Pink Velvet Cake

I am making a Red Velvet Cake for another librarian's birthday tomorrow. The last time I made a Red Velvet Cake was with Pauline for Steve's birthday. I remember we made a double T out of parchment paper, laid it over the cake, and frosted around it, so that there was a big red double T in the cake's center.

Red Velvet Cake seems to have had a resurgence lately, with cupcakes being especially prevalent. It's a buttermilk cake with a tiny bit of cocoa powder. I'm not a huge fan of it. The only memorable one I had was at Le Gamin in Brooklyn, and if they all tasted like that one I would be a convert.

Ran into a couple of snags with my baking tonight. First, I didn't have enough red food coloring. I emptied two small bottles and then still had to go to the store. I had already been to the store once tonight to buy cream cheese and assorted necessities. It was a little bit more fun going at 11:15pm. You will never guess whom I saw in the checkout line, but try. Wonder Woman and Bat Girl! Dressed to the nines. Bat Girl had on her mask. Wonder Woman had on gold tights. It was pretty awesome. I was dying to see their mode of transportation, which was a silver Dodge Neon. I felt sure they'd fly away, but no.

The second problem was that I didn't have any regular unsweetened cocoa, just Dutch-processed, which is darker and has a different acidity level. I should have known better, but I used what I had on hand. The batter was a brownish pink instead of red, and the cooked cake looks reddish-brown, not the bright red I'd hoped for. This is the point where I try to decide if I'm going to make another cake and try for better results or take the inferior cake to work. At this hour, I'm thinking we'll be okay with pink velvet cake tomorrow.

Rocky Road

Friday night, dinner at my house was steak, potatoes, and asparagus. Perhaps I'm in a dinner menu rut. Those are my favorite things, they're quick and easy to cook, and so I serve them all the time. Plus, Stephen came to dinner, and having just returned from living in Africa for a couple of years, he needed a good hearty meat and potatoes meal. "You need to eat something! You're too skinny!" I'll make a wonderful grandmother.

Porter, Katie, Stephen, and Eric talked about their adventures living in Finland, Taiwan, Benin/Togo, and Romania, respectively. I learned how to say "I refuse you!" in Fon gbè, which should come in handy. Curl your right arm and flap it like a chicken wing and shout something that sounds like "Ing bay!" Also learned the useful Finnish phrase "Parempi avioliitossa kuin Neurostoliitossa," which means "Better married than in the Soviet Union."

I guess my cultural contribution to the evening was the food, and I did try a new Rocky Road ice cream recipe variation. Chocolate Ice Cream plus mini-marshmallows, mini-chocolate chips, minus almonds this time, but plus a fudge ripple swirled in. I got the ripple recipe from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop, and the recipe is online here. Darn good in a waffle cone.


Eric and I saw Up in 3-D Saturday and loved it. After which, we systematically ranked those cupcakes I accidentally bought into our order of preference. The decisions were pretty unanimous except I would have put the peanut butter banana cupcake solidly at first or second; Eric ranked it a few spots lower. Click the image for cupcake descriptions. You know you want to.

Iron Chef

Friday, one of the other librarians came up to me at the desk and said, "So there's talk of having a bake off between you and [other employee]." I'm not sure if I'm getting a reputation for my cockiness or my cooking, but I said I would absolutely love to do it. We have joked about having a distribution list to notify people when I've brought goodies to work.

I hope to have an Iron Chef competition next month sometime. I started spreading word in my social circles. Any closet blog readers (and I know you're there) who are interested in participating should let me know. Not sure on the date, probably on a Saturday evening. I want to wait until Wendy gets here so she can be my sous chef.

I have many ideas for running the contest. I think there should be a few teams of 2-3 people. Each team can nominate a theme ingredient for the teams to cook with, and there would be a drawing to choose it, so it would be random. Everyone would receive a text message revealing the theme ingredient, and they could decide on which meal course to prepare. I'm not sure how much time to give everyone, maybe two hours to allow for grocery shopping. The teams would describe their dish in a presentation to the judges. And I would keep my cutthroat competitive nature in check.

I was proud of myself for making a dozen cupcakes in under an hour this week. I got home from work and had to hurry to make it to dinner on time. I made my standard dark chocolate cupcake recipe and one-sixth of Martha's Chocolate Buttercream while they were in the oven. I used Callebaut 60% bittersweet chocolate. I popped the cupcakes in the freezer to cool them down before frosting. Working on my speed to gear up for next month's contest. Allez cuisine!

Cake

I found out about a new cupcake place in Lubbock, Cake, which opens May 30 in South Kingsgate. I am excited to try this place. We have nothing approximating a decent bakery in this town, and I was disappointed with Peace O'Cake Cupcakes. Cute flavors, cute store, mediocre product. I was especially disappointed in their frosting. However, I got the word from Holley that Cake has potential based on the view from the store window.


