So we have a potluck at the office today, and I chose to bring dessert. I didn’t have much time last night, what with the awesome 100th episode of LOST on, so I decided on my trusty secret recipe of chocolate-covered strawberries.

For those of you who went to university with me, I’m sure you will remember my many batches of famous chocolate-covered strawberries A lot of people in school asked me for this recipe, so I might as well re-post it here in case anyone from uni reads this.

Allie’s Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Step 1: Start with the freshest, juiciest organic strawberries you can find. Local is better but I know that’s not always possible. It’s even better when you pick your own from your garden…

Step 2: Start with a pot of water and bring it to a gentle boil, you will then want to cover it with another pan or a heat-safe bowl. This is a water bath. In this case I used a bowl on top. Use high-quality organic chocolate. My secret is to use chocolate hazelnut. I like the texture and chunkiness that the hazelnuts add to the strawberries and it goes well with the chocolate. Lastly, I crack a TINY bit of sea salt into the chocolate to bring out the taste of the chocolate. It sounds strange, but it works wonders.

Step 3: Coat the strawberries with the chocolate. Make sure your strawberries are VERY dry when you do this, otherwise you will mess up the chocolate consistency. I like to air dry them if I have time, but a blowdryer or fan on cool works if you’re in a rush. Once coated, place them tip up in a tray.

Step 4: Melt some white chocolate with the same sort of water bath. Again, high quality white chocolate. I add a tiny bit of vanilla to this for flavour and colour.

Step 5: Drizzle the white chocolate over the strawberries.

Step 6: Let cool for 15 minutes or so, and then place into the fridge. Don’t cover.

Step 7: EAT! And enjoy

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In other news, I am SOOO excited for the Canucks game tonight against the Blackhawks. It’s been way too long. I’ve still been wearing my jersey every day, even when snowboarding. Puck drop is early at 6:00 pm, so don’t miss it.

Lastly, I’ll be visiting a secret new Twilight set today. Can’t wait!

It’s been a while since I’ve made a post solely dedicated to my photography so here we go. P.S. Snowboarding with Shay post coming soon, photos from Tofino last summer, photos from the romantic Victoria getaway, photos from sprimg in Vancouver, and I also want to do a “scenes” from Twilight featuring some of my photography but it’s going to take a while to collect those together.

I’m actually feeling really terrible today so I need to get back to bed. Thank goodness I prepared this post last night all ready for the morning.

Anyway.

The photographs here are a mix of my old and new shots. I wanted a theme, so I went with “things with wings”. When the sun starts coming out more frequently and we start transitioning into spring and then summer… I really look forward to seeing all the butterflies, birds, and other critters coming out of the woodworks.

These photos taken with a mix of the Nikon D50, D80, D90 and way back when my Olympus C3030Z.

Yellow Butterfly by a Yellow Flower

Hummingbird, Still

Kissing Butterflies

Kookaburra Bird

Butterfly on a Pink Flower

Wasp

Butterfly with Camouflaged “Eye”

Bee Covered in Pollen

Thanks for looking! Hope you liked them.