Memoirs of a Polliwogg

Single Lady

2010-05-09T12:34:00.001-07:00

Holy cow, I know it's been a long time since my last post, but this was just too hilarious not to share. I love the father's reaction on multiple levels.

Opportunity

2009-10-20T15:00:00.000-07:00

On opportunity: “They say when opportunity knocks you should let it in and invite it to sit at your table. F*** that — when opportunity knocks, you should take it captive. Beat that s*** down. I’ve got opportunity tied to a chair in my basement with a ball gag in its mouth. Opportunity ain’t even thinking about leaving my house. If you keep quiet for a second, you’ll hear it whining.
— Tracy Jordan

via The Last Semester

Unloaded

2009-10-20T14:54:00.000-07:00

Exhorbitantly priced tie-downs and rope from a gas station in the middle of nowhere: $58

Cigarettes to calm your nerves from watching your stuff almost fly off the back of the truck while driving 35mph: $6.50

Extra fuel used from driving an extra 2 1/2 hours after stopping a dozen times to fix the load: $20

Finally getting all your stuff home and sleeping in your own bed: priceless.

Moving

2009-10-15T21:19:00.001-07:00

Ugh. I am moving again tomorrow. I have one person helping me. He's doing the obligatory box-schlepping all boyfriends have to do. I offered $50 and free lunch and libations for an hour of work, and I got no takers! What's up with that? I think I've moved a dozen times in the last year, no joke.

It'll be over soon...It'll be over soon...It'll be over soon...

ER

2009-10-04T14:18:00.000-07:00

When's the last time you saw someone close to you laying in an ER bed with tubes coming out of them? I can't even remember how long it had been, but it happened on Friday, and let me tell you, it wasn't my favorite thing in the world. On the other hand, it was the first time I saw "the look" coming at me out of those big brown eyes from above the face mask. You know the one I'm talking about. The look. I thought I was imagining things, but he confirmed it for me later. Perhaps it was morphine-induced tenderness. Perhaps I was looking extra lovely. Whatever it was, it almost made it worth the anxiety of seeing my guy in the ER. Almost.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go take my next gigantic dose of vitamins so I don't get sick. I have a big midterm to study for today.

Sick

2009-10-01T22:06:00.000-07:00

Supplies for a pot of grandma's chicken noodle soup: $13

Gas to drive to Baderville and back: $5

Extra vitamins to ward off the flu after being breathed on all day: $10

Taking care of super-cute sick boyfriend instead of going out to dinner with him: priceless.

Next Project: Thanksgiving

2009-09-29T14:11:00.001-07:00

Mwaahahahahaa...

Whoa

2009-09-27T19:59:00.000-07:00

Holy bajoly. I am actually - wait for it - in a relationship. Seriously. A year and a half after the divorce, I made the conscious decision to be okay with the idea of being someone's...um...are the kids calling it "girlfriend" these days? Not just anyone's. This guy's. No one else could have made me open to this idea than this guy. This is crazy. Ridiculous. I don't know how to be in a relationship! I haven't been "dating" a man since I started dating my ex-husband 8 years ago. And it's only been 2 weeks. I think this is crazy, but I'm going ahead with it anyway. It could be bad. It could end wretchedly. In all likelihood, it will be more trouble than I could possibly anticipate. But it doesn't matter. I'm in it. And I'm liking it in spite of its shortcomings, of which there are few. I could list the good things, but that would be sappy and time-consuming. Suffice it to say that you know you're rooting for the relationship when you change your Facebook status. It's been a good 24 hours.

Date bread and laundry

2009-09-09T23:21:00.001-07:00

I made some date bread a few days ago. Of course, I don't have pictures, but it doesn't matter. Just cut up some dates, soak them in Cointreau, and throw them in some batter with walnuts and spices and voila...it was delicious. I love dates.

Have you ever used laundry as a distraction? That's what I'm doing at this very moment - well, besides blogging. I just got back from a trip and had to wash my clothes and sheets and whatnot. And I am totally using it as a distraction to keep myself from making phone calls or writing e-mails or making any other extraneous contact. Man, it really is unpleasant to have something on your mind all the time. I'm not good at just not thinking about something. I know people who are, and I simultaneously wish I could be like them and wonder what the hell's wrong with them. I'm the queen of unnecessary anticipation. It's like having a cloud hanging out above your head, about to just open up and pour rain all over your head. You squint your eyes, you shrug your shoulders up, you prepare yourself. And it never comes. It just never rains, despite all of the thunder and lightning. It's horrible! And so, here I am, doing laundry and writing a blog.

Any day now, any day now, any day now...grrrrrr.

Tired

2009-08-29T17:29:00.001-07:00

I'm tired of myself today. Every time I open my mouth I wonder why I'm talking again. I have been fortunate enough to have been told by many different people in my life that I am a strong woman. Unfortunately, I am proving them all wrong lately. I am weak and stupid in some contexts, and it's driving me up the wall because I know better.

I am playing poker tonight with friends. I hope it will help. Tomorrow will be a long day of reading and writing.

Beef

2009-08-26T21:39:00.000-07:00

I'm really enjoying this nasty, cheap, factory-farmed burger right now. It's the first substantive meal I've had in 4 or 5 days.

I wish I could shut off my anticipation gland for a few days. Constant anticipation and guessing takes a toll - I'm exhausted! Of course, that could also be because I hadn't eaten much the last few days...

Have you ever?

2009-08-24T20:25:00.000-07:00

So, as I have been perusing the internets for a while, I have seen people "squee" several times. It appears to be an expression of elation or excitement. I never did it, and never completely understood it until today. I squeed. I really let out a "squeeee!" The "sq" part of it was what troubled me before, but today it evolved out of a moment of just speaking in tongues and letting out untintelligible sounds in my excitement. Then the "eeeeee!" just came out.

That is all :).

Vests

2009-08-21T00:07:00.000-07:00

I just have to say, I adore the fact that vests are back. When worn properly, a vest can transform a person from "oh, he looks like he's heading for the store for some milk with his shirt-sleeves rolled up" to "Jesus, who's that guy??" Goes for women, too. Even in these horrible promo photos, it's still obvious to me:

When I find a decent picture to demonstrate, I will update the post. I saw this mannequin in the Express store at the Vegas mall wearing a three-piece suit with a sweet vest, and I almost asked for its number. I tried to peer-pressure my friend into buying it just so I could have some eye candy. Seriously.

Okay, superficial moment over. Ha!

Back again...

2009-08-19T00:44:00.001-07:00

...in more ways than one. I thought I was done with Flagstaff. I had prepared to say good-bye, prepared myself to sever ties and walk away. At the last minute I found out that a professor is coming to my uni that I just can't pass up the opportunity to try to work with. So here I am, 5 days out from the first day of classes, without a job or a place to live or residency worked out for tuition, trying to get back to Flagstaff.

I have realized that the more things change, the more they stay the same. I miss my best friend and my dog. I managed to get myself into an ambiguous entanglement in Flagstaff that I was looking forward to walking away from, and now I have to figure that out on the fly. I am so lucky, though. I always have been. I have a wonderful, supportive, loving family. I have just finished my MA and am about to start working on a PhD. How many people have those kinds of opportunities?

I just have to learn to let go. In the last few weeks I've heard from several people that I seem to have a problem not being in control of my life circumstances. This is something I have been working on for a while. I will keep working on it! In the meantime, I haven't been cooking as much, but I will. My new favorite is stuffed shells. Super healthy and pretty cheap to make for a crowd - recipe to come. Maybe even pictures! Ha! I'll likely get back to blogging more soon. Not that anyone reads this :). Nevertheless, I'm back again. Back to blogging, back to Flagstaff, back to school. Fingers crossed!

Violinist at the Metro

2009-07-12T12:28:00.000-07:00

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning.
He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. Every single time a child walked past, he or she tried to stop and watch. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace.
He collected $32.
When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it.
No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100.

Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of an social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

I think I’ve reblogged this twice now. Even as I think about it I still miss daily beauty.

”
How many people would I like to send this to? At least a few dozen. How many do I think would know what kind of message I was trying to send with it? Perhaps none. So I'll sit and think and wish on those shooting stars and rainbows and eyelashes and everything else people wish on, not because I believe in those superstitious things, but because I figure it can't hurt. The universe might just be listening one of these days.

- “Violinist in the MetroA man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and start…” - My soup (terminally-incoherent: peterwknox: mikehudack:
justinday: jacobjoaquin: beaglebot: cornpone: tanya77) (via the last semester via nudawn via soupsoup)

Iran Prediction

2009-06-21T00:01:00.000-07:00

I know I've been out of the blogging loop for a bit, and this is wayyyy off of my typical post subject, but I have something to say. I am obsessed with what's happening in Iran. I have a high level of interest in this, psychologically and emotionally. I could go on for days about what's happening, but I won't. I'm too exhausted emotionally. So instead I'll just post my prediction.

What started out as a simple election dispute has morphed into the expression of 3 decades of frustration from those who didn't support the regime. What it has come to be now is a power play between Rafsanjani and Khamenei. Khamenei wasn't really qualified to be Supreme Leader back when Khomeini died (he was a low-level cleric), and Rafsanjani quietly wanted the position. Rafsanjani is currently the head of the Assembly of Experts, which is the body that has the ability to remove/appoint the Supreme Leader of Iran. So at this point, if the protests keep going (which I believe they will; all the violence is adding fuel to the fire) they're going to have to compromise in order to maintain the current system.

I think it's possible, even probably at this pace of escalation, that the compromise is going to be the dismissal of Khamenei and the appointment of Rafsanjani as the new Supreme Leader. That would also mean the loss of Ahmadinejad's support in the higher circles, so Mousavi would be the new president and the protesters would be appeased. There are enough people who still believe in the revolution to make this work. The system would survive, and the show would go on. There would be a shift in the way Iran deals with the US and the West, but it wouldn't be a massive earthquake of change. They will do whatever they have to do to maintain their power as a group. Otherwise they face chaos on a scale much more massive than anything else we've seen since the election. I don't think there's enough support for the opposition on a broad scale for a complete revolution. Not again. That's my prediction if the protests continue to escalate.

Laughs

2009-05-21T02:16:00.000-07:00

I just got a much needed laugh from this web site. The top few aren't great, but the middle and bottom sections of the page make me giggle uncontrollably.

One day this never-ending thesis will end, and then I will post more.

Back in Flagstaff for now

2009-04-12T07:54:00.000-07:00

I am back in Flagstaff for a couple of days, enjoying myself waiting hours at a time for the bus. I thought I just saw a friend from San Diego walk in and walk back out, but I wasn't sure, so I didn't holler across the coffee shop at him. I'm gonna catch the number 3 bus to the east side, and I'm so surprised that the bus only comes by once every hour! I was spoiled in Norway and the rest of Europe by public transportation, metros and buses, that came almost all the time. And so here I am, and appreciating the differences between this place and that place. Each has its own positives and negatives. And I haven't even discovered them all yet. I have been incredibly lucky to be able to experience what I have so far.

I would like to head over to the public library and get me a card while I'm waiting for the bus to breakfast town, but it's not open this early. I'm going to have to putz around on the internet for another hour. I'm really enjoying my morning! It's totally unproductive and not very interesting, but I am really having fun being lazy. I'm trying to ignore the mountain of work and meetings waiting for me. I have been grinning all morning. I miss my friends. I have a really lucky existence.

I'm going home

2009-03-29T09:20:00.001-07:00

and I'm not coming back to this place. While I appreciate that the sun is finally shining here, it has become clear that I will not get what I came for. I'm going home, and I am relieved and stressed at the same time. But mostly excited to see my family again.

I am going home.

Surprising profundity from an unexpected source

2009-03-28T07:38:00.000-07:00

It's difficult to believe in yourself because the idea of self is an artificial construction. You are, in fact, part of the glorious oneness of the universe. Everything beautiful in the world is within you. No-one really feels self-confident deep down becuase it's an artifical idea. Really, people aren't that worried about what you're doing or what you're saying, so you can drift around the world relatively anonymously: you must not feel persucted and examined. Liberate yourself from that idea that people are watching you.

--Russell Brand
Image via this site, quote via this site

Is this thing on?

2009-03-06T11:57:00.000-08:00

Back from field research, leaving again tomorrow for three days, coming back, and then leaving again next week. No, I am not complaining, ppl! :)

Though it must be said, I am so exhausted. I was on the phone forever with Air France today and lost my marbles afterward. Never again.

I am a lucky girl, not withstanding pesky bad customer service people. But I must admit that I miss my family. In all this traveling I haven't been back home yet. I miss my beautiful dog. I miss my friends. I won't be living this far from my loved ones again, if I can help it.

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T06:09:00.001-08:00

"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

Only in fiction...

2009-02-12T07:30:00.000-08:00

"First, I must tell you that I have been the most unmitigated and comprehensive ass."
-Pride and Prejudice

Now who in this world hasn't wished for that??

The perfect kind of cool...

2009-02-12T07:19:00.000-08:00

Know how you know you're a serious grad student?

2009-02-12T03:19:00.000-08:00

When your butt hurts so badly it's about to fall off as a result of all the consecutive hours of sitting and writing. And also because these dorm seats are only of use as door props. But I'm really almost ready to submit this chapter!

The sun is still shining outside. But this is what it looks like most of the time:

Sun! We have sun!

2009-02-11T07:14:00.000-08:00

And I'm stuck inside writing. Ugh. Someday over the rainbow...I'll be done writing this thesis and I'll be able to go outside and play on the one day this place gets sun each month.

Blurrrrgh.

Watch this twice and call me in the morning. Seriously.

2009-02-10T06:20:00.000-08:00

Have you ever been in love?

2009-02-10T06:17:00.000-08:00

“Have you ever been in love? Horrible, isn’t it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens your heart and it means someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses. You build up this whole armor, for years, so nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life…You give them a piece of you. They don’t ask for it. They do something dumb one day like kiss you, or smile at you, and then your life isn’t your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so a simple phrase like ‘maybe we should just be friends’ or ‘how very perceptive’ turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It’s a soul-hurt, a body-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. I hate love.”

- Neil Gaiman (via thelastsemester) (via littlemiss) (via pieceofmymind) (via dogganghappened)

Quizzes

2009-02-06T05:33:00.000-08:00

It seems kind of strange to me, but Norwegians love quizzes. They organize quizzes at bars and other places, and then everyone gathers to drink and play trivia quizzes together. One big quiz projected on the screen, and people in groups trying to answer the trivia. It was a cold night, and a cold walk to the pub. On my walk there a couple of Mormons approached me and tried to convert me. I changed the subject and we talked about life instead of religion for about half an hour, but in the end one of them started talking about God again in a way that it was obvious he was trying to get back to converting me, so at that point I just ended the conversation and walked away. You know, I have found that the best way to avoid those conversations is to listen to the first 10 seconds of their spiel, just long enough to figure out what they're selling, and tell them I'm already a follower of their faith, and tell them to have a nice day converting people that need it. Otherwise you have to be rude because some people just don't let go, and I would rather lie than be mean.

