Chocolate volcano

more Saturday:

I didn't mention the chocolate volcano in today's blog, and that felt like cheating. When I made the mixture for chocolate fondants yesterday the recipe said it made 6. I guess my little ramekins are smaller than the chef's because I made 9 -- and I'm glad they weren't bigger because they were extremely rich and very filling. His way, they would have 50 grams of chocolate and 50 grams of butter in each one, plus the eggs and sugar etc. Not that I'm arguing that mine are much lower in fat! But for Christmas I am going to look for even smaller ramekins and make the 12 I need from the recipe instead of making a double batch.

So, you make them ahead of time and chill them before cooking, and I cooked 5 yesterday when dad was here which left 4 for tonight. I knew they weren't very healthy but it would be a waste to throw them out, right? Hmmm. The second time I was better at judging when they were ready -- the recipe says 9 minutes which is completely ridiculous, even with our hot oven they were still almost completely liquid at that stage -- and with raspberries cascading down the sides and the chocolate middle oozing out they are like little volcanos, hence my name for them.

I started tracking my calories today and did pretty well, until it came to that damn chocolate volcano which I estimate to be about 600 calories. Ouch. Lots and lots of saturated fat, too. These are not even a "sometimes food", they are a "once a year food". The smaller Christmas ones will be about 450. Um, plus ice cream.

No, I am not trying to look thinner by making everyone around me fat! I promise!

Visit from dad

Friday:

My dad is visiting for a couple of days, as he does 3-4 times a year now that I have kids old enough to play with. My parents divorced when I was six and dad took us out every second weekend (plus holidays on his parents' farm in summer) and he was definitely the "fun parent". Mum is the responsible parent. I'm surprised they made it until I was six, really!

Anyway, I find conversation a bit of a struggle as we have so little in common. Seems odd seeing he is my dad but we just don't have any of the same interests. I am a geeky reader type, he likes sport and beer. He saw my favourite show "Big Bang Theory" when he was here and kept asking if the boys on it were "poofters" (offensive Australian slang for homosexual). He comments on women's bra sizes in front of me, which I find very inappropriate. Lest you think he is an uneducated lout, he is very smart (accepted by that smart-people guild, Mensa -- so was mum) and has university education. He grew up in the country though.

All this is not to criticize, just to point out we have very little common ground to talk about. We both do our best. But it is kind of tiring.

He is an outdoorsy type but the cold rainy weather (yesterday was the coldest October day here in 40 years) spoiled all my plans. We went to a toy shop where he bought the kids scooters and then up to an observatory where it thankfully wasn't raining and we were able to enjoy the great view until we got too cold. But the rest of the day was pretty slow.

Christmas will be at our house this year and as everyone has a bit of a travel they stay here for several days. It is great fun to have all the cousins in the house but it takes a bit of planning. I tried a new dessert tonight that I might make on Christmas Eve: chocolate fondant -- sort of warm individual chocolate cake that you leave gooey in the middle -- but I didn't get the gooeyness quite right. Oh well, that's why I did a trial! I worked out afterwards that each one had about 35 grams of butter in it. 7 teaspoons of butter. Urg. No wonder I feel a bit gooey myself. They weren't that big, but very rich, and I plan on looking for smaller molds for next time. Yummy with vanilla icecream and raspberries.

Back to my guest - we'll play 500 (card game) tonight. One thing we have in common.