Foodie Stuff

Improvement

2012-01-26T21:02:00.006-06:00

My back is much, much better today. I could walk at an almost normal pace, sit down without easing myself into the chair, and drive without wincing when I moved my foot from the gas pedal to the brake. I have high hopes that in the next few days I'll even be able to bend at the waist. Such dramatic improvement!

I'm doing well on my goal to keep a clean pantry. I don't even want to reveal how bad it was before. The first step is admitting you have a problem. Here's the damage as it was on January 2:

And as it is today:

I took an inventory of everything in the cupboards. The most interesting realization was that I had 15 varieties of salt:

Mesquite Smoked Maine Sea Salt
Black Cyprus Flake Mediterranean Sea Salt
Alea Coarse Hawaiian Red Sea Salt
Hawaiian Red Alaea Sea Salt (former bought in bulk at Whole Foods and latter packaged by faerie's)
Slovenian Fleur de Sel
Gusto Mundial Hibiscus Flor de Sal
RealSalt All-Natural Sea Salt
Morton Table Salt
Morton Kosher Salt
Fleur de Sel
Saltworks Smoked Serrano Salt
World Classics Fine Ground Sea Salt
Bolivian Rose Fine Salt
Lemon Coarse Salt
Alderwood Smoked Sea Salt

Certifiably insane! I'm glad I didn't order any Guerande or Maldon sea salt as I wanted to last month. Completely crazy. I also have 8 kinds of honey and 7 types of vinegar, but only 4 kinds of peanut butter, which may be a record low.

Good progress on my other resolution as well - I haven't eaten out this month, or to be specific, I haven't paid for a meal out. I've spent $282.97 on groceries so far this month and feel confident I can ring in under $300 for January. And that total includes the cost of a dinner party I hosted for 8 people. Not bad at all for me. More details on the dinner party to follow.

The next project is to transform the other kitchen cupboards into a picture of organization that would make Martha Stewart proud.

Le Petit Gourmand

2012-01-25T15:54:00.000-06:00

I've camped out at Mom and Dad's for a few days because of a nasty pain in my back that makes any movement excruciating. The highlight of my day was when Katie and Nancy came home from the library and Nancy showed me the book she chose for herself.

She curled up next to me on the bed and we flipped through recipes for Croque Monsieur sandwiches, Sole Meunière, and Clafoutis.

My niece has very discerning tastes. She asked for seconds of a 72% dark chocolate and sea salt bar from World Market.

Another high point was finding that I could laugh without writhing in agony, so you know, small victories today.

Dark Vador Burger

2012-01-10T20:57:00.002-06:00

Now that I've been back from my trip to Belgium for 3 months, I figure it's time to blog about it before it becomes like the Alaskan cruise that I never wrote about or the New Orleans trip about which I still have posts sitting in the drafts folder.

There's a burger chain in Belgium and France called Quick Burger. While we were there, Katie and I saw ads everywhere with two burgers in battle mode that read Hard Pepper vs. Strong Bacon. I laughed every time I saw it. Best photo evidence I could find online here and here.

My friend Shelley sent me a link to a story about Quick's new Dark Vador Burger, which has a terrifyingly black bun.

Who do you think will win that battle?

One of my favorite parts of traveling is walking up and down city streets. It's especially fun when you've traversed cultures because there are even more things to gawk at, very discreetly, of course.

A few pictures we snapped in Antwerp:

And if you were wondering what language Smurfs speak, it's clearly Flemish. Clearly.

Resolute

2012-01-03T22:18:00.002-06:00

Happy 2012! Does anyone have any resolutions or goals with regards to food? I'll go first.

For the month of January, my goal is to not eat out. It looks like I spent about $180/month at restaurants last year, but I didn't count the calories. I'm hoping that I can cut expenses and pounds by cooking my own meals. Wait wait, I just checked my supermarket purchases for last year, and they averaged around $260/month. I don't know if eating at home will save me any money, but I do know that I have an overstocked pantry right now that I could probably eat on for a month. Which brings us to goal #2...

My goal is to keep my kitchen pantry organized. No expired foods. No partially opened bags spilling in the cupboard. No pushing unwanted items to the back of the cupboard to be forgotten for years. I'm doing a pantry purge now and it is not pretty. I was well past the point of needing an intervention. I realize that I can be a hoarder. I'll try to combat it with an inventory list and by trying to make do with ingredients I have on hand, Chopped-style, no matter how crazy the combinations may seem. I accept the culinary challenge.

I'll evaluate my success with not eating out at the end of the month. I already know I'll make an exception if I go out of town. And I'm not offering to cook at my house if I am asked out on a dinner date. It could happen. I'm not very confident in my motivation to maintain the pantry inventory list, but as of now I'm resolved to do it. I hope it will reduce the amount of food I let go to waste.

As for the pantry purge, I think the winner, or rather, loser, of my game of expiration date roulette was the seaweed package with a use-by date of July 26, 2006. I know I didn't buy that because I can't read ANYTHING on the package except the expiry date. I assume the rest of the characters are Japanese. Now I'm trying to remember why someone gave me seaweed.

The Year That Was - 2011

2011-12-31T23:00:00.002-06:00

I ended the year with a hangover-free club soda taste test. I've gotta give up this party-girl lifestyle. Next year.

The contenders were Canada Dry, Seagram's, Schweppes, White Rock, and Food Club (store brand). My favorite was Seagram's.

Here's my year in cities. Not too extensive on domestic travel, but the Paris+Belgium trip was unforgettable.

San Diego, California
Hot Springs, Arkansas
Mountain Pine, Arkansas
Austin, Texas (in April and November)
New Orleans, Louisiana
Houston, Texas
Palo Duro Canyon, Texas
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Paris, France
Brussels, Belgium
Bruges, Belgium
Damme, Belgium
Antwerp, Belgium
Amarillo, Texas

This year stacks up pretty well compared to previous years: 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010. Wish list for 2012: Australia, Chicago, Hawaii.

What's on your 2011 list?

This was a fat and happy year for me. Life just keeps getting better. Cheers to a fantastic 2012!

Fish Sauce

2011-12-12T17:11:00.004-06:00

Yesterday, I ate Brussels sprouts for lunch. Brussels sprouts with fish sauce on them. That was an interesting way of combining two reviled foods into one dish.

Have you ever tasted fish sauce by itself? The Red Boat Fish Sauce I had was bright red and beautiful. I couldn't resist tasting a swig, because when you looked at it, you thought, now that's going to taste really great!
Here's the thing, you're not supposed to eat fish sauce by itself. The appearance makes you want to pour yourself a glass, but that would be like drinking Worcestershire or soy sauce. Fish sauce is made from fermented anchovies. The Vietnamese name for fish sauce translates to salted fish water. Upon tasting it, you'll recognize the flavor from sauces and curries.

I adapted this David Chang (of Momofuku) recipe for roasted Brussels sprouts. I tossed the sprouts with some olive oil and roasted them at 425º for about 25 minutes. I mixed fish sauce, water, sugar, garlic, cayenne, and Chinese Five-Spice powder and tossed the sprouts in that. I added a little bacon, just because.

The dish was good and just screamed Thai/Southeast Asian. After using that fish sauce, my house smells like Thai Pepper, which was unusual since I don't cook many ethnic foods at home.

Final verdict: If you have picky eaters who say they don't like Brussels sprouts, this is probably not the recipe that will convert them. I think I'll save the fish sauce for a curry, and I'll stick to a more traditional roasted Brussels sprouts recipe like the Barefoot Contessa's, which I could eat twice a week. Fish sauce is good for cooking, not for drinking.

Countdown to Thanksgiving

2011-11-23T23:47:00.001-06:00

With Thanksgiving approaching, many of us contemplate the myriad blessings in our lives, but my mind turns to the most important part of Thanksgiving, the food. This year I'm bringing Roasted Turkey and Gravy, Mashed Potatoes, and Pumpkin Cheesecake to the table.

So far, I've cleaned my kitchen, thawed a turkey, and prepared the mirepoix for the turkey roasting pan.

When I wake up, I'll rub the bird down with melted butter, salt, pepper, cumin, ginger, and perhaps some other herbs and spices before it goes in the oven. I like to wing it. Get it? Then I'll get the gravy going.

I'm excited about this pumpkin cheesecake. It's cooling down now.

If there's any baking that makes me quake in my boots, it's baking cheesecakes in a water bath. Water always manages to seep into my springform pans, no matter what precautions I take. Double wrapping the pan with heavy duty foil doesn't seem to prevent leaks. We'll see if I fared better this time.

Also on this Thanksgiving Eve, Mom suggested that we start a tradition of watching On Moonlight Bay (starring Doris Day and Gordon McRae) the night before Thanksgiving because of the funny turkey scene. But the scene is actually in the movie's sequel, By the Light of the Silvery Moon, which we didn't have. We watched On Moonlight Bay anyway, and still enjoyed it. Here's the Thanksgiving scene from By the Light of the Silvery Moon:

We all have to go sometime.

Salmon Rillettes

2011-11-14T13:09:00.002-06:00

It seems like these days you can't turn around without finding me talking about another Dorie Greenspan recipe. And this post is no different. I can't help it. Truly. The more Dorie recipes I make, and the more Dorie cookbooks and writing I read, and the more I think about how wonderfully friendly she was when I met her, the more I like her. I have quite a growing collection of her cookbooks -

Around My French Table
Baking: From My Home to Yours
Baking with Julia: Savor the Joys of Baking with America's Best Bakers
and the latest acquisition, which I received as a birthday gift: Paris Sweets: Great Desserts From the City's Best Pastry Shops.

Here's a lovely recipe from Around My French Table for Salmon Rillettes.

The recipe combines fresh and smoked salmon with a little bit of spice and a good bit of butter to form a spread that is fantastic on crackers or baguette slices. Here's a video of Dorie demonstrating how to make it:

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It's very nice at dinner alongside a salad...

...and fits just as well at a party buffet. Nice that you can make it ahead, too!

I planned to make some for a party I hosted this weekend, but I ran out of time and put this on my table instead!

Equally festive, right?

Chocolate Rules

2011-11-08T22:38:00.003-06:00

I'm all about the recipe contests now. Not that I've entered any since the Callebaut chocolate recipe contest, but now I believe half the battle is just showing up.

Here's a contest that I think we should all enter: Elevate a classic dessert with Scharffen Berger Chocolate. Take a familiar recipe and give it a new spin by adding Scharffen Berger chocolate. The grand prize is $10,000.

I started crafting a list of rules for what makes a good recipe. This is for myself when I'm searching for recipes or, I suppose, for when I'm creating one. You can often tell by simply reading the list of a recipe's ingredients whether you should even bother with it. Here are a few of my rules for dessert recipes:

No Cool Whip or "frozen whipped topping." Just no.
Also no instant pudding mix.
Ingredients should be listed in the order in which they'll be used.
Should include a good photo (that doesn't use flash).
I'm turned off anytime a recipe calls for melting chocolate chips. Chocolate chips have additives to help them retain their shape. Buy chocolate and chop it.
Related: Chocolate should be listed by weight, not volume. "1/2 cup" of chocolate doesn't tell me anything, but "4 ounces" of chocolate, I can work with.
You get much more chocolate flavor if you use melted chocolate and not cocoa powder alone.
Be suspicious of margarine and shortening.
Reading reviewer comments is very helpful, but take reviews with a grain of salt. Look for clues to indicate whether the person has skills or not. Reviewers may rate a recipe very low but give themselves away by saying they prefer frosting out of can. Ought oh! We know you can't cook and we're questioning your taste.

Sure, you can ignore those rules, but chances are that the recipe will be closer to good than to amazing, and if you're going to the trouble of making a homemade dessert, why not aim for excellence? Or pick up something good at the supermarket instead?

Any inspiration or ideas for the chocolate contest? Any recipe rules you stick to?

Can a PB&J sandwich be snobby?

2011-11-07T12:12:00.010-06:00

(I don't want to abandon this blog, so I'm going to try writing shorter, more frequent posts. We'll see how that goes.)

Today for lunch I am eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. That might not sound appealing but I judged it to be one of the better sack lunches I've eaten. Here's why:

The peanut butter I used was Cream Nut Natural Peanut Butter from Koeze. Koeze makes old-fashioned peanut butter (just Virginia peanuts and salt) and has been since 1925.

The "jelly" is Wild Blackberry & Elderflower Conserve from American Spoon. They describe their preserves as "Spoon Preserves" because they're more suited to spooning than spreading with a knife. Their preserves certainly have more pieces of whole fruit than any other I've tried. It makes me think that their farmers are skipping up and down beside wild blackberry patches, plucking berries off the bushes to fill their handbaskets, while singing in four-part harmony. In the kitchen, they "prepare fruits by hand and cook them in small copper kettle batches." The fruit doesn't seem mashed or over-sweetened in the slightest.

The bread is a multigrain loaf from a local CSA, charitably donated to me. Thanks, Mom! And my beverage of choice is 33 cl of Perrier. I developed a little addiction to the eaux minérales gazeuses in Europe last month.

And yes, I use the same knife for the peanut butter as I do for the jelly. Do you?

New Orleans: My First Meal and What Was Almost My Last Meal

2011-07-30T12:00:00.010-05:00

I landed in New Orleans at just about supper time on a Friday evening. I rode a shuttle bus full of librarians from Kenner to downtown New Orleans. The ride was pretty interesting, since the driver kept pointing out sites we were passing, like levees, above-ground cemeteries, the Superdome, and "neutral ground." In New Orleans, they don't call the medians in the center of the street medians, they're neutral ground because in early New Orleans the French and Spanish could do business by meeting in the "neutral ground" between each group's side of the street. We passed Magazine Street where the Mardi Gras parades pass. We arrived at the New Orleans Convention Center, which is a mile long! And before Katrina, there were plans to expand it to a two-mile long building!

I met up with my friends and we freshened up at our hotel, the Iberville Suites, then walked a very short distance to the Acme Oyster House, on Iberville and Bourbon. There was already a line out the door, but it moved quickly. It's difficult to describe the smell outside, which wasn't pleasant in the least, certainly not what you want to smell before dinner. The smell wasn't from the restaurant; I attribute it to the drunks staggering around Bourbon.

Before we were even seated and had menus, I knew what I wanted - oysters, of course! I got half a dozen oysters on the half shell and half a dozen chargrilled oysters.

The chargrilled oysters came off the grill topped with butter and cheese. Honestly, I preferred the raw variety.

I also got a bowl of red beans and rice for good measure. I can eat a dozen oysters as an appetizer, so I needed something else. Red beans and rice is one of my favorite Creole dishes.

My first meal in New Orleans was very good, but not quite a home run. For breakfast on Sunday morning, I walked from my hotel around the French Quarter and ended up at Croissant d'Or. Getting in was the hardest part. The building looked to have two entrances, but the first door I tried was locked; only the "ladies' entrance" was open. I don't know why or when the separate entrances originated. I wolfed down an almond croissant before taking any photos. There were very pretty stained glass windows along the wall I sat next to. Eating right beside a foot didn't diminish my appetite in the least.

That night, my friends and I decided to try to get into Green Goddess for dinner. I don't remember when the torrential downpour started, but since it seemed to rain around 8 pm every night in New Orleans, I'm guessing it was around that time. We were almost soaked by the time we reached Green Goddess, and though they didn't take reservations (a rarity in New Orleans where the best restaurants practically require them), there was a long wait and no room in the tiny restaurant for three dripping wet travelers. The hostess suggested we try across the street at the Pelican Club.

We entered the Pelican Club, which looked rather snooty, and that made me feel awkward about the puddles forming around me as I stood inside the doorway. Shoes squeaking, we walked to our table. I opted for escargot as an appetizer.

The snails came baked with a mushroom duxelle and puff pastry. I foolishly popped a boiling hot bite in my mouth. It was one of those situations where as soon as the food is in your mouth, you know it's much too hot to chew, but then you're in a social situation that prevents you from aborting the operation to spit it out. So I severely burned every taste bud on my tongue. My situation did not improve throughout the meal. My next course was the trio of duckling: leg confit, pan-seared breast, and Asian BBQ duck with Louisiana citrus and cranberry sauce (which inexplicably came with blueberries), with green beans and corn on the side.

Despite a track record of eating successfully for many years, I had another dining mishap with the duck. I took a bite of the medium rare duck breast and chewed and chewed, but the meat seemed to be so soft and cooked so rare that I made no headway chewing it into smaller pieces. After making what I thought was a sufficient attempt, I swallowed the bite of duck, but it felt like a ball of fat in my throat where it lodged. I started coughing and choking loudly. Not my brightest moment. I held my linen napkin to my mouth and pondered my options while continuing to cough. Could I run to the bathroom before passing out? I imagined myself being sent home to my parents in a pine box after choking on undercooked duck. How embarrassing.

Somehow the bite of duck came unstuck and continued on its way, and I was able to finish the meal without further incident. Needless to say, the Pelican Club was not a positive dining experience.

Nobody wants to hear about mediocre food, but the tales are about to get much better. I promise.

Why New Orleans Matters

2011-07-21T19:36:00.002-05:00

On the plane to New Orleans last month, my in-flight reading was Why New Orleans Matters, by Tom Piazza. The author writes about how he visited New Orleans, fell in love with the city, and decided to make it his home, going into great detail about what makes New Orleans a special place, very different from anywhere else in the U.S.

I felt the same way about New Orleans. Besides The Crescent City and The Big Easy, New Orleans is also known as The City that Care Forgot because its residents are so easy-going and carefree. Everyone I met and talked to was incredibly nice and welcoming and people smiled and talked to you on the street. There's a laissez-faire attitude about everything. I decided to adopt their ways and I found myself saying hello to everyone and talking to anyone I stood next to for more than a moment. Typically I would have been irritated by the hot, hot, sticky weather and the constant stream of sweat running down my face, but I decided to go with it. So what if my bangs were stuck to my forehead and my face was beaded with sweat? Everyone else was suffering the same effects.

I walked on Canal Street every day to get to my hotel. It didn't look too different from other big city's main streets, except for the Canal Streetcar running through the center and the Voodoo Marts at periodic intervals. The statue of the A Confederacy of Dunces character Ignatius J Reilly was in front of my hotel -

- where there used to be a DH Holmes department store.

There were streets with names like Tchoupitoulas and Carondelet. (Bourbon Street, too, but it's dumb.) Lubbock has a lot of things going for it, but one thing it doesn't have is beautiful architecture and it's not walkable in the least. In the French Quarter, I must have walked up and down Royal Street a dozen times. On Royal there were dozens of lovely old French-style homes that are now storefronts or are still old homes. They were painted in bright colors and adorned with hanging flower pots.

The Quarter is centered around Jackson Square, named after Andrew Jackson way back in 1814. The Pontalba Apartments bordering the square are oldest continuously rented apartments in the States. The Louisiana State Museum/Cabildo by the square was where the Louisiana Purchase documents were signed in 1803. The St Louis Cathedral in the square was built in the 1700s.

Something about this last photo captures the magic of the Quarter for me. The charming building's yellow walls, blue shutters, and red railings. The gas lamp. The address! 1114 1/2! The young lady walking and carrying her art to sell on the street.

And the food, oh my, the food! I definitely ate some of the best food of my life there. Twenty-four hours of dining I'll probably never top was a lunch at August, my dinner at Cochon, and breakfast the next day at Brennan's. I almost ate my last meal at The Pelican Club. More to come on all of that.

The last day I was in New Orleans, I had an airport shuttle to catch, but I missed it because I took too long of a ride through the Garden District on the St Charles Streetcar. I had such a fantastic time, I was reluctant to leave. If you haven't visited before, New Orleans is a must see. And now, on to the foodie stories!

Double Chocolate Raspberry Tart

2011-07-19T23:13:00.002-05:00

A million thanks to my favorite chocolate brand, Callebaut Chocolate, for the amazing prize and for all of their generosity! I can't wait to visit the factory in Belgium. Below are sections of the press release and the recipe.

This delectable tart, created by Kimberly Vardeman of Lubbock, Texas, won the grand prize in the Callebaut Chocolate Recipe Contest. As the grand-prize winner, Kimberly will receive a trip for 2 to Brussels where she will be treated to a tour of the Callebaut Chocolate Factory and a pastry class at the their Chocolate Academy.

The Callebaut contest is designed to give amateur chefs from across the country a chance to put their culinary skills to the test by submitting their favorite recipe that involves the use of Callebaut Belgian Chocolate.

Callebaut chocolate is the world's leading manufacturer of high quality cocoa and chocolate products. Callebaut chocolate was once only available to professional chefs but it is now available to non-professionals food enthusiasts through specialty food markets and fine grocers throughout the United States.

The winning Double Chocolate Raspberry Tart features a homemade chocolate crust filled with a rich combination of semi-sweet and bittersweet Callebaut chocolate. The dessert is then finished with fresh raspberries and whipped cream. All of the entries were judged on sensory appeal, creativity, presentation, and clarity of recipe. Here's the winning recipe:

Double Chocolate Raspberry Tart
Grand Prize Winner of Callebaut Chocolate Recipe Contest
by Kimberly Vardeman

Servings: 12
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

1 extra-large egg yolk
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup Callebaut cocoa powder
2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon table salt
9 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, diced
6 oz. semisweet Callebaut chocolate
6 oz. bittersweet Callebaut chocolate
2 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons raspberry liqueur

Preparation

Crust: Combine egg yolk and cream in a small bowl. Place flour, cocoa, sugar, and salt in bowl of food processor. Pulse a few times to combine. Scatter pieces of butter over flour mixture. Process in one-second pulses until butter is incorporated. While processor is running, pour egg mixture through feed tube. Process until moistened, about 30 seconds. Turn the dough into a 9 1/2-inch tart pan with removable bottom. Gently press dough into an even layer against the bottom and sides of pan. Spray a piece of aluminum foil with nonstick cooking spray and set inside pan, against the crust. Freeze for at least one hour. Preheat oven to 375° F. Place tart pan on baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes. Carefully remove foil and bake for 5-8 minutes or until crust is set. Allow to cool.

Filling: Chop the chocolate. Place chocolate, butter, and salt in a large, heatproof mixing bowl. Bring heavy cream to a simmer in a small saucepan. Pour heavy cream over chocolate and let sit for 5 minutes to melt chocolate. Add raspberry liqueur. Gently stir until combined. Pour mixture into cooled tart crust and smooth top with an offset spatula. Chill tart in refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Before serving, allow tart to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes. Serve with whipped cream and fresh raspberries.

