Happy Hot Fudge Sundae Day

 

Happy Hot Fudge Sundae Day Everyone! In order to celebrate, we thought it would be nice to give you all a recipe to make a hot fudge sundae, FROM SCRATCH!

First, start with making the ice cream.

For this you will need:

·         ¾ cup sugar

·         2 tablespoons cornstarch

·         1/8 teaspoon salt

·         2 cups milk

·         1 cup heavy whipping cream

·         1 egg yolk

·         1 ½ teaspoons vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract

To prepare:

1.     Whisk together first 3 ingredients in a large heavy saucepan. Gradually whisk in milk and cream. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, 10 to 12 minutes or until mixture thickens slightly. Remove from heat.

2.     Whisk egg yolk until slightly thickened. Gradually whisk about 1 cup hot cream mixture into yolk. Add yolk mixture to remaining cream mixture, whisking constantly. Whisk in vanilla bean paste. Cool 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

3.     Place plastic wrap directly on cream mixture, and chill 8 to 24 hours.

4.     Pour mixture into freezer container of a 1 1/2-qt. electric ice-cream maker, and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions.

Next, we need to make the hot fudge.

Begin by gathering:

·         ½ cup milk

·         1 cup sugar

·         5 tablespoons melted butter

·         3 tablespoons unsweetened chocolate cocoa powder

·         Dash of salt

·         1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

Prepare by:

1.       Combine milk, sugar, butter, cocoa, and salt in heavy sauce pan, stir over medium heat to begin the hot fudge sauce.

2.       Continue stirring the hot fudge sauce over medium heat, bringing to a boil. As the chocolate cooks you will notice the fudge changing from a speckled coloring to a more even colored fudge.

3.       Continue to stir the hot fudge sauce over heat, until chocolate reaches soft ball stage. To test for soft ball stage, take a glass of room temperature water, and add one drop of the fudge to the water. If the fudge somewhat holds its form as it slide to the bottom of the glass, it is soft ball. If it dissolves immediately, it is not done. If it immediately forms into a hard ball as it moves through the water, it is overcooked.

4.       Remove hot fudge sauce from heat.

5.       Stir vanilla into the hot fudge sauce.

6.        Allow hot fudge sauce to cool before spooning warm hot fudge over ice cream.

The last step is to get about 4 – 6 waffle bowls, scoop 3 scoops of ice cream in to the bowl, drizzle hot fudge over the ice cream, top it off with whipped cream, nuts and a cheery, and then deliver it to us before it melts. J

 

Social Networking in the 1600s

There was an article in The New York Times last week about Social Networking in the 1600s. The article addresses the concern that some people have about today’s social media networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. According to the article, websites like Facebook and Twitter will cost our economy about $650 billion every year.

 

Not only are they costly to keep running, but they, the social media websites, seem to have an effect on our attention spans and tests scores negatively. This is not the first time that social networking has gained a bad reputation.

 

Back in the 1600s, the idea of coffeehouses was imported from Arab. Coffeehouses were a place where people would go to discuss an array of thing including pamphlets, news-sheets, and catch up on gossip.

 

 At the time, an Oxford academic, Anthony Wood blamed the decline in the drive to learn on the coffeehouses, but many great things occurred because of the coffeehouses as well. Isaac Newton had an argument with fellow scientist that prompted him to write the “Principia Mathematica.” Also, everyone, no matter who you were status wise, was able to have conversations with each other.

 

The coffeehouses were something like an "in person Facebook". It is simply something that has changed over time like hand written letters have changed into emails, and how I am writing this blog instead of standing up on a soap box. On the contrary to the beginning of the article, today’s or the old age’s social networking has not put a damper on our learning, it has more to do with the drive of a particular person.

 

What is truly amazing is how things may evolve, but they do not become extinct. Who knew that Facebook existed in a different form hundreds of years ago? Cool, right?

 

This is definitely history repeating itself.

Check out Our New Look!

We are trying out a NEW LOOK here at A Royal Flush.  

We have a new header above, a new Twitter page and an updated Facebook page.

Let us know what you think!

600th Post

Can you believe this is our 600th post? It is hard to believe I have had that much to say!!

Thanks for reading and here is to 600 more posts!

Guest Posts

I am getting ready to go away on vacation.  While I am gone, I was wondering if any of you would be interested in guest blogging for me. 

It would be really great to get some new posts, from new people up on this blog. 

If you are interested, let me know at alexandra@aroyalflush.com.

Sorry Folks

I haven’t got anything to share today.  (I know, so sad!)  Hopefully I will have something really good for Monday!

Have a great weekend!

What Do You Want to Read About

In an effort to keep our readers informed, we are looking for some feedback about what you would like to read about on our blog. 

So help us out! 

Feel free to email (sales@aroyalflush.com) us your feedback, post on our facebook page, or comment on this post.

We can't wait to hear from you!

Want to Contribute?

Do you have a topic you want us to discuss? Something that you are interested in sharing? Feel free to contact us at sales@aroyalflush.com. We would love to hear your ideas and get some fresh posts on the blog. We look forward to hearing from you!

