(Source: noctis-lux)
It’s no secret that the world’s ocean trash problem is getting bad; looking at a handful of images from the Texas-sized Pacific garbage patch should be enough to convince anyone. As for all of our litter that doesn’t end up in the middle of the ocean? It often stays close to shore, where volunteers for Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup pick some of it up, cataloging all the items they find.
(Source: danieltflynn)
Chilled Double Chocolate Torte
I am obsessed with C’s birthday dessert this year! This may be the best treat I have ever made, and it’s even better because it’s packed with good-for-you healthy fats. It’s definitely going in the family favorites cookbook this year!
Recipe from the amazing Angela at Oh She Glows
No Bake Chocolate Crust:
2 cups pecans
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 tbsp coconut oil (other light taste oil may work)
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp kosher saltChocolate Avocado Mousse:
2 cups avocado flesh (approx 3 small avocados), pitted and scooped out
1/3 cup almond milk (or other non-dairy milk)
2/3 cup pure maple syrup
1 tbsp smooth peanut butter (or other nut or sunflower seed butter)
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup + 2 tbsp chocolate chips, melted
1/4 cup cocoa powder, sifted if clumpyCrust: Oil a 7-10 inch springform pan and line it with a circle of parchment paper. In a food processor, pulse the pecans until crumbly. Be careful not to over process them as you still want them a bit chunky. Now add in the rest of the crust ingredients and pulse until just mixed. Scoop mixture onto prepared pan and press down firmly and evenly with slightly wet fingers or a spatula. Pop into freezer to set while making the mousse.
Chocolate mousse: Place all mousse ingredients (except chocolate chips) into food processor. Process until smooth. In a small bowl, melt your chocolate chips in the microwave and scoop melted chocolate into food processor mixture. Process until smooth.
Remove crust from freezer and scoop this mousse on top of crust. Smooth out as much as possible and then place in the freezer for 2 hours to firm.
Once firm, remove from freezer and allow to sit on the counter for about 5-10 minutes before serving chilled. Place leftover torte in the freezer wrapped and placed in a seal container.
Note that this torte should be served chilled as it gets soft at room temperature.
Today was my birthday
Society now says I’m 32
#latepost the most interesting painting to me at Crocker. It’s multidimensionality is so intriguing to me. #art #crocker #painting #oldman (at Crocker Art Museum)
My fave!!
(Source: gendertier)
Today’s guest and author of Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal, Mary Roach in Popular Science:
Taste is a sort of chemical touch. Taste cells are specialized skin cells. If you have hands for picking up foods and putting them in your mouth, it makes sense for taste cells to be on your tongue. But if, like flies, you don’t, it may be more expedient to have them on your feet. “They land on something and go, ‘Ooh, sugar!’ ’’ Rawson does her best impersonation of a housefly. “And the proboscis automatically comes out to suck the fluids.” Rawson has a colleague who studies crayfish and lobsters, which taste with their antennae. “I was always jealous of people who study lobsters. They examine the antennae, and then they have a lobster dinner.”
The study animal of choice for taste researchers is the catfish, simply because it has so many receptors. They are all over its skin. “They’re basically swimming tongues,” says Rawson. It is a useful adaptation for a limbless creature that locates food by brushing up against it; many catfish species feed by scavenging debris on the bottom of rivers.
I try to imagine what life would be like if humans tasted things by rubbing them on their skin. Hey, try this salted caramel gelato—it’s amazing.
Image by Emily Cavalier
(Source: verticalfood)
