Since I spent a significant part of my Saturday doing a pass on episode #2 and writing up the one-page overview for episode #10, I decided to kick back on Sunday by switching gears and starting the rewrite of episode #5. I know, I know. What the hell am I doing working through the weekend? Well, besides the fact that it’s crunch time and – apparently – these scripts aren’t going to rewrite and prep themselves, the truth is it’s next to impossible to get any writing done at the office. There are just so many distractions to contend with that it’s near impossible to get on a roll.
Anyway, as much as I hate rewriting my own stuff (Not because I’m precious, mind you, but because I spend so much time and effort constructing a scene, establishing a natural dramatic progression and rhythm for the dialogue, that changing what’s there is like trying to remove one of the lower blocks in a game of Jenga. A single seemingly inconsequential shift is enough to bring down the entire structure.), I REALLY hate rewriting Paul because his scripts are exceptionally tight. Tweaks you figure should take you two or three hours tops become grueling two to three day marathon sessions.
I made it as far as the end of the second act before running out of steam. At which point I realized my talking about working through the weekend would make for a mighty uninteresting blog post – so I took Akemi up on her suggestion and make truffles.
As impressive as it may sound, the truth is making truffles is actually quite easy. Chopped up about 225 grams of chocolate. Heat up a 1/2 cup of heavy cream, then pour of the chocolate, whisking it to a silky smoothness.
Some recipes call for butter, but I don’t bother. Add liquor, if you’re so inclined, then pop in the refrigerator for a few hours and allow it to firm up.
Once the two hours are up, take your chocolate out of the refrigerator, let rest for five minutes, then start rolling. Akemi prefers the double spoon method she perfected while working at the Pierre Marcolini Cafe in Ginza…
Once those truffles are rolled, give them a second roll in a coating of your choosing. In the past, I’ve used everything from cocoa powder to toasted coconut.
Pop them in the refrigerator, allow them to cool for another hour and – voila! Serve as dessert. Or, if you’re feeling generous, bring them into work on Monday and treat your friends. Tell them “I’ve done you a favor. Next time, it’ll be your turn to do ME a favor.” Later that week when you’re looking at a full day of prep meetings, guess who’s sitting in for you?
So who’s gonna sit in on this Tuesday’s visual effects meeting for me?
simply put…mmmmmmmm…..say’s it all
i think akemi and joe need to adopt me… that chocolate looks tasty… lol
Thank you for making chocolate with me Joe-san 🙂
Ah Joe, I’m sure you’l get the hang of things once Transporters on a Season 2. Can imagine it being difficult when you’ve worked on Stargate for over a decade to shift to a completely different genre when writing.
Speaking of which, all those chocolates is enough to give someone a heart attack lol
What a delicious looking blog today and a cutie with Akemi. see I just knew chocolate could be involved,,yum. thanks.
Chocolate makes everything better. Blogs, food, bad days…
Those truffles look amazing! Now I have to break into my stash of Andech’s brandy filled chocolates to satisfy my chocolate craving.
I may have to try making truffles just to mess up everyone’s diet. Tis the season when everyone is weight conscious for a month or so. And some of the guys are starting to train for Tough Mudder in October.What an evil way to sabatage them…
Or I’ll wait till they run out of steam. Sorta need to cut back on the the stuff myself. But thanks for sharing. ANd you’re still breaking in the pony, so it will be awhile before you can relax and enjoy the ride. Eventually you’ll be ahead of the curve, and with the satisfactoin tht you’ve helped to birth and nurish another hit show.
Good luck in the coming week and keep on sharing please.
Do you ship to the U.S.? That’s it Joe! Chef Akemi can make chocolates from home, create a little chocolate website, and ship delicious chocolates out to Canada and the U.S.
Yummy! After those pictures, Akemi will get more marriage proposals 😉 .
Ah, now I know what I’ll be doing tomorrow. Ii kangae desu ne! 😀
Dark. Chocolate. Guinness.
Visual effects meeting. Laundry pick-up. Dog walking. Whatever you need. Just pay me in those. I’ll even pay for my own gas from Ohio….
Akemi’s truffles look (and I’m sure taste) amazing! Do you find that you have to work fast in rolling the balls to make sure the mix doesn’t get too warm and hard to handle?
To echo the words of StellaByStargate…
Dark. Chocolate. Guinness. *said in my best Homer Simpson ‘donuts’ voice*
*drools*
Ummm…Joey? If you don’t mind…can I borrow Akemi? (She’ll have a lot more fun with me because I’ll actually do fun stuff on the weekends…and I promise it won’t have anything to do with albinos. 🙂 )
das
If I eat your chocolate, I get to watch visual effects on Tuesday…Dangit, StellaByStargate already gave you a better deal than I could. I can’t afford that much gas and I can’t promise no outbursts. I just may have accidentally solo-cheered during an engineering meeting once and there weren’t even any car stunts.