Norwegian Efficiency?

2009-02-05T05:58:00.000-08:00

For all the talk that Scandinavians are administratively efficient, I have found this not to be the case. I mean, for cryin' out loud, return a phone call, people! At least know your own policies once I am forced to come find you in person because you were never reachable by phone. My academic career depends on it. Sheesh.

That is all.

In other news, I am writing for an hour and then going out tonight. And I am determined to look like a girl.

Making the Best With What You've Got, Part I

2009-02-04T11:47:00.000-08:00

I only had room to bring one baking dish with me, so I brought my glass pie plate. I figured that would be the most versatile item to have with me. So I set about making pizza the other night. See, Norwegians LOVE pizza. Trouble is the pizza here stinks. Sorry, Norway. Your pizza is no good. So I made it myself and thought I'd make it in the pie plate. Bad idea. The crust and sides turned out great, but the bottom was completely raw dough. The rest of it was delicious! It just took forever to make because of my limited resources. I cut the sides off and returned the bottom part to the oven. Then I washed the pie plate and used it to make banana bread with walnuts and dates. It was awesome. Much more successful than the pizza. I made a regula' bun with the extra dough. Just thought I'd post this to share my lesson learned. Next time, I will buy a damn cookie sheet or something to bake it on. Or I'll just go the next few months without good pizza.

In other news, I found "inexpensive" meat today. I bought just about a kilogram of ground beef today for about $10.50. So, just for comparison, about 2 lbs, so about $5.25/lb. This is about half the price of my local grocery store. And the guy was so nice, I wanted to buy 10 lbs. He spoke English and Farsi, and gave me his card. And the meat is Halal. That's just a perk. This is by far the least expensive meat I've found in this town. I also went into this little store and bought some phyllo dough, and the guy helping me was so adorable I wanted to just bring him home and bake him cookies. He said he speaks "very little engelsk." Cute, right? He had the kind of face that makes you just want to hug him. And he asked me where I'm from. So I told him, and asked him where he's from. He said Iraq. I went to at least 10 stores today, at least. And it took 3 1/2 hours. And it was all because I got lost and I was searching for the best deals and I was on public transportation, etc etc etc... I bought some feta cheese from a girl who didn't speak a word of English. It was difficult :). I bought lentils and made adas polo. It was great. I found this Iranian market with stuff I could read! Yay! But the sohan and gaz and walnuts and pistachios were just too exorbitantly expensive, so I left empty-handed. But I did get directions from the guy, with his Rashti accent, on how to get back to the T-Bane station (Norwegian metro).

So, with a full belly and a heavy heart, I will go to bed early tonight. I'm missing my loved ones and my sense of home.

I think I have a thing for big eyebrows...

2009-02-03T14:34:00.001-08:00

Image via IMDB

...and maybe long, brooding gazes. No?

I've figured it out!

2009-02-03T08:48:00.000-08:00

They say that Norwegians are reserved as a general rule of thumb. I have found it to be true. The weather and the people are rather cold. Frankly, it's all ice outside right now. I mean, even in the snow in Flagstaff it wasn't as cold as it is here now. I'm used to snow. But this? It's in the single digits Fahrenheit all day. Today was about -13 degrees Celsius. Well, I think I have finally figured out the connection. When I was walking home today - or anywhere, for that matter - I did not lift my eyes from my feet once. I was too worried about slipping and falling on the ice (again). It sucks to fall, trust me. I fear my left wrist will never forgive me. So I think people have become so accustomed to walking around with their heads down that they don't smile at each other or hold doors open for each other or generally engage socially unless necessary. Or warm.

In other news, I really enjoyed this song today:

Link to Sara Bareilles's "Gravity"

This is the view from my dorm-room window.

I want to go home...

2009-02-02T12:44:00.000-08:00

I miss macaroni and cheese. You know, the really gooey kind that they make from the cheapest, crappiest fake cheese they can find, that you eat at cafeterias. I miss panini sandwiches from the Italian deli in town close to where I used to work. I miss fresh mozzarella cheese and chicken enchiladas with that white sour cream sauce and dried cherries and English toffee and good hot corn tortillas with beans and salsa slathered all over them. I miss David. I miss my family, my friends, my dog. My car. My crappy one-bedroom apartment with my kitchen. Trying to figure out that guy down the hall who always smelled great.

It's hard to live in a place where you don't speak the language. All those people that accuse immigrants of not wanting to learn the language, please sit down and close your mouths. Please. It is by far the most difficult part of the experience. I can't pay my bills, I can't figure out what to buy at the store, I have constantly made mistakes that I could have easily avoided if I had known the language. A week after I did my first load of laundry I found out that I had washed my clothes with fabric softener. I missed my stop at the train station today and had to pay an extra 46 kroners on top of my ticket just to get back to where I should have been. I bought wierd stuff at the grocery store again last week. I couldn't check my voicemail for a good 3 weeks. It's all good, I'm not complaining. I'm lucky. I have family here who speak the language and help me when I ask. But constantly asking wears on them and on me. And when I hear people in the US complaining about immigrants because they "don't want to assimilate" it makes me frustrated.

They have this wierd dark brown cheese here that they really like. I'm not really sure what it's called, but it sort of has a sweet taste, and it doesn't melt well at all. It grows on ya. They eat a lot of fish. There's a brand here at the market called "First Price," and it's famous among us college kids because it's much, much cheaper than other brands. I bought organic back in the States. Fuggetaboutit here! Yes, it is extremely expensive in this country. They have this Nutella knock-off called Nugatti, and it's not bad. I tried to bring a jar of Nutella back from France but they wouldn't let me bring it in my carry-on, and I had forgotten to pack it in my checked baggage, so they threw it away right in front of me. The nerve! I will have to make do with Nugatti. Ikea is remarkably cheap here, and alcohol remarkably expensive. The cheapest of the cheap wine is no less than 78 kroner, which is about $11.

I don't think it would be wise for me to come back to the US for the remainder of my academic career given the way the economic crisis is hitting the universities, but I miss home. I miss cheddar cheese. And two-buck Chuck. And the way that guy down the hall smelled. And the laughs with my friends and my family. And knowing the language. And knowing where to go to find cheap groceries and great Mexican food. We'll see how this crazy adventure turns out.

More to come...

Halloween Polliwoggy and Velocitrampy Style

2008-10-29T23:46:00.001-07:00

Today Dave and I carved pumpkins for the first time in about 15 years for the both of us. It was incredibly fun. Considering he's the artistic one, we were both pretty impressed that I managed not to botch it up. Mine's the little one, his is the big scary one.

Oslo Bound

2008-10-10T04:48:00.001-07:00

I got incredible news today. I have been accepted as a guest student at the University of Oslo! I'm leaving in a couple of months. I am so excited I just about died today. With a little help from my friends I got it all in place and now all I have to do is figure out what I'm going to eat while I'm there :). I'm not fond of Norwegian food. But I'll find a way. I have delicious things to post, but no time to post them. In the meantime, anyone have suggestions for what kind of food to look for in Norway besides fish? Not that I don't love fish. But really, how many days in a row can a girl eat fish? A foodie girl, at that?

Turkey burgers and belts

2008-09-13T19:13:00.001-07:00

Okay, so the two aren't really related. But they are both going to make an appearance into this post. I didn't take a single picture, but I made turkey burgers yesterday and they were fantabulous. I was really surprised at how little turkey it took to make four patties. It was because of all the good stuff I put in them, which made them healthy as well as delicious. Also, I threw together some kaiser roll-type buns for them which were great. I'm surprised at how easy it becomes to make up recipes for something as fickle as bread once you've done it enough to get a feel for it. Actually, this is about the third time I made up the buns as I went along, and it's the best they've ever turned out. The liquid/flour ratio was just right to get them to rise up as much as out, so they came out perfectly shaped and with perfect firmness for what I used them for. And tasty, too! :)

Turkey burgers
makes 4 patties

1/2 pound ground turkey
2 ounces feta cheese (mine was herbed), crumbled
5 or 6 jumbo pitted olives, sliced
1/2 a large onion, grated or pulverized to death in a food processor
1 clove of garlic, mashed or pulverized to death in a food processor
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground sage
1/4 teaspoon ground mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Mix 'em all up in a bowl, working the meat as little as possible. Form into four patties, broil about 4 minutes each side or grill a couple of minutes on each side. I served them (to myself, still cooking for one here) with some thinly-sliced onion and tomato. I thoroughly enjoyed them. Here's how I did the buns, if anyone's interested:

Polliwoggy's hamburger buns/rolls/all-purpose bread projectiles
makes 4

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup corn meal
2/3 cup warm water
1 teaspoon yeast
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon vital wheat gluten (omit if using bread flour instead of AP)

Mix the flour, corn meal, vital wheat gluten, and salt in a bowl. Dissolve the sugar in the warm water. Sprinkle the yeast on top. Wait 5-10 minutes to let the yeast bloom, then add into the dry ingredients. Mix well (I use my wooden spoon, which works the best for me) to blend ingredients into a cohesive mass, then turn out onto a lightly-floured wooden board and knead for about 5-7 minutes or until the dough feels springy or until you've gotten too bored with kneading to continue (hey, it happens). Put back in the bowl, cover with saran wrap or a damp kitchen towel, and put in a warm place to rise until double (took mine about 25 minutes I think). Turn out onto board, pat/roll out into a log, and cut into four sections with serrated knife. Form sections into balls, smoothing out the top. Put on a parchment-lined baking sheet, put in a warm place to rise until double or the size you want them to be as buns/rolls. About ten minutes before you think they're there, preheat the oven to 375F. At this point I sprayed the top with a burst of olive oil spray and sprinkled them with salt for flavor, but you could easily not do that and they'd be totally fat-free. I know that's unorthodox for bread because the oil aids in yeast bubbles, but I think that's how I got the texture/firmness to be just right for me. Plus, I'm on a diet, folks. Bake for about 12-16 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and the kitchen smells like heaven. Pull out and let rest for a few minutes on the counter unless you want to melt your fingertips off
(don't laugh, I've done it). Cut in half horizontally with a serrated knife, lay those turkey burgers on there with all of your dearly loved condiments, and enjoy!

In other news, I have decided that I find belts quite attractive. Not on myself, but on men. I realize this has nothing to do with food, but that's okay. School's started back up, and I find that my life has less and less to do with food anyway, so here it is. It's not that they do anything in particular for the person wearing them, it's just that I find myself drawn to the belted section if indeed a man is wearing a belt. This is very weird, I know. Sorry if I've lost you.

Notice there's nothing particularly attractive or special about it, I just discovered that I find men much more attractive if they're wearing belts than if they're not. This is one of those strange character traits I would never have discovered about myself if I were not suddenly single after six years, ya know? I never looked at a guy long enough to notice if a belt made him more attractive or not while I was married.

Anyway, that's it. Nothing exciting. Turkey burgers and belts. And I've lost about three or four pounds from this fitness regime. I've not had much time to work out since school started back up, but I just put in my two weeks' notice at work, so hopefully soon I'll have some more time to pick up where I left off. I am still determined! And turkey burgers and fat-free buns will help me on that path. And Dave's military-style ab workout is killing me and making my belly flatter, God bless 'im!

Me want cooookies...

2008-08-27T20:29:00.000-07:00

Man, this whole eating minimal calories and working out five days a week thing is not fun! Tonight I splurged and had pasta with a jillion veggies, but I really feel like I'm subsisting every day. Jeez, this ain't cool, man. But I have lost a few pounds. And I'm going to keep going. I have to get into serious shape, and I won't quit until I get there! On the upside, my food bill is tiny! :)

If anyone has any suggestions, please send them my way.

A New Direction

2008-08-16T11:05:00.000-07:00

I just realized today that it's been six weeks since I last posted a thing. That's just shameful, since I've actually cooked and baked and taken pictures in that time. I just don't feel like any of it is post-worthy. So I have decided to take a slightly new direction in this blog. Rather than only posting about food, I'm going to post about everything I feel like writing about. Is that alright? :)

So here's the latest news: my sis has deeply inspired me. The woman looks fantastic. I mean, she is one sexy lady. And she's had four kids. When you see her, you don't think, "Wow, she looks great for having had four kids." Nuh-uh. You think, "Dayum! She looks great! I wish I looked that good." And I am inspired, because she wasn't always happy with the way she looked, and she transformed her body to something she wanted it to be, though I always thought she was gorgeous. I haven't gone to the gym regularly or worked out really diligently for about a year and a half, and the last time I did I didn't see any difference at all so I gave up after a month or two. This time I have given myself a timeline. I have, starting last Monday (the 11th), four weeks to see a difference, eight to actually achieve my goal. Of the last five days, I have gone to the gym five times. I'm planning for six days a week for six weeks of about an hour a day, give or take, along with logging every little thing I eat. I don't have a weight problem per se, but I do want to shave 8 or so pounds off my frame. I have some problem areas that I didn't bother with when I was married and happy because they just didn't matter and they weren't too serious. And frankly, at this point I just need to channel my energy into something physical. Divorce is not friendly on people generally, but being young and vital and full of emotional frustration pushed me in the wrong direction initially. I started drinking more than I should and smoking a couple of cigarettes a day (up from zero previously) and not eating well and not sleeping well, and that's just a recipe for disaster. I cut all that crapola out, and now I'm doing this fitness and healthy food plan and taking vitamins every day, and hopefully my hair will stop falling out. As I've calculated it, between my exercise and my food consciousness, I should be shaving about 600-700 calories off a day, which means I should lose a pound a week. We'll see how I do.

I wish I could give it all to Dave! Have you seen the guy lately? He didn't have any reserves on his body to draw from in the first place, but he hasn't been eating since he's been having to feed himself, and he's actually lost significant body mass. In the six and a half years since we started dating, I have never once seen him like this. He's been thin and sinewy his whole life, but now he looks emaciated. And his excuse is that he just doesn't need much, he thinks he can survive on the minimal. Well, he can't. He's lost body mass. You can actually see the ribs above his sternum now. Yelling at him wasn't enough, asking him nicely to take better care of himself because I love him wasn't enough, having him over a couple of times a week the last couple of weeks for dinner to encourage him and remind him how good real meals are wasn't enough. So the day before yesterday I gave him a get out of jail free pass. While he was working I went to the store and bought every fattening lazy-person food I could find, food he would be able to easily eat without a lot of effort. Tons of meat, cans of chili, animal cookies, eggs, tortillas, butter, cream cheese, nuts, cheese already shredded, potatoes already cooked and mashed. Everything I could find. And he wasn't home by the time I was done, so I put his name on every single thing I bought for him (he has roommates, I didn't want him to think they belonged to them and then not eat them), and put them all away in his fridge and pantry. Then I made him rice for the evening. And then I took our dog for a walk, feeling extremely relieved. When he got home he called me, surprised at all the food with his name on it. I badgered him into coming over and eating this stacked brownie cake I'd made for a friend's birthday, that had saffron-infused whipped cream and strawberries between the layers, so the calories and fat could go to someone who needs them rather than someone who's trying to avoid them. I feel so much better. Better than if I'd bought the food for myself, that's for sure. I'm really worried that he won't take care of himself and he'll just wither away until he either doesn't have the energy to function or until his brain's nutrients are depleted to the point that he falls asleep while driving or something and puts himself in more immediate danger. I really really hope that now he'll get on the right track.