Also tried a great eatery with lots of local flavor, as Rob put it, that I had never heard of, Ranch House. Yesterday for lunch there I had chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes with gravy, peas and carrots, cole slaw, bread, and pineapple cobbler and ice cream for dessert. I like that this place doesn't make any pretense about what they are. Their menu has a section of "Lite" Plates. I guess the quotes around "lite" mean they're still capable of clogging arteries.

Update: Remember that time I bought 12 cupcakes in New York? I went to Cake and accidentally did the same thing today. Their dozen was only $30 compared to Eleni's $42.50, though. Yes, we all know Kimberly will splurge on food. Their store is cute, and they had some very lovely cakes on display. I've only tried the Velvet Elvis, a banana cake with peanut butter buttercream and crisp bacon garnish. I'm happy to announce that it was wonderful.

Breakfast Sandwich

On Memorial Day, Katie, Porter, and Eric came for breakfast. "Come over at 7:30-ish," I said, and it sounded like a good idea Sunday night, but not particularly so Monday morning at 5am when I was making pudding, nor at 6am when I was headed to United's deli counter. Oh well, I was pleasantly surprised at United to find the raspberries and deli black forest ham and turkey on sale.

I asked what we should have for breakfast, and I was very proud of Porter for suggesting Monte Cristos. I think I've been a good influence on him. What a good idea for breakfast: a sandwich of ham, turkey, and cheese on French toast served with raspberry jam. I recommend smoked Gruyère for the cheese and hot pepper raspberry preserves.

Along with the sandwiches, we had vanilla pudding and berries. Kind of patriotic, I thought, with the white pudding, red raspberries, and um, black blackberries. Well, almost.

Defying Gravity

I added a new cake to my repertoire this weekend, a Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, or Black Forest Cake for you English speakers, Pastel de Bosque Negro, for Spanish speakers. I'm not sure what it's called in Esperanto. Katie, a little help with the Chinese translation? Porter, Finnish? Wendy, what would that be called in Utah?

I did quite a bit of scouting for recipes, and ended up using one printed in the NYTimes, the source of which is the executive pastry chef at Jean Georges.

Several components to this cake. First, chocolate cake: I think traditionally a chocolate Génoise or sponge cake is used because they soak up the Kirsch syrup well and the texture goes well with the other components, ganache, soft fruit filling, whipped cream. This chocolate cake recipe is on the dry side - no butter, but not made with whipped egg whites either.

The chocolate cake is baked in three 8" rounds. Each is then soaked with a simple syrup spiked with Kirsch. A semisweet chocolate ganache is spread over the bottom two layers. Cherry preserves are spread on top of the ganache.

This recipe also includes whipped cream, stabilized by butter. It's spread on top of each layer. I piped some rosettes and put a cherry in the middle of them. I realized later that I forgot to grate chocolate on top.


I was worried about the whole thing toppling over. It was one of the tallest cakes I've ever made. So I sang Defying Gravity from Wicked for the rest of the weekend. I sing in the kitchen a lot, and I talk to myself and my kitchen utensils, which is just, yeah.

Man on Wire

Friday dinner and a movie: what dinner menu goes with Man on Wire?


It's a documentary that I'd heard good reviews of from a few people. The movie's tagline:

"A look at tightrope walker Philippe Petit's daring, but illegal, high-wire routine performed between New York City's World Trade Center's twin towers in 1974, what some consider, 'the artistic crime of the century.'"

Seeing as he was a Frenchman, I decided on a French menu. Chicken Cordon Bleu, Perfect Fingerling Potatoes, and roasted asparagus.


You can't pronounce it "cordon blue" either. It's "cordon bleh." For dessert, vanilla bean ice cream with raspberries and blackberries macerated in sugar and Chambord.


I enjoyed the movie. My heart pounded when I saw those camera shots of the view you have from the top of the World Trade Center towers. I can't imagine standing on that wire and looking down. I'm sure if you fell from that height, after 10 feet you’d be going the speed of sound. Then your neck would break when your body broke the sound barrier. Yes, also watched This Is Spinal Tap plus all the extra film footage which was as funny as the stuff that made the final cut of the movie. It's such a fine line between stupid and clever.

Deal Breakers

Once upon a time, this blog was as much about Kimberly's life adventures as the food she was cooking. I've gotten away from that somewhat, and even though I've wanted to write about my new job and reentrance into the dating scene, I've avoided it. We're all so connected online these days - not a bad thing in itself - but even in a small town like Lubbock where only a handful of people know how to use the Internet, the chances I'd face repercussions for something I wrote is great. See, I bet that offended someone.

I think dating discussions are great fodder, especially in regards to dating horror stories. I used to get set up on blind dates pretty frequently, and it was fun to relate the "Guess what happened to me!" shocker stories when things went badly. No recent horror stories to report, except a guy did try to hit on me by holding my hand, tracing its curves, and reading my palm. The good news is that I have a long life line. After the second hug in only a few minutes, I decided to walk away.

