These days a search for popular foods will bring up hundreds of similar recipes, and truthfully they are not all good.
I just tried to make Chocolate Lava Cake, or Molten Lava Cake, or add all those words together – whatever. The recipe I followed was wrong, saying to bake at 450 degrees for 12 minutes.
My cakes had no runny chocolate middle because they were over done! So I have searched other similar recipes to see what they say.
Chocolate lava cakes, baked
Recently I purchased little ramekins for baking just this type of thing. My Emile Henry (blue dishes) and Staub baking dishes are all 8 ounces in size and I think it is the perfect size since the batter puffed up to the top.
I won’t link to the inaccurate recipe, but found another that may work better at Very Best Baking. But they don’t say what size ramekin to use! They should “hold 4 oz of batter” – not really helpful when the batter will be expanding. As I said above, I used 8 ounce size bowls.
I have not tried this new recipe, but the fact that they say “bake for 7-8 minutes” makes me hopeful. Still they ask that the oven be set at 450 degrees and that seems high. Also they call for 4oz. of chocolate and I used 6oz., which seemed fine. The more chocolate the better, right?
In my Gordon Ramsey Makes it Easy cookbook, he also lists a Hot Chocolate Fondant, which is basically this chocolate cake, with a few changes, but his recipe is for 2 servings. He wants the oven set at 325 degrees and bake for 12 minutes, which in comparison, sounds good.
The cake is delicious even without the molten middle, so I will definitely try them again. This time I will follow Gordon’s recipe and baking time. After all, is Gordon ever wrong?
And I will update this page with my results.
Online recipes are not always to be believed. Too many food sites make things up and never try baking the recipes themselves. We have to be careful and sensible when using online recipes, and sometimes they just need a minor adjustment to be good. Sometimes just reading the comments from people who have already adjusted for the mistakes is very helpful.
I am lucky to live in a climate that allows for growing herbs (and some vegetables) year round. My little backyard garden provides me with parsley, fennel and peppers regularly. Because I can simply pick them any time, often I will incorporate veggies into my breakfast. Garden bell peppers, basil, fennel and hot peppers
Many aspects of our diet are picked apart and we are warned of so many foods these days, but vegetables are rarely demonized. Corn has too much sugar, but that is about the only negative thing I remember being said about a vegetable!
Because vegetables have always proven to be good for us, I constantly try to eat as many as possible. Frying garden peppers, beans and onions
I am not a big meat lover, and prefer fish to chicken or beef. Eggs hold so many good nutrients and provide protein to start the day and I usually eat one egg for breakfast. I used to make omelets, but these days I simply stir fry vegetables and herbs from my garden, then drop an egg into the mix, cook it up and eat! Super simple. Once the veggies are fried, add eggs and scramble
I don’t grow onions or garlic, but I do usually add those to my morning stir fry. To keep me using these nutritional foods without all the fuss, I keep leftovers in a container in the fridge. The easier it is to grab something the more you will use it. If I had to wash, de-seed, and chop peppers at each meal I may skip them altogether. If I had to skin and slice onions, same thing. But with them sitting in a handy container, ready to chop, adding to meals is much simpler. Keep leftover bits of pepper and onion in a container
To change it up a bit, sometimes I forego the eggs and eat apples and oatmeal. And when I have too much food in my fridge, sometimes I will eat leftovers from the night before. Fish and sweet potato fries are good for breakfast too!
Walking is something I began doing when I lived in New Hampshire. The scenery is really too lovely to ignore although the weather does not always cooperate. It makes those nice days call louder to draw me outdoors.
Now I am in Florida. I like to imagine that I am still walking those New Hampshire back roads when in fact I am stuck walking in a much drearier place. What I am actually doing, compared to what I am thinking, is what follows.
The Walk
I get dressed. Coolest, sleeveless top I own and capris. It will be hot, and worst of all muggy, before I take one step. Dress in layers because it will be cool, maybe even cold, when I start out, but I will work up a sweat on the hills.
Out the front door onto the level pavement of the long, straight, boring neighborhood road. I may go around the nearest block, but that is only 1/2 mile at best. It depends on the amount of heat I feel. Step outside and breathe in the beautiful, fresh air, as I head up the short driveway to begin my 2 mile walk. No doubts about the length because it’s my usual. I’ve measured it in my car. On a day like this, I could walk much further if my body would let me.
My old driveway – where my walks began
Heading down the road I pass house after house. This November morning is hot, but not oppressive at this hour. I spot lots of shade down the road ahead so I decide to take the longer route. Past my friends home and the trail where I sometimes see deer. I look back to make sure my cats are not trying to follow me. Down the hill I go, past familiar homes on my neighborhood loop. I know some of the people living in these houses. Coming back, that long hill is a killer climb, and I am often out of breath and sweaty as I reach my front yard. Today I won’t be coming back. My mind won’t get that far.
The stopwatch part of my iPhone is on so I can gauge time and help with distance. I know I used to walk 2 miles in 15-20 minutes on hilly roads. Now my walk is totally flat all the way. I should go faster but I am horribly out of shape because I hate walking here. My new way to cope is to think about New Hampshire. Where would I be at this point in my walk? I turn the corner and head to the next block. The homes in my little New Hampshire neighborhood each stand on an acre or more. Many of the homes in my neighborhood are quite large in comparison to my own. I am past the end of my loop and heading onto the main road where the walk gets really nice. Tall trees line both sides of the road with stone walls of course. When the leaves are off the trees I have a good view well into the woods. Soon I will see the white rock and the shortcut trail through the woods which connects this road to another.