Anyway, so that's the news. Somewhat food-related, but not in the traditional food-blogging sense. The farmer's market is back in full swing here, and I'm super-excited about it. I've been going every week. I planted some strawberries and garlic, and as soon as I unpack the box with my organic seed packets in it I'll plant some herbs. I finally got great news from Oslo yesterday, after being bounced around to different people at the university there for two months, and it's looking better and better. I am sooo lucky to have a friend there who speaks Norwegian and was willing to actually go to the university for me and run around until he found the right person to talk to, and then actually talk to him and get all the information I need. I don't think it would be possible for me to go without his help. So today I will eat minimally, exercise, run errands, and finally finish unpacking. That's my plan. We'll see if it actually happens. School starts Monday, so I have this weekend to finish getting the apartment ready. Wish me luck! :)

Sorry the picture's so terrible - I took it with my phone. Dave finally brought over the charger for the camera batteries last night :).

Consolation Birthday Cake, Polliwoggy Style

2008-06-29T18:52:00.000-07:00

For some reason I'm still not on the DB Kitchen, so I couldn't do the challenge this month, either. I've e-mailed the DB Goddesses and have not yet received a response (they're very busy), so instead of the challenge I decided to write a post on the birthday cake I made for myself. It was sort of a consolation birthday cake since I didn't get to make the Danish Braid. Today is my 26th birthday, and it has been the calmest, most quiet birthday ever. I had purchased a train ticket to go to California to see my family this weekend, but when I was on the way to the station I received a call from Amtrak saying that the train wasn't going to leave until the next morning, and since I was already only going to be there a day to begin with, my mom and I decided I should wait. So here I am. Doing my birthday the way I like it. I slept in, watered the plants, pulled some weeds, and baked all day. I'm so happy. Here's my cake, just the way I like it:
Sorry it's such a bad picture, I had to take it with my phone since Dave still has the digital camera. It's a carrot cake, and that colored frosting was supposed to be orange, but it looks pink in this picture. I got two fabulous birthday presents this year. The first was a trip to Europe from my parents (I know!), and the second was this beautiful crystal butterfly from one of my favorite people:Also a bad picture because it was taken with my phone. Just trust me, it's beautiful :).

I hope to take part in the next DB challenge. Until then, these posts will have to suffice. Thanks for stopping by!

I've been tagged!

2008-06-20T09:11:00.000-07:00

My dear friend Mother Bliss has tagged me with a Meme. And just in the nick of time, so to speak. I was in Europe last week, and I have to admit that the trip has changed my life. It wasn't the place itself, as I'd been there before, but the people and the experiences that were unique to this trip. And also the last time I went I was a teenager, so my perspective has changed dramatically and it meant different things to me this time. I think that I've blocked out large swaths of my past from my memories for various reasons, and when the memories come back it's like being in a time warp. So the point is that if these questions had come before the trip, the answers would have been way different, and probably considerably more mundane. I will post pictures with highlights from my trip very soon. Thanks Mother Bliss! Here goes:

WHAT WAS I DOING 10 YEARS AGO?
I was about to turn 16 and was counting the days until I could get my driver's license, which I promptly got on the morning I turned 16. I'd just finished my lonely, awkward, and pimply sophomore year of high school.

WHAT ARE FIVE (NON-WORK) THINGS ON MY TO-DO LIST FOR TODAY:
1) Clean out the car before taking it in to get the oil changed so the techs don't scream and run.
2) Take the car in to get its oil changed on my lunch break from work.
3) Have drinks with Anna and Cody and tell them about the trip.
4) Request mileage credit for a United flight we didn't get frequent flier miles for a few months ago. I need all the points I can get so I can go back to Europe ASAP!
5) Remove unwanted body hair (oh, the joys of being a woman who buys into the dominant cultural paradigm of hairless beauty). Sorry, was that too much information? :)

SNACKS I ENJOY:
1) Does ice cream count as a snack?
2) Chips and salsa/guacamole (homemade, of course).
3) Popcorn popped with salt and olive oil.
4) Pumpkin seeds and dried sour cherries mixed together.
5) Yogurt with granola.

THINGS I WOULD DO IF I WERE A BILLIONAIRE:
What wouldn't I do?? A billion dollars is a lot of money, though a billion Euros would be better. Not necessarily in this order:
1) Buy a few small cottages around the world - one outside of Oslo, one in Tabriz, one in San Diego, one in Costa Rica, and one wild card.
2) Build some co-op farms and water wells in the developing world. This food crisis is no freakin' joke, man!
3) Buy as many plane tickets as my little heart desires so I can always be close to the ones I love.
4) Pay off all of mine and my family's debts and set up a nice villa for my parents and my brother somewhere, or maybe a few houses on an acreage as a family compound that we can use as a base for all of our adventures.
5) Invest so that I don't run out of money.

PLACES I HAVE LIVED:
Oklahoma City and surrounding suburbs, Tehran, San Diego, Temecula, all over So Cal, Denver, Flagstaff.

JOBS I HAVE HAD:
Selling musical instruments and accessories in my violin teacher's music store, Popeye's Chicken (yek), computer lab assistant, novelty shop clerk, Trader Joe's, Sport Chalet, Adventure 16, Home Depot for 3 days, Quality Nissan, Kia of Temecula Valley, Progressive Insurance, NAU as a graduate slave/assistant, Progressive Insurance...I think that's it. I may have missed something, but I tried to list them all.

Okay! I'm all done. I hope someone finds some of this interesting, because it doesn't really seem interesting to me, but then again, it's my life so I've gotten used to it. Now I have to tag 5 people. Since I sort of fell off the face of the earth for a couple of months, I'm not sure that I know anyone I could tag who hasn't already been tagged, but I'll try. Here goes:

1) Jen of The Barmy Baker
2) Dave the Velocitramp
3) Abby at Confabulation in the Kitchen
4) Brilynn of Jumbo Empanadas
5) Umm, sorry, I ran out of steam.

Thanks, Mother Bliss. This was a great way for me to get back into the blog after my trip.

Ice Creams...Yes, Plural

2008-06-04T21:48:00.000-07:00

I was so excited that there was an ice cream machine available to me in this big house that I'm housesitting. I went out and bough half a gallon of half and half knowing that I had big plans for cool creamy goodness. Then the first time that I tried to make ice cream using an ice cream machine it didn't quite work out. It remained liquid. I was confused. I kept going, "I did everything just as the recipe said!" And I guess I had, but not enough. So I refroze the bowl, this time for much longer, chilled the liquid, and tried it again two days later. It worked like a charm! I made strawberry ice cream from scratch with almost all organic ingredients, and I have to say, it was lovely. I'd never really been a fan of strawberry ice cream until I made it myself.The next batch of ice cream was a Persian specialty, which I haven't had in ages. I made it for my brother for his visit. It's called Akbar Mashti ice cream, and it's wonderful. I didn't take any pictures, but it's a sublime pale yellow with little bits of pistachio and frozen cream in it. Here's the recipe, for anyone that wants to try it:

Akbar Mashti ice cream
Makes about 1 1/2 quarts

3 cups half and half
1/2 to 1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1 cup pistachios, toasted and chopped (I prefer salted)
1/4 to 1/3 cup rose water, depending on your taste
pinch saffron, ground in a mortar and pestle
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pour the heavy cream into an 8x8 glass dish or other shallow pan in a thin layer and freeze for at least half an hour. Heat the half and half in a saucepan just to a boil, then reduce heat and add sugar. Stir until sugar is completely dissolved, then add saffron and stir to mix. While half and half is heating, toast pistachios and set them aside to cool. Chop them when they're cool enough to handle. In a small bowl add 1/2 cup of the half and half to the egg yolk, stirring constantly to keep egg from scrambling. Then pour the egg yolk/cream mixture back into the saucepan and cook, stirring constantly, an additional 3-4 minutes. At this point you could either let the liquid cool to room temperature and then refrigerate until chilled or you could put the saucepan in an ice bath until the liquid is cool. In any case, while it is cooling cut the frozen cream into 1/4 inch squares and place back in the freezer. When the liquid is cool, the pistachios are chopped, and the cream squares are frozen, pour the liquid through a fine-mesh sieve into the ice cream machine and follow the manufacturer's instructions. A few minutes before it is done add the rose water, pistachios, vanilla extract, and frozen cream squares. Freeze for an additional couple of hours if you prefer a firmer consistency.

I hope someone out there makes this ice cream. It's really a treat. It makes me happy.

I'm back, this time with an explanation

2008-05-31T19:23:00.000-07:00

So when you log on to blogger it tells you the date of your last post. Today it said April 27. That was over a month ago. Shameful. But this time I will explain what's going on. Now that everyone (all two people) that reads this blog has been informed in person, it's safe to explain on this electronic page. My marriage of six years to the love of my life is over. In March it became clear that the two of us have ultimate goals that are incompatible with each other. No hard feelings, no anger, no lawyers or screaming matches or anything ugly. Just some tears. And some alcohol. And I couldn't post anything at all. I rarely cooked. And when I did I didn't feel like taking pictures. And when I did that, I couldn't post because I felt like I was lying. I tried, but it didn't work. I couldn't do it. And I'm sorry. Not because I think anyone's disappointed, not because I have delusions of grandeur (of this variety, at least) in which I imagine that throngs of people flock to their computers to see what Polliwoggy has posted. I'm sorry because I made some sort of commitment to this blog and I couldn't fulfill it.

So now I'm cooking for one. Dave is living a few blocks away in a little room in a little house, and he comes over to eat my food every now and then so I don't have to eat leftovers of the same stuff for a week, but I'm still cooking for one. I'm housesitting for one of my professors in a big, beautiful, extravagant house with a stainless steel gas grill and a big tub with jets and a front-loading full-size washer/dryer set. I'm housesitting in a kitchen that has a stand mixer and an ice cream maker and all manner of beautiful contraptions I can't afford to own. I should be happy. The truth is that I'm miserable. I miss my husband. I miss the sense of safety and warmth and love and future that I had for six years. I deeply miss the love, though we still love each other immensely. And I apologize - this post has morphed into a diary entry of sorts. Oops.

Tonight I had leftover chocolate chip pancakes slathered with Nutella for dinner. And a big glass of wine. Two of those, actually. Not very bloggable. But what heck, I figured I don't really need anything fancy. My project is to eat my way through my entire pantry, freezer, and condiments in the next eight weeks while I'm housesitting. I don't want to move any more boxes of food. When I have to get an apartment or rent a room at the end of July I want to have a blank pantry to go to. I don't really need a well-stocked pantry and freezer anymore since I'm only feeding myself. Dave eats like a team of high school linebackers, so I always needed to have things available for him to eat quickly. Now I don't have to worry about that, so I want to empty out my reserves so that I can fill them with only things that suit my own tastes and needs. Sort of a foodie's way to start fresh. Does that make sense?

This project will afford me the opportunity to make many exciting things in this kitchen with a stand mixer and a dehydrator and a convection oven and an ice cream maker and a grill. And I will try my damnedest to blog about them. If you want to try something summery, I came across a fabulous (and fabulously simple) recipe for bbq sauce at a friend's graduation party. It's 1/4 cup of ketchup, 1/4 cup of brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce. I added some red pepper flakes for posterity, too. It tasted great. I grilled some chicken and slathered some of that on last night and the flavor was great, and it kept the chicken juicy. I forced Dave to come over for dinner and he said it was the juiciest chicken I've ever made. He asked why my chicken wasn't that good for the last six and a half years and I told him it's because he never fixed our propane grill so I had to improvise and use a less preferred cooking method for my chicken. In true bitter-woman fashion I blamed him :).

That's the best I can do for now. My beloved brother is coming to visit me on Tuesday, and I will be able to cook for him. I'm uber-excited. I'll try to post more now that the cat is out of the proverbial bag. And I'll have all of the kitchen tools in this fabulous house to use in the next Daring Bakers challenge. I missed the last one. So I will say goodbye for now, and thank you for reading, if you still are at this point.

Something about a challenge...

2008-04-27T23:49:00.000-07:00

...makes it really hard to pass up on. It's hard to believe it's been a month since I posted, and that the last post was the last DB Challenge. What a disaster my life has become. I really came close to passing this month, but I just can't bring myself to pass on a challenge, whether of the DB variety or another. Well, all I have to say for myself is please be patient. Life is messy. In time it'll make sense, I promise.

This was definitely a challenge. I underbaked the cheesecake initially, so the balls were super gooey. I dipped the firm ones and decorated them with a "D" and a heart made of white chocolate for Dave's 30th birthday, which was yesterday. They were tasty. But I only got a few good ones out of the first batch. I had to put the rest of the cheesecake back in the oven and bake it some more. I'm going to have to finish the rest of the cheesecake pops tomorrow. But for tonight, here is a little picture of this yummy challenge. I couldn't find popsicle sticks anywhere, so I used toothpicks. I know, it's ghetto. But it's ghetto fabulous!

Thank you, Elle and Deborah for this month's challenge! Visit these lovely ladies' sites for the recipe. Sorry I'm such a loser! :)

Did a Little Dance, Made a Little Cake, Got Down Tonight!

2008-03-30T22:05:00.000-07:00

I have been hearing and reading about Dorie Greenspan's new book around the blogosphere for quite a while. It seems that everyone who makes her recipes falls in love with their simplicity and their fool-proofness. Well, my friends, you have found a fool. This cake very nearly wasn't. First, here's what happens to cakes at 7,000 feet (even with altitude adjustments):
Can you tell that it completely caved in? I didn't change up the recipe much, but the changes that I did make made this cake very difficult to make. Instead of making the full recipe, I halved it and baked it in my 6-inch springform pan. Cakes don't get eaten very quickly 'round these parts. Well, I only have one, so I had to bake the layers in two separate batches. This resulted in uneven layers.
Dave said I should just try to make another batch. However, being the procrastinator that I am, I didn't have time to do that and still post before midnight today. I thought that we had until the last day of the month to post, and when I opened my reader at 7:00 tonight, I had a rude awakening. So I tried to save the cake. Being a nitwit, I was unable to accurately estimate how much batter was half, and that is why these cakes look the way they do. I also had trouble getting the second (larger) half out of the pan, which is why the side looks like it got hit with a baseball. What a disaster. When I was cutting it in half per the recipe, the cake was so incredibly tender that it nearly disintegrated. I used the buttercream like glue to hold it all together. I just got the sides of the top of the crater off and ate them, and I was left with two cake layers that were nearly symmetrical.

