My first experiment in making and 'jarring' marmalade. I found a recipe that is simpler than most of the canning recipes I've seen. The process was straight forward, messy, gooey, sticky, and everything I thought it was.

I tasted it last night and it was good. Due to lack of foresight, I don't have bread in the house. Therefore, I have no idea what it taste like on .. toast!

I tried making my first canelés about ten years ago, "BG" - before Glen. It was featured in some magazine ... I went out and bought some molds, not the proper $$$copper$$$ ones, and ended up in disaster. Then a few years later, I tasted my first one at Essential Bakery , along with bostock (a french toast like pastry made with brioche), lady slippers ...

Fast forward to last year, J and I stopped at Honore Artisan Bakery during a trip to the Nordic Heritage Museum... I had another one (along with a lot of different macarons).

This recipe showed up recently ( I think J shared it with me). And I read through entire thread on eG. This attempt was slightly better than my previous one a decade ago, but not quite there yet. I am sure I will be experimenting ... again.

P.S. Envious of these cute molds.

Today is the official start of meteorological spring in Seattle. I spotted this bug on the gates this morning. No clue what it is.

My version of comfort food. Law Bok Gow - Chinese daikon / turnip cake. Mom likes to make them for me when I visit. This version is a combination of recipe from talking to mom,epicurious, and appetite for china.

Mmm... cha xiu, gingery, and salty. I burnt my mouth (and my fingers). (er. It was steaming 30 seconds ago!). I have not made cha xiu bao for many years. It is a simple recipe, but it makes, well, quite a few buns. The dough recipe is from Classic Chinese Cuisine, Nina Simonds, the filling is from Chinese Dim Sum, Wei-Chuan School. I also made a red bean version with the same dough, even thought the proper dough would be a little sweeter.

All of food above credited to the job search that has slowed to a crawl. Beginning of the year? another dip? I have no idea.

I started from these recipes - Tyler Florence's Ultimate Beef Stew & Alton Brown's Beef Stew and merged them. The stew is made in three stages - marinate, cook meat, and assemble. So start a few days ahead. It reheats and freezes really well. This is a guideline, adjust quantity of ingredients and assembly to individual taste.

Marinate:
Cut up beef in large chunks. I cut across the grain into about 1.5"x2"x whatever size. Divide the chunks from each of the roast into large gallon zip lock bags, turn the zipper out, and put each bag in a mixing bowl. (I get the large package of 2x beef chuck roast from Costco. Each of the roast fits into one bag. )

Cut onion and carrots into chunks. Smash a head of garlic. Add onion, carrots, and garlic to the bags, along with a tablespoon of peppercorns, generous sprigs of rosemary & thyme, and a bay leaf. Fill the bag with beef stock and a very generous pour of red wine. Zip up and marinate overnight. (I always keep the bags in the mixing bowls to ensure there will be no spills.)

Brown meat, slow braise, and rest overnight:
Preheat oven to 250. Drain the marinate, reserve the liquid, discard all the solids. Dry the beef with paper towels. Heat pan on high heat, add a little olive oil, brown meat on all sides, in batches. Do not crowd the pan. Divide the meat and wrap tightly in heavy aluminum foil. Bake for 4hrs, I have left it for 6hrs. Cool and let the packages rest in fridge overnight. (It is very important to rest the meat at least overnight. Meat can be held in the fridge for a couple of days at this stage.)

Garlic mash and roasted vegetables:
Preheat oven to 450. Smash and peel garlic. (in proportion of 5 heads to 5lbs of Gold potatoes). Wash potatoes. Chop carrots. Combine garlic and potatoes in one pan, and carrots in another, toss in olive oil with salt, and pepper. Roast (in different pans, at the same time) for about 45 minutes until golden brown. Cool slightly, mash potatoes and garlic together, add cream to the right consistency. Keep warm.

Stew:
In a large pot, heat the reserved marinate liquid, bring to a boil, then turn down to medium. Open the meat packages, discard any fat. Add spring of rosemary, thyme, and bay leaf, plus meat to liquid, heat through, about 45 minutes. Taste, season with salt and pepper. Then add roasted carrots, pearl onions, mushrooms, peas, then enough beef stock to balance liquid with solid ingredients. Simmer until all ingredients are warm. Taste again, add seasoning if needed.

Assemble and serve:
Chop parsley. In each dish, put a scoop of garlic mash potatoes, a chunk of meat, spoonful of liquid & vegetables, and sprinkle parsley. Or, better yet, let the diners assemble their own. My dish is always more veggies & liquid than meat, vs G's more meat, less everything else.

Enjoy! (Pic on flickr)

It has been unseasonably cold - lows in the teen and highs barely into the low 30s, and super dry (see where all the moisture in the air went). My lips are chapped. My face is breaking out. My fingers are irritated. But J and I have talking about Christmas cookies and Christmas dinner. woot! I made lists ... clean out pantry ... dig up stuff in freezer... to try to prepare for lots of baking & cooking. I found some old marshmallows and couldn't resist making some marshmallow treats. Instant gratification. :)

Yesterday, G used the blower to clean up leaves and pine needles. She hid in the bathroom shower while I brush my teeth after lunch. I left her there and started cleaning. I checked on her a few minutes later and she was not there. I looked in the usual places and no Kooler. Hrmph. Then I found her .... comfortably curled up on my futon in my office. She was so comfortable that she was not going to get off the furniture. I did not want to yell at the sared-episode-gurl, so I ended up picking her up and putting her on her own pillow.