Oh....to shoot a video...

My hubby & I decided we’d shoot a video of me making something for an epicurious contest to capture making something for the holidays.  Okay- so I thought about it on Sunday morning & paged through cookbooks & came up with a portion of  a recipe from my fabulous ‘Death By Chocolate Cookbook’.  I just used the pudding recipe, but changed up the pudding a bit to include some raspberry liqueur & also I skipped the chocolate chunks in the pudding - just wanted a nice smooth pudding.

So, anyways.....I have never made this recipe at all before - so I was winging it & my husband was just taking a video of me making the pudding - after I stopped giggling & composed myself!  I must say - we had fun making the video - but.........I enjoy taking photos of the foods I make & writing about the foods I make much more.  For me, it’s just that I feel more creative that way - I can get down into the food & take a shot - I can take 20 shots until I get the angle I want - & writing is more natural for me - I somehow just sit down at the computer & every thought I had about what I made just flows - it’s natural.

Also - for the camera - I thought I’d just do my hair up in a nice pretty hairstyle - instead of my usual cooking hairstyle - thrown in a ponytail & wrapped in a lovely scarf.  Halfway through the taping - I discovered a hair when I was straining the pudding mixture!! Yuck!!  That was it for me - no more looking pretty for the camera - the scarf went on.  Cooking with my hair all over the place just isn’t for me - I much preferred the tied back - get at the food look better......:)  And by the way - the hair in the pudding - there’s no way I’d ever serve that to anyone - it’s fine for me & even hubby was okay with it - but that was it - the pudding was now ours to consume.... so I made the pudding again for New Year’s Eve (yes, with the head scarf on - no worries!!)

My hubby did a great job shooting the video & editing it too - he stayed up till 4:45 in the morning working on it & making transitions - and we probably took about an hours worth of film & try to cut that down to 6 minutes - took some time.  So I hit the sack around midnight (had to get up for work) and my hubby was still on vac. - so I had no idea he was going to continue working on it.  I woke up in the morning & played the video  - and it just looked cute.  And heck from a recipe on the fly & me definitely liking to write more than having a video camera in my face - I think it turned out pretty good.

Oh yeah - for the end I wanted to take some shots of me eating the pudding - well, we took a few shots & I was miss giggly again - so I pretty much just ended up eating half the pudding - then I had to give some to the camera man (hubby) and he liked it so he ate the other half.  So - due to eating all the pudding up & the little issue I mentioned above - I decided to make some more pudding for the gathering we were going to on New Year’s.  This time though I thought I’d add some different flavors into it - some cardamom & rose water & a bit of vanilla. That’s the great part of this recipe - you can start with a good  recipe & then add in whatever flavors you want.

Reflections on food blogging & thoughts on the upcoming year...

I though I’d reflect a bit on the previous year & jot down some things for 2008.  One thing I’m definitely happy about is my leap into the world of food blogs - sure I don’t get paid for it - and ingredients cost some dollars - but I love it - I absolutely love it & I’m going to continue doing it as long as I’m inspired......as for my day job - well I love that too - I made a decision about a year ago to get out of the daily office grind & instead I now work at this lovely chocolate shop - where I’m able to connect to people & chat with the customers - I am enjoying it a lot - so by day I sell chocolates & by night I cook & blog - I’m pretty content right now.  As for resolutions - I’d like to try to put down the chocolate that is ever so frequently at my lips & instead maybe do some sit-ups - that camera adds 10 pounds thing - I think it was more like ‘all the chocolate I consumed over this past year’ added the 10 pounds :)

Cheers!!  Hope you have a wonderful New Year!

Recipe for Deep Chocolate Pudding (for the video I added raspberry liqueur so I called it  ‘Raspberry Chocolate Pudding with Whipped Cream’...but after awhile - I decided I liked ‘Deep Chocolate Pudding’ as the tile for the recipe - it just seems to fit it better.....plus it shows how versitile the recipe is - you can add it whatever flavors you’d like...)

Ingredient list

20 oz. semi sweet chocolate from bars - chopped (don’t use chips - they have stabilizers)

4 cups half & half

2/3 cups granulated sugar

5 tablespoons cornstarch mixed into 4 tablespoons water (for the video I just mixed it into raspberry liquor)

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1)Chop up the chocolate bar & microwave them for about a minute, take out & stir & microwave some more until melted.  Pour into a large bowl & set aside.

2)Pour the half & half into a pot & cook over med heat.  Bring to a boil & reduce to a simmer - while simmering - add the cornstarch that has been mixed with water.  Slowly drizzle it in & stir vigorously.

3)Strain the half & half mixture into the melted chocolate & stir.  Place in the fridge to cool.

4)Whip the heavy cream just until soft peaks form.

5)Take the chilled pudding out & whip for about a minute.

6)Serve the pudding with the fresh whipped cream.  Enjoy!

Makes 8 half cup portions, plus a good sized scoop of cream