Chocolate Crackles

Chocolate Crackles - originally made April 14, 2008 from Martha Stewart's Cookies

I'm going off-script a bit by not adding to my baking challenge but there are some recipes that I want to get on my blog so I can access it at any time. It's also time to go "back to my roots" and make baking the forefront of my blog again.

This is another good, not-too-fancy cookie recipe from Martha Stewart.  This is the half of the book whose recipes I can make without it being a production.  Chocolate Crackles can also be known as Earthquakes, Tremblors and Crinkles.  Essentially they're fudgy chocolate cookies rolled in granulated sugar then powdered sugar before baking.  The granulated sugar adds a bit of crunchy texture while the powdered sugar is the perfect foil to the fudginess of the chocolate cookie.  It's important to chill/freeze the cookie dough balls first to prevent  too much spread and to make them easier to roll in the sugars.  Time the cookies in the oven since it's hard to tell when chocolate cookies are done simply by appearance.  Because it's better to underbake chocolate cookies, I'd advise waiting until these cookies are almost completely cool before eating them.  If you eat them when they're too warm, they're just liquid fudge.  They actually taste better once they cool and the chocolate has set.

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

½ cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon coarse salt

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 ½ cups packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/3 cup whole milk

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

1.     Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring.  Set aside and let cool.  Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a bowl.

2.     With an electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar on medium speed until pale and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.  Mix in eggs and vanilla, and then the melted chocolate.  Reduce speed to low; mix in flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the milk.  Divide dough into four equal pieces.  Wrap each in plastic; refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.

3.     Preheat oven to 350˚F.  Divide each piece into sixteen 1” balls.  Roll in granulated sugar to coat, then in confectioners’ sugar to coat.  Space 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

4.     Bake until surfaces crack, about 14 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through.  Let cool on sheets on wire racks.  Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.

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AU & NZ travel tips

Before I leave the blogging of Australia and New Zealand completely, some people have mentioned it's the trip they want to take as well so I thought I'd share some travel tips in case you do decide to go.  Some of these are specific to the countries I visited and the tour I was on but others can be generalized to travel in general.

If you're going on a tour, choose the right itinerary - it's better to go from roughing it to being pampered, not the other way around.  When you start the tour, you'll be much fresher and more willing and able to put up with tougher conditions than at the end of several weeks away from home.  I thought our itinerary was perfect as we did the Outback in the first week then went on to the cities.  I don't think I could've dealt with it the other way: enjoy the beauty of New Zealand, the comfort of Sydney and Melbourne then deal with the heat and the flies of the Outback.  Uh-uh.

Factor in the cost of internet, food and excursions - I underestimated how expensive Australia was going to be, especially against a weaker US dollar.  If you're doing a tour, book your excursions in advance.  The tour company charges an extra $10 per person per additional excursion if you wait until the tour to decide.  It might be nice to have the flexibility by not booking in advance but be prepared to pay extra for that flexibility.  I also spent more than I thought I would on internet access, mostly to keep up with email, facebook and my blog but that was a personal choice.  In some of the cities you can get internet access fairly cheaply at internet cafes.  The hotels are the most convenient but also the most expensive.

Bring cash - limit credit card and ATM usage to avoid extra fees.  Before the trip, we were advised to bring a combination of cash, credit cards and ATM cards.  I only brought cash and 2 credit cards.  I like to use my American Express wherever possible but not everyone takes Amex so I also brought a Visa card.  I didn't bring my ATM card but I did bring as much cash as I wanted to spend.  Bringing the ATM card would've meant more cash at my disposal but also more bank fees.  I'm not a believer in paying bank fees so I'd rather take the risk of bringing more cash than not.  But that's a personal choice and I was very careful to distribute my money so I wasn't carrying it all at once on me and the rest was locked up.  I didn't use my credit card except for buying the rings in Christchurch and the plane ride back to Queenstown from Milford Sound.  Otherwise I paid for everything with the cash I brought with me.  The advantage of that is complete control over what I'm spending plus also control over what I'm buying.  It's very, very easy to buy stuff on the tour/when you're traveling but I'm willing to bet much of it I'd regret later and not know what to do with once I got home (like the Indiana Jones hat I wanted to buy in the Outback, lol).  Also, cash is king - travelers checks seem obsolete and I'm glad I didn't bring any.

