dark chocolate torte

mmmmm

Dark Chocolate Torte

Ingredients:

2 cups extra thick double cream ( whipping cream will work too)

3 tablespoons caster/white sugar

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 cups (1lb of chocolate= 455g) of dark chocolate (60-70 % cocoa solids) chopped into chunks.*

5 tablespoons milk

cocoa or icing sugar for decoration (optional)

For the base:

1½ cups of biscuit/cookie crumbs (I used chocolate covered digestives as that's what I had .)
2 tablespoons melted butter

Mix the biscuit/cookie crumbs and the melted butter. Mix well and press firmly into a lightly greased 8-inch spring form pan and place into the refrigerator.

instructions for the filling:

Put the double cream and sugar into a sauce pan over medium heat and bring to the boil.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the butter and chocolate chunks and stir until the chocolate has melted. (you may need to sample the mixture too see if you need to add any more sugar to you taste. or that's the excuse you will need to use)

Let the mixture cool slightly before adding the milk and mixing until smooth.

Pour the mixture over the biscuit/cookie base. Let cool at room temperature for 30 minute before chilling for an hour in the refrigerator.

sparklers optional

Cook's notes: I have no idea what the difference between a torte and a tart are if you want to get persnickety. I just know the recipe works for me, it's simple and tastes good and I have been making it for years. Matthew requested it for his birthday the other week so that's what I made. It makes a very rich slice of chocolate heaven so suggest you slice it in small pieces and hoard the rest away in the fridge.

served with a dollop of lightly whipped cream

* the chocolate is more or less two cups worth as it depends on who is stealing..er helping make the torte by tasting the chocolate. Very important to taste the chocolate.

geeky browncoat card I made for Matt's Birthday.

I love Wash... don't tell Matt!

Bookish Craft Swap

I have been thinking about doing another swap, and of all the ideas bouncing around my head the idea for a book and craft swap appeals to me the most. Mainly because I love books. I know I'm not the only book geek out there. I think it would be a great way to send along favourite books to a new home, and to get something new in return. I have lots of books, Matt is forever going on about me getting rid of them and I can't do that. Books are my friends and if they are going to go somewhere then they need to go to someone who would appreciate them.

So who is with me? (please leave a comment and email me at meridianariel @ hotmail . com )

your parcel must contain:
a book (used any genre as long as you and your partner discuss what books you want/would like to have)
a hand crafted item or two
a treat (it can be a craft supply or some chocolate to nibble upon when you are reading your new book.)
parcel must be sent out by: the 1st of August.

Questionnaire:

Name:
Address:
a bit about you and your crafts:
book genres you read (sci fi, fantasy, horror, craft, fiction, steampunk, graphic novels, teen, biography, etc etc):
favourite books:
last book read:
a favourite quote:
favourite colour (s):



the swap sign up will close the end of the first week of July.
the swap will be international so our books can go farther and we find new crafty pen friends from across the globe.
When you are finished with the book you can pass it on to someone else and keep the spirit of bookish crafting going.

any questions?

shhhh I'm reading...

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs
Blurb at the back of the book: 'I didn't realize he was a werewolf at first. My nose isn't at its best when surrounded by axle grease and burnt oil ...' Mercedes Thompson runs a garage in the Tri-Cities. She's a mechanic, and a damn good one, who spends her spare time karate training and tinkering with a VW bus that happens to belong to a vampire. Her next-door neighbour is an alpha werewolf - literally, the leader of the pack. And Mercy herself is a shapeshifter, sister to coyotes. As such, she's tolerated by the 'wolves but definitely down the pecking order. As long as she keeps her eyes down and remembers her place, the pack will leave her in peace. Hardly a normal situation, but then, Mercy Thompson is not exactly normal herself...and her connection to the world of things that go bump in the night is about to get her into a whole lot of trouble.

Last Book Read before going on holiday I have a weakness for Urban Fantasy, and this was a great book. My friend Marina loaned it to me and the next two after it as well.

Book taken on holiday: Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders. I started reading in the car on the way to our hotel near Heathrow (obviously Matt was driving if you are worried about such things) I finished the book at my parents' house in Idaho. I enjoyed reading some of the stories, a few real gems that made you stop and think about the possibilities of things and the magic in the everyday. A few were a bit clunky but it was still an interesting walk around Gaiman's mind and I enjoyed reading the introduction and the brief blurbs about where the stories began.


Monster by A. Lee Martinez
cover blurb: Meet Monster. Meet Judy. Two humans who don't like each other much, but together must fight dragons, fire-breathing felines, trolls, Inuit walrus dogs, and a crazy cat lady - for the future of the universe.

Monster runs a pest control agency. He's overworked and has domestic troubles - like having the girlfriend from hell.

Judy works the night shift at the local Food Plus Mart. Not the most glamorous life, but Judy is happy. No one bothers her and if she has to spell things out for the night-manager every now and again, so be it.

But when Judy finds a Yeti in the freezer aisle eating all the Rocky Road, her life collides with Monster's in a rather alarming fashion. Because Monster doesn't catch raccoons; he catches the things that go bump in the night. Things like ogres, trolls, and dragons.

Oh, and his girlfriend from Hell? She actually is from Hell.

Read while in Idaho, at my parents, in coffee shops, on the way to yard sales and misnomered Estate Sales. I loved the book, just the right mix of humor, fantasy, a fast paced, light read. I left the book for my dad to read as we alread had a ton of goodies to bring back with us.

