L'Esistenza Bellissima

Bitty Baby's Arrival (or: ...and the family expands...)

2009-07-25T20:55:00.006-05:00

Funny how sometimes there's an exact moment that you know things are going to change. Obviously, this doesn't happen all of the time, but I did have one of these events occur this past Tuesday afternoon. I was at my Pregnant Lady appointment, and while the doctor was checking things out - my water broke! Clearly, things were set in motion and we were going to have a baby in our house pretty soon...! I got wheeled across the street to the hospital, called Hubby on the way, and had him grab the hospital bag.

Sweet Pea and me

Hubby called our family. My parents live 3 hours from us, so it was important that they knew to hit the road. When it was time for Bitty Baby to join the world, I had Hubby at my side in the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday. Our mothers were able to see her arrival as well - and her birthday is two days before my mom's, which I think is really cool.

Hubby, Bitty Baby, and Moi

Even though I got the epidural topped off, it wore off some right at the end. Oh yeah; that was fun. :P

^^^

But my goodness, seeing that little face.... It overshadowed all.

With the exception of Sweet Pea getting to hold her new baby sister for the first time. And being at home with our two beautiful girls in the beginning of a new chapter of life.

Daring Bakers - June '09 Challenge or, I BAKE AGAIN!!

2009-06-27T11:18:00.000-05:00

MAN, am I glad to be back on the wagon with the Daring Bakers group. I have really missed them over the last several months. Although I've never met any of them in person, I must say that it was a rather sad existence without them! The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

I was intrigued by this challenge because I had never heard of a Bakewell Tart/Pudding before! I made my tart... er... pudding in stages. Not my fave way to do things, but it definitely works with a "working mom/chick" schedule.

FIRST, I made Grapefruit Curd for the jam/curd layer, as I thought that would be a nice, summery flavor. The original recipe is here. I substituted the zest and juice of 1 ruby red grapefruit for the 4 lemons, and added about a teaspoon of lemon flavoring (it seemed like it was going to be a little sweeter than I wanted). I also couldn't find my little strainer this time, and was initially going to give this curd the "rustic" label and keep rolling. But it kept bugging me, and I ended up using my screen that fits over a frying pan to strain it instead because I really wanted a smooth textured curd. I was also going to put a drop of red food coloring in to give it a pinkish tint reminiscent of grapefruit pulp, but couldn't find it, either. Eh, whatever.

Tasting it after it chilled, I wasn't really impressed with the flavor, so I added a few teaspoons of lime juice, and it became Grapefruit-Lime Curd. Then, I wished that I had just made lime curd, as I adore limes - but I still had the rest of the tart/pudding to make.

NEXT (a few days later), I made the crust. I wasn't going to mess with that frying pan screen again, and didn't know where the hell that strainer was, so I bought a sifter at "Mega Lo Mart" on the way home from work so that I could sift my dry ingredients. =:D Excellent!

I used my Pampered Chef cheese grater to grate the frozen butter, which I'd definitely do again. If you do something like this, though, a suggestion: After a few turns of the handle, gently pull the butter out of the grater with a small spoon. I was happily grinding away at one point and realized that the butter had piled up inside of the grater, so that I had several masses of it mashed together by the time I got it out. It didn't make a huge difference when I mixed the butter with the flour mixture - I just pinched it gently apart with my fingers as I was mixing, and it did fine.

I probably used twice as much almond extract as the recipe called for, because I dreamily turned the little bottle over to sprinkle it into the bowl and it just came gushing out. For some reason, almond extract just *smells* to me like it would slowly and dramatically ooze out of the bottle and into the bowl. I don't know....my crazy imagination.

THEN came the frangipane. I was excited about this, because it seemed like this was going to be a really yummy part of the dessert! I was interested in how my almond meal was going to turn out, because I bought blanched almond slices that I was going to have to grind up. I did this once before and I just couldn't get as smooth of a texture as I'd hoped. Initially, I was going to make the frangipane while the crust was chilling, but Hubby fell asleep on the living room couch.

You're probably like, "So freakin' what?? You cook in your LR?!" Yes, the big-screen TV folds down into a work station/range....but seriously. Our living room and kitchen are essentially one big open room separated by a counter/bar, so I didn't want to have that little chopper running like crazy while he snoozed. And I can't pick him up and carry him to bed like I can do with Sweet Pea.

So that waited until another day, when I finished it all on a Saturday night (whoohoo, that's me, the party animal!) -- speaking of animals, for some reason that night we were overtaken by flies! =:O I'm still trying to figure that out. But suffice it to say that they drove me NUTZOID while I was trying to mix and bake. ANYway . . . I rolled out the crust and cut it into circles (with a plastic drinking cup from my credit union - how high-tech!) that fit perfectly into my muffin pan for mini tarts/puddings. They really turned out cute!

Close-up of the layers

The next day was Father's Day, and my parents drove over for the day to pick up a bed that we moved out of our guest room to make room for New Baby. I thought that would be a GREAT time to share the latest kitchen creation. They adored it - yay! The grapefruit-lime curd was wonderful with the frangipane, and the crust didn't have any overwhelming taste of almond that I feared. As a matter of fact, I warned my mother about the potential almond tsunami because she isn't big on the flavor, but she didn't notice it at all. Personally, I think that it just gave the whole tart a nice warm undertone that blended well with the curd.

I thought this was a really fun challenge, and the crust and curd were great make-aheads. There are so many ways you could take this flavor-wise, as evidenced by the numerous posts by my fellow Daring Bakers. Be sure and check them out here!

Summer at the Farmer's Market and a Fruit Salad

2009-06-20T17:39:00.000-05:00

This morning, my friend Kat and I decided we would go up the road to the Little Rock River Market and check things out. There are indoor shops, food vendors, and restaurants in the neat little downtown area. On Tuesdays and Saturdays during this time of year, they have the Farmers' Market.

Sweet Pea and I loaded up into Kat's car and off we went. Our intent was to leave and get up there early and beat the heat, as the last week or so has given us temperatures in the 90s with heat indexes of 100 degrees or so (for non-Southerners, Temp + Humidity = Heat Index, or how it "really" feels outside).

Although the Farmer's Market isn't the biggest one you'll ever see, it has grown over the years and now includes quite a few other things besides fresh fruits and veggies. We saw a dude selling wooden flutes, several people selling jewelry, and even one booth with crocheted items (though why anyone would want a cuddly crochet hat in the middle of the summer heat is beyond me). We wandered through and looked at all of the produce first to see what all was out, and then grabbed some lunch inside the River Market. Kat had gumbo from a Cajun stand, Sweet Pea had cheese pizza, and I enjoyed some sushi and a peach smoothie with "bubbles" or boba - also known as black tapioca pearls (yeh me - the weird eater - imagine!).

Refreshed after our travel-around-the-world lunch, we ventured back outside and dropped a couple of dimes on produce. I got orange bell peppers (my fave!), purple potatoes (more on them later), summer squash, a nice ripe-feeling canteloupe, and a loaf of wheat bread with sunflower seeds. Oh yes, and a potted mint plant as well as a potted basil plant. Mmmm.

After we got home - and after I took a nap because the heat had completely SAPPED me - I got to thinking how much I wanted to cut into that canteloupe. I'm typically not big on melon, and didn't realize until several years ago that canteloupe was actually GOOD. But it has to be ripe, and the melon you get in most stores and restaurants is rarely - if ever - ripe. However, I had a good feeling about this canteloupe I got and, while getting supper ready, I had an idea of a potentially yummy fruit salad that I just had to make. So here you go:

Strawberry-Canteloupe Salad

2 c. fresh strawberries, chopped

2 c. fresh cantaloupe, chopped

1 fresh lime, zest and juice

Fresh mint, minced

1/2 to 1 Tbsp. sugar (optional)

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Toss to mix ingredients thoroughly. Chill thoroughly, stir well, and serve. Top with whipped cream if desired.

I think I've mentioned this before, but outside of baking I am SO the Approximate Cooker. So adjust the quantities to suit yourself - equal amounts of the berries and the melon, enough lime juice and mint to blend throughout the mixture, and a little sugar if you wish (I added just a bit so to soften the taste of the lime). Had I had any fresh ginger on hand, I think that a little bit would be good in there as well. Next time....

This is an easy One-Bowler and is an awesomely light and cool dessert during the hot season - not to mention it is healthy! YAY on all counts!

Cheesecake....

2009-06-10T12:05:00.000-05:00

I have been so desperately out of the loop in doing the things I enjoy since I've been pregnant, and it finally got to the point where I *had* to do something in the kitchen! If I don't do something creative in some part of my life, I start geting really ticked off, and between you and me, I was past that point.

So the other Saturday, Sweet Pea and I decided to conquer the Daring Bakers' challenge for April - cheesecake!

Melted butter and graham cracker crumbs for crust
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Hubby had brought home a store-bought one a few weeks ago that was fine as those go, but we all know that ANYTHING homemade is better, right?! Well, excluding SIL's cooking, mind you. . .but that's probably blog material for another day.

Le crust....
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We did a pretty much basic cheesecake, the equivalent of wading around in the shallow end of the pool, LOL, but I wasn't really in the mindset to do anything grandiose that day. I did add about a teaspoon of lemon zest to the batter, and for the liqueur flavoring I used Grand Marnier - Sweet Pea and I chose that over the Frangelico in a sniff test. I figured kids and preggos would be OK after it baked out, anyway and - responsible parent that I am - told her that she could not TASTE the G.M. because, like vanilla, it was yukky alone but made other things taste great! :>

Cream cheese + Sugar = Yum
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One other sub I made outside of the DB recipe was putting in 3/4 c. whole milk instead of 1 c. heavy cream, which we didn't have in the house (Hubby will, on occasion, come home with whole milk for no apparent reason; I don't ask, I just let him do his thing).

Cream cheese mixture, adding eggs

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Into the pan we go!
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Bain-marie (yes, the foil leaked - Grrr)

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After 55 minutes, the cake looked firm but really jiggly, as the recipe said it would. That kind of thing always makes me nervous, but I've done cheesecakes before and it's just a feeling I ignore. When making cheesecakes, one must rack that kind of thing up to faith and just believe that it's going to turn out the way it's supposed to. And it looked great after doing its obligatory time in the oven and then cooling to room temp.

I then had what one or two people in the free world might call a "meltdown". Sweet Pea dug a hole in the top with her little play spatula, and immediately thereafter the fast food drink that Hubby had put in the front of the refrigerator toppled out as I was trying to get something else in there, and emptied its contents all over the floor. Sigh.

Looks good even with the hole out of the middle, eh? I like the toasty brown parts. :)

~*~

Now, I actually wasn't worried about the top of the cheesecake, since I had candied some kumquat slices (recipe below) with which to adorn it - it was the fact that I had already instructed her about twenty times this morning to leave things alone until I told her specifically to do something. It was just the principle of it all. Ahhh, mother- and wife-hood!

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Candied Kumquat Slices

16 kumquats, washed and sliced into rounds approx. 1/8" thick

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

Heat water and sugar on medium to med-high, stirring a couple of times, until sugar is dissolved and the mixture begins to boil. Add kumquat slices and reduce heat to med-low. Cook for 10 minutes. Remove individually, tapping/shaking liquid from pieces, and place in a single layer on a plate or piece of parchment paper. Allow to dry for a bit before decorating top of cake. Can sprinkle a small amount (1/4-1/2 c.) of sugar over them if desired.

Use the syrup (of which you will have a good bit) to glaze the cake, sweeten teas, etc. Will last in the fridge for a few weeks.

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Anyway, the cake looked like we were really going to enjoy it after it chilled. I brushed a layer of the kumquat syrup over the top, made a sun design with the kumquats (it wasn't my initial intent; it just ended up turning into a sun), and brushed another layer of the syrup over them so that it would have a nice glaze.

Yeah, I know that I said I was feeling quite low-maintenance with this baking endeavour, but I remembered the kumquats and thought that'd be a really good compliment to the orange flavoring and lemon zest in the cake. And I mean, really - don't expect me to believe that you're surprised. Please.

The Results: Awesome! This is a delicious, creamy cheesecake and the recipe is soooo versatile that you can go in any direction you feel. The general consensus in our house was that it was a totally dee-vine dessert. The kumquats and cake were a really good balance. I also took some to work, and my friends thought it was totally awesome. Yeeesss! I'll need to remember to press out the crust better around the edges, as that part was a little too thick, but I will definitely make this again!

Shark, anyone??

2009-04-04T14:20:00.011-05:00

This makes me think of "Finding Nemo" and Nemo's nickname that he gets from the other fish in the dentist's aquarium: Shark Bait (OOH-ha-ha). Sorry. (Which reminds me that I need to take the dead goldfish out of our own aquarium that I saw floating this morning... Egad. Maybe I can talk Hubby into doing the dirty deed.)

Anyway, these are some old pictures that I had on our old computer, which crashed, and that I forgot I had on the ol' memory card until I started transferring pic files yesterday. Insta-blog! ;D

Last July, we went on a trip with a group of friends who know each other through our university. Some I went to school with, some I'd met since I graduated, and some I had only "seen" online via our email listserve. We all met at Jekyll Island, Georgia and spent a week:

~Going to the beach~

~Going shopping~

^^ Sweet Pea & me during the middle of a nice little tantrum she started throwing in the middle of one shop on St. Simons Island - ahh, memories! If I look in control there it surely did not last....

