Chocolate Coconut Goodness

How did we get to this place of mushroom-top chocolate goodness with silky smooth creamy icing?

Well, I saw someone on TV make frosting out of coconut cream (set a can of coconut milk in the fridge overnight (don't shake the can!), and the cream will rise to the top),

And I had leftover chocolate from when I last made a chocolate cheesecake (two chocolate vanilla swirl cheesecakes, to be precise),

So I tried to make chocolate cupcakes with coconut cream frosting.

I cribbed a chocolate cupcake recipe from the internet,

Chopping up my leftover baking chocolate (~ 4 squares) and adding it to the cupcake batter before putting it into the muffin tins. Which I overfilled (hence the mushroom tops). I haven't checked, but perhaps the recipe is for two dozen cupcakes instead of one,

Because after filling my muffin tin, I had enough left over to make a thin square of cake.

It came out super chocolaty. Makes you thirsty for a glass and a half of milk level of chocolateness.

The recipe for the coconut cream frosting is also from the internet.

My frosting never formed stiff peaks because I can't hold an active hand mixer for 15 minutes. And while the stuff firmed up a bit after I put it in the fridge, I think one needs a stand mixer to really make the recipe work.

All in all, not a total fail. Not what I was aiming for, but still very much edible, if not tasty.

A Social Media Fast

It got to the point where some days, I was checking my Twitter account every 3 minutes or less. A fast was in order, and Lent was right around the corner.

No checking Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday¹.

Pinterest was the easiest to avoid. Their suggestion algorithms had been getting on my nerves for some time now. Before Lent started, I removed the app from my phone and tablet. The most I saw of Pinterest were the What's New emails in my inbox, and half of those didn't interest me.

Facebook turned out to be tougher to avoid than I expected. Prior to the fast, I had gone a day or two without checking it.

But by Day 2, I had excluded my friend's cancer recovery page from the fast. Because cancer sucks, and how could I commiserate with her if I didn't know what was going on?

Then there were the notifications. That number encircled by an orange or red dot telling you who tagged you in a photo or invited you to tea or whatever. Those notifications had to go.

Which meant every time I cleared them out, I peeked at the post at the top of my news feed.

And sometimes clicked Continue Reading on whatever post was at the top of my news feed.

And once clicked the article that was shared in the post at the top of my news feed.

As for Twitter, one of the blogs I read includes a bit of the author's tweet stream. I would purposely go to their site, first to read the tweets, then to read the blog. Pretty much a violation of the spirit of the fast.

<sigh> 

1. Well, Easter Sunday-ish, I suppose. According to the Internet, Lent ends on Saturday.

Adventures in Crème Brulee

The burnt sugar crust looked good

It cracked nicely

Into a liquid

Crème Brulee Fail