Cure Natural Aqua Gel Winner and Chocolate Whisky Truffles Recipe

Congratulations to our winner...
...Cynthia M. Richardson (Hofken)!

Please contact me at cncliving{@}gmail.com with your mailing address information so we can ship the prizes to you!

Thanks for entering this contest and there are a few other contests coming up so stay tuned!

Now onto a delicious and decadent recipe that I kinda made up myself!  It is ridiculously easy, rich, and a wonderful treat to gift or snack on after a hard day.  I started with this recipe by Melissa Clark of the New York Times, who is like my modern day Minimalist.  But I wanted to up the "wow" factor and decided to make a slightly wicked version with alcohol.  I had good whisky on hand as well as sea salt so why not (you can replace with the alcohol of your choice!)

Here is the reaction you will get when you give someone these truffles...
Person: Wow, these are amazing and you made truffles yourself!  You are such a good cook!
You (in your head): All I did was melt some chocolate and put some salt on top!  But sure, I am amazing.

Try it yourself - you deserve it!

Chocolate Whisky Truffles
Ingredients
- 12 ounces good chocolate (60% cacao), broken up
- 2/3 cup heavy cream
- 1/4-1/3 cup whisky (to taste)
- pinch of sea salt (or kosher salt) for each truffle
- 3/4 cup cocoa


Prep Time: 30 minutes
Servings: at least 20 1" truffles
Directions:
1. Roughly break up the chocolate.  They don't have to be in very small pieces because they will melt!  Put this into a bowl.

2. Heat the cream in a small saucepan until it comes to a simmer.  Add the whisky according to your taste.

3. Place the heated cream in the same bowl as the chocolate and whisk to melt the chocolate.

4. Cover this bowl and leave it in the refrigerator to set for an hour or more.

5. Set aside a plate full of the cocoa powder and take out the chocolate.  Create 1"chocolate balls and roll immediately in the cocoa powder.  Don't hold the chocolate too long because it melts very easily!

6. Put a pinch of sea salt on the newly formed truffle.

You can make truffles or eat the ganache itself and cut it into fun shapes too!

Rainbow Delight for Dessert

From here

From here

Isn't it funny how a few simple drops of food coloring (cheap and fun at under $3 per pack) can elicit such smiles, gasps, and oohs?  It's fun no matter what with frosting or syrup.

Serve a rainbow colored cake at your party for a dessert your guests really won't forget (and elicits fun pictures!)  Now I must find food coloring! 

Fresh fruit is of course a healthy and natural way to add color in desserts.  I'm currently searching for popsicle molds so I can make this!

From here

What kind of rainbow desserts catch your fancy?

Photo Love: Tropical daydreams...Manila and a flora sanctuary at home

Baby it's cold outside.  Oh yes and rainy too here in Londontown.  Yep, it's the oh-rather-stay-in-turn-up-the heat-and-drink-soup kinda weather.

That's why I'm ECSTATIC to be escaping to two warm countries.  I think Manila will be particularly fun because it will be my first time there.  I can't wait to bask in the sun, explore the sites, and have lots of icy treats (Mr. Gadget tells me halo-halo is yummm).  Of course there's the excitement of meeting a few of Mr. Gadget's relatives for the first time.  Like me because I bring you English chocolates!!!

Umm, how fun and neon colored is that dessert?  Image from here.

Note: Lovely readers, would really appreciate if you had any recommendations for local designers and must-see places in Manila or Cebu (or Taipei for that matter since I'm not super familiar with it).

Thanks!

Dear Monica of Ciao Chessa posted about having a favorite place or image that you can turn to for a mental escape.  I think this may be my new image.

Image from here.

We all have rough patches in our lives and it's great to think of good time or places that truly makes us serene or brings us to a time and place of pure contentment.

I love the concept of creating a space for yourself at home.  I saw this image and was instantly captivated (I'd have couches or day beds in there though).  Oh if I had the room and energy to maintain an indoor flora sanctuary, it would be so amazing.  I'm um not so good with maintaining plants myself so I'd have to discipline myself.  But man, I love the indoor jungle feel of it.

Where do you relax at home or what is your favorite place to relax in general?

Snack Styles - Cake balls (red velvet cake dipped in chocolate)

Sigh, today has been a tough day.  Sometimes everything seems great, and the next second it becomes undone.   Well here's to hoping I can work things out.  Either way I'll be seeing great friends in Switzerland tomorrow - concentrating on the positive!

Anyway, I realized that there are so many awesome snacks I haven't shared with you lovelies.  I mean cool snacks too (can't wait to introduce my funny crisps another week).

But first we have...cake balls!

By Crunchy Jewels

I think these would make almost anyone feel better.  Umm, red velvet cake, cream cheese frosting, DIPPED in chocolate and then coconut.  Le sigh.  Well I might skip the coconut sometimes, but everything else sounds peachy.
Ooh how about chocolate sake - chocolate baked with sake and a dash of espresso and cinnamon.
Or pumpkin and white chocolate?!  Cake Balls has a great selection.

This would be a great addition on the dessert buffet for my bridal buddies and for anyone looking for a unique gift for the discerning hostess (or someone that just loves cute little cake bites). 


Now if they only had these in London...which flavor cake ball would you want?

Fun Free Friday (FFF)! DIY ice cream cones/labels from @iDIY @eatdrinkchic and cake buying tips

Oh dear apologies because I have yet again missed Designer Thursday (though I did have intentions of posting about my ceremony dress). I will try to post about Pronovias soon though I still DON'T have my professional pictures. Sigh, it isn't really that hard to send a cd of images to London is it?

Anyhoo, I've been very theme-happy lately with the addition of LOTC so now I'm adding Fun/ Free Friday. Fun is of course why we should do anything and if it's free, even better!

For the ice cream lovers, please find on iDIY a lovely ice-cream centered compilation here. How lovely to have this for a shower or any party really.

Love the tags from eat, drink, chic. As someone who served ice cream cake for her wedding (ummm, slightly more melted than I liked when it was cut but still delicious), I have a special place in my heart for ice cream.

I also wanted to pass along an ice cream cake buying tip: warehouse clubs offer the same cakes for a big discount. I wish I had known this before, but I went to BJ's the day before moving to London and discovered that large Carvel cakes were only $17 there. I paid $25 after coupon for each cake and thought that was good. I don't have a membership but went with someone who did. The other pastries were also decent looking for a great price. So if you do a dessert buffet, consider purchasing them at your local warehouse club. They may have the same desserts for much less!

A new dessert idea - popsicles!

I gotta admit, Martha Stewart is the queen of crafting and entertaining. Today's entry featured gourmet popsicles. What a cool idea to serve your guests mexican papaya or sweet corn flavored ice treats! Fascinating. AND there would be no cake cutting fee. Very tempted...I wonder if I should serve half ice cream cake/half popsicles... do people like ice cream or popsicles more?

Let them eat (ice cream) cake!

So Mr. Chic 'n Cheap had joked about having a cake in the shape of an HP12C calculator or an Amazon Kindle (yes, he is a nerd). He also thought it would be cool to have ice cream cake but I didn't take him seriously. We mentioned that idea to another couple and they were SUPER excited! The guy said he never remembers any wedding cake, but would remember ice cream cake.

So I'm getting Carvel cake with crunchies! We may even cut into Fudgie the whale for fun.
It will be pretty great for a summer wedding. They even have a Fudgie Fanatics club (occasional coupons) here.

I was looking into red velvet cupcakes or flourless chocolate cake too, but the reception places will have 1 dessert as well so that and our ice cream cake should be great! Hmm, I wonder what we should choose to accompany the ice cream cake...