Well I just got off the phone w/ poison control to make sure that I covered all of my bases and she said that mercury isn't poisonous if it's touched, handled or even ingested. She said that it's the vapors that it emits that are toxic and that heat amplifies that. One of the first things that I read before beginning my cleanup was NOT to use a vacuum cleaner because of the heat. Tell me how happy I was that I'd decided to look on-line first before I ran the vacuum over it!!!! Literally I was all ready to turn it on and go to town before I decided to take a moment and go on-line. I told her that my huge concern was that I may not have gotten all of it because I'm sure beads fell into the cracks of the old wood floor and we're always crossing the threshold there in our bare feet. She said that's not a problem and the fact that I was airing the place out and minimizing air circulation was what was best.

She described it as rectangle shaped chocolate wafers layered with filling (don't know what kind) and then all covered in milk chocolate. I guess it sounds like your Napolini. She had the same reaction the day before and we narrowed the culprits down to probably soy or honey. Yesterday the Ola Pola was the only thing she ate (she is getting over a cold - refuses medication, BTW - and had no appetite for b'fast or lunch) so we are pretty sure it is one of the ingredients in the Ola Pola. Nicole

Just a guess on my part. I think you would want "hard crack" stage for this. On my candy thermometer, that is 300 degrees. I don't know how that would affect the thickness of the coating, though. And it may be simply that the humidity is too high. That would have a definite effect on the candy. I'm wondering how a few drops of cinnamon oil would be in your recipe. Apples and cinnamon. Made for each other. And I really like your idea of making them orange, with colored sugar on the bottom. Very clever idea! Rusty

Can you believe that I just now got around to using this new thermometer (the one inside the spoon)? Anyway, I absolutely love it and highly recommend it for making custards, which I use for making ice cream. I always cook the custard to 170°, stirring constantly, and it was very easy to tell when I got to the exact right temperature. I always strain the custard after removing it from heat, and I only had a few particles that needed to be strained out from the custard I made on Saturday. I do not know yet how it will work with candy, but I bought it mainly for custard, as I make that more often. I think that for candy, the other thermometer may be okay, but the new one is nice because it is digital and easier to read.