Utils in Bat Country

A most important review

I wanted mac and cheese with hot dogs for dinner last week (hush, it's delicious) and knew I'd have to stop at the store to pick up a box of chemically cheesy goodness.  And they were out of regular blue box goodness.  Hmph. I refused to be thwarted or to pay double and 'upgrade' to shells and cheese but as I eyed my options I saw that the whole wheat Kraft was the same price as regular.  Sold. Was cautiously optimistic that since it was half whole grain and still all chemically cheesy, perhaps I'd enjoy making the switch.

Meh. It was ok, I suppose. I could absolutely taste a difference, and the texture was much more mushy.  I could probably improve a bit on the texture by adjusting cooking time and the fiber benefit is nice and seeing as how mac and cheese shows up for dinner at least weekly, I should probably actually switch... 

Nope. Original blue box = twu luv 4eva!

Reverb 11 - Make (Caaaaar(amel))

Prompt for December 17: Make: What did you make this year that you’re proud of?  Was it a success, or did it flop and you learned something about how to make it better next time?  Do you have any special handmade projects planned for next year?

As part of my snap out of it strategy, I invited Courtney over for a afternoon of baking.  Both of us are more than competent cooks and I figured with both of our brains available, we'd be able to tackle some of the more challenging recipes we'd bookmarked.

After a really good burger, we headed back to my apartment to finalize recipe choices and did a quick grocery store run.

The one thing that took the longest and came out the best is what I don't have pictorial evidence of. I made RR Macadamia Chocolate Tart except I used hazelnuts.  It came out really good. Super rich, my sweet tooth was surrendering with a maybe 10* wedge, let alone anything near traditional pie slice size. It also took 85 years to bake.  The recipe calls for 30 minutes of baking time, I left it in at least 50 before taking it out.  In between the dough making, the dough chilling, the sauce making and chilling, the molding and rechilling and the final baking (no 30 minute meal tart here), I attempted my first bread.

Now, I totally bunted and didn't do anything requiring yeast, because I am a weenie and because my apartment is so cold, the yeast would just shrivel up and die (still haven't turned the heat on!).  When I worked at a catering company, we had a recipe for caramelized onion beer bread that was beyond delicious. I'm constantly on the hunt for a similar recipe and thought this one might have similar flavor notes.

Definitely easy to make, pita to mix together. I had all these bits of half mixed flour in the bottom of my bowl. When I first pulled it out of the oven and we tried it, I was rather meh.  Alright but nothing fabulous.  Then I started taking slices to work to eat with my soup and does this bread age well.  Toasted with a bit of butter?  YUM.

C made some tasty citrusy cranberry cookies that also seemed to take a year and a half to come together. Tilly seemed to think so too as she not only jumped up and started trying to lick the mixer but jumped on the table after everything was done and grabbed the two cookies C had left for me. Coal for you, puppy!

Farewell cookies!

And then. There was a gingerbread cake I had bookmarked on pinterest that I wanted to try and it was served with either a lemon or caramel sauce. While at C's and flipping through cookbooks, I came upon a recipe for a brown sugar caramel sauce. Sold! Figured I could make the caramel sauce while I also had C with me and then whip the cake up later in the week.  People on the internet keep telling me that caramel is not that difficult to make but I've been skeptical. But fine, lets give it a whirl.

Now. If you see in the recipe, it says stir till the sugar dissolves STOP stirring and boil for 10 minutes, yes?  I read it multiple times, I had C check it to make sure I hadn't forgotten how to process the English language and we both concurred, it said stop stirring and did not say to start back up.  Fine. When it came to a boil, I stopped stirring and set the timer for 10 minutes.  We were still around but cleaning things up and after 6 or 7 minutes, I noticed a fair amount of smoke coming from the pot.  Turned on the fan, opened the door to try and prevent the smoke detector from going off (farewell heat from the oven!) and we peered into the pot to what had been very dark brown now turning black bubbling boiling sugar. This can't be right.  Pulled the pot off the heat, whisked and figured what the heck and poured in the cream.  And the entire thing seized into a blob like it had suddenly become sentient. Instead of caramel sauce, I had created the La Brea tar pits in my kitchen.