Plenty of currency exchange places - don't change money at the airport if they don't have competitive rates; change at places that don't charge a fee or minimizes future fees.  Change whatever amount you think you're going to reasonably spend in the country and avoid changing too many times since you may be charged the commission fee every time you change money.

Bring a water bottle; you can drink tap water in AU and NZ - you can save yourself a lot of money by bringing a water bottle or hanging onto the first one you buy.  The tap water in the hotels we stayed at was drinkable and I just kept replenishing my water bottles as we went.  If you like cold water, it's better to bring 2 medium or small-sized water bottles than 1 giant one as those are likely to fit better in the mini fridge in the hotel rooms.

Borrow transformer from the hotels - prior to my trip I kept agonizing whether to bring my laptop and a transformer.  I could've saved myself the agony had I known how easy it was to borrow a transformer at the hotels.  It allowed me to use my laptop more often than I thought I would, upload my pictures and keep fairly current on my blog without completely draining my battery.  The only time I couldn't borrow a transformer was in Auckland as they had run out of the ones suitable for US plugs.  I did bring my own adapter/converter but used that mainly to charge my camera batteries, kindle, ipod and electric toothbrush.  Ironically the one time I used the hotel's transformer to charge my electric toothbrush instead of my own adapter is when it seemed to short my toothbrush and now it's all wacky on me when I got home.  But that was the only mishap.

Don't buy the biggest suitcases - too big, too heavy.  I can't emphasize this enough, especially when you're making multiple stops on your travels.  Since most airlines charge per suitcase, many people think they should buy the largest suitcase available so that they only have to bring one.  Don't bother.  Airlines also restrict you by weight and the larger suitcases are also heavy even before you pack them so you risk an overweight fee.  I bought a medium size suitcase for this trip as my large suitcase seemed too large.  Best decision I ever made.  I packed it only 2/3 full and was able to carry it myself all along the way, even as I bought presents to bring home.  Pretty handy when you want to porter your own bag and you have to pack and re-pack it every 1-3 days.  If you can't lift your own suitcase, it's either too big or too heavy.  Don't bring it.

Take half of what you think you need and just do laundry at the hotels.  I was 90% successful at this.  I packed for 2/3 of the trip and did laundry halfway through the trip.  I probably could've brought even less but I was pretty happy with how things turned out since I only had to worry about laundry once and I wore almost everything I brought.  Don't take more than 3 pairs of shoes: tennis shoes, comfortable walking shoes you can wear for hours and a pair of dressier shoes for shorter walks.  You can get away with less but don't bring more.  You won't need it and there's nothing more frustrating than lugging stuff with you that you don't use or need.

Above all else, go with the mindset prepared to have a good time.  It sounds obvious to say this but all travelers should be reminded you're traveling for various reasons, not the least of which is I hope to enjoy a different place than home.  Don't make unfavorable comparisons to home - if you like home, stay there.  Otherwise be open to new things when you travel.  At the beginning of this trip, I thought I'd hold a koala (which I did) but I hadn't imagined I would ride (or eat) a camel, go on a hot air balloon ride, or ride in a tiny, tiny plane to flightsee in New Zealand.  Beyond that, be flexible.  No amount of careful planning will anticipate every contingency.  Sometimes the weather sucks, sometimes you get seasick, sometimes the bus driver hits a wallaby (ugh), sometimes another bus driver doesn't know what he's doing and leaves you to fend for yourself which is a waste of your time and money.  Yeah, that can get annoying but roll with it.  Nothing will ruin your vacation unless you let it.  Don't let it.  I had a marvelous time and am so glad I finally went on this trip.  I've learned much and the world felt just a little bit smaller as I saw more of it.  And that's a good thing.

