Cream of Tartar Allergy?

Is it possible to be allergic to cream of tartar? I think this might be the cause of my allergies in recent years. A couple years ago I broke out with an all-over itchy allergic reaction after making a souffle for dinner, which called for cream of tartar. The allergy lasted a long time, and I weened myself off allergy meds so I wouldn't be dependent on them. Yesterday, I made a caramel sauce for a quickie stroopwafel. The sauce wasn't thick enough, so I added cream of tartar to thicken it. Today, I started itching. Another issue with the cream of tartar is that I used it in a copper core sauce pan. The whole pan is not made of copper, just the heating core, but I came across many warning not to use cream of tartar in copper cookware because it is used as a cleaner of copper. Ugh! I hope I don't have copper in my system. Anyone need some thick caramel sauce? Let me know if you've heard of this allergy.

Cool French black and white postcards

I saw so many of these in Paris, and I should have bought more of them. I love these unique photos.

Finally, some Europe pictures to post...

I worked out some of the kinks in my PC to Apple conversions of the Europe pictures, and I have these from our final night splurge. Dirty Dancing, the musical, is only playing in London, so we coughed up the cash to go. It was such a well choreographed performance, including all the movie scenes and more. I can't wait for the musical to come to the U.S. We had to go grocery shopping for breakfast stuff right before the musical, and we had it under our seats the whole performance. Kind of a funny detail to remember. We had the time of our lives...

Maybe I don't have to boycott Starbuck's after all...

Jeff helped me research the whole espresso machine thing, and we found out that more important than the brewing apparatus is the grind. A burr grinder is truly necessary to make great espresso (and coffee). I decided to check out Starbuck's selection of espresso equipment, since I had over $100 worth of cards weighing me down in the middle of a Starbuck's boycott. They had a grinder sticker priced at $125, and I figured I'd get rid of my cards buying it. It ended up being on sale for around $50 -- SWEET! Now I feel like I got my $25 card back. Anyway, I bought a stove top espresso maker and already had a milk frother to make espresso drinks. We tried it tonight, and it works great!

Borders "Party" Disappointing, but Harry Potter Book Exciting

My wonderful friend Allyson agreed to go to the Torrance Borders "biggest Harry Potter party around" on Friday night. Borders promised a 15 foot snake cake, which I never saw, a life size checker board, which amounted to red tape on the carpet, and books at midnight, which I didn't purchase until 1:30 a.m. I felt bad for dragging my good friend there, after promising so much excitement, but I was glad to have checked out one of the "midnight madness" parties since I don't foresee another book release party happening in the next decade (this is the last Harry Potter book, of course). We agreed that it was a cool thing to be taking place over a book, not a movie or video game. One cool moment occurred when the staff rolled out a ceiling-high stack of boxes wrapped in black paper, and everyone oohed and aahed, "Those are the books!" and starting snapping photos (I couldn't pull my camera fast enough to catch it). I've not yet finished reading the novel, partly because I want to take it slow because its the last Harry Potter. (Though I'm thinking of re-reading the series after I'm done with this one).

Can't Wait for the New Harry Potter Book

Tonight at midnight! That's the soonest I can get my hands on the new book. I'm so excited / scared to find out what happens next, and I really hope Harry, Hermione, and Ron survive it. If you haven't read these books, pick up the first one and try it. I think you'll get addicted.

Starbuck's Boycott

So, I'm kind of annoyed at Starbuck's right now. I get a lot of Starbuck's cards from my students throughout the year, and I was thinking about putting them all together to buy an espresso machine. I saw one on sale for $250 at a local store. I brought my cards to a store to figure out how much money I had to work with. One of the cards (pictured here) my student bought for $25 did not register as having any funds on it, and I had just pulled it from the packaging. I called the 1-800-STARBUC phone number to inquire, and Starbuck's central could tell it was purchased from a local Safeway and never activated by the Safeway personnel. They could not activate it, though. They told me I had to give it back to the gift giver to take to the store to activate. I obviously can't do that, and I don't think any person who received a gift can either. Starbuck's offered to send me some "complimentary drink certificates," which I declined since they won't help me purchase my espresso machine. I don't think I'm going to get that machine at Starbuck's; the $30 one at Target is looking more attractive now. Maybe I'll give my stack of cards to charity or something.