I mistakenly bought strawberry preserves instead of raspberry, which, I think, is why the cake turned out too sweet for me. I tried to compensate for this by adding a little bit of lemon juice to the preserves before throwing them on the cake, but it didn't quite work. Here's what the cake looked like mid-frost:
Notice half of the cake's side is missing? That's because the side fell off while I was cutting that gimpy-looking layer in half. No matter, I thought. I'll just frost the hell out of it! No one will know (until I post a picture of it). It turned out okay-looking. Not great. Just okay. It was looking a little naked without coconut or other garnishes,
so even though I don't particularly care for shredded coconut, I sprinkled a little bit on top. It was prettier, and who doesn't like pretty food?
Dave liked it. Neither of us loved it. I think next time I'll use something really tart to fill it with instead of preserves. Hmmm...perhaps lime curd? I have to say, my favorite part of this challenge was making the buttercream. I'd never made it before, and it was quite interesting. I learn so much from these challenges. I know for some, this cake was easy peasy. But I'm thrilled to be learning new things. Thank you, Morven, for a wonderful, challenging challenge! :)
Check out the Daring Bakers Blogroll to find out how all of the other fabulous foodies did!

Vacation. Really!

2008-03-15T18:59:00.000-07:00

I am going on vacation. This is very, very exciting. I will be on a (mostly) sunny beach within 12 hours, and I'm stoked.

On the other hand, I've noticed that I've taken a sort of vacation from blogging. To be honest, I've kind of stopped cooking/baking, too. I can't say much at the moment because not everyone knows what's going on, but I must ask for your patience. Some very unfortunate events have happened recently, and I haven't cooked, washed dishes, done any schoolwork (!), or slept much, so of course I haven't been able to blog about anything. I've just been a hot mess. I need to get it together. I am sorry. I know this is "Blogging 101." You actually have to blog. I will. I swear. I need to get away for a few days and re-orient myself to myself. I will explain. I promise. But for now, I have to go finish packing. My ride will be here any minute. Thank you for your understanding. More to come!

Cameraless!

2008-03-03T19:28:00.000-08:00

So the camera is with David in Chaco Canyon at the moment. That's why I can't post anything that I've been planning to post lately. In lieu of a post with pictures, I will simply say that a dinner of a pound of roasted asparagus and three big Roma tomatoes, also roasted, was absolutely fabulous tonight. I washed it down with a Shiraz/Cab blend. It was quite filling, though not really balanced. I'll be back soon, I promise. Wine is good for you, right?

My First Daring Bakers Challenge - Julia's French Bread

2008-02-29T22:21:00.000-08:00

So, of course, in true Polliwoggy style, I waited until the last possible moment to bake this bread. And I don't even know if this post will make it before midnight. I hope it does, but if not, so be it. I'll have to throw myself at the DB gods' feet and grovel for forgiveness. In my defense, some traumatic life experiences have surfaced in the last week, so I came thisclose to bowing out of my very first challenge. That would have been a travesty.

I've tried to make that crusty, big-holed, yeasty artisan French bread a few times, using different "tried-and-true" recipes. They never quite turned out as I wanted. This one, though time-consuming and detail-oriented, wasn't really that hard. I still haven't tasted it, but if I wait to do that, this post definitely wouldn't make it before midnight. I'll update later when I actually taste it. We'll see how that goes.

Anyway, this is what the bread looked like pre-bake in my homemade couche. This was the first chance I had to take a picture of it, since I was drinking all night and didn't have my wits about me. My, I'm starting to sound crazy, aren't I? Hmmm...
And mid-bake (it's almost midnight)...
I don't think I slashed the loaf properly. I think that's why the loaf took on this banana shape during its time in the oven. Updates and more pictures to come. I just didn't want to be disqualified by the DB. Thank you Sara and Mary for a memorable first DB challenge! I loved it!

Update (finally!):

This is a picture of the beautiful bread that was produced in my kitchen during this DB challenge. It was so tasty. Dave said it was the best tasting French bread that I'd made, and I've probably tried two dozen different recipes and methods in the last six months. He's very picky with bread, and he loved this one. Thanks for all your support, blogosphere friends!

Blackberry Upside-Down Cakes and My First Meme!

2008-02-24T21:34:00.000-08:00

Something very, very exciting happened to me today. I was tagged for a meme. In a meme? I don't know what the proper terminology is. Michelle over at Culinography tagged me. This meme involves sharing five "random" facts about myself. Well, there are plenty of things that I'd love to share, but they don't all count as random, so I'll try to limit the scope to things that are trivial.

1. I often get sucked into political discussions with people who really don't want to debate, they just want to be angry. I should walk away, but I often don't, and then everyone involved gets irritated. I'm working on it, though, and I've gotten much better at recognizing when to cut it off.

2. I have tried about a dozen times to learn how to surf with the beautiful longboard my husband got me when we lived in San Diego, and I just keep falling down! Now we live in Flagstaff, and there's obviously no surfing out here, so my brother's keeping my board safe for me. I'm determined that one day I will learn!

3. I was born in Oklahoma, and I had shed all remnants of this distant past until my freshman year in college. My roommate was from Texas, and ever since leaving there, though we don't really talk anymore (does Myspace count?), I still say "y'all."

4. I am the reigning tetris queen among my husband, my brother, and I. My husband found this web site where you can play tetris for free, and he got my brother addicted to it. They convinced me one night that I should play, and against much protest, I began. My high score, which no one has even come close to, is 134,000 and change. Nobody else has even broken six figures, and I think they've given up trying.

5. I was the district spelling bee champion in the eighth grade. I still have the big trophy and everything. My mom is keeping it safe for me. Now I'm stuck proofreading everyone's papers for the rest of my miserable life!

Okay, I think those were random enough! Now I have to tag five people. This is just the way it goes. Rules of the game. Here are the five people tagged by me with this meme:

Mother Bliss
Jen from The Barmy Baker
Brilynn over at Jumbo Empanadas
Patricia at Technicolor Kitchen
Deborah from Taste and Tell

I know some of these beautiful women don't even know me, but I want to know them. So I hope you'll check out their blogs and leave them some feedback! I know I love feedback, so they might, too.

Now, on to the recipe. Blackberry upside-down cakes. I don't have a picture for y'all [:) get it? y'all?] because Dave has the camera in one of his tank bags on the motorcycle, but I will post one just as soon as he gets that camera in here for me. In the meantime, here's the recipe. If you don't like an ooey gooey center like I do, bake it longer. If you do (and since there aren't any eggs in the recipe to worry about getting up to proper temp, there's no reason not to except if you don't like gooey texture), bake it for less. Since the blackberries aren't flat like the traditional pineapple version, the dough between them doesn't bake as fast. I don't remember where I got the base recipe, but I know it was for pineapples, so I adjusted it here and there. I cut the recipe down to serve 2, so if you need 4, as many traditional recipes are written, just double the quantities. I hope you enjoy!

Individual blackberry upside-down cakes

1 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
2 Tablespoons light brown sugar
1 large plastic basket-chingas fresh blackberries
¼ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
pinch teaspoon baking soda
pinch teaspoon kosher salt
1/6 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Whipped cream or ice cream, for serving, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Divide ½ tablespoon of the butter between 2 (6-ounce) ramekins. Melt the remaining ½ tablespoon of butter and set aside. Evenly divide the brown sugar between the ramekins; sprinkling it into the bottoms of the dishes. Evenly divide blackberries between ramekins on top of the sugar. I like to arrange them in concentric circles. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl whisk together the sugar, buttermilk, vanilla extract and ½ tablespoon of melted butter. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir just until combined. Pour the batter over the blackberries; dividing the mixture evenly between the dishes. Place on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the cake reaches an internal temperature of 190 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer.

Remove from the oven to a rack and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of each dish and turn upside down onto a serving plate. Repeat with each cake. Serve immediately with whipped cream or ice cream if desired.

Time flies...

2008-02-19T22:33:00.001-08:00

I can't believe it's been a week and a half since I last posted! I tell you, school is kicking my butt. I'm not really getting a chance to cook a lot of exciting new things, and when I do, I'm just too tired to properly document them like a good food blogger should and would. I've been eating a lot of BLTs with avocado lately (with turkey bacon - I just don't like the fatty pork version anymore). I had a hot dog and a beer for dinner tonight (all-beef and 97% fat free, with a home-made bun - I'm working on being healthy, I swear!). I have no food post for you right now. Don't worry, I'm appropriately ashamed of myself. If I had the energy I'd be engaging in self-flagellation right now to punish myself. But I'm just not gonna.

Instead, I will tell you some exciting foodie news (exciting for me, at least). Many people think that all of Arizona is a barren desert that never gets below 80 degrees. Well, my friends, here in Flagstaff, at an elevation of 7,000 feet, we are one big block of ice right now. All of the nurseries are shut down. Home Depot's garden section isn't even selling potting soil right now. And HD is pretty much all we've got here. It's pretty pathetic. I convinced my lovely and loving family to meet me in Phoenix over the weekend for an overnight visit that would be closer for all parties involved than driving all the way to someone's home. I've really missed them. The older I get, the harder it is to go five or six weeks without seeing my parents. I don't like Phoenix. It feels kind of icky for me. And it's like 120 degrees out there in the summer. But this time of year it's beautiful weather, and they have things that lonely foodies in this small town of Flagstaff can't find most of the year, and definitely not in the winter. For example, farmer's markets. And live plants. And Trader Joe's. And ethnic markets. I discovered this ginormous market called Lee Lee's that was, no kidding, the size of a Wal-Mart Supercenter. It was an "oriental" market, but it had an aisle for African food, one for Indonesian food, one for Filipino food, one for Indian food, one for Korean, one for Chinese, one for Japanese, etc etc etc. It was AMAZING. I had to go through each and every aisle to discover new and exciting things that I'd never seen before. They had a huge produce section (still couldn't find any Kaffir limes, though) and a deli counter and a fish section that was bigger than my rich professor's house. Live fish in tanks, dead fish on ice, all kinds of strange meats I'd never heard of... It was overwhelming.

Between Lee Lee's and Trader Joe's, I got sooo much great food at awesome prices that is just sitting in my fridge and pantry right now screaming out to me. Because Flag is so small and so isolated, the organic and ethnic foods are incredibly expensive. I was able to find some Kaffir lime leaves at the Ahwatukee farmer's market. I must now make some "authentic" Thai green curry, now that I've finally located Kaffir lime leaves and Thai chilies and Thai eggplant and Thai basil. I know it's not really authentic because I'm not Thai, but I've gone to great lengths to get real Thai ingredients, rather than a can of "green curry paste," and I really want to try to recreate that sublime green curry flavor. I really need two weeks off just to cook. I swear I'd do it if I didn't think that I'd get kicked out of school for it. Grad school is not meant to make life easy at all. Sheesh.

I also went to Whole Foods and bought twelve different seed packets, mostly organic, for when I finally have space for a garden. Ohhh, I'm so excited. I can wait. I have no idea when it'll happen, but I'm okay with delayed gratification. Most of the time.

When I make all these fabulous dishes with these wonderful new foods, I will share them. I'm sorry to have a long post full of words for you but no food for now. In the meantime, I will share with you a picture of this block of snow known as Flagstaff. One of my most favorite purchases from the land of the hot sun was some fresh potted herbs. I actually found some. Just sitting outside and being beautiful and verdant. Amazing. Fantastic. I'm going to try really hard to keep them alive in this snow. Soon I will post homemade paneer with vegetarian korma, blackberry upside down cakes, and other goodies. I promise. Thanks for bearing with me. *virtual hug*

Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

2008-02-08T22:50:00.000-08:00

I decided to go a little healthier tonight. Sure, you look at the title and the pictures and thing, "Healthy? Is she loco?" But seriously, there's very little fat and a moderate amount of sugar in these, and they taste great. I'm a comfort eater. I've been busy and feeling a little down lately, so I wanted to make something that won't clog my arteries when I reach for a big food hug. I used Ellie Krieger's recipe from the Food Network, and I didn't alter anything. I have to say, the cupcakes themselves were much less luscious than the recipe I used to make my brother's birthday carrot cake a few weeks back. Still good, and easy, but I think next time I'll just cut back the carrot cake recipe and deal with the extra couple of calories.

If it looks like yogurt, and it tastes like yogurt...

2008-02-03T22:11:00.000-08:00

...it's probably yogurt! I made homemade yogurt today for the first time ever. My parents used to make it all the time, and I was curious about it then, but I didn't bother to make it until today. I had to pull it out of a forgotten corner in my brain and dust it off. A quick phone call to the 'rents, and I was all over this yogurt thing!

Like Mother Bliss, I have been trying to make more and more things myself these last few months and years that I'm used to buying in a grocery store. The internet is a wonderful resource, and of course the aforementioned parents. I made my own cheese yesterday - an Indian cheese called Paneer - and although it was fun and delicious, it was kind of expensive. It took almost half a gallon of milk to make about a five-inch diameter disk of cheese that was about a quarter of an inch thick. That's a lot of whey to discard, and I wasn't feeling very good about that. But with yogurt everything that goes in the container becomes yogurt! And it couldn't be easier to make. I am so excited at the moment, and feeling quite happy with myself. And I saved money. It cost about half as much to make as it would have cost to buy. And now I never have to go without again, because with the last couple of tablespoons of yogurt left in my fridge I can make the next batch. Now my granola will never be lonely again.

Homemade Yogurt
Recipe from my parents :)

1 quart milk
3 tablespoons yogurt with active live cultures (it usually tells you on the carton - most of the yogurt I've found in stores has these)

Bring milk to a boil in a small or medium heavy saucepan. Let cool to lukewarm. If it's cold the bacteria can't grow. If it's hot it'll kill them. It should be barely warm. Pour about a cup of the lukewarm milk into a small bowl with the yogurt and mix well. Pour the milk-yogurt mixture into the saucepan with the rest of the milk and stir. Pour the entire contents of the saucepan into the container in which you intend to store the yogurt. This process keeps the bacteria from being shocked by the temperature change, which would retard their growth. At this point either wrap the container well with a heavy blanket to keep it warm, or put in the oven if your oven goes as low as 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Let sit in warm environment 8-10 hours or overnight. Refrigerate. Enjoy!

New Toy!!

