Basel Labs

It isn’t flaky for chocolate lovers to indulge in chocolates; after all, their shine, creamy texture, firmness and snap are plain irresistible. But these chocolate lovers can’t know that these qualities are not original to chocolates and they’re acquired only through a process called tempering. This tempering process consists of three steps–heating, cooling and reheating–but at definite temperatures.

The tempering process is a tricky one, since you need to maintain specific temperatures accurately and this fact is acknowledged both by beginners and experts in chocolate making because of the following:

• Cocoa butter, the main ingredient of chocolates, has fats that uniquely form into six kinds of crystalline structures.
• During the tempering process, these crystal types multiple at 6 different and unique temperatures.
• One of these crystal types is the type V crystal which alone can make the chocolates shiny and crisp and that’s why you should create a congenial environment for the formation of only these crystals.
• This is hindered if the other crystals also dominate the tempering process if temperatures aren’t fixed at certain levels. If temperatures are kept constant at which more type V crystals form, you can make your chocolates shiny and snappy.
• Tabliering and seeding are the two methods of tempering by hand and if you cannot maintain specific temperatures accurately when you carry them out, you have to repeat tempering again and again.
• Moisture in the working area as well as in equipment used, inaccurate thermometers, and other factors may also spoil the outcome.

If your aim is to produce large quantities of chocolates for profitable purposes, there’s little advantage in tempering by hand as you may produce inconsistent quality confectioneries when you make them. You may need to acquire a tempering machine that maintains the same quality in all the chocolates produced.

The microprocessors in these tempering machines take care of the work of maintaining the specific temperatures during heating, cooling and reheating. Large quantities can also be tempered and the temper of the chocolates is maintained for a longer duration. Using a tempering machine removes the hassles in tempering and you can focus more on developing and improving your skills in the art of chocolate candy making as well as in developing your business.

It’ll also be beneficial to learn tempering by hand because there may be occasions on which you’ll need to do it. But investing in a tempering machine is a good one, considering the benefits you derive from it. Your chocolates will always have a high quality and you can stick to delivery schedules every time.

The essential idea of a lunch box has been around since the 1900s, but it wasn’t until the 1950s and 1960s that they became a marketable product. Television transformed the once ordinary lunch box into the hot collectible that it is today. TV introduced hundreds of popular characters and soon these characters were showing up on lunch boxes. The lunch box that every child carried are now highly collected due to their colorful design.

The golden age of lunch box production was from 1950 to 1987. Baby-boomers with nostalgia for their childhoods trivia enjoy this unusual popular collectible. Lunchboxes bring back a lot of memories, and that’s why people respond to them. Most of the 120 million boxes sold between 1950 and 1970 were decorated with images from popular television shows.

The first lunch box to feature a popular character was the Hopalong Cassidy box released by Aladdin in 1950. This lunch box was an immediate success and quickly led to the release of other character lunch boxes. Popular TV stars from western to space heroes and cartoon characters were depicted on lunch boxes.

Aladdin and Thermos were the two main manufacturers over the years. The first lunch boxes were made of steel up the mid 1980s when plastic boxes became the norm. Some of the more popular lunch boxes include: A-Team, Adam 12, Addams Family, Annie Oakley, Archies, Astronaut, Barbie, Battlestar Galactica, Bee Gees, Beverly Hillbillies, Bonanza, Brady Bunch and Buck Rogers. Prices for these boxes range from $20.00 to $400.00. Condition is important to value. Rust, chipped paint, dents, scratches and missing latches or handles reduce their value. Lunch boxes with the original thermos bottle adds value.

Before the Internet, collectors looked for vintage lunch boxes at garage sales, thrift stores, and antiques shops in search of lunch boxes featuring Happy Days, G.I. Joe, Zorro and Disney characters. But with Web access, tracking down your favorite lunch box takes but a few mouse clicks with online sites such as eBay.

(Singing) Here comes Peter Cottontail, hopping down the bunny trail…But wait a minute! What about the precious, adorable, cute little fuzzy chick that sometimes gets overlooked as an Easter friend? Here is a fun craft for you to make with your kids that is sure to bring creativity, and whimsy to life.

How to make a Chick In A Basket:

Materials Needed:

One Large Yellow Pom Pom
Orange Construction Paper
Black Construction Paper
One Section From an Egg Carton
One Pipe Cleaner
Glue
Other Embellishments (Optional)

Instructions
Glue the yellow pom pom into the section cut from the egg carton. (Like it’s sitting in a basket)

Create a beak using the orange construction paper and glue to the yellow pom pom.

Create eyes using the black construction paper and glue those to the yellow pom pom.

Glue the pipe cleaner so that it creates a handle for the basket. You may want to use small clothespins to hold the pipe cleaner onto the “basket” until the glue dries. Even a paper clip would do the job.

You may choose to embellish the “basket” with beads, paper in a variety of colors, glitter, small silk flowers, or ribbons.

Now you have created a Chick In A Basket! Children are sure to love this fun, “feathered” friend. These are great to make with your kids, in a classroom, or church functions.

Brandi Clark is the creator of Crafty Corner, an arts and crafts newsletter full of craft ideas, crafting tips and more! Sign up FREE today and receive a coupon code worth 20% off your total purchase at her specialty gift store. Sign up now at Craft Idea!

“Who are you?”
(A Birth)

Part One
Giving Birth

“Hello,” I said as the birth came out of the womb

Like a ghost, he seemed to appear,
Out of nowhere, dropped out of his mother.

“Who are you?” I suppose the birth cried,
Eyes now opening; a bloody birth it was; the

Birth-room unknown to him: everything strange.

With the heart beating, no longer in the darkroom,

(the womb) the birth cried again,
“Who are you?” I suppose: in its own language

(now flesh and bone, on the clock of time)!

Part Two
Shore Bore them

She bore him and his twin, like a bonfire, raging

In the wind; raging with pain from limb to limb
Crying in vainshe bore them both with love and

And a kiss, with pain…!

Part Three
Back to Back

She was spinning like the moon, around the earth,

Trying to give birth, in the hospital…!
Drenched in blood and sweat back to back laid

The twins, finding one another, ready to
Come out, join the world; they both discovered

Being born was workleaving the warm sea
From within the floating fleshly womb was not

Easythey had sensed each other inside, now
They were among the living, they too were alive.

#1285 3/23/2006; written at El Parquetito, in Miraflores, Lima, Peru (dedicated to Cody S.), I guess I feel at times our children do not know, realize or take the time to think about the burden, the pain, the time a mother must spend, consume, to give a child its birth here on earth. I am not trying to win any women support on this issue, I am just grateful to my mother for giving me my life, and likewise, feel every person who is breathing, should never forget the great gift their mother has given them: life. Dennis

See Dennis’ web site: http://dennissiluk.tripod.com Poeta Laureado de San Jeronimo-Huancayo, Peru