with.  Gotta love her.  You can check out her work here.

Anyway, what does that have to do with chocolate?  Well, Jim came over to see about doing some custom repair work around the house (everything on this house is custom when it's over 100 years old, there's no running to a big box store).  While he was there I foisted some of my chocolates off on him, and he being the good husband that he is, saved some for Maria and shared them.

When we got back from Winter break there was a box from Maria waiting for us, and in it were (among other things) these beautiful potholders!  Maria knows we have a 1920's Magic Chef stove in our kitchen, but the potholders have wound up out in the carriage house so I can use them with the new induction plate when I make caramels.  Here was the maiden run for the induction plate and potholders.  I'm not sure what I liked better about making the caramel, the fact that it smelled so good, or that I got to use Maria's potholders.

This caramel is the more fluid kind that I use to fill molded shells.  It takes a day or so for it to form enough of a skin to cap the molds.  But the lovely, runny liquid sensation in the mouth is worth it.  This batch got flavored with rose oil.

I think the colors go well for Valentine's Day.  One thing's for sure.  Maria's creations and mine are both made with a lot of love.

Robot Chocolate Bars for Child Creativity Lab

You have to admire the energy and talent that the folks at Child Creativity Lab have.  They put their heart and soul into providing a safe and creative space for children of all ages to explore their talents. When I found out an acquaintance was involved, and they were hosting their first ever gala, I immediately signed up to make some chocolates they could hand out.

Robots seemed like the perfect theme for their venue.  But those Robots are tiny!  To make them stand out more, each Robot was glued onto a larger chocolate bar that was painted up to look like something a young child might have done (little do they know that I am an old adult...).  Here's how they got put together.

First, polish those molds, and clean them out really well.  I'd painted this mold up earlier in the week, and the cocoa butter was too hot when I painted it in the mold.  Needless to say, it stuck to the mold, not the chocolate.  It took over an hour to clean that mold out.  The upside was that my friends were pleased to eat the free rejects!

Next, the details were painted in by hand with toothpicks and tiny brushes.

The final painting step was to airbrush in the shoes and the body.

Once the Robots were done, they were glued with chocolate onto a bigger chocolate bar that had been splat painted and hand painted with the initials for the Child Creativity Lab.  The childlike paint and goofy robot seemed to echo their vision for the creative resources they provide to the greater community and our kids.

Happy New Year! Wishing you Health, Wealth and Good Luck

All dressed up and somewhere to go - out to ring in the New Year!  It looks like these guys and gals are ready to hit the disco and dance in the New Year in style.  No boring colors here.

The girls sport a lucky four leaf clover on their backsides, but for modesty's sake they are not displaying it on the Internet.  They really don't like hanging around for the photo shoot, they want to get a move on and par-tee.

These dapper boys are in their top hats with a purse holding their money on one arm, and lucky four leaf clovers tucked in the other hand.  Why are they smiling?  They know they are too good looking to eat!