~Eating good food~

^^ Spring rolls that one of our friends, Buzz, made from scratch one night

~Touring the island and admiring the beautiful old buildings~

but mostly just hanging out and nuturing some awesome friendships.

^^ Jekyll Island Club brunch, L to R: Doc Mary, Nita, Jan, Lynne, Gail, Siri, me

^^ Siri, Cindy, Kym

^^ Terry & John

^^ JJ, Neels, Gail, & Lydia

Another thing we did was to go sea fishing. Hubby went twice - the first day with our friends Jimmie, Doc Mary, and Jan;

^^ L toR: Boat dude, Hubby, Doc Mary

^^ Jiminy the Master Fisheress

and the second time with John, Siri, and me.

Siri's shark - not big enough to keep, though.

L to R: Siri, me, boat captain, John

It was really a blast, and everyone caught a good amount of fish both days so that there was plenty to share and bring back home.

Thus, with the sweet taste of salt water still clinging to our lips - even if in memory - we decided to cook up some of our spoils once we returned home. When Hubby went with The Gals, they decided to go fishing for shark, so we ended up with several steaks in the freezer. If you know us, you know one defining thing about us: Our adventurous palates! So Hubby and I were both salivating like Pavlov's dog when he threw these onto the grill. I swear to goodness, I can't remember what he used for seasoning....will try and remember to ask him and update if he actually remembers.

Clockwise from top L: Grilled shark steak; Corn on the cob; Quinoa w/tomatoes, cucumber, and parsley; Green beans & potatoes

The flesh was nice and firm yet tender, and quite mild. Someone had told Hubby that it could sometimes have an ammonia-like taste, and I could kind of pick up on this kind of "different" taste, but it was so faint that it didn't make any big impact. Plus, since sharks don't have bones, you could just dig on in there and not worry about that (I can't stand fish bones....if there's a phobia for that I have it). I'd definitely have it again - preferably caught by a familiar hand just off the coast of an extremely cool island in the company of fabulous friends. It just wouldn't be the same any other way.

Struggling to Get Regular....

2009-03-22T16:43:00.009-05:00

As a pregnant person, I can't tell you how that means soooo many things to me right now, LOL! Seriously, I do want to get back to posting regularly - like I was, only better. And I may actually have the opportunity to get back on track with many things this week. See, Sweet Pea turned 6 on Thursday, and we had a party for her yesterday. Today, she left with my mother to visit in Mississippi for the week over spring break. She will loooove hanging out with Mom and her friends (who love to spoil little girls and let them pretend like they are grown!), as well as hanging out with my dad, kicking around in his gardens, and being a Tractor Girl.

My parents are both retired, and Dad has gotten into finding old tractors and restoring them - which is great since he's a mechanic by trade and is one of those people I want around me if the Apocalypse ever actually occurs - and he tells Sweet Pea that these are THEIR tractors. So the week for S.P. will include entertaining and being entertained by Proper Southern Ladies, as well as learning the finer points of self-sufficiency and riding around on my parents' property on whichever John Deere she and Dad decide upon at that moment. Life is good for the Pea. :)

So while we have a quieter home for several days, some of the goals on my neverending list of Stuff I Have Got to Get Done are:

Get the freakin' laundry caught up and put away (instead of frantically digging through the pile on the couch every morning)!
Get the freakin' dishes cleaned in totality and put away (instead of wishing that we could just eat off of paper plates until Jesus comes)!
Get the floors clean - swept, mopped, and vacuumed (instead of wishing a street cleaner could fit through our front door and scrape off my floors)!

Clean, clean, clean....everything clean! Beat Hubby and make him clean! Yesss!

As well as:

Catch up on organizing. What to organize, you ask? Ha! What's NOT to organize?! OK, really...if I can just get things cleaned cleaner than they have been in the last long while, I really won't focus on this very much as I will have earned myself some "ME" time.
Catch up on my scrapbooking. With Baby Sister on the way, I must-must-MUST get farther along on Sweet Pea's stuff than I have gotten over the last 6 years. It's shameful - if I actually thought about it - and I have this table behind me with hundreds of $$ worth of scrapping things that has been neglected for so long that Hubby thinks it is now a storage place for some of his crap, as well as the old printer he replaced and that I have no idea what he wants to do with. Inconceivable!
Get back into the baking that I have been missing. Really. Missing. With the job I started last summer (stupid crazy job that I regret taking, except that the other one bored me to tears, but where my perpetual "not using the gifts God gave me" lament continues) I've been thrown off even more than I ever thought I could be. It's been a struggle to just do the things that MUST be done....much less the things that I enjoy and that make me ME, that make me HAPPY. Yes, it's been a sad little hole I've been sitting in, folks, and I'm trying my best to crawl out of it. By darn. So cooking and blogging and writing about food, and my amateur attempt at food photography - I'm doing it all.
Just doing things I like to do. Window- and mini-shopping at Tuesday Morning-type stores. Over-shopping at Whole Foods. Playing my guitar. Writing. Pondering. Spending time outdoors. And the like.

So those are my plans for the week. Sure, I don't expect to strike 100% of that off as completed, but just knowing that I'm going to focus on these things that have been all but forgotten kinda gives me a lift. There's a hopefulness that's been gone for a while that I'm gonna get back, by gosh. And I'm really looking forward to doing it and putting it on here.

Shamed Into Blogging

2009-03-03T18:08:00.008-06:00

I get into one of my emails, the one I check least often nowadays ('cuz honestly, I'm loving gmail and this other one provided by my ISP is irritating), and find a note from one of my best-best college friends saying, "Hey, I have started a blog!" So I go to check it out and let me tell y'all - this girl has tricked out her blog site bigger than crap!! This isn't surprising, considering she was an ever-so-cool art major and an extremely bright and creative person in general. But I was reminded of how looooong it's been since I blogged, and in my humiliation and shame I thought I'd throw a post out there.

So here you go.

I'll give an update, though, since it's been so long since I just actively put something out, which is the biggest reason why I've been under the radar for quite a while. See, I went to visit my parents over Thanksgiving and noticed I was feeling kinda....weird. Couldn't put my finger on it, but something wasn't "right" (I refrain from using the word "normal" because, well, I'm not really). Anyway, in the next couple of days it hit me, and the following weekend when I was out of town at another college BFF's wedding, I decided to buy a pregnancy test.

Well, guess what - it was positive!! Yay! Now, I'll admit this wasn't something we'd been "trying" for -- plus, I've always hated that phrase "we're trying"; it reeks of desperation and just brings the bedroom out there to everybody and doggone it, that's my biz. ;D No, seriously, we already have Sweet Pea, who'll turn 6 in a couple of weeks, and I've been feeling strongly about another kiddo since she was about 3 or so, but I rationalized that it didn't need to happen for various life reasons.

Then I became forgetful and a little lax with my b.c. patch, and well.... There you are.

Anyway, I was thrilled and so was the Big Guy when I told him. However, that BFF Wedding Weekend was the beginning of several weeks of siiiiiiick for the mama, here. Very uncool (albeit an apparent necessity for my body when beginning a new life - since I went through very similar stuff with Sweet Pea) . One good thing was that I have since dropped about 15 pounds; which, if you saw me last fall or so you would likely have recognized that I've never been that freaking fat in my life. Ever. It was scary and appalling. Anyway.

Fast forward to this morning. Hubbs and I dropped Sweet Pea off at school and headed up to our nearest Big City (i.e. Little Rock) for a Level 2 ultrasound. FYI, a Level 2 is just a more detailed version of what most of consider a "regular" ultrasound. My local ob. does the regular ones, but I was referred to the medical sciences area for the sole reason of: AGE. LOL! I turned 39 on Feb. 21st - dang it, I don't feel of "advanced maternal age"! Whatever; we went. It was really cool and they took a long time checking out the baby. I personally thought that they were pretty darned thorough, and the doctor there said she thought everything looked fine, but she wanted me to come back in 4 weeks to just check again and make sure. Seems like the Little Bean was on its tummy and the ideal position to see every.thing on the ultrasound is for the baby to be on his/her back.

They were able to get a look at the hiney, though, and it seems that Sweet Pea is going to have a LITTLE SISTER! Whoohoo! Now, I didn't care one way or the other. The really cool thing about having another girl, though, is that I never got rid of any (and I do mean any) of Sweet Pea's clothes this entire time.

Sweet Pea herself was thrilled, and screamed when I told her the news in the car after school. She has been begging for a sibling for a couple of years, and most recently a sister. As a matter of fact, right before I found out I was pregnant, she said, "Mama, I want a little sister....and I want her NOW!!!!!" followed by a stamping of the foot. Okaaaaayyy, kid. Just a few days ago she told me that if the baby was a boy that we could PRETEND it was a girl and dress him in her old clothes, anyway.

Dad - you know how guys can be sometimes - made cracks about "shooting blanks" and the like. I honestly don't get the need some guys have for feeling like they "must" have a male child. I know that ALL guys aren't of this mindset, but lucky me has one who does feel that way a little. ;P Eh, I'll humor him until he freakin' gets over it (aren't I the supportive wife)!

Anyway, I'm excited and can't wait until the end of July to meet this precious cherub in real life! Now that I'm feeling better and not wanting to sleep 18 hours out of the day, I'm hoping I can catch up on all of the things I've let fall by the wayside as of late. =:D

Daring Bakers - June '08 Challenge!

2009-01-10T10:23:00.000-06:00

OK, this is another Daring Bakers challenge that I did not post in time. Actually, the more I think back, the reason it didn't post in time was because I made it after the deadline for the posting date. Better late than never, I always say (of course, I think this is beginning to be the story of my life, so maybe I could consider turning over a new leaf in 2009)!! Our June challenge, hosted by Kelly of Sass & Veracity and Ben of What's Cooking?, was to make a Danish braid. Our requirements was that we make at least one braid, and then we could go into other shapes and flavors if desired.

This recipe does have a lot of steps, and to try and make this when you are short on time or skimp on what you're supposed to do would be setting yourself up for certain disaster. However, aside from that, nothing was hard; I really enjoyed making it! The results were heavenly.

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DANISH DOUGH
Makes 2-1/2 pounds dough

For the dough (Detrempe):
1 ounce fresh yeast or 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup whole milk
1/3 cup sugar
Zest of 1 orange, finely grated
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
2 large eggs, chilled
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour1 teaspoon salt

For the butter block (Beurrage):
1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

DOUGH/DETREMPE: Combine yeast and milk in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed.
Slowly add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice. Mix well. Change to the dough hook and add the salt with the flour, 1 cup at a time, increasing speed to medium as the flour is incorporated. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, or until smooth. You may need to add a little more flour if it is sticky. Transfer dough to a lightly floured baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Without a standing mixer: Combine yeast and milk in a bowl with a hand mixer on low speed or a whisk. Add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice and mix well. Sift flour and salt on your working surface and make a fountain. Make sure that the “walls” of your fountain are thick and even. Pour the liquid in the middle of the fountain. With your fingertips, mix the liquid and the flour starting from the middle of the fountain, slowly working towards the edges. When the ingredients have been incorporated start kneading the dough with the heel of your hands until it becomes smooth and easy to work with, around 5 to 7 minutes. You might need to add more flour if the dough is sticky.

BUTTER BLOCK/BEURRAGE:
1. Combine butter and flour in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle and then beat for 1 minute more, or until smooth and lump free. Set aside at room temperature.

2. After the detrempe has chilled 30 minutes, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into a rectangle approximately 18 x 13 inches and ¼ inch thick. The dough may be sticky, so keep dusting it lightly with flour. Spread the butter evenly over the center and right thirds of the dough. Fold the left edge of the detrempe to the right, covering half of the butter. Fold the right third of the rectangle over the center third. The first turn has now been completed. Mark the dough by poking it with your finger to keep track of your turns, or use a sticky and keep a tally. Place the dough on a baking sheet, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

3. Place the dough lengthwise on a floured work surface. The open ends should be to your right and left. Roll the dough into another approximately 13 x 18 inch, ¼-inch-thick rectangle. Again, fold the left third of the rectangle over the center third and the right third over the center third. No additional butter will be added as it is already in the dough. The second turn has now been completed. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.

4. Roll out, turn, and refrigerate the dough two more times, for a total of four single turns. Make sure you are keeping track of your turns. Refrigerate the dough after the final turn for at least 5 hours or overnight. The Danish dough is now ready to be used. If you will not be using the dough within 24 hours, freeze it. To do this, roll the dough out to about 1 inch in thickness, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and freeze. Defrost the dough slowly in the refrigerator for easiest handling. Danish dough will keep in the freezer for up to 1 month.

APPLE FILLING: (Makes enough for two braids)
4 Fuji or other apples, peeled, cored, and cut into ¼-inch pieces
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Toss all ingredients except butter in a large bowl. Melt the butter in a sauté pan over medium heat until slightly nutty in color, about 6 - 8 minutes. Then add the apple mixture and sauté until apples are softened and caramelized, 10 to 15 minutes. If you’ve chosen Fujis, the apples will be caramelized, but have still retained their shape. Pour the cooked apples onto a baking sheet to cool completely before forming the braid. (If making ahead, cool to room temperature, seal, and refrigerate.) They will cool faster when spread in a thin layer over the surface of the sheet. After they have cooled, the filling can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Left over filling can be used as an ice cream topping, for muffins, cheesecake, or other pastries.

