use real butter

We hosted a little ol’ chocolate tasting yesterday with four friends. It’s the first half of a two-part project I planned. We have done wine tastings in the past on several occasions, but never a chocolate tasting. I know some people think a chocolate tasting involves shoving loads of chocolate down your gullet. Please… it is nothing so crass as that – you may as well go sit in a corner with a few pounds of cheap Hershey’s bars if that is your aim (and not set foot in my dining room!). In fact, this chocolate tasting was quite a bit of work.

Recipe: turkey burgers

I had every intention of blogging yesterday, but it was one hell of a busy day with photo processing, errands, and then cooking and baking all afternoon and evening until I passed out without even the excuse of getting plastered. And just when we thought we were rightfully stepping into warmer weather, we were once again graced with snow. Wait a sec, I meant to say we were pummeled with snow. 80 mph gusts – that’s something I don’t mind leaving behind! Of course, today is melted out and sunny. [*psycho weather*] Good thing too, as we are having some buds over this evening.

While prepping all sorts of dishes yesterday (for today), I also had that pesky issue of what to make for dinner yesterday. The guy has got to eat or else he wastes away to nothing. I mean come on, how is this fair? I go on chemo for several months and have digestive issues and lose 10 pounds and he forgets to eat while at a telescope for 3 days and loses 10 pounds. WTF? But back to dinner, I wanted something quick and healthy and tasty. Turkey burgers. Bingo!

Recipe: chinese scallion pancakes

I’ve been able to resume my cardio workouts this week and it feels great. It helps alleviate some of the lingering side effects. My body and mind are much happier for it too, albeit a little tuckered out. That’s okay with me. I am a firm believer in the no pain, no gain mantra. Did I mention that I’ve dropped two sizes? Crazy – I know. My oncologist mentioned that I hadn’t gained any weight as most of his chemo patients tend to. It’s hard to gain weight when food 1) tastes like ass and 2) plays havoc on your insides. At least the endorphins from my workouts are flowing – w00t!

Jeremy made it home late this afternoon. Even though I don’t get bent out of shape when he’s on travel, it’s always nice to see my best friend again. Some folks require time away from their partner, but we can get along 24/7 indefinitely and that’s a good thing to know. Actually, we can work together 24/7 in adverse conditions – read: vacation. I literally trust him with my life (well, he used to be high-angle Search and Rescue).

It’s now 1 am and Jeremy just woke up to operate that giant radio telescope… My astrophysicist is hot. [I was about to say astrophysicists are hot, but that is a totally untrue and completely laughable statement.]

This afternoon, I made a recipe I’ve been wanting to post for a while. I usually make these in small quantities when I need to use up leftover dough from Chinese dumplings. It’s something my mom always used to do when I was little. I never learned how to make these outright from my mom – the technique just sunk into my head with all of my visual memories of my childhood. Same with the dumplings. To see how the dough is made, I’ll refer you to the dumpling recipe.

**Jump for more butter**