Meteors & Melting Chocolate

I’ve always been a sky junkie. It doesn’t matter if there is something special going on in the celestial realm … I could just sit and look at the stars for hours. Throw in a major meteor shower and clear skies, and I will just sit and look at the stars for hours! So was the case tonight as the Geminid meteor shower, the most prolific sky show of the year, was available to all who cast a heavenly gaze.
But, before I could head out for a couple hours of star staring, I had to help out with a few Holiday honey-do’s. Our annual Holiday card had to be signed ad-infinitum, and our Holiday cookies needed to be hand-dipped in melted chocolates. The former I begrudgingly agreed to. The latter, however, I readily raised my hand for! I mean, what could be better than dipping Double Stuf Oreos, Nutter Butters, Walker’s Shortbread, pretzel twists, and cashew-pretzel clusters in Milk and White Chocolate?!?! Of course, as a “Chef”, you have to sample your wares before they can be offered for public consumption. Plus, any dip-ables that don’t come out “clean” become fair game! Add in the fact that our photo-processed cards don’t quite have palpable flavor, and you can see why my allegiances lie where they do.
I know you are saying to yourself, “Hey, Cave! These look great, but how about sharing some of these choco-coated cookies with the rest of us????”. Well, until they improve computing/internet technology to be able to download some of these yummy seasonal treats, the best I can do is offer the recipe we posted last year for making these delicious delights: Hand-Dipped Holiday Cookies.

Image courtesy of NationalGeographic.com

As for the Geminid meteor shower, much like the cookies, it lived up to the hype! I stepped outside the house and immediately saw a bright streak cross a good portion of the visible sky. I walked up the street to a nearby neighborhood park to avoid the street lights, set up my lawn chair, and was instantly treated to an amazing show. Perhaps, not as amazing as Roger Waters performing “The Wall”, as he did tonight in Anaheim. But, certainly getting to see 3-5 meteors per minute, while only having a clear view of 1/3 of the skyline and fighting the effects of light-to-moderate light pollution, qualifies as a very impressive performance. And, it wasn’t all about the quantity, either. The quality of many of the small balls of fire were nothing short of majestic.
All in all, it was a great night. Got much of our Holiday bucket-list done, munched many hand-dipped delectables, and got my astral fix! If only every night could be so fulfilling.
By the way, (insert shameless self-promoting plug here) tomorrow is the last day to enter our final giveaway of the year! Don’t miss your chance to be one of four lucky winners to score over $700 in professional cookware from Man Pans in our Want Pans? Giveaway.

©2010 Caution: Caveman Cooking/UHearMe, Inc. All rights reserved. This originally appeared on the Caution: Caveman Cooking blog at http://cavemancooking.net authored by Caveman. This may be shared and reprinted as long as this entire copyright message accompanies it.

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