Chocolate and Caramel Tarts

Does anyone else dislike condensed milk? Well, I hate it. I can hear my mum now, telling me, "Don't say hate, it's a very strong word". Well, I haaaate it. Sorry if you do like it though. I don't find it disgusting, I just find the milk powdery taste rather...overpowering.  Buuut...I like caramel? Besides there are those recipes that boil a can of condensed milk for about 5 hours, and then have to wait for it to cool so it doesn't explode. I'm making it from scratch. Hey, I think it's likier to fail this way (i.e. crystallisation)...but I like the flavour a lot better and it's faster. I also don't own a candy thermometer and I've always bluffed my way through these recipes...they always work.

By the way, I was searching up pictures of caramel tarts...and I just wanted to say that I don't want to see soft ganache style chocolate and runny caramel. I want a chocolate topping that SNAPS and caramel that is not runny, not chewy/hard but just right. It should provide (I sound kinda formal here?) that slight resistance when you bite into it and teeth marks will be visible and...combine that with the flaky pastry and... I wanna another one.

Blueberry Pancakes

So I don't really like plain pancakes...especially with honey or maple syrup. I'm not sure why though. But when I saw these adorable little fresh blueberries on sale, I thought, "..." Actually, I didn't think of anything. I just felt like buying them, even though they're still rather expensive. At least these ones were blue-ish, not purple. So at 10pm, I decided I wanted pancakes...which I totally shouldn't 'cause eating so late will make me grow sideways. But I said to myself, "I'm just making them ahead for breakfast tomorrow so I don't have to wake up extra early. I'll only eat one."

I ended up having four. Psht.

I like my blueberry pancake batter a bit sweeter because I don't serve them with any other sweet syrup. I love how the blueberries just burst when you bite into the warm pancake. Omnomnom.

Seafood Marinara w/ Penne

Um, I like penne because it holds sauce better than spaghetti? And puréeing the tomatoes slightly with a stick blender would be nice. I didn't do it, but next time, I definitely would...especially since I now own a stick blender~

What else do I want to say...? I also like seafood. If there is a day where I don't have seafood, I'm probably eating Vietnamese beef noodle soup. I love it to the point of addiction/obsession.

The seafood in this recipe can be changed to other kinds like scallops or smoked fish if desired.

Sauce w/o the seafood.