Just One Thing (13 May 2017)

[nanila]

It's challenge time!


Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.


Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished!


Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!


Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.


Go!

Comments

[lilysea]

did laundry x 2

took out recycling x 2

tidied up some

ordered groceries for delivery tomorrow between 11am and 2pm

and just generally listened to music and felt emotionally perky.

[nanila]

Huzzah for all the practical stuff, and for feeling good. Bonus!

[silveradept]

Laundry.

And helping someone move boxes. Yay!

[nanila]

Yay, clean clothes.

Helping with moving is also great!

[azurelunatic]

Had a lovely morning chat with my partner, then made it to a social engagement almost on time despite unusual traffic (there was some sort of collision right by my destination, which I did not see until too late to turn around).

I made lovely treats (chocolate covered strawberries) which were much appreciated -- one of the attendees has a milk allergy, loves chocolate covered strawberries, and so often they're made with milk chocolate or with a drizzle that includes milk. (I made too many, as is traditional. Half the leftovers are at the hosts' place, and will be gone by Monday.)

Then I continued packing at home, and fed myself and rested appropriately. (My partner is very good for keeping myself accountable about my health and well-being.)

Chocolate covered strawberries

[azurelunatic]

Ingredients:

ripe strawberries
meltable chocolate to taste, about half the weight of the strawberries
(optional) meltable accent drizzle chocolate

Equipment:

washing tools
drying tools
staging surface for washed/dried strawberries
plate, flat tray, or other hard and portable surface (several)
waxed paper or other nonstick covering
refrigerator space, if you're trying to cool them quickly or it's too hot for this
heating implement
liquid chocolate container
chocolate stirring implement
dipping implements
(optional) container/heating/stirring implements for accent chocolate
(optional) holding vessel for hardened confections

Procedure:

If you're using a crockpot-like thing with controlled temperature, you can start melting your chocolate in it first thing, so it's liquid and ready as wanted.

Sort your strawberries, reserving any overripe, underripe, squashed, or awkwardly shaped ones for other uses.

Wash your strawberries to remove any dirt, grit, bugs, etc.

Dry the strawberries. I lay mine out on a clean kitchen towel, individually pat them dry with another towel, and lay the dried strawberries on a third towel.

Clear refrigerator space.

Prepare your surface for the dipped berries. Don't do the thing I did, and just set the parchment sheet on the counter -- you want to have a flat surface in order to transport it without disturbing the berries.

Make sure your chocolate is nice and melted without being too hot. The temperature where it's barely on the edge of melting and you have to stir some of the solid chunks to try and get them to finally melt is the best. I have a multi-function rice cooker that's a little hotter than that, which will keep it warm; sometimes I still use a microwave for 5-10 seconds at a time.

I will often just hold the strawberries by the leaves, and dunk them in the pool of melted chocolate, and use a spoon to drizzle some on any area that seems to not be covered enough. You can also get a skewer and stab the berry through the leaf area to better coat it.

Once the berry is coated on all sides, set it carefully on the nonstick platter. It helps if they can all face the same way if you plan to do fancy things later. If not, fit them in as you prefer. Leave enough space between them, and don't try to place berries in the middle after filling the sides, as that's a sure route to smudging.

Once the platter is filled, set it wherever you're going to be doing the cooling.

Proceed with the next batch, if you're doing more.

When the chocolate is hardened some, you can optionally drizzle some chocolate of a contrasting color or type on top. Melt the additional chocolate to where it will stream smoothly out of a spoon, then scoop some up and move the spoon rapidly back and forth over the rows of berries. (This is where it's helpful to have them all in the same direction.) Return them to finish hardening.

When the chocolate is hardened sufficiently, you can slide the nonstick sheet off the underlying tray or plate, and put the sheet in a storage container. This can free up more refrigerator space for subsequent batches. Once they are hard enough, you can stack multiple layers in the same storage container.

Once the chocolate is hard enough to "snap" when bitten, serve. (Or sooner, if that's what you want.)

Clean up your chocolate container before the chocolate sets. Scrape any spare chocolate into a flexible nonstick form, like a silicone cupcake case, if there's enough left over to be worth saving. Wipe the vessel with some of the reserved very ripe strawberries, for a juicy fondue treat.


When you pull chilled chocolate strawberries out of the refrigerator, in a damp climate they will immediately get condensation on them. Keep chilled until serving so as to not make the chocolate mushy. Or, allow to return to room temperature in a sealed refrigerator-temperature container.

Eat promptly.

[nanila]

Go you, and also, YUM YUM.

[nanila]

Parkrun + playground, followed by gift shopping.

Took the pre-schooler to a birthday party.

Ukrainian food for supper in honour of Eurovision.

Eurovision + wine + drunken Twitter commentary.