More information about Callebaut chocolate and mouth-watering recipes can be found at callebautrecipes.com.

Callebaut Chocolate Recipe Contest

2011-07-15T22:45:00.005-05:00

Back in November, Auntie sent me a tip about the Callebaut Chocolate Recipe Contest, a contest "designed to give amateur chefs from across the country a chance to put their chocolate skills to the test for the chance to win a trip for 2 to the Callebaut Chocolate Factory in Belgium!" A trip for 2 to Belgium?!? There were also multiple runner-up prizes of $500 or $250, plus a year's supply of chocolate. I hadn't entered a recipe contest before, but since Callebaut is my favorite chocolate, and chocolate is my favorite ingredient, and traveling is my favorite pastime, this sounded like a contest I could get excited about!

I mulled on possible recipes for awhile. Mostly I thought about entering a truffle recipe, such as my recipe for chocolate goat cheese truffles. I made another batch of the goat cheese truffles and decided that they weren't as good as I remembered. Perhaps I could create a blue cheese chocolate truffle? I knew my go-to standard truffle recipe (not created by me) would be hard to adapt and make my own since good truffles don't have too many ingredients, and I couldn't improve upon perfection.

I pondered doing a chocolate tart, after making some delicious Dorie Greenspan tarts of late. By then it was March and the contest deadline was April 30, and I settled on entering a chocolate tart recipe.

Surely I'm not the only baker who prepares to enter a recipe contest by creating an Excel spreadsheet to compare results. My first tart trial went okay. The filling was pretty good but the crust was way off - turned out hard instead of crumbly like shortbread pastry should be. I tried again with a new crust and got really good results, but the filling wasn't perfected yet according to my trusty co-worker taste-testers. For the third trial, I added a little salt and some raspberry liqueur to the tart filling, and I thought we had a winner.

The day of the contest deadline (I know! Last minute!) I made the final tart, so I could take some pictures to enter with the recipe. I asked my friends to vote on a recipe title and the best photograph. Then I submitted the recipe via the online form. And then...nothing except waiting. The contest rules gave a date when the winner would be announced. That day came and went, and I decided I hadn't won anything, but I checked the contest website occasionally, waiting for an announcement of the winning recipe.

Then one Friday afternoon while I was in my office, my cell phone rang and the number calling was one I didn't recognize. I went ahead and answered, then I got a long spiel of an introduction from someone whom I still didn't recognize. I was probably curt with my responses. At the point when I thought it must be a sales call and began to lose patience, I heard something about "Callebaut chocolate recipe contest..." at which point my ears perked up and I instantly became more courteous.

The lady on the phone said, "I need to confirm that you're Kimberly, and that your recipe is the Double Chocolate Recipe Tart."

"Yes, that's right," I answered sweetly.

"I have some good news."

My heart started beating faster. At least I won something! "Alright..."

"Are you sitting down?"

Ooh, I won something good! I responded with a nervous chuckle and "I am."

She continued, "You've been selected as the grand prize winner of the contest. They were very happy with your recipe..." I listened in shock as she detailed the prize - a trip for 2 to Belgium, a tour of the Callebaut Chocolate Factory, a Callebaut Chocolate Academy pastry class, spending money, plus a year’s supply of chocolate!

We talked for a few more moments about sundries, could they use my name in a press release?, paperwork to sign and return, etc. After that call ended, I don't know how anyone could be expected to focus on work. The feeling of butterflies in my stomach lasted for days. I felt like I had won a sweepstakes on the Price Is Right.

I called to tell my family first. Katie asked if that was better than winning Best of Show for my cake at the South Plains Fair. Just a little bit, of course. Just the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me.

The Summer of Kimberly

2011-07-07T23:30:00.002-05:00

I was riding on a wave of general "happy" after a great but busy April. Then May came along and then school was out, so that changed my work life quite a bit. With the ~~kids~~ students being gone, I hoped I might be able to breathe a little easier and work fewer hours. I wanted to use my leisure time wisely, and I didn't want to stop riding the happy wave.

I decided to make this the Summer of Kimberly, inspired by (what else?) a Seinfeld episode, The Summer of George. George gets a 3-month severance package from the Yankees and decides to do something with his summer, like actually read a book. "Time to taste the fruits and let the juices drip down my chin. I proclaim this The Summer of George!" It's better if you just watch the clip.

Sure, it sounds self-absorbed, but hopefully I'd be inspired to do worthwhile things for a change. I decided I, too, might actually read a book... or more than one. I wanted to volunteer more. I wanted to entertain more. I wanted to plant flowers. I wanted to visit people I haven't seen in awhile. I wanted to make a difference to someone.

I launched my endeavor by volunteering at the Texas Tech Museum at a six-hour workshop for kids on digital photography. (By the way, the Museum hosts great free programs for kids and adults: http://museumttublog.com/) That weekend I read A Confederacy of Dunces and loved it. The main character Ignatius J. Reilly's sloth and sloppiness was hilarious in the story, but it made me reexamine my life and house, and a little reorganization definitely fit into my summer plans. The book was set in New Orleans, and reading about life in the Crescent City also prompted me to schedule a trip to New Orleans at the end of June.

The Rapture on May 21 didn't interfere with The Summer of Kimberly! Time marched on, and I did plant some flowers. I did meet up with people I hadn't seen in awhile. I hosted a brunch at my house. We had scrambled eggs and ham in puff pastry and honey panna cotta. Some of the coolest women I know came over. I threw a Summer of Kimberly party because one Seinfeld-themed party per year just wasn't enough. We had Baked Alaska for dessert and so I got to pull out the torch to brown the meringue.

I found some dang good ice cream: Ben & Jerry’s Clusterfluff. It's like a fluffernutter plus caramel in ice cream form. I may or may not have eaten this stuff for dinner a couple of times this summer. I know, I know, perhaps the Summer of Kimberly should involve a little less gluttony. Maybe next summer.

Photo by the Impulsive Buy

And the most exciting news of the summer is so exciting that it merits a separate post... Until then, life is good. Really good.

Red, White, and Blue Pavlova

2011-07-04T18:11:00.007-05:00

Patriotic Pavlova

Ingredients
1 cup egg whites, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups sugar, plus 2 tablespoons, divided
1 heaping tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, divided
2 cups heavy cream
1 pound strawberries, hulled and halved
1 pint blueberries

Directions
Preheat the oven to 175°F. Place a sheet of parchment paper on a half sheet pan. Use a 9x13 inch baking pan as a guide to trace a rectangle on the paper. Don't even think about trying to free hand this one.

Mix the egg whites and salt with an electric mixer on high speed for 1 minute. With the mixer still running, slowly add 2 cups of sugar. Then add cornstarch, vinegar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla and continue beating until smooth and glossy, a few minutes more.

Pile the meringue on the parchment paper inside the rectangle and smooth it to an even height. Bake for 1 1/2 hours. Turn off the oven, prop the oven door open, and let the pavlova cool in the oven for one hour. The meringue will crack and there's nothing you can do about it.

When pavlova is cool, whip the cream, 2 tablespoons sugar, and vanilla to soft peaks. Spread the top of the pavlova with whipped cream. Arrange the blueberries and strawberries patriotically. Don an American flag pin for the occasion. Give the pavlova a light dusting of powdered sugar. Serve immediately in large scoops.

Father's Day, Animal Style

2011-06-19T20:28:00.004-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, my fantastic friends Ian and Shelley had me over to their house to make In-N-Out Double-Double, Animal-Style Burgers. The double-double has two patties and two slices of cheese, and animal style means that instead of an onion slice, you get a schmear of chopped onions caramelized to jelly texture, pickles, and the beef patties are topped with mustard before they're fried.

Even though In-N-Out finally came to Texas, I hadn't had an In-N-Out burger since 2007 in Las Vegas, and I hadn't eaten a California In-N-Out burger since the early 1990s. Wow, I'm getting old! But we followed a very scientific approach to recreate the burgers, spending hours caramelizing the onions, making a homemade sauce, weighing the beef and forming the patties, and so forth. I'm not sure if it was because I know how much love went into those burgers or because I had gotten hungry waiting to taste the final product, but those hamburgers were fantastic! No way can the In-N-Out burger be better than this homemade one.

Later that evening and the next couple of days, I still couldn't get the burger out of my mind. So I decided we needed to make them at my house for Father's Day.

I got up early Sunday morning and chopped onions, four big ones to be exact. I think I'm building up my resistance to onions. It used to be when I chopped onions that I cried like I'd just broken up with my first boyfriend. Now I cry like the old spinster I am, two tears and "I'll find another guy, er, onion." The chopped onions need to cook for a couple of hours to get the nice caramelization that you want. I should have started with a smaller dice and cooked the onions a little more slowly. They cooked down to a fraction of their original size as they should, but the texture was not quite right. Later that morning, I was standing by Katie and she said, "You smell like onions." Oops. Didn't have a chance to wash the onion scent out of my hair before church.

Next I made the special burger sauce with mayonnaise, ketchup, sweet relish, vinegar, and sugar. I formed the patties in the afternoon not long before we were going to eat. As for the beef, this part is important, you must use very fatty chuck steak. The guide we followed suggested the equivalent of 60/40 lean to fat. I asked them to grind it for me at United. Another important part of the process is to use a good old cast iron pan to grill on. At Ian and Shelley's and on Father's Day, we used a well-seasoned 10" Wagner Ware skillet that worked beautifully. I can't remember exactly how I inherited that piece, but thank you, thank you to my benefactor.

Place the patties in the skillet, and then squeeze a teaspoon or two of mustard on top. After you flip them, top patties with a slice of that old favorite, yellow American cheese, which bubbles and melts superbly.

The dads at the table got triple-triple burgers instead of double-double. We had fries and vanilla malts on the side, so this meal was not to be taken lightly!

After dinner, I think everyone except for Nancy and me took a nap. Nancy and I were playing and dancing to music. I said the beef made me strong. I don't know what happened to those others who were beaten by the beef.

Recipe here.

Boston Cream Pie, No, Cake!

2011-06-11T07:16:00.001-05:00

I bugged Katie to tell me what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday party. She perused one of my cake cookbooks, Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes, and chose Boston Cream Pie.

Boston Cream Pie and the famous Parker House rolls were invented at the Parker House Hotel in Boston, which has a plaque by their front door declaring it the longest continuously operating hotel in the United States. I passed it on the street last fall when I visited Boston.

Here's the thing about Boston Cream Pie - it isn't a pie at all. This made for some funny conversations on the phone with Mom when we were talking about party plans.

Mom: So do you want to bring the pie out to my house to serve?
Kimberly: You mean the cake?
Mom: Oh, I thought you were making a pie.
Kimberly: No, I'm making a cake. A Boston Cream Pie.
Mom: So you are making a pie?
Kimberly: No, a cake.

This particular version of the Boston Cream Pie had three layers of vanilla chiffon cake with vanilla custard filling, topped by a thick bittersweet chocolate ganache. Chiffon cake is somewhat similar to angel food cake, but it uses oil and egg yolks so it is more moist than angel food.

For dinner, we met at Abuelo's where Nancy hit the salsa pretty hard all night.

Then back to my house for birthday cake/pie.

The cake was pretty good. I think the chiffon cake recipe needs some tweaks. It was a little too dry. And the best part of a cream pie is the cream, so the custard to cake ratio needs to be increased. The chocolate was a tad too bitter for my taste. I think everyone liked it pretty well. Nancy had no problems diving in.

I love living so close to my family. One of my favorite things to do is spend time with Katie and her little family. I couldn't ask for better siblings. I love them so much. As we've all gotten older, I'm most glad that we've become the best of friends. Happy birthday, Katie!

My New Favorite Restaurant

2011-05-17T12:57:00.006-05:00

I wrote about my new favorite dessert, so why not continue the theme of superlatives and talk about my new favorite restaurant?

I went to Austin for a week in April - a week that was full of culinary delights. Perhaps there are bad restaurants in Austin, but I never find them. The highlight of my food explorations was Uchi, which serves "modern Japanese fare" - sushi, if that's not disparaging it. I dined with my favorite foodie friends, and we tried a variety of things on the menu. Each dish was presented exquisitely, and the waitstaff was extremely courteous and helpful in explaining what the dishes were and giving recommendations.

The first plate brought to the table was the Brie Ringo Tempura, fried Brie with apple chutney and crisps.

Right off the bat, I knew we were in for a treat. I am a huge fan of Brie. Frying it as they did gave it a crispy shell, which when bitten into, had a crunch that gave way to liquified Brie. It paired perfectly with the sweet apples. We also tried some Tempura Japanese Pumpkin. It came with a side of broth for dipping and was so fantastic that we ordered a second round.

Next we had the Maguro Sashimi and goat cheese with cracked pepper, fuji apple and pumpkin seed oil.

The chef, Tyson Cole, uses a lot of apples in his dishes. I love apples, so you won't get any complaints from me. As with the Brie, the goat cheese balanced the apples perfectly. I'm no expert on sashimi, but this tuna was fantastic. The pumpkin oil provided a nice undertone to everything.

We tried several sushi rolls. As you guessed, all were sensational. The Mustang roll - fresh water eel, avocado, yellow tail, and golden flying fish roe - was probably my favorite. I always look for eel on sushi menus. Yum! The Hakujin - fresh salmon and grilled asparagus, rolled in warm tempura flakes - was also very good. The Spider - softshell crab, flying fish roe, english cucumber and white soybean paper - was my least favorite, because I don't like soft shell crab.

The Zero Sen - yellow tail with avocado, crispy shallots, yuzu kosho, golden roe and cilantro - was my favorite roll after the Mustang.

Avocado works so well in sushi rolls. I wonder if the Japanese have really adopted it or if that's a Southwest/American phenomenon.

Another aspect of Uchi that made our night fantastic was the ambiance of the restaurant. The décor was eye-catching without being distracting. Lots of gorgeous wallpaper and lights, the latter creating bands of light across our faces and making us look like film noir stars.

I read the menu umpteen times, trying to decide between the multitude of choices. They have a daily menu, so I doubt that even the regulars ever make it through all the dishes.

Perhaps you're like me and have incredibly low expectations for desserts at Asian restaurants. Actually, I would definitely say that I have low expectations for desserts at most restaurants period. Most of them are on par with frozen grocery store desserts. The desserts at Uchi are not of that variety. I can assure you that their desserts are as well-executed as the dinner courses.

We tried three desserts: Jizake Crème Caramel with Brown Butter Sorbet & Ginger Consommé, Lemon Gelato with Sicilian Pistachios and White Balsamic, and the Peanut Butter Semi Freddo with Apple-Miso Sorbet & Ringo Crisps.

In a single dish, the peanut butter semi-freddo showcased everything that Uchi does well: beautiful presentation, interesting textures, flavor combinations that test your powers of deduction to ascertain their source... I don't remember the last time I dined and had the same reaction to a dish that I did with the apple-miso sorbet. My first reaction was that I really liked it. Then I kept trying to decide what gave the sorbet the underlying salty and savory flavor. The stuff was addictive. We re-read the menu which reminded us that the sorbet had apples and miso. The miso tickled our Umami sense and effected pleasant surprise. Desserts are so much better when they incorporate other sensations in addition to sweetness.

I was very excited when it was announced a few weeks after we ate at Uchi that Tyson Cole won the James Beard Award for Best Chef of the Southwest 2011. I suppose you have to be a true food nerd to care about the James Beard awards, since no one seemed to know what they were when I talked about them, but they've been called the Oscars of the food world.

A very well-deserved win for Mr. Cole. I can't wait to visit Uchi again.

See pictures of everything we ate: Uchi Photo Set.

My New Favorite Dessert

2011-05-10T21:08:00.000-05:00

Pavlovas are my new favorite dessert. They're a cinch to whip up - though they have to bake for awhile. You can top them with whatever fruits you want. They use leftover egg whites. No butter or oil, so they're low fat (not low calorie, but still). Win-win-win.

I've found a couple of good recipes. This Gale Gand recipe takes less cooking time. Ina Garten's recipe takes longer in the oven, but the result is a creamier white than Gale's recipe. I decided that my favorite method is to use Ina's recipe, but sub 1 tablespoon of raspberry vinegar for the teaspoon of white wine vinegar called for.

The outside of the pavlova develops a crisp shell in the oven, but the inside is gooey and sweet like a toasted marshmallow. When served with a slightly tart fruit like raspberries or kiwis, the combination is just perfect!

No-Bake Cookie Cake

2011-04-06T21:14:00.004-05:00

A dear friend and coworker had a birthday this week, and so I wanted to make a birthday dessert for her. I pressed her for details on what her favorite birthday cake was as a child. She told me that her mom always made her no-bake cookies. "She thought she was giving me something halfway nutritious, since they have peanut butter and oatmeal."

I got this wacky idea to make a no-bake cookie cake for her. I admit that I was inspired by a news story I read about Prince William's groom's cake, Prince William chooses wedding cake made of cookies.

I decided to make No Bake Cookie batter and then press it into round cake pans. I selected this Chocolate Peanut-Butter No Bake Cookie recipe and made three batches. I lined 8", 6", and 4" cake pans (one of each size) with parchment paper and sprayed the sides with Pam. I poured/spread the batter into the pans, pressing down on it to fill the whole pan evenly and even out the top. After the layers set, I stacked them and put Reese's cups and birthday candles on top of the layers.

The cake was a hit. Certainly one of the easiest birthday cakes I've ever made. The next day I spotted a recipe for the Royal No-Bake Cake - Chocolate Biscuit Cake. Make one at home to try if you're like me and your invite to the Royal Wedding got lost in the mail.

Heat Resistant

2011-03-12T13:38:00.008-06:00

I decided to spend a rare Saturday at home doing some things around the house. I started organizing laundry into piles, then decided to go through clothes I haven't worn in awhile to find clothes I could donate. After holding up the third pair of jeans that were now skinny jeans that won't fit me anytime soon, I decided to abandon that project and eat a cupcake.

My niece Nancy Kay makes the best faces! The whole family went to Abuelo's for dinner a few weeks ago. Fourteen-month old Nancy saw all of us eating chips and salsa and wanted in on the action. She started grabbing chips out of the basket and dipping them in the salsa. At first, she got so little salsa on the chips that it wasn't hot, but she started putting more on the chip, so that when she put it to her mouth, she made a horrible, pained expression. This caused me to laugh hysterically, which in turn caused her to get more chips and salsa, and keep eating it and making agonized faces. Before long she was dipping her whole hand in the salsa bowl, while I laughed, and her parents scowled at me.

A few months before that, Nancy demonstrated that my house is not childproof, if there was ever any question. I am child and husband-free, and so I don't worry about keeping breakables out of reach.

One Sunday after church, Katie, Porter, and Nancy came over. As usual, Nancy started looking around for things to play with. First, magazines, then earrings, then a metal bolt. Then she got hold of a tiny bottle of Dave's Insanity Hot Sauce. The bottle had a screw top lid - no way she could get that open!

Anyone familiar with Murphy's Law would have forecasted otherwise, and the next time I turned around, Nancy had the bottle open and was licking the lid.

Tears and screaming soon followed. Katie and I took her to the sink to wash her hands. We gave her ice to suck on. Her nose started to run. She had red splotches around her mouth. It was terrible.

Lessons learned: my house is not childproof and an extra smart and stubborn 11 month old is perfectly capable of opening a screwtop bottle. Also, Nancy is pretty heat resistant.

French Fridays Twofer

2011-02-04T08:52:00.002-06:00

I fell impossibly behind with my French Fridays with Dorie project. For the most part, I've made the recipes each week, but I haven't taken the time to get lots of photographs or blog about the results.

To play catchup, I'll tell you about these two Around My French Table recipes I made in January: Michel Rostang’s Double Chocolate Mousse Cake and Chicken B'Stilla.

First, the chocolate mousse cake: a fairly basic mousse recipe, which is divided in half, then you pile half into a springform pan and bake it. After it comes out of the oven, you put the rest of the mousse on top and chill it. Different method, right? And I didn't have the greatest results.

I thought the mousse tasted great before baking. While it was baking, I started to smell something burning, and though I cooked it several minutes less than the recipe directed, the mousse had burned. I tried to cut off the burned parts, and then I piled the remaining mousse on top and chilled it. When it came time to serve, I dusted it with three varieties of cocoa powder, for some color contrast.

I had high hopes for this one after reading the ingredients list and doing a preliminary taste test on the mousse, but the finished product was mediocre. I would rather have served the mousse as it was before baking.

I had much better success with the Chicken B'Stilla. You start with chicken thighs marinated in garlic and spices, then boiled in broth, then shred the meat after it's so tender it's falling off the bone. The chicken is mixed with onions, lemon, eggs, honey, pepper, and chopped herbs and served in a filo dough pie topped with cinnamon and sugar. Very beautiful and delicious!

San Diego Extraordinary Desserts

2011-02-01T09:17:00.004-06:00

You know what was as good as the food and mild winter weather in San Diego? The desserts. Check out the flavor selection at Papalecco: Stracciatella, Papalecco, Nutella, Arancia, Fragola, Nocciola, Cioccolato Fondente, Banana, Cioccolato, Pistacchio, Mocha, Vaniglia, Coco, Limon.

I tried Arancia and Papalecco. Arancia was a blood orange sorbetto, and their house flavor, Papalecco, was an chocolate amaretto gelato with chocolate amaretti folded in. Amazing!

As soon as I found out I was going to San Diego, I knew I'd have to make a pilgrimage to Extraordinary Desserts. They have some of the most beautiful desserts I've ever seen. Their display case was filled with beautiful cakes, pavlovas, shortcakes - all adorned with ribbons, fruit, gold leaf, flowers, etc.

Luckily I was able to convince a couple of liberry buddies to accompany me, which was good because I got to sample more desserts. One of my friends tried the Gianduia Cake that I'd ordered last time and tried to recreate. I have to brag and say that I've mastered it. Mine tasted as good as the original. Another friend ordered the Truffe Framboise, described as "Fresh raspberries and kirsch moistened chocolate cake layers are surrounded by bittersweet Valrhona chocolate mousse, with fresh raspberries bursting inside and out."

