Archive for November, 2009
Old Fashioned Thanksgiving
Posted by Alex in Alex's Thoughts on November 28, 2009
I’ll have more up here in the coming days, but I just wanted to stick my nose in quickly to give everyone a belated Happy Thanksgiving.
I didn’t do much for the holiday (not even a meal) beyond make myself an Old Fashioned, which was something of a traditional drink between me and my grandfather. He passed on, but the tradition won’t. Not until I go, too. Besides, I’ve been drinking them since I was 14. They carry a lot of other good vibes with them. They’re also delicious and classy, excuses to drink them are always welcome.
Also, California makes the worst Old Fashioned in the world, I have decided. Ordering one in LA was a huge mistake. I need to figure out a fallback drink next time I’m out that way.
Homemade chocolate covered raisins
The day after Halloween, I took a trip up to Walgreens for non-candy related reasons, but considering everything was on sale, I had to take a look at what was left. It was pretty late in the day, so there actually wasn’t much there. People stripmined the place as soon as they opened their doors that day, apparently. I was determined to find something decent, and my choices were some weird gummy things, and some weird chocolate things.
I went with the weird chocolate things, and good lord did I regret it. They were pretty terrible. They were supposed to be truffles, but there was really no appreciable difference between the chalky shell and the chalky interior. I’m not the sort of guy that likes to throw away food he spent money on (which is infuriating when you live with a person that asks you to buy food that goes bad quickly, but doesn’t eat most of it), so I brainstormed what I could do with them.
I bought a box of raisins, jury-rigged a double boiler (which the girlfriend insisted wouldn’t work), melted down the chocolate and made raisin clusters with it. The raisins thrown into the mix make the whole thing taste a lot better, and they were pretty easy to make. So why not? Pictures of the process are in the gallery below, if you’re interested. They’re super easy to make. Melt chocolate, throw in raisins, spoon onto wax paper.
You could even add some cinnamon into the mix if you want, or some other spices if you’re into that sort of thing. Chili powder, maybe? Sea salt in chocolate is a pretty big thing lately, too. Play around with it, do whatever you want. It only takes a few minutes to do.
In the picture of the double boiler, don’t be grossed out by the brown on the stovetop and the pot. It’s not dirt, it’s just burnt. Our stove came with the house, and the flames are a bit high even when you turn them down as low as possible.
PS: I realize they look like poop.