New Zealand - Auckland

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The morning after the Maori hangi, we drove from Rotorua to Auckland.  Along the way, we did a "comfort stop" (aka anyone need to use the bathroom?) at a tourist info center.  Can I tell you this country takes its sheep seriously?  I thought these were funny so I had to take a picture.  Yes, that's a real building.

Upon arriving in Auckland, it was still too early to check into our hotel so our bus driver took us around for a city tour, including a stop at Mission Bay which was a beach.  Unfortunately our good weather mojo was washed away in the mist and rain so it was hard to take pictures or see many of the sights.  All I can tell you is New Zealand has approximately 4.4M people and 25% of them live in Auckland so it's pretty much like most cities except for  the 48 (dormant and hopefully to remain that way) volcanoes.

It was our last night of the tour and we gathered for dinner at the Bluestone Room and had the room to ourselves.  We'd all been together for 3 weeks and it was sadly time to say goodbye as half the group was going on to Fiji and the other half was going home.  One of the couples, Chuck and Marilyn, who I found hysterically funny for much of the tour, got the wonderful idea of giving Erica a "team shirt" embroidered with the team name Erica had given us on the bus ride to Auckland: Whaka Manuka.  Manuka is a type of honey in New Zealand, prized for its medicinal purposes.  The "wh" in Maori is pronounced as "ph" so you sound it out :).

Erica, our endlessly patient and wonderful tour guide

There's not much else I can tell you about Auckland as we were literally there less than 24 hours.  Thursday morning brought the bus to take us to the airport.  I got in a bit of walking before the pickup time but I have to admit I was ready to go home by then so I was happy to get on the bus.  We were all ready before the scheduled pickup time so our bus driver was kind enough to take us to the top of Mt Eden with our extra time and I got my final look at the beautiful city scenes of Auckland.

New Zealand - Maori "hangi"

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

On the one night we were in Rotorua, we went to a Maori hangi.  A hangi is the Maori word for feast.  We were picked up at the hotel and bussed to a nearby village that they had set up to recreate a traditional Maori village.  It was about 20 minutes or so from our hotel but the time flew by because the bus driver who picked us up was the funniest guy I've ever seen.  He taught us the Maori greeting "Kia Ora" (pronounced kee-ora) and then proceeded to give us equivalent of the same greeting and what it meant in 61 languages.  At least he said it was 61 - he went through enough different ones to convince me.  Not only that but his accent in every single language was nearly perfect.  His Australian of "G'day" and his Tagalog of "Mabuhay" were spot on as well as his renditions in Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Thai, Malaysian, Russian, French, British (complete with Brit accent), from all of the Nordic countries, India, and many, many more were impressive and hilarious.

On the bus ride, we had to pick a "chief" to represent us.  Amongst the Maori, back in the day, when a tribe approached another tribe, the receiving tribe had to determine if they came in peace or war.  The receiving tribe would send a band of warriors to "greet" them although the greeting was more like a ferocious war dance meant to intimidate any strange tribe thinking to come in anything other than peace.  The chief can only be a man (sorry, ladies) and it was up to him to face the Maori warriors and either accept the peace offering or not.

When we arrived at the village along with 3 other busloads of tourists and a chief from each bus, after the war dance, one of the four anointed chiefs chose the peace pipe (or whatever it was, I didn't get a close look at it) and we were allowed into the Maori village.  Inside the village, they had huts set up and did talks and demonstrations about various aspects of the Maori culture, from cooking to what their tattoos symbolized to the physical tests their warriors had to undergo to prove their fitness and worthiness.

Once those demos were over, we were invited into a building with a stage where the Maori performed various songs, including a love song our tour guide, Erica, had taught us a few days ago.  Their voices were very pure and sweet and I enjoyed the performances even though I couldn't understand the words.  They also did their cultural dances so we could get an idea of what they're like.  It reminded me of Polynesian and Hawaiian dancing and singing.

