Kat Johnston

Tag: chocolate

  • Delicious Chocolate Ganache.

    Chocolate cupcakes with dark chocolate ganache – seriously… is there anything more delicious than cuppies with ganche?

    Not a sketch. Not a digital image, something Sanu related, or even Second Life related. It isn’t really anything that can be considered art at all… But is it tasty? Hell yes it is!

    One of the things that I make a lot of in Second Life is cupcakes. Tasty, delicious, virtual cupcakes with all the visual perfection that comes of not actually picking up a piping bag to decorate, and without the temptation to lick your fingers clean of the extra buttercream.

    That said… they’re not quite as tasty – calorie-free or not.

    When my hubby decided that he simply must have a giant batch of home-made cupcakes to take into work, I leaped at the opportunity to make two dozen cupcakes, ganache, buttercream, and a right royal mess of the kitchen that somebody else would have to tidy up. Ok… that, and I was already watering at the mouth after looking at so many geeky goodies (and lately, many macaroons) over at Not So Humble Pie, one of my favourite cooking blogs. When the cakes were finished, I couldn’t resist taking a few photos, either!

    Kat Johnston Cooking – Carrot cupcake with lemon buttercream and a chocolate cupcake with dark chocolate ganache. Super tasty, and hard to keep around with thieving fingers close by!

    Two batches were made – carrot cupcakes with a lemon buttercream and chocolate cuppies with a delicious dark chocolate ganache which simply melted on the tongue. Honestly, it was hard to resist just grabbing out a spoon and partaking of that delicious bowl of blended chocolate and cream myself, leaving little or none for the cakes… self-control was tantamount. So was the ability to fend off sisters and a very curious husband looking over my shoulder going, “Can I have some yet? Can I have some yet?”

    Anyhow, that is it for today. Cupcakes: Real life style!

  • Do I look like a frog to you?

    Kat Johnston - Flies... Good for frogs, not to be given as gifts to your significant other.

    After posting that last little picture, I had a rethink… I know that my husband reads this blog (or he’d better, if he knows what’s good for him), and I just wanted to get something out of the way quick. I am not a frog, nor do I require a gift of flies, no matter how much I have been drawing them over the past few days. I’ll take other gifties please. Like frogs. Made of chocolate!

  • Gumdrops and Arsenic.

    \'Gumdrops and Arsenic\' by Kat Johnston

    Random Asian candy is a delight if you have an experimental streak – you are as likely to end up with something that tastes absolutely horrendous as you are to get something simply exquisite. This little snippet is bought to you by the bag of random Asian candy that is currently sitting beside me that I have -no- guilt consuming whatsoever.

    But anyhow onto my musings for the evening…

    What is it that compels us to do things that are not good for us? To gorge ourselves at a buffet because ‘you paid for it’ or overindulge at an open bar because ‘somebody else is paying for it’? What is it that makes us reach for that slice of cake over that shiny green apple when the offer is made?

    Short term satisfaction is a funny thing – the immediate pay-off often seems worth it, but in so many cases even that doesn’t even turn out as nicely as we imagine. Think of the serial dieter that feels a constant guilt as they bite into that chocolate bar they had hidden in the bottom of their drawer after promising that the last one was ‘the very last one’… or perhaps the potential adultress who surrenders to lust at the expense of a loved one. Even though it seems good at the time, the guilt or ‘wrongness’ of the situation is sometimes enough to have dulled the pleasure that the moment may have potentially brought had it been done under different circumstances. Not to mention any feelings we have after the fact, regretting these decisions we make. We know they are wrong… so why do we do it?

    We voluntarily do things to hurt ourselves every day. Not just the big things, but the little things too. Skipping breakfast, saying yes to someone even though we really want to say no, sitting in front of the tv rather than going for a walk… so many little things that we know we should be doing, but don’t, or that we shouldn’t be doing, but do anyway. What is that perfect balance between immediate pay-off and long-term benefit? At what point does a drug addict go ‘you know… it just isn’t worth it any more’?

    Believe it or not, I am enjoying my random bag of candy, free to pick and choose to be thrilled or disappointed with each little package of sugar-filled treat – even the ones that taste horrible make me feel all the much better for having at least tried something new. It inspired me to do my drawing, but it is not the reason for the musing – the picture came first, the musing started during, and the culmination of those thoughts only after.

    Rasputin was fed cake which was thought to have been laced with arsenic but survived to tell the tale of its eating. Some short-term pay-offs just aren’t worth the risk… even for the most appetizing, sweetest, most delicious-looking cake in all the world. Perhaps my mother was right… you shouldn’t take candy from a stranger. Or for that matter, cake from someone who has a private store of arsenic and holds a grudge.