I opted for the Passion Fruit Ricotta Torte, an anti-chocolate option. "Ricotta cake layers, soaked with passion fruit juice and layered with passion fruit whipped cream, kiwis, strawberries and bananas. A tropical explosion!" It was lighter than my friends' rich chocolate desserts, and the tartness of the kiwi and passion fruit was just right.

And the last thing I ate before getting on the plane home was the Coppa Croccante at Chocolat Cremerie. More gelato, this time Pistachio, Hazelnut, & Coconut, topped with amaretto cookies and fresh whipped cream. The gelato bars could give Extraordinary Desserts some good competition.

San Diego Foodie Tourism

2011-01-15T17:10:00.002-06:00

I went to San Diego for a few days for a liberry conference. It felt like a loooonnnngg trip since I didn't have my best liberry foodie buddies with me. I passed the downtime scoping out restaurants. I feel like I hit every eatery within walking distance, and some that weren't. How else would I spend my time? Reading books?

Some of the highlights:

Breakfast is served.

Peanut Butter and Banana Stuffed French Toast at Cafe 222. How could that be bad? I've since been on a peanut butter + banana bender, eating sandwiches made with that combination every day for lunch. Truthfully, when I tried this I thought what would make it even better would be to mix peanut butter with with some cream cheese, and go heavier on the peanut butter filling. I intend to test this hypothesis soon. At The Mission, I ate Chicken apple sausage, with crispy rosemary potatoes, grilled rosemary bread, and eggs. I do love rosemary!

Eating my own weight in seafood.

I heard Ted Danson speak at the conference. He was there to plug his book about saving the world's oceans. The main things I remember about that were that he said "literally" in every other sentence and that he said not to eat swordfish or tuna or other things I probably want to eat. So immediately following his session, I ate the best sushi roll I've ever tasted at Taka Sushi, that said with the caveat that I haven't eaten that much sushi, but I do like it. The special battera roll has fresh tuna, shrimp, crab, seaweed, rice, and orange caviar, then it's topped with black caviar and green onion. I went to The Fish Market the night before, where a friend and I tried Mesquite-grilled Ginger Lime Prawns with Cilantro Sauce, Swordfish with Roasted Vegetables and Parsley Potatoes, and Seabass with Roasted Vegetables and Cole Slaw. Take that, Ted Danson.

Mashed Potatoes on Pizza?!?

At Basic Pizza, they serve New Haven-style pizza, whatever that means. I understand the difference between Chicago and New York-style, but beyond that, I probably couldn't tell the difference. I opted to try the White Pie with Mozzarella, Mashed Potato, and Bacon. That's right, mashed potatoes. The pizza was heavier on grease and salt than taste. Nice place, tho.

Old Town San Diego Mexican Food

I went to Casa Guadalajara in Old Town, which had some fish tacos that put Fuzzy's Tacos to shame. I also tried Carne Asada Tacos with Chile Colorado Sauce, because I'm a glutton. I think the waiter even felt it was his conscientious duty to tell me that I ordered too much food for one person, but I proceeded anyway. Hey, I made two meals out of it. I also got horchata and they had some chips and salsa to munch on that were very good. I also thought the pictures I took here were some of the prettiest food pictures I've ever taken. They kind of put my point and shoot camera pics above to shame.

The desserts I tried will get a separate post. You didn't think I'd skip dessert, did you?

Gnocchi a la Parisienne for Two

2011-01-14T16:04:00.003-06:00

Gnocchi. A word that's hard to spell or pronounce correctly. And if you asked me, hard to make at home correctly, too.

I recently started dating someone new, and I usually worry about how long I need to date someone before revealing the full brunt of my cooking and food obsessions. First dates usually consist of me interviewing the guy about food tastes and preferences, favorite restaurants, food allergies, etc. Maybe I'm the only person who sees picky eating habits as a bigger barrier than old relationship baggage, divergent political views, or whatever the deal breakers are these days.

I wondered how I was going to explain why I was spending a couple of hours on a weeknight after a long day at work on a random recipe to New Guy, who probably had never eaten or even heard of gnocchi. I invited him over for dinner, but I didn't get home until 7:30, then I needed to clean the kitchen workspace, and do some prep for the recipe.

Me: Are you okay with a really late dinner? Or should I make you something quick?
Him: Dinner won't be at 10 o'clock, will it?
Me: Uh, hem, hah, stammer...

Plus dinner was gnocchi, but he didn't complain. I used Dorie's recipe, which is incredibly similar to pâte à choux. Surprisingly there are no potatoes in this gnocchi. You boil the gnocchi, then top it with a bechamel sauce and cheese and bake it.

I didn't have great luck with this recipe. My bechamel was too thick; my gnocchi were crazy shapes and sizes. I blame New Guy for distracting me. (Sappy!) I even forgot to season the bechamel with salt, pepper, and nutmeg before putting it in the dish. Luckily, New Guy is super helpful in the kitchen. He stirred the bechamel and grated cheese for me.

I scaled the recipe for 6 down to make it for 2 people instead. And guess what time dinner was served? 10 o'clock.

This recipe got some mixed reviews from us. The bechamel was never quite right, even after baking. The dish as a whole felt really heavy. Come on, it's eggs, milk, and cheese! But I think with some added herbs, maybe vegetables, it could shine more.

Moral of the story: even if your recipe's not a winner, eat dinner with one.

French Fridays Paris Mushroom Soup

2011-01-07T12:00:00.002-06:00

Today's French Fridays with Dorie recipe was the Paris Mushroom Soup. With a base of 1 1/2 large onions and 1 1/2 pounds of white mushrooms, you might have a few picky eaters that bow out of tasting this soup, but I really enjoyed it.

The hardest part for me was chopping the onions, simply because I'm very sensitive to them and they make my eyes tear up and swell shut. Pretty attractive!

I used an immersion blender to purée the soup in the cooking pot, so that I didn't have to deal with moving hot soup to and from a blender. That went a long way towards making this an easy recipe.

I did make a couple of substitutions. One of my perennial New Year's resolutions is not to waste food. Once again this year, I vow to be better at using ingredients I have on hand and not let things get pushed to the back of the fridge to spoil. For that reason, I didn't buy rosemary, chives, or crème fraiche for this recipe. I subbed a bit of dried thyme for the rosemary and some sour cream for the crème fraiche. I also would have preferred to use all chicken broth in the soup, but I was caught in a pinch and had to use 1/3 broth and 2/3 water. Fortunately, Dorie's recipes always seem to handle spontaneous substitutions well.

Everyone that tried this soup liked it... I only had one conscientious objector abstain on the grounds that he doesn't eat "rabbit food." Next time, I'll serve it with a beef tenderloin and see if that wins him over.

The Year That Was - 2010

2010-12-31T14:29:00.005-06:00

For New Year's, we'll be eating black-eyed peas and cabbage, playing our shell game where you draw your fortune for the year, and making wishes on the flying wish paper. I'm on an unbelievable hot streak of getting what I wish for.

This year was wonderful, and I feel very blessed.

Here's my year in cities again. Looking at 2007, 2008, and 2009, I think this list may be my best yet. I traveled through 16 states and visited these cities in 2010:

Salt Lake City, UT
Provo, UT
San Antonio, TX
Windsor, CO
Estes Park, CO
Washington, DC
Canon City, CO
Loveland, CO
Denver, CO
Seattle, WA
(okay, these next 7 were on a cruise ship)
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Ketchikan, AK
Juneau, AK
Skagway, AK
Glacier Bay, AK
College Fjord, AK
Seward, AK
Anchorage, AK
Austin, TX
Portland, ME
Dover, NH
Sharon, VT
Wilmington, VT
Hartford, CT
New Haven, CT
Newport, RI
Cambridge, MA
Boston, MA

Honorable mention to Memphis, Tennessee, whose airport I flew through 6 times. It's unbelievably lame that I haven't blogged about my Alaskan cruise, especially considering that it was the best vacation ever. I need to get on that.

Please leave a comment with your year in cities (Even if you already did it on Facebook, you have to do it again.).

The First Fifth Annual Festivus

2010-12-23T16:12:00.005-06:00

The annual holiday party at my house is a Festivus party. Some years I even throw a couple of Festivus parties. I held my first ever Festivus party the year I moved into my house. I don't remember now what prompted me to organize that first party, but I really started something - something that gets weirder every year.

The first 5th annual Festivus started with the weird invite

for which I drew my inspiration from a truly ugly website, that of Lubbock Power & Light.

On the menu:

Spicy Chicken Sandwiches. Reference to The Jimmy where George starts speaking in third person.
Atomic Subs. Sub sandwich with Black Forest Ham and Turkey, Gruyère Cheese, and mustard/raspberry jam spread, toasted. Reference to The Strike where Elaine gives her Atomic Sub punch card to Denim Vest.

Roasted Vegetable and Poppy Seed Spread on Challah. Reference to The Shower Head where Elaine fails a drug test because she ate poppyseed muffins.

Éclairs. Reference to The Gymnast where George crosses the line between man and bum and eats an éclair out of the trash.

Snickers. Reference to The Pledge Drive where Mr. Pitt starts a trend by eating his Snickers bar with a knife and fork.

Pretzels. Reference to The Alternate Side where Kramer has a line in a Woody Allen film, "These pretzels are making me thirsty!"
Eggnog and other snacks.

After the foodage, we got the Festivus Pole out of the crawlspace and had airing of grievances and feats of strength. I tried long and hard to think of the most harmless, ridiculous grievance I could air, so I told Ian that I didn't like how he makes fun of the way I cut cakes (which is totally Wilton approved, by the way!), but it was still awkward. Feats of strength are usually board games, and we played Telestrations, which was very fun!

Re: the food, this was my first attempt at éclairs. I used this recipe for the pâte à choux (my pastry cream and chocolate glaze recipes were pretty similar to the ones on that page, too). The first step in making the pastry is to bring the water, butter, and sugar to a rolling boil on the stove. Of course, I was trying to do too many things at once, and I accidentally bumped the pan of water, butter, and sugar, and spilled it all over the floor. That made quite an oil slick on my floor before the party. Nice! Improving my piping method would prettify my éclairs, but I was pleased with how they turned out.

The second 5th annual Festivus party was a fondue party. Since I can think of no fondue-related Seinfeld jokes besides the double dip, I'll leave it at that and sign out with a Festivus greeting from Jerry Stiller:

Speculoos

2010-12-10T17:05:00.009-06:00

This has been quite a year of traveling for me, visiting a few cities in Texas, Utah, Colorado, Washington, DC, Seattle, Canada, Alaska, and around Boston and New England. And while I've never been to Memphis, I've flown through the Memphis airport six times this year, courtesy of Delta Airlines.

Have you flown Delta Airlines and tried those Biscoff Cookies they serve as an in-flight snack? They're crispy ginger cookies and they're delicious. I just learned that you can purchase a Biscoff spread, "Europe's alternative to peanut butter," which is made using crushed Biscoff cookies. I read that the spread was good here and here, and of course you can't buy it in Lubbock, so I ordered four jars to start with, intending to give some away at Christmas. I shared some with the family last time they came over for dinner. They liked it so much, that this week I ordered four more jars because I needed more stocking stuffers. I'm hooked on it, too.

Biscoff cookies are from Belgium, where they're known as Speculaas, and they are typically imprinted with a design, as shown here by Martha Stewart. In France, they're called Speculoos, and I tried Dorie's Around My French Table Speculoos recipe tonight. After binging on Biscoff spread for a few days, I was looking forward to tasting Dorie's version of the cookie.

Making the dough was easy. I followed the recipe closely except for using a little more ginger than called for. The dough was rather hard to work with after I rolled it out. I tried different rolling it out to different thicknesses but found I liked the very thin cookies best. Of course, the thin dough was the hardest to cut and transfer to a baking sheet without cracks or prints finding their way into the dough. I tried to get extra fancy and use a speculaas mold rolling pin to imprint shapes on some of the dough, which didn't work so well.

The designs were barely visible after the cookies baked, but they were still pretty good-looking. I guess my rolling pin technique needs some work. As far as taste, I expected them to have a stronger ginger flavor. Next time I will double the ginger, and maybe add some pepper or cayenne, to go for a spicier rather than sweeter cookie.

And speaking of sweets, these cookies are delicious when sandwiched around a layer of another European spread, Nutella.

Sweet and Spicy Cocktail Nuts

2010-12-03T21:28:00.005-06:00

As much as I consider myself a cake baker and dessert maker, you know what one of my most requested recipes is? Spiced nuts. Seriously, right?!?

I've copied or emailed my recipe to my mom a few times. My sister called and asked for it just before Thanksgiving. The nuts disappear quickly at parties and are always welcome as a hostess gift. And get this, my teenage brother asked for spiced pecans for his Christmas present from me... more than once even! Now that's saying something!

For my recipe, I always use pecans, our family's favorite nut, tossed in egg whites and then a combination of salt, sugar, cumin, cayenne, and paprika. Heavy on the cayenne because we're good Texans.

I don't feel boastful if I say that I've become somewhat expert in the field. I've learned that you should roast the nuts on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Waxed paper will be a total disaster, and even a Silpat doesn't seem to work as well. Watch the timer and the baking process carefully. The nuts can go from underdone to perfect to burned in a matter of a minute. Let the pecans cool thoroughly before you touch or eat them. The spice coating needs a few moments out of the oven to get nice and set.

I tried a new recipe today from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table for Sweet and Spicy Cocktail Nuts (p. 18). Her base recipe calls for your favorite nut - almonds, cashews, pistachios, or pecans (the latter being the least French of the lot) - or a mix of several. They're spiced with sugar, chili powder, cinnamon, and a pinch of cayenne. The spices are interchangeable, too, and she suggests getting creative by using Chinese five-spice powder, curry, cardamom, or herbs.

I thought Dorie's recipe looked very similar to my tried and true one, so I opted to spice it up (har har) by using almonds instead of pecans and some of her alternative spice suggestions. Since I had some Chinese five-spice powder in my cupboard just aching to be used, I pulled it out for this recipe. It took only a few minutes to mix the nuts with the spices and get them in the oven.

They came out beautifully. I could certainly taste the anise and fennel from the five-spice powder, which tasted like a mild black licorice and reminded me of the little after-dinner Mukhwas you see at Indian restaurants. The almonds weren't too sweet or salty. I think the only change I'd make for next time is to use a full teaspoon of cayenne pepper instead of only a heavy pinch. I'm a good Texan, after all.

Be prepared to make multiple batches. You'll want to snack on some and have enough left over to share them with friends, and they're highly addictive.

Come, Ye Thankful People

2010-11-26T22:43:00.001-06:00

I am giddy about Thanksgiving. As Ina Garten said, "Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. All I have to do is cook." However, as previously mentioned, I am dictatorial when it comes to planning the menu and assigning entrée responsibilities. I am a little bit like this letter writer... Or maybe a lot like that writer. I'm writing this post for myself and posterity. I always like to look back at pictures and menus from previous holidays and see what we did, what worked, what flopped, etc. I think this year's meal could go down as one of the best.
Menu:
Roasted Turkey and Gravy
Cornbread Dressing
Mashed Potatoes
Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good
Green Beans
Cranberry Salad
Rolls
Apple Pie
Pumpkin Pie
This year I didn't try to get fancy with the turkey. I can't believe that a couple of years ago, I served my turkey with chimichurri instead of gravy. That's sacrilege! I usually rub some butter and spices under the skin. This year was no different, but I used cumin, smoked paprika, and ginger this go-around.

I watched this video a few times to refresh my memory on how to carve a turkey and also because I like New York accents.

I would drink that gravy on its own.

I don't think I've made a pumpkin pie before this one. I like pumpkin, but I usually put it in a cheesecake for Thanksgiving. I haven't had many good pumpkin pies, but this one was a worthy competitor.

Nancy got to lick the beaters from the whipped cream. And eat a drumstick the next day.

Clean out Your Refrigerator Crème Brûlée

2010-11-09T22:45:00.002-06:00

It's only Tuesday, and I've already had a heckuva week, my stress culminating with my freezer/refrigerator dying. I have a bad habit of skipping breakfast and lunch and overeating when I get home. In a desperate attempt to clean out my fridge and freezer, today I had eaten two or three yogurts and a frozen dinner by lunch time. I should invite everyone over for a clean out the fridge feast. Although I'm not sure we want to eat whatever's in the back of my fridge.

Need a way to use your cream and eggs before they go bad?

When life hands you lemons, make Crème Brûlée. Recipe

Update: November 15 is Clean out Your Refrigerator Day. I was ahead of the curve.

Boston in the Fall

2010-11-07T22:05:00.004-06:00

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."

~ George Eliot

I read that quote on one of my favorite blogs and loved the sentiment so much that I decided to post it here as well. Autumn is all well and good in Lubbock, but I learned firsthand that the season is completely magical in New England.

Leaves' colors changing on the trees - apparently that's a real thing in some parts of the country.

Leaves there fell gently and slowly to the ground one by one, drifting downwards as if they're in control, rather than becoming brown, lifeless projectiles hurled around in a West Texas windstorm.

I never before understood the literary romanticism of cemeteries, but after seeing dozens of overfull burying grounds with headstones from the 1600s embellished with skulls and winged creatures, where witches were once put on trial, where the sun sets early and brightly colored leaves dance in the chilly breezes, I can see how the setting is perfect for a haunting.

Whilst in Boston, I ate at Ariana, an Afghani restaurant in Allston-Brighton. I tried their Kaddo Bourani appetizer, and it was one of my favorite things I ate during my trip. They took a pumpkin, baked it in sugar, then covered it with yogurt and meat sauce. Since tasting it, I've wanted to find savory pumpkin dishes to make for myself.

Katie tipped me off to a wonderful recipe with which to celebrate fall's bounty and make use of all those pumpkins you purchased to decorate the house for Halloween: Pumpkin Stuffed With Everything Good. And it's another Dorie Greenspan recipe, this one from Around My French Table.

I was actually able to make the recipe with ingredients I had on hand. Even better. Start with a small pumpkin (around three pounds; don't use the big jack-o-lantern pumpkins), cut the pumpkin top off, and scrape out the seeds and stringy bits. Salt and pepper the inside. Toss bread, cheese, garlic, bacon, chives, and thyme together and fill the pumpkin with the mixture. Pour a mixture of heavy cream and a pinch of nutmeg over the filling.

Top the pumpkin with the cap, and bake at 350° for about two hours. Remove the cap for the last 20 or so minutes. The filling will be lightly browned and the pumpkin skin will be dark and can be easily pierced with a knife.

The dish can be impressively cut and served at the table. Plate the pumpkin and cut it into wedges, ensuring that each has a good amount of the filling.

As Dorie said, "Who wouldn't love this?" I'm planning to use this as a Thanksgiving side. Why should the only pumpkin on the Thanksgiving table be in a pie?

Baking Extravaganza

2010-10-10T22:10:00.008-05:00

The last few weeks were indeed occupied by much baking in Kimberly's kitchen. In a single night the proceeds were tiny blueberry pies, Thick and Chewy Triple-Chocolate Cookies, and Caramel Apple Cheesecake bars. There was also the lemon tart. Another night I made two Pineapple Upside Down Cakes which served as the groom's cake at a wedding.

On Wednesday night I baked a cake for my annual South Plains Fair entry. This year, I chose to bake a chocolate cake (using the Cook's Illustrated German Chocolate cake recipe) and my favorite chocolate frosting (Ina Garten's recipe).

I delivered the cake on Thursday morning. Katie went to the fair on Friday and sent me a picture of my chocolate cake in the Best of Show display case. Good news!

I visited the fair the following Monday to confirm that the win was legitimate and that the photo hadn't been Photoshopped. In what I thought would be a Scandal of Great Proportions, I noticed while scoping out the other entries that the first prized Red Velvet Cake looked very familiar. It looked a little too squat, a little too greasy... yep, it was made by last year's winner.

Isn't there a rule about not entering the same type of cake consecutively after winning 1st place? I could have sworn there was, but I couldn't find such a rule in the premium book, so I won't tattle on my competition.

Oh, and after the fair ended, Mom picked up my chocolate cake and fed it to her goats. I must say if I were going to eat a cake that had sat uncovered and unrefrigerated in a un-air conditioned building for 9 days, it would probably be this one.

A Pretty Little Tart with a Dirty Little Secret

2010-10-07T23:01:00.005-05:00

Since I met Dorie Greenspan this summer, I've made a few of her recipes, and there hasn't been a loser in the bunch. The latest trial was a recipe from her cookbook Baking: From My Home to Yours for a lovely lemon tart. (The recipe can be found online in several spots, including here.)

If I'm going to make a dessert without chocolate or peanut butter, I think lemon is my next favorite flavor. I love lemon curds, cakes, glazes, pies, you name it. Flipping through Baking, the recipe titled "The Most Extraordinary Lemon Cream Tart" caught my eye. Dorie wrote that she learned to make this cream from Pierre Hermé, and "it is the ne plus ultra of the lemon world."

The filling starts out like a lemon curd recipe, but the twist is that you pour the curd into a blender and blend in a fair amount of butter, creating a light and creamy texture quite different from your typical curd.

The dirty little secret is just how much butter you add to that curd: 2 full sticks plus 5 tablespoons! It makes the filling akin to a Hollandaise sauce but with sugar. When you consider that the tart crust contains more than a stick of butter already, bringing the total amount of butter in the 9" tart to about a pound, it makes you realize just how special this dessert is.

And it is very special. Simple. Delicious. Irresistible. Extraordinary.

If This Pan's a Rockin' Don't Come a Knockin'

2010-07-19T19:42:00.008-05:00

While visiting Washington, DC, I took the rare opportunity of being near a body of water to eat as much seafood as possible: crab cakes, lobster, and Blue Point Oysters.

I enjoyed it so much that upon my return to landlocked Lubbock, I tried to recreate the lobster roll experience. Step 1: Procure a lobster.

The only way to go is buying a live lobster and boiling it yourself. Apparently the super cheap lobster I'd read about in the northeast ($5/lb lobster) had not made it's way to Lubbock ($17/lb). I wanted to feed lobster rolls to the whole family, so the price made me gulp. I decided to buy one live lobster and a couple of cheaper tails.

So I finished my shopping and drove home with a live, iced-down, lobster in tow. It was a little unnerving. He didn't say much, but I think his styrofoam ride rocked to and fro a couple of times. There was the requisite play time before dinner.