The dinner that night was made in the traditional Maori way.  I can't remember what they called it but, somewhat similar to a Hawaiian luau, they filled a deep hole in the earth with hot stones, placed layers of food inside it with the food that takes the longest to cook on the bottom and the vegetables in a wire basket on top.

Dinner was a buffet and, like the one at Walter Peak, we were told table by table when we could go up.  The food was plentiful and pretty tasty.  Besides the chickens pictured above, there was also lamb which some people thought was duck but the Maori server explained they don't eat duck and that it was definitely lamb.  There was also a lot of steamed vegetables, namely carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc.  Dessert was a large fruit bowl of mixed fruit, pavlova and some kind of steamed bread that someone said was a date bread but I tried a piece and didn't find any dates in it so either they pureed it in or it was something else.

All in all, it was an enjoyable evening.  One thing that struck me as I left was the stark contrast between the aborigines of Australia and the Maori of New Zealand.  The latter was very proud of their heritage and wore it on the outside of their skin (literally).  The whole evening was a very well done production for the tourists to explain and honor their culture and their culture is a very big, integrated part of New Zealand in general.  Unfortunately I didn't get the same impression in Australia of their indigenous people.  Sadly, their experience is more like those of the American Indians who were mistreated and confined to reservations.  The aborigines we saw in Alice Springs seemed volatile and unhappy and lived mostly in the Outback rather than the more climate-friendly cities like Melbourne and Sydney.  We were told by some of the locals that those aborigines we saw in Alice Springs were likely outcasts from their tribe as they didn't do anything but "laze around and drink".  I can only hope that's a gross stereotype and it's truly unfortunate that those are the only aborigines I saw.  In Alice Springs, I witnessed 2 separate occasions of aborigines screaming at each other in public with very high emotional outbursts.  A stark contrast from the smiling Maoris who generously shared their culture with tourists night after night.

At the end of the evening, the Maori men performed the haka which is the Maori war dance that they do at the beginning of every rugby game.  The other big takeaway from my New Zealand sojourn is it would be an understatement to say this country takes its rugby seriously.  Their team is the All Blacks (which has no racial connotation whatsoever).  Kiwis are justifiably proud of the All Blacks who hold some kind of impressive record for number of wins (sorry, sports fans, I don't watch rugby and couldn't tell you) and to have any association with them and their name is an honor.  I know nothing about rugby but in the brief time I was in Kiwi-land, I can tell you Dan Carter is on his way to being the winning-est goalie ever.  Or something like that.  (I can feel rugby fans as well as Erica cringing at my ignorance.)

New Zealand - Rotorua

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

The next leg of the trip was flying from Queenstown to Rotorua so we left the South Island (which is glacier formed) to go to the North Island which was formed by volcanoes.  Rotorua is also known as Sulphur City because of the smell.  Here the earth's crust is thin so there are natural hot springs and mud pools.

Didn't seem like much to see in Rotorua but we were also there for only 1 night and by this time I was getting pretty tired so I wasn't up for my usual walkabout explorations.  Our first stop after lunch was a place called Mountain Jade where we were given a demo of how jade is carved then let loose in the showroom to shop.  I didn't buy anything as jade wasn't really my thing and also by this time of the tour, I was pretty shopped out.  I'm not much of a souvenir shopper other than getting refrigerator magnets, Christmas ornaments if I can find them and presents to take back home.  I'm afraid the Rotorua stop didn't make much money off of me.

New Zealand - Milford Sound

Monday, February 14, 2011

For our full-day tour, we took a 4-hour bus ride to Milford Sound.  One of our stops along the way was a place called Mirror Lake, where the water is so clear, it's literally like glass that reflects its surroundings perfectly:

I've run out of superlatives and hyperboles to describe the views here.  Needless to say, New Zealand is a beautiful country with many awe-inspiring views.  The best way I can describe in seeing it all is "humbling".  As in you feel pretty small and humble when you look at the mountains, hills, peaks, valleys, and lakes.  And especially Milford Sound.  They told us Milford Sound gets 200 rainy days a year.  We happened to be there on one of the 165 days it doesn't rain and the cruise around the Sound was just gorgeous.  We cruised out of the Sound just to the border of the Tasman Sea and back.  Along the way were some waterfalls.  Apparently, it's also good to see Milford Sound when it is raining because then you see more waterfalls.  The ones we saw were pretty good already though and I even captured a shot of a rainbow in the water.