A Lee Martinez's Too Many Curses

blurb: A magical castle, an utterly wicked wizard named Margle, and Nessy, a kobold who tends the castle, lead the way in this diabolical story of good triumphing over evil. The many residents, all of whom have been cursed by Margle, include a hanged man in the library, Decapitated Dan, unmanned armor, chatty gargoyles, a loyal fruit bat, a silver-polishing gnome, and the very important Door at the End of the Hall. Soon after the wizard dies when one of his curses goes awry, Nessy realizes that the castle is falling apart, and it is her job to bring about order.

Read at the airport while waiting to see how much longer our return flight would be delayed (6 hours) but we did get home on the day we were meant to. Finished the book a few days ago, it was a fast paced, geekily enjoyable book.



Vampire a Go Go by Victor Gischler

next book on the pile on my nightstand.. technically I started reading it before we went on holiday but as Marina lent it to me I didn't want to take it for fear of damaging it or forgetting it in Idaho.







Pride Prejudice and Zombies by Sethe Grahame-Smith

the next next book on my stack of books to read is Pride Prejudice and Zombies, which was my Christmas present from Matt but I just haven't gotten around to starting it just yet.







other books bought while away Wreck this Journal (bought from the Barns and Noble in Santa Rosa, my old stomping ground while hanging out with Meg my best friend from my school day).. I had wanted this journal a year ago but put it back on the shelf as I bought a bunch of sci-fi/fantasy/urban fantasy/horror type books already and was getting too short on space. Matt has flicked through it and shook his head at me, I think it will be a fun exercise in creativity and doing things I would not normally do with a book.. like cracking the spine *winces*.

Flea Market Style Magazine- yes I know it's a magazine not a book but I found it very inspirational and have flicked through it twice (once at Spokane Airport and once as SFO )

I love Patchwork: 25 Irrestistable Zakka Projects to sew by Rashida Coleman-Hale --I haven't read through it properly but I bought the book at the The Kinokuniya Bookstore in Japan Town Mall in San Francisco. I was going to buy a Japanese book but decided on this one as it would be a good read instead of just something to look at.

what are you reading?

p.s. I will update with some holiday photos and babble on about what we did on our three weeks away in California and Idaho but Matt is still messing about editing the pictures and we are still a bit jetlagged... and in dire need of vast quantities of coffee and sugar to keep functioning at a semi-normal level.

Also I have no idea why this is italicized it just is and I cant change it and am too rusty at html to even try. *glares at blogger*

10 books Meme

Name ten books that have stuck with you, and have helped to shape your world.Don't take too long to think about it , simply list the first Ten books that you can think of in ten minutes or less. Books you have read that will always stick with you. tag 10 friends if you wish to share the meme. This meme was on facebook but I thought I would share it here because it was an interesting exercise.

and here goes in no particular order


1. The Stand by Stephen King - my dad gave me this book to read when I was around 12 and it was fantastic, it is by far my favourite King novel, it is very complex with a wide assortment of characters, good vs. evil, plague, apocalypse, the end of civilization…

2. Where the Sidewalk Ends, and A Light in the Attic by Shell Silverstien- My dad got me these for two consecutive Christmas when I was a kid and I sat all day reading the poems and was thoroughly enchanted.

3. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder- my great aunt got me the set of books when I was too small to read them, they sat in my room for years until I was old enough to read them, and realized that they were the real stories of what happened to Laura and not just the tv show which I adored. I spent whole summers playing in the fields pretending I was Laura living on the prairie with just the dogs and cats as my companions.

4. A Thousand Words for Stranger- Julie E. Czerneda- the author is a biologist and as such creates a vivid world of aliens, star ships, and worlds beyond ours. I have read this at least 3 times and I fall in love with it every time I read it.

5. Illusion by Paula Volsky- it’s the French revolution with magic, I have read this twice and it broke my heart and mended it both times, the book is so vividly written that I fell into it and couldn't put it down. I think the book is at my parents’ house in a box somewhere I must dig it out next time we visit if I can remember to.

6. Merry Gentry and Anita Blake novels by Laurel K Hamilton- I’m lumping them together even though they are 2 series with at least 20 books between them. Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, whatever flavour you want to call them, I love the worlds Hamilton has created, especially that of the dark fairies.

7. Enslaved by Virginia Henley historical romance/time travel/destiny….in late high school and college I had a thing for reading historical romance.. And sci fi/fantasy romance.. There wasn’t so big a “Paranormal/Urban” romance section back then, Henley packs a heavy punch with some of the historical details in her novels. (I was such a history geek at the time.. though where all that knowledge has gone I'll never know)

8. Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen .. I didn’t read it in high school, I got lumbered with All Quite on the Western Front and Jane Eyre, both I loathed and skimmed through the cliffs notes to write papers and pass the tests for. Pride and Prejudice was on my list for years, I loved the BBC mini series but never got around to reading the book until a few years ago, and I loved it almost as much as the mini series and I probably never would have loved it in high school.

9. The princess bride by William Goldman ..what can I say but …My name is Inigo Montoya you killed my father prepare to die!

10. The Secret of the Unicorn Queen series by various authors.. Its a series written for tweens or young adults.. My parents bought them for me for my birthday and I was hooked read them over and over again, except for the last book I got mad at it because the girl choose to go home to boring Earth instead of staying in the world of magic and her own unicorn.. I wrote an alternative ending (my first fan fic I suppose) the book got stolen when I was sick and left it in my desk at school but I still have the rest of the series in a box at my parents house.

I'm not saying these books are classics or that they are the best books ever, but they are a part of me because I love them, and reading has helped to shape me into being the person that I am. No matter how scatterbrained that may be.