Another kind of artistry

I will admit it, I have an obsessive personality. I get an idea in my head, or something I want to learn about or do, and it becomes all-consuming. I have to read everything I can find on it, work on it for hours upon hours ... you should see the massive collection of cake pans in my kitchen from my cake decorating phase. It is truly awe-inspiring ;) Problem is, I just generally don't have time anymore to obsess about things anymore. Well, about a week ago, at some point, I became obsessed with Italian pastries. I have been reading for a week online all kinds of recipes and techniques and all that. I made some canolli filling last week; it was good but I couldn't find anything to use as a form to make the shells so it sat in my fridge for a week before I finally threw it out. i realized yesterday that I can wrap tin foil around a small spoon to make a form to make canolli shells, so I schlepped back to the store in 2 degree weather for more marscapone and ricotta. At the store, I found fillo (isn't is supposed to be spelled with a ph?? This one wasn't.) shells and decided to give those a try first. Made the *best* filling! Melted some dark chocolate and painted the bottom and sides of the cups with that, then piped in the canolli filling. Topped them with shaved dark chocolate and hazelnuts. Now, biting into one for the first time is kind of odd ... almost like eating a potato chip topped with canolli filling ... they are just a little too crispy, lol. But I cannot complain - they are pretty darn good. And they look pretty darn good too. Displayed in my gorgeous casserole from Red Hot Pottery , one of my all time favorite potters, and one of my all time favorite pieces of pottery.