Trying to ignore the boringness of driveway after driveway and the long straight road ahead (not to mention the suffocating humidity) I try to remember the cool, crisp air of Fall in New England. I discovered the big white rock in the stone wall on one of my first walks and it became ‘my rock’. Every time I drive or walk past this area I can spot it. Rocks usually stay put for years and years and that is comforting. The rock will surely be there long after I am gone for good. The path through the woods would take me to Union Street and I’ve used it before, when I’ve taken my longer walks, but it can be swampy in places. I see the young trees which are still bent over from last year’s snowstorms.
Not many people are out on this Thursday morning but I do spot a school bus farther down the road. I am thankful I no longer have to ‘do school’. Surely I’ve put in more than my fair share of time with it. I am in the home stretch. As I turn the corner back onto my street I am not sure how far I’ve walked but it really hasn’t been that far. Maybe a mile. I am sweating from the sun more than from exertion, which stinks. I’ve passed the MacDowell Colony big house on the corner. I always step off the side of the road in that area when I hear a car coming because they will not see me easily on that bend. Now the long driveway to the little red shed is on my right and another long sloping upward hill begins. I’m almost halfway through my 2-mile walk, which must end today at the halfway point in my mind.
My Florida house is up ahead. The top of the hill is up ahead.
Live oak with Spanish moss – My Florida tree
I walk into my driveway and stand under the southern live oak and palm tree and close my eyes. I have made it to the halfway point – 1 mile. I stand in the shade of big trees at the top of the hill. Another MacDowell Colony house is just beyond the wall. It’s a good spot to drink some water and rest for a moment. I take this time to enjoy the beauty of the place where I live, and then I head back the way I came. I look forward to it.
With a sad heart I walk to the front door where Skittle the Cat comes out from under the bushes to greet me.
It’s not all bad.
Skittle
In Closing, About the Colony
(I have photos of the MacDowell Colony area, and the road I always walked, but I’m not sure where to locate those photos. The Colony consists of many acres of land with main gathering areas and smaller houses scattered throughout the woods. I could see some of these buildings on my walk. It is a retreat for creative types. They are assured of peace and quiet during their stay and it is a lovely area for that.
It was not uncommon to see someone on the road carrying a picnic basket. The baskets are used to deliver food to the guests. I suspected it was a visiter of the Colony returning the basket. Also a lot of the bike riders I saw were perhaps writers, actors or artists staying in the area. At least that was what I imagined. One summer we heard that Johnny Depp was a guest at MacDowell Colony. I never saw him on my walks. 😉
Lots of knitters love to use gradient color yarns. Often shawl patterns work best for this, and I have found a free, simple pattern to try. It is called the Scrappy Bias Shawl and you can download it at Ravelry. I am grateful to knitters who share their free patterns. It’s the perfect way for beginners to get used to trying new things.
Some yarn shops will offer small skeins of colors that match or contrast which can be knit up in any order you choose to make your own gradient of color. This requires adding new colors as you knit and can leave lots of tails to deal with. The effect can be quite pretty, but with lots of weaving to come.
Changing colors makes many tails of yarn to weave in later
Speckled or variegated yarns can also be used to create a gradient effect, and I love the look. I began the ‘Scrappy Bias Shawl’ using dark green fingering yarn, then dug out more skeins hoping to have the colors changes from dark to light along the way. I am not finished, and will begin to revert back to darker colors to end with.
Create Your Own Design
What I love about this simple pattern is that once you know the basics of the shaping, the colors can be anything at all! It could be done in wide stripes, skinny stripes, a solid color, or add a simple pattern to some of the rows.
I decided to knit approximately 20 rows with one color, and then alternate two rows with my next color choice. You can see that in my image below where I went from pink to yellow, then yellow to variegated white. I did not buy any yarn, but used what I had in my stash already. I believe the “scrappy” part of the title is meant for knitters to use up their scrap yarn on this project.
Mostly I am using Mad Tosh Merino Light and similar sock / fingering weight yarn. It’s a simple garter stitch knit with increases at one side and a decrease at the other. I wanted my colors to “blend” as I progressed. Viewing the pattern page will also show how other knitters interpreted this pattern.
Gradient colors of garter stitch
Changing yarns: All my new yarn was added on the same side of the project so each color row made one complete back and forth row. Then I would pick up the alternate color to knit. Once I was done with the previous color, I cut it and continued on with the new color.
For easy counting of stitches, I have added stitch markers at 20 stitch intervals. Once you memorize the beginning and ending of rows, this pattern is super simple to knit while watching television.
After some searching online I found some lovely yarn at The Fibre Studio called 50 Shades of Gradient. Check out “Nantahala” (one I must buy soon) and others that come in cake skeins which make wide color swaths that gradually change as you knit.
My other WIP (work in progress) is the Bay’s Edge Shawl. And I just finished up a couple of hats and a thick scarf to give as Christmas gifts.
New England's Narrow Road 