I put Lobby into the freezer to numb him before cooking. I was glad my brothers-in-law were there, because when the moment of truth came, I was squeamish about dropping a live lobster into a pot of boiling water. The deed was done. Lobby boiled for a few minutes until he turned bright red and started to float.

Into an ice bath, and then Mom and I (mostly Mom) started cracking shells to extract lobster meat. I avoided helping with that arduous task by making homemade mayonnaise, following an Alton Brown recipe.

Once the lobster meat was extracted and chopped, it was a cinch to mix it with the homemade mayonnaise and some diced celery. We toasted hot dog buns in butter, filled them with lobster, and plated the lobster rolls alongside a green salad.

If not for the high price per pound and time-consuming process of extracting the meat from the lobster, this would be a meal I'd eat regularly! And I guess there's that whole ick factor of boiling a living creature... If that deters you, you might want to try Vegan Lobster (trust me, you want to follow that link).

Watch the video "How To Make Your Own Lobster Roll."

The Lova My Life

2010-07-18T19:42:00.002-05:00

Scott still enjoys living in the land down under. He tells some great stories in his weekly emails home, but I particularly look forward to hearing what food he's tried during the week. Details are somewhat sketchy, but here are a few things he's talked about:

Poly [Polynesian/Islander] food has almost no flavor and it's super starchy. Most islander food is really bland and doesn't have too much flavor, and pepper is not something that you'd find on an islander table haha.

We made Tongan chop suey Saturday night which was really good. I'll have to make that and orti (or-tie) when I get home. Lu is my second favorite food after chop suey. Lu is corned beef and coconut milk cooked together in a taro leaf wrapping. We have been eating a lot of pumpkin. I like it. It's got about the same texture as a sweet potato.

Beef is always cooked to well done. It instantly sucks all the moisture out of your mouth when you eat it.

They have two kinds of cheese here: tasty and light... neither are tasty at all.

Scott also wrote me about a fabulous Pavlova, a traditional Australian dessert (unless you ask a New Zealander, in which case, New Zealand invented them). I remember the first description I read of pavlova said tasting pavlova was like going to the moon with the most beautiful person on Earth, while listening to your favorite band play live as little puppies lick your toes. And still this pavlova didn't fall short of expectations.

A pavlova is made with egg whites and sugar, baked at a low temperature until the outside is hard and set, while the inside stays gooey like a toasted marshmallow. The taste is over the top sweet! I served mine with whipped cream, berries, and raspberry sauce.

Recipe from Ina Garten.

The Time I Met Dorie Greenspan

2010-07-01T11:34:00.000-05:00

I was in Washington, DC at the end of June for the American Library Association annual conference. It's funny how you can spot a librarian in a crowd. There were definitely some interesting fashion choices on parade. My fashion tastes are always impeccable, of course. My cardigan always matches my sneakers and grocery tote bag.

The ALA conference is huge. This year's attendance was over 26,000. There were some relatively famous names there: Toni Morrison spoke at one of the general sessions, and Marlo Thomas, Amy Sedaris, Natalie Merchant, and Fergie (as in the Duchess of York), not even counting library stars like Nancy Pearl, were also there.

There was a "What's Cooking @ ALA?" demo in the exhibits area. Dorie Greenspan was one of the presenters. I've been a fan of Dorie's for a few years. I was on a big NPR kick (okay, still ongoing), and I heard her relate baking tips and recipes on Kitchen Window and All Things Considered. I started following baking blogs and found an entire blogger group dedicated to Dorie recipes, Tuesdays with Dorie, wherein dozens of bakers make the weekly Dorie recipe and blog about it.

At ALA, I attended Dorie's demo with my friend Shelley. Dorie showed the small audience how to make salmon rillettes, a recipe from her new cookbook, Around My French Table. I'll post her recipe here as soon as I find the little recipe card she handed out. If memory serves, her recipe was very similar to this one by David Lebovitz: Salmon Spread Recipe: Salmon Rillettes. I tried a sample and it was quite tasty. Very buttery!

She told a few stories about cooking and living in France. She said people often ask her if she is a cook or a baker. She explained her answer, "Both," the way I often do. With cooking you can improvise and really experiment, but with baking, you have to be meticulous in measuring and using called-for ingredients. Be precise and don't adjust the recipe until you know it well. Cooking and baking are very different. That's why it's fun to do both and not limit yourself to one or the other. She told a story about how she always keeps a tiny plastic tub of fleur de sal in her purse. She was a joy to watch.

After the demo, she took questions from the audience. Someone asked Dorie about her recipe for gougères. Shelley turned to me and asked, "What are gougères?"

I said something like, "They're light and puffy - like cream puffs without the cream and with cheese."

Dorie started giving advice about making the recipe correctly, then she stopped and said, "Oh wait! If you don't know gougères are, they're light and puffy - like cream puffs without the cream and with cheese," or something that was basically word for word what I had just said. Shelley and I looked at each other and laughed, and I patted myself on the back.

After the demo, people formed a line to meet Dorie and get her autograph. As Shelley and I stood in line, I tried to think of a question to ask Dorie, or something I could say or a compliment I could give so that I wouldn't sound like a complete idiot. I actually started to get a little nervous about it.

Shelley was in front of me in the line and got to meet her first. She said, "We live in Lubbock and sometimes it's hard to get out of the ordinary ingredients in local stores. Where do you recommend we order from?" Dang, what a good question!

Dorie suggested that people that live in God-forsaken places buy food from Amazon, Penzey's, and Kalustyan's. At that point I piped up, "I love Kalustyan's! That's the first place I go when I go to New York! I have to buy their peppercorns and cinnamon!"

She said, "Isn't it wonderful? You are a good cook if you go to Kalustyan's."

Dorie told me I was a good cook?!?

We chatted for another moment and then I asked if I could get my picture taken with her.

Dorie invited me to visit her in Paris. Well, she invited everyone at the demo... I have decided to accept. How glamorous that would be! Cooking with Dorie, who's baked with Julia Child and dozens of other cooking legends... in Paris!

As we left the demo, Shelley spotted a poster advertising a book that was certainly more like my status quo:

Best of Both Worlds

2010-06-22T21:36:00.004-05:00

I consider myself somewhat of an expert on German Chocolate Cake, which may or may not be the case, but I did have my own throwdown between Bobby Flay's recipe and the Best of Show Cook's Illustrated recipe. If you recall, it was a split decision.

So for Katie's birthday cake, I decided to try combining my favorite parts of each recipe into one hands-down winner.

I used the Cook's Illustrated recipe for the cake itself, but for the filling, I used Bobby's cajeta filling recipe. That cajeta is so delicious that I like to eat it by itself. I've also served it atop chocolate or vanilla ice cream. When I started making this batch of cajeta, I accidentally let the caramel base get too dark. Knowing it would make the cajeta bitter, I decided to make a fresh batch, but I drizzled designs on wax paper with the burnt caramel to make some decor for the cake plate. Um, ye-ah, that kind of worked, but not really.

I also made Bobby's coconut whipped cream and some ganache. The change I made was serving both on the side. Bobby's recipe instructs you to put ganache and toasted coconut and pecans on top of the cake. The ganache topping drew some complaints last time, so I put all those elements on the side of the cake plate so people could control the chocolate distribution.

I thought the result was a winner. This was one of the best cakes I've ever eaten.

Happy Birthday

2010-06-21T22:18:00.002-05:00

Remember when I became an aunt?

Now that baby is six months old and I can't believe it. Now I completely understand about everyone thinking their baby is the best, because Nancy Kay has all of us wrapped around her little finger. Katie is only just beginning to feed Nancy solid foods, but I secretly started sneaking her tastes of ice cream weeks ago.

Nancy is already cooking with me. That is, I hold her while I'm flipping pancakes or eggs or chicken or whatever, and she supervises expertly. I'm determined that this kid will grow up with excellent food taste. No children's menus for her, with boring chicken nuggets or pizza. Isn't that what raising kids is all about? Teaching them to be just as wonderful as you are.

Fadduh's Day

2010-06-20T22:37:00.005-05:00

When you think of Father's Day, you probably don't think of hoity toity French brunch food. Heck, you probably don't think of food period. But to me, a good holiday requires good food. I do have other vices besides gluttony, but that one happens to be my favorite. This Father's Day, I decided to go with something besides steak or grilled meat.

Daddy and I recently watched an episode of Good Eats together called Age of Asparagus. Asparagus is probably my favorite vegetable. Alton's recipe for Roasted Asparagus was very similar to my standard method, but he added lemon zest and fresh grated nutmeg. Alton also suggested serving the asparagus with a fried egg on top. I'd served asparagus with hollandaise before but never with a plain egg.

I decided to work the recipe into the Father's Day menu. I made Croque Monsieur sandwiches (Croques Messieurs?), which are hot ham and cheese sandwiches, the cheese being Gruyère, and there's also a Mornay sauce involved. I used this recipe for Croque Madame, but put the fried egg on top of the asparagus instead of the sandwich.

For dessert, I tried a recipe that was new to me, Peach-Frangipane Tart. The markets are filled with glorious berries and stone fruit, and it makes me crave fresh fruit. I used a combination of yellow and white peaches for the tart. The tart has an almond base, peaches, and a peach preserve glaze. The hardest part is slicing the peaches thinly and cleanly. The rest of the recipe is a cinch.

I did a couple dozen white and dark chocolate-covered tuxedo strawberries, too. Steak and potatoes it wasn't, but this menu was fabulous. I ate too much today. I have a great dad and had lots of reason to celebrate!

Keep It Real

2010-05-29T16:23:00.002-05:00

It's pretty sad that acquaintances identify food snobbery as my most dominant characteristic, but I guess I brought that on myself. I shouldn't be so condescending, but I feel that if people only knew how bad/gross/synthetic the food they're ingesting is, they'd soon change their ways.

Take store-bought ice cream for example. There's no excuse for buying most of that stuff. There are some premium brands that are very good, but even those don't compare with homemade.

I recently cleaned out my freezer, and I had peach ice cream left over from my Baked Alaska experiment. The stuff was past its prime (it was never that good anyway) and had to go.

I set the ice cream carton on the counter, thinking that it would be better for me to melt the ice cream and pour it down the drain, instead of tossing the whole thing in the garbage to leak onto my floor. So I set the carton on the counter and waited for it to melt. And waited. And waited.

I don't remember how long I left that carton on the counter. After seeing that it didn't melt after a couple of hours, I probably left it out for at least twenty-four, being fascinated at the non-melting properties of this Franken-ice cream. Yuck! That is not something I would eat again.

I saw this related horrifying 12-day Cool Whip experiment. My friends, Cool Whip is not whipped cream! Nasty, nasty stuff.

This also reminded me of the McDonald's hamburger purchased in 1996 that in 2008 looked exactly the same as the day it was purchased! I can't believe there are adults who regularly eat fast food or at all-you-can eat buffets. I'd suspect most employees who work at those "restaurants" don't know anything about cooking. I'm sure they have other life skills. This winner worked at Lin's Chinese Buffet.

I don't think I'm a food snob. This is a better way to live.

White Wedding

2010-05-08T09:40:00.004-05:00

I dreamed that Betty White made a cameo (that woman is everywhere these days) at Wendy's wedding reception. She wore a pink dress suit that was perfectly accessorized. She looked great. Really, a visit from Betty White is the only thing that could have made Wendy's wedding any better.

There was a simple ceremony in the morning and a family dinner in the evening. I made the wedding cake and failed to fully consider the amount of time required to get my hair done, get myself into a fancy dress, and get to the church on time for pictures. The cake didn't get quite enough chill time in the fridge.

I sent one tier of the cake with my dad in Katie and Porter's car, I put one in my trunk, and I held the small tier in my right hand as I drove to the reception site. I drove super super slowly and took an alternate route to avoid a construction zone. Yeah, I know it's probably dangerous, but I transport cakes that way a lot. Guess what, when you live alone and are transporting a cake, sometimes you have to take risks. That's also pretty much the only time I drive at or below the speed limit. Apologies to the drivers behind me -

(That's not my car, but it's a brilliant idea.) The cake arrived safely. It didn't collapse on assembly, which was a relief since the frosting and filling were soft from the heat.

Wendy's Wedding Cake was a yellow cake with lemon curd filling and vanilla buttercream frosting dyed yellow, decorated with gum paste daisies.

Katie, Mom, and I had fun making the daisies. We simplified these instructions for Gum Paste Daisies from the King Arthur Flour Blog. I bought a package of pre-made gum paste. We rolled it out and cut out daisies with a daisy cutter. Then we added yellow paste food coloring to a smaller piece of gum paste and rolled it into small balls. We then flattened the balls and covered them in cornmeal. Voilà - pollen! Then we pasted the yellow centers on the flowers.

Another great cake. Another great brother-in-law joins the family. Another happy wedding!

Pork Is a Nice, Sweet Meat

2010-04-12T00:03:00.005-05:00

I decided to try pescetarianism (eat seafood, but no mammals or birds) for awhile. A short while. Turned out to be only two weeks. The problem wasn't so much that I missed eating chicken or cheeseburgers. Or that I had gone about misspelling pescetarian as pescatarian. Alas, I began to experience heart palpitations, and since I am not in love that I know of, except perhaps with Lee Pace after my weekend Pushing Daisies marathon, I attributed the flutters to my change in diet.

So I decided to fall off the wagon with a pork salad, which created a gentle enough thud, being mostly tortilla, rice, beans, cilantro, lime, guacamole, dairy, and just a little of that sweet, sweet slow roasted pork.

I feel fine with the relapse.

Pull Yourself up by Your Apron Strings

2010-04-03T13:34:00.005-05:00

Mike is my photography mentor. When we met, I possessed only a lowly Canon PowerShot A550, but my photography has improved under his tutelage. I am his foodie mentor. When I met him, he was a steak and potatoes kind of guy, whose favorite dessert was a chocolate-peanut butter no-bake cookie. He still loves all of those. You can't change a man.

I've entered a couple of cooking contests with Mike now. Neither of which we've won. If I can't even pull out a victory in his office cooking contests, I might as well hang up my apron.

First, there was a salsa and queso contest, in which we entered a Roasted Tomatillo Salsa and Queso Flameado.

Mike said I went overboard with the lime in the salsa, and I sadly agreed with him. After the judging, when our salsa and queso placed in the middle of the pack, he said that his office-mates prefer food out of a jar anyway, and I happily agreed with him.

The real blow came when I baked two identical white cakes with raspberry filling and vanilla buttercream to enter in the office baking contest and charity auction. The top two awards were announced, and my cake was not named among the victors. Perhaps from now on, I should be the one to take pictures and not take the cake.

April Fool's

2010-04-01T17:36:00.010-05:00

I made another pilgrimage to Cake this week. Their cupcakes are so delightful. On April 1st, they had April Fool's Day Cupcakes.

Spaghetti and Meatballs (red velvet cake, Rocher hazelnut truffle for the meatball, and strawberry jelly for the sauce)
Lox and Bagels (lemon poppy seed cake, and I think the bagel was a halved donut hole)

Potatoes and Gravy (caramel cake)

I didn't eat or even sample all twelve cupcakes I bought, which I've actually done before. I only tried the lox and bagels cupcake. Very tasty! I ran into a friend in the store as I was leaving. She had never been to Cake before, and I'm sure she was embarrassed to be seen talking to me. I had twelve cupcakes in hand, and I was going on and on about how wonderful their cupcakes are, and naming and describing the flavors she just had to try. I've gotta stop hitting the desserts so hard.

Pithy Comments

2010-03-28T12:45:00.009-05:00

I came home with lemon curd and meringue in my hair. As you can imagine, it was my kind of party. This one involved making lemon meringue cupcakes with my friend Catherine and her two young daughters, Hannah and Eve. We used Martha Stewart's recipe.

It was fun to cook with Hannah. We juiced and zested lemons together. I always like to ask Hannah questions. I had told her about zest of a fruit, how it's the colored part. Later I asked her about it again, "What was that stuff called? It started with a Z." She said, "Zebra?" I would hold Eve up high so she could see what was happening, too. After dinner, Hannah had ice cream for dessert. I asked Hannah, "How would you describe ice cream to someone who had never tasted it? What would you say to them?" She thought for a moment and simply said, "I would say, try it!" So pretty much kids always outsmart me.

I love those girls. After making cupcakes, I stayed to eat dinner with them. I brought a Panna Cotta covered with strawberries for dessert.

Strawberries are Hannah's favorite!

Almond Croissant

2010-03-23T00:09:00.005-05:00

Behold, ye almond croissant.

Here's the simple recipe from Epicurious: Twice-Baked Almond Croissants. Start with day old croissants. At United, four smallish-sized croissants cost $4.99. At that price, I might have to start making my own, no matter how laborious the process. The recipe gives instructions for an orange-vanilla syrup and an almond filling, made of butter, sugar, almonds, almond paste, and egg.

Four steps to assembling the croissants for baking:

1. Slice croissants in half lengthwise.
2. Brush vanilla-orange syrup on both halves of croissants.
3. Spread almond filling on one half of each croissant, mounding filling high in the middle.
4. Spread filling on top of croissant, and press toasted almonds into filling.

I might have eaten one for dinner alongside strawberries and salted caramel hot chocolate. That soft almond filling oozes out on the first bite. Yum!

Lenten Lunch

2010-03-11T12:34:00.007-06:00

A few Fridays ago, I ate lunch with two of my favorite coworkers, who are truthfully two of my favorite people period. We ate a meat-free meal of fruit and cheese sandwiches and salad, but I heard no cries of "Where's the beef?"

We had Brie Peach Sandwiches, which had both fresh peaches and peach preserves. I may have gone a little overboard in my jelly shopping.

I conducted a purely unscientific taste test of the preserves to see which I preferred, and I could not choose between the Peach Bonnet Jelly and the Hot Pepper Peach Preserves. Each had their own strengths. Their only weakness in my eyes was that each jar cost over $5. In the end, I used the preserves for the Brie Peach sandwich, because I liked the texture the peach pieces lent.

The Brie Peach Sandwiches consisted of sliced brie; a mixture of peach preserves, fresh peaches, green onion, raspberry vinegar, and pepper; spread along with mayonnaise on oatmeal bread.

We tried a pear and brie panini inspired by this Chowhound post, too. This sandwich had brie, sliced pears, arugula mayonnaise pesto, and candied walnuts on country french bread, toasted in my grill pan. I modified an Emeril recipe for arugula pesto, substituting arugula for the basil.

We also ate a salad of mixed lettuces, with a Maple Syrup Dressing. With meals like that, I could definitely be a vegetarian, if I didn't love meat so much.

Eliane French Bakery

2010-03-07T22:02:00.010-06:00

One of the chief impediments to my happiness in Lubbock is the lack of a really great bakery in this town. We are limited to grocery bakeries, donut shops, cupcakeries, and a couple of other pretenders. Ideally, we would have a little French bakery where I could grab a croissant in the mornings before taking the subway to work. But we have neither the subway nor the bakery.

When I was in Provo, I visited a wonderful bakery, Eliane French Bakery, for breakfast. They don't have a website that I know of. I imagine that it's because they don't speak English very well and that's how authentic the French bakery is. But I imagine a lot of things. I'm a romantic.

Wendy and I sampled a few things. First, the pain au chocolat, which was amazing, and second, the croque-monsieur, which was equally amazing.

A croque-monsieur is a ham sandwich with cheese. Typically the sandwich is covered in a Mornay sauce and grilled or broiled. When I made a croque-madame, a croque-monsieur with a fried egg on top, I made the Mornay with Gruyere. The croque at Eliane's had cheese on top, but not in a thick sauce, and the cheese was melted but a little crunchy. Magnifique.

We saved the best for last. The best was an almond croissant. The almond croissant at Choice Market in Brooklyn was among the best food I ate in New York. However, Eliane's had it beat.

Almond croissants are similar to regular croissants, but they have an almond filling and are usually covered in toasted almonds and powdered sugar. Here's a recipe for them that I intend to try soon.

In the interest of full disclosure, I bought the croissant to take back to Mom, who elected not to go to the bakery with Wendy and me. You know what they say about the best laid plans. I thought I could take one bite and stop, and Mom wouldn't mind if I tried her croissant. However, one bite of the croissant with its creamy almond filing, and I was hooked. I corrupted Wendy with it, too. Then I started rationalizing: "Mom won't know we were going to bring her this," and "Well, Mom could have come with us." By the time I'd finished rationalizing and eating, there was only half a croissant left. Sorry, Mom, I know you raised us better.

Blue Sky Smiling at Me

2010-03-04T23:48:00.001-06:00

A new burger place called Blue Sky opened at 98th & Quaker a few weeks ago. The first time I ate there, I had to park across the street, because the parking lot was filled to overflowing. Lubbock may not support the arts, but beef is a different matter.

I tried their green chile cheeseburger, and it was fabulous. The green chiles do come on the side in a cup, not pre-slathered on the patty, but I was okay with that. The burger is very big, and the bun is fresh and soft, so this is definitely a burger you have to hold with both hands. I also tried their onion rings and fried chile sticks (fried anaheim peppers), which were completely new to me. I thought the fried chile sticks would taste good on a burger, so I had to try it, and I can confirm that they are in fact as good on the burger as on the side.

Blue Sky started in Amarillo and expanded to Lubbock. The Lubbock location has a mural on the wall of the Lubbock skyline and cotton strippers, which of course made me feel right at home. I'm digging that there are decent restaurants opening on 98th St, because previously the selection was limited to 7-11 convenience stores, and I hit my lifetime quota of Twinkies in the 80s.

iSnack

2010-02-28T22:53:00.011-06:00

Some months ago, I read this article in the NYTimes about a contest to name a new product line: Vegemite blended with cream cheese. The name that won was Vegemite iSnack 2.0.

Apparently, there was an angry reaction to that name, and Vegemite lovers voiced their displeasure online with

"...thousands of Twitter posts, at least a dozen Facebook groups and a Web site dedicated to 'Names that are better than iSnack 2.0.'"

