I have just watched a fantastic video on Face Book, of two people playing the Sugar Plum Fairy theme from the Nutcracker. It is a lovely piece of music at the best of times, but this kind of blew me away....they were playing it on glasses filled to varying degrees (obviously) with water. The glasses ranged in size from brandy balloons to what looked like shot glasses. The woman and man must have waxed their fingers in order to elicit the short and long sounds by moving the pads of their fingers over the rim of the respective glasses. We have all done this, right? Well, not to this extent. The time it would take to 'fine tune' the amount of liquid in each glass much have been an eternity...unless they have marked the line on the glass...which is what I would do, of course.
I am always fascinated by the unusual and the skill of those making or performing them. The whole point of me telling you this is really pretty naff! :)....I have been singing or humming the tune ever since. It threatens to drive both of us nuts, before the end of the day, or until we can come up with another tune to replace it...or, glory be, I get involved in something that takes my mind off it. Not that I 'THINK' about it at all, it is just this endless music in my head. Always had it, but it gets a bit infuriating at times...CHANGE THE RECORD!!! :) Makes me wonder if there is a name for this 'syndrome'???
Anyway...Greetings earthlings! Today is the day you can put away the Christmas deco's, mop the floor, put away all the 'stuff' that has been sitting around waiting for such a moment, and maybe to clean out the closets full of the 'other stuff', that you need to shift in order to fit in the new 'stuff'! Confused yet? me too!
I don't have closets full of 'stuff' ! Not yet, anyway. We don't have room to stuff any more stuff into anywhere. Simple. If it doesn't fit, throw it out!
I also wanted to share a phenomena that I observe while sitting (with music going in my brain) that is endlessly fascinating. Some might say I need a hobby or a job, if this is fascinating!
The large number of birds, in this case one that looks distinctly like the common garden NZ Starling, that flock. They are startled easily...as birds are...and fly almost as one, up, around, over...swooping in elaborate fashion to the next alightment (is that even a word?). They go from the recently rained-on ground to the nearest power lines where they sit in rows, flit to the next line, rearrange their pecking order etc, and then swoop down to the ground again when the coast is clear, as it were. I have to say it is great having the time to contemplate such things. Aren't we all just too busy to take note of these things?
Ok...'nough of musings...I have things to report!
First up!
Tiramisu!!! Yes, I caved in made some. As I have not been eating sugar (knowingly) for 3 weeks now,( and, I might add, dropped a dress size!!!:) or bread/white flour/rice/pasta etc things, I was reluctant to try making Tiramisu without the usual 6 egg yolks combined with half a cup of sugar/mascapone!! Mascapone isn't the problem!
First I watched a few video on YouTube to see how I could adapt my favorite dessert to being, or as close to being, non-sugar. I made the decision, that I needed the ladies fingers or Longue du Chat (cat's tongues) no matter what. That they were 10% sugar had to leave my consciousness. BUT...that was the only sugar that went into this dessert!!!maybe...
After searching in all the 'obvious' places, like the International section, the cookie/cracker section of the supermarket, we had all but given up when inspiration hit us....the BAKERY section! duh! Should have gone there first.
Not the product we are used to, but it would suffice.
So (while we were out)....of course Waz needed to visit Lowes/Home Depot...both of which saw us cruising the aisles in search of a 5/8 galvanized 12-14 inch bolt....one only! We didn't find it, but we did find something that would do the job...or assist in the job.
By now it was 5.30pm. Hmm...why so long? good questions. All I know, is that I was starving!!! Which should lead us back to WHY I was starving, but I have to finish telling you about the Tiramisu first...patience, mes amies! (see next post for the details)
Back home (yes, it was dark by now), I put the mascarpone (which had been lurking in my fridge for about..ummmm 2 months???) in a bowl with some Kahlua...specifically purchased for such a moment...about 2 tablespoons, is my guess...but hold your horses...that was just the beginning!
I whipped that up with my trusty Kitchen Aid hand mixer, but it was too thick and gluggy. Hmmm...
Now normally, one would, over a double boiler, whip up the sugar and egg yolks into a frenzy of pale creamy loveliness which should then 'ribbon' from the spoon, before adding to it the mascarpone to be further whipped.
As I was kind of figgering this out as I went along, I decided to add one egg yolk straight into the bowl and whip. Along with the yolk, I added about 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream. More whipping, more cream adding, more Kahlua adding...tasting...more cream, Kahlua, tasting, whipping etc, until the desired consistency/taste was achieved. Yes, I know the Kahlua has sugar...we aren't counting that, ok!!
So, it wasn't quite ribbon consistency, but more like 'plopping'. Plopping is good as it spreads easily.
In order for this dessert to live in the fridge, it had to be made in a fridge container.
I made a strong brew of instant coffee (Nestle brand, for those who REALLY need to know, lol) along with more Kahlua (I believe I used about 1/2 a cup, all up) for the dunking of the Ladies Fingers. These little sponge fingers were placed, and drizzled (I would normally dunk, but this wasn't a 'normal' Tiramisu!) the coffee mix on top. The sponge was a lot softer than I would normally use, is why.
Then came a layer of the mascarpone mix, another layer of sponge fingers et al, then the third and final layer. In the meantime I had whipped up what was left of the heavy cream and that was the 'icing on the cake' as they say. It all fitted perfectly into the container, and lid was put on.
ok...we had to have some for dessert...It was made to eat, you know!
...otherwise, how was I going to show you what it looks like? (wide eyed innocent look, here!)The container was duly placed in the fridge for two hours (approx.) before we decided it had been there long enough and it was now 8.45pm, and we should try it!
We have declared it an Total Success!
I think I have bored you enough for one post, so I will write about yesterday (New Years Day) in the next post. Toodaloo!
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