We were both cracking up because my stars, what an epically epic fail. Stirring! I failed at stirring!  I still blame the recipe :)

Overall I think I'm 1.75 for 3.

I will conquer you, caramel sauce. Just you wait.

 

Fall Traditions

As we've done the last few years, T&B came over to carve pumpkins.  Pizza was had, Once Upon A Time was played off the DVR (loving it), and whether It's a Great Pumpkin or Charlie Brown Christmas was the superior holiday program. [I vote CB Christmas all the way.  Looo loo looo loo]

Per my typical level of craft skills, I figured I'd keep it simple and go with a creepy moon and stars combo.

Martha, I am not.

Tilly was panting the whole time over the deliciousness and couldn't understand why we were standing up at the table, blocking her from the mounds of delectable pumpkin scraps.

And now I can munch on the remains throughout the whole, yummy weekend.

Wisdom toothless (almost)

Warning! Contains a picture of teeth! Which according to fb are apparently very scary.  While I'm of the mind that teeth are scary if they are inside a great white's mouth that's zooming in to eat me, I seem to be an outlier so...

Thursday!

Took the mind altering drugs at 1:30, looked at a book and got that wave of exhaustion feeling about 10 minutes later where you know if you close your eyes you'll fall asleep sitting up.  I did not do that and just looked at the words till it was time to leave around 2.  Got in the car, was able to direct Mom to the office.  Only effects I noticed were seeing double of everything.  I knew what road we were on, what turn was coming up, completely aware, I just saw two of everything.  This is similar to being very drunk perhaps?  Went to the surgery room, turned Harry Potter Book 6 on the ipod and tried to sleep.  Except no. Was wide awake the whole time.  Wasn't concerned or anxious (yay drugs!), just awake.  Following the tools and motions with my eyes the whole time.  I must have been sort of out of it because it seems to have not taken very long and it had to have been at least an hour.  I do remember the doctor bending over me with a pair of pliers heading into my mouth but was more mildly fascinated than anything.  No pain (yay Novocaine!), but I could feel them pulling and pushing and doing that rocking thing back and forth with my bottom tooth to get it to wiggle out.  Wrench it all the way to the leftttt, back to the riiight.  Fun times in my mouth.  Finished up and Dr. B jetted right out and the assistant went to get Mom and go over aftercare with us.  She asked if I wanted to keep my teeth and I said no, I just needed to hold them to take a picture.  Occurred to me later that I should have kept them for the tooth fairy.  I figure wisdom teeth have got to be good for at least $20 a pop, no?  They were very happy they all came out in one piece, they say this will make recovery easier (ha!).  Fare thee well teeth! And #4 that would be the worst of all and I can't even imagine at this point. You better get nice and snuggly encased in my gums because that is where you are staying forever.

I was talking, not even all that numb (swallowed my first two pain pills with no problem), basically the whole you will not have control of your mental faculties for 8 hours effects had come and gone in 48 minutes.  Mom said hey, let's go to Target first and get a few things.  I weighed the benefits of going home and flopping on the couch with an ice pack to Mom paying for things and said off to Target!

Mom was very sweet and bought me two vacuums (I know) and frozen fruit for smoothies and soup and applesauce.  Midway through the Target adventure, the Novocain wore off and yeah...hello throbbing agony of having people dig around in your jaw.  Went back to apartment and hung out on the couch for the rest of the night.  Drank some water, changed the gauze every half hour, bout 9pm had a Slim Fast shake (c/o dentist's office...surprisingly not too bad) and went to bed around midnight.  Terrible night.  Couldn't fall asleep and then woke up multiple times because of the throbbing.  OMG the throbbing.  My problem was that the pain pills would wear off before I could take another so not only was I not staying ahead of the pain but I'd wake up and be so far on the other side of it that it'd take hours for the new one to catch up.  Friday was more of the same (with a generous sprinkling of whiny tweets for good measure), Mom telling me to eat something, drink something, me gazing at her blankly.  She did vacuum the apartment while I read most of The Half Blood Prince which made me a bit uneasy but she wouldn't let me hand her the attachments let alone help so ok.  I was still on the 48 hr strenuous movement ban anyways.  Had a remains to be seen if positive or negative outcome call from the dentist's office (will explain later).  But more of the same: watch food network and the clock until it's time for the next pill.  This was mostly fine except come Saturday when my appetite returned I was suddenly ravenous for pizza and short ribs and onion rings and bruschetta and all the foods that I can't have for two weeks.