One online commentator suggested that the 27-year-old designer who had submitted the winning name be tarred with Vegemite and forced to run naked through the streets of Sydney "as retribution for his cultural crime." Others called the name 'uStupid 1.0' and 'un-Australian.'" -NYTimes

As a result of the firestorm of crticism, Kraft countered by changing the name to Cheesybite. I was able to procure some of the "Cheesybite," though in the iSnack packaging, and the real problem is not with a ridiculous title, but that upon tasting the product, I was unable to fool my taste buds into thinking I wasn't licking dumpster refuse. I'm sorry to say that Cheesybite or iSnack or uStupid or whatever you want to call it is not much of an improvement over the original Vegemite. Apologies to my Aussie friends who enjoy the stuff.

Scott reported from down under on Australian foods more palatable than Vegemite. He ate lamb and some 'kanga bangas,' which is kangaroo sausage. He lives in a predominantly Polynesian area now, and they have a drink called horti (or-tie) that's really good. Scott said you can change up what goes in, but it's a drink with milk and then whatever kind or fruit that you want to shred up into it. I was unable to find more information about "horti" online despite my search prowess, so either Brother isn't spelling horti the way everyone else does or the creators of horti aren't advertising their invention online, at least not in English.

Scott further said of Polynesian food that it has almost no flavor and is very starchy. He said he's seen two kinds of cheese there: tasty and light...and neither is tasty at all. I think it's nice that my brother, who was always Mr. Meat and Potatoes for dinner and who avoided ethnic cuisine is in the middle of the Australian melting pot. It seems he's expanding their food horizons himself, though. After hearing a talk with the metaphor "trying to savor the goodness of a grape while trying to chew a jalapeño pepper," he explained to them what a jalapeño is.

Other than that, he said everyone makes them cakes and they are not even close to being like mine, which I take as a compliment. And he said that he was biking down the road and someone threw a metal can at him from their car, but it hit him in the helmet. Hopefully he'll give me some new stories to tell soon. I've been telling that can story for a couple of weeks now and it's played. I should spice it up with "and then they tarred him with Vegemite because they didn't want to eat the stuff..." uStupid.

No means no, except in Chinese

2010-02-15T07:12:00.011-06:00

One of the most interesting things that has happened to me in the last few weeks was meeting my new friend John from Beijing. He is a professor in China and a visiting scholar here, and he needed help at the library, so that's where we met. He is still learning English and has difficulty speaking it well. Anyone that even attempts to learn English earns my respect, especially native speakers of tonal languages. The English language is a mess. So John often comes up to me in the library with a list of things written down that he wants to tell me. I think he was happy to find someone that was nice and patient with him, so he kind of latched on to me. He has trouble saying my name. At first he called me Kim-ber-ler and kept that up no matter how many times I sounded out Kim-ber-lee for him. Now he's started calling me Kim-burger, but I'm trying to stamp that out, too.

John is a pianist and very talented musician. When he found out that I play the piano as well, he was very excited and insisted we play the piano together. The first time we played, I brought along a Nat King Cole songbook, and played some old jazz standards, or as John said, "American jaws." After that, not only did he ask when we could get together to practice English conversation, but he started asking repeatedly when we could play piano together next. Also, every time I see him, he tells me to go to China, where he could get me a really good job as a professor making $10-20,000 a year. You work too hard at the library, he says.

I learned from Katie and now from personal experience that there is not really a word in Chinese for no. Seriously. So my attempts to turn him down gently for after-work meetings, piano rehearsals, and moving to China haven't gone well. At first I say, "Maybe," then "We'll see," then "I don't think so," then "I can't," then "No," and I still think something's lost in translation.

And I feel so guilty that I can't stand it. I'll never forget how frustrated I was when my family and I visited China. I couldn't figure out the currency or the subway system, the ticket machines didn't take credit cards, and the attendant didn't speak English even though he claimed to. It was a nightmare. I can't imagine how frustrated John must be.

Not only do Chinese people never say no, they're also incredibly giving and would do anything for a guest or friend. In Taiwan, one of Katie's friends that we'd only just met bought us dinner, a birthday cake for my mom, and as we were about to leave on the train, she even took the barrette out of hair to give to Katie - they're that eager to give. John took my picture and drew a pencil sketch of me. It was very beautiful - not that I'm beautiful, but the sketch was very good! I'm getting enough Chinese paraphernalia from people I've helped at the library to decorate my office with an Asian theme.

John kept inviting me to go eat Chinese food with him at Lin's Chinese Buffet. I took him to China Town instead. He ordered the food, and we had salted duck and bamboo shoots with a brown sauce. I thought I was pretty open-minded when it came to food, but I could only eat a few bites of that meal. I concentrated on my hot and sour soup. John saw that I liked it and sent for another bowl over my protests. John kept repeating that we should go to Lin's Chinese Buffet. He described the huge room full of good food, to which I said, "No. I do NOT go to Chinese buffets," but he couldn't understand me, so he kept asking, undeterred.

Last week John asked me if I would perform a piano solo at the TTU Chinese Students Association Chinese New Year party. He asked me to play some American jazz. He doesn't take no for an answer, so despite my qualms, I finally agreed to play "Night and Day" by Cole Porter.

He had written down the time for the rehearsal: 1500. I understand the 24-hour clock, so I said "Three o'clock?"

John answered yes, that it was at "One o'clock."

"Oh, ONE o'clock," I repeated.

"Yes, thirteen o'clock."

It was the same routine trying to find out what time the actual performance started. I wasn't entirely sure if it started at six or seven until I saw a formal printed invitation.

Saturday afternoon (at three o'clock) I played my song at the rehearsal. I was pretty nervous because I was one of the only non-Chinese speakers in the whole theater besides the sound and lighting techs, who seemed to be as confused as I was. My heart was pounding because I had no idea what was going on or what I might be asked to do. Sure enough, John asked me to accompany him on a traditional Chinese song he was going to sing. I ended up sightreading the music he had handwritten, and his singing, although good, was not in rhythms, pitches, or words that I could follow, so I was pretty sure this would end in disaster.

At the performance, I told the stagehands to push the piano onto the stage when it was time for John's song, but they either didn't believe me or couldn't understand me. They were late pushing the piano onstage, so John improvised and spoke to the audience in pure Chinese - again, I had no idea what was happening. The stagehands put the piano directly under a vent, so my music was blowing off the stand the entire time. I had to hold the music in place with one hand while playing with the other (see minute 1:48 in the video).

As for my jazz performance, I was the only American in the middle of two hours worth of Chinese performers singing and dancing to traditional Chinese music.

It was COMPLETELY WEIRD that I played my song at that program. I know that the audience was thinking 'What the ?' when I got onstage. I felt like the pianist in this Seinfeld episode.

Mom, Dad, Katie, and Porter attended the performance and confirmed that my inclusion in the program was as out of place as I thought it was. It's not as if I'm some honorary member of the Chinese Student Association, or like I asked if I could perform, but there I was, crashing the party and bringing the coolness level down.

Who's the foreigner here?

Cold, Cold Heart

2010-02-14T12:30:00.010-06:00

This probably comes as a surprise to everyone including me, but I'm not the least bit sad about not having a Valentine this year. Having no Valentine is definitely better than having an idiot for one. The dating pool here is as dried up as I am, and I don't think any of my eHarmony matches could even pass the Turing test. I guess I could change and try to be more attractive and less geeky, starting with not making references to the Turing test and not obsessing over cooking and food, but what's the fun in that? Today, I am okay with being single.

This year I celebrated my cold, cold heart by hosting an ice cream party and inviting some of my best lady friends. I spent a fun couple of days making four different ice creams - Vanilla, Apple Sorbet, Lemon-Buttermilk Sherbet, and Chocolate-Hazelnut Gelato - and two different toppings - hot fudge and caramel sauce.

For some time, my favorite homemade ice cream was plain old vanilla. Vanilla can be complemented by any number of sauces, fruits, or toppings, or it can stand alone. However, this night, the apple sorbet was out of this world! I poured caramel sauce over it, and it tasted like a caramel apple that wouldn't ruin your dental work. Definitely the easiest to make out of the four flavors, and I think many of my guests agreed it was the best.

Simply mix 1 quart of apple cider, 1 cup of sugar, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons of dark rum (optional, or sub 2 teaspoons of vanilla), chill, and churn. The mixture tasted delicious unfrozen, and I'm sure you could heat it if you're into warm beverages on cold, winter days instead of ice cream like I am.

I'm happy to report that four quarts of ice cream was more than enough for nine women. Those are leftovers that don't get pushed to the back of the fridge - people fight to finish those off.

My ice cream is already famous. I often take interest in where my flickr photos show up. My Bacon Ice Cream is on a list of Bizarre Ice Cream Flavors. My Rocky Road is promoting Milkmade Ice Cream. Last year's Maple Ice Cream with Chocolate Sauce photo is on a health-promoting site next to this headline: Ice Cream and Foods High in Saturated Fats May Encourage Overeating. Oh, that's really nice.

Mediterranean Diet

2010-01-24T23:26:00.012-06:00

No, I'm not starting the Mediterranean diet, but the dinner I served tonight is probably the closest I'll ever come to following it. This meal was also simple to prepare, which is something else I usually shun.

First, I made a Creamless Creamy Tomato Soup recipe from Cook's Illustrated. (It looks like that recipe is now behind a pay wall. Email me if you want the recipe.) The formerly secret ingredient in this soup recipe is white bread. You add three slices of white bread, torn into pieces, to the tomatoes and seasonings, then puree all of it. I used my immersion blender, which is so much more wonderful than going through the steps of partitioning batches of boiling hot liquid, pouring them into a blender, blending, pouring that into another bowl, and then repeating the steps with subsequent batches. The white bread gives the soup thickness and a creamy texture, so you don't have to add cream. I drizzled white truffle oil and sprinkled chopped chives on top of each serving. White truffles are among the most expensive foods in the world, so I got a bargain on truffle oil that I didn't have to take out a loan for, right? How disappointed was I to find out that my truffle oil was only synthetically flavored olive oil. It tastes great, but still!

Alongside the soup, we had green salad, and baked brie with orange flower honey and roasted pecans.

And for dessert, lemon madeleines, a traditional French sponge cake, baked in small, shell-shaped molds. I distinctly remember Auntie telling me the correct way to pronounce madeleine in French; I'm just not certain of what that correct pronunciation was. I think it is mad-uh-LANE, not mad-uh-LEN. Auntie, help? I tried to find the correct pronunciation online and only found conflicting answers as in this video of Martha Stewart and Gale Gand making chocolate madeleines. Martha says mad-uh-LEN; Gale says mad-uh-LANE. I tend to trust Gale, because Martha is too, too smarmy, and you know, Gale validated my instincts.

I don't understand why madeleines have a reputation for being difficult to make. The method isn't that strange or elaborate, and as long as you butter the pans sufficiently, the cookies slide right out of the shell-shaped molds. I made dozens of these cookies over the weekend and they turned out beautifully. I used the America's Test Kitchen recipe for Citrus Madeleines. There are lots of possible variations: almond madeleines, Gale's chocolate madeleines, David Lebovitz's Lemon Glazed, mini-madeleines, etc. I used a miniature mold pan and a lemon glaze. I served the madeleines with fresh fruit which made for a tasty, light dessert.

Bring Home the Bacon

2010-01-20T23:34:00.004-06:00

I got home after 10 o'clock tonight and decided I should fix myself a meal more substantive than my last, which was a breakfast consisting of grazing on leftover Indian food. (Al Gore randomly appeared in my dreams last night, and I attribute that to eating super spicy Indian food close to bed time.) I'm never one for conventional meals. I'm proud of myself for maintaining my resolve to keep the fridge clean and uncluttered, though sometimes that leaves reduced options for foodage.

Tonight I opted for a bacon and egg sandwich starring Cooper's BBQ bacon. I ordered their Hickory Smoked Peppered Bacon along with the brisket last week. Two slices of bacon fried up quickly, then I fried an egg and toasted the bread in the bacon drippings, and with some greens and apple slices on the side, it was quite a good meal.

I've ordered three varieties of bacon over the past few weeks, all in the name of foodie tourism. It's my own version of the bacon of the month club - food delivered to my mouth. So since December, we've tried Mt. Petit Jean Hickory Smoked Peppered Bacon, Cooper's Hickory Smoked Peppered Bacon, and Allan Benton's Hickory Smoked Country Bacon. I preferred them in that order, with the Mt. Petit Jean peppered bacon a runaway favorite.

Next up, ice cream taste testing. If you have a recommendation, let's hear about it.

Triple-Chocolate Mousse Cake

2010-01-19T00:21:00.004-06:00

Why not assuage those post-holiday blues with chocolate? It's cheaper than compulsive shopping. Christopher Kimball's America's Test Kitchen Blog has a recipe for Triple-Chocolate Mousse Cake.

Chocoholics have a friend in me.

Update 4/10/10: We hate dead links around here, so I must inform you that the blackguard Christopher Kimball removed the recipe from his blog. He doesn't like it when you get things for free. But I still love you, CK. Please email me if you want the recipe.

G'Bye, Brother

2010-01-12T07:15:00.005-06:00

Today my brother Scott leaves to do missionary work in Australia for two years. We won't visit each other during that time, and we'll only talk to him on the phone on Mother's Day and Christmas. It's a darn sight different from having him be a text message away. With Wendy getting engaged and married in the spring, a new baby's arrival, and now Scott leaving, it seems like everything is different all at once in my family.

I'm happy to provide one constant: having everyone over to my house for family dinners. For Scott's send-off, I ordered a barbecue beef brisket from Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que in Llano, TX. Once Scott arrives in Sydney, Australia, I'm pretty sure Llano, TX and tasty Texas barbecue will seem like they are a world away.

Cooper's site says "Our barbecue brisket is cooked cowboy style: Directly over simmering mesquite coals for over 5 hours." The brisket was shipped shrink-wrapped with a bottle of bbq sauce, and when I cut open the packaging, a tantalizing aroma of smoky red meat wonderfulness escaped. The brisket's exterior was black with crusted pepper, and I was self-appointed to slice the meat for serving. That's one of the best jobs in the world. The meat juices and pepper coat your fingers, and you simply Must lick it off, and eat scraps as you carve. Cooper's barbecue sauce isn't your expected thick, sugary, ketchup-like sauce. It's closer to what I think of as Southeastern US barbecue sauce: vinegar-based, very thin, and not too sweet.

Scott isn't necessarily one I would term an adventurous eater. He's downright picky about a lot of vegetables, doesn't like mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, and won't even try a lot of ethnic foods. But he will try some over the top meat and dessert concoctions with me, like fluffernutters, his S'morito creation, or my Bacon Ice Cream. I seriously thought of making something akin to this double coronary burger for him. It's a burger topped with bacon, cheese, fried eggs, mayo, lettuce, tomato, and onion between two grilled cheese sandwiches. I'll save that for when he returns - don't want to kill him before he leaves. This meat and potatoes brisket menu was the perfect thing for him.

Scott's Christmas present to me was a card saying he would take me out for "no less than five dinners." The kid knows that I think food is more fun than most gifts, but I think this was more designed to be hang out with Scott quality time.

So we went to Raising Cane's, Buffalo Wild Wings, Cancun, West Crust Pizza, and Chili Dog Cafe. I highly recommend anything at the Chili Dog Cafe with their chili on it, including the Frito Pie Burger. Shut up, it's winter, and it's cold outside, and I don't feel bad about it.

I'm anxious to hear what fun foods Scott finds down under in Australia. The only iconic Australian food I can think of is Vegemite, but from everything I've read, Australia is a melting pot much like the United States, and so I'm sure he'll find a little bit of everything, including some racist KFC?

G'bye, brother!

Make Mine Chocolate

2010-01-06T19:58:00.001-06:00

I couldn't remember having a cold and snowy December like we just had since I was a kid. Turns out that December 2009 was indeed one of the coldest on record in Lubbock. If you ask me, cold weather is terribly unwelcome any time after December. When you don't have the holidays to cheer you, winter makes me miserable.

Look at that ugliness. A fresh batch of cold air from the North Pole. I don't want anything from the North Pole except Santa Claus.

I left work tonight just before 6 and happily discovered sunshine, calm air, and balmy temps in the 50°s. I ran an errand and exited just before 7 to find apocalyptic winds and and arctic chill outside. I hate it. January and February are the most depressing months of the year because it's so cold and gets dark so early.

Tonight I'm coping by drinking Salted Caramel hot chocolate from World Market and eating fresh strawberries. Salted caramels and salted chocolates have been trendy for years, and it's a craze I fully support, although detractors still exist. I went to a Christmas party for singles last month, and one of the available beverages was salted caramel hot chocolate. Actually, there was a squeeze bottle of caramel, which we were supposed to pour in our styrofoam cups, salt, and then ladle hot chocolate over, so, kind of..... But it wasn't something those kids could handle. Conversations consisted of me telling them it was good and they'd screw up their faces and respond, "Eww. Salted caramel! What?!?" And I'd sneer. I was on the other end of the snob spectrum, thinking, "Squeeze caramel! What?!? Caramel doesn't come from a bottle." Not nice.

Perhaps my food snobbery is a pose, as I had never even heard of the exquisite NōKA Chocolate before Matt gave me some for Christmas.

With their four flavors named Vivienté™, Carmeñago™, Bambarra™, and Tamborina™, and the tasting guide with six stated instructions beginning with "Be Present - Smile and breathe deeply," it's definitely good and snobby and very delicious. Half of two truffles was a perfect indulgence tonight.

National Spaghetti Day

2010-01-04T20:55:00.009-06:00

I'm not one for New Years resolutions, but one thing I'm going to be better about is keeping my fridge and pantry clean and organized. I hate to throw something out if there's even a possibility I can still use it, and it's all too easy for me to push foods to the back of the fridge week after week. "I'll use those tomatoes and herbs later. Okay, that blue cheese is now black. Yikes!" Definitely a case of sunk cost fallacy, because I'll end up throwing the stuff away in a couple of weeks anyway. After my recent weeding of the refrigerator and pantry, and playing a game of 'What's the oldest expiration date I can find?,' I'm not anxious to repeat the task.

Who knew that January 4 is National Spaghetti Day? I celebrated by improvising a Spaghetti Alla Carbonara recipe based on available ingredients. Way to clean out the fridge! It's nice to cook something without going to the store first, and this recipe is open to a lot of variations. It's also a great weeknight meal, as it comes together in less than 30 minutes.

Spaghetti Alla Carbonara
Serves 2-4ish - Boy ate 2 servings. Girl ate 1 and had 1 left for another meal.

Ingredients

2 eggs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 shallot, minced
2 T. olive oil
4-6 slices bacon, chopped
1/4 cup white wine
1 pound spaghetti
kosher or sea salt
pepper

Preparation

1. Heat oven to 200°F and set large heatproof serving bowl on oven rack. Bring stockpot of water to a boil for pasta. Add a tablespoon of salt to the water.

2. In a small bowl (I used a 2-cup capacity glass measuring cup), beat eggs, cheese, and shallots together with fork.

3. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-low heat and add bacon. Cook until crisp. Add wine and simmer for several minutes.

4. When water comes to boil, add pasta and cook until al dente; drain, leaving pasta slightly wet.

5. Transfer drained pasta to warm serving bowl from oven. Immediately pour egg mixture over hot pasta, and toss to combine. Pour bacon mixture over pasta, and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper as desired. Serve immediately.

I find that cooking dinner allows me a lot more creativity than baking, because I don't have to be exact in the ingredients I choose or the amounts I add. This recipe is a classic example. If you don't mess with the method of adding the egg and cheese mixture to the hot pasta and serving bowl, you should be fine. Adding the egg and bacon mixtures to the hot pasta and warmed bowl is what cooks the egg and melts the cheese. The eggs haven't ever scrambled on me; they always thicken to a nice consistency.

Possible variations for this recipe: Don't like bacon? (Blasphemy!) Use prosciutto, but reduce the cooking time, so it doesn't burn. I used some super sexy Mt. Petit Jean Peppered Bacon (ordered from Zingerman's - hope that link works) and it was amazing! If I had some on hand, I would have added fresh herbs. You need something green to distract from the eggs, bacon, and cheese. You could also add tomatoes, peas, mushrooms, or other veggies. Cook them with the bacon if they need to be cooked through, and if not, add them at the end when you toss the pasta. You could use a combination of parmesan and other cheeses. When I've made this recipe before, I used a couple of cloves of minced garlic instead of shallot. However, I only had shallots available this time, and I actually thought they were better than garlic. You can substitute a different wide, flat pasta for the spaghetti, e.g., fettuccine or linguine. Add peppers or red pepper flakes to spice things up. After it's plated, grate additional parmesan over the pasta for extra presentation points.

The Year That Was - 2009

2009-12-31T11:41:00.001-06:00

It was a very good year, and I'm glad it's over. My mom is great for starting family traditions around holidays. We have a couple for New Year's. Besides eating ham, black-eyed peas, and cabbage, we have a shell game where you draw your fortune for the year. Last year, she had us doing the flying wish paper.

Just so you know, I totally got my wish, so I think it works, and I'm doing it again for 2010.

And here's my year in cities again; unfortunately, the list isn't as exciting as 2008 or 2007. With a new job, it was kind of hard to get away, but I have high hopes that 2010 will be a better travel year. All the cities where I stayed at least one night in 2009:

Lubbock, TX
New York, NY
Fort Worth, TX
Richardson, TX
and Dalhart, TX

You?

White Christmas

2009-12-24T03:29:00.001-06:00

It appears that 2009 will go down in my book as a White Christmas... for two reasons. The first is that big, fluffy snowflakes started falling at 8:30 or so on the 23rd, and there are a couple of inches on the ground now. I have high expectations that the snow will last through Christmas day. If not, at least Christmas Eve is going to be beautiful.

The second reason we're having a White Christmas is that this week my sister got engaged to a man with the surname White.

A new baby and a new brother-in-law and a little excitement overload for me, but lots of wonderful things happening in my family lately.

And you know me, right away I wanted to gauge Wendy's fiancé's tastes and find out what foods he likes. So far, I know that he likes French Toast for breakfast. We celebrated his birthday (same as Nancy Kay's) and I found out he likes cheesecake better than layer cakes and isn't a big fan of chocolate or nuts. I can accommodate! He's very diplomatic about things, too. You know how I harass people about my cooking with "What do you think? What would make it better?," but he will not be nonplussed - simple, quick, polite answers and that's the end of it.

