memorial day weekend

Yay, non creative name for this post.  probably cause I haven't done much.  Ordered pizza on Wednesday and ate the leftovers 'til today, so there were no awesome food pictures to post. Well, other than the delicious banana bread pudding I had Friday at lunch that was covered in chocolate.  Soooo delicious.  It came in giant portions, this is roughly one third of the original.  To go box?  Why yes, yes I would like to take the awesomeness with me.

So, now that I am done with the pizza, and am no longer hanging out at my cousins, eating whatever they cook for me (thank you Hugh and Laura), I figured I should go to the grocery store and cook to make you all jealous.  Dinner is a buffalo chicken dip (those of you at purdue know it as the awesome stuff sammy makes).  And dessert is raspberry truffles I am in the middle of making.  I really wanted truffles filled with a raspberry ganache, but didn't want to pay for them, since godiva is expensive.  Thus I am trying to make my own.

Plus I had to make something awesome to break in the apron my sister got me for my birthday.  (Baking is science for hungry people)!  Mmm, delicious filling.  I got to lick the pot while it froze so I could roll it into balls for the truffle centers.

I did play with the chicken dip recipe a little, didn't feel like combing the grocery store for pepper sauce (I am assuming the recipe means hot sauce) and then staring at all the choices... So instead I am putting in red pepper flakes.  I never did like spicy things anyways.  Still looks delicious.  :)

Finally finished.  My hands got completely coated in chocolate from having to roll them into balls, but it was worth it, as they are fairly delicious.  Nice and dark.  Next time I may get a hold of some raspberry liquor and try adding that to the recipe.  Or maybe making a syrup to drizzle over the top...

Oh, and the large slab of chocolate is the leftovers from the chocolate coating mixed with more raspberry preserves (what I used for part of the ganache for the center).  I figured I might as well use the extras for a raspberry chocolate bar.

Anyways, it appears my next project is making a ginger infused simple syrup so I can make my own ginger ale.  Blame Ganna, she suggested it to me.  Which brings me to my new idea.  If you have suggestions, let me know. I am happy to experiment.  Plus for my college friends if I experiment this summer when I have time it can be perfected for when I see you next.