And if that wasn't enough, after the cruise, most of the tour group went back to Queenstown via another 4-hour bus ride but I opted to go with several other folks for a flight back in a tiny little airplane to see New Zealand from the air.  The plane was even smaller than the puddle jumper I flew in in Belize last year and I experienced what "wing and a prayer" meant as we took off (really, can something that small launch itself into the air??) but the views were worth it.  Not to mention the 40-minute flight was way better than a 4-hour bus ride.

This is some of what you don't see from the ground.  That small of red-roofed buildings in the bottom picture is the Walter Peak Station as we flew over it, nearing Queenstown.

New Zealand - Walter Peak

Sunday, February 13, 2011

As part of our itinerary in Queenstown, the optional excursion was a trip to Walter Peak, a sheep station across the lake.  We took a steamship to chug across the water and get to Walter Peak.  As always, the view was magnificent - that's Walter Peak below.  That's as close up as my camera could zoom from the boat but it's far more majestic in person than any picture can capture.

On the boat ride, I met a couple from England who had been traveling in New Zealand for a month in a camper and were going wherever their fancy took them.  They loved traveling and it was fun talking with them.  They were retired and seemingly had been all over the world.  One of the fun aspects of this trip for me is the number of travelers I'd met, both on my own tour and outside of it, who had been to so many places and loved seeing them all.  Most, if not all, of them were couples who had been  together for some time and that was a wonderful affirmation for me that many relationships and marriages really do last.  It's not something the media ever talks about, dwelling instead of high divorce rates, but many of the couples I met on this trip had been married for decades, not just years.  And they hadn't just been married for forever but they also loved  traveling together.  It was wonderful to see their sheer enjoyment of life and the world.

One we reached Walter Peak, we herded into the building where they served us a buffet dinner.  First course was a creamy vegetable soup which even I could eat since everything was pureed, lol.  Then each table was tapped in an orderly fashion to line up for the buffet where they had fish, salmon, roast beef, lamb, chicken, potatoes, vegetables and later on, dessert, fruit and cheese and crackers.  Overall, it was a pretty nice spread.

After dinner, we all went outside for the sheep shearing demonstration.  Our demonstrator, Lindsay, was just hilarious.  First he did the demo of how his sheep dog herded the sheep and then he sheared an actual sheep.  I took videos of both and tried to post them but blogger isn't letting me upload so I'll have to try again later.  Regardless, the sheepherding was impressive as the dog doesn't bark since that scares the sheep and you don't want to startle or scare sheep who are grazing on the side of a hill.  But he still herds them quite efficiently.  The sheep also move as one when they're being herded.  It was almost cartoonish how synchronized they were in moving as a bunch.

The sheep shearing itself was very expertly done.  Lindsay used something like the sheep's version of a razor or shaver and once he sat the sheep down, it didn't struggle or even bleat.  During his whole humorous spiel, Lindsay expertly sheared the sheep in a matter of a couple of minutes.  I was surprised how much wool actually came off the sheep.  Seemed like a lot to my untrained eye.  Sheep shearing always reminds me of Little House on the Prairie and the book "Farmer Boy" since there's a chapter on Almanzo helping during shearing time.  Back then they used manual shears and I can only imagine how much more difficult that would've been.

New Zealand - exploring Queenstown & Bob's Peak

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Today we had a free morning in Queenstown.  Some people signed up for different activities but I preferred to walk around Queenstown and soak up the sights.  The town center itself is fairly small and was mostly shops and eateries so I made several rounds of it and it didn't take up much time.  But it was nice to walk around and be leisurely for a bit.  Most of the tour days are filled with some kind of activity or another but I like to walk around and soak up the atmosphere when I can.  I'm starting to flag on being a tourist.  I don't think I can handle one more souvenir shop full of tsotchkes.  Fortunately I've traveled enough times that I no longer feel the need to buy a bunch of stuff from the places I've visited.  I usually buy a refrigerator magnet from each place I go to but I've been cutting back on that too since we've gone to so many places.  Now I'm focusing more on appreciating each area we go to while we're there and don't feel the need to fill every minute with activity or buy some token memento of it.  I'm taking pictures to capture some of the sights and memories and that's probably the best thing I can do right now.