I'm personally hoping for a few days of rest after Christmas to catch up on sleep. I usually do something memorably crazy when I go without sleep, like cutting open my finger while slicing bread, setting my wallet on top of my car and then forgetfully driving off without it (that's happened twice), etc. This week, Adam and I doubled with Sarah and John. We were playing Cranium, and then while trying to hand a game card to Sarah, I spilled a full mug of hot chocolate on the white carpet next to my date. Wow. He helped me clean up the mess, though. That's attractive.

There are budding snow drifts in my backyard. Snowball fight at my house tomorrow! followed by sledding on whatever hills or drainage ditches we can find. Merry Christmas!

Aunt Kimberly

2009-12-21T17:42:00.002-06:00

My niece arrived at 5:42 pm. She weighed 8 pounds and was 20 inches long. Does she look like her mom or dad?

Airing of Grievances

2009-12-19T22:42:00.003-06:00

I hope there is a market for my anger, because I've got a lot of it bottled up and ready to ship out. I have a lot of problems with you people, and now you're gonna hear about it!
My annual Festivus party was a typical disappointment. Serenity now!

This year the menu included a choice of three soups, a BIG salad, assorted breads (Marble Rye not among them), and Black and White Cookies.

The Black and White Cookie is a New York classic, and if there's anything that inpsires my angry Festivus spirit, it's anything related to New York. It's a dirty, nasty, cynical place, the least happy state in the Union. I spent the worst weekend of 2009 there.

But these Black and Whites were quite tasty. One of my guests commented that they tasted like muffin tops. Top of the muffin, TO YOU! I used the King Arthur Flour recipe, which was good, but the white icing was a disappointment. I think I'll try the America's Test Kitchen Baking Book Black and White Cookie Recipe next, or perhaps the original Utica bakery recipe.

Happy Festivus to all! I made a donation in your name to the Human Fund - money for people.

Cassata Siciliana

2009-12-14T12:57:00.002-06:00

I wrote this post a year ago. Seriously. But I figure this is a good holiday recipe, so without further adieu, I present Cassata Siciliana.

One of the best things I did during my visit to New York was attend a cooking class at the Institute of Culinary Education taught by a sweet little Sicilian lady. The theme of the class was Pan di Spagna (yeah, that links to Italian Wikipedia), which is Italian sponge cake, and it's useful for any number of desserts: cupcakes, biscotti, tiramisu. In class, we broke into small groups and each group made a different recipe using the Pan di Spagna recipe as the base. I made Cassata Siciliana.

I didn't get a lot out of the class in the way of new cooking skills or techniques, but it was a lot of fun, and I did get this recipe.

Basic Pan Di Spagna Sponge Cake
6 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon Fiori de Sicilia (available at King Arthur) or vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 teaspoons baking powder

Separate the egg whites and the yolks. Beat the egg whites with 1/2 cup of the sugar until stiff. Using the same beaters, beat the egg yolks with the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar until thick. Add the Fiori de Sicilia or vanilla and fold in the flour with one-third of the whites to lighten the batter. Fold in the rest of the beaten egg whites, spoon into two 8- or 9-inch layer cake pans and bake in a 350°F oven for 20 to 30 minutes.

Cassata Siciliana
*You will need to increase the Basic Pan di Spagna recipe by half for the Cassata Siciliana. We used three tart pans, instead of two cake pans.

Ricotta Filling
5 cups fresh ricotta
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup candied fruits, chopped
4 ounces chopped milk or semi-sweet chocolate or small chocolate morsels
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Beat the ricotta and the sugar with an electric beater until silken smooth. Place 1 cup of the ricotta in a bowl and set aside for the icing. Divide the rest of the ricotta between 2 other bowls and add the candied fruits to one and the chocolate and cinnamon to the other to make the two fillings.

Ricotta Icing
1 cup reserved ricotta
2 cups confectioners' sugar

Beat the ricotta and the sugar until smooth and of spreading consistency. Set aside.

Assembly and Decorating
3 layers of Pan di Spagna
1 1/2 to 2 cups Marsala wine
1/4 cup each red and green candied cherries, sliced in half
1 cup sliced blanched almonds

Place one cake layer on a serving platter or cake plate. Place the Marsala in a small spray bottle, and spray one-third of the wine on the first layer. Spread the ricotta and fruit filling on top of the cake layer. Place the second layer on top of the ricotta filling, and spray with another third of the Marsala wine. Spread the ricotta and chocolate filling on the second layer, top with the third layer, spray it with the rest of the Marsala wine, and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Spread the icing on the top and on the sides of the cake. Press the sliced almonds lightly all over the side of the cake. Place the cherries cut side down in a pattern around the top of the cake alternating red and green. Chill until ready to serve. This is a rich cake, and a small portion is very satisfying. Serves 16 to 20 or more.

I definitely recommend doing something like this if you have an interest in cooking at all. Nice change of pace after doing lots of touristy stuff in New York, and it was fun to meet different people and cook with them - probably the only time I'll play nice in the kitchen. I made the cake again once I got home.

Breakfast of Champions, er, Champurrado

2009-12-01T23:25:00.002-06:00

Winter weather is finally here! Not that I'm not a big fan of cold weather, but I like snow in December. It puts me in a holiday spirit. The rest of the season, the frigid air and short days are a little depressing. But I was very happy to see big, fluffy snowflakes falling this morning.

If the weather outside is frightful, and you need a beverage to warm you, why not try Champurrado?

Never heard of it?

Champurrado is a chocolate-based atole, a warm and thick Mexican drink, based on masa (hominy flour), piloncillo, water or milk and occasionally containing cinnamon, anise seed and or vanilla bean (tasting somewhat like a thick chai tea). - Wikipedia

I used my Indonesian cinnamon (Korintje Cassia) from Kalustyan's. Maybe that makes it less Mexican, but it works.

And I threw in a snowman truffle for good measure.

Recipe from Homesick Texan

All Thanks We Give

2009-11-28T22:32:00.005-06:00

Thanksgiving was a little different for me this year. I didn't host dinner at my house, and I didn't do much cooking. Although, the Friday before Thanksgiving we had a potluck Thanksgiving meal at work, and I brought the turkey and gravy and a dessert.

United had a sweet deal going during November, where if you spent $100 in the store, they gave you a coupon for a free turkey (up to 22 pounds). Here's the part you won't believe, I never spent enough to get a coupon. I haven't spent $50 in a single visit to United in months. I don't buy groceries or cook anymore, and it's pretty pathetic. So Mom gave me one of her turkey coupons, and I picked up a free turkey.

I rubbed butter all over the turkey's skin, then sprinkled it with salt and pepper. Under the skin, I put more salt and pepper, plus some rosemary and orange and lemon zest. I am much better at carving turkey than I was the first time I roasted a turkey. Via NYTimes, a video on how to carve a turkey.

For dessert, I made a really simple recipe, Paula Deen's Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cakes - so easy, I feel guilty admitting to it.

This cake has legions of devoted fans. It was reviewed on foodnetwork.com by 2,141 people, with an average five-star review. Some of the reviews are a little morbid, though, with postings like "Pumpkin Pie is dead to me..." and "mom's favorite-before she died." Is that a recommendation or not?

Lots of delicious food at Thanksgiving dinner with my family. I returned to my cake baking roots and made two desserts as my contribution:

Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake and the Chocolate Blackout Cake with Coconut Buttercream

Five Guys Burgers and Fries

2009-11-19T07:15:00.004-06:00

I have a standing weekly date at Five Guys Burgers and Fries, and if I'm not recovering from kidney stones, and he's not rebuilding schools in Puerto Rico, and I don't bail on him, and he doesn't have to drive to some tiny outlying town for work, it's on.

I order the Little Cheeseburger with mayo, grilled onions, and grilled mushrooms. He gets the same thing "man-sized," and we share an order of cajun style fries. Highly recommend it.

Remember When I Cooked?

2009-11-16T23:05:00.002-06:00

I haven't served a decent meal at my house since before the Frog Legs. I can count everything I've cooked or baked since August on my fingers. I've already told the story of the Red Ribbon Red Velvet and Chocolate Truffles, and now I'll recount the rest for you:

Paula Deen's Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars with Streusel Topping

I find that Paula Deen's recipes are usually overkill in one aspect or another, and in this case it's probably butter. But if loving butter is wrong, I don't want to be right. This is a good recipe, very sweet, very rich and buttery. The improvements I would try: reduce the butter in the crust, halve the streusel recipe, bake it for 10 minutes longer than it specifies, and perhaps add pecans to the crust and/or streusel. This recipe did get lots of compliments, though, and I would definitely make it again.

Emeril's Blue Cheese Waldorf Salad. It's been done before.

A cake for Robert and Laura's wedding

The cake's components: Kahlua Fudge Cake, Chocolate Ganache filling (basically this recipe, but use half semisweet chocolate and half bittersweet chocolate, and use 2 cups of cream per pound of chocolate instead of 2 1/2 cups), and Vanilla Buttercream frosting. On taste, this one ranks with the best, but I still haven't learned how to smooth frosting properly.

I got an invitation to attend a recipe exchange this weekend. The theme is desserts! Obviously, this is my kind of party, but which recipe should I take? The hostess said "easy to medium" level of difficulty, but it's a sliding scale, that is, what are we calling easy? Like Mystery Fruit Salad easy or Gianduia Cake easy?

Frankly, I'm feeling so busy these days that anything more taxing than the Mystery Fruit Salad sounds like too much work. Perhaps I can rise to the occasion, but I need suggestions. Help!

Bun in the Oven

2009-11-12T05:10:00.006-06:00

Those crazy kids Katie and Porter are going to go and make an aunt out of me. I am very excited. I have a feeling I'll be one of those doting relatives that sees any mildly cute kid's outfit or toy and buys it immediately for which to gift the child. I'm determined to be this kid's favorite aunt, and since for now I'm the only one living in the same town, I think I can best the competition.

I'm also hoping that a new baby is a good excuse to buy a decent camera, with which to take thousands of pictures of said baby. I voiced this opinion to Katie a couple of weeks ago, and the baby seriously hiccuped or burped or made some kind of noise from the womb to affirm that it is indeed a good idea.

Katie's co-workers gave her a baby shower last week. I collected pictures of Katie and Porter as children for a slideshow:

The hard thing about not being the oldest child in the family is that there are precious few pictures without the older siblings in them. And Porter, being the third child, is lucky there are pictures of him at all! Abby watched the video and said, "Wow, you guys dressed up a lot." I didn't even notice. I suppose we did dress up a lot as kids, putting on plays and fashion shows and for Halloween.

I made chocolate truffles for the shower. This is one of my favorite recipes. This time I took three different flavors, raspberry, almond, and coffee (Chambord, Amaretto, and Kahlua).

Perfect Chocolate Truffles
Recipe from Cook's Illustrated
Makes 2 dozen 1-inch truffles.

Ingredients

Ganache

9 ounces semisweet chocolate or bittersweet chocolate, chopped coarse
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
2 tablespoons Cognac , dark rum, Grand Marnier, Framboise, Kirsch, Frangelico, Amaretto, Kahlua, or port

Chocolate and Cocoa Coating

8 ounces semisweet chocolate or bittersweet chocolate
2 cups Dutch-processed cocoa powder , sifted

Instructions

For the ganache:
1. Melt chocolate in medium heatproof bowl set over pan of almost simmering water, stirring once or twice, until smooth. Set bowl aside.

2. Bring cream, butter, and corn syrup to strong simmer (about 160 degrees) in non-reactive pan over low heat. Remove pan from heat, cool for 5 minutes, then whisk into chocolate. Whisk in liquor.

3. Refrigerate mixture until it cools to 80 degrees, 15 to 20 minutes.

4. Either in bowl of electric mixer fitted with whisk attachment or with handheld electric mixer, whip mixture at medium speed until slightly lightened and thickened to a texture like store-bought canned chocolate frosting, 25 to 30 seconds.

5. Spoon ganache into large pastry bag fitted with 1/2-inch plain tube. Hold bag perpendicular to pan and with tip about 3/4 inch above work surface, and pipe 3/4-inch mounds (pulling tube away to the side to avoid leaving points) onto parchment or wax paper-covered baking sheet. Alternatively, scoop mounds with tiny (less than 1 tablespoon) ice cream scoop or melon baller.

6. Refrigerate mounds until hardened, at least an hour.

For coating:
7. Following directions in step 1, melt coating chocolate, then cool to 90 degrees, making certain that no water comes into contact with chocolate.

8. Arrange chilled truffle mounds, bowl of melted chocolate, and cocoa-filled high-sided roasting pan on work surface. Working one mound at a time, dip palm of one hand about 1/4-inch deep into melted chocolate, pass one truffle mound with other hand to chocolate-covered hand and close hand around mound to coat, re-dipping hand into chocolate every third or fourth mound.

9. Drop coated truffle into cocoa; roll to coat using fork held in now empty clean hand, leaving truffles in cocoa until chocolate coating has set, about 1 minute. Repeat process until all mounds are in pan of cocoa.

10. Gently roll 5 to 6 truffles at a time in medium strainer to remove excess cocoa, then transfer to serving plate or tightly covered container. (Can be refrigerated for up to one week.)

Notes: These truffles are meant to look like the real thing—small, irregular mounds instead of perfectly spherical balls. If you decide to omit the liquor flavoring, reduce chocolate from 9 to 8 ounces. For microwave-oriented cooks, you can melt the chocolate at 50% power for about 3 minutes. The ganache mixture is quite forgiving. If it cools too much in step 1, place the bowl in a larger pan of warm water and stir the mixture until it has softened and warmed up. If this overwarms the mixture, cool it again as directed. The same flexibility applies if you overwhip the ganache by mistake. Simply warm it over the hot water, cool it, and whip it again. One person alone can dip and coat the truffles, but the process is simpler with a second person to roll coated truffles in cocoa and lift them onto a clean pan.

If the predictions are right, baby Rondella should arrive around Christmas.

Halloweenie

2009-10-31T14:34:00.008-05:00

For Halloween, I went as a website - not even a particularly good website, or one I frequent, mind you, but a website nonetheless. Okay, so it might be a little 2007, but by the time people in Lubbock catch on to something, the trend has already faded in the civilized world.

http://icanhascheezburger.com/
I dressed up at work on Friday, October 30. I had the ears, face paint, tail, and signs to set at the reference desk. Unfortunately, very few people were at the library since it was a Friday (and its being Halloween Eve possibly affected traffic as well), so my awesome costume and lolspeak signs were not seen by many. I did see some other fun costumes: the Tattooed Ladies of TX Library Association, a pirate, a Super Trooper, and my personal favorite, a Texas Tech coed. Sight unseen, I correctly guessed most of the components of that costume: big, blond wig, t-shirt, short running shorts, and UGGs. There was a little boy of 5 or younger that came trick-or-treating to the library, dressed as a Bumblebee Transformer. Someone said, "Don't hurt me!," and he quickly retorted with a loud, "It's just a costume!"

Mark dressed as another website, People of Walmart, which I found hilariously ingenious. He also sent me a scary and disturbing birthday card:

Even though that is a terrible picture of me, I can't resist sharing. This is the result of not having taken a good picture since the 1980s. I involuntarily screamed when I saw that card, and it was awkward because I screamed loud enough that I needed to explain to the people around me why I screamed, but I didn't really want to go there.

Among the Halloween candy I got, and I guess it was actually birthday candy: Seattle Chocolates Coconut Macaroon Truffle Bar, Vosges Mo's Milk Chocolate Bacon Bar, and my favorite bar for awhile, the Vosges Red Fire Chocolate Bar.

Oh, and no Halloween is complete without a little mischief. Here are a couple of "Costume Crimes" from the BYU Police Beat:

October 24: A boy in a gorilla suit was reported attempting to scare girls in Wyview Park. Officers located the monkey man, asked him to go home and he did.

October 29: A suspiciously dressed male was reported entering the law school. He was dressed in all black, was wearing a leg holster, a bulletproof vest, a portable radio, and five rounds of shotgun shells across his chest. The individual was carrying a black bag that contained two Airsoft pistols. The suspect turned out to be a law student and was called out of class for questioning. He stated he was dressed up for costume day; however, he was the only one in the class dressed up in costume. He was directed to remove his vest and was released since he was not violating any federal or state laws.

The Spinster Librarian

2009-10-21T22:13:00.002-05:00

I've had a lot of interesting dates and pseudo dates in the last few months. It helps my self esteem to count any one-on-one time with a single guy as a date, and I'm sure they're all really into me, too. Definitely some highs and lows (very lows!) in the mix.

I could write a book on relationships. I guess everyone thinks that. Here's one piece of advice: If you're in a long-distance relationship, demand some kind of collateral from the guy, like a piece of expensive furniture that's worth more than he is. Hopefully all three of you will be in the same location at some point in the future, but if not, you and the furniture can make a very happy couple. Or it can be good kindle for a fire when you're ready to burn all the pictures, cards, and gifts he gave you.

You can't get that kind of golden advice just anywhere. Here's another one: keep the top of the backrest of your leather couch dusted. If you're snuggling up on the couch and your date tries to put his arm around you, getting an armload of dust is a real mood-killer.

So here's the thing, what do we think about online dating? I've had friends that have met some crazies that way, but let's face it, I'm dating crazies anyway. I've kind of tried that scene before. It was more to make new friends, not love connections, and it worked only passably for that.

My dear friend Kim keeps telling me to try it, but I don't know. The Lubbock market is a small pond, but I don't think I'm in a position to strike up a relationship with anyone out of town, either. Any advice, opinions, or funny stories appreciated.

Dinner and a Book

2009-10-21T07:05:00.004-05:00

I'm a hypocrite. I'm a bad piano teacher; I don't practice. I'm a bad librarian; I don't read books. I could rationalize it somewhat when I was in grad school, but now that I'm past that, I've found other lame excuses. Over the last few months, I've been socializing at such a breakneck pace, I didn't have time for it. I've realized that I'm not going to miss meeting any fabulous men if I cut the outings down to 3-4 nights a week.

If I weren't a librarian, I'd like to be a sociologist or maybe a behavioral economist (except that would involve that pesky math stuff). I ordered a slew of books in that vein that have been on my Amazon wish list for awhile:

Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
By: Dan Ariely

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
By: Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives
By: Nicholas A. Christakis, James H. Fowler

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
By: Chip Heath, Dan Heath

SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance
By: Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (P.S.)
By: Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner

What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures
By: Malcolm Gladwell

Stumbling on Happiness
By: Daniel Gilbert

The Desk and Beyond: Next Generation Reference Services
By: Sarah K. Steiner, M. Leslie Madden

Which one of these things is not like the other? That very work-related book on the bottom, which was the most expensive and least enticing of the lot. It also had these goofy pixelated cover graphics. Thank you, library world, for being stuck in the 20th century as usual.

So when I can, it's no phone, no accompanying friends, just me and a book at home or in a restaurant booth if I really don't feel like being home in my lonely house. Last week, it was Cancún for the Durango Special: juicy, marinated grilled chicken and shrimp smothered with melted cheese; served with rice, guacamole, and pico de gallo; with Predictably Irrational. It is a little hard to concentrate with Tejano music blaring in the background, but the food was great, and the book enthralling. Last night, it was Lean Cuisine Linguine Carbonara with The Black Swan. I've been excited to leave work every night and get home to my books; when it's to get home to my cats, then you can really worry.

Last night, I read until I fell asleep, ignoring any calls, texts, emails, calendar reminders all evening. I did get a call at 5:45am or so this morning. In a case of friendship fail, I had forgotten to set my alarm clock to wake me up so I could drive some friends to the airport for an early morning flight. Already fifteen minutes late, but luckily I arrived at their house two minutes after the call. I think all was well, but maybe a little reading is a bad thing.

Ship of Fools

2009-10-13T19:08:00.007-05:00

Intel "Rockstar" from Crystal English on Vimeo.

In my foodie world, Christopher Kimball is like a rock star. The bow tie is hot; the food snobbery, condescension, and choosiness about ingredients is attractive. He's the editor and founder of Cook's Illustrated and the host of America's Test Kitchen. Cook's has been a go-to recipe source of mine for awhile now. Their recipes are almost always perfect in terms of flavor, technique, etc. I feel comfortable making their recipes for dinner parties without a dry run, because they rarely give me any trouble.

Kimball wrote an Op-Ed article inspired by the closing of Gourmet magazine. He lamented the shift of loyalty away from experienced, credentialed chefs and towards untrained cooks and the democracy of the Internet, read food blogs. My favorite quote from Kimball's piece is: "The world needs fewer opinions and more thoughtful expertise." He talked of food media specifically, but it's the same issue for all of them - radio, television, publishers, recording industry - and it's a similar problem in libraries and academia as well: Why would you want to pay for anything when you can find what you want online for free? Why would you want something that requires more effort than a Google search?

So I set out to write a ditto blog post, complete with passion and exclamation points, railing against "the democracy of the Internet." I was prepared to support all of Kimball's assertions.

And then I started writing.

Duh, I'm completely guilty of succumbing to the democracy of the Internet, where content is free and conveniently accessible. I don't have cable or even local television channels these days, because I usually just check YouTube, Hulu, or Netflix for whatever I want. They've got Matlock. Purchasing music? Why would I want to do that? There are more free radio stations and free sample downloads than I could ever listen to. Magazines and newspapers - a complete waste of money if I can get their content online for free. Most products of the mass media are complete drivel anyway, but it's also a factor of my pretentiousness to isolate myself from all of it.

I didn't read Gourmet. Any Gourmet recipes I've made came from the free site Epicurious. My mom has a few cooking magazines at her house, and I've never looked at a single one of them and thought it was something I'd want to subscribe to. I don't buy cookbooks. When I need a recipe, I always search food blogs, Epicurious, and yes, the Food Network site. You can bet I'm right there reading all of the comments and reviews written by inexperienced anonyms.

What was I going to rail against? I'm part of the problem.

Now that doesn't mean that I don't still use a LOT of Cook's recipes. Kimball followed up his Op-Ed with a post on his blog titled Ship of Fools? and I agree with his statement (down in the comments section) "I have had hundreds of people tell me over the years that the one thing that Cook’s has done for them is to build their confidence — they realized that they were not lousy cooks, they were just using lousy recipes." I have said many times that being a great cook doesn't take that much skill or innate talent, you only need start with a good recipe. Going through the process of cooking through dozens of Cook's recipes, with their precise instructions, helped me build a knowledge base of the fundamentals of cooking.

