Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Best tiramisu
I cut the pound cake into thinner slices, and that way I was able to have six layers instead of four. Since the slices were thinner, they soaked up more of the espresso mixture. Thus, there’s a higher volume of espresso per bite of tiramisu.
I can’t eat too much of this stuff, but it makes Karen happy.
***
A dead blue whale washed up on South Beach in Crescent City. Since I will forever be the kid who turns dead animals over with a stick, I had to go see. (Nope. Couldn’t find a big enough stick.) This poor bastard had to have been forty or fifty feet long. Biologists from Humboldt State University came out and carved specimens from around the flipper, or whatever you call the structure that’s homologous to an arm.
It was freshly dead, not decomposed in the least, and yet the smell was viciously strong, the kind of thing that took up residence in your sinuses and made itself known for hours after. I’m wondering how deeply into town that smell will penetrate, especially when decomposition sets in — and most especially when the warm weather returns. Will it wash away? I hope so. If it doesn’t, it could take years to disappear.
***
Today, I wrote nearly 3000 words and finished Chapter One. I think it flows pretty well. As I’ve said countless times, my number one writing rule is, “It has to entertain ME.” That way, I have an audience of one at the very least.
It’s a creepy feeling, knowing that my muse has something in mind and isn’t sharing with me, not in any conscious way. “Come on,” I want to say, “how can I start Chapter Two if I have no idea what’s going to happen after the first sentence?”
To which my muse responds, “Fuck you. You haven’t given me hardly any air for MONTHS. You expect a detailed outline?”
But I guess I’m not being entirely truthful. I know what has to happen (an alien abduction). The details, my muse keeps to herself.
***
Live Blogging tonight . . . I’ll shoot for 7 PM PST, but I still have to go to the store, shop, come home, make dinner. See you soon.
D.
aw, i’s sad that i missed live blogging again if you did indeed do it. i was having fun with my friends becoming more aquainted with jaeger (i apparently am one of the few who like it straight…mmmmm) and watching RENT and making drama. woohoo.:-D
p.s. i dont think i like tiramisu…i dunno if i’ve ever actually tried it, but i’m uber-sensitive to the taste of coffee (even in my friend’s peppermint mocha which she said SHE couldnt taste the coffee in) and HATE HATE HATE LOATHE HATE it, so i’m guessing no. sure looks yummy in the picture though.
I had to bail out early (around 8:30 my time) because my stomach was in knots. I have a very odd body . . . I have to work out, or my back aches; I have to eat healthy, or my colon twists and turns. By the time I die, I’ll no doubt look like Jack LaLanne.
No reason you have to make tiramisu with coffee. True, you’d have to come up with a different name, but the basic idea (moistened/flavored layers of cake or cookie alternated with layers of a mascarpone/zabaglione mixture) can be generalized.
Berry tiramisu, for example. Instead of coffee, use berry juice and a berry liqueur (like Chambord) to flavor the cake. Instead of cocoa powder on top . . . fresh berries, perhaps. It would be delish.
What does jaeger taste like?
That tiramisu looks delicious!!!
I’m so glad there are no whales washing up where I live. My boys would be carving it up to see what was inside, my husband would be wondering which parts were edible and if they would fit on the grill. My dogs would be rolling in it. I can just imagine the stench.
That’s one fine-looking dessert, Mr. Hoffman. Sorry I missed live-blogging last night, was busy tending to a child.
Jaegermeister is an old German liqueur, one of those herbal preparations that is supposed to help your digestion. It has become trendy for some reason. It’s a sweet herby-tasting drink. The last time I tried it, I thought I detected rosemary and licorice, but the alcohol makes it difficult to distinguish clearly.
Alien abduction. Oh, BOY!
yeah, what dean said. it’s licoricey. me gusta muchhhhoooooo.
How much exercise does one need to do work off that portion of tiramasu? 3 hours solid running? You make me scared to meet you, you would tempt and torment my sweet tooth.
Our favourite museum has a full Blue Whale skeleton suspended from the ceiling, it’s 78 feet long and was found in 1831. It took them 3 years to strip it completely, so I’d imagine it would be easier today.
Will you be sending out the chapters for beta readers?
Hmm. 600 calories, maybe? so, an hour’s run? I don’t know!
I’ll think about sending out chapters. I’m still waiting to see if the muse tuckers out. Yesterday was good, though; even tired out after doing a bunch of chores, I still managed to write for two hours, with little bleeding on the keyboard. So far, so good.
That is the finest looking tiramisu I have ever seen and I am a tiramisu freak
Some of them are INCREDIBLY ugly. Karen was trying to take it easy on me . . . she told me to buy the one in the store. But it looked so repulsive, I couldn’t bring myself to pop $10 for something so gross. Not when I knew what I was capable of!
I must be a tiramisu snob.
Do you think that the locals might not have heard of the Exploding Whale?
It’s amazing what 1000 pounds of dynamite can do to the rotting carcass of a whale.