DANISH BRAID: (Makes enough for 2 large braids)
1 recipe Danish Dough
2 cups apple filling, jam, or preserves

1. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll the Danish Dough into a 15 x 20-inch rectangle, ¼ inch thick. If the dough seems elastic and shrinks back when rolled, let it rest for a few minutes, then roll again. Place the dough on the baking sheet.

After rolling out and cutting into 3 sections - 2 braids & 1 piece to play with

2. Along one long side of the pastry make parallel, 5-inch-long cuts with a knife or rolling pastry wheel, each about 1 inch apart. Repeat on the opposite side, making sure to line up the cuts with those you’ve already made.

3. Spoon the filling you’ve chosen to fill your braid down the center of the rectangle. Starting with the top and bottom “flaps”, fold the top flap down over the filling to cover. Next, fold the bottom “flap” up to cover filling. This helps keep the braid neat and helps to hold in the filling. Now begin folding the cut side strips of dough over the filling, alternating first left, then right, left, right, until finished. Trim any excess dough and tuck in the ends.

Egg Wash:
1 large egg, plus 1 large egg yolk

Whisk together the whole egg and yolk in a bowl and with a pastry brush, lightly coat the braid.

Proofing and Baking:
1. Spray cooking oil (Pam…) onto a piece of plastic wrap, and place over the braid. Proof at room temperature or, if possible, in a controlled 90 degree F environment for about 2 hours, or until doubled in volume and light to the touch.

Proofing - like my one straight braid and the one that wanted to go free-form? :D

2. Near the end of proofing, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Position a rack in the center of the oven.

3. Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the pan so that the side of the braid previously in the back of the oven is now in the front. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, and bake about 15-20 minutes more, or until golden brown. Cool and serve the braid either still warm from the oven or at room temperature. The cooled braid can be wrapped airtight and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, or freeze for 1 month.

Lemon curd Danish braid

Apple Danish braid with almonds

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The apple filling was awesome. On the second braid, I used a lemon curd recipe that I had sitting around -- been thinking, 'It's cool, but what would I use it for?' AHA! I'm just gonna say, I could have eaten that freakin' curd by itself without sharing. It was a lot easier than I'd thought it would be, and one day I'd love to use blood oranges, Meyer lemons, or grapefruit and see how that turns out. Here is the recipe:

Lemon Curd:
Makes about 2 cups (500 g)

4 lemons, preferably untreated, organically grown (I just scrubbed the hell out of mine)
1/2 c. (125 g) unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 1/4 c. (250 g) superfine sugar (Used regular white sugar and all was well)
4 eggs
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Grate the zest of each lemon and squeeze the juice into a heatproof bowl.

I love my microplane but am always paranoid that I'll end up shredding my knuckles on it

Add the butter and set the bowl over a pan of simmering water.

Stir in the sugar gradually, stirring until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves.

LOVE my new camera we got this summer - look at those grains of sugar popping out in HD!

Place the eggs in a large saucepan

and beat.

Strain the sugar mixture into the pan with the eggs.

Cook over low heat, stirring constantly; do not boil.

Remove from heat when the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

For storing -- when cool, pour into sterilized jars and seal (or just take the extra and eat it with a spoon and don't worry about it).

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I halved each of the two braids, kept one-half of each at home, and took the other two halves to work. Everybody loved it! One of my coworkers said she was going to commission me to make one for her. LOL I'll definitely make it again. Thanks, Kelly and Ben! :)

Daring Bakers - September '08 Challenge!

2009-01-10T10:00:00.001-06:00

OK, I really have been doing a few things over the last few months.... Among other things, Hubby took the camera off to the deer camp before I could unload my pics from the memory card, and now that deer season's over I had him get it out of his truck so that I could actually PUBLISH THESE BLOG POSTS.

So as you can see, this is coming out quite tardily and, although I guess I can't prove it, I was not late in actually DOING the challenge. Whatev's. I'm just glad that I actually typed this up in September, because then all I needed to do was make a few changes and add my pics. And there is NO freaking way on God's earth that I could have remembered all the details 4 months later....

Anyway, the September challenge was something really cool and, to me, totally unexpected: Lavash Crackers! Our honorable September Hosts were Natalie from Gluten a Go Go and Shel from Musings From the Fishbowl. Natalie and Shel are two of our Alternative Bakers, Natalie being a gluten-free cook and Shel a vegan one. Our challenge was to make lavash, which is a cracker bread made in many different cultures. It was to be accompanied by a dip, and the crackers AND dip both had to be gluten-free and/or vegan. Aside from that, we were wide open and could use any flavorings, sweet or savory, that we desired.

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Lavash Crackers & Toppings

(Recipe from The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering The Art of Extraordinary Bread
by Peter Reinhart)

The key to a crisp lavash,...is to roll out the dough paper-thin. The sheet can be cut into crackers in advance or snapped into shards after baking. The shards make a nice presentation when arranged in baskets.

Makes 1 sheet pan of crackers

* 1 1/2 cups (6.75 oz) unbleached bread flour or gluten free flour blend (If you use a blend without xanthan gum, add 1 tsp xanthan or guar gum to the recipe)

* 1/2 tsp (.13 oz) salt

* 1/2 tsp (.055 oz) instant yeast

* 1 Tb (.75 oz) agave syrup or sugar

* 1 Tb (.5 oz) vegetable oil

* 1/3 to 1/2 cup + 2 Tb (3 to 4 oz) water, at room temperature

* Poppy seeds, sesame seeds, paprika, cumin seeds, caraway seeds, or kosher salt for toppings

Mise en place, clockwise from top left: Flour , Water, Olive oil, Sugar, Yeast, & Salt

1. In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, salt yeast, agave/sugar, oil, and just enough water to bring everything together into a ball. You may not need the full 1/2 cup + 2 Tb of water, but be prepared to use it all if needed. [I did need all the water.]

Sweet Pea mixes

2. Sprinkle some flour on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter. Knead for about 10 minutes, or until the ingredients are evenly distributed. The dough should pass the windowpane test (see http://www.wikihow.com/Determine-if-Bread-Dough-Has-Been-Mixed-Long-Enough for a discription of this) and register 77 degrees to 81 degrees Fahrenheit. The dough should be firmer than French bread dough, but not quite as firm as bagel dough (what I call medium-firm dough), satiny to the touch, not tacky, and supple enough to stretch when pulled. Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

Pre Wrap

3. Ferment at room temperature for 90 minutes, or until the dough doubles in size. (You can also retard the dough overnight in the refrigerator immediately after kneading or mixing).

4. Mist the counter lightly with spray oil and transfer the dough to the counter. Press the dough into a square with your hand and dust the top of the dough lightly with flour. Roll it out with a rolling pin into a paper thin sheet about 15 inches by 12 inches. You may have to stop from time to time so that the gluten can relax. At these times, lift the dough from the counter and wave it a little, and then lay it back down. Cover it with a towel or plastic wrap while it relaxes. When it is the desired thinness, let the dough relax for 5 minutes. Line a sheet pan with baking parchment. Carefully lift the sheet of dough and lay it on the parchment. If it overlaps the edge of the pan, snip off the excess with scissors.

Ready to roll!

5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit with the oven rack on the middle shelf. Mist the top of the dough with water and sprinkle a covering of seeds or spices on the dough (such as alternating rows of poppy seeds, sesame seeds, paprika, cumin seeds, caraway seeds, kosher or pretzel salt, etc.) Be careful with spices and salt - a little goes a long way. If you want to precut the cracker, use a pizza cutter (rolling blade) and cut diamonds or rectangles in the dough. You do not need to separate the pieces, as they will snap apart after baking. If you want to make shards, bake the sheet of dough without cutting it first. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the crackers begin to brown evenly across the top (the time will depend on how thinly and evenly you rolled the dough).

6. When the crackers are baked, remove the pan from the oven and let them cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. You can then snap them apart or snap off shards and serve.

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This was fun and extremely easy to make! Of course, I got a little nervous seeing yeast in the list of ingredients, because I always have this fear of making something that just totally falls flat. But such is the life of a Daring Baker -- to laugh at the possibility of nonresponsive yeast and motor on! Bwahaha!!

Seriously, I had no problems with the yeast. It didn't seem to rise like I expected, but I think I always expect dough to like septuple in size or something. Eh.

Naturally, my Sous Chef, Sweet Pea, helped with the mixing. She was mildly irritated that I didn't give her dough to knead, as I have in the past, but I wasn't working with a large batch of dough this time. In retrospect, I had plenty to spare, so next time she can play along.

I cut my crackers into swirly patterns with my pizza cutter and sprinkled some poppy seeds, cumin seeds, Italian seasoning, and sea salt over everything. I originally wanted to do bands of each separately down the dough and cut them so that the pattern showed on each cracker, but I then realized I didn't have enough cumin seeds to do that. So I spread everything equally across the entire dough -- then realized that cumin and dried Italian herbs might not really mesh. Whoops! But it was OK.

I had made one of those Knorr spinach-veggie dips just the day before, but of course that was not vegan since it had sour cream. Gah! So I made a pseudo-hummus dip. I say "pseudo" because I had no tahini in the house, which gives hummus this layer of lovely je ne sais quoi, but it was still good because of the garlic and lemon juice. Mmmm. I drizzled extra virgin olive oil over the top and sprinkled on a little Hungarian paprika.

Then I had this creative idea and made a vegan/non-vegan yin-yang. Ha ha!

Many DB's took a break from the sweetness and made savory, but others still made some ravishingly good non-savory creations. Be sure to check the ever-growing Daring Bakers Blogroll to check them out!

Daring Bakers - August '08 Challenge!

2008-08-31T00:01:00.001-05:00

No, I haven't dropped out of Daring Bakers, or the free world, for that matter. Still, I'm truly surprised that I wasn't able to do the June and July challenges! Wah! But it was really impossible the way things were going (schedules and all). Now I'm back on track. :)

This month's challenge was a Pierre Herme' recipe was chosen by our hosts Meeta of What's for Lunch, Honey? and Tony of Olive Juice: Éclairs from Dorie Greenspan's cookbook Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé'. Hermé is a French pastry chef who, honestly, I had not heard of until recently, but I think it's safe to say he is truly a premiér Pastry Artist. The only cookbooks I've been able to find by him are in French, and I actually entertained the idea of buying one to refresh myself on the college French that I took. Just for fun, don'tcha know!

Tony and Meeta graciously gave us a good deal of leeway with the recipe. We did have to use the choux recipe provided and have one chocolate component, but otherwise we could do whatever we wanted in the line of flavorings and fillings.
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Pierre Hermé’s Chocolate Éclairs
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé (makes 20-24 Éclairs)

Cream Puff Dough (see below for recipe), fresh and still warm

1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Divide the oven into thirds by positioning the racks in the upper and lower half of the oven. Line two baking sheets with waxed or parchment paper.

2) Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a 2/3 (2cm) plain tip nozzle with the warm cream puff dough. Pipe the dough onto the baking sheets in long, 4 to 41/2 inches (about 11 cm) chubby fingers. Leave about 2 inches (5 cm) space in between each dough strip to allow them room to puff. The dough should give you enough to pipe 20-24 éclairs.

3) Slide both the baking sheets into the oven and bake for 7 minutes. After the 7 minutes, slip the handle of a wooden spoon into the door to keep in ajar. When the éclairs have been in the oven for a total of 12 minutes, rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back. Continue baking for a further 8 minutes or until the éclairs are puffed, golden and firm. The total baking time should be approximately 20 minutes.

I made mini eclairs and mini cream puffs. They were most excellent!

Notes: 1) The éclairs can be kept in a cool, dry place for several hours before filling.

Assembling the éclairs:
• Chocolate glaze (see below for recipe)
• Chocolate pastry cream (see below for recipe)

1) Slice the éclairs horizontally, using a serrated knife and a gently sawing motion. Set aside the bottoms and place the tops on a rack over a piece of parchment paper. [As you can see, I ignored that part of the instructions. I thought it was easier to open them like clam shells; that way you could pipe filling into each half and just fold them back over themselves.]

2) The glaze should be barely warm to the touch (between 95 – 104 degrees F or 35 – 40degrees C, as measured on an instant read thermometer). Spread the glaze over the tops of the éclairs using a metal icing spatula. Allow the tops to set and in the meantime fill the bottoms with the pastry cream.

3) Pipe or spoon the pastry cream into the bottoms of the éclairs. Make sure you fill the bottoms with enough cream to mound above the pastry. Place the glazed tops onto the pastry cream and wriggle gently to settle them.

Notes: 1) If you have chilled your chocolate glaze, reheat by placing it in a bowl over simmering water, stirring it gently with a wooden spoon. Do not stir too vigorously as you do not want to create bubbles.

2) The éclairs should be served as soon as they have been filled.

Pierre Hermé’s Cream Puff Dough
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé (makes 20-24 Éclairs)

• ½ cup (125g) whole milk
• ½ cup (125g) water
• 1 stick (4 ounces; 115g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
• ¼ teaspoon sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature

1) In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to the boil.

2) Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add all of the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium and start to stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon. The dough comes together very quickly. Do not worry if a slight crust forms at the bottom of the pan, it’s supposed to. You need to carry on stirring for a further 2-3 minutes to dry the dough. After this time the dough will be very soft and smooth.

3) Transfer the dough into a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using your handmixer or if you still have the energy, continue by hand. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each egg has been added to incorporate it into the dough.You will notice that after you have added the first egg, the dough will separate, once again do not worry. As you keep working the dough, it will come back all together again by the time you have added the third egg. In the end the dough should be thick and shiny and when lifted it should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.

[OK...I don't know about a ribbon but it looked OK to me.]

4) The dough should be still warm. It is now ready to be used for the éclairs as directed above.

Notes:
1) Once the dough is made you need to shape it immediately.

2) You can pipe the dough and then freeze it. Simply pipe the dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets and slide the sheets into the freezer. Once the dough is completely frozen, transfer the piped shapes into freezer bags. They can be kept in the freezer for up to a month.

Chocolate Pastry Cream
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé

• 2 cups (500g) whole milk
• 4 large egg yolks
• 6 tbsp (75g) sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted
• 7 oz (200g) bittersweet chocolate, preferably Velrhona Guanaja, melted
• 2½ tbsp (1¼ oz: 40g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1) In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. In the meantime, combine the yolks, sugar and cornstarch together and whisk in a heavy‐bottomed saucepan.

2) Once the milk has reached a boil, temper the yolks by whisking a couple spoonfuls of the hot milk into the yolk mixture.Continue whisking and slowly pour the rest of the milk into the tempered yolk mixture.

Gah, just give me a spoon, man!

3) Strain the mixture back into the saucepan to remove any egg that may have scrambled. Place the pan over medium heat and whisk vigorously (without stopping) until the mixture returns to a boil. Keep whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 more minutes (still over medium heat). Stir in the melted chocolate and then remove the pan from the heat.

4) Scrape the pastry cream into a small bowl and set it in an ice‐water bath to stop the cooking process. [Here, I was paranoid that my water was going to slop into my pastry cream - I was careful and it didn't.] Make sure to continue stirring the mixture at this point so that it remains smooth.

5) Once the cream has reached a temperature of 140 F remove from the ice‐water bath and stir in the butter in three or four installments. Return the cream to the ice‐water bath to continue cooling, stirring occasionally, until it has completely cooled. The cream is now ready to use or store in the fridge.

Notes:
1) The pastry cream can be made 2‐3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator.

2) In order to avoid a skin forming on the pastry cream, cover with plastic wrap pressed onto the cream.

3) Tempering the eggs raises the temperature of the eggs slowly so that they do not scramble.

Chocolate Glaze
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé (makes 1 cup or 300g)

• 1/3 cup (80g) heavy cream
• 3½ oz (100g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 4 tsp (20 g) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature
• 7 tbsp (110 g) Chocolate Sauce (recipe below), warm or at room temperature

1) In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the heat and slowly begin to add the chocolate, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula.

2) Stirring gently, stir in the butter, piece by piece followed by the chocolate sauce.

Notes:
1) If the chocolate glaze is too cool (i.e. not liquid enough) you may heat it briefly in the microwave or over a double boiler. A double boiler is basically a bowl sitting over (not touching) simmering water.

2) It is best to glaze the eclairs after the glaze is made, but if you are pressed for time, you can make the glaze a couple days ahead of time, store it in the fridge and bring it up to the proper temperature (95 to 104 F) when ready to glaze.

Chocolate Sauce Recipe
from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé (makes 1½ cups or 525 g)

• 4½ oz (130 g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 cup (250 g) water
• ½ cup (125 g) crème fraîche, or heavy cream
• 1/3 cup (70 g) sugar

1) Place all the ingredients into a heavy‐bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil, making sure to stir constantly. Then reduce the heat to low and continue stirring with a wooden spoon until the sauce thickens.

2) It may take 10‐15 minutes for the sauce to thicken, but you will know when it is done when it coats the back of your spoon.

Notes:
1) You can make this sauce ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator for two weeks. Reheat the sauce in a microwave oven or a double boiler before using.

2) This sauce is also great for cakes, ice-cream and tarts.
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I made both éclair and cream puff shapes - fun! Both were incredibly tasty, but I really liked the bitty cream puffs because you could pop one into your mouth and it was great - not too much (like that matters when you eat eleventy-six of them)!

I pretty much stuck with the original recipe, but played around with complimentary flavorings. I split the filling 3 ways: Grand Marnier with crushed almonds on top; Mocha (I added about 1 Tbsp. instant espresso); and "Mayan" (a large dose of cinnamon with maybe 1/4 tsp. cayenne to give it a subtle heat). I will admit, I was extremely tempted to use the pastry cream as a vanilla without adding any chocolate, but I decided to try the chocolate this time.

Left to Right: Mayan cream puff; Grand Marnier éclair; Mocha éclair

Several DB's commented that the rolls tasted "eggy", and I agree that they did on their own. However, once filled and glazed it gave it a subtle richness that held up with the filling and glaze. It wasn't too bland (I have had me some b-l-a-n-d eclairs in my life and that just detracts), but didn't overpower. It was an excellent supporting player. Kind of like the right undergarments help that little black party dress look uber-fab.

:)

Inside of a Mayan cream puff, and a nibbled-on Mocha éclair

I really liked this recipe, and each component was ridiculously easy compared to how hard I always have thought éclairs would be to make. I'll definitely do it again, and be sure to make them a little bigger (though I must admit I liked the bite-size quality of these). Now that I've seen exactly how they rise, I'll be able to judge better next time. I *really* want to do a vanilla bean pastry cream in the future.

For those who've been daunted by the "hoh-hoh-hoh" Frenchiness and perceived difficulty level of éclairs, take a weekend afternoon to try this out. I think you will be pleasantly surprised! Thanks, Tony and Meeta!
Check out the other Daring Bakers' creations here!

Little Schoolgirl :)

2008-08-28T22:18:00.005-05:00

I'm sure all parents nod and roll eyes when I say, "It seems like just the other day....she was born!" but it's true. Sweet Pea has another milestone notch in her belt; along with first word, 1st birthday, first steps, we now have First Day of School. We have a big kid 5-year-old in the house!

Wake up, sleepyhead! Hey, how'd you get in our bed, anyway?

~*~

Lest ye wonder - no, it wasn't a tearful day for me. It's been worse the last 5 years going to day care (rack that up to an eternal disagreement between Hubby and me re: stay-at-home moms)! I was actually excited that FINALLY she was going to be in a place where she would really have the opportunity to thrive.

Getting ready - she picked out her clothes the night before and was so excited

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I thought it was funny - I was so the tomboy and HATED dresses of any kind (I remember howling to my mom on several occasions why girls had to wear a dress to church but boys didn't!) so obviously the "dress" gene skipped from my mom to my child. This kid LOVES them! As a matter of fact, she's started getting kind of "vocal" on the days I'd try and put shorts on her to go to day care.... Hey, whatever floats your boat, kid. ;>

Cute l'il jumper, and showing the dangly flower on her backpack

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We had her backpack all stuffed and ready. This was a gift from a friend of mine who got this for her when we had a group vacation with college friends on Jekyll Island, Georgia.

"Granny Sheila" is actually nowhere close to being a granny. She is actually just a couple of years older than I, and was in the same social club at college (a social club is basically a non-Greek sorority); we are actually in the same "family tree". Specifically, this means that my big sister Nicole had a big sister Lauri; Lauri's big sister was Sheila. In club speak, Lauri is my "granny" and Sheila is my "great-granny". Get it? Anyway, she and Sweet Pea were major buddies during vacation, and Sheila was totally sweet to get her this totally adorable backpack. I got it monogrammed when we got back home.

We also got a big-girl haircut the weekend before school started, while she was visiting Grandmama and Granddaddy (my parents) in Mississippi. One of her vacation friends, Brenna, had the most precious haircut, which I loved, and when I mentioned it to Sweet Pea she became totally excited, as well as determined to have a Brenna Haircut. :) I thought it turned out adorable, and Sweet Pea is very fond of it, too!

We got to school and to the classroom (which we'd found a few nights before at "Welcome Back" night), where all the other kids and their parents were congregating. I heard the sweetest voice behind me, and turned to see none other than Ms. Susan, the teacher. She really seems so nice, and perfect for a kindergarten class. At first, Sweet Pea was excited; then Ms. Susan instructed them to hang their backpacks on hooks next to their names. This was when she froze up and got the Deer in Headlights look, and I had to point out her name/hook for her.

We walked back over to her desk, and she looked at me and said, "Mama....I WANT YOU" (which means, "I'm not really cool with this and you need to hold me or something."). I gave her a big hug and started talking about ALL of the fun things they'd do that day, and she seemed like she might have tried to accept that for a second.

Feeling a little reticent....but ended up OK!

~*~

If I'd wanted to slip out unnoticed, I failed miserably by leaving my purse in the car, so when Ms. Susan called for lunch money and my child looked at me like I had totally left her to the wolves.... I promised her I'd take care of it - with a quickness. Any meltdown I anticipated never happened, though she was left looking a little lost, and her best friend Olivia, who's in the other K5 class, began crying at some point. Sheesh.

Fortunately, by the time the hour came to pick her up, I was met by this exuberant little girl who proudly and confidently took me on a "tour" of her new school. The day was a success, and Mom and Dad were relieved. All is right with the world.

Double DB Challenge - I'm Seeing Red!

2008-07-15T09:30:00.000-05:00

First and foremost: Happy Independence Day to everyone!

And second: Oh my, ah can't believe ah'm gettin' ta bake somethin' that's so close to mah Southern roots. How verah excitin'!

Did that sound like Scarlett O'Hara? LOL! I headed South in my quest to follow in the footsteps of the Daring Bakers. At this time they were still a small group of ladies (try about 15 then versus over 1,000 now!) and they had just gotten the opportunity to share their new logo with the blogging world. Whoohoo! And this particular time they made red velvet cake.

Now, I'm from Mississippi, which is a historical mecca of beautiful antebellum homes, gracious ladies and gentlemen, and wonderful food. A lot of things have changed in the American South (human slavery being one, thank God), but one thing that hasn't changed is the welcoming nature of people all across the region. I mean, Mississippi is known as The Hospitality State - how much more obvious is that?! When we get together for pretty much anything, we eat....and the care put into making food - from a bridal tea to Sunday dinner to football tailgating - is phenomenal. To me, Southern meals exude a real love of life and community.

I have made red velvet cake before. When I was in high school, my friend Brad got me to join the church choir with him. The rest of the choir consisted of adults; I'm sure they were amused by us, as we're both extremely goofy by nature and from my own recollection sat around laughing at everything (when Brad and I got together at ANY time, we laughed - about something, about nothing at all - I'm laughing my butt off as I type this, thinking about the times we just sat around laughing).

When the choir Christmas party rolled around, everyone was instructed to bring something. We decided we'd cook together, and I don't remember how we came about deciding that we'd make red velvet cake but we did (we also made a 2nd dessert but I couldn't for the life of me tell you what it was)!

Anyway, we had a blast, of course, making this cake. At one point, Brad's mom came into the kitchen and said, "Oh, y'all, that looks soooo good. Can I try some?"

"Yes-ma'am," we replied (to not reply with "-ma'am" or "-sir" in the South shows signs of a substandard upbringing), and Mrs. C proceeded to get a spoon and daintily dip it into the batter. "Mmmm, y'all, that's good! I just want one more taste." She turned the spoon around and dipped the handle end into the batter so as not to contaminate it with the end of the spoon she'd already licked.

Brad and I howled with laughter and told his confused mother that we'd been sticking our fingers into the batter and icing repeatedly to taste-test. We were typical teens with no scruples, people! I think we got an exasperated eye-roll and a "Y'all!" Yes, we were nuts, and life was good that way.

The Daring Bakers group chose their own red velvet cake recipes in March 2007, so I went straight to my baker's rack full of cookbooks to find the recipe I would use. When my eyes fell upon Southern Grace, the cookbook that is put out by my alma mater (Mississippi University for Women, also called "The W" - I'm tellin' y'all....I'm Southern!) I knew with no doubt where I'd get the instructions for my cake.

Sure enough, there it was in the dessert section, preceding a recipe for brown velvet cake (really going to have to try that, as it sounds delicious in its own right). I knew that The W wouldn't let me down - she hasn't thus far. Here is a quote from the page of the recipe:

"The origin of Red Velvet Cake goes back to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, but Southerners have made it such a part of their holiday traditions for so long that it is now considered a Southern specialty. It is a beautifully textured chocolate cake that happens to be astonishingly red. The white icing is a startling contrast to the rich red cake. Red Velvet Cake has been a favorite with MUW students for decades and worth making two trips through the cafeteria line for that extra slice. Anyone who's seen the movie Steel Magnolias will remember the armadillo-shaped grooms cake with the blood-red interior. It HAD to be Red Velvet Cake!"

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Red Velvet Cake

from Southern Grace - Recipes and Rememberances from The W

1/2 c. (1 stick) butter, softened

1 1/2 c. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 Tbsp. baking cocoa

2 oz. liquid red food coloring

2 1/2 c. cake flour

1 tsp. salt

1 c. buttermilk

1 Tbsp. white vinegar

1 tsp. baking soda

1 c. milk

5 Tbsp. cake flour

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1 c. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Cream 1/2 c. butter, 1 1/2 c. sugar, and 1 tsp. vanilla in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

Mix the baking cocoa and food coloring in a small bowl to make a paste. Add to the egg mixture and beat well. Sift 2 1/2 c. flour and the salt into a bowl.

