Tuesday, November 10, 2009

40 Days to B-day: Tiramisu

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OK--so, I finished making my first Tiramisu. I found this interesting note somewhere on the web, so you know it's true, "Did you know that the literal meaning of Tiramisu is ‘pick-me-up’ and that Venetian courtesans used to eat it before their gentlemen arrived for the evening because they believed it would give them the energy to make love all night?”

Well--no love making tonight. However, I will share this dessert with my reading group tomorrow night. I'll let ya know how painfully bad it is. I messed up in three spots with the recipe. I should've video taped the experience--it was pretty ridiculous. It all started with going to Starbucks and trying to order a "tall espresso" -- apparently that makes no sense. I'm not a coffee drinker so I'm pretty ignorant to the scene. The recipe called for 12 oz. of espresso--a "tall" is 12 oz. However, espresso is not the same as coffee. What do I know?

My mistakes:

1. The book said to very quickly dip the lady fingers into the coffee-Kahlua mixture so they don't get soaked...oops. I ruined half a row. I put them on one side and then flipped them--the next thing I knew I had a ball of sopping wet sponged nastiness and it was falling apart in my fingers. I chucked them out.

2. I put down the second layer of ladyfingers before putting the chocolate shavings on top...so I just put the chocolate on top of the ladyfingers and then again on top of the whole dessert.

3. I clearly don't know how to divide in half...there's a lot more of the mascarpone mix on the bottom half--not so much on the top portion. Oh well.

My reason for making Tiramisu is it's my favorite dessert--so I figured it was time to try my hand at making it from scratch. Between the costs of the ingredients and the crappy creation I made--I might just stick to pre-packaged Tiramisu. We'll see how the taste test goes.

COMING UP THIS WEEK:
Singing Lessons
The World's Most Interesting Show
A Formal at Katrina's
Hosting the Coffee House Music Festival
Preparing a Gourmet Meal
Welding a Ring
Yoga

I've still got plenty of days to fill in. If you've got an idea for me...especially one you'd like to share with me, let me know!

4 comments:

  1. In my experience, cooking experiments ought to be tried more than once!

    My sister, when I told her what you were doing, said, "What, like doing 40 situps?" So, if you need something truly pathetic, put that one on your list. Well, not so pathetic maybe: Same sister - I only have one - is celebrating the fact that we are almost as old as you are by taking belly-dance lessons.

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  2. Belly dancing sounds more fun than the sit-ups. By the way--it may have been a long time ago--but I believe I've done 40 sit-ups before (at one time even--not over the course of my life).

    I'm finishing up Bliss...it's been interesting. Thanks for the suggestion.

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  3. Michael! I love this idea!!!!! You are so fun!!! Hmmmm-- I'm trying to think of something that would bring you this way........

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  4. Bring it on, Phoeb....let's plot something to do together!

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