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.
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