2008-02-02T23:56:00.000-08:00

I am a "frugal" woman. By frugal I mean cheap. I mean I deliberate for months, even years before a $20 purchase for the kitchen because I keep telling myself I can do without. When I do decide to buy something, I usually have to make sure it's the best price possible, and a really good product, as well.

I present to you...
My handy-dandy shiny new professional series Microplane fine grater/zester!!! Ta-da!!! I am so excited. I've used it twice now. It works like a charm. I didn't want to get the thinner one because I am prone to accidents, like shredding my knuckles. This one seems more stable, and less likely to slip off the food. I read tons of reviews before finally settling on which one to get. I am stoked. I love this thing.

Oat and Raisin Cookies

2008-02-02T23:46:00.000-08:00

I swear, you'd think I could come up with more original post titles. Sorry. The food will have to stand on its own.

I made some of these lovely oat and raisin cookies from a recipe I found on Jumbo Empanadas. Now, my Crankypants doesn't usually like oatmeal raisin cookies. When I told him that these were "oat and raisin" cookies, he was distracted just long enough to taste one. He loved them! I mean loved. I was pretty surprised. I have to say, they were pretty darn good. The recipe was easy, quick, and healthy. And pretty inexpensive, too. I calculated that each cookie was less than 8 cents, and they were 100% organic. I will definitely be making these again. Maybe I'll add some vanilla next time. Click here for the recipe.

Here We Go Again...

2008-01-23T22:13:00.000-08:00

School has begun again. I once again have 700-1000 pages of reading to do each week and a bunch of writing to go along with it. It's less than last semester, but only by a hair. My cooking and posting will inevitably suffer. Not that that will affect a lot of people or anything, but I thought I should put the information out there. Tonight I made lasagna. It was very satisfying. It featured ricotta cheese and spinach, softened by some bechamel to facilitate easier layering, and some meaty tomato sauce. I didn't take any pictures. I don't think I can remember all that I put in it. When I perfect my lasagna recipe, I'll share it. Until then, not much sense in it, as I'm sure anybody else could make lasagna just as well and better.

However, there is one little thing I would like to share. It's not a fancy recipe, just an idea manifested as a sandwich. It's not complicated. I didn't take pictures. It's just a sandwich that I threw together one day to use up some fresh mozzarella I had in the fridge before it spoiled. It's been my very favorite sandwich ever since. I don't have a grill, nor do I have a grill pan or panini press. But that doesn't stop me. I just use a skillet and a heavy pot smaller than the skillet so I can load it with cans to weigh it down. That serves as a temporary panini press.

If you're interested in trying it out, just take some crusty bread (french bread, crusty sandwich rolls, whatever sounds good and is sturdy enough to withstand a pressing) and split it. Drizzle some extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar on both sides. Put on a layer of roasted red bell pepper (I roasted my own yesterday for this, but I've used jarred, as well), then a layer of fresh basil (it has to be in the middle so it doesn't get wilted by the heat of the pressing), then a layer of fresh mozzarella cheese. I usually sprinkle a little salt on the cheese before I put the other piece of bread on. Then grill it on a grill pan or in a skillet (or even on an outdoor grill), pressing down constantly until the color is golden brown and the sandwich is heated through. Flip and repeat. If you have an actual panini press, of course this would be easier, but it doesn't matter. Whatever you use, it'll still taste wonderful. That is it! It's so simple, I was shocked at how delicious it is. The flavors all stand out on their own, and all blend together well to create this sublime sensation in the mouth. I know it's not exactly special, and perhaps some would say unblogworthy, but I just love this sandwich so much that I had to share it, in case others hadn't tried it out. Next time I'll take a picture :)

Pumpkin Mascarpone Cheesecake

2008-01-21T23:39:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I should have taken a picture of this luscious cheesecake before I tried to move it from the pan to the plate. It was so beautiful. No cracks even. But alas, I was not sufficiently present of mind as I was distracted by the cheesecake! My pictures aren't so hot. But this cheesecake is worth trying anyway!

A couple of weeks ago I found a cute little pumpkin that I decided to roast and puree. I was going to make pumpkin pie, but I just found that a little too boring. I finally had time to make something with the pumpkin, and I decided to throw together a pumpkin cheesecake. This recipe is actually an original. I didn't even really measure much, but I'll try to be as accurate as possible.

The great thing about this cheesecake is the mascarpone. It really makes all the difference in the flavor and the texture. Usually Crankypants isn't really a fan of pumpkin or of cheesecake, but he absolutely adored this dessert! He can't stop talking about it. The sweet mascarpone compliments the subtle flavor of the pumpkin, which may have otherwise been overpowered by the tanginess of cream cheese. I do recommend this one. I was quite pleased with it. My springform pan is 7" in diameter and 3" deep. If you have a standard 9" springform pan that's 2" deep the quantities will still work, just cut the baking time.

Pumpkin Mascarpone Cheesecake
a Polliwoggy Original :)

Crust:
1 sleeve graham crackers
a pinch of salt (optional, but I find it helps the flavor of the graham crackers really shine)
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Finely grind the graham crackers in a food processor. Add salt if using. Once ground, add melted butter and water while pulsing until mixture is crumbly and stays together when pinched. Press into the bottom of a springform pan. Bake 12 minutes or until fragrant and lightly browned. Remove crust from oven and lower temperature to 300 degrees. Cool crust while preparing filling. Once cool, wrap bottom of pan with a double-layer of aluminum foil to keep the water from the water bath from leaking into the cheesecake.

Cheesecake filling:

1 cup pumpkin puree (I pureed the pumpkin with a splash of milk for texture and to aid in the processing - it needs to be quite smooth)
6 ounces cream cheese, softened (I used light)
6 ounces mascarpone cheese, softened
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1/3 cup sour cream (I used light)
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup granulated sugar (I actually used just shy of a cup, maybe a couple of tablespoons short)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

Mix all of the wet ingredients together until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and mix until well combined. Pour into prepared springform pan. Place pan in a deep baking pan and place into oven. Fill baking pan with boiling water up to about half-way up the side of the springform pan. Bake 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours 15 minutes, depending on the depth of the pan (deeper pan = longer cooking time) until cheesecake is mostly set but still jiggles slightly in the center, and the surface is no longer shiny. It will continue to set as it cools. Turn off oven, prop open oven door, and allow cheesecake to cool in the water bath for one hour. Remove springform pan from oven and allow cheesecake to cool completely before refrigerating. Chill several hours before serving. Slice, serve, and enjoy!

If anyone actually tries this out, please let me know how it goes. If you like it or if you don't, I'd love to hear any feedback you'd be willing to share. Thanks for stopping by!

Nutty Wheat Bread

2008-01-18T21:47:00.000-08:00

I have made this beautiful loaf of wheat bread with which to make sandwiches, toast, and other delicious bread-y snacks. I used the same recipe that I made a white sandwich loaf with in a previous post, which was actually from The Barmy Baker's recipe, but substituted half of the bread flour with whole-wheat flour. This was actually a mistake. I had remembered the substitution guidelines incorrectly. You're actually not supposed to use more than 1/3 whole wheat flour according to my new favorite book, otherwise there's not enough gluten for the bread to rise properly. That's why the loaf is a little smaller than usual. I also had to add a little bit more liquid.

Nevertheless, the bread tastes great with a slather of cream cheese or butter, or sliced thickly for a sandwich. The nuts on top really make it. I used toasted sesame seeds, roasted and salted pumpkin seeds, and roasted and salted sunflower seeds. I egg-washed before and after I sprinkled on the seeds, just for extra staying power. Surprisingly, most of them actually stayed on after slicing! I really like this bread, but I think next time I'll use less wheat flour and add a little bit of vital wheat gluten. I like the firmness of this bread when I bite into it, but I think the flavor and texture suffered a little as a result of the ratio of wheat to white flour.

Next post: Pumpkin cheesecake! It's cooling right now at this very moment. I'm very excited.

P.S. I think I'm in love with pepitas.

Scones with Cherries and Pistachios

2008-01-15T21:08:00.000-08:00

I love the food blogging community. Though they don't know me, I eagerly read their posts every day and frequently try out recipes shared by people I'll likely never even meet. I learn new things about food every day.

I've often come across recipes for scones that looked and sounded delicious, but they all had an inordinate amount of butter in them. Don't get me wrong, I'm not the kind of girl that would say a bad word about butter, but I can't indulge in a piece of bread that has enough butter in it to last me a week. It would just burn more of my daily calorie guidelines than I'm willing to spare. Consequently, I'd never made them before. Boy, was I missing out.

Farmgirl Susan is a self-professed sconehead. She posted a cranberry almond scone recipe a couple of weeks ago and I noticed that there was only a stick of butter in the recipe, which makes 12. This is a perfectly acceptable level of fat for me. Two-thirds of a tablespoons of butter per scone is about half or a third of the butter called for in most other recipes. So I thought I'd give it a shot.

They were, in a word, fantastic. I didn't use cranberries or almonds. I couldn't find any cranberries at the grocery store that weren't commercially produced with mile-long ingredients lists, and I wasn't willing to put those in my body. I try to use organic ingredients as much as I can, and if they're not available, I at least don't eat stuff I can't pronounce. Anyway, I happened to have some Montmorency cherries and pistachios, both of which are way up there on my list of favorite fruits. You don't even have to chop them. The recipe was easy enough, and produced the most wonderful scones I've ever had. Those hard coffee-shop scones don't even compare. And I made a dozen organic scones for under 5 bucks when I would have had to pay $3 a piece if I'd bought them at the coffee shop. This recipe is definitely a keeper. The only thing I added to the recipe is I brushed them lightly with melted butter and sprinkled raw sugar on top after I pulled them out of the oven. Next I think I'll try dried pineapple pieces and walnuts. Thanks Susan!

Banana Nut Muffins, Basic Sandwich Bread, and Steak

2008-01-07T21:00:00.000-08:00

Today was a rather busy baking day. I'm going out of town for a couple of days, and my husband has become embarrassingly bad at feeding himself while I'm gone. I decided to make a batch of banana bread from the recipe I posted a while back, but made them into muffins instead. I figured it'd be easier for him to have breakfast on the go that way. They were delicious!
I also made some basic sandwich bread from The Barmy Baker's recipe. It rose beautifully,
and baked even more beautifully. I was thinking that at least Dave can eat sandwiches while I'm gone, since he probably won't be cooking. It was made with all organic ingredients, and cost less than $1.00 to make!
It also made the entire apartment smell divine, which is always a plus. I love bread. It's ridiculous. But of course woman cannot live on bread alone. Tonight I decided to make something that would stick to my ribs. I made steak and potatoes, and boy did it hit the spot! I like my steaks simple. It was a little strip of sirloin which I seasoned with salt, pepper, and just a little bit of garlic powder. I seared it, then added a splash of pinot noir, put the lid on, and finished it in the oven. It was amazing. And perfectly complemented by a fluffy pile of mashed potatoes and a glass of that pinot noir.Mmmmm. I'm still on a high from my wonderful dinner. And for dessert, I had one of the aforementioned banana nut muffins with a big glass of milk. Now I'm off to pack and get some sleep for the drive.

Parker House Rolls

2008-01-06T19:11:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine from Denver e-mailed me a recipe for Parker House rolls a few weeks ago, and I've just now gotten around to trying them out. I don't know if the recipe was incomplete or if I just didn't do them right, but they definitely didn't come out the way they should have.

This is how the dough looked after the first rise:
Then after I'd shaped the rolls per the instructions:
They kind of look like potstickers at this point. But again, I don't think that this was how the recipe was meant to be interpreted. And then this is how they looked after being pulled out of the oven:They'd undone themselves while baking. I should have known the recipe wasn't going to go well when I saw that it didn't include any salt. Next time I'll definitely follow my intuition. In order to remedy the hollow flavor that resulted from the lack of salt, I mixed some salt and melted butter together and drizzled it over the top:
That seemed to do the trick. They tasted pretty good after that. I think I'll enjoy them with some jam for breakfast tomorrow morning. Once I tweak the recipe or find a better one I'll post it. Can anyone tell me how to shape them properly?

Individual Healthy-ish Raspberry Cheesecakes

2008-01-06T18:46:00.000-08:00

Any time I can eat cheesecake without feeling guilty is a good thing. I searched for quite a while to find a recipe that would be light and luxurious at the same time. I believe that this recipe fits the bill.

I've made this cheesecake many times. For this particular instance I didn't have any raspberry jam, as called for in the recipe, so I just put the raspberries on the bare cheesecake. Also, for the first time I halved the recipe and baked two individual cheesecakes in ramekins. Though I baked them in a water bath, they still had bubbles in them. I think it's actually because of the low level of fat in the recipe. It's quite delicious, though. It's an Ellie Krieger recipe from the Food Network. Dave and I really enjoyed them. I can't say it's exactly the same as a "real" cheesecake, but it's close enough to make it worth it. It has so much less fat and calories than regular cheesecake. I don't feel guilty when I eat this one!

Ringing in the New Year

2008-01-02T10:33:00.000-08:00

It's a good thing I'm not superstitious! Yesterday began well, with some orange-scented baked French toast for the Velocitramp and I. A few lovely, relaxing hours went by and I decided to make some chicken Tikka Masala and garlic naan for dinner. While slicing the onions, my dull knife made a quick right turn and sliced my index finger pretty badly. I was going to post a picture to illustrate, but then I remembered this is a food blog, I don't want to gross anyone out. Since the knife was all onion-y, my finger stung for a good six hours. Silly, huh? Dull knives really are more dangerous than sharp ones, folks! :) I have now tested that proposition, and it has been confirmed! You'd think I'd know better, right? This isn't my first slice, after all. I'm going to have to spend the afternoon sharpening my knives. I have a great big F. Dick steel that sharpens well but takes some time.

Anyway, I didn't take any pictures (again), but there's still a tiny bit of Tikka Masala left, so I took a picture today to help this post out. I served it on a bed of Basmati rice. The pretty garlic naan with cilantro sprinkled on top is all gone, but that's okay. I have to mess with that recipe quite a bit, it's not ready for posting. I used a recipe I found on another blog but added crushed garlic in with the dough. I made four naans, all a little differently to see what worked better. None were just how I wanted. Granted I don't have a tandoor, but the results still weren't what I was going for. Too thick and puffy, and not garlicky enough or crispy anywhere, even the thin spots. I want to change up the Tikka Masala recipe, too, so until then, I don't have a good recipe to post. Soon! If you want to check it out just to see what it's base flavors are, there's a good video here. I altered their recipe, though apparently not enough. It was tasty, but not rich or deep enough in flavor. Maybe I'll ask the lovely ladies at the Delhi Palace down the road how they make theirs. Maybe they're feeling generous today?

Happy New Year!