It looks easier than rolling buckeyes. Getting enough air out to get them to stick together is serious work. Maybe a truffle/buckeye hybrid has potential.
Akemi looks lovely and relaxed crafting treats. You’d get a mouth-breathing scowl if you stuck a camera in my face when I was trying to concentrate.
Oh….yum! Yeah, you and Akemi need to ship to your blog readers.
Please?????
The truffles look fabulous! And had I been anywhere near them, I would have scarfed them down all at once. I’ve been stuffing my face with sweets all weekend. Trauma does that to me. Which is why I hope you’re not writing many action scenes with flying bodies.
Last week a motorcyclist made an illegal left turn in front of me. It was so fast, that the first time I saw him was when his body was flying up in the air after he hit my car. It was the most horrifying thing I’ve ever experienced. Especially since I’ve never had an accident, ever. I’ve been lucky, and he was too. He popped up off the street and started yelling at me. I can’t tell you how relieved I was that he was ok enough to be yelling.
Then I had to go into defense mode, and told him he couldn’t make a left turn from the lane he was in. He finally understood, and he was somewhat contrite. He had a few scrapes, and I was shaking so much I could hardly hold the phone to call 911. Thankfully, I was just starting to accelerate from a red light, so there wasn’t much speed involved, otherwise he could have been killed. I’m afraid I won’t ever see car versus person on TV the same again.
Good luck with the script! And I’m very happy to hear you’re heading back to Vancouver. It sounds like that’s where your heart is. And I hope with Akemi. She’s a keeper.
Coucou 🙂 ça va bien?
ummmm, ça à l’air vraiment délicieux! Je suis sure qu’Akemi est une exellente cuisinière :)!! Malheureusement je suis très vite écoeuré par le chocolat!
Hier je suis allé m’acheter quelques nougats à “La cure gourmande” ils sont tellement bons! Je vous conseil d’essayer leurs produits:
http://www.la-cure-gourmande.fr/commerce/fr-en/particuliers/listeprods.asp?cat=1
Bonne journée!
Gros bisous!
Mmm, truffles. I use a large pastry bag to make my truffle centers, I just squirt out large round dots onto parchment paper on a cookie sheet and chill the whole thing.
paloosa: Wow! Glad things worked out. I second that paloosa needs chocolate shipped to her 😀 .
It’s impossible not to smile at Akemi pics! Oh chocolate; chocolate totally ruined my three year Atkins streak. I’ve long ago given up resisting the brown devil known as chocolate.
I love the Toffee Taboo treats but they are a bit out of my budget these days, I bet you guys could make it at home; it’s toffee covered in chocolate and cashews, sprinkled with white chocolate:
http://store.allingoodtasteproductions.com/Toffee-Taboo-s/1.htm
@Ponytail: Great idea. I’d buy some. They look DELICIOUS. Great job Akemi.
Hey Joe, you probably haven’t seen this but anyway in Mibu, which is just north of Tokyo, people want to errect a life size 59 foot lifesized Zaku model, which comes from the very first Gundam anime piloted by Char.
They had a Gundam model up for a while in the Tokyo area before, but seriously the Japanese are like Gundam crazy lol
Anyway see here if anyone is interested, probably wont come to anything but they plan to raise money by selling Red Juice online or something
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2011-07-11/town-plans-to-erect-life-size-zaku-robot-from-gundam
These kinds of reports kinda amuse me, only in Japan would something like this actually happen, its not as if the American or Canadian or any other western goverment would allow people to construct a 59 foot statue of a cartoon robot lol
Can Akemi make a Todd the Wraith bento box for me…?
das
Very sad news on Twitter that Alaina Huffman’s beloved spaniel Bridget was killed by a friend’s neighbor’s pit bull on Saturday. http://yfrog.com/kht9ibhj It’s killed before. Are Canada’s laws as dog-killer friendly as they are criminal-friendly? So horrible.
So who’s gonna sit in on this Tuesday’s visual effects meeting for me?
me! especially if you can do a version or two of those with peanut butter.
i agree with Ponytail, you could start a little gourmet chocolate truffle business and do quite well with it.
Sorry to interrupt chocolate, but Alaina Huffman posted on Twitter today that her beautiful doggie, Bridget, was attacked and killed by a pit bull off leash. I thought you would want to know. http://yfrog.com/kht9ibhj