Ric bought some poppadoms. There's meant to be 8 in a pack, but sometimes you get 9. This one has 11! #BonusPoppadoms

Its #chocolate tempering and moulding day!

It's taken about 7 hours so far, mostly because it takes about 20 minutes per tray to wash and thoroughly dry the moulds, and also because the accidental setting into a metal bowl last week meant that I had a big thick chocolate disk to painstakingly melt down before I could begin the actual tempering. Also temper attempt 1 wasn't good enough, so I had to go through a second run.

But the first 6 bars have now set, and just look at that shine! 😁

The chocolate is in the moulds. Fingers crossed it sets right and doesn't bloom 🤞🏻

@tripplehelix @ric I don't want to jinx it but it seems to be better this time 🤞🏻

@tripplehelix @ric it's not ideal. We've got the fan heater on in the kitchen to keep it warm enough. It's actually warmer in here than our house usually is at this time of year. Hopefully it'll work out this time 🤞🏻

@tripplehelix @ric we didn't have to discard any thankfully. It's just a matter of getting it to the right temperatures in the right order so that it sets into a stable crystal structure, so if you get it wrong you heat it back up and try again. We can send you a bar if you want though 🙂

@ric first attempt didn't make it to the moulds as the temper wasn't right. We're trying again. It's still melted so it won't take as long, but it's frustrating 😭

We'll temper the chocolate after lunch, we said. We're just melting it now at almost half past five... There was a lot to prep first! Hopefully it'll go well now that we've started, otherwise we'll have to do it all again. Chocolate is finicky.

@ric

#NotGoingToPlan #ChocolateMaking #FingersCrossed

@Rusty_Hinges hahahaha

I haven't done much except work so far this week. I'm counting down the days until I can log out for the year. 3.5 to go...

#ReadyForABreak #ColdAndTired

@ric @gilesgoat @llamasoft_ox @psychicparrot42 @sinbad I've literally never seen you read a book, not even one about a programming language.

RE: https://mastodon.qweb.co.uk/@ric/115725946151578388

I helped with this. Mostly by keeping out of the way and having relevant information to hand, but that's still helping. #ChocolateMaking #BeanToBar

19 years ago today I met @ric in person for the first time and we went Christmas shopping together. Today we went Christmas shopping too. We're not quite finished but we got some of it done. I bought more for myself than anyone else, but it was my anniversary so I think that's OK. We just got back home and I'm going straight to bed.

#Anniversary #ChristmasShopping

@rebeccabanner I started ringing in July and I'm just about able to pay attention to what I'm trying to ring rather than just what my bell is doing. It's a lot to concentrate on at once, but it gets a bit easier every practice. Watching the rest of the ringers ring methods still mystifies me, but it seems like however long you've been ringing there's the opportunity to keep trying something new.

@rebeccabanner I haven't tried ringing at another tower yet but I would like to. Thanks for clarifying the terminology, there's such a lot to learn!

I went to a different ringing practice this week and rang rounds and call changes on 10 and 12, and covered plain hunt on 5 (or 6? I was ringing the sixth. I'm still learning the terminology, it's like another language.) I even knew what I was supposed to be doing for most of the time, and just about got it right.

#BellRinging #MakingProgress

I've got 7.5 work days left before I'm on leave for Christmas and I'm just about ready to hibernate. It's cold, dark and tired at this time of year and I would like to sleep through it. #WinterSucks #Hibernation #HavingAWhinge

@marygrant there's a few different apps for mastodon on your phone, iPhone people seem to like Tusker I think?

@marygrant @ric I saw some mushroom lights but it was a really short set with a chunky battery pack so I didn't think it would work well on a tree 🍄💡

@gilesgoat @llamasoft_ox @ric it's a machine with a stone base and stone wheels. We got it on Amazon. This link is the chocolate version which has some adaptations for chocolate but they also do one called Premier tilting grinder which is slightly cheaper and intended for dosa batter or nut butter. We have both.

https://amzn.eu/d/9Z96C1y