Add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk into the egg mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients and beating well after each addition. Mix the vinegar and baking soda in a small bowl. Add to the batter and beat well. Pour into 3 well-greased 8" cake pans [I had two, so used them both once and reused one a second time].

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Mix the cold milk and 5 Tbsp. flour in a small saucepan.

Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook until thickened, stirring constantly. Pour into a bowl. Chill until cool to the touch.

Note to self: When chilling in freezer, be sure to turn ice maker OFF....

Cream 1 c. butter, 1 c. sugar, and 1 tsp. vanilla...

(That's vanilla powder ^^^)

...in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy.

Add to the cooled milk mixture and beat until smooth and fluffy.

Spread between the layers and over the top and sides of the cake.

Yield: 12 servings

"Stars and Stripes Forever"

I traced out a star shape with a skewer tip and then filled it in with small blueberries, so I'd have a red, white, and blue cake! Hoh hoh hoh, I am so cool, no?

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Afterthoughts:

This is the second cake I've made with an frosting recipe that makes b-a-r-e-l-y enough icing to cover the flipping cake, and it royally ticked me off. The other time, it was with Dorie's Perfect Party Cake and again, it really frustrated me that I was having to skimp and scrape and pray that I had enough!! I was just about to whip up another half-batch, but I realized that if I scraped the frosting from the beater then I should be OK. Still, next time I'll make 1 1/2 times the original recipe; I don't want to have to worry where the heck the icing's coming from when I'm trying to make my cake pretty! I mean, Fiddle Dee Dee, y'all! ;> I guess I'll just have to resign myself to the fact that this is a personal issue and I just like lots of icing.

Little wagon and swingset in the background. :)

Another thing I wished I'd done differently was to not bake the cakes quite as long as I did. I cooked them for 25 minutes, which was within the recipe's time frame, but I wish I'd checked them at 20 minutes and pulled them out then so that they'd have been moister. Not that the cakes were dry, but it's borderline for me as to the moistness and softness of the cake.

But two things:

Red velvet cake, by nature, is just a denser cake. Period. So, to an extent it's just going to be that way. Just deal with it and grab a glass of cold milk.

I also was baking via convection, so I should've thought to set the timer a little earlier, but the batter looked so dense I really thought it would need that baking time.

And gripes about the frosting aside, I have to say that it was really good! I was surprised that it wasn't a cream cheese frosting, which seems to be the traditional frosting of choice for Red Velvet Cake in the South. I'd never made icing with a milk/flour mixture so I was interested to see how it would turn out - and it ended up a light fluffy buttercream consistency that was kinda addictive.

Also, 2 oz. of red food coloring doesn't sound like much, until one goes to the store and finds out that 2 oz. of food coloring comes in a small brown glass bottle - NOT those little squeezy ones with the colored tops that come in the box with blue, yellow, and green! No wonder these cakes are so flippin' red.

Although we got the 4th off of work for the Independence Day holiday, we had guests over on the 5th and Hubby cooked out; I made baked beans and cole slaw and the cake. Our friends were very complimentary of the cake, including their 3-year-old, who told me, "Aunt Amy, your cake is good!"

A slice of cake out on the deck

Good food, good friends, and compliments from preschoolers. Can't get any better than that.

Double DB Challenge - Flourless Chocolate Cake!

2008-07-07T13:26:00.001-05:00

I'm getting in a little late on the Double DB challenge for June - but I'm here, baby! It's not that this one was necessarily difficult, it was just that I had so little time (hence, it being over a month since my last post). :P That was due to the fact that I was out of town two different weekends and I started a new job (which pays more but is also more time-consuming), so it cut down on those precious large pieces of free time that I usually get after the weekly grind.

For Chriesi's and my June Double DB challenge, we took on a decadent delight that the Daring Bakers did in Feb. 2007 - flourless chocolate cake. *sigh*

Here is my adaptation of "Chocolate Intensity" from Tish Boyle's The Cake Book. I halved the original recipe and made mine in a little 6" pan. #1, because it would be cute, and #2 because we surely didn't need one of these big things!! Speaking of the original, be sure to check out the creation that resulted from Chriesi's work!

**********************************

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate (preferably 62% cocoa), finely chopped
6 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. espresso powder
1/4 cup Grand Marnier
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla powder
Pinch salt
2 tsp. (approx.) freshly grated orange zest

Preheat oven to 350º F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 6-inch round cake pan. Line the bottom with a parchment round and butter the parchment. Place chopped chocolate in a large bowl. In a saucepan over medium-high heat, stir butter, sugar, espresso powder, and Grand Marnier until the butter is melted and mixture is boiling. Pour the hot mixture over your chopped chocolate. Let stand for 1 minute; then gently stir until chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.

In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs vigorously until blended. Whisk in the vanilla powder and salt. [Amy's note: I actually used salted butter *gasp* and omitted the salt - it was fine.] Slowly add about 1/3 cup of the hot chocolate mixture to the eggs, whisking constantly. (Tempering the eggs with a little bit of the hot chocolate mixture will prevent "scrambled eggs" when combining the two mixtures.) Add the egg mixture to the hot chocolate mixture and whisk to combine well. Whisk in orange zest. Strain the batter through a sieve (to catch any cooked egg bits and zest) and then pour batter into prepared pan.

Set cake pan in a large roasting pan and fill the pan with enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of the cake pan. [OK, my little pan kind of wanted to float, there!]

Bake for 35-45 minutes, until the center is shiny and set but still a bit jiggly. Transfer cake pan to a cooling rack and cool for 20 minutes.

Run a thin knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cake. Place a cardboard round on top of the pan and invert the cake onto it. [I anticipated trouble removing the cake from the pan, but mine practically leapt out of the pan.] Remove pan and carefully remove the parchment paper. Refrigerate the cake for at least 2 hours before glazing with chocolate glaze*.

*Bittersweet Ganache
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla powder
1 tsp Grand Marnier

Place chopped chocolate in a medium bowl.In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a boil. Remove pan from heat and add the chopped chocolate.

Cream, chocolate, vanilla powder - and maybe a splash of Grand Marnier

Let stand for 1 minute then gently stir until chocolate is melted and the glaze is smooth.Gently stir in the vanilla and Grand Marnier *hic*. Transfer glaze to a small bowl and cover the surface of the glaze with plastic wrap [whatever, like I really did that...] and let cool for 5 minutes at room temperature before using .

To glaze the cake: Place the chilled cake, still on the cake round, on a wire rack set over a baking sheet. Slowly pour the hot glaze onto the center of the cake.

Oh ma GAH, that looks so luscious, no?

Smooth the glaze over the top and sides, letting the excess drip onto the baking sheet. [As you can see above, I just let it sit over a plate.] Scrape the extra glaze from the baking sheet and put it in a small ziploc bag. Seal the bag and cut a tiny hole in one of the bottom corners. Gently squeeze the bag over the top of the cake to drizzle the glaze in a decorative pattern. Grate a couple of teaspoons of orange zest over the cake. Refrigerate the cake at least one hour before serving.

New plate - not the one that caught the drippings

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When I pulled the cake out of the oven, I was like, "Wha!" because it was standing about 1/2" over the top of the cake pan! I was going to take a quick picture of it, just in case it fell (which it did), but I couldn't find the dadgum camera. Hmph! It smelled awesome, but considering that I had made my July Double DB challenge the day BEFORE (more on that later!) it was kind of like, "Eh." Of course, it also could be that from licking the bowl I was satiated with cocoa, sugar, and the like. Nah.....

I took the cake to work with me the next day - naturally, this would also be the day that someone brought a big pan of cinnamon rolls (eh? wiseguy!) but I waited until after lunch and set it out by the microwave. Everyone took small pieces - it was extremely rich - and loved it! One of my coworkers said he wanted the recipe - so here you go, Tom! This was a fun challenge - I enjoyed making it but am equally glad that I halved the recipe, because I had just a little bit that I took home!

Daring Bakers - May '08 Challenge!

2008-05-28T18:43:00.002-05:00

Miiiiiiiiiii mi mi mi mi mi mi mi mi mi!!!!! *cough* Ahem. That's me getting ready for the opera - no, not a REAL opera (I can sing, but not like that!) - an opera cake!

This month is a first for the Daring Bakers - typically there are one or two hosts each month, but this time we have four! Lis of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice, DB's co-founders, along with Fran of Apples Peaches Pumpkin Pie and Shea of Whiskful (a.k.a. The Fearsome Foursome, LOL).

I had seen pictures of an opera cake before, but it looked pretty intimidating. I remember thinking, 'Well, there's something I'll never make.' This, however, was way before I became a Daring Baker! So when I saw our May challenge I was intrigued and kinda nervous. I was also excited because this month is dedicated to Barbara of winos and foodies. I don't know Barbara, but she is a formerly active and always honorary Daring Baker. If Lis and Ivonne honor her, then I do as well. :) Here's to you, Barbara! :)

Now, on to L'Opera! One of our rules was that we not use any "dark" colors or flavors - no brown chocolate, coffee flavoring, etc. - the colors had to be light. I chose to do a Vanilla-Lavender cake with Lavender-Caramel flavoring....it just looked so wonderful. Plus, I have some culinary lavender that a friend gave me which I really need to use! It was easy to make, in light of the fact that I couldn't find my THERMOMETER....which Hubby claims HE hasn't seen in a long time. Yeah, sure, I can tell you the last time *I* saw it -- when I got it from our deck, where it had been sitting on our grill, exposed to the elements. I was just lucky the sucker worked after that. Anyway, I kind of eyeballed it and imagined that something would have to cook a good little while to get to 305 degrees, did a little dropping into water (having minimal knowledge about soft ball, hard ball, soft crack, etc.) and it actually turned out all right!

OK, that was a complete understatement -- the stuff was totally FAB! Eat it with a spoon. Mmmmmm.....

The white chocolate mousse was really easy, too. I like white chocolate fine, especially combined with other things - but if I needed a chocolate fix I wouldn't even look the way of white chocolate. However, I have to say that the white chocolate ganache with lavender-vanilla whipped cream folded in is heavenly! I could never seem to get a smooth texture; I made the ganache first and put it into the fridge, which meant I then had to heat it back up a little to mix it with the whipped cream. Sounds easy, right? Ohhhh nooooooo, I left the ganache in the microwave a little too long so it got bubbling HOT. I stirred it up (it had a lot of grease going on that I had to try and incorporate back in) and put it into the freezer for a couple of minutes to get COOL again. I almost waited too long; the edges were starting to solidify, but I said 'screw it' and mixed it in, anyway. It had little chunks of white chocolate, which I felt would give it "character".

So it was soon after this that I got into my "dumb-butt" mode (ohhhh no, I've not arrived THERE yet). I decided to finish up the cake on a Saturday afternoon when we were having friends over for supper and was trying to rush through the last couple of steps and finish cleaning the house too. Thought I'd impress them with my Opera Cake Skills. Whooo boy! All those fears I'd ever had about the presentation of this art project came to fruition as my Opera Cake became a big sloppy mess right in front of my eyes, as I baked and assembled it!

#1, I reduced the cake recipe and thought I'd be all cool by pouring the batter all into one pan. Big mistake! I pulled it out when it started to turn brown, messed with it a little, and realized the center was still very goopy. Damn! I also realized that my melted butter was sitting there on the counter. Double damn! I fixed it, and back into the oven it went; it came back out looking rather lumpy on the top due to my fooling around with the top and stirring in the butter. When I took it out the second time it was done, and I cut it in half and then halved those 2 pieces horizontally (playing upon my Perfect Party Cake experience *cough*) to have 4 layers and a rectangular cake.

#2 - The buttercream.....apparently needed to be chilled more.

#3 - The mousse.....clearly needed to have been room temp.

#4 - The glaze.....dripped over the sides in the same manner as the buttercream!

(Shall I go on? LOL)

I came out with this lumpy-looking creation that - while extremely tasty, and raved over by adult and child guests alike - was nothing near the beautiful pictures at which I had gazed so fondly for the last several weeks. I will admit that the flavors were heavenly, though!

Sad, droopy, and dripping (but yummy)! LOL

Inside view, after we cut into it

Cake: Almond-Vanilla Joconde

Syrup: Lavender-Vanilla

Buttercream: Lavender-Caramel with Vanilla

Mousse: Lavender-Infused White Chocolate

Glaze: Lavender-Caramel with White Chocolate

This was the best picture I could get - makes ya kind of forget the big sloppy cake, doesn't it?

Well, doesn't it?! :>

I really DO want to try this again, though, and I'm so glad that this was our challenge since, as I said before, I'd never have attempted this on my own. I loved the light version but would love to try the traditional version, too! My biggest lesson learned, in Simon and Garfunkel style: "Slow down, you move too fast...." :D

Check out other Daring Bakers' more beautiful creations here. Many thanks to the Fearsome Foursome, and here's to you, Barbara!

Double DB Challenge - Croissants!