Reasons to Blog

As some of you may know, I have been blogging (personally and professionally) for about three years now. I would never call myself a blog guru but I have found it to be beneficial. For that reasons, I decided to post some reasons for why you should start blogging too.

Share stuff – A blog can be your little place on the web to share things you find interesting. Example: I Can Has Cheezburger

Report News- Many blogs today are highly respected as current news source.

Make money – Some folks try to make money from blogging (usually from selling advertising on their blog). Examples: BlogHer Advertising

Express yourself – A blog is a place where you can let out your frustrations or you’re your soul through artistic expression.

Influence others – Writing to sway the thinking of others has long been a popular reason for starting a blog.

Connect with friends and family – Many blogs are started as a way to share family news and photos with friends.

Comment on issues – Some blogs function as a personal opinion page for authors wanting to share their point of view on major topics.

Promote a business – Many corporations have learned the value of advice and corporate news style blogging as a marketing and public relations tool. Examples: Our Blog

Help others – There are a number of blogs that offer advice, tutorials and other assistance. (Hey, BloggingStartup.com falls in this category!)

Market stuff – Some blogs sell stuff while others directly promote their product or service.

Share your hobby – Hey, want to talk about how you like to spend your free time? Why not start a blog?

Promote yourself – Blogs can be a great way to let the world know who you are, whether you are wanting to change jobs or promoting your services.

Journal your experience – Type about anything. Talk about your day, share your opinion, show a funny picture or tell what you had for dinner.

Try something different – Be creative, explore the world in your own way, through blogging.

I hope this gives you a reason to try. This list is from Blogging Startup, but I changed the examples.

Freakonomics

I found this the other day. On the New York Times website, the authors of the best-selling book Freakonomics have a new (or new to me) blog. The subtitle of the blog is "The Hidden Side of Everything." It is pretty interesting and they cover a wide range of topics. Considering the fact that I am not financially inclined AT ALL and I enjoyed their blog, should be enough of an endorsement! As a bonus, you can subscribe to their feed and receive it in your inbox. Click here to visit the blog.

Happy Reading!

Interesting Ways to Dress Up a Portable Toilet

I found this online today and I loved the pictures. Enjoy!

Porta Potty Paradise

Posted by jessie

As summer is about half way over, you have probably had the chance to take at least one vacation, trip to the beach, or some awesome outdoor event or concert. It is no doubt then, that you have been one of the lucky to find yourself searching for a place to relieve yourself when finally coming across the dreaded porta potty.

Do all porta potty experiences have to be so dreadful and bland? What if porta potties were exciting and fun?

We’ve compiled a list of some of the craziest, bizarre and most aesthetically-pleasing potties you’ll encounter. These aren’t your atypical run-of-the-mill green or blue porta potties.These beautiful porta potties were designed by former Benneton ad guru Oliviero Toscani, and made by the Italian porta-potty company Sebach.

Sebach is also the sponsor for the dream toilet design competition.

In Boise, Idaho, a porta potty company allowed people to “adopt” a potty and paint it.

Crazy paper mache potties from the annual Burningman festival in the Nevada desert.

This giant porta potty in Johannesburg is made of fiberglass and blue gloss enamel paint and was made to generate hype for the World Cup. The potty counts down the number of days until the World Cup.

“Amy Outhouse” spotted in Central Park, New York City.

Slash Potty from Coachella Music Festival

Tricky porta potty in Spain blends in with its surroundings.

Porta Potty Stonehenge “poo for peace”

This porta potty was an experimental art piece toying with the concepts of privacy and voyeurism. Located on the River Thames in London, this public toilet was completely enclosed in one-way mirrored glass, allowing the user to look at the outside world while they’re doing their, err, business.

Technically it’s not a porta potty, but you can bring your iPod in, plug it in and rock out!

Moscow and Portable Toilets

I found this online. It is basically another version of an attendant, but I think it is funny that the attendant has to stay inside a hut made from a portable toilet. I guess the weather makes that necessary, because Russia=cold!!

Moscow and Portable Toilets

How did Moscow solve the common problem of people in need of answering the call of nature while walking around the city? In a very simple way—porta-potties.

Porta-potties of every color pop up all over the city. Upon first seeing the porta-potties in Red Square, I thought that the authorities brought them out to accommodate the crowds expected on Victory Day. However, as we spent more time in Moscow, we encountered similar facilities almost everywhere we went.

Prices varied depending on the location. The closer the porta-potty was to the city center, or a major tourist attraction, the higher was the fee to use it. Strangely enough we saw some free ones along Nikolskaya Street, but nobody was using them. Perhaps they were locked—I did not check.

Each row of porta-potties was attended by a woman, often an older lady, who collected the money and kept the units relatively clean and stocked with toilet paper. Every porta-potty attendant had her own port-potty. In other words, in a row of porta-potties, there was one never used for nature calls. Instead, it was furnished, probably by the attendant herself, to provide a comfortable shelter from the elements. The ones I happened to see were often decorated, and always well stocked with cleaning supplies, food, newspapers and magazines.

The porta-potties definitely provide an excellent and cheap solution to the common problem of people looking for a public restroom while walking around in Moscow. However, despite their colorfulness, they do not add to the beauty of the city.

Posted by Helen