Fon-don't

so yesterday i spent the evening with a few friends for potluck and fondue. i have no idea how we ended up with twice as much food as for the number of people, so it was a sickening full evening of gorging... (take THAT, Valentine's day my @ss!)
after loitering around the table i helped melted the chocolate and cream over the stove...

transfered the fondue into my little el-cheapo fondue ceramic pot and we lit the tealight candle from the set.
after a few minutes we began losing faith that the little candle can keep the fondue hot enough to eat...

someone else had brought their camping cast iron fondue set, so by majority vote, it was decided we needed to use this more serious fondue set which sits on top of a can of sterno.
now being a city girl all my life, i had to ask what sterno actually is, and the dumb-down version is 'gel gas'. ok... so the sterno was lit, and a pretty blue flame appeared... chocolate in the cast iron pot sitting on top. voila, sounds like a good plan!

however, after a few minutes, we came to a consensus that the chocolate was still just room temperature - making the chocolate difficult to coat to the fruits.
one of the girls L had an idea - why don't we just heat the cast iron thing on the stove to get the chocolate melting and boiling, then put it back onto the sterno...

J did just that, delicately handling the cast iron pot with potholders and (unbelivably) not catching them on fire or burning herself. she got the chocolate to a roiling boil and came back with the pot.

now sitting atop the sterno, the pot of boiling chocolate became angry. it sure was bubbling, and boiling and toiling much like the witch's concotcions out of Macbeth. we merrily started dipping the fruits into the chocolate (my faves were pineapples, strawberries and bananas in that order)... then after about 20 seconds, the angry chocolate looked... well unlike chocolate. a layer of oil seperated the mixture into liquid and chunk. what was delicious and smooth now look like potting soil left in the rainstorm and sat out for a few more days beyond. nothing could salvage this pot of nasty looking gunk.

in desperation we melted some more chocolate and cream in a non stick small pot on the stove, and just sat it on a tivet in the middle of the table for another quick 2 minute lightening round of Survivor Fondue (fastest fingers get to have fondue before the chocolate settles back into solid form as the pot cooled...)

people tell me fondue is an art, but after last night i think it's very much a science. the gross kind that you love to mash and get your hands on when you're a kid, like making mudpies in your front yard. i've undercooked chocolate, and burned it on the stove - but never in my life have i seen such a distinct seperation of chocolate fondue. now i feel my collection of chocolate-kitchen mishaps is complete.

it was so memorable that J took a video clip of it and put it on YouTube. yes i am the one who turned away from the camera, heaven knows i don't want to be associated with the gunk and the Fon-don't. (forgive the bad fondue-pun, but all the other ppl there seemed to think it was semi clever and laughed politely)

here's the video of our Fondue Gone Wrong

English visitors

whooohoo...! i hadn't seen her for YEARS, my friend S. is coming to visit (with her 'french lover') mid March...! they are coming from Manchester, UK... (one day i'll find my way to Europe... one day) i can't wait.
it's always nice to get together with friends, and as the years go by, everyone has their work and familial obligations so it gets harder and harder to get together...

(one day we need to all take a cruise together and not have to worry about hotels, activities and food plans!)

on to other topics, this year i went to my first horror convention in my life, a friend of mine is a big horror fan, so we had went to Fangoria... it was interesting; granted i didn't really know that many of the famous actors and directors of the genre... but ppl there get all dressed up and made up and super excited about these movies. what reminded me of the topic is this article on How to Survive a Horror Movie

i know you will all thank me for the valuable advice the next time you're about to read a demon summoning book aloud in the middle of the night in front of a lighted candle by the bathroom mirror by yourself.

i read a news article today, what caught my eye wasn't really the topic of the article, but rather, this wording "untimely death". isn't this just sounds redundant? when is a death ever truly 'timely'?

speaking of horror, gore and gruesome deaths... tomorrow is Valentine's day. but seriously, who truly embraces Valentine's day? does it even mean ANYTHING to anyone??
of all the 'holidays' i think this one truly embodies the commercial pressure - restaurants jack up prices for a 'special menu', roses costs 4 times the regular prices, everything is tin-foiled red and pink shape. those who are together has pressure to present how they feel about the other by giving each other gifts; those who aren't together are reminded that this is a day for ppl who are together...
and no, i'm not ranting because i'm Single or Bitter, i've always felt embarassed when i got flowers, and embarassed when i didn't :) so tomorrow i will celebrate anti valentine's by going to a potluck with a few female friends for a quiet evening in, chocolate fondue & all.