2007-12-31T21:54:00.000-08:00

This year has brought many new things to my life. Some of the more notable experiences have been that I have moved to another state, quit my job, started graduate school, finished my first semester with success, and joined the food blogging community. My husband and I have had some wonderful experiences in 2007, and I know there will be many more to come in 2008. Though time may be a mutually agreed-upon social construction, it is still a proverbial line in the sand by which to measure our moments here on this Earth. It offers an opportunity for reflection, and I hope that I will have the strength to take it as often as I can.

I was going to stay up late, go downtown for the pinecone drop, and ring in the new year like a local for my first new year in Flagstaff, but I'm sleepy. It's only 11:00. I'm going to bed. Happy new year everyone! Thanks for everything!

Tavalod, tavalod, tavalodet mobarak

2007-12-31T20:52:00.000-08:00

Thirty years ago yesterday a small ~~nightmare~~ baby was born in a large town in the midwest. He had overcome great obstacles to make it into the world, and once he was in it, he was here to stay. Four and a half rambunctious years went by, then he was given a beautiful baby sister. He adored her for the first seventeen minutes of her life. Then he loathed her. He tortured her, he teased her, he did what many big brothers enjoy doing to those beneath them. One day after many, many moons had passed, he awoke and found his baby sister a baby no longer, and given the increased difficulty of beating her up, he decided to be her friend. She skeptically accepted his friendship, and later grew to trust that this friendship was not simply another one of his evil tricks designed to anguish her, but rather a genuine connection born of love and respect. This friendship blossomed steadily for many years, and today, this boy and this girl love each other as deeply and sincerely as they had once despised each other.

In honor of this boy, now a thirty-year-old man, his sister has baked him a moist and luscious carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. In lieu of the traditional carrots adorning the cake, which require food coloring unavailable to the embattled baking girl, the cake is decorated with melted bittersweet chocolate, which was quite tasty on this cake. Since this girl is 450 miles away from her brother and cannot deliver the cake in person, delivery via blog will have to suffice for now. And since he cannot blow out the candle, she did it for him.

The recipe was adapted from the carrot cake recipe at Confabulation in the Kitchen, with only slight modifications. This was really a wonderful cake. The original recipe was halved and baked in one round cake pan instead of a 9x13 sheet. Also, the sugar in the frosting was cut in half to avoid overwhelming sweetness. It was, in a word, perfect.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
adapted from Confabulation in the Kitchen

Cake:
2 eggs
5/8 C vegetable oil
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 C AP flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch nutmeg
pinch cardamom
pinch cloves
1 1/2 C grated carrots
1/2 C chopped toasted walnuts

Icing:
1/2 stick of butter, softened
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 C confectioners sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350* F (175* C). Grease and flour a 9-inch round cakepan.

In a large bowl, beat eggs, oil, white sugar, brown sugar, and 1 tsp vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Fold in walnuts. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn onto a wire rack and cool completely.

To make frosting: In a medium bowl combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy.

Once the cake is cooled, carefully cut it in half to make two layers. Spread a thin layer of frosting on top of the bottom half. Place the other half on top and frost the rest of the cake with the remaining icing.

This cake tastes better after it's had a chance to sit in the refrigerator overnight. The flavors deepen and the frosting and crumb become a little more firm. Enjoy with a hot cup of tea or a tall glass of cold milk. Yum!

French Bread

2007-12-31T20:19:00.000-08:00

I have been looking for a good French bread recipe for some time now. My friend Mother Bliss very generously shared her recipe with me, and it was really delicious. I now have another recipe to add to my file, and that will probably be the one I make when I'm bringing bread to a get-together. It had a tight crumb inside and a great sheen on the outside. But I'm still looking for that one recipe which will free me of the temptation to buy those artisan loaves with the thick crust and those big ol' bubbles in the bread enveloped by that crust. I tried another recipe yesterday, which I found in Cookwise by Shirley Corriher, and it was very different. It called for semolina flour and chickpea flour, which I happened to have both of in my pantry (quite odd, I think, that I'd have them both, but there's a reasonable explanation), as well as a little bit of vinegar, and some crushed ice. It was also very good. The crust was thick, but the innards were the same as the recipe Mother Bliss shared with me, which was quite good. Except this recipe from Cookwise took a lot more work and made a bigger mess, which isn't worth it if there's no taste difference. Now that I've opened that bag of chickpea flour, I must finally make those Iranian chickpea sweets that I originally purchased it for. My quest continues, with delicious developments along the way.

Spaghetti with Meatballs, Sahrfrog style

2007-12-31T19:25:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned previously, when my picky husband tells me he doesn't care for a particular dish, sometimes I decide that he just hasn't had it prepared to his tastes. Spaghetti with meatballs is just such a dish. Sadly, I didn't take any photographs. However, I did make this dish twice in the last week, slightly differently each time, and I was informed after the second dish that I must make it over and over again with absolutely no changes whatsoever. It was, I was told, "perfect." I love hearing that :). So the following is how I prepared the dish, if anyone is interested. This recipe makes about four servings, which is just enough for dinner for the hubby and I in the evening and lunch to take to work the next day. Or just dinner for me and a triple-sized dinner for him, if he's really hungry :)

Sauce:

1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 small or 1/2 of a large yellow or white onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes* (I always buy organic, usually Muir Glen)
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons anchovy paste (I found it at an Italian deli, if you can't find it, no worries, it can be omitted. I find that it adds a great depth of flavor, and don't worry, no fishy taste)
a pinch + 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/3 teaspoon dried thyme (if you have fresh, just double the amount)
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano (if you have fresh, just double the amount)
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
5-6 leaves fresh basil, torn into pieces

*If you can find San Marzano brand canned tomatoes, those are best for the sauce. They're sweeter, at least from the can. I hear the fresh ones are stronger but less sweet. If you can't find them, just add a teaspoon or two of granulated sugar when you add the tomatoes.

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large deep skillet. Add onion and sweat for 2 minutes. Add garlic and a pinch of salt and sweat 8 more minutes or until onions are translucent, stirring frequently so as not to let the garlic burn. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Let simmer on low heat, covered, while preparing the meatballs and pasta. This is the point at which I put the pasta water on to boil. At some point during the simmering, mash the diced tomatoes in the sauce using a bean masher or potato masher. This gives it a more desirable consistency, making it easier to evenly distribute throughout the pasta for the final product, while leaving it satisfyingly hearty.

Meatballs:

1 pound lean ground turkey or ground sirloin
2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided in half
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 medium white or yellow onion, grated (this is the secret to juicy meatballs)
1/3 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
1/8 teaspoon dried basil
1/8 teaspoon crushed/powdered sage
1/8 teaspoon dried oregano
1 egg
1/4 cup red wine

Combine all of the ingredients except one tablespoon of olive oil in a medium-sized bowl. Heat the 1 remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a medium-sized skillet over medium-high heat. While the oil is heating, mix the meatball mixture with a spoon or your fingertips gently until combined (overmixing makes them tough, and these are very tender). Shape into balls, about two tablespoons per meatball, and place into the hot pan. When one side has browned well, turn them over and let the other side brown. Don't cover the pan during this step or they'll overcook. Once the other side has browned, add the red wine and deglaze the pan. Once the pan is deglazed, but before too much of the wine cooks off, add the meatballs and remaining wine to the sauce and let them simmer together, covered, on very low heat while the pasta is cooking.

Pasta:

1/2 pound spaghetti (my favorite brands are DeLallo and Barilla)
1 Tablespoon salt
3 quarts water

Bring the water and salt to a boil. Add pasta. Cook until al dente (or not quite done), which takes about 7-8 minutes in my kitchen at 7,000 feet. It may take less for you. Once you transfer the pasta to the sauce it'll finish cooking and soak in some of that saucy flavor. About 2 minutes before the pasta is done, remove the meatballs from the sauce and put them in a bowl with about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the sauce to keep them from drying out. Removing them will ensure that they don't crumble when you add the pasta to the sauce. When the pasta is cooked al dente, pour about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of the starchy pasta water to the sauce, then transfer the pasta directly to the sauce and mix gently. Do not drain the pasta first, and definitely do not rinse it. The starch that remains on the surface of the noodles helps adhere the sauce to it. Let the pasta sit in the sauce, uncovered, another 2-4 minutes to finish cooking. Once done, plate the pasta and add a few meatballs on top. You can sprinkle some grated Parmesan cheese and maybe a little extra fresh basil on top if you like. I like to eat mine accompanied by a glass of that red wine that I cooked the meatballs with. This pasta is now my husband's favorite. He emitted some sighs and other strange noises while he was eating it, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. Isn't food wonderful? I have conquered this challenge, on to the next one! I must figure out how to make juicy pot roast!

Spinach and Three-Cheese Calzones

2007-12-31T18:49:00.000-08:00

I tried my hand at home-made pizza dough for the first time in about ten years. It came out surprisingly well considering I don't have a stand mixer. I found this recipe from Tyler Florence (whose recipes I don't typically like) on the Food Network site and followed it pretty closely - at least by my standards. The only alterations were the addition of onion to the filling, which I sauteed with the spinach, and the use of frozen spinach instead of fresh because that's what I had on hand. And, of course, I kneaded by hand instead of with a mixer. The calzones were just gorgeous to look at, and even better to eat. One of my favorite features of this dish was how tender the crust was after it was baked. It wasn't chewy like most pizza crusts. It was soft, so instead of having to gnaw at each piece to get it into my mouth, it just broke off with a little pressure from my tongue. It was excellent. This one's a keeper. I highly recommend this recipe. I made some marinara sauce to dip them in, and that was a hit.

More to come!

2007-12-30T21:16:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's been a whole week since my last post. Sorry! I got a job for the winter break, and it's been a little hectic. I didn't stop cooking, I just didn't have time or energy to post. And now that I'm ready to do all my posting, my hubby has the camera with him on an out-of-town trip, and I can't post any pictures. Instead, I'll tell you what I'm going to post just as soon as he comes back - which is looking like it'll be tomorrow morning instead of two hours ago. There are some spinach and three cheese calzones which I made with home-made pizza dough. I made two different recipes of French bread. Though the recipes are both very different, they tasted very similar. The only noticeable difference was that one was much crustier than the other. I also made two different batches of spaghetti and meatballs, both a little different than the other. My husband, for whom I have been cooking for quite a while, can be rather picky at times. He used to tell me that he doesn't like spaghetti and meatballs. Meatballs are okay, he said, but pasta with red sauce isn't his thing. Well, I took this as a challenge. I set out to make a spaghetti and meatball dish that would make his eyes roll back into his head. I am happy (ecstatic, actually) to report that both batches this week achieved this. Particularly the second one. I didn't take pictures of them, but I will post the recipe anyway tomorrow.

I made something for my brother which I cannot disclose yet because he may just read this before tomorrow. Today is his 30th birthday. I can't believe it. He's changed so much it's hard to believe he's the same guy that used to happily torture me when I was 7. And 12. And 16. Pretty much from the ages of 5-18. But now he's one of my very best friends. We still have our relatively minor disagreements, as all siblings do, but that doesn't stop me from missing him. I am so lucky to have my brother in my life. I can't imagine having been an only child, though I used to quite enjoy imagining it 15 years ago. If you're reading this, I love you, brother. Thank you for always being there for me, and for always giving me a hard time. I made you something for your birthday, though you're not here to enjoy it. Don't worry, I'll make it again when you get here.

Well, until tomorrow, I bid you adieu. I'm off to read a lovely cookbook that I found at the used bookstore - Cookwise. It's excellent. Then I must try to sleep so I can get to work tomorrow morning, which may be hard to do since my mind is still waiting for Dave!

Cinnamon Rolls, Reloaded (and pie!)

2007-12-23T14:28:00.000-08:00

I don't like to make sweet treats while the previous batch of sweetness is still sitting in the refrigerator. It's so unlikely that they'll be consumed in a timely manner, so I usually wait until we finish one set before I make more. We have banana chocolate cupcakes in the fridge from just a few days ago, but Crankypants looked up at me with those big ol' brown eyes, pouted a little, and asked me if I would please make some gooey-type cinnamon rolls. No one could resist that, least of all me, so hurried up and made them. They're "Cinnabon knock-offs" from one of the Daring Bakers' previous challenges. I still haven't signed up for that, but I will. I'm not ready to embarrass myself with my mistakes in front of talented bakers. In the meantime, I keep trying out their recipes and loving them.

**Update**

Crankypants called me to tell me that these were the best cinnamon rolls he's ever eaten in his whole life! Yaye! I love it when that happens :)

Here's the recipe from the Daring Bakers:

Cinnabon™ Knock-off Cinnamon Rolls

Rolls:

1 pkg. active dry yeast (1/4 oz. size or 2 1/4 tsp.)
1 c. warm milk (105º to 110º F.)
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/3 c. butter, melted
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
4 c. all-purpose flour

Filling:
1 c. packed brown sugar
2 1/2 TBS. cinnamon
1/3 c. butter, softened

Icing:
1/4 c. (1/2 stick) butter, softened
1/4 c. (2 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar, sifted to remove clumps
1 Tbsp whole milk (I ended up needing about 3, but go only 1 Tbsp at a time)
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. lemon extract (I didn't have any so I used a bit of finely grated zest)

For the rolls, dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl
Mix together the sugar, butter, salt & eggs. Add milk/yeast mixture. Add flour and mix well. The dough will be very soft. I needed a lot of flour to get things done.
Knead the dough into a large ball, using your hands lightly dusted with flour. Put in a bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place about an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough flat until it is approximately 21 inches long and 16 inches wide. It should be about ¼ inch thick.
Preheat oven to 400º F.
For the filling, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Spread the softened butter evenly over the surface of the dough, and then sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar evenly over the surface.
Working carefully from the top (a 21 inch side), roll the dough down to the bottom edge.
Cut the rolled dough into 1 ¾ inch slices and place 6 at a time, evenly spaced, in a lightly greased baking pan. Let the rolls rise again until doubled in size (about 30 min.). Bake for 10 minutes, or until golden on top (mine took about 13).

While the rolls bake, make the icing by mixing the butter and cream cheese in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed. Add the powdered sugar and mix on low speed until the sugar is incorporated, then add the milk and flavorings. Mix on high speed again until the icing is smooth and fluffy.
When the rolls come out of the oven, let them cool for about 10 minutes, then coat generously with the icing. Next time I'll use less sugar in the filling. It was just a little too sweet for me. Also, the icing came out a little grainy, but it seemed that all of the pictures I saw from the Daring Bakers reflected the same consistency. I'll cut down the sugar in the icing to 1 cup next time, too. Nevertheless, they were soooo delicious. Seriously. I really enjoyed these. They're quite a bit bigger than the other ones I made a few weeks ago. They're softer, too, with a nice crumb.