2008-05-21T21:55:00.000-05:00

It's time again for the Double DB Challenge, with your fabulous hosts Chriesi and Amy J.! This time we did croissants, which the then-fledgling Daring Bakers did in January 2007 (check it here). We were both a little leery of this one, because it seemed like it was a really involved process plagued by issues with several of the DB's. But I think it made us more determined to DO IT!

First off, I've been doing this little by little after work for I think a week and a half, which isn't my optimal time to cook but hey, you do what you gotta, right? Right! Needless to say, this has been a LONG time coming.

I made the preferment,

a mixture of flour, warm milk, and yeast, on a Monday night and let it sit until I was able to get back to it on Tuesday evening. It was supposed to double; it rose a little but I definitely wouldn't call it "doubled".

I hoped it was enough; I started having fears that my milk was too hot when making the preferment, and I killed all of the yeast; you'll have to read further to see if my suspicions were right or not! On Tuesday, I did the "Make the Dough" step.

It wasn't too bad:

About 40 minutes after the dough began to sit, I took a peek. The recipe said to let the dough rise "until the volume increases by half". Heck, I don't know, but it seemed to be doing all right when I looked. I'm still leery about using yeast, as I haven't worked with it a lot, but I'm thinking, What really could go wrong, as long as I follow the recipe and directions? Right? Right!

So...at this point I did a little deviation from the recipe. Instead of letting the dough rise in the fridge for 4-6 hours it sat for about 4-5 DAYS. I seriously had zero time; we were getting the house ready for company on Saturday, and Sweet Pea had a dance recital on Sunday. So I picked back up Sunday afternoon and began laminating (folding the butter in with the dough).

I have to say that the dough was just fine after being in the fridge that long, and I had no problem with the laminating. It was fun! So after my 4th turn of the plaque, I allowed myself to indulge some impatience I was feeling. I put most of the dough into the fridge until tomorrow, and I cut a little off for myself. I made four small croissants - two with aged gouda in side and two with Nutella inside - did NOT let them rise (please - 2 to 3 freaking hours?!), and put them in the freaking oven.

I'm sorry, I guess I'm just an example of our modern age (ah, the humanity!), because I just couldn't STAND to let this stuff sit another day and not do SOMEthing where I could taste it. They were kinda flat...and lumpy....but tasted out of this world. Definitely not light and flaky, but still a good dough, I could tell. It reminded me of the dough that you make sausage pinwheels with. I'm not complaining - but I swore to be good and finish by the rules the next day.

So this past Monday after work, I got to working on the last stage of my challenge. I only used half of the dough because even with the long work island in my kitchen, I was wondering where I was gonna get the room to roll all this out like the recipe says. I'm gonna say, I had FUN, though I'll admit that the dough was really hard to roll out because I took it right out of the fridge. It just took a little elbow grease, though, and I made some original ones without "stuffing".

As my grandmother used to say, good heavenly days! These were THE best croissants I have ever put in my mouth! They were full of tender layers, and the outside flaked off...gah! I tried raspberry jam:

and I had to have my favorite, Nutella:

Hubby had a couple and said they were awesome, so I packed the remainder up and sent them and the Nutella to work with him. We laughed about the guys he works with "having tea" with croissants and Nutella -- but he didn't bring any back home! I only used half of the dough, so I still have some that I'm going to use sometime soon.

The only negative thing I have with this was, DANG!!!!!!!!!!! This recipe is NOT for patience-challenged persons! I mean, crap! Mix and let rise. More mixing and rise. Shape and rise. Laminate and rise. Form croissants and rise. Rise, rise rise! I was thinking, 'These things had better be good, after all this darned waiting.' And most certainly, they exceeded my expectations. I was also pretty impressed with myself because in the past I'd have looked at this big long recipe and totally lose interest.

I actually do plan on sucking up any impatience I might have and making these again!

Happy Mother's Day!

2008-05-11T22:59:00.008-05:00

Today I was awakened by the sound of a small voice saying, "Happy Mother's Day...!" and precious Sweet Pea giving me a hug (the first of many I would receive from her). Awww! She and Hubby gave me a homemade card and a gift certificate to the local scrapbook store - score! We lazed around the house for a while and then got ready to go to The Big City (aka Little Rock) for a cool lunch; this is a big deal considering we live in the armpit of the U.S. with very little cultural diversity - yea!

We had Japanese for lunch and then did a little shopping to totally maximize the experience. One of the places we went was the Wild Oats Market (which was bought out by Whole Foods, but they still have the Wild Oats sign, so I don't know if they're keeping it or just haven't gotten around to it all). We had a lot of fun and got some neat things, including some cool cheeses that you can't get where we live.

Freshly cut papaya

When we got home, I set out the cheese

L to R: Champignon brie, Amish Blue, Saint Andre' Triple Cream, Fontina, Raw blue

with some crackers, bread,

Mmmmm, bread-ish items...

and fruit.

Clockwise from top: Seedless red grapes, Reduced balsamic vinegar, Pears, Papaya, & Granny Smith apples

Hubby grilled these El Yummo salmon burgers, also from Wild Oats. It was great! He wanted to pull out just about everything we'd gotten there and have a smorgasboard - and I will admit I tasted everything - but my fave was the cheese and fruit. I could live on that, man!

It was a good day to be a mom. :)

Tag! I'm it!

2008-05-10T10:27:00.005-05:00

I was notified by my friend Chriesi that I was tagged in her blog, and went to find that I am the next victim *ahem LOL* participant in a meme! This is my first one, so I'm excited.

The rules are:
1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

I have a bookshelf right here next to my computer, so it's hard to figure out the "nearest" book. But I stretched my arm out, leaned over, and grabbed the first one I touched.

Digression/Background: Quite a few years ago, the singles group at the church I attended did a service project for an elderly lady. Our mission, to clean out her attic. It was PACKED with books, papers, and old things and was both an ideal penthouse for rats as well as a major fire hazard. The singles minister instructed us to throw away all of the old books, and my sister and I....well, we just couldn't! We grew up in a house with antiques that our parents collected, and old family things that were treasured. So we rebelled. We loaded up the back seat and the trunk of my little Mazda 323 with books; we were probably dragging the ground at the end of the day! LOL

Anyway, I grabbed one of these books, Sixteen Famous British Plays, which was published in 1942. The book includes plays by Oscar Wilde (The Importance of Being Earnest), A.A. Milne of Winnie the Pooh fame, and the inimitable Noel Coward. This is quite apropos, because aside from my love of cooking and baking (which is what this blog mostly consists of), I have a great love of literature and writing. After all, my degree is in English! :)

Capote, Welty, Faulkner......Hendrix?!?! =:D

Following the rules led me to What Every Woman Knows, written by J.M. Barrie, whose claim to fame is being the author of Peter Pan. The following quote is from the first paragraph of Act One of WEWK. Some characters are playing some sort of board game, I think (I have to admit that I haven't ever read this, so we're all sharing it for the first time):

"JAMES glares; and, too late, his opponent is a simple old father again. JAMES mops his head, sprawls in the manner most conducive to thought in the WYLIE family, an, protruding his underlip, settles down to a reconsideration of the board. ALICK blows out his cheeks, and a drop of water settles on the point of his nose."

See? There it is. Read for yourself.

Hmmm. Cracking this book open has really intrigued me. I'm going to have to check it out! :)

And the following 5 are officially tagged to do the same thing I have just done!
1. Anna, my lovely sister and partner in crime when saving old books - at It's Just Not Me
2. My awesome "W Girl"* friend Brandie at Confessions of an Ill-Behaved Woman
3. The very cool (and likely just as ill-behaved, LOL) Megan at Hobbit Ramblings, also a "W Girl"*
4. Michele, my 3rd "W Girl"* at Barrels of Monkeys
5. OK, that's it. I'm not that widespread to have a 5th person. Sad, no?

All righty, girls, have at it! :)

*Term of endearment for fellow grads of my alma mater

Sweet & Sour Red Cabbage

2008-05-04T18:10:00.005-05:00

Hubby went to the store the other day and got a lot of things for meals. Tonight I cooked pinto beans and cabbage to go with some other things that we already have, as well as to go with a roast that we'll be crock-potting for supper tomorrow.

When I went into the fridge, I saw that we had red cabbage. No problem, I like both white and red cabbage, but since they require different seasonings (and I don't cook red cabbage as often) I had to poke around to find a good "receipt", as old folks call recipes. :) I made mini cornbread muffins too (I'm a Jiffy mix kind of girl), which as any self-respectin' Southerner knows is a must if one is having beans!

I know it probably doesn't look like much, but this is a great example of comfort food for me! The shininess on the cabbage is mostly the moisture from cooking and the balsamic -- I promise there isn't THAT much grease/oil in it!! :P

Here is my variation on the red cabbage recipe that I found here, which is an authentic Austrian dish. I decreased the sugar and increased the vinegar, because I'm not too big on sugar in vegetables, but they really balanced each other out well! I'd definitely make this easy, tasty dish again.

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 small red cabbage, sliced thinly
4 Tbsp. sugar
1 c. balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat butter and olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the cabbage and cook, stirring, until wilted - 5 or so minutes. Sprinkle sugar in and stir well. Add balsamic vinegar. Cover and simmer, stirring often, until the cabbage is tender and the sugar/balsamic mixture coats the cabbage well, about 30 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve and enjoy!

Piemonte Night!

2008-05-04T10:47:00.011-05:00

About a year and a half ago, I was fortunate enough to make my first trip to Europe. It was heavenly! We went to the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, and Italy. I really loved each place and, like one's own children, I couldn't tell you which was my favorite!

I have become enamored with Italian food, though. No, not like the freakin' Olive Garden. Phhttt! I mean REAL food like Italian people living in Italy have. Each region has its own specialities based on their location, history, and indigenous creatures/plants that it's just fascinating to me. While we were in Italy, our friends Max and Monica (sorry, teeny pics!) took us on a walking tour of old town Torino. It was fabulous! We had lunch at a cool little sidewalk cafe, and had orecchiette with cream sauce. *swoon*

Last night Hubby was off playing a gig and it was just Sweet Pea and me. I started thinking about this bag of orecchiette that I had in the pantry, and my lunch with our cool Italian friends, and I just couldn't NOT make it! For those who don't know, orecchiette means "little ears" in Italian. That's because the round, dimpled pieces of pasta do resemble little tiny ears! I had to explain to Sweet Pea that we were not actually EATING EARS. Ha! I get myself into so many long explanations sometimes, just trying to tell her interesting little tidbits.

It has a little more stuff in it than my lunch in Torino, which was lovely and mild, but I thought I'd share it because it was pretty awesome (which is always cool when you just throw things together that you *think* might taste good). If I just bastardized it horribly, I'll blame it on my lack of Italian blood. :D Thus, I proudly present....

ScotsIrish-Piemonte Orecchiette with Dreamy Cream Sauce

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 small onion, grated (about 3/4 cup)

1 Tbsp. minced garlic

1 1/2 c. heavy cream

1/2-1 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp. Italian spice mix, dried

Salt & Pepper to taste

Capers, drained

Parmesano-Reggiano, grated

Cook orecchiette according to package directions [mine said to boil 12-15 minutes and I pulled mine off at 12 so it would have that nice al dente feel to it].

Put olive oil into a cold saucepan. Grate onions into pan (or grate and dump in) and add garlic; turn stove onto medium heat and cook until onions and garlic are translucent and soft, about 10 minutes. [Note: Trust me on this - if you add grated onions to a hot pan they just get too close to burning. TOO close.]

Add cream, nutmeg, spices, and salt/pepper to taste, and stir to combine. Let simmer for a couple of minutes so that flavors can meld. Serve over orecchiette. Sprinkle cheese and capers over the top.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Please note that I'm totally guessing on the amounts I used, here. Unless I'm baking, that's how I cook. You could probably add 1/2 to 1 cup of chicken broth to thin the sauce down, if you wish. Honestly, I didn't think about it and it was wonderful, and it was what I remember the thickness of my Torino orecchiette to be. It would be totally fab if you wanted to add some white wine.....but since my 5-year-old was eating this I opted out on that this time. My meal in Torino had thin slices of ham sprinkled on top, which, now that I think about it I could have sliced up the Canadian bacon that's in the fridge, but honestly, it just now crossed my mind (erk).

We also had a mixed green salad with olive oil and balsamic (yummmm), and I had a savory biscotti that I made -- Parmesan biscotti with Cracked Black Pepper and Herbs. Gah! That was great.

The perfect end to the evening would have been making a cup of Italian hot chocolate (from the recipe I found online after I got back from Italy - so I don't know how authentic it truly is - but I also found another recipe that a girl who is from Milano posted, which I now must try soon). But I stayed on the computer too long last night. :P

You Know You're Into Blogging When...

2008-04-28T20:25:00.004-05:00

...your hubby says, "OK, Wed. night we're going to talk about taxes/finances" etc. etc. "and that means no blogging about cheesecake before we do it!"

:D

Daring Bakers - April '08 Challenge!

2008-04-27T00:01:00.006-05:00

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's me skidding into this month's Daring Bakers challenge. :D I wanted to have a whole weekend where I wasn't doing anything so I didn't have to rush. Well, that sure wasn't last weekend because I was at Homecoming. And the weekend before that I was in Little Rock all Saturday with a college alumnae meeting that morning, and hanging out with a friend that afternoon and evening. I don't like to do a lot of involved baking (on an unknown recipe) during the week, because who knows what's going to happen after work from one night to the next. So that left me starting this one the day before our posting date. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

The cool psychedelic quality in the picture wasn't intentional, but I love it! Unintentional artsy-ness!

