Bucket List Item! Making snow!

It can be hard to find the upside to such frigid temperatures this weekend - If you're not me. LOL. I was looking forward to dinner made with something melty-cheese-ish, sparkly snow and the best excuse ever to stay home. 

And then I woke in the wee hours thinking:

1. Gosh, I hope the chickens are ok. It was -4°F and with just the two of them now, I worried they couldn't stay warm enough, even with the heating pad I had installed. 

2. Then I turned my thoughts to the golden opportunity that something south of 0°F was going to present me... Making snow out of boiling water!

FYI, it turned out the chickens were just fine. The roost stayed fairly warm and the heating pad didn't fail us. Just be sure, I covered the coop with a comforter and tarp and I'll check them again later. 

As for snow from boiling water; I had seen it on YouTube and long ago, put it on my Bucket List.  All I needed was a nice, but freezing day and that day had arrived. -9°F baby! Game time!

Special thanks to Mark, my videographer. 

Blossoms of Light

Because everyone needs a little magic. We all need the holiday season to last a bit longer in those cold and dark winter months...   

So they created it. Let there be light...  "Blossoms of Light". 

Festive, colorful light installations that bring the Denver Botanic Gardens to life at a time of year its mainly dead! :-)

To be sure, this is not something you can get tix for, last minute. I got lucky when I booked 2 weeks ago because most dates were sold out or only had late night entrance times left. 

At 7pm on Jan 7th - the last night of the show - it was cold. 25°F. 

Using all the gear I typically reserve for Arctic/Antarctic voyages, I entered wearing ski pants, a down jacket, wool layers, hat, scarf and gloves. Inside my pockets... those handy-dandy electric pocket warmers. And (no Im not embarrassed) I sported electric socks too! I was warm and wonderful but my phone drained its battery fairly quickly and I know that would have been ME if I wasn't dressed like this! I'd recommend a battery pack for phone longevity next time.

Chocolate Bread

 A.K.A my latest baking (and eating) compulsion. 

Like all good things... and some not so good ones... this little inkling originated from Tiktok, via Facebook of course. I made it the first time and while good, I felt it needed more hydration. This "newly tweaked" version was the bees knees though! Best we write this down - lest it get forgotten. 

Recipe: 

100g starter

360g water (90-100 F)

9g salt

50g cocoa powder + warm water

50g brown sugar

500g flour

115g chocolate chips

In a small bowl, mix the cocoa powder with enough warm water to make a thick paste. 

Set it aside for 5 mins.

In a large bowl, mix the starter with water, salt, sugar. Add the cocoa paste and mix well.

Add the flour and mix to a shaggy dough. Let it autolyze for an hour or so.

Add chocolate chips to the dough during first two stretch and folds, 30 mins apart. 

Do another two stretch and folds. 

Sit at room temp until at least 50-75% risen. (IMHO about 4-6 hours)

Shape and place in cold proofing bowl lined with cotton napkin. Rest 30 mins.

Put in fridge for 16+ hours then remove and sit on counter for an hour.

Turn out onto parchment, shape a bit more, dust with rice flour and score.

Add to the Dutch oven with 2 ice cubes under the parchment. 

Cook 30 mins at 450F. Uncover and cook another 20 mins at 430F. 

Remove to cooling rack and DO NOT cut for at least 2 hours. 

We like it with a thin spread of butter, but LOVE it with a schmear of Nutella too!

Gosh I hope that when I repeat the heck out of this, the result is equally delicious. Every. Single. Time.