The chocolates are all done! Yay! Every year I am always a little surprised when I reach the point that I am sick of chocolate, and yet every year, that point is reached, LOL. Last night I made a peppermint bark to use up the rest of the dark chocolate, and I still haven't even tasted it. I am just not interested. Blech.
We bought 10 pounds of milk chocolate, 5 pounds of dark chocolate, and 2 pounds of white chocolate. We used it all except for about 1 pound of the milk chocolate. We'll have to make something yummy with it--in February maybe, LOL.
The biggest difference this year was that Nathan was really my partner, not just my helper. He did some of everything--painting the molds, filling them, rolling out other fillings, etc. It was really fun to work with him, and it was so nice not to have to do it all! I guess this is why people have children! LOL! And of course we had some really great discussions while working about Pearl Harbor, current events, etc.
The thing about not doing it all myself was that I had to let go of some of my anal perfectionism. This was really hard to do. I can still remember the lady at Marway's Cake and Candy Supply Store in Colorado Springs, where I took the candy-making classes, talking about how you want people to realize your gifts were "hand-crafted, not home-made" or something to that effect, because of their great quality. And let's face it--a 10 year old boy who doesn't normally pay tons of attention to detail is going to be sloppier and less careful than someone like, well, me, who always got charater qualities such as "neatness" and "diligence" at award banquets in school. (Yes, I went to a Christian school obviously, LOL). But I managed to let it go fairly gracefully and not rush back to correct everything I thought wasn't quite good enough. So the bottoms of the chocolates aren't quite as smooth as they should be, and sometimes they are a bit swirled because the chocolate started to set before the mat got put in the freezer. They still taste great! And I think things like this will help Nathan pay more attention to details. He did greatly improve over the course of the week.
By the time the boys are all in high school, I'll just sit back and let them make tons of chocolates. Then I'll rake in the money. I knew there was a reason we had so many kids! LOL!
5 comments:
I'm with you on the perfectionism thing! Charis helped me make one of our holiday favorites, Dipped Gingersnaps. She made quite a mess rolling them in sugar, but it really did help me get through the making of 12 dozen cookies much more quickly than if I had had to roll them into balls AND coat them in sugar. I tried to show her how to GENTLY place the balls on the trays so sugar didn't end up all over the trays, counter, floor, etc., but as you can imagine, the kitchen was a lot messier than it would have been had I done it myself. But it wouldn't have been as fun or memorable for either of us that way!
Your chocolates sound wonderful! I can't imagine ever getting sick of them either, but I'm sure one can reach that point with all good things!
All this time I was feeling so inadequate in the cake making and decorating. Now I know your secret -- you have been professionally trained. Totally unfair. LOL.
LOL, I am most definitely NOT professionally trained in the cake making/decorating department! I never took any classes on that, although now I wish I had (just another thing I could have been doing those 2 years I was waiting to get pregnant but couldn't, LOL). And now that I finally have girls who would enjoy the roses, etc. on cakes, I don't have a spare moment at all to take a class like that!
So you are sending some of the candy to us. What a fun tradition you have
with the boys.
With all your cake decorating skills you can make the girls wedding cake. Bob would be happy, you would save at least thousand dollars. Mel
Yipee! Yipee! Yipee!! It's time for CHOCOLATES!! I'm willing, Claire, to help you out by taking your individual chocolates too, along with mine, so they won't go to waste! ;)
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