The Sock Yarn goes to.....

....Mariko. Congratulations! Please email me at oiyi.yau (AT) gmail (DOT) com (change the words at and dot with the appropriate symbols) with your address info, so I can send you your Prize. Thank you all for playing along and celebrating my blogiversary with me. Let's hope next year will bring bigger and betters things!

>>>>>>
My eye still has that blood splotch, but it is much smaller. It had remained unchanged until Sunday. Not sure if all of you were brave enough to click on the photo of my eye in the last post. I wouldn't blame you if you didn't.

We went to Long Island on Saturday to shop and the cashier at Target didn't try to hide her surprise when she saw my face. She literally did a double take. I was pretty embarrassed. I tried to keep my sunglasses on during most of the day, but I took them off when I went into stores. For the most part, it wasn't too bad. People stared but kept it subtle. At the restaurant we ate at that night, the waiter didn't even flinch when he took my order. I think the shocking thing is that it's blood red, well cause it is blood. I look like I have a bloody eye. If both my eyes had hemorrhaged, I would be perfect for a horror movie. Now, I am worried every time I sneeze or cough too much.

>>>>>>
Making Sponge Candy

I had never heard of Sponge Candy until I read it on Kelp's blog. She told me that it's very popular in Upstate New York and her mom makes it from a old family recipe. I was intrigued and decided to do a little research on the internet. Apparently, it's from Buffalo, NY and the stores that sell it online are located in Buffalo.

Having never made candy except for chocolate truffles and fudge, I really wanted to try making it myself. There were a lot of recipes online and all the recipes required only 4 ingredients. Most called for dark corn syrup, but I only had light. I finally found a recipe that used light corn syrup, but you can use either and it should be fine.

It was pretty simple to make. You spend most of your time waiting for the mixture to reach 300 degrees and then add the baking soda, stir and then pour. I poured mine into a rimmed cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

The texture is so hard to explain. It's very light and airy. When you break it, it ends up in shards. At first bite, you get a crunch and then it melts in your mouth. Quite interesting! While I thought the candy was okay on it's own, enrobing the candy in dark chocolate brought it to another level. It is absolutely fantastic with chocolate. I highly recommend that you dip them in dark chocolate.

Here it is naked and undipped. This is the recipe I used. Make sure to use a deep pot because it puffs up and triples in volume when you add the baking soda. Have fun and be careful with the hot sugar mixture.