24 hours after surgery I also got to experience the fun of my medicated mouthwash.  Have you ever tried to use mouthwash but not make the swishing movements?  I poured it in my mouth and then just moved my neck around to get to all the various teeth.  And then! The mouthwash causes you to drool a bit and know what else is super fun? Trying to spit when you can't make the spitting motions.  You have to sort of move the spit to the front of your mouth and push it out with your tongue.  Good times.

Sunday was finally able to feel like I could move around so went on a walk with Mom and a  little trip to the mall before her flight back to TX.  Was good that she came up even if I feel bad that 85% of the time I was staring at the TV or reading but she wasn't expecting anything more so all is well.

Or was until I was dropping her off at the airport and she went to cup my face to give me a kiss on the cheek and grabbed my jaw causing me to emit a involuntary eep of pain right outside Continental departures.

Summer Plans

Ah, summer vacation.  I remember it so.  Alas, months of glorious freedom are not to be so am scaling my plans accordingly.  Whilst some are sketching garden layouts, building raised beds, and lovingly caressing each baby shoot as it sprouts, I am of the buy a tomato plant at Home Depot and plop it on the balcony in the same container it came in.  Miracle Gro, water, done. 

This year however, am branching out.  My co-worker is one of the above gardeners and as she knows I am not, she offered me a upside down planter.  Perfect!

Seems simple enough.  Am thinking though.  It seems from the box that there are plant spots all around the cylinder and am wondering if I could do a one side strawberry, one side tomato setup.  The instructions seem pretty basic across all plants - dirt and water seem necessary for both crops.

So we shall see.  Am I maximizing efficiency or creating some horrible hybrid monster?

Food Verdicts

Overall - YUM

I made the cake Saturday afternoon and debated about assembling the potatoes.  I was nervous about them getting mushy overnight but in the end time constraints won out and I figured the 3 cups of cream and pound of Gruyere would cover all manner of food sin.

Dealt with my parking lot phobia by going to 7am Mass, came home and took a three hour nap, walked TS and tried to figure out the game plan.  I had roughly sketched out when things needed to be in the oven but not so much the prep.  So I did some prep things, got the asparagus ready, took the puff pastry out of the freezer, peeled and de-veined the shrimp (still can't decide if it was worth it over frozen already cleaned ones) and dropped them in the marinade.

Miraculously, nothing disastrous (with one glaring exception) happened and I didn't forget to make anything and come 4pm I had my appetizers ready to go.

Bruschetta - delicious as always, am a big fan of having prosciutto on hand to pair with it.  Only flaw with toasting bread rounds is what to do with the extra.  I haven't thrown them away yet but they're pretty rock hard. Not sure if throwing them in w/ the tomato a la panzanella will help.

Brie - Good, not fabulous.  Was easy enough to put together and was tasty.  I may skip the onions next time.  They definitely a nice flavor to the dish but all that moisture ended up for a soggy pastry bottom.  And the brie and the pastry are so decadent to begin with, the onions didn't need to be there.

Timing wise, am shocked, but everything went smoothly.  While I was finishing up dinner for 5pm, dog park neighbors were able to eat the appetizers and have some wine and giggle over the mini Easter baskets I got for everyone.

Baked shrimp scampi - yummy.  I forgot the wine and think I'll use less panko next time but aside from the prepping of the shrimp was pretty easy to make and I think with a few modifications will not be quite so stick and a half butter indulgence and could easily be done on a weeknight.

Grandma's mushrooms - sigh. Not bad but like everything, better when she makes them.  I got the pre chopped mushrooms but think I should have chopped them further.  They were nearly steak cut so by the time they started to get brown and crispy on the outside, I was mumbling hurry up hurry UP at the pot.

Roasted asparagus - always good, a welcome vegetable.  Overshadowed by the other taste explosions.

And my potatoes.  My precious, precious potatoes.

