Winding down...
So after several frantic phone calls and emails, I am under the impression that my improperly faxed bit of paper (thank you, Kinko's) was not that big of a deal and I should be able to start my clinical rotation at Madigan on the 12th as planned. Unfortunately, this does not negate the fact that my instructor now thinks I'm a complete moron. This will have to be rectified with hours of studying and memorizing of lab values so as to become a walking encyclopedia of nutritional knowledge! That and a decent amount of ass-kissing thrown in for good measure should hopefully do the trick.
After a wonderful weekend up north with lisatheriveter and narfy I am now back home in Puyallup with the fam (much thanks to narfy for braving the roads to come rescue me).
I woke this morning to the smell of scorched chocolate, stumbled downstairs, and found my father elbow-deep in runny egg whites. He was apparently attempting to make chocolate mousse to impress my mother, who unfortunately has to work today and tomorrow. After explaining to him that yes, you really do need to use a double boiler to melt chocolate and that an electric mixer is much more effective at whipping egg whites than a hand-held whisk, my sister returned from the store with a replacement batch of chocolate and the three of us attempted Round Two of Chocolate Cream Cheese Mousse. It is now setting up nicely in the fridge and I believe it will be absolutely delicious.
I love my family, but sometimes I suspect that common sense just isn't one of their most abundent characteristics.
Meanwhile, on the fermentation frontline...
I discovered my kefir grains languishing in their respective mediums of water and milk at the back of the fridge. God knows how long they had been there, but I suspect it's been over a month (not good). I opened the milk kefir and much to my suprise, it did not smell rancid! It was a little chunky, but I took a tiny taste of it and it tasted like regular old kefir, so I think they will be fine for future use. I rinsed them off and discarded the old milk. They look nice and healthy, so I poured some fresh milk over them and plan on rejuvenating them with daily changes for about a week or so. Then I think they will be back up to maximum health and ready to ferment to their little heart's content.
The milk-to-water kefir grains, however, are another story. I opened them up the smell was similar to when you leave water in your water bottle in a hot car for a really long time. Musty, damp, and slightly rank. This does not bode well. After about an hour trying to research what to do to rejuvenate them, I gave up and just poured some fresh milk on them in an attempt to revive them in a similar fashion as the other milk kefir grains. I don't know if this will work, as I seperated them from the original batch for the sole purpose of using them only for kefiring juice, tea, and other non-milk mediums. All the resources I consulted stated emphatically that you are not supposed to transfer them back over to a milk medium once you've done this. But none of them say anything about rejuvenating them or how to store them if you're not using them for the time being. So I figure that since they've been in water for so long, they're probably starving. Giving them a good week or so in milk to let them feed on the lactose seems like a good idea to me. Hopefully once they are healthy again, I can switch them back over to juice or tea and get a regular rhythm going.
If anyone has any bright ideas on this subject, feel free to share! In return, here is the chocolate mousse recipe.
Chocolate Cream Cheese Mousse
3 oz semisweet chocolate
3 oz unsweetened chocolate
8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs, seperated
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream, chilled
1. Melt both chocolates in the top of a double boiler over simmering water
2. Process the cream cheese and 1/2 cup of the sugar in a food processor until smooth, about 10 seconds. Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula
3. Add egg yolks and vanilla and process until smooth. Add hot chocolate and process about 10 seconds more. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.
4. Using an electric mixer, whip the cream in a medium sized mixing bowl just until peaks are firm.
5. Whip the egg whites (also with an electric mixer) on high speed until frothy, about 15 seconds. Add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and continue mixing until soft peaks form.
6. Whisk about 1/3 of the whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten it, then fold in the rest.
7. Fold in the whipped cream
8. Four the mousse into a bowl and refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight *
9. Serve as is, or with whipped cream if you prefer.
* If you don't have 8 hours to chill it, you can speed the process up by letting it set up in the freezer for a bit, and then transfering it to the fridge. Make sure it doesn't actually freeze though, or else you will have seperated chocolate mousse on yours hands, which is definitely not very attractive looking.