Elle of Feeding My Enthusiasms and Deborah of Taste and Tell are the hosts for this month, and their choice for our challenge is Cheesecake Pops from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O’Connor. I halved the recipe out of sheer fear (although I did use 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract and 1/2 tsp. vanilla powder) - I just knew if I made the whole thing that *ahem* we would probably devour it in a matter of moments, only to have it show back up on the scales. Erk! Here is a time line of my progress.

Sat. 4/26:
10:30AM - Actively getting mise en place together, and I swear if my child comes over one more time asking to help I'm going to scream. Not that I don't want her to help, but I've already told her three freaking times, "I'll let you know when I start mixing." The last time I had to threaten her with NOT helping me if she asked me about it anymore. How the hell she even knew what I was doing in the kitchen, when she was in the living room, is beyond me.

11:40 AM - Cheesecake in oven. Mixing was easy, and Sweet Pea had fun helping. ('Finally! What does Mom think she's doing, putting me off like that?! It's not like I have a long attention span or a memory that overrides excitement at this point in my life.') Fears came to fruition when a little bit of the boiling water sploshed into the pan with the cheesecake instead of into the roasting pan, but I don't think it did much, if any, damage. I set the timer for 35 minutes to see how it is doing then.

12:15 PM - Timer goes off, signaling the necessity to peek at the cake. Because of other Daring Bakers' posts about having to cook their cheesecakes a long time, I anticipated great soupiness. However, the cheesecake feels pretty firm to the touch. Needs a little more time, though, so I put another 10 minutes on it. Hopefully by then it should be done.

Wow! How'd I get it that perfect?!

12:28 PM - Ohhhhh.... My goodness gracious.... I should not, I repeat, NOT, have taken a tiny bite from the warm-from-the-oven cheesecake. I've made them before but the recipes I have used give a dense cake. This one is soft and creamy....Clawd have mercy!!! Now I'm wishing I'd made the full recipe just to have one extra cheesecake to eat warm, burning the roof of my mouth because I couldn't wait to just make the darned little pops. No....it is all for the best, and truly a wise decision....

Ahem...

1:15 PM, 1:38 PM, 1:55 PM, 2:30 PM, 3:05 PM, 3:34 PM - Peek into fridge and lightly touch top of cheesecake, feeling it gradually getting cooler each time. Once I pinched off a little bite smaller than the size of a pencil eraser. If that's not enough to tick you off....

4:14 PM - FINALLY pull out cheesecake and use a measuring tablespoon to scoop out pops. Sous Chef Sweet Pea helps by putting the sticks in. Fun and messy, and I enjoy licking off my fingers when finished!

Nekkid pops!

4:35 PM - Sous Chef Sweet Pea is witnessed peeking in freezer, "checking" the pops....

5:30 PM - Time for dipping and decorating! I really enjoyed it. I guessed at the amount of chocolate to get, so about 5-6 of the pops go undecorated, but I'm sure they will not be culled. I did three kinds of decorations: little sugar flower decorations, finely chopped candied lime peel** and candied ginger mixture, and finely chopped candied orange peel** with Italian cocoa. Into the fridge while we have supper -- after we tried a couple of the plain, uncoated ones, that is.

**(I made the candied lime and orange peel sometime around Christmas - yum.)

Chillin' with my peeps, I mean pops

6:35 PM - Ohmigosh, these are great! And portion control - yay! I'm not sure which I like the best, but the ones with the candy flowers don't have anything competing with the cheesecake and chocolate.

6:54 PM - Sous Chef is in her room, crying because I told her that she must eat supper before she has any more cheesecake pops. Tried to use cuteness to override my decree but in light of that failure she decides to throw a fit on the living room couch. She has been relegated to continuing the show in the bedroom, as Mom is rarely in the mood to put up with that kind of malarkey.

7:05 PM - Still hearing sniffs and wails from child's bedroom.

But it's confirmed - - these things are too good for acting right!!

See my toes down there? LOL

Thank you, Deborah and Elle, for the great challenge!

Chicken-Barley Salad

2008-04-26T14:45:00.010-05:00

I tried out a new recipe the other day that's really easy and yummy. Its original name is "Sesame Brown Rice Salad with Chicken" on Cooking Light, but since Hubby doesn't like brown rice (Gah! Communist!) I made it with barley instead.

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Chicken-Barley Salad

1 c. barley
2 c. shredded cooked chicken breast (I used the chicken strips in a bag, already cooked, and diced them)
1/2 c. shredded carrot (I took baby carrots and cut them into little coins)
1/3 c. sliced green onions
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice (I also used the zest)
4 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. dark sesame oil
2 garlic cloves, minced (or jarred minced)

Cook barley according to package directions. Transfer to a large bowl; fluff with a fork and allow to cool. Add chicken, carrot, onions, cilantro, and salt. Toss to combine.

Combine lime juice, oils, and garlic in a small bowl. Drizzle oil mixture over barley/chicken mixture; toss to combine.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The only thing I'll do different in the future is make more of the dressing - it was really good, and it definitely wouldn't have hurt it to have had more. The original recipe called for chopped peanuts sprinkled on top, but I didn't do that although it would be good - as would some sort of peppery substance to give it a little heat.

~*~

I would also double the recipe and hide some of it for me to take to lunch, as Hubby adored it and kept going back for extra little helpings, and in the morning there was just enough for a little snack -- which he promptly ate for breakfast!

Yuba Gotta Be Kiddin' Me

2008-04-24T15:59:00.010-05:00

So I was avoiding work this afternoon, as per usual, and came across an interesting Epicurious article on San Francisco chef Daniel Patterson. Like other high-falooting chefs, he is strictly seasonal and only uses the freshest ingredients from his local farmer's market, which is cool. If we had a decent one where I lived I'd do more of that (of course, Hubby would probably freak out because I'd not only never be home, but we'd be perpetually in the hole, LOL). But anyway.

One part of this article introduces the reader to yuba, or soy skin (now *that's* enticing...), which is a by-product of heated soy milk. It's said to have a nutty taste and, like all soy products, I'm sure is quite the healthy food. It actually sounded pretty interesting, and there was a site listed where one is able to purchase dried yuba.

Now of course Chef Patterson doesn't use dried yuba! Scoff! You know that is too beneath him, you silly thing. He uses the fresh kind, of course. (Weren't you paying attention earlier?) I'm guessing they skim it off the top and throw it right into a pretty little bag for him. You can have Fresh Yuba, too - yes, you can!! Epicurious says, "Visit http://www.hodosoy.com/ or e-mail info@hodosoy.com to order. The minimum order is one pound of yuba, which costs approximately $25, plus $15 for handling and $60 for shipping."

Hold on. What the faaaaaaaa??????? The shipping and handling is 3 times the price of the actual yuba? Hmmm.... Now I'm kind of a foodie but there is no way in Hail I'm going to throw down a Franklin on a pound of this stuff. This stuff must be like gold, or a transplant liver from a lifetime teetotaler for Larry Hagman, or the best grade of pot to a pot smoker. I don't smoke it so I couldn't give you the name. Actually...if you smoked pot and then ate some fresh yuba you probably would either eat that only for the rest of your life or just starve to death. Sorry, I've digressed.

So for a measly hundred bucks anyone in the free world can get their hands on *FRESH* soy skin. What a bargain....

I don't think I'll be one of them.

Double DB Challenge - Biscotti!

2008-04-24T10:02:00.000-05:00

I have this really cool new friend, Chriesi, whom I met through the Daring Bakers group. We both joined DB this past month and are of the same persuasion that we will not be REAL Daring Bakers until we have done ALL of the challenges that they have ever done! We are unofficially calling it the "Double DB Challenge". We already did their very first challenge, homemade pretzels, and this month is our second DDB, which was originally done in December 2006 - biscotti from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours.

I really enjoyed making this! But I'm not sure if I cooked them long enough the first time - I mean, I followed the recipe times, but since I never made it before I didn't have anything against which to gauge it. I don't *think* I cut them too thick; maybe they should have cooled longer. Mine weren't the typical hard/crunchy that you get in stores but were thick and chewy. Still very substantial and good for dunking, and they seemed to set up a little more over time. I took some to work and my coworkers loved them. One of my friends told me that he would be happy with an entire batch to himself! :) What a compliment, eh?

I didn't get good pictures of the first batch; my camera was really acting up and I took some pics with my phone but can't for the life of me get them to my computer. *sigh* But never fear; I made more!

Cinnamon biscotti dough

The weekend of April 18-20 was Spring Homecoming at the school from which I graduated, Mississippi University for Women, called "The W" by those in the know. Since it's a historically women's university (it is coed now, though) we don't have a football team, so we get together every April in Columbus, MS. It is really a blast!

Going in for the last bake

This year, the school's Alumnae Association had a Champagne & Chocolate party on the Friday of Homecoming weekend. Yummy! I decided to make two different types for the weekend: Chocolate with Almonds, Cherries, and Chocolate Chunks *gah!* and Cinnamon dipped in Semisweet Chocolate. *double gah!* I doubled the recipes so I could ensure that I had enough. (I will say, the doubled chocolate recipe made a real mess when I tried to mix the dry ingredients in, but it still did well.)

Ohhhhhh, I had enough, all right - plenty for people to nibble like crazy on and still not put too much of a dent in! People really loved these, and I ended up taking them to a couple of other parties over the course of the weekend, as well. My best friend, M, got a container full of the chocolate ones when I dropped her off at her house on Sunday - she loved them! I think it was the Italian/Sicilian coming out in her. :D Especially since I used the Pernigotti cocoa powder that I get online - heavenly!

Chocolate logs - resting and cooling - see the yummy melted chocolate pieces?

And from this weekend I have created an opportunity for myself! A group of my friends on a listserve have a "secret pal" thing going on. I'm not participating this time, but on the way home I thought that biscotti would be a fun thing to make and send to people's pals, if they so desired. I made the offer and I have the begninnings of several orders - a couple of people wanted some for themselves, as well! This is really going to be cool....

....however long it lasts! :)

Daring Bakers - March '08 Challenge!

2008-03-30T10:55:00.007-05:00

My first Daring Bakers challenge! I can't tell you how psyched I have been. Not only am I hooked up with this extremely cool group of people who, like me, love to bake, but this is also the beginning of a new time of personal creativity. I've been languishing for a while, and am making a new start of it. And I deserve it!

This month's challenge was hosted by Morven, who selected "Dorie's Perfect Party Cake" from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours. I'd heard of Dorie but have never done any of her recipes (*gasp*); however, she is definitely a goddess in the blogging baking community. My little girl's 5th birthday was March 19th, so I knew the exact purpose of my party cake. Yay! How convenient.

Morven allowed us a lot of leeway in size, shape, and flavor; I decided to stick close to the original the first time. I did have a little brainstorm and came up with a list of different cake flavors and complimentary jam flavors that would be really good, I think, to do - I'll be glad to share the list with you if you merely contact me at amyjdavis93 [at] gmail [dot] com. :)

I got all of my ingredients together on a lovely weekend morning, and my daughter was all about being The Helper.

Mise en place (except for the wine bottle - Ha!)

I must say that she does a really good job for a 5-year-old and really seems to enjoy the process! I'm so proud of her - but I digress.

Dorie's cake was a beautiful white cake flavored subtly with lemon, and I didn't deviate from that. We mixed the lemon zest and sugar together, and Lord have mercy! It was the most fragrant stuff, and I seriously did NOT want to bring my head out of the bowl! My little fat lemon yielded exactly the amount of zest I needed, and I used the microplane that my mother-in-law gave me a while back - fun! I hope you can tell by the picture below what it looked like: the grainy sugar speckled with bright golden flecks of zest, and moist with the oils dispersed throughout.... Ahh!

I mixed the butter in, and we had a lump of rich, yellow, sugary bliss.

After adding the lemon extract and alternately blending in the flour mixture and buttermilk/egg white mixtures, I came out with this heavenly-looking, perfectly white batter that was simply amazing. It looked like marshmallow fluff (but since I don't like marshmallow fluff, it was infinitely better).

Then, into the nicely buttered and papered pans we go, and into the waiting oven! The pan on the right had just a wee bit more batter in it than the other one, and I'd scooped some over to the other pan to even it up; I apparently needed to scoop a wee bit more, though. One was done after 30 minutes, but the other pan still needed a bit more time. It was funny, because when I pulled the second one out I was like, 'ga!' at the color. The first was this pretty, delicate cream color; the second was a little browner. Not overdone, though - and they were both beautiful! Like a best friend, the finished cake did not give away my little secret. Bwahahahahaha.....

Out cooling on the racks

My initial idea was to make the cakes, freeze them, and decorate a few days later. But when I asked the Birthday Girl about it, she said (to my delight), "TODAY, MAMA!" How can a mom turn that down, I ask you?! I felt compelled to oblige. =:D

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Decorating:

The recipe called for raspberry jam as the filling, but I decided to go with blueberry jam this time. I've always heard of the complimentary flavors of lemon and blueberry but have never cooked with them. Again, the feeling of compulsion arose within me. :D

It was really fun whisking the egg whites and sugar over the simmering water. Even more fun was the resulting white fluffy goodness that ensued. How'd it do that?!

