Love dont bug me

So this isn't exactly an ode to Valentines week although it sure does look like it. Flowers to me on valentines day is about as romantic and relevant as the Easter bunny representing Jesus on Easter. I'd much rather prefer a sonnet that includes how St. Sebastian died a martyr due to arrows shot in the heart ;) Now that's romantic!!!

I just really think this "Love bug" is super cute and super easy to do. This is a good way to learn how to temper chocolate as to move on to more complex recipes dealing with tempering chocolate in the future. It's relativly easy to do however if don't improperly the chocolate will be dull looking and oily to the touch. High quality chocolate will have a nice glossy look to it.

First step is quality fruit. Its winter time and its hard to find really good strawberries. The best bet would be farmers markets. The best strawberries I've ever had came from this guy's trunk. I know that sounds strange but he would go down to Gilroy early every morning, pick strawberries in, bring them back to Cupertino and sell it out of his trunk. Nothing beats buying food when its in season.

Next temper chocolate and dip just the tip of the strawberry in. For chocolate I really like Scharffen Berger his chocolates are extremely high quality. It's expensive but this recipe doesnt call for too much, one bar would suffice. For tempering techiniques refer to: Temper

give them time to cool and set, notice the shine, its glossy not dull and greasy like a teenage forehead, its more like the glow of a post facial. Place the chopping board in the freezer and let's make some buggy dots! Use the same ziploc to drop little dots all over the tops of the strawberries, except for the heads, of course.

The antennae are totally optional, and I'm not going to lie to you, they can be a pain in the gluteus maximus. If you want to make them, check if your melted chocolate needs a few more seconds in the microwave to soften it up. Mine did. Then transfer it to a small ziploc and cut a small tip off one of the corners. You can print out my antennae pattern if you would like to use it, then tape it to a chopping board and tape a piece of wax paper on top of the pattern paper. When you're ready, use your chocolate-loaded ziploc bag to trace the little swirly antennae.

flatten the dots

print out signs and tape em to tooth picks

Refrigerate for till the chocolate sets. If you live in Eureka just open a window, same effect.

A nice little row of bug minions, coming to steal your heart!

Oh yeah I used white chocolate for the face. although I hate white chocolate because it really isn't chocolate at all. its a sham and I have no idea where it came from, but if i didn't need it for decoration I'd tell it go to back cuz it tastes nasty!