And yet, Adam Roberts of Amateur Gourmet made a good point when he tweeted "Chris Kimball, your recipes might work, but your magazine is the dullest, most brain-numbing one around. Blogs r better." (His more gramatically correct opinion is here.)

What do you think?

Fluffernutter

2009-10-06T01:05:00.005-05:00

What's your favorite sandwich? The favorite sandwich of the Massachusetts legislature is the Fluffernutter, a sandwich made with peanut butter and marshmallow fluff. And if you try one, it might become your favorite, too.

Have you ever heard of a fluffernutter before? I really can't remember when I first ate one. I do have a memory of visiting Washington, DC in my late teens. My family ate dinner in Union Station at some tourist trap that advertised world cuisine and had an entrée on its menu for each of various countries. Do you know what it listed for the United States offering? The fluffernutter. And Scott ordered one. It's not that he was foolish to do so. It was simply remarkable to me that of all the things that could have been on the menu, the fluffernutter was the thing chosen to represent the United States.

It's a very northeastern thing. The Marshmallow Fluff made by Durkee-Mower in Lynn, Massachusetts can't even be purchased in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Colorado, Utah... I like this Mister Rogers video about how it's made.

I've half a mind to order a case of the fluff if only to support a small US company that's still in the family and still making their product one small batch at a time. It's probably the only business using Comic Sans on their site that I'd patronize. And after all, the shipping costs couldn't be that much - it's just fluff.

My personal favorite thing to order at Sheridan's is a vanilla custard concrete with peanut butter and marshmallow fluff, so I may venture to try a few of these Fluff recipes. And you've got to listen to these catchy jingles:

Fluffernutter Theme
The Flufferettes

Update: You can purchase Fluff at United Supermarkets and World Market in Lubbock. Hat tip to Brent!

Remember When We Cooked?

2009-10-04T10:27:00.002-05:00

I attended a "cooking demonstration" on Thursday night, where two cookbook authors were promoting their cookbook "Remember When We Cooked?" That was pretty much the most ironic title ever for a cookbook, because for most of the recipes, the two ladies on stage merely combined a couple of ingredients from a can or the freezer. I don't think I'm shattering their reality by saying what they were doing wasn't cooking. One of the ladies even said, as she poured several cans of fruit into a bowl for "Spiced Hot Fruit," "This is my kind of cooking, dumping." The same woman later said she didn't go in for that fancy stuff like kosher salt. Here is one of the recipes that they demonstrated from their cookbook:

Mystery Fruit Salad
Serves 12

6 crisp apples
6 bars (2 ounces each) Snickers
12 ounces whipped topping

Cut apples into bite-size chunks. Cut Snickers into small pieces. Combine apples, Snickers, and whipped topping in a mixing bowl. Chill before serving.

Maybe you're like me and surprised that anyone had the need to write that one down, not to mention that it's being passed off as a fruit salad. The ladies seemed like your stereotypical sweet, rural, baby boomer soccer moms, and I say good for them creating a moneymaking opportunity out of a cookbook that any community church's ladies society could have put together.

But back to their cookbook's title, "Remember When We Cooked?" I didn't think it was a reference to the days when grandma went out and caught, killed, plucked, gutted and roasted a chicken for dinner, but I thought at least they meant the good old days when grandma combined flour, sugar, eggs, and milk into something without opening a can or boxed mix. Even the ridiculous opening sentences in the A-J's writeup - Really, all they require is water, electricity and a table. Then stand back and watch the magic - make no allusion to, you know, food! being involved in their recipes.

One of the most beautiful things I've read in the New York Times lately is Michael Pollan's Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch, which discusses among other things, the popularity of the Food Network amongst people who couldn't boil water properly, and how the amount of time spent on food preparation has an inverse relationship with obesity. He wrote:

I spent an enlightening if somewhat depressing hour on the phone with a veteran food-marketing researcher, Harry Balzer, who explained that “people call things ‘cooking’ today that would roll their grandmother in her grave — heating up a can of soup or microwaving a frozen pizza.” Balzer has been studying American eating habits since 1978; the NPD Group, the firm he works for, collects data from a pool of 2,000 food diaries to track American eating habits. Years ago Balzer noticed that the definition of cooking held by his respondents had grown so broad as to be meaningless, so the firm tightened up the meaning of “to cook” at least slightly to capture what was really going on in American kitchens. To cook from scratch, they decreed, means to prepare a main dish that requires some degree of “assembly of elements.” So microwaving a pizza doesn’t count as cooking, though washing a head of lettuce and pouring bottled dressing over it does. Under this dispensation, you’re also cooking when you spread mayonnaise on a slice of bread and pile on some cold cuts or a hamburger patty. (Currently the most popular meal in America, at both lunch and dinner, is a sandwich; the No. 1 accompanying beverage is a soda.) At least by Balzer’s none-too-exacting standard, Americans are still cooking up a storm — 58 percent of our evening meals qualify, though even that figure has been falling steadily since the 1980s.

So perhaps the dump-and-stir brand of cooking the ladies did at the demo was in fact cooking.

Red Ribbon for Red Velvet Cake

2009-09-29T00:25:00.002-05:00

The South Plains Fair is back in all its glory. A few hours there is enough to last you for a year until it returns. The freaks of the town come out of the woodwork for it, and that includes me. They even shipped Eddie Money in for a pretty pathetic concert. I don't ever want to get old or listen to his songs again.

The typical assortment of fair foods is available, with nothing too shocking to report. The hit of the state fair, Deep Fried Butter, hasn't made it west to Lubbock yet. The only new vendor I saw was the frozen chocolate banana stand, which I fully expected to see the Bluths manning.

As usual, my focus was on the women's building and the culinary competition. This year proved to have no shortage of cake wrecks. I was completely befuddled by a Best of Show decorated cake that had strange blue smears on top and Goldfish pressed into the sides and by the cake with off-center pecans and crumbs scattered on top.

But what do I know? I delivered my Red Velvet Cake entry with pride, saw another red velvet cake already in the display case, and snickered at it. It's not really fair for me to enter. How could I lose? My cake is twice as big and much better looking. Well, if you can't tell from the picture below, the cake that I laughed at got a blue ribbon, and mine, a red.

I wish the judges had to give me feedback on why my cake came in second. I think I should challenge the winner, Theresa, to a Throwdown. She's probably a very nice person, but when it comes to baking, the gloves (cooking mitts?) come off! I think I could take her.

My undefeated fair run is over, but I guess when you think about it, red is really the best color ribbon to award to a Red Velvet Cake.

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
from Cook's Country - Serves 12

ingredients

Cake
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
Pinch salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons natural cocoa powder
2 tablespoons red food coloring
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

Frosting
16 tablespoons unsalted butter , softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar
16 ounces cream cheese, cut into 8 pieces, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Pinch salt

preparation

1. For the cake: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. Whisk buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla, and eggs in large measuring cup. Mix cocoa with food coloring in small bowl until a smooth paste forms.

2. With electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and sugar together until fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down bowl as necessary. Add one-third of flour mixture and beat on medium-low speed until just incorporated, about 30 seconds. Add half of buttermilk mixture and beat on low speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Scrape down bowl as necessary and repeat with half of remaining flour mixture, remaining buttermilk mixture, and finally remaining flour mixture. Scrape down bowl, add cocoa mixture, and beat on medium speed until completely incorporated, about 30 seconds. Using rubber spatula, give batter final stir. Scrape into prepared pans and bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool cakes in pans 10 minutes then turn out onto rack to cool completely, at least 30 minutes.

3. For the frosting: With electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add cream cheese, one piece at a time, and beat until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Beat in vanilla and salt. Refrigerate until ready to use.

4. When cakes are cooled, spread about 2 cups frosting on one cake layer. Top with second cake layer and spread top and sides of cake with remaining frosting. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve, up to 3 days.

Goddess of the Library

2009-09-17T02:51:00.003-05:00

My optometrist asked me if I have a lot of people come up to me and ask for directions, help, etc. He said that my pupil size is a subconscious indicator to people that I'm friendly. Once again, I have to think that I chose the right line of work for myself, because that is the majority of how I spend my workday: doling out directions and instructions, leading tours, and generally caring way too much about solving people's problems.

People come up to the reference desk and need help finding things in the library, and I talk them through the process step by step. Teach a man to fish and all that. But I'm starting to talk to myself all the time because I'm so used to showing people how to do things. "Now I'm going to check my Gmail. First, I'll open a new tab in Firefox, and then..." It's starting to draw some stares.

The job is very rewarding. I had a professor tell me that I changed his life by showing him how to locate articles through the library website. I helped a couple of new students with a library scavenger hunt, and they were effusive in their thanks. One of them said, "It's like you're the goddess of the library. No one else could help me. They just gave me your card." So I think I'm changing my title from reference librarian to goddess of the library. Definitely has the connotation of superpowers, which should help with job security.

I get some funny questions, too. This summer, a new student asked when the first day of classes would be. I answered August 27. She said, "Oh, I wondered, cause that's the same week as Rush and I didn't know if they'd conflict." I get plenty of questions with seemingly obvious answers such as "Where is the basement?"

I had a freshman come up to the desk to ask where room 159 was, or wait, maybe it was 179. Yeah, she had no idea where she was supposed to be to attend an extra-credit lecture. We don't have a room 159 or room 179 here, I told her. I did some hunting, walked her around the building, even took her to the room that later turned out to be what she was looking for. To all this, she said no, no, I don't think this is it. "What's your instructor's name? I could call him or search the library calendars..." She didn't know the instructor's name and wasn't too sure what the course number was.

"I wrote all this down in my planner, but I lost my planner."

By this time, another student had come up to the desk with the same question. "I'm looking for an extra-credit lecture in room 200."

"Room 200?" I said, "There's really not any place on the second floor where that could be..."

The two students huddled with me for a moment. Then luckily another student, a total overachiever, came up at that moment and asked where room 309 was for the lecture. Eureka. "You guys really need to write things down," I said and smiled. I'll be a great mom.

You see, these are the kind of goofy stories and non-funny jokes that librarians sit around and tell each other for a laugh. I made up this joke I'm rather proud of:

What's a reference librarian's favorite question to get?
"What's your number?"

After some pondering, I decided that joke lacks the essential element of truthiness that makes a joke funny. So here's the revamped one:

What's a question that a reference librarian will never get?
"What's your number?"

The Once and Future Beans

2009-09-09T04:25:00.003-05:00

I've wasted a lot of time despising West Texas. I thought cowboy culture wasn't my thing, and maybe it isn't, but I feel like I can at least appreciate it more than before. There are fun things to do in this town, as mentioned in this long column, and Lubbock is full of honorable, hard-working folks. I decided to cowboy up and start supporting local tradition and heritage.

Mike and I went to the Ranching Heritage Center fundraiser where they staged Andy Wilkinson’s "Charlie Goodnight: His Life in Poetry and Song." The five inch stilettos I wore turned out to be very impractical for the walk across the dirt and grass to the seating area. And that's one thing a West Texas woman should never be, impractical. I should have worn my boots to keep from being bitten by ants.

I've been going over to my granddaddy's house once a week to watch old film reels from the 1950s of my dad's family and to see slides of the farm, family parties, and vacations. The family and the farming equipment look completely different, but it's pretty amazing how little the view has changed from around my folks' house in the last fifty years.

In the cowboy tradition, here's a recipe for baked beans worth a long trail ride: Once and Future Beans - the beans that will change your life. Although I've alluded to the fabulous recipe here, here, and here, the Once and Future Beans deserve a post of their own.

These beans are so simple, a cowhand could make them, but they do require some advance planning. First, you have to soak a pound of dried beans overnight, and then the beans themselves have to cook for 6-8 hours. Not a recipe you can be spontaneous about. There are basically only four steps after you soak the beans.

These beans fill your home with the most wonderful aroma while they cook. Last time I made them, I left the house for a few hours and was fairly overwhelmed upon pulling into the garage, opening my car door, and catching the scent of the beans cooking in the house. Another time the smell wafting through the neighborhood attracted a dog to my garage door.

Serve them alongside some beef, chicken, barbecue, taters, or let them stand alone. I cannot overstate the greatness of this recipe. They'll be the hit of the party every time.

Vernon, Florida

2009-08-19T07:23:00.009-05:00

I read the preprint of an article discussing the documentary Vernon, Florida. After reading that the town got the nickname "Nub City" because people in the town were lopping off their own limbs to collect insurance money, and that at one time more than fifty such cases were reported in a town of only 500 people, I knew the film would have some colorful characters.

So I invited Steve, my good docu-/mockumentary watching friend, over. And what menu goes with this film?, I asked myself. I could do turkey, because one of the main characters was a Zen Master of turkey hunting. Other possibilities? Ham perhaps? All my ideas seemed too conventional, and then it came to me.

I had seen frog legs in the seafood case at the United Market Street stores. I had heard they tasted like chicken. If ever there was a perfect dish to accompany a film about "Nub City," surely frog legs was it. I went to Market Street on 98th & Quaker and searched without success for frog legs. I asked the girl behind the counter if they had any frog legs. With a half smirk, she said they were out, but I should try the other Market Street store, because "they sell weird stuff."

I went to the Market Street on 50th & Indiana and approached the seafood case. There were the frog legs at $5.99 a pound. I made eye contact with the woman behind the counter. "I would like one pound of frog legs, please." The face she made was classic. It was a perfect combination of surprise, horror, and disgust. "You don't get that request often?" I asked.

I bought my frog legs and went home. The meat was almost as inexpensive as chicken. I had a recipe ready, Sauteed Frog Legs with Tomato Garlic Butter. Unfortunately the recipe did not specify whether to sauté the meat bone-in or not, and since I had not cooked frog legs before, I wasn't sure what the norm was - if there is anything normal about eating frog legs.

I set myself to the task of cutting the meat off the bones, and it took me awhile just to finish a pound of legs. It took me so long, in fact, that poor Steve had to go to work mashing potatoes. The meat cooked quickly. I added tomatoes, shallots, and substituted sherry for the white wine. I didn't measure it out, and I may have put too much in. Added a little chopped parsley and plated it up with mashed potatoes and corn on the cob. I tried the first bite. The frog meat was a little rubbery, springy, you might say, if you're into bad jokes. It had a slightly fishy flavor as well.

Suffices to say I wasn't the biggest fan of frog legs. What was even worse was that I tossed the bones and scraps of frog meat into the trash, but I didn't take out the trash for a couple of days. By that time, the stench was quite lethal. Scott said it could be used in chemical warfare.

For dessert, I made a Buttermilk Chess Pie, which sounded good and Southern to finish off the meal. I tried a recipe from the Good Book. I guess I undercooked the pie, but it was still especially awful. Perhaps it was bad kitchen karma on account of what I did to the frogs.

As for the film, it was interesting, though not quite the freak show I hoped for. I had to turn on the captions to understand the speakers due to their thick accents. The panhandle of Florida is a lot like the Panhandle of Texas. I could envision any one of those characters sitting at the local Dairy Queen telling the same wild tales.

Harold and Maude and Ginger Pie

2009-08-12T04:15:00.009-05:00

I'm on a great streak of combining my food with movies, the latest pairing being Harold and Maude with Ginger Pie. Talk about a quirky little movie. I hadn't seen it in years; the thing I remembered most about it was that I liked the soundtrack provided by the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens.

A few months ago Rob asked me if I could make ginger pie as in what Maude serves Harold in the movie. Humph, I've never had that or made it or heard of anyone else doing so either, I told him. I started searching for recipes online. There's nothing out there, I've looked, he said. There are only recipes for lemon ginger, pear ginger, ricotta ginger, but there's no ginger pie. He was right. I found Mile High Ginger Pie, but it still looked to be more instant vanilla pudding than ginger.

Rob arrived as I was finishing the pie filling. I had no idea how this pie-making project was going to turn out. We tried the filling before pouring it in the crust. Hey, that's not bad--actually it's good. Filling in the pie crust, pie in the oven, checked it at 30 minutes, decided to let it stay in a few more, then out of the oven to cool.

We started Harold and Maude, and at the part where Harold is over at Maude's and she offers him oat straw tea and ginger pie, we paused the movie to try a slice. We liked it a lot. It definitely had the dark, sweet ginger flavor of gingersnaps or gingerbread. Rob was especially excited to taste it, because apparently he'd wanted to try this pie since 1985 when he first saw the movie. So without further ado, I present a completely original Kimberly recipe, that is, best I can tell, unlike any others out there:

Ginger Pie

ingredients

8 ounces crystallized ginger, chopped
1 cup water
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1 egg
1 prebaked 9-inch pie shell
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled

preparation

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Combine the crystallized ginger and water in a heavy saucepan. Cook over high heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until water is mostly evaporated and mixture is thickened and sticky, at least 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the heavy cream.

Mix the flour, brown sugar, honey, and egg together in a separate bowl. Then stir in the ginger mixture. Pour this mixture into the prepared crust. Thinly slice the butter and arrange the pieces over the top of the filling.

Place pie on the lower-middle rack of the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes. Cool to room temperature before cutting.

One change I made from what I originally did was specifying that the ginger be chopped. Last night I used large pieces of crystallized ginger, instead of chopping them, and when I got a bite with a big piece of ginger, the flavor was a little too strong for me. Also, it was only after the pie was in the oven that I realized that I hadn't added salt or vanilla to the pie filling, which things I'm pretty sure every pie needs a little of, so I may make that change for future experiments. The only other problem I see is that the filling is a little shallow for a 9" pie. I would remedy that with a little more cream and sugar and an additional egg.

Between the Ginger Pie and Sunday's Summer Berry Pie, I'm on quite a pie kick. I would love to know how the recipe turns out for you.

You can do what you want.
The opportunity's on
And if you can find a new way
You can do it today.

Julie & Julia

2009-08-10T23:28:00.005-05:00

Last fall, I read My Life in France and loved it. I was going through one of those ugly phases in life where you feel like all your circumstances are beyond your control, present life is unhappy, and there is no hope of respite in your murky future course. I had succumbed to melancholia and needed something cheery and inspiring. And it may be ridiculous to admit, but I did find the fluffy autobiography of Julia Child to be inspiring.

The joy and persistence with which Julia undertook everything - learning French, enrolling in the Cordon Bleu culinary school, practicing cooking techniques, creating recipes, traveling, doting on her husband, making new friends, writing Mastering the Art of French Cooking - certainly motivated me in the kitchen but in life as well.

I have been excited to see Julie & Julia since the online saturation of ad banners, trailers, critical reviews, and blog write-ups began. Perhaps you have not been so inundated, but foodie sites, blogs, and the New York Times can talk about nothing else:

NYTimes movie review

Nora Ephron owns NY

NYTimes on healthy marriages in the film

NYTimes on food styling in the movie

NYTimes on Julia Child by Michael Pollan

Ten things I liked about the movie

Alamo Drafthouse film screening menu

Saturday morning, I hosted a French breakfast before going to see the movie. We had pain perdu, omelettes, and white chocolate mousse with blackberries.

I enjoyed the movie. The Julie part of the movie was very reminiscent of You've Got Mail, complete with voiceovers, heavy old laptops, and New York scenery, so Nora Ephron definitely has her signature on this. The Julia part was better, with many hilarious scenes and a very sweet romance between Julia and husband Paul.

One of the pivotal points in the book and the movie is when Julia has her first meal in Paris, sole meuniere in a bubbling browned butter sauce. I tried to recreate the sensation for Sunday dinner at my house. I dredged orange roughy filets in flour and fried them in butter. Then I made a sauce by heating butter until it turned light brown and had a nutty fragrance, adding lemon juice and parsley, and spooning it over the fish.

I served the fish with asparagus and croissants. French bread would have been better as croissants are already too buttery, but I had to make do with what I had on hand. For dessert, a Summer Berry Pie with blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries. I don't know how French it is, but nonetheless, bon appétit!

Charade

2009-08-10T06:10:00.004-05:00

The hobby about which I'm most passionate after cooking is classic movies, and I define classic as pre-1950. I love talking about classic movies and the actors who played in them. I've always been a fan. In junior high english class when we had to do book reports, I did mine on Cary Grant biographies. For my ninth birthday, I asked my mom to get me An Affair to Remember with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr on VHS. Some of the other titles I requested around that same age were Casablanca, Rebecca, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and Roman Holiday. My other junior high obsession was The Beatles. I was as much a groupie as one could be in the 1990s, even waited in line at midnight at Best Buy for the Beatles Anthology albums. I had a watch that played "I Want to Hold Your Hand." This immersion in pop culture of previous decades had the effect of making me into a fuddy duddy at the age of puberty who went around saying, "The music and movies you young people favor today are rubbish."

Rob knows more about movies and pop culture than anyone else I know, so it's great to debate the merits of one film over another with him. He told me a few weeks ago that for his birthday party, he was going to show a movie at the Firehouse Theater in the Underwood Center, and so we hashed out some ideas for the film he should show.

Casablanca? No, too serious and would the audience tolerate a black and white film? Bringing up Baby? I said the dialogue was too fast; we need something more physically exciting. I suggested one of my favorite movies, Charade, and started naming its selling points. It stars Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. It's got comedy, suspense, romance, and mystery. It's set in Paris. Haute fashion from the 1960s. Score by Henry Mancini. I could go on. He agreed.

I made the party invitation, which I thought turned out well -

and offered to take a couple of treats. After Rob's input, I decided on Black Forest Brownies and White Chocolate Chip Blondies. The brownie recipe was a miss, but the blondies were alright. They're very sweet and akin to a White Chocolate Macadamia cookie. Rob also got popcorn and treats donated by Cinemark, quite a coup, since he does so much to promote film around here.

It was one of the most fun parties I've been to. I started to feel completely selfish for recommending one of my favorite movies as the film we should watch. I hoped everyone else would enjoy it, too. I've seen that movie countless times since I was a child, but it was exhilarating to watch it in a theater. View the Charade trailer and stream the entire film online, because it's in the public domain.

No More Playing the Field

2009-07-27T18:21:00.003-05:00

What do you think of themed wedding cakes? Does it depend on the theme? Like you're okay with a Star Trek cake (this one looks to be a good possibility to me), but you don't understand someone choosing a hunting theme? What about sports-themed wedding cakes?

