The only products were electronic cigarette components--"e-juice," batteries, chargers, adapters, tanks, and so on. But what they were marketing was so much more than mere e-cigs. For sale was an amazing hybrid of healthy living, elegance, and patriotism.

The store was set up almost like a VIP lounge at a swanky club. There were lots of bar tables and chairs, interspersed with high-end recliners and leather couches--even a pool table. On prominent display was a large glass bowl filled with what were, ostensibly, the last tobacco products of customers who made the switch to e-cigs. And flavor lists, four to five pages long, were scattered across every tabletop, along with typewritten handouts enumerating the health and economic benefits of "vaping" versus tobacco use.

Is it a fair statement to say that vapers and vaping comprise a new and distinctive subculture? Do my fellow DUers have any insight--pro, con, or neutral--into this phenomenon?

Eat some dark chocolate, 70% or higher in cacao content. It'll hit those ahhhh receptors in the brain, just like a drug.

Happy V Day to the best people on the Internet!

I made some cocoa brownies, last night, but I wanted to increase the cacao content, so I tweaked the recipe.

The original recipe calls for a cup and a half of cocoa powder and eight ounces of melted butter. I didn't increase the amount of cocoa powder but I reduced the melted butter to four ounces and added in a melted three and a half ounce 70% cacao dark chocolate bar. Also, instead of two teaspoons of vanilla, I used one teaspoon of vanilla and one teaspoon of orange extract.

I baked them for 50 minutes, at 300 degrees, in an eight by eight inch pan. The top had a perfect, light crust and the insides were fudgy and delicious. But they were so gooey that cutting them into separate servings was almost impossible.

So...

Would you change the recipe to make the brownies less gooey? Or would you bake them in a mini muffin pan? If the latter, is there a trick to keeping the brownies from sticking to the little cupcake liners? Also, how would you adjust the time and temperature? My oven is electric, if that makes a difference.

Thanks for your help!!!