One of my friends told me that Lubbock is so small and incestuous, if you haven't met the person you're going to marry by age 14, you're out of luck in this pond. Where does that leave me? Waiting for Providence to put someone amazing in my path? Should I look online? I'm not looking to get married tomorrow, but I do want a boyfriend to spoil. I figure I can dispatch my lovely friends to find a man worthy of me. I'm probably pickier than ever about what I'm looking for.

When I'm scouring my usual sources for a recipe, I do have my mental list of recipe deal breakers: "Whether for reasons practical or psychological, even the most experienced cooks have an ingredient, technique or phrase that will make them bypass a recipe...ingredients or instructions that make them throw down the whisk and walk away." Right now, for example, I'm eschewing anything calling for egg yolks, because I already have what feels like dozens of egg whites waiting for their chance to shine in an angel food cake, meringue, frosting, etc.

In the same vein, most people have a few deal breakers in mind as far as characteristics they couldn't tolerate in a significant other. I've been giving some thought lately as to what mine are, and also what traits I possess that are on the guys' lists. I'm trying to perceive myself the way someone that has just met me will. Some men are downright helpful with that self-analysis. Actual comments of late:

"You dance like Elaine."

"I've only seen you three times in the last couple of weeks and you've worn that shirt twice." [In my defense, he was mistaken, but yeah, maybe I need to cut back on the turquoise-colored shirts.]

Several remarks about not being allowed to help in the kitchen and how I stare at people who are eating my cooking.

As for my own deal breakers, I have a few I'll disclose:

I have a Dilbert calendar and Dilbert candy dispenser on my desk. Dude's gotta be a nerd.

I would probably dump a guy that was unwilling to watch old movies and listen to old music. I'll go a step further and say he probably even has to like it.

If I found out a guy had unique eating habits, e.g., is vegan, pescetarian, juicearian, or only eats on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, I'd say "More power to you, but I think we're too different to make this work. It's not you. It's me." I don't think I could be with a dieter. He'd have no fun in my world that revolves around trying new foods. I went out a few times with a guy who was allergic to nuts. I always knew that could never work out. How could I be with someone who can't eat peanut butter?

I think next month I'm going to have another Still Single Shower. Are you allowed to have more than one? What should be on the menu? Any requests?

What are your deal breakers? Recipe, dating, or otherwise?

Tomato Herb Tartlets

Here is an idea for an easy appetizer. Very adaptable to what you have on hand. You can use fresh or canned/dried tomatoes and herbs. I used "Hot" RO*TEL, which has a tiny tiny kick. Any good Texan should be able to handle that level of heat.

Tomato Herb Puff Pastry Tartlets

ingredients

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 can RO*TEL chunky tomatoes, drained
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
olive oil
fresh or dried Italian herbs (basil, oregano, Italian blend)
Parmesan cheese

preparation

Preheat oven to 350°. With knife or pizza cutter, cut puff pastry into equal sized rectangles. (I cut the sheet into nine pieces.) Lay the pieces a couple of inches apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Top each piece of dough with a few tomato pieces, season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with a small amount of olive oil. Sprinkle each with herbs, then grate Parmesan cheese over the top with a micro grater. Bake until golden and crisp, 25-30 minutes.

Let's Eat Jicama

"Let's eat Mama!" OR "Let's eat, Mama!"
Punctuation: It saves lives.

I don't think there was too much excitement at my house yesterday when I said, "Let's eat jicama." The reactions were more like, "What's that?"


Jicama. Pronunciation: HIH-kuh-ma Equivalents: One jicama, cubed = 2 cups Notes: This tan-skinned tuber has a mild, nondescript flavor, but a nice crunchy texture. It's a good, cheap substitute for water chestnuts in stir-fries. Since it doesn't discolor, it's also a great vegetable to serve raw on a crudité platter. Peel it before using. --foodsubs.com

Since I'm on a Bobby Flay kick, I decided to try his recipe for Jicama Slaw. I thought it would contrast nicely with the main course, Maple-Glazed Pork Roast with Smoked Paprika. Katie helped by grating the jicama, but she kept stopping to ask, "Are you sure you want the whole thing in here?" She was right to be wary. The slaw was only so-so. I'm not really a huge cole slaw fan either. The jicama slaw would go better with fish tacos, a pupusa, or maybe some juicy pulled pork barbecue, but I get points for trying something new. I've made the pork with maple syrup glaze before; this time I tried a variation adding paprika, cinnamon, and cloves.


For dessert, Coconut Layer Cake with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream.

Related: Here's a cake cutting guide (some people really need it!): To cut round tiers, move 2" in from the outer edge; cut a circle and slice 1" pieces within the circle. Move in another 2", cut another circle, slice 1" pieces, and so on until the tier is cut. The center cores and small top tier can be cut into 2,4,6 pieces, etc. depending on size.


Porter's brother Eric is home from school for a few weeks. He came over for dessert and said it was the best thing he'd eaten all semester. Flattery like that will get you places with a spinster librarian, so I tried to sidle up close to him and made him watch Big Train sketches on YouTube with me. Charming.