iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 27/07/2025

Black forest rolls. Basically, cinnamon roll dough with a chocolate and dried cherry filling and a vanilla sugar glaze.

Photo of twelve black forest rolls with a trickle of vanilla sugar glaze.

Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

At an exhibit at the St Louis Art Museum about the 1920s and 30s. This Teardop Talbot-Lago is a definite attraction. I could see myself driving this......anyone have a couple million? I'd let you drive it once....okay twice....three times. Damn.

Side view. Teardrop shape, silver with red fenders.

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

The more I bake, the more I find i need certain products for certain projects. King Arthur is great for bread, but I get itchy baking cookies, muffins or scones without Weisenberger flour. Perhaps im getting overly fussy with age.

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

Drive through bordello? No, a convenience store in Missoui.

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

The annual list of MW wines and theory questions. Every wine requires a detailed explanation of your answer. It's possible to get the right wine but exhibit faulty reasoning, and fail that wine. Every theory question requires examples from around the world. www.mastersofwine.org/wp-content/u...

mastersofwine.org

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 11/05/2025

@simonjwoolf.com well done article about judging. Spitting always confuses people who don't judge but we've all judged at some point with people who swallow every glass. Typically, by 10 they are under the weather, by noon under the table.

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 10/05/2025

We had a lot of powdered sugar, so sugar cookies. These are cooling but the powdered sugar went into three buttercreams for after the cookies cool: white, yellow and green. Why those colors? No color, single color, blended color (available colors were blue red and yellow-blue and yellow make green).

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

We had a lot of cheese. Leftover cheese means cheese scones or Gougères. Scones were last weekend, Gougères this weekend. This is before baking. Yes,I sprinkled a bit of cheese on top:very cheesy. I also used cayenne instead of black pepper to add pop, so not true gougères

Raw dough for gougères. The top is sprinkled with cheese.

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

Orange Cardamom shortbread cookies. Very buttery with an orange-cardamom kick

Cookies right out of oven on cooling rack

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

Costco had blackberries on sale i had buttermilk. Sometimes, things just work out.

A broken blackberry muffin, showing blackberries inside

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

Playing this morning with a new idea: lemon poppyseed buttermilk biscuits. More savory than sweet (could add a touch of sugar if i wanted).

Seven lemon poppyseed buttermilk biscuits. Can see poppyseed throughout.

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

We found a bunch of white rice and frozen veggies in the freezer yesterday, so before 7 this morning I decided to make chicken fried rice. I've got issues.

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

Cassoulet for dinner tonight. Had to hunt all over for the sausages, but it turned out great

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

Schloss Schoenbrunn. I'm not really a big fan of castle tours. Yes, they're opulent and impressive. Truly, the part I found most fascinating was where they were performing renovation work: how often do you see what lay underneath?

Painted ceiling of Great Gallery painted by Gregorio Guglielmi and chandelier.

Brick walls underlying whatever had been covering them while renovations underway

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

The autographed ceiling at Griechenbeisl restaurant in Vienna. Supposedly, Mozart and Beethoven signed. Pavaratti, Mark Twain, Egon Schiele and many others definitely did. They really need a list.

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Kind of creepy. Kokoschka had a relationship with Alma Mahler and commissioned the making of a doll in her likeness which he used for "inspiration." He eventually doused it in wine and beheaded it, but there is this reproduction.

Life sized doll of Alma Mahler, complete with breasts and pubic hair. Very creepy

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

You have to love the choice of cakes available in Vienna

Selection of cakes available at 9am at Haus des Meeres. Multiple types, sacher, esterhazt, erdbeeren, mozart among others

Mango schnitte and a Kirsch sacher torte

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

A friend's neighbor did not drink French wines, so gifts of French wines sat. Yesterday, we had a tasting. I think they discovered that the French wines were pretty darn good.

Older vintages of Figeac (96), Pavillon Rouge (96), Mayne (98), Chapelle de la mission haut brion (2000), Giscours (2000), Valandraud (03), Carmes Haut Brion (05), Nairac(01), Doisy Daene(96) d'Yquem(93).

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

Rule you learn if you cook: Don't cook or bake while wearing a white colored t-shirt. Rule i always ignore: Don't cook or bake while wearing a white colored t-shirt. Sigh. Laundry time.