I pulled them out of the fridge at 2:30 to go in the oven and peeled off the foil to discover a top layer of gray.  Even with being in the cream and covered, there was still much oxidation.  I picked off the worst offenders, noting the mushyness, threw some more cream and cheese on and popped it in the oven, fingers crossed.  I moved my oven racks so the potatoes wouldn't be on the bottom level but there was still a brown crust all on the bottom.  Didn't taste bad and I only noticed it because I've made them so many times.  The taste itself was still spot on amazing and there was a bit of discoloration in the overall dish but when in doubt, cream and cheese won't steer you wrong.

Olive oil pumpkin cake (with the ridiculous $10 for a wee little pack of pine nuts) - good.  Really good.  Super moist, not too sweet.  I wanted something lighter for the end of such a rich meal and this hit the spot.  I sifted some powdered sugar on before I served and I'd definitely always do that in the future.  No problem at all with being made ahead and something that will be perfect for brunches and weekend breakfasts.  I may swap out the pine nuts for walnuts next time because I suspect the flavor notes will all still be there.  While is very much a fall dish (pine nuts, pumpkin, rosemary) I thought it translated really well to a Springtime meal and definitely plan for it to be a year round cake.

While I am pretty proud of myself for my foray into Martha land, there's always the aftermath to bring you right back down to the real world.

Easter menu

Am going pretty low key this year and having some of my neighbors over for dinner on Sunday.  Is relatively last minute so my menu currently exists in doodled from on a post it.

My must haves for pretty much any holiday:

Barefoot Contessa Potato Gratin - I don't care for fennel so I leave that out and up the onion a bit.  I first made this nearly 10 years ago and holy god is it good.  And it's equally yummy reheated.  I have to restrain myself to making it only a few times a year.

Grandma's mushrooms - nothing super fancy about these, just sauteed with wine, garlic and a bunch of other spices I just had to email gma to check on.  Have had them at every holiday or family dinner since I've been born so on the menu they go.

Brie of some sort.  I blame France.  During my study abroad when lunch was routinely a brie and butter sandwich with a green apple, I developed a love of the gooey scrumptiousness.  Winter holidays usually find it dolled up with a brandy brown sugar topping but this year I think I'm going to do a caramelized onion puff pastry take.

Old favorites:

Bruschetta - will be nice to have something fresh on the table amongst all the butter and cream.

Roasted asparagus - because when doesn't a meal call for roasted asparagus?

New recipes to test on willing subjects:

Roasted shrimp - originally I wasn't going to have a entree and just let the sides fill out the meal but I feel like a let down to all the cooking shows I watch if I don't.  Will likely use the Ina recipe I linked to add some herbs and serve warm as the main course.  The potatoes are insanely rich so wanted to go lighter than lamb.  Not to mention, I've never really made a main protein for a holiday that has to serve many people so would rather not undertake anything too challenging.

Pumpkin olive oil cake - I may weenie out on this and just get everyone little Easter baskets at their places and have that be dessert but I'm intrigued by the idea of an olive oil cake and since my compromise for having the potatoes (and eating the leftovers all next week) was to not make Paula's gooey butter cake, this seems like a reasonable choice that ties in with the rest of the menu.  Is a fall recipe so I may find a lemon olive oil cake recipe.  We shall see.

Now I just have to figure out how to cook everything.  The apartment oven is small and not always the most reliable.  The potatoes are the star so even though I could make them ahead would rather those go straight from oven to table.  Though, they can cool for awhile so perhaps when I pull them out, I'll put the shrimp in.  Cake can probably be done the day before or the morning of when I get back from church?  Bruschetta can be done ahead, bread toasted quickly.  Mushrooms are on the stove so that's fine, then it's the asparagus and brie.  Perhaps when the potatoes come out, asparagus will go in shortly followed by the shrimp?  But what about the brie...

I see flowcharts in my future.

Picky

I have some food eccentricities.  Never really thought of myself as picky, I can find things to eat on pretty much every menu (when all else fails - starch!  chewy bread, roasted potatoes, hell, even rice all do in a pinch).  I made it months in France where we had no choice when it came to lunch (granted I had an easier time seeing as how it was France and not Nigeria) and there was many a meal where I had no idea what I was eating but hey, it's tasty and one memorable lunch that I thought was chicken but cut into a piece and saw a wee tiny rib cage and realized huh, guess that's my introduction to rabbit.

