About Me

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I was motivated to start a blog by reading all the wonderful talented individual's who have blogs out there. So, I want to make this blog about everyone who reads it. My family and God always comes first in my life. I want to share my experiences and in turn, hope to get feedback and ideas from you. I love unique things, I adore anything that sparkles (not over the top though) I love decorating, cooking, gardening, photography and shopping. My number one passion is photography! To me it becomes more than a picture, it can become a piece of art, or a beautiful memory. Decorating, though I am not a professional, and don't claim to be, has been a part of my life since I was very young, and just love searching and shopping for new ideas and incorporate the old, such as Mid-Century Modern and Hollywood Regency with contemporary. Living close to the Gulf of Mexico in Florida, and being of Hispanic heritage, I love cooking Mexican food, and love to share my authentic recipes. Though I live in Florida, my heart is in the desert southwest, and hope that my family and I will return there very soon…keep your fingers crossed that my prayers are answered SOON!!!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Chocolate, Chocolate and more Chocolate...

What a better time than the holidays to get creative with chocolate!  There is a large variety of chocolate molds you can chose from and let your imagine go wild.  For years I've used Merckens chocolate wafers for chocolate covered strawberries, pretzels, dried fruit, and so much more.  The flavor is wonderful and so easy to use.  But the last several Christmas' I've been using it with a variety of molds.  One of my favorite is the small fluted bowl shape molds, as in the first picture group.  I will fill it full of chocolate mousse or fresh fruit and drizzle the melted chocolate over the top, to a variety of rich fillings.  Not only is it beautiful, but is so delicious.  I have several different molds and the "wild shapes" (as in the last group of pictures) are really fun to put atop homemade cupcakes, adds that unique flair.  The Merckens comes in a variety of colors, I personally use the milk, white and dark.   With the left over melted chocolate, my daughter and I will take parchment paper and spray it very lightly with non-stick spray, pour approximately a 1/4  cup (or a little more, depending on the size we want) of chocolate on the paper, place a lollipop stick again, sprayed lightly with the non-stick spray, as it cools down somewhat, start at one end, begin to roll the chocolate around the stick loosely, after it has cooled and harden almost completely, remove the stick and you will have a "chocolate straw", very similar to the picture of the "chocolate kiss martini" below, and use it as a swizzle stick, or in your choice of desserts.  Another fun idea is to make the liquor chocolate cups, place them in gold foiled servers and fill with your favorite liquor.  A great combination is equal parts Bailey's, cream  and Amarula, so yummy.  Trust me, your guest will love them.  It makes a nice little after dinner treat also, if you don't want a heavy dessert.

A great site to go to learn about how to mold chocolate and other information.
http://www.sugarcraft.com/catalog/candies/moldingchocolate/howtomold.htm








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