Good 39º raining morning. Another 1/2" since yesterday
afternoon. Current radar..
Right now in the northern most part of California on I-5, Hilt....
Breakfast was a chicken thigh and hard boiled egg with Jen's
Ranch and yogurt with honey. OINK!
Yesterday was such a dark and gloomy day with more rain. Such
low clouds I couldn't even see my mountain! Rain started in again about 10am.
In the afternoon it was drizzling and the turkeys were standing out in the
rain, preening.
....or as Bruiser does at sunrise!
As for historical haps and births on yesterday's blog, they
were to go on today's blog. So, if you read yesterday's you have all the info.
Sorry........
I got an email from my pal Erika in La Crescenta. It had all
these amazing photos of Mongolians living among wild animals... bears, eagles,
reindeer..... There were too many to put on the blog so I found the website. You
can enjoy and be amazed!
When you open the site you will see this header, click on Tourist, Vault,
Messy, Nostalgia, and More for all kinds of fascinating photos and stories.
I just stayed in all day, doing 'stuff'.
Dinner was tacos. Hmmmm....
Ground turkey, parmesan cheese garlic butter (thanks Nancy Perry! Good stuff!), Taco
seasoning, cilantro...
Mozzarella cheese, Rotel tomatoes with chilies, lettuce, and Guerrero flour
tortillas..
The meat was cooked with a little olive oil and some of the butter, taco
seasoning and cilantro added in... then placed on a tortilla with cheese,
lettuce, and tomaotes/chiles.
I was totally disappointed in the Guerrero tortillas! Never had purchased
them before. Will not do it again, will stick with Mission Tortillas.
Later it was chair, wine, TV... Blue Bloods of course! I am
actually playing catch up with Blue Bloods by recording their 1st and 2nd and
3rd seasons. Never got a chance to watch all the episodes. Enjoying it.
All I know. Nuff said. Happy Saturday. Ciao.
xo Sue Mom
Bobo
December 12th
National Cocoa Day
The Difference Between Cocoa & Hot Chocolate
There is a difference between cocoa and hot chocolate. Cocoa is made from cocoapowder, hot chocolate is made from shaved chocolate bars. Both are mixed with hot milk or water, but since
cocoa powder is defatted, hot chocolate is a richer beverage. It can easily have
double the cocoa butter of cocoa
powder.
- Supermarket cocoa powders tend to contain 10% to 12% cocoa butter, while premium brands have 22% or more. Fractions such as 10/12 or 22/24 on the package indicate the percent of cocoa butter: e.g., 10/12 indicates 10 to 12 percent.
- By comparison, a semisweet chocolate bar can have 46%-54% cocoa butter.
Hot chocolate was invented by the Swiss,
who first thought to shave a bar and mix it with boiled milk. Cocoa powder was
invented by the Dutch. And it must be remembered that more than 2,000 years ago,
enjoyment of chocolate began as a spiced cold beverage, cacahuatl (ka-KWA-tay), enjoyed by
the Olmecs and later the Mayas and Aztecs.* It brought back to Spain by Cortès
in 1527 and was not made into a solid food—pudding and pastilles—until
1674.
TRIVIA: In 1785, Thomas Jefferson
predicted that chocolate (the term then for hot chocolate, as solid chocolate
had not yet been invented) would become the favorite beverage in the U.S.—over
coffee and tea. This prediction came after the Boston Tea Party and prior to the
widespread consumption of coffee in
America.