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 18/01/2025

Orange buttermilk scones. We always zest oranges before eating for this reason

Orange buttermilk scones, baked and on a cooling rack

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 18/01/2025

After a successful morning of chasing your prey, sometimes you just need to revel in it.

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

So....um... What's in the drawer?

Cat crawling through a drawer filled with papers and memorabilia

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 25/12/2024

Cooking Moulard duck breast for dinner. To me, Bordeaux works beautifully with this dish. Primarily merlot with a bit of cabernet franc.

Bottle of 2005 Rol Valentin Saint Emilion.

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

Humboldt fog (left) and a Langres. Edmund Tew from the UK is a favorite and unavailable here in the US. It's made like a langres-a washed rind cow cheese with a buttery texture. I'm hoping the langres is a close approximation.

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

Went for a short hike in a park today. With everyone else shopping, I was almost alone. It was a pretty nice morning

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

A few months ago, I wondered if they'd tolerate each other. Best of friends now.

Two cats curled up together in a cat hammock

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

I received a package of cookies for the holidays. There must be a hundred of them. I am doomed.

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

Today is the anniversary of the Nutcracker. For those wondering what a sugarplum actually is, here is a video which explains that, and shows how they are made. youtu.be/q5Nk0evkBpE?...

youtu.be

What Are Sugar Plums? How to make real Victorian sugar plums

YouTube video by Tasting History with Max Miller

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

Great article. Wine people are different. For the most part, they don't drink wine for it's intoxicating effects and have widely varying interests. It's always a pleasure to spend time with people who truly explore life.

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

Sparkling wine tasting yesterday. No prosecco or Franciacorta, but a lot of good Champagne. We had 27 people, so the tastes were small, but many were delicious

14 bottles of sparkling wine lined up from a tasting.

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 14/12/2024

A close-up look at my cheese to show the white mold development. The white mold, necessary to cheeses such as brie, valençay and camembert, turns the interior into the delicious velvety goo.

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 14/12/2024

I have a sparkling wine tasting tomorrow. I'm also supposed to bring something to go with it. I've already decided to bring truffle potato chips. Not enough people have enjoyed the simplicity of chips with Champagne.

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

No new posts on the cheese for two reasons: the white mold is progressing, so not much to show; i violated rule number 1 of home cheese making , that of patience. I removed the molds too early, so instead of camembert, I have wider more compressed discs. It'll be cheese but what kind? Stay tuned

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

I love this. Mahler deciding, you know, Bach should have done this. Everyone has their interpretation, but we have Mahler's notes on his.

From the New York Philharmonic collection, Mahler's arrangement of the Air and Gavotte 1 from Bach's suite for Orchestra no. 3

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

And the border control once got upset because my wife's passport was a lightly warped from getting wet.

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

Texas style chili but with some cocoa added for a thicker texture and slight chocolate flavor with the jalapeños.

Texas chili (no beans) darker brown color from cocoa

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

For a cookie exchange: making two different types of chocolate chip cookies, traditional and chocolate chocolate mint-meltaway.

Cooling rack with both traditional chocolate chip and chocolate chocolate chip melt away cookies.

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

I recall trying to speak my terrible French in Bordeaux. The locals appreciated I was trying, but immediately responded in English. The Poles? They were beyond thrilled i could say please and thank you.

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 29/11/2024

When making cheese, you start with a culture. The culture converts lactose to lactic acid and provides different textures and flavors. For camembert, I use Aroma B which provides butter flavors. The penicilium is a mold, which converts the interior into the melty texture you expect from camembert.

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

Merlin likes to drop his toy into anything liquid. This requires a serious watch over iced tea, wine, or anything else in my glass

Black kitten with a small fluffy ball toy

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

Baked @kingarthurbaking.bsky.social maple pecan muffins. Cheating, but there will be a lot of cooking for Thanksgiving. Besides, my wife wanted these which is an added bonus.

Photo of four maple pecan muffins on a cooling rack

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Aaron Mandel @aimandel.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

I had to run to a specialty store to get non-homogenized milk. You can make cheese with homogenized, but the curd doesn't set up as well.

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