I made a groom's cake this weekend. Once again, I made Bobby Flay's Chocolate Blackout Wedding Cake with Coconut Buttercream. If Bobby could only know the impact he's made on Lubbock with that recipe. The groom even said I could add chipotle pepper, which earned him my undying respect. He wanted it to look similar to this, but without the strawberries and drizzled chocolate.

I learned a few things making this cake. First, I was pretty sure that I was incapable of smoothing buttercream frosting to a perfect evenness; now I know it. It's even more of a problem on a square cake than a round one. Second, there's not a legal way to get bright red frosting without using two dozen bottles of red food coloring. Any amount less than that just gets you bright pink frosting. I'm not sure what blood would do for the color, but I was getting tempted to try it. I do have a big bowl full of red frosting left over. If you're above the red scare, come over and have some. It tastes pretty good despite the added quart of dye. The blue frosting was pretty bright, too. One mom said, "Don't you dare get any of that blue frosting on the bride's dress!"

I wish I had done a better job with it. I'm afraid it had a bit of Cake Wreck-ish quality to it, but the groom said he was happy and that they got some good pictures with it of him swinging the bat and whatnot. It's a little different negotiating with grooms on their wedding cake than brides. Not that I've ever done a cake for a bridezilla or anything, but brides have stronger opinions because they're under more pressure. Guys have it made. Groom's cakes can be fun and bright and silly or non-existent and guests don't really care. And are you aware of this superstition? A single girl should take a piece of the groom's cake home and sleep with it under her pillow, and the man she dreams of is who she will marry. Hasn't worked out for me yet, and frankly, that sounds like a waste of good cake.

But I believe the best sports-themed wedding cake I've seen is this AT&T Jones Stadium wedding cake. Mike sent me pictures of it and I am dying to know what bakery made this cake. If you know, please tell me! Steve put it best: "That's the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. And they included the score of the most beautiful game I have ever seen."

Happy Anniversary

2009-07-24T03:10:00.013-05:00

Katie and Porter just celebrated their one year wedding anniversary. I can't believe it's been a year since they got married. In a way, this year has positively flown by, and yet their wedding day seems like a lifetime ago. It was a wonderful day, though, on which I also made my first wedding cake.

Being the first anniversary, the bride and groom got to eat the traditionally saved top tier of the cake. Rose Levy Beranbaum of The Cake Bible says freezing butter cakes with buttercream frosting for the first anniversary is a tradition that needs to go away. I agree with her. Like so many other typical wedding practices, this is a ridiculous one. What a waste of good cake. The tradition of saving wedding cakes for a year must hearken back to the days when people served fruitcakes at weddings. Fruitcakes have the consistency of a rock to begin with, so keeping one around for a year doesn't really lessen its glory. Perhaps a better tradition would be hunting down the baker who made your wedding cake to order a fresh one for the anniversary.

It reminds me of that Seinfeld episode where Elaine steals the piece of cake from the 1937 wedding of King Edward VIII that her boss bought at auction for $29,000. "It was the most romantic thing I've ever eaten," she exclaimed. "How was it?," Jerry asked. "A little stale." This cake was a little stale, too. Not to deliberately gross anyone out, but the frosting had developed a few tiny green specks in it. The chocolate ganache filling was still good, though the toffee bits lost any crunch they once had.

I think everyone in the family had a small slice, but we threw half the cake away. Wendy ate the ganache off the plastic pillar that was in the center supporting the cake topper. Cake on the cob, someone called it.

I'm celebrating an anniversary of my own. I just marked four years since I bought my house. Another anniversary that I can't believe is here, yet so much has happened in those four years. Half of my house still isn't decorated, and the other half probably isn't decorated well. I've given up daydreaming about Prince Charming and prefer to daydream about kitchen remodeling and upgrades. I don't find that home maintenance costs and keeping up a lawn are always personally rewarding, but I love this house. I decided to commemorate this anniversary by purchasing a new bedroom set.

Maybe when it gets here I'll have that housewarming party -

Persian Love Cake

2009-07-23T06:31:00.003-05:00

Last Saturday I made the aforementioned Persian Love Cake for a friend before she moved away. Wendy said, "You're baking the love cake for a girl?" Yes, in fact, for one of my dearest friends, who was involved with the curious incident of the stapler in Jell-O, dinner parties, baking escapades, and introducing me to amazing Persian and Indian foods.

It was a chiffon cake, which has a really light texture, more similar to angel food cake than your typical butter cake. An angel food cake uses only egg whites (no yolks) and doesn't use any added fats like butter, oil, or dairy. A chiffon cake uses egg whites and yolks and oil. For both cakes you have to be careful to whip the egg whites long enough or they won't have that trademark fluffy texture and rise. For the chiffon cake, I whipped the whites to marshmallow fluff consistency, then stirred one-third of the whites into the yolk mixture to lighten it, then gently folded in the rest.

The creamy frosting for this cake had saffron and rose water in it. Very delicious. It also had rose petals on top which were painted with egg white and sugar to give them a sheen. And while the poor lighting in my house made it look a little radioactive in photos, it was a pretty cake.

I love the strong cardamom flavor in this cake. And yes, those rose petals and pistachios on top are edible. I think the cake was a hit with Gul's family. This is a good one to add to the repertoire.

Goober Grape

2009-07-16T05:48:00.000-05:00

Have you ever tried Smucker's Goober Grape? My grandparents always had a stock of the stuff when I was little, and I often requested a Goober Grape sandwich. Peanut butter and jelly out of the same jar? It blew my mind. I still think it must take a little bit of magic to get that peanut butter and jelly swirled into the jar so beautifully. But I tried a bite of the stuff today and was quickly reminded that going to the trouble of opening two separate jars is a better option. There's something not quite right about that peanut butter. I assume it takes some crazy additives to keep the peanut butter from mixing with the jelly in the jar.

Speaking of goobers, here are some more highlights from the recent editions of the BYU police beat. One of these made me laugh until I cried, but then, I'm easily amused.

Police Beat for June 28

FIREARMS

June 16: Someone reported seeing a man in the stadium with a rifle. The police responded and found out it was a grounds employee sent to eliminate pigeons with a pellet gun. Officers stopped him. The man was not able to shoot any pigeons.

ANIMAL PROBLEMS

June 18: A skinny brown snake was reported by the stairs at 800 N. 300 East. When police arrived, no snake was found.

June 20: A stray cat fell into a mechanical well and couldn’t get out. Officers responded and rescued the cat.

June 24: Concerned people reported someone chasing a duck around Maeser Hill with a motor scooter. Officers responded to the call and told the person not to harass ducks. The person complied.

Police Beat for July 7

July 3: Officers responded to a suspicious person at the Bookstore upset about the deodorant selection. The person picked up a stick of deodorant, kicked it across the floor, then paid for the deodorant and left.

Police Beat for July 14

SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY

July 8: A suspicious blue canvas bag was reported in the NICB. Police responded and found it contained a water polo ball and a towel.

ANIMAL PROBLEMS

July 4: An owl was found in the former president’s Home. An officer communicated with the owl and it left.

July 6: An injured bird was reported on campus. An officer helped the bird into a pine tree.

DISORDERLY CONDUCT

July 4: Several people in the parking lot of LaVell Edwards Stadium during the Stadium of Fire got into a heated argument. Police arrived and were able to calm them down.

July 9: Six individuals were reported dropping things off the southwest campus bridge at 12:30 a.m. They were found to just be waving towels over the edge.

Love in the Library

2009-07-15T23:54:00.003-05:00

Today may be the best day of my life.

For years, the man of my dreams has been named Rodrigo. I don't know much else about him except he's tall, dark, handsome, and brooding, very romantic, and yes, his name is Rodrigo. Because I find that little else matters in a significant other besides what name you're saying after "I love you," and I'd rather say Rodrigo than Horace.

There is a man who I've seen often in the library over the last few months. Today I helped him at the desk with a couple of things, then sent him a followup e-mail, knowing only that his first initial was R. Imagine my surprise when I received a very kind reply from him. The highlights were his dating the e-mail thus: 15 / VII / 2009, writing "You have been most kind and helpful," and signing it, "My best, Rodrigo."

If today wasn't the best day, then perhaps yesterday was, for that was when I helped the man with the Scottish accent. Small talk is more fun with someone who has a charming accent. A day before that I helped another patron who later sent me an e-mail and said, "You are a rockstar." I doubt I could soon forget that compliment.

I have wanted to make this Persian Love Cake for awhile. Besides being beautiful, it sounds like it would taste wonderful.

Epicurious' description says: This chiffon cake filled with rose-scented whipped cream is inspired by the aromatics found in Persian, Turkish, and Indian confections. Cardamom seeds have more flavor than the ground powder and are like little explosions of spice in the cake.

The cake uses cardamom, saffron, rose water, and pistachios and is decorated with candied rose petals. I can't think of a more romantic dessert.

Peanut Butter and Jelly

2009-07-13T23:42:00.001-05:00

Peanut butter and jelly is a classic combination. A lot of people put the two condiments together on a sandwich. I personally like to make two separate half-sandwiches, one peanut butter, one jelly, and then eat them in alternating bites.

If peanut butter and jelly turn you on, you'll probably get very excited about the Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting and Jelly recipe in Martha Stewart's Cupcakes (recipe also available online here). Perhaps you are like me and believe that there can be no such thing as too much peanut butter. This recipe uses 2/3 cup of creamy peanut butter in the cupcake, plus another cup for the peanut butter cream cheese frosting.

And then while you are eating your peanut butter and jelly, you can get in touch with your inner child by watching a classic Sesame Street short. This one is a near reenactment of the scene at my house every time I bake.

Anyone Can Cook

2009-07-10T06:01:00.011-05:00

Is it true that anyone can cook? A lot of people say that they cook, and then you talk to them awhile and figure out they really don't. Kind of like playing the Wii isn't really exercising. But pseudo cooks can combine a few purchased ingredients together with some amazing skill. I always cook from scratch, but I'm also always tied to a recipe, so I'd say I'm not much of a real cook either. Yet I find that people are amazed at my love of cooking. Maybe they're just feigning interest. I doubt guys are really as excited about it as they appear. I believe that the women, on the other hand, aren't faking anything.

Are cooking skills a generational thing? Is cooking and sophisticated taste in food emerging because of a bunch of hipsters? Current food writer wisdom via Michael Pollan, John Mackey, et al. says that 20th century housewives saw the wave of processed convenience foods as liberating. No longer would they have to slave over the kitchen stove for their husband and children. Parents and children learned of the glorious TV dinner and its like. No matter how unhealthy it was, they were hooked. I don't know if that's all true or not. This blogger believes cooking is a dying art, and I'm not too sure about that either. All my girlfriends are talented cooks, talk about food with me, and try new recipes and ethnic cuisine. I guess that could mean that I just pick friends that will let me blather about what I eat and cook, or they're talented overachievers. My boyfriends know enough to at least grill a steak and some are downright impressive with their skills.

I'm trying to build and maintain a reputation around the office as a good cook. It's easy to haul baked goods by the dozen up there, but what about non-sweets? I needed a menu for today's working lunch that could be microwave-free. Not being too sure of the tastes of the person I'm serving is intimidating. What if there's an allergy? I did have a tip not to use chocolate, which eliminated the majority of my usual desserts. In the end, this is what I came up with:
Mediterranean Chicken Salad
Ciabatta Rolls
San Pellegrino Limonata
Panna Cotta with Fresh Berries

Cupcake Palace

2009-07-04T06:51:00.005-05:00

Although I'm not really one for buying cookbooks, I do try to stay informed on the in vogue cookbooks and food trends. There are not many as rabid as the cupcake and cupcake shop trend, which you don't even have to be a slightly informed foodie to notice. Keeping up with the world's cupcake news could be a full-time job, e.g., check out this write-up and this one and one more of the Brooklyn Kitchen’s Cupcake Cook-Off. I can't wait to try baking the winning cupcake, the A-Rod Chocolate/Peanut Butter/Marshmallow Cupcake.

I expect to soon see a group of bloggers baking their way through this addition to the pool, Martha Stewart's Cupcakes. Martha is a one-name superstar like Cher or Madonna, a rock star in the culinary world. I find some of Martha's recipes to be lacking, but I could never fault her on the perfect presentation executed in her magazines, books, and TV shows. Decorating ideas in her cupcake book are creative and numerous. See a sampling of her slightly precious ideas here. I bought Martha's latest book to give to my new foodie friend, Shelley, for her birthday. But before I wrapped it, I shamelessly posed it amongst my own cupcakes.

I took two varieties of cupcakes to her birthday party: Yellow Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream (dyed blue) and Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting. I had this goofy idea that if arranged correctly, they could look like the flag, which they kind of did - well actually, they didn't at all. One problem was not being able to get white star-shaped sprinkles, and another was not wanting to leave some Red Velvet Cupcakes unfrosted for the red stripes. Who wants a cupcake without frosting?

At the party, that baby blue frosting turned everyone's mouth blue. I can't imagine how much coloring it would have taken to make the frosting navy. Back to Martha, her Swiss Meringue Buttercream recipe is my go-to for vanilla frosting. Actually, you can add any of a range of flavors and colors. Get Martha's Swiss Meringue Buttercream recipe here.

I used almost a whole bottle of red coloring for the Red Velvet Cupcakes. I used the famous Magnolia Red Velvet recipe, but subbed cream cheese frosting for the vanilla.

: photo by Peter Brown

German Chocolate Cake Throwdown

2009-06-30T07:11:00.010-05:00

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the German Chocolate Cake Throwdown! In this corner, we have the challenger, a newcomer, the Bobby Flay recipe.

And in the opposite corner, our returning champion, the Cook's Illustrated recipe (requires subscription, e-mail me if you want the recipe). Let's try and make this a fair fight.

First the judges will compare the cake portion of each recipe. Bobby Flay's recipe uses cocoa powder for chocolate flavor, but the Cook's Illustrated recipe calls for melted chocolate and cocoa powder. The CI recipe uses a traditional creaming method, and will it cream the competition? Bobby melts his butter before mixing it with the sugars. Bobby also uses 3 cups of liquid - coffee and buttermilk. Is his method all wet? (The crowd boos the lame announcer.) The judges' decision: the CI cake is springy and has deep chocolate flavor. Bobby's cake melts in your mouth, but is a little too moist and there might be too much coffee in the recipe (which thing we never before thought possible).

In the second round, the judges move on to the filling, which is truly the most important part of a German Chocolate Cake. The CI recipe is fairly close to the original Baker's recipe, with modifications to the amounts of evaporated milk, sugars, and butter, and extra helpings of pecans and coconut. Is this the round where Bobby will deliver the knockout punch? His filling recipe starts with water and sugar, melted to a dark amber, then adds milk, coconut milk, and goat's milk, then simmers the mixture for an hour - like Mexican Cajeta.

Certainly a blow to the competition, and then Bobby strikes again with the added flavors of vanilla bean and coconut rum. Our challenger takes round two in a decisive victory.

The returning champion still has some fight left, but will it be enough? Here comes Bobby again to deliver the final blow. His cake is topped with bittersweet chocolate ganache, extra pecans and coconut, and it's served with coconut whipped cream on the side. Wow! A hush falls on the crowd and the judges are ready for the side by side, mano-a-mano, slice to slice competition.

With so much riding on this decision, the judges request anonymity. Their deliberation comments included the following:

This coconut whipped cream is excellent.
The bittersweet ganache is just that - bitter, and it's too thick.
Bobby's filling is better.
I think side by side I like the traditional [Cook's Illustrated] cake better.

They return a split decision. The fans deserve a rematch!

Throwdown’s German Chocolate Cake with Coconut-Pecan-Cajeta Frosting, Chocolate Ganache and Coconut Whipped Cream

Note: Original recipe here. I edited the recipe below for spelling errors, missing instructions (If you follow the original recipe, you'll never add the flour to your cake), points of personal preference, and to allow for a couple of ingredients I couldn't get in this one-horse town.

Chocolate Cake
2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups strongly brewed black coffee, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups buttermilk, at room temperature
3 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 325° F. Butter two 9-inch cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
3. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the cocoa powder and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and pour into bowl of standing mixer. Add the sugars and beat until the sugar is dissolved. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and continue beating until smooth. With beaters on low speed, add dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with coffee and buttermilk (in 2 additions), beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Beat until just combined.
4. Divide the batter evenly between the 2 pans and bake on the middle rack until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 42-45 minutes. Let cool in the pans on a baking rack for 20 minutes. Then invert the cakes onto the baking rack and let cool for at least 1 hour before frosting.

Cajeta Filling
2 cups whole milk
1 can unsweetened coconut milk
1 cup goats’ milk
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 tablespoons very cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 teaspoons coconut rum, optional
1 1/4 cups sweetened coconut
1 1/4 cups toasted coarsely chopped pecans

1. Bring the milk, coconut milk and goat’s milk to a simmer over low heat in a medium saucepan. Keep warm while you prepare the caramel.
2. Combine the sugar and water in a light-colored, heavy pan over high heat and cook (do not stir) until deep amber brown color. Slowly whisk in the warm milk mixture and continue whisking until smooth; add the vanilla seeds and corn syrup. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until the sauce is reduced by half and is the consistency of a caramel sauce, about 55 minutes.
3. Once the sauce is reduced, remove from the heat and whisk in the cold butter, vanilla extract, salt and rum and whisk until combined. Stir in the coconut. Let the frosting cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally. Stir in pecans just before frosting the cake.

Coconut Whipped Cream
1 1/2 cups cold heavy cream
1/4 cup Coco Lopez
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon coconut rum
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Combine heavy cream, Coco Lopez, sugar, rum, and vanilla in mixing bowl and mix until soft peaks form.

Ganache
8 ounces heavy cream
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1. Bring cream to a simmer. Place chocolate in a medium bowl, add hot cream and corn syrup and let sit for 30 seconds. Gently whisk until smooth. Let sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before pouring over the cake.

Assembly
1/2 cup toasted coarsely chopped pecans
1/2 cup lightly toasted sweetened coconut

1. Slice each cake in half horizontally. Place one cake layer on a cake round or platter and spread 1/3 of the frosting evenly over the top, repeat to make 3 layers and top with the remaining cake layer, top side up.
2. Pour the chocolate ganache over the cake. Garnish with pecans and some of the toasted coconut. Let sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before slicing.
3. Slice cake, top with a dollop of whipped cream and garnish with additional toasted coconut.

Marian the Librarian

2009-06-24T06:45:00.009-05:00

I get the feeling I picked the right line of work for myself. I love my job, though it isn't without its hazards. Like last week, I broke the heel of my shoe in the grooves of the Spacesavers - those mechanical shifting shelves. And if I forget to wear pants/skirts with pockets, I have to hide keys and pens on my person, and that can get weird and uncomfortable. Sometimes that leads me to sport a pencil behind the ear, which along with my hair in a bun and librarian glasses is charming to someone, somewhere, I'm sure.

I am doing old-fashioned librarian work, which is good because I'm an old-fashioned girl. I get some good questions at the reference desk. Mostly it's "Where is the bathroom?" But I do get some interesting ones, like people needing literary criticisms of a certain work or author, requests for obscure statistics and author biographies. People will tell long stories about what happened to them and their books, and "Do you loan jump drives because I had one but I left it in the pocket of my jeans and it got washed?" Or, "I'm looking for my friend. She has long, dark hair." At that one, I thought, okay, there are about 10,000 people that walk through these doors every day... I also get to tackle people that set off the security gate alarms. It's fabulous.

Ever since I started working at the library, I've thought my job was awfully like the girls' in Desk Set. Random questions, but in the days before Google:

I bought the movie and invited some friends over to watch it. What menu goes with Desk Set? I don't know, but in the movie Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy eat the dessert Baked Alaska, so I decided to make that. I found this recipe, which was extremely easy. The hardest part was finding peach ice cream. I didn't have time to make my own, so I had to buy generic United Food Club stuff, but it wasn't too bad. You slice a round of pound cake, top it with ice cream, and freeze it. Then beat egg whites with sugar and cream of tartar to stiff peaks and surround the ice cream with the egg whites. The ice cream needs to be hermetically sealed within the meringue. (I piped the meringue around the ice cream with a large star tip.) Return them to freezer if you have time, for up to an hour. Bake for five minutes to toast the meringue. I served them with peaches and raspberries spiced with cardamom, which I think added presentation and taste points.

I like this dessert because it has a nice presentation, tastes pretty good, wows people with the "You put ice cream in the oven!" factor, can be simplified by using store bought ingredients, is retro, and is open to limitless flavor variations. Christy and John came over last night for a weeknight dessert, and I decided to try Baked Alaska again. This time, I used a brownie base instead of pound cake, topped half of them with vanilla ice cream, half with coffee ice cream. I made the meringue with granulated sugar instead of confectioner's, then swirled it on with a spatula, instead of piping it. I also tried baking at 425° instead of 450° as in the other recipe, because the tops of the last ones looked charred.

I personally thought the brownie base was too sweet with the ice cream and meringue, so I probably would not use that again. Actually, I don't know why you couldn't just eliminate the cake/brownie base, and seal the entire scoop of ice cream within meringue. Then you could serve that alongside cake or brownies. Also, I thought after I took the autopsy shot above and moved the two halves back together, how much that looked like a human brain, split down the middle, which would make the dessert great for a Halloween party. You could great really creative with "grey matter" and a cerebellum... maybe that's too much.

Daddy's Day

2009-06-22T06:36:00.007-05:00

For Father's Day dinner we had Cafe Rio Salad: two tortillas under Romaine lettuce, Cilantro-Lime Rice, Black Beans, Sweet Shredded Pork, Tomatillo-Lime Dressing, Cotija Cheese, Pico de Gallo, Guacamole, Tortilla Strips... I learned that it's called Cotija cheese, not Cojita. I had been calling it Cojita and mocking people that said Cotija for a couple of years. It was a little depressing to learn that my foodie knowledge wasn't infinite. (It is now?)

My dad's three favorite things are German Chocolate Cake, Coconut Cream Pie, and me. This coconut cream pie was the best I've made yet, but it still needs some tweaking. It needs a deeper filling and less whipped cream on top, and there's something not quite right about the filling. Maybe it needs some dark rum? I'll have to go scavenge recipes.