Making Stroopwafels

Here's my first attempt to recreate a treat I discovered in Europe. We found stroopwafels in Amsterdam, so I looked them up online and found a recipe. The recipe requires making a yeast batter that I portioned into little balls (using my Pampered Chef cookie scoop), and then I pressed the dough balls in my waffle cone iron. The other half of the recipe is a thick caramel sauce that I scooped (with the same Pampered Chef cookie scoop, after washing it) between two wafels like a waffle caramel sandwich. I think they turned out well, and so does Jeff. Find the recipe on Diana's Desserts (the link is available by clicking on the title of this post). Next up, some French pastries...

Travel Report #2

I never had another chance to post on the road -- I was too busy having fun. It's weird to think that the first post I did was in an internet cafe near Leicester Square on the night they found that first car bomb right near there. We had just seen Avenue Q -- so great. I'll give a few highlights of the trip.

Leamington Spa: It was great staying with a fabulous family who opened their home to us. I loved playing American football and British rugby with the boys. (Kristin and I brought back rugby balls from Lilywhites -- a sports store). Visiting the Cadbury factory was so cool -- it smelled like baking brownies the whole time. Watching British shows like Dr. Who and Coronation Street was great, too bad we don't get Dr. Who over here. We saw the Leamington Spa museums and Warwick Castle, including the Ghost Tower where ghosts jumped out of dark corners at you -- I almost peed my pants. We had a chocolate tasting at the house that Kristin and I loved.

Amsterdam: I was disappointed that Amsterdam was so rainy and cold the time we were in the city. The one day we went out to Zaanse Schans, a working Dutch village / museums, was our only non-rainy day. We saw cheese making, wooden shoe carving, and a working windmills there. In town, we saw the van Gogh Museum, the Anne Frank house, the Dutch Resistance Museum, a diamond cutting display, and the Heineken Brewery tour. We ate enormous pancakes and stroopwafels (like two flat, round waffle cone sandwiching caramel or syrup) and we stayed in a boat hotel -- the Botel. Vondelpark was too rainy to visit -- too bad.

Paris: I have a new appreciation for Paris. This city offered the best array of cheap food on the trip. Of course, if Kristin and I had had the funds to sit down at five star restaurants in every city, we could say they all have fabulous food. Paris has fabulous food at every level -- the corner cafe, the street vendor crepe, the boulangerie baguette and gooey almond crescent. Wow! Plus, the art blew me away, and we only saw a small bit of it. The size of the Louvre is so immense and the building is a piece of art itself. Mona Lisa was OK, but turn around from her and see "The Wedding Feast at Cana," an enormous, grand painting for a better view. I love the Orsay Museum best because the building, an old train station, allowed for natural light through the opaque glass to show onto the Impressionist painting. I really love Gaugin more than before and the primitivist painters were my style as well. Next trip to Paris, I'll make my way to the Rodin Museum, filled with sculptures. We also climbed the 700 stairs to the Eiffel Towers second platform, climbed the nearly 300 steps of the Arch d'Triomphe, climbed the 400 stairs of the Notre Dame (to get heavily rained on during our 5 minutes at the panoramic view level). We saw the inside of Notre Dame, Saint Chappelle, the outside of the Pompidou center and its famous fountain. We walked the Champs d'Elleises (spelling?), bought shoes, and shopped around town. Kristin loved Paris the most. I got over the French attitudes after being yelled at by the bus station lady, and I have a new appreciation for the city.

Back to London: Our final visit to London had us skipping sleep for a few last activities. We spent the morning finding Dirty Dancing musical tickets, which was our trip finale. What a fun show, with amazing dancers and Johnny the lead had a body that made you think you were at a Chippendales performance (along with all the screaming, feasting women in the audience). The woman who played Baby did it so perfectly. We also took in Picadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, and the Tate Modern that day. We stocked up on Cadbury for a few months to ween ourselves off it. Our trip gets an A for fun and memorable times, a D for weather (at least it wasn't a heat wave, though), and an honorable mention for sketchy bus rides in the middle of the night.