As for pie, don't worry, I'm not going to go into a sugar-induced coma anytime soon. It's savory pie! The Barmy Baker has come through yet again with another wonderful recipe. Crankypants loved this one; can you believe it? It's a savory cauliflower pie with a potato crust.

Cauliflower Cheese Pie with Potato Crust:

Crust:

2C (packed) grated raw potato (I used Yukon Gold potatoes, but Idaho bakers will do lovely)

1/4 C grated onion

1/2 t. salt

1 egg white lightly beaten

flour for your fingers

a little oil

-Heat your oven to 400f.

-Generously spray a 9 inch pie tin with pan spray (the potato crust does tend to stick, and mine did anyway, despite a lot of oil).

-Combine grated potatoes and onion, salt and egg white in a small bowl and mix well.

Transfer to the pie pan and pat into place with lightly floured fingers (I used a spoon) building up the sides into a nice crust.

-Bake for 30 minutes, remove from the oven, brush the crust with a little oil and return to bake for about 10 minutes more. The oil will help crisp up the crust a bit. Remove from oven and turn your oven down to 375f.

The Filling (I make this while the crust is baking):

1 medium head of cauliflower chopped small

1 cup chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp olive oil or butter

1 tsp thyme leaves (I used dry, but if you want to use fresh just up the amount a bit)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

2 eggs

1/4 cup milk

1/2 to 1 cup grated cheddar cheese

-Heat the olive oil or butter in a large skillet. Add onion, garlic. salt, pepper and thyme,

and saute over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add cauliflower, stir and cover. Cook

until tender, stirring occasionally (about 8-10 min.)

-Spread half the cheese onto the baked crust (it is ok if the crust is still hot). Spoon the sauteed
vegetables on top, then sprinkle with remaining cheese. Beat the eggs and milk
together, and pour this over the top (this mixture will not completely cover the cauliflower, but it is enough).

-Bake 35-40 min, or until set. Serve hot or warm.

Celebration!

2007-12-20T19:39:00.001-08:00

Today I just had to make some celebratory/thank-you food. Dave's been requesting chicken taquitos for a few days, so I made some of those for him. They were great. I seasoned the chicken with cumin, paprika, oregano, a touch of coriander, and of course salt and pepper, shredded it, and combined in with some onions, garlic, and Monterey jack cheese. Shallow-fried and topped with a bit more Monterey jack and some salsa, and it was a scrumptious dinner.

But I couldn't stop there, could I? I had to make some chocolate banana cupcakes with swirled cream cheese frosting. I had some pureed banana in my freezer conveniently and patiently waiting for me to use it up. I found this cupcake recipe at Tartelette's site, and just adjusted it a little, substituting banana for chestnut and adding cocoa powder to make them chocolate. I had to add a splash more buttermilk to account for the cocoa powder, too.

Of course mine didn't look like Tartelette's, but they tasted darn good. Oh, I didn't tell you what we were celebrating? Sorry! I got all of my grades today. I got all A's for my very first semester of grad school. It was rough. I worked hard. I totally needed to make a big mess in the kitchen and make some scrumptious food.

For anyone who's interested, here's the recipe for these banana chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese swirl frosting (adapted from Tartelette's chestnut cupcakes):

Makes 12

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
3 ounces banana puree (about 2 small bananas or one large)
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting:
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
2Tb. butter, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
4 oz. melted chocolate

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake papers. Set aside.
In a small bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugars and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the banana puree and lemon zest. Mix well.
Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk and vanilla.
Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters full. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing. Mine overflowed, but this is common at altitude. I tried to adjust for it by adding a little bit more flour and preheating my oven to 375 and then turning it down to 350 when I put the cupcakes in, as suggested by the Cupcake Bakeshop blog. But it didn't work. So I just plucked off the overflow and ate the pieces with a tall glass of cold milk. No worries there!

For the frosting: in a large mixing bowl, use a spatula to mix well the cream cheese, butter and powdered sugar.
Paint the inside of a pastry bag fitted with a plain round tip with the melted chocolate. Spoon the cream cheese mixture in the bag and decorate the cupcakes in whirly motion. I don't have a pastry bag (I know, the horror!), so I used a sandwich bag and cut the tip off. My chocolate was really hard to apply to the inside of the bag as a result, which is why I used less, and thus my swirlies don't look like Tartelette's. But they still tasted good!

If you prefer, you can decorate them more simply. I decorated some with a stencil (thanks Dave!) and a mixture of powdered sugar and cocoa powder.
These cupcakes are delicious. Don't wait until you have something to celebrate before you make them. Dave had a great idea while I was eating my celebratory "straight A's" chocolate moment. He said that each semester that I finish with such good grades we should add another candle to the top of the cupcake and take a picture each time. So here is my diabolical-looking face (please disregard the dark circles under the eyes, the un-hip granny hair, and the bad skin - stress-induced symptoms that fade after another few days - I hope) blowing out the candle. Feel free to laugh at me.P.S. I had a scrumptious wholesome lunch today - organic whole-wheat spaghetti with a simple rustic and spicy sauce of chopped tomatoes, onion, garlic, basil, crushed red pepper, and white wine. I felt energized after this lunch, which I definitely needed after a long morning of maintenance people and carpet people and rude HOA guys. In anticipation of the parade of strangers that I knew would be in my space, I posted a sign on the front door asking that people remove or cover their shoes before walking on the carpet. Not only did one of these guys disregard the note, but you know what his reply was to my verbal request that he remove his shoes? A very confident and quite gruff "Oh, no, we don't take off our shoes." Can you believe that? I told him I could bring him plastic bags to cover them if he really wanted to come inside (I didn't know it took four maintenance people to look at a 4 square foot piece of carpet). He grumbled and stayed at the front door, though he managed to trudge his muddy boots on the carpet in that front area, anyway. Amazing, huh? In my head I didn't offer plastic bags. In my head I turned into Queen Latifah in one of her tough-girl roles - "Excuse me? You 'don't take off your shoes' now? I'm sorry, do you live here? Is this your mama's house? Oh, that's right, I live here. And I'm not havin' some dirty old man track nastiness onto my carpet so I can walk around barefoot and then track that into my bed. No wonder there are inexplicable stains on this carpet - you 'don't take your shoes off.' You are a hot mess, man, get out! What's the matter with you? What, were you raised in a barn?" *sigh* Would that I were so brave. Anyway, here's a picture of my lunch:
It was great. Very simple, very satisfying.

Fluffy Buttermilk Biscuits

2007-12-19T19:44:00.000-08:00

Today wasn't a fun day. It wasn't terrible; nothing bad happened, it just wasn't fun. I had to call Qwest and D-Link both today, twice each. It was ridiculous. And I had a rather disconcerting phone call from my landlady. So at the end of that ordeal, I needed some comfort. And what's more comforting than fluffy, flaky buttermilk biscuits slathered with honey? Besides, I have some buttermilk in my refrigerator that I need to use up quick. I think I'll use up the rest of it tomorrow with some chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

I tell you, after I made these biscuits (and ate two), I was a happy, happy girl. I used the recipe from Pinch My Salt almost exactly - I didn't have any cake flour, so I used the "artisan" all-purpose flour that I had, which has 1 gram less protein per serving than regular all-purpose. They'd be even fluffier and more flaky if I'd used cake flour. If you haven't seen tips for baking biscuits, or don't have a southern grandmother who cooks, I highly recommend checking out her page on biscuits, where you can find not only the biscuit recipe but also tips on baking perfect biscuits. The recipe below is almost exactly hers. It's what I used. See her page for the original recipe - but be aware, if you do, there are two recipes on that page. Hers is the second one on the page, unless you have "White Lily" brand unbleached self-rising flour on hand, then you could use the first. These are by far the best biscuits that have ever graced my oven.

2 C. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/4 C. butter, cut into small chunks
3/4 C. buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees

2. Prepare ingredients: Cut butter into small chunks, place in a bowl and return to fridge. Measure out buttermilk and set aside. Sprinkle flour on a work surface and have extra flour nearby for your hands and biscuit cutter. Have biscuit cutter and an ungreased baking sheet handy

3. Mix dough: In a medium-large bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt until very well blended. Add butter and cut into flour using a pastry blender, two knives or your fingertips, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Pour in buttermilk and stir lightly until dough comes together in a ball.

4. Knead dough and cut biscuits: Dump dough mixture out onto floured work surface. With floured hands, lightly knead dough a few times until it is fairly well blended. Pat out into a circle, 3/4 - 1 inch thick. Dip cutter into flour and cut biscuits without twisting the cutter. Form the dough scraps into an extra biscuit-like shape instead of re-rolling the dough. Place cut biscuits together on the baking sheet so that the sides are touching. Brush tops with melted butter, if desired.

5. Bake biscuits: place baking sheet in the middle of a preheated 500 degree oven and bake for 8-10 minutes until they are golden brown. Remove biscuits to a wire rack to cool for a few minutes.

Apple Upside-Down Chiffon Cake

2007-12-17T19:39:00.001-08:00

Oh, boy. This cake was good. I mean, this cake was really good. I made it as a thank you in appreciation of all that my wonderful husband did for me the last two weeks of this crazy semester. And he liked it! He said it was one of the best desserts I've ever made, which is saying something, not only because I've made quite a few great desserts {if I do say so myself :)} but also because he's not usually a dessert person. It has a hazelnut streusel baked in the middle. It has brown sugar and apples on top. It has a hint of lemon in the light and delicate cake. It wasn't overpoweringly sweet. With a dollop of chantilly cream it was just perfect. And I have to say, though it was great warm, it was also quite exquisite when eaten cold the next day. I got the recipe from The Barmy Baker's blog, and I followed it almost to the T. I ended up using less streusel than the recipe had produced because I thought it may have increased the volume a little too much and the cake might overflow, which it still did. Maybe the eggs beat fluffier than they were intended to because I'm at 7,000 feet elevation. Next time I make it I'll use four whole eggs instead of four whole and two egg whites. Since it overflowed a little, it actually sunk in the middle a little. You can see the vampire bites from my toothpick tests on the top (bottom) and the little cave-in is visible. Also, the recipe didn't call for any vanilla or lemon extract in the cake batter, and I think either (or both?) would be a good addition. Also, the recipe called for 3-4 apples for the top, but I only used two and I still had some left over. Maybe I sliced them smaller or something. You know, I thought this cake would be rich, decadent, and very bad for me. But I was thinking about it earlier today, and the fat content is pretty moderate. Each slice has 1/2 a tablespoon of butter, 1/2 a tablespoon of oil, and 1/2 an egg. That's not so bad! The recipe below is exactly as she has it, though I adjusted the comments in parentheses to reflect my own experience baking it. Thank you Barmy Baker for another wonderful recipe! And thank you my beautiful sister for the wonderful handmixer you got us five years ago, it's a lifesaver!
Apple Upside Down Chiffon Cake (adapted from Baking with Julia: Sift, Knead, Flute, Flour, And Savor... written by Dorie Greenspan):

The Topping:

1/2 stick unsalted butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
3-4 apples, peeled and cut into 8 pieces each

-Preheat oven to 350f.

-Wrap the bottom of a springform pan with aluminum foil to prevent any dripping.

-Cut the butter into chunks and put them into a 10" springform pan (3"high) and place over medium low heat to melt the butter. Remove the pan from the heat and sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over the butter and pat it down. Arrange the apples over the sugar in a decorative way (however you like).

-Set aside.

The Streusel:

1/4 cup hazelnuts, peels removed
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 stick cold unsalted butter
1/2 cup quick cooking (not instant) oats

-Toast your hazelnuts in the oven on a sheet pan for about 8 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown and fragrant. Remove from oven and cool before proceeding.

-Line the sheet pan with parchment.

-Put all of the ingredients for the streusel into the bowl of a food processor and pulse just to mix the ingredients and chop the hazelnuts and butter. Should be rough and crumbly.

-Spread the streusel out onto the pan and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring once or twice, until golden brown. It will smell heavenly. Allow to cool while you prepare the cake.

The Chiffon Cake:

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt, kosher if you have it
4 large eggs, separated
1/2 cup vegetable or safflower oil (I used vegetable)
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
2 large egg whites

-Sift together 1 cup sugar, the flour, baking powder and baking soda onto a sheet of parchment or waxed paper, add the salt.

-In a large bowl, whisk together the yolks, oil and lemon juice until blended. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the yolk mixture, whisking. Set aside.

-Beat the 6 egg whites in a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or do it by hand if you are feeling strong-of-wrist). Starting at low speed, beat the whites until they are foamy and form very soft peaks. Increase your speed to medium-high and slowly add the remaining 1/2 cup sugar, beating until the whites are thick and shiny and hold peaks. Fold about 1/3 of the whites into the yolk mixture to lighten it, then turn the yolk mixture into the egg whites and fold gently until thoroughly blended.

-Scrape half of the batter into the fruit-lined pan, smooth the top with an offset spatula, and sprinkle the streusel over the top (reserve a little bit to decorate the baked cake). Top with the remaining batter and smooth. Place the pan on a sheet pan and bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (mine took about an hour). Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool at least 25 minutes before inverting onto your serving platter.

Serve warm either naked or with whipped cream or ice cream. I served mine with freshly whipped cream, slightly sweetened with a hint of vanilla. It was spectacular.

Rolling Around in Dough

2007-12-17T18:57:00.001-08:00

You know that wonderful crusty yeasty goodness that just makes the mouth water? Well, at least it makes my mouth water. I tried to make some of that on Friday for a dinner that I was going to, hosted by one of my professors. The recipe said the dough was to be kneaded until coherent but rough on the surface, and rise in a greased bowl overnight:
It seemed to fit the description to me. I'd found a simple recipe on the King Arthur Flour website, which I've heard moderately good things about. I adjusted it just a little for the altitude, increasing the moisture a little and decreasing the yeast a tad. After rising in the refrigerator overnight, it looked like it had risen appropriately and I was encouraged:
So I continued to follow the recipe, hurrying like a madwoman to get to my prof's house on time with decent rolls, of which I needed about 16. I rolled out about 20, allowing for a few uglies.

They were allowed another rise, an hour and a half or so, and then I baked them. I don't have any pictures of the finished product because I was running out the door. The picture above is right before the last rise. Apparently velocitramps like mediocre-tasting bread, because he'd eaten up all of the uglies that I'd left behind before I'd even gotten home from dinner. Before I had left, he also graciously cut the burned bottoms off of the ones that were on the baking sheet. I baked the others on the baking stone, and they weren't burned on the bottom at all. Alas, I'd forgotten that my oven does not convect, and the cheap electric oven doesn't distribute heat terribly well, so the ones on the bottom rack burned on the bottom and the ones on the top rack, the baking stone, turned out fine. People still ate them, but they didn't do it for me. They were small and dense, and not crusty at all, though their flavor was considerably improved with butter slathered on top.

