Chocolate Bread

Brandee works part time with us and also attends KCC. She is in the culinary arts program. One of her classes this semester is Baking, and she's been bringing some ono bread to work.

This is the most popular so far. It's Chocolate Bread. It has cranberries and pieces of semi-sweet chocolate in it!
I asked her for the recipe. Small problem . . . it makes 24 boulles!

I asked my go-to man Marvin if he could trim down the proportions. The following is for 2 boulles:

1 cup water

1/4 oz. yeast

1 oz. cocoa powder

1/4 cup granulated sugar

3 1/3 cup bread flour

4 Tbsp. unsalted butter

2 tsp. salt

3/4 cup dried cranberries

4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate

Even though Brandee explained the recipe to me, I still don't really understand "Straight Dough Mixing Method", "check gluten development" or the difference between "rest" and "proof". If I ever try my hand at this, I'll be sure to post the pictures.

Microwave Pork Rinds

My sister Didi bought this microwave pork rinds for me from Walmart. When she went back for more they were all sold out. Marvin said he bought some from Don Quijote. It was neat that you could eat them while they were still warm. One small difference was that they kinda stuck to your teeth, but the taste was the same as the "real" kind.

Denise's Strawberry Chocolate Truffle

Denise said she left her prize-winning recipe on my desk yesterday. Somebody must've swiped it 'cause I never got it. So she quickly wrote out the ingredients for me again.

Layer the following in a 9 x 13 inch pan:

Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip cookie dough (this is the crust). Bake.
2 boxes instant chocolate pudding (follow directions on box)
Whipped cream
Strawberries (slice and sprinkle with sugar beforehand)
Drizzle chocolate fudge on top


I really don't know what happened to my original copy of the recipe. Who da hell would steal it, right? Anyway, looking all over my desk for the recipe reminded me of doing the same thing almost 50 years ago searching for my Cinderella watch.

When I was in the second grade my dad bought the watch for me. It had a pink band and a picture of Cinderella on its face. It was the first thing of value that I ever owned. I cherished it. I was at Japanese school when I discovered that it was missing from inside my desk. I searched and searched, but it was gone. I suspected that my deskmate had taken it. I worked up the courage to ask her if I could search her bag. It was there . . . at the very bottom. I couldn't believe it. I thought she was my friend.



So if you see me at an event, especially a big one like a wedding, and I look like this guy that Leslie found on the net, it's because I don't dare leave my gear unattended for fear that somebody's gonna swipe it.

Portable Gas Stove Danger

Leslie sent me this e-mail about an incident where a butane canister on a portable gas stove exploded. I was shocked . . . we use the portable gas stove all the time, like when we had the black-out. The article can be found at tune-in-tokyo.

There are pictures of the burn victim so it starts off with this warning: "WARNING! Before you scroll down I want to let you know that the pictures below are pretty intense. "

I'm never gonna use that stove again, and I hope Wendell doesn't either.

Kaka'ako Park Surf

Me, Susie and Leslie went to Kaka'ako Park today after work to check out the surf. I didn't get too many good action shots. I'm gonna try again tomorrow.

Green Anole

Kona saw him first . . . outside of our window, on the screen. We both dashed out.

Canon 40D, 60mm macro, f7.1, 640ISO

Welcome to Our Ala Moana Office

Marvin is putting together promotional material for my working place, so yesterday I got to shoot some photos for him at our Ala Moana office. It was so much fun for me with Marvin as director 'cause pretty much all I had to worry about was the lighting in the different areas. He choreographed all the different scenes with all the shots scheduled in perfect time-saving order.

Thanks Marvin, you made things so easy for me.

Y & M Anything-with-Chocolate Contest

It's funny how just a little thing like a food contest can brighten up a workday. Everyone from contestants to grinders were all excited in anticipation. Anyone who wanted to taste the desserts and be a judge paid $5 and the winner won the money.

This is my Banana Chocolate Delite.
Leslie's Brooklyn Blackout Cupcake

Here's Marvin prepping his Chocolate Decadence.

He would've liked to have been able to plate each piece separately with just a dollop of whipped cream on each for proper presentation, but because that wasn't possible he was forced to plop a huge spoonful smack dab in the middle of his dessert.

CQ is working hard on her Mint Chocolate Raspberry Bars.

It was so pretty that it deserved a close up.

This is Denise's Chocolate Mousse Ice Cream . . . and her Grand Prize Winner, Strawberry Chocolate Truffle.

Denise won $85!! I'll post the prize-winning recipe as soon as I get it from her. Let me know if you want any of the other recipes and I'll try and get them also.

Chocolate Banana Delite

We had a "Anything Made With Chocolate" contest today at work, and I made a Chocolate Banana Delite. I was like halfway done in the preparation, admiring my banana placement when I realized . . . hey why am I not documenting this . . . soooo stoooopid.

First, there's a shortbread crust on the bottom: 1 c. butter, 2 c. flour, 1/2 c. chopped nuts, 1/2 c. sugar. Cut butter into flour , add sugar and nuts. Press into a 9 x 13 inch pan. I had problems here cause the dough was really crumbly and it kept sticking to my hands. Dunno what I did wrong. Bake at 35o degrees for 20 minutes.

For the next layer blend together 1 block cream cheese, 1 c. powdered sugar and 1 carton Cool Whip. (I used only 1/2 container of Cool Whip and was nuff). Then layer on sliced bananas.
Mix 2 (4 oz) boxes instant chocolate pudding and 3 c. milk with the 30-year-old "egg beater" that still works.

Spoon onto banana layer. I'm not really left handed, but I wanted to do an action shot and I cannot shoot with my left. Hey, it just dawned on me: Left-handed people have to shoot with their right hand. That's where the button is. I wonder if it matters to them. They no more choice though.

Next, spoon on one container of Cool Whip over pudding.

Sprinkle on 1/2 c. chopped nuts.

I have pictures of all of today's entries from the contest. There were six. The judges had a hard time voting. I have to post them later. I gotta go hem Wendell's baseball pants.

Dragon Fruit

I saw this alien-looking Dragon Fruit in Foodland and I just had to bust out my camera (after arranging the fruit all nice).

As curious as I was, I just couldn't bring myself to buy one.