But back in Baltimore when The Guy and I were going to go get dinner while waiting for Tass to get off work, she forewarned him that 'she's picky'.  I guess I think of picky as one who eats five things, two of them being french fries and pbj's.  I eat many things, just don't like it when several specific ingredients enter into the mix.

Mayonnaise, mustard, bbq sauce, curry, cumin, bell peppers, yogurt.  Yuck, yuck, gross. Let alone the ingredients in straight form, I can identify them even hidden and can't eat the food.  One tablespoon of mustard mixed into a marinade?  Nope.  I can taste it and dislike whatever protein it's poured on.

But what gives me pause with applying the picky label to myself is the variety of obscure things I do enjoy.  Discovered the most amazing ice cream over the weekend - goat cheese with cognac figs.  YUM.  The seafood salad w/ octopus my uncle makes at Christmas?  Pass the bowl.  Cioppino?  Slurp. Elk sausage?  So insanely good.

No meats I don't really dislike, most vegetables other than peppers and beets, and lord knows I've never met a starch that I didn't gobble down.  The haikus of praise I could write about chewy bread.  

Picky? Choosy? Further evidence of the crazy?

Superbowls of yum

I don't have a Superbowl party per se but I usually end up having friend's over to watch the game (and this year Glee).  Having pizza tonight so we're not going to repeat on Sunday but given the recipes I'm starring will likely end up with a very non game day odd assortment of food.

Am fascinated with these Crab Tator Tots but am intimidated by the idea of deep frying.  I could bake them, yes?  400 for some until they're brown amount of time?

I also stumbled across this delicousness and while I don't think I'll make the whole cupcake, the filling seems like a delightfully yummy dessert option.  Perhaps I'll dip them in melted chocolate and make truffles (or just leave it in a bowl and give everyone spoons)

Everything else catching my interest lately is of the casserole/stew variety.  Could be good for throughout the day grazing... or maybe not.

But, I have the major game day foods covered - potato, just not in chip form and pretzels, just encased in peanut buttery swaths of sweet.

If I find a stew recipe that calls for beer, I'm totally set.

Up and Down

No real update on the boy. I wrote him and asked if he got the bars, he wrote back said he did and they were delicious, then I had some sort of fit and went (for me) bold and asked him over to dinner for spaghetti and meatballs (sometime in the next couple of weeks if he's free b/c I'm making them since it's cold and the recipe makes a lot and and and..whatever else I could throw in to vague it up so as not to be quite so blatant about asking a boy out omg).  Waiting to hear back.

Was dragging this morning and got all excited when I remembered that it's 11/1 and one of the radio stations hear begins playing Christmas music.  Get in the car to drive to work and it's freaking Kedollarsignha whatever her name is. Stabby hate. They have deigned to play Christmas music online so am listening to that at least. underneath the Christmas tree... you are the angel atop my tree, you are my dreeeeam come truuuuue

Went with M&K yesterday to finish up our Treasure Hunt and actually found the final clue. Yay self!  Now we just have to wait and see if we win.

Got sort of dolled up in a fall ensemble today, got to work and realized that my tissue tee has some small teeth holes in it that the c of the sweater doesn't quite cover.  But! Even though am flashing the office I don't think the holes will be visible w/ the camera so submission for Anthro reader outfits is set.

Had Food Network on most of the day yesterday and saw Giada make a grilled pork/fontina sammich and decided that was a fine dinner idea. Trucked out to the grocery store to get a pork chop (only $2.12!) but by the time I checked out was up to $60.  And sammich was just ok in my opinion.  Determined to try the cauliflower soup recipe I found but it looks like it makes a ton and calls for truffle oil and cauliflower is ridiculously expensive so that may be a post Christmas dinner.

Am going to have to finally get myself a copy of Bruce Springsteen's Santa Claus is coming to town because every time I hear it, it makes me smile. Especially the part where he starts to laugh towards the end.  Love it.