So I tried again today. I didn't take pictures of the process this time, but I did manage to take a picture of the final product. And I tried a new recipe, though I found it on King Arthur's site, as well. I experimented a little. Of the fourteen rolls that the recipe yielded, I baked two of them last night with no egg wash or anything on them. They turned out quite crusty, which was great, though still lacking in flavor. Today I baked off the other twelve, some with the egg wash the recipe recommended, some with an egg wash with half-and-half in it, and some with salt sprinkled on top. I thought it might help with the flavor. Well, the ones I baked naked last night were much better. These were softer, so not crusty (which was their saving grace last night), and still lacked flavor. There was virtually no difference between the ones with the egg-water wash and the ones with the egg-half-and-half wash, and the salt was overpowered by the blandness of the rest of the roll. I am happy that the texture was right for the rolls that came out last night, so I feel like one step is completed in my quest to find the right recipe for an inexpensive and easy crusty bread. But the rest of the recipe was "lame," as they say, and the ones that came out crusty came out that way because I didn't follow the recipe. This is what the rest of them look like:

And they still taste okay. The crustiness is gone, but Dave says he'll still eat them, so I guess it's okay. I think I'm going to have to give up on that darn King Arthur site. I will continue on my quest to find a great crusty bread recipe, and I will keep you posted on how that goes. Ha! Posted! No pun intended.

Hugs and Quiches

2007-12-13T20:38:00.000-08:00

I love quiche. I have to admit I'd never made it before this one, though I'd eaten many. I found this gorgeous quiche on The Barmy Baker's blog and I just had to try it. I had everything in my refrigerator for it. I adapted the recipe just a little bit. I used one less egg yolk to keep it light and I used low-fat milk instead of the "whole milk or cream" that she recommended, and I use one less tablespoon of butter. She also provides the recipe for the crust, but to be honest, I'd been looking for something to make with my extra pie dough that I'd brought back home from Thanksgiving, so I just used that. I'd saved up the scraps from the pumpkin pie and the apple-pear pie that I'd made for Turkey day. I just hate throwing away food. I know that a "real" baker would have thrown out that two-week old dough and made a new batch from scratch, but I refused to throw it away. And you know what? There wasn't a noticeable difference in flavor or texture. The quiche was delicious. It was just as good cold as it was hot, perfect for a light lunch or part of a hearty dinner when paired with a soup or salad. Come to think of it, I have a recipe for a healthy pie crust (substituting apple sauce for butter and other such craziness) that I made once and it turned out quite well. I'll have to find it so I can improve the healthfulness of this recipe even more. When I do, I'll post it. I mean, who doesn't want to be like Popeye? Spinach is great for you!

This quiche was so easy to make and so delicious, I really could have eaten the whole thing. There was no blind baking involved or any leavening agents to worry about. And quiches are usually heavy, but since I lightened the original ingredients a bit and since it's feta cheese instead of the higher-fat cheeses traditionally used in quiches, this was light, refreshing, filling, and delightful. Sauteing spinach just transforms the flavor and lends it this inexplicably delicate and sumptuous flavor. Enough extolling! Here's the recipe. If you want the original from The Barmy Baker, or if you want to make the crust from scratch, click here. I really recommend you try this, it's wonderful. Even Crankypants loved it. Thank you Ms. Barmy Baker for sharing this!

Recipe:

One pie crust (the scraps from which I assembled my crust were from frozen pie crusts I'd bought from Trader Joe's)

1 15- or 16-oz box or bag of frozen spinach
1 small to medium white or yellow onion, diced (I used white)
2 or 3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon butter
2 Tablespoons olive oil
6 to 8 oz feta cheese (I think I used about 6 on accident - I meant to use 8)
2 whole eggs
2 egg yolks (don't throw those whites away!! I'll post my meringue cookies next)
1 cup milk (I used low-fat, you could use whole milk or cream for a richer quiche)
a healthy grate of fresh nutmeg or about 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg (if you haven't tried this, DO! It changes everything!)
salt and pepper to taste (you don't need much salt, the feta is already salty)

-Preheat the oven to 375 degrees f.
-Thaw and drain the spinach until it is as dry as you can get it. You may want to chop it up a bit more (I didn't, but it was in the recipe, so your spinach may come less chopped than mine did).
-Heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat until the butter is melted and bubbly.
-Sweat the onion and garlic in the olive oil mixture with a pinch of salt and a grind of pepper until the onions are translucent (make sure you stir frequently - burned garlic is no bueno!).
-Add the spinach to this mixture and continue cooking until the spinach is heated through (I added another pinch of salt to the spinach). Remove from the heat.
-Crumble the feta into the spinach mixture and mix together (my feta came in a block, so I used the tip of my knife to break it up into crumble-sized pieces). Set aside to cool.
-Pull your pie dough out of the refrigerator and roll out on a lightly floured board to the size you need for your pie tin (I used a 9" glass pie dish, somewhat shallow).
-Place the rolled out dough in the tin, place the spinach mixture in the dough.
-Beat together the eggs, yolks and milk. Add a little grate of nutmeg, fresh ground pepper and a pinch of salt. Pour this mixture over the spinach/feta mix in the pie shell and mix together with your hands (or a spoon if you would rather not get your hands into this) carefully so as not to puncture the crust.
-Flute or fold the edges of your pie crust. You can either bake this now, or chill until you need it.
-Bake for about 45-60 minutes, or until a lovely brown on top and the eggs have set up (mine took about 50 minutes, but I'm at altitude, so it's best to start checking on it at 45 minutes and keep an eye on it).

Slice, serve, and enjoy! Oh, I think I'm going to have to make another one tomorrow. This stuff is magic.

I have some bread proofing in my refrigerator (I know, I know, who proofs bread in the refrigerator? But that's what the recipe said!). I will post that next. In the mean time, here's a preview of the yeasty goodness to come...

Blame the Altitude!

2007-12-12T19:19:00.000-08:00

I have no pictures today. I realize I still have a backlog of stuff to post, but I just can't yet. 48 more hours and 15 pages to go until the end of the semester! I have a question for any of you lovely people that may be reading this. I tried to make Florentines the other day for my classmates. They're supposed to be super-thin and lacy. They looked like some big fat shortbread cookies! They still tasted lovely, but they definitely weren't what I was going for. They just did not really flatten much at all. I think the altitude is seriously messing up my baking mojo. I did some reading, and I found out that at altitude - especially at 7,000 feet where I am - everything changes. But I haven't really been able to find a good web site for altitude-adjusted recipes. I've found a couple of mediocre ones with recipes that are kind of strange and scary. Does anyone either have some good altitude-baking tips or recipes you'd be willing to share with me, or know of a good cookbook for altitude baking? Please? Pretty please? It would be just so excellent. I told my prof that I'd bring bread for the dinner she's hosting for us on Friday, and I still haven't really settled on a good recipe. Now it's back to work with me! Crankypants, a.k.a. Velocitramp, has been working hard around the house so that I have time to write these endless papers. It wouldn't be nice of me to do any more posting, as that would be precious hard-earned time a-wasted. Sorry, friends. I'll be back, I promise!

Friends don't let friends throw away fruit

2007-12-06T20:44:00.001-08:00

It's been a busy few days! Between Dave feeding me all the time and me wanting to make a little something sweet for him, I did have time to take a few pictures. Yesterday I saw these innocent bananas sitting on my counter. Anyone who knows me knows how much I hate throwing away food. So I knew what I had to do. I do love banana bread. It's one of my most favorite smells.
So I mashed them up. I threw them in a bowl with a few things and presto, change-o, two brown bananas became a lovely banana bread that I could smell all the way in the shower! I played around with a few recipes and combined and altered according to my taste. The resulting recipe is as follows:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 very ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 to 1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used 1/4 and it seemed too little, but it may have been because I'm at high altitude)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/3 cup walnut pieces, toasted (optional - but I love them) see tip below

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a medium bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl cream together egg and sugars. Stir in mashed bananas, vanilla, oil, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix well, then add walnut pieces. Stir in flour mixture, a third at a time, until just combined. Pour batter into a 9"x5" loaf pan.

Bake for 45 minutes to one hour (mine only took 50 minutes - again, varies by altitude) until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and bread is evenly colored a deep brown.

Slice, serve, and enjoy immensely! :) Dave put Ben & Jerry's Coffee Heath Bar Crunch ice cream on top. I tasted it, it was great.

But I just put a pat of butter on it, and it was lovely.

Tip: Whenever I toast nuts there always seem to be small bits which burn in the pan. They're always in the bag, and the only way to avoid getting the bits to the pan is to pick them out of the bag by hand a few at a time and dump them in the pan. That just takes too much time for me, so here's what I came up with. I just toast them, bits and all, let them cool a minute, then dump them onto the cutting board which is already damp with the banana residue from when I mashed them. The banana reside holds onto those burned bits when I chop up the walnut pieces, and stay there when I tilt the cutting board into the bowl to mix in the nuts. If you have a better way, by all means, let me know! This is the best I have come up with so far. Happy baking!

Under the weather

2007-12-05T21:55:00.001-08:00

Between school work and feeling sick, this has not been a fun week! But things are looking up. I'm almost done with my presentation which is due tomorrow. Then I won't have anything due for a few days and I can work on what needs to get done. Research project due Monday, 10-page final Tuesday, 5-page final Thursday, 15-page final Friday. Have I mentioned that I haven't started any of them yet? My fabulous husband made me soup tonight and took even more care of me than he has been for the last week. I feel better in the belly, but the head is still slowly exploding. I made chocolate-chip cookies for him the other day, which I still haven't had time to post, and I made banana bread today. I will post those soon! My camera isn't fancy, but I'm hoping the food will still look good. It sure tastes good. In the mean time, I will post this older picture of a pepper which I stuffed after I found it at the local farmer's market. I split them in half, took out the seeds, and stuffed several of them with a mixture of rice, salsa, Monterey Jack cheese, cilantro, some toasted pine nuts, a dash of lime juice, a touch of olive oil, s&p, and...I think that's about it! They weren't very deep, otherwise I would have added maybe some black beans or other goodies. The picture's a bit blurry, but it tasted soooo good. I'm not sure what kind of peppers they were, but they were sweet and savory with just a pleasant hint of bitterness when roasted. Dave loved them. And I always enjoy delivering such pleasure on a plate to the ones I love.

Food is great, no?

2007-12-02T11:37:00.000-08:00

I'm supposed to be working on a presentation that's due Tuesday. However, I have found myself thoroughly distracted for the past 45 minutes or so perusing the various cooking/baking blogs posted on Mother Bliss's blog. I just can't stop! I really wish I had a large family to cook for and lots of time (or at least just enough) so that I could try out all of these recipes. They all seem just amazing. As it is, it's just the Velocitramp and I, so I can't really cook a whole lot. When I do, some of it inevitably sits too long and goes bad, and I hate throwing away food. Also, all this schoolin' makes it hard to cook, especially because that also entails lots of cleaning. When I made those cinnamon rolls that I posted a few days ago I remembered just how dearly I love the smell of yeast bread rising. Once I figure out how, I'm going to add links to all of these awesome blogs on this bloggy, just in the hopes that others will find them. I admit, my first love was baking. It consumed me for a while. I only learned to cook after I had to feed myself and my husband, which was pretty early in life, and now I love it. But I'll never be over baking. Breads, cakes, pastries...is there anything more divine? It's really too bad the Baking and Pastry chef instructor at Johnson & Wales was so incredibly mean. I think she turned a lot of people off of baking. That's just sad. I was only there for a year. I had wanted my B.A. in Baking and Pastry Arts. But that didn't happen, and that's a story for another time. I wish I had some good pictures of things I've made. But this bloggercise is new, so I haven't taken many pictures of food. Instead, I have posted a couple of pictures from The Barmy Baker's blog of the very next recipe I must try. Maybe I'll make it and take it to school. Someone there's bound to want some, right?

Wow

2007-11-30T15:11:00.000-08:00

I just can't believe this stuff. I mean, I know that some people are this ignorant, but I guess I never really see it. Even the people that I know who are ignorant know that it's not a good thing, so they try not to flaunt it. It seems like she doesn't even know how ridiculous she is. It's so hard for me not to be angry with her for reinforcing stereotypes about women, blondes, people with accents, young people, etc. Especially those about young women, because I share that characteristic with her. But on the other hand, when I get frustrated and feel like being in graduate school doesn't mean anything, I can just watch this, right? Is that wrong? It feels like it probably is.

Trying to write...

2007-11-27T19:59:00.000-08:00

But it's not working! I was trying to write at home, but I got easily distracted. So I left and came to a coffee shop thinking it'd be easier to concentrate, and I've been here an hour. Nothin'. It's just burn-out. It's not that it's a hard paper, or even a terribly important one. It's just that I can't muster another word out of my fingers that is remotely academic. And I don't get much of a prompt for this class. "Pick four and write about them" doesn't do much for me. If I had a more specific question I was trying to answer, it might be easier. And I'm still distracted! Leaving home didn't help me. So I think I'm going to force a page or two out and then go home. I'll have a few hours free tomorrow to work on it. It better happen, otherwise I may just go crazy. I'm in the home stretch. Two more weeks until the semester's over. You know, I don't say this often, but my Mama didn't tell me the truth. She said graduate school was fun and easy. Ha!! What a joke! It is neither fun nor easy. I still don't know what I'm doing. I'm just waiting for it to get better. It's like trying to swim through mud.

Cinnamon Rolls!

2007-11-25T20:46:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I made these tonight for the first time ever. They're a little time-consuming in that you can't just whip them up in a few minutes. You have to let the dough rise twice and all. But they weren't difficult to make. And I just have to say...they are AWEsome. They taste splendiferous. And the house smells wonderfulicious. I got the recipe from the Food Network website. I'm going to alter it just a bit, then I'll post it. The glaze isn't quite right. I always have to alter the recipes. They never come out just like I would want. But that's the beauty of food. You get to make it your own. In fact, you're supposed to. I usually don't make food that requires this much butter or sugar. However, I've been feeling extraordinarily carefree these past few days, so I decided to make them today. Plus, I can eat one (or three) and give the rest to my hubby, who couldn't put a pound on him to save his life! So no worries there.

I made this wonderful spiced apple-pear pie for Thanksgiving. I don't like to try new recipes out on people I just met, but I just had to make it. It came out excellent. I wish I had taken a picture of it. It was beautiful. I even cut out a maple leaf out of pie dough and baked it on top. The whole day yielded great food. Two turkeys, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy, pumpkin pie, spiced apple-pear pie, cornbread, soup, salad...and not one picture! What a shame. All of it tasted great. But I'll make that pie again soon, I'm sure, and then I'll share that, as well.