Our finished product was this dreamy light meringue buttercream that "someone" just had to dip their finger into!

Oh yeah...nobody else put their finger in...no way....

Mmmmmmm......

No...the icing on face and nose was NOT staged! HA!

I made buttercream icing last year for Kiddo's birthday (to top vanilla cupcakes), but this version was far superior. Last year's recipe was good, but had a residual greasiness that was kind of like, "eh?". This one, however, was light, fluffy, and heaven on earth, with a nice tang from the lemon juice.

As far as constructing the cake, it wasn't too bad. I definitely need more practice in halving a cake to make layers, but considering that this was my first time to do this, I'm quite satisfied. At least I didn't have the major trauma of layers breaking on me or anything. It almost wanted to happen, but I'm cool like that. :D

I took note of some comments from other Daring Bakers with the filling. I spread on the jam, then spread the buttercream on the bottom of the soon-to-be upper layer and put it on top of the jam side.

I was a little challenged with the icing, because it seemed like I didn't have enough - either that or I was just expecting to have more to work with. I had to keep pulling from places I'd already covered in order to cover the rest of the cake. It had me scared for a bit, there, but it turned out fine.

I skipped the coconut flakes and went instead for these little decorative candies that I sprinkled all over. There were actually some white candies in the mix, but I picked them out because I wanted little pops of color. I thought that the end result, while not being a professional-level bakery looking thing *snort* still was really cute and fun.

So it's not perfectly centered on the platter - sue me! Phhhhhhtttt!

I would love to tell you that shape of the cake in the above picture is because of the camera angle or something like that; however, like George Washington (whose birthday follows mine by one day) I cannot tell a lie. Next time I will arrange the layers, dry, on top of each other and trim away parts that don't quite match up. But adding to the Fun Element of this cake, it kind of makes me think of something that would have been on the Mad Hatter's table when Alice came to his tea party. Don't you think?

Sweet Pea was really proud of her special cake.

After our munching on this lovely creation at our home, I took it the following weekend to my parents' house when we got together for Easter (it kept extremely well, by the way). Everybody adored it!! My father was REALLY into it and ate 2/3 of what I brought (curse him, he can eat like a horse and still be this tall, Cary Grant-type guy). Ha ha!

I will SOOOO make this cake again! I might try a whole teaspoon of extract next time in the cake instead of 1/2 tsp. but I haven't totally decided on whether that might be too lemony. I would definitely make more buttercream to make sure that I had plenty (probably 1.5 X's the recipe), but as far as any "flaws" in the recipe or cake there weren't any. This is such a versatile recipe, and a lot of fun to make as well. Try it - you'll love it!

Click here for the results of the many, many others in the Daring Bakers family! The recipe is posted all over the place, so I won't put it here since my post is already quite long.

Thank you, Morven, and thank you, Dorie!

Il neige! Nevica! Het sneeuwt! *

2008-03-08T16:55:00.005-06:00

So the other day the weather people were saying that we were going to get some Real Winter Precipitation coming through the area. If you live in cooler climes, this is not a big deal, but for the South it's like WOW!! I still didn't totally believe that it was going to happen because, well, like I said, we live in the South. Usually if their predictions actually occur it will be an ice storm or something like that! Yecch!

I went to work yesterday and it started snowing lightly that morning. After lunchtime it was coming down big-time, and when my coworker and I left around 1:30PM it was like winter storm, man! A drive that usually takes me 20 minutes took me at least an hour this day. Poor Kid was dying to go out and play, but it snowed like crazy all afternoon.

However, as I suspected, the snowflakes weren't falling the next day, so we bundled up and took a trek around our yard. Because we don't get snow around here often, when it does come there is a magical quality that comes with it. A lot of it has to do with the silence. Because roads aren't cleared and tires aren't winterproofed, traffic is rare. Also, the acoustical quality of snow muffles or absorbs unnecessary sound. Things are peaceful, restful, and lend themselves to quiet contemplation. It reminds me that God is always giving us new beginnings, as well as desiring for us to look at the same old things in a different way.

We have a little over an acre and traipsed all around it. The dogs, giddy with excitement from the snow (as well as our being outside) played around.

Mojo is our yellow Lab, whom we have had for about 7 years now, and Maggie, the black Lab, is around 9 months old. (Our German Shepherd, Suzy, was incarcerated - she kept breaking out of the fence, so she was detained in the smaller dog pen that day!)

Nutty dogs playing around in the snow!

My little cutie loved tramping around, and we made snow piles and kicked around in what I guess to be 6" of white stuff (again, this is really a lot for where we live). We could hear plops and see snow fly as lumps of snow fell from tree branches.

It had gotten up into the high 40's by this afternoon, and by the next day the only snow in our yard was that which was in the shade of the trees. But, as always, it was fun while it lasted!

* ("It's snowing!" in French, Italian, and Dutch)

Bend Me, Twist Me, Any Way You Want Me...

2008-02-10T13:38:00.016-06:00

Edit April 1, 2008: No, it's no April Fool's joke - my new Daring Bakers friend Chriesi, of Almond Corner, and I have decided to undertake a different kind of challenge! Since we just joined the DB's in March, we are going to go back and do all of the challenges that we missed - only then will we be TRUE Daring Bakers! See Chriesi's lovely, yummy post here!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

OK, so I tend to think of song lyrics &/or titles that are appropriate for most situations. I'll just tell you that right now.

In my last blog, I mentioned the Daring Bakers group. I'm like out-of-this-world excited to be joining them in their baking endeavours, but was saddened when I learned that I won't be able to officially START till the March challenge. But that's OK; totally respect that. I also thought of a great way to feel like I was doing something "with" them anyway. I don't want my excitement to die down while I'm waiting, dammit!

To that end, I decided to make something that the Daring Bakers have done in the past. Whoohoo! But...WHAT, I wondered? Since their inception in Nov. '06 they have made some beautiful, challenging, and (yes, I'm saying it) DARING recipes come to life in the pages of their blogs. The participants run the gamut, from novices to people who like to cook/bake to professionals. I'm not a novice, but I'm sure as hell not a professional; I didn't want to do something so freaking showy that I had no option but to fail.

I contemplated; I perused the blogs of both Lis and Ivonne, the illustrious founders. After much of both, I thought, 'What better recipe for ME to start off with than the one that started the group in the first place?!' Thus, I chose Hot Buttered Pretzels as my pseudo-DB challenge. It was easy to do since I already had the ingredients at home (yeah, even the yeast)!

I knew that this recipe would be a challenge, in that I used the aforementioned yeast to attempt to make a nice, yeasty bread around Christmastime. However...with much chagrin - and little surprise - it just didn't turn out for me. I don't know if it was just my inexperience with yeast, the fact that I put my lump of dough into a slightly warmed oven and forgot about it until I pulled a beige briquette out the next morning, or what. I'm still trying to figure that one out....but I digress. Making these pretzels was only the second time in my life that I've made something with yeast. I wondered what I was in store for, but took a deep breath and jumped on in.

When I started pulling out ingredients, I noticed that the yeast I had wasn't the instant the recipe called for - but after looking online I decided it shouldn't matter too much. I proofed it in the warm water before mixing it with the flour, and it seemed to do well. Being the parent to a 4-year-old, I was naturally going to have some help doing this...so when it got to the kneading stage I let her have a little pinch of dough to do her thing with (this helped me immensely, by the way).

I really liked kneading, and started right-handed even though I'm a lefty (I don't know why; it just felt like the right thing to do - pardon the pun). When I changed hands I realized that I'm definitely a left-handed kneader. You get a little system/rhythm going on - I see why people say it is great to knead when stressed! After going for the instructed 8 minutes, I let it rise for a little over an hour, maybe 1:20 - I wasn't sure if it needed to sit longer since it wasn't the instant yeast, but really, it seemed to quit rising after the hour was up.

The dough was very elastic when first working with it. It'd spring back a good 2-3 inches when I rolled it into a rope. As I went along, however, it became easier, and although they didn't look like I'd been working in a bakery all my freaking life, they did look all right.

Just resting a bit before going into the oven - Hawaiian sea salt sprinkled liberally upon each

Finally - after letting them go an additional 3.5 minutes - they were ready! 'If these suckers taste anywhere near how good the dough tasted,' I thought, 'then I feel an addiction coming on.'

Let's just set up the IV right now, eh?

These little jewels definitely did NOT disappoint! And oh. ma. ga. they tasted like big ol' soft pretzels! Sweet mother of God, I had to stop myself from eating a 2nd one (this WAS after supper, mind you). Hubby's been sick so I didn't offer him one, but the Small One - who had been chomping at the bit - was quite pleased.

I love this precious face (and the person who goes with it) a gajillion times more than these pretzels - and that's a lot.

I would absolutely make this again. It was SO much easier than I anticipated - and so much more fun, too! Now I'm really looking forward to officially becoming a Daring Baker (maybe I'll learn how to trim down the length of a flippin' blog while I'm at it). Lis and Ivonne, I hope you are proud - I sure am!

Yomp, yomp! Slowwwwwly disappearing....

One Eggcellent Breakfast

2008-02-09T10:43:00.000-06:00

So it's a nice quiet Saturday morning here in our household, and weekends being the only time that I am able to leisurely make a nice breakfast, I decided to check out the fridge and see what I could throw together this morning. The hubby usually pulls out the leftover supper grub from the night before, which he had done; and he had gone off doing who knows what that guys do on weekends, so it was just the kid and me.

At first, I decided to make an omelet. However, considering how I couldn't lay my hands on the cooking spray (which I presently suspect is outside from D grilling kabobs for supper yesterday) I used the last oh, teaspoon of olive oil I had - yeah, I need to go shopping - and just did a nice little scramble.

First, I sauteed some garlic up with some mushrooms I'd chopped that were beginning to languish in the carton, and then threw some spinach in that I had pulled out of the freezer a little earlier. Once they were sufficiently cooked (a la to my liking, with a little dollop of balsamic vinegar toward the end) I poured in the eggs.

There they are....just a-bubbling away.

After stirring gently a few times, they were ready and I tossed 'em onto a plate. Topped them with a little cheese and a sprinkle of some Hawaiian salt that I got from Dean & Deluca a while back. Ah yes, and some bacon that I cooked in my favorite way - line a cookie pan with foil and throw into the oven at about 375F. No constant babysitting, and the only cleanup is pulling the foil out after the bacon grease has solidified and tossing it into the garbage. I must say it got a little crisper than I go for - I usually like it still a little chewy - but it's not thick sliced bacon (hubby bought this) and I also was playing with the convection oven to see how they would turn out. But hey, it's breakfast.

All topped off with a nice cold glass of milk

Yum.

What really helped this along was that balsamic I put in there before I added the eggs. It wasn't much, maybe a teaspoon or so, but it gave a nice depth to everything. Parmesan would have been the best option for the cheese, but all we have in the house right now is actually that Mexican mix that Kraft makes. I know, how heathenistic! But it was still pretty darned good.

El Kiddo (that's how cooking with Mexican blend cheese makes you talk) had plain scrambled eggs with some cheese on top. She is a bacon fiend - yes! - so I'm surprised that she only ate the couple of pieces I gave her.

On another note, I found a really cool group that I'm excited about. It's called the Daring Bakers and is a group of a few hundred people who all do a common recipe once a month. It started off as two friends a little over a year ago, and has turned into this awesome little burgeoning group. I just happ'ed upon it and thought, "Cool!" I haven't actually participated yet, because I hit it right in the middle of one of their challenges (which I don't understand right now how that works, but will after I get more info). Thus, I must wait until it's time for the next challenge.

But I'm really psyched about this growing community and am looking forward to getting to know the people involved, as well as flexing my baking muscles and learning some stuff, as well. I hope it to be a really cool creative outlet - one of many that I'm cranking up.

Eyelet Love You....Eyelet Love You NOT!

2008-02-03T08:57:00.000-06:00

The other day, I decided to go by the Tuesday Morning in our town and see what they had, since I haven't been there in quite a while. I was really excited to find a kit that I can use in scrapbooking to put eyelets on my pages. It was the whole deal - the eyelets, hole punchers, eyelet flatteners, and the hammer - so I thought, 'How can I go wrong?'

Ha!

I can't get this sucker to work for crap! The instructions are easy: Punch the appropriately sized hole with your hole punch. Fit the eyelet into the hole. Turn the paper over and use the other tool, tapping it with the hammer, to flatten the back of the eyelet, thus securing it to the paper. Use the hammer alone to gently finish tapping the back of the eyelet flat to the paper. Simple, right? WHATEVER!

All I can say is, right now I make some crappy eyelets:

Maybe I just need more practice, but I'm wondering if my intellect (or the lack thereof) is hampering my progress. I've done several searches and can't seem to find anything that really helps, so I guess I will have to contact one of my friends who is a more advanced cropper than I am. Maybe she can straighten my crazy rear out!

Meanwhile...I remain...Embellishment Challenged.

First Post

2008-01-29T22:59:00.000-06:00

Wow! So I get to gush about how excited I am because I just set up this new blog, and how I hope it looks good and that millions of people flock to the site just to soak up the myriad musings.

OK, done with that!

Seriously, I hope something interesting happens soon so that this won't be the only pathetic posting I have on here. :>