This afternoon we met as a group and took a gondola ride up Bob's Peak.  After the world's longest gondola in Kuranda, this one was pretty short and not that high.  At the top of the gondola, there were various activities you could sign up (and pay) for such as luge, bungy jumping, and paragliding.  I toyed with the idea of paragliding since I'd never done it before but it was going to be $200 for a brief ride in the air and I couldn't bring myself to do it.  I stayed on the deck and admired the view instead.

The trip itself is actually reasonably priced considering what is included in it and the places we've stayed at but you can spend a lot on extras like the excursions and meals and they do add up.  I'm staying off my credit cards as much as possible, given the foreign transaction fees Amex would charge me.  I did break down though and opted to pay extra for a plane ride tomorrow back from Milford Sound instead of the 4-hour bus ride back, mostly because we fly out over spectacular scenery and I want to see that.  I can't get over the beauty of New Zealand.  It's pretty incredible and makes this is a return destination for me.

Tonight we're taking a steamship to Walters Peak where we'll get a sheep shearing demonstration and dinner then tomorrow is Milford Sound all day.  I've heard the views there are even more spectacular and I'm looking forward to that.

The trip so far has surpassed my expectations and if anyone is considering traveling to this part of the world, I would highly recommend it.  There's so much to see and experience and I'm glad I got the opportunity to do this.

AU & NZ - flora and fauna

I need to insert some pictures of the flowers I've been taking.  In both Australia and New Zealand, we've visited botanical gardens as well as parks and local gardens that have some amazing flowers.  I'm not much of a flower or plant person but I certainly admire their beauty.  Maybe it's just traveling and being in a new place but I've become hyper-aware of the beauty of my surroundings, especially here in New Zealand and want to document some of that beauty.

One of the ladies on the trip, Eileen, got me started on taking pictures of the flora and fauna.  Eileen said what she does with the pictures is print them out on notecard paper stock and use them as notecards.  Coincidentally, she and I even have the same camera so when I started taking closeups of some of the flowers, I liked how they turned out.  I don't know if I'll follow Eileen's lead in making up notecards with the pictures but I like looking at them and remembering how pretty the real things are.

New Zealand - journey from Christchurch to Queenstown

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Today was our first of 2 "long hauls" in New Zealand.  We left Christchurch by 8 am to drive to Queenstown, a journey that would take us more than 9 hours' drive, including stops at the Tin Shed (a store that sells NZ wool products and really was housed in a tin building), McKenzie's for lunch and Mrs. Jones for ice cream and to admire her rose garden.  Although I'm not fond of long drives, the views helped to pass the time pretty well.

Coming out of Christchurch, we drove through the plains of Canterbury which were, well, plain.  I could almost imagine driving down I-5 in California to travel through Central California.  The landscape was pretty flat and well dotted with sheep.  We did pass some small rivers that provided some interest.  And one section where our bus driver told us they did film several scenes from Lord of the Rings there, namely where Eomer had to "muster the Rohirrim".  My inner nerd perked up at that.

After some time, we turned towards the mountains and the views started getting pretty spectacular.  There's something about the majesty of mountain ranges that are both humbling and awe-inspiring.  Not much I can say and the pictures never do the real thing justice but here are a few examples to share:

In Queenstown, we're staying at another Rydges hotel, this one the Rydges Lakeland Resort.  The various Rydges hotels have been pretty good places to stay at with good service and clean rooms.  I have to give top marks for this one just for the views alone.  It's situated facing the water.  Here are some shots from my 8th floor bedroom balcony - imagine waking up to this sight: