It took three thermometers (two were outrageously inaccurate), 3 recipes (tried 2 last year), new recipe and 3 batches later... I think I found the one that gave me the texture I was looking for.

1 cup heavy cream
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 teaspoons fleur de sel, plus more for sprinkling

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup water

Easy recipe and yield good results. Heat cream + butter + salt, cook sugar + corn syrup + water to golden, then pour cream mixture to caramel. Cook to 248°. firm ball stage. They hold their shape and I used Lyle's Golden Corn Syrup (instead of corn syrup).

Merry Christmas everyone!

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*Double yoke egg!

This week was J's and N's birthdays and J & N invited us over for dinner. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! So I had a break from
tasty nom nom. But I gave in to two bread products - brioche and hamburger buns. I have made other rich egg bread like challah and pulla. Although leftovers make very yummy bread pudding, I was never happy with the texture / taste. But G seems to think pulla is suppose to be 'dry' so you can butter (or add jam) and toast. Hmm. Anyways ...

I tried the Basic Brioche Recipe from Rose Levy Beranbaum. It is a sticky buttery eggy rich dough. It came together in the stand mixer just fine and was easy to handle once chilled. I shaped it into loaf and baked. It made an outstanding loaf of brioche and very tasty french toasts.

The hamburger buns recipe is from King Arthur Flour. It is also a very simple recipe and I kneaded it by hand. It makes a good sandwich roll, sturdier than store-bought buns, a little chewy, but not as much as say ciabatta.

Bread. Yum.

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... both arrived as expected this year. This one is for J

I used the Hipstamatic camera app on the iPhone. It reminds me of when Photoshop filters first came out ...

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Tried my hand at making marmalade / jam again. This time, I grated some blood oranges & a lemon. The taste is wonderful but the mixture was reduced too much. It was setting but the temperature wasn't right. Next time, I will trust the finger-test. This batch is a like jam, with no visible rind. I also made a smaller batch with sliced oranges. The slices did not break down as much as I thought they would. That batch have a chunkier consistency.

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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!

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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.

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G and I stayed home and had a very low-effort evening. I made little chocolate cakes for us. He went to the store and bought ice cream. It was very nice after yesterday's Chinese New Year meal.

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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.

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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.

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Last week, GD and I had lunch and she asked for my beef stew recipe. Beef stew is one of the comfort food standby I learned, after G and I got together. He loves beef stew. Although I call the following recipe beef stew, strictly speaking, it does not fall into his beef stew classification. I've made this beef stew many times, each time it is a little different.

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.

Continue reading "Beef stew recipe" »

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... N & J brought over a giant pan of lasagna to share, and an extra pan for us. Just in case there is a nuclear winter or the next Y2K. N made lasagna 7 years ago. Yes, that is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 years ago, when they lived here, the first time. G talked about it many times in those missing years. He loves lasagna, maybe as much as Garfield. And N delivered!

and of course, when is a better time to talk about food than when you are full of lasagna? N said, 'oh, I am looking forward to a light meal - 1/3lb burgers". (We had those in summer time, grilled burgers, with salad, sometimes with chips and guacamole.) After the laughter subsided, we talked about how our food year went.

Want to see some highlights? (other people's opinion will vary!)

Continue reading "How did it get so out of hand?" »

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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. :)

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A nice friend (HiB!) was kind .. ahem.. and got me hooked on Chocolatier games. So after playing the games for a while, I really wanted to make chocolate. It has been a while ...

So I made lots of chocolate. The material list included ~2lbs of Valrhona ( Araguani, Guanaja, and Alpcao) , ~3 cups of cream, and various flavorings. From the top left:

• Ginger Lemon
  
• Raspberry (from neighbor to my garden) Lemon
  
• Buena-Vista-Lavender (from my garden)
  
• Orange Cardamon
  

I also made tradtional truffles with Valrhona Alpaco... 1 cup local dairy cream from J + 18oz chocolate = ~80 truffles. See some work in progress twitpic for the molds and truffles.

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Yesterday I picked up a pepperoni stick at Top (grocery store). It is 2 sticks, per package. I left it on G's placemat on the counter. He discovered it later in the evening, grinned, and promptly ate one of the sticks.

me: "leave some for me!"
G: "this one is for you" (pointing to the other stick)
[fast forward to this morning]
G: "I am going to eat this other stick"
me: "er. you can have half of it if you really want. if it is still here later, you can have half of that ..."

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... a thursday like a lot of other days. Except ... so far this week. I have made:

• 1 loaf of banana bread
• 3 batch of chocolate chip oatmeal cookie dough
• 4x guacamole
• marinated feta + tomato "bruschetta"
• pizza dough (2 pizzas, or 4 calzones)
• 3 batch of deviled egged potato salad
• black berry sauce (topping for pound cake)
• brined country ribs

This is not food for our normal everyday eating. ... and there are a few days left this week.

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Trying my hand on Panna Cotta. This is black cherry, before the compote ... Not bad. I used half and half instead of cream. The texture was good, not as luscious as the full-fat version ;-) This went along with a mushroom shallot quiche and carrot + fennel confit.

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N and J came over to play boardgames last night. They brought food for twenty (food detail on flickr). We played a few rounds of Carcassonne (next game purchase will be expansions), attempted to play Thurn and Taxi but gave up (guess game of the year doesn't guarantee our interest!) , then ended the evening with a few more rounds of the bean game. Woot! So happy to have N + J back, yay boardgames :D

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mmm.. table full of snacks. Our friends N+J came over for Christmas dinner. (welcome back!) They braved crazy nutty slush and more slush to share Christmas with us. They brought lots of goodies - sweet peppers, marinated peppers and garlic, nummy breads, drinks, and their cheerful selves! (details of fud on flickr). May this be the first of many wonderful fud we will share :) The fuzzies mostly behaved themselves. (Hi Kooler! She is hiding on the right side on the table. Winter spent a lot of time under the table and attacked J's bread in her bag! ).

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... to acknowledge the problem.

I was pulling cookies off the cookie sheet. I realized I was stacking them in their shapes. As soon as I realized I was doing that. I stopped.

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Snow (and weather in general) is news around here. Go figure. :) "They" have been talking about it for the entire week. Well, if you look really closely, in the dark (cause it is still dark at 6:30am), you can see the grass has an ever so slight dusting. (Actually, the National Weather Service rescinded the snow advisory yesterday morning. ) It is 36, and feels like 32 outside.

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My first trifle - triple chocolate trifle ala Martha Stewart. The candy canes didnt work out. If I get around to get more today, I will sprinkle them on. I also goofed the layering of the dark chocolate pudding and white chocolate mouse. It was not enough to layer correctly, and I noticed too late that the pic shows both, alternating, in the same layer. Whoops! It is messier looking than I would like. Otherwise, this is good enough to go out the door. I tasted the extra pieces (I had to trim the 8" cake to fit in the bowl) last night and I just about fell over. Oye. Too rich for me. *the condensation is from the layers resting in the fridge overnight

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Simple chocolate cakes in cups. No added flavor for the puriest Sh.

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Last week, I happened to be picked up a loaf of Challah while grabbing lunch. I really enjoyed the french toast, but I kept thinking about the price - $5.99! Geez. Since challah is on my list of bread to master ( along with Pulla ), I decided to take a crack at it yesterday. This particular recipe calls for four steps .. while active time was not much, it did required a bit of timing. I know I screwed up (at least!) one of the steps, but it turned out eatable. It will likely be turned into french toast or bread pudding.

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Nutritious fruit :) for grilling with the Davis Go check out their rent-a-goat(s) . So cute!

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This week is birthday week .. lots of bdays. Saturday we visited Chez Davis and had a huge meal - surf and turf and cake! Those lovely girls - Syd and Olivia. :) Those are huge Alaska King Crab legs and Tri-tip that D brought over.. nummy. And of course, chocolate cake for Sh.

P.S. Sorry. I don't have this computer all set up yet so the pictures has not been resized .

P.P.S.. I fixed the pics...

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We had a good ol' time at Chez Davis ... Hurricanes, Turducken, Alligator.. mmm.. and cake! Thanks for a great party. The food was flying off the table. I didn't even get a chance to take a picture of the turducken. And I barely got a shot of the cake with the phone. Phew.

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Yesterday (Sunday) morning I was IM'ing with J ...

J: "what are you doing for Superbowl?"
me: "we are going to Doug's... but I don't know what to make! what are you making?"
J: "salad, gotta make sure they get their veggies"
me: "er. salad won't go over in this crowd"
J: "(in less than 2 seconds) http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/007126super_bowl_recipes.php"

And there you have it. This is the plate of 'leftover' from yesterday. I can feel my artery clogging. :)

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Well.. bread pudding .. with creme anglaise. of course! and I quote "I knew that was bad for me when I smelled it.." er. right. but he ate it :) I have to say this is my finest bread pudding to date. I am not sure what I did that made it good, but it was tasty. Happy New Year!

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One word: nummy.

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mmm...

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I made a lot of cupcakes.

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Raspberry + chocolate cake for GD. This one net to ~5lbs :)

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Everyyear, G dreams up a birthday cake. This year, he wants a white cake with strawberries, blueberries ... I found a 'lighter' pound cake style recipe w/o egg yolks, used a lemon syrup, a lemon cream cheese/whipped cream frosting. It is buttery, nummy, and 'good' for you. Here is a view of the layers.

Posted by E at 8:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I saw oven fried onion rings on Cooking for Engineers. I couldnt resist. How good were they? well... Here is dinner (noticed no greens were harmed!) and here is what's left.

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And here it is ... finished and going into fridge to rest for the night.

Continue reading "2 fl oz of red" »

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Happy New Year!
Glen made pasti. This was his second try and they are definitely getting better. I almost forgot to take a pic before I ate it all...

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Rich chocolate cake :) for dinner at Shawn & Gina's.

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G requested apple pie. So here it is - chunky apple pie with cream cheese flakey crust. It was still steaming after resting for a couple of hours.

Continue reading "Apple pie experiment" »

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Pecan tart turned out ok. I had issues with the cream cheese dough... BUT .. eggnog .. eggnog makes a cup of coffee nummy!

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A not so good picture of the pumpkin custard slice. I tried a different custard recipe. I am not too sure about it :( I will find the original next time. Here is the sugar pumpkin and the extra custard. There WERE four custard cups! hrmph ...

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How many of these:

Continue reading "Birthday cookies!" »

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Continue reading "An adaptation of ..." »

Posted by E at 7:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

New York Plaza Cheesecake recipe .. I tried using the whipped cream dispenser thingie.. that didnt work out. I guess I have to read the directions.

Posted by E at 4:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For Cindy's birthday.. Chocolate sponge cake soaed in coffee & brandy syrup, layered with ganache and marsala mascarpone zabaglione.

Posted by E at 3:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For Elysia and Abi's Easter dinner. The best, no fuss, always turn out lemon tart .. check out Payard Patisserie.

Posted by E at 4:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Chocolate mouse with merigue layer with chocolate sauce... all wrapped up in chocolate glace with chocolate curls .. This is my first Pierre Herme recipe. First impression: recipe looks easy .. but it isnt.

Posted by E at 4:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dessert of the Month from MSL. I havent made caramell in a while, this is a trail run for the Caramel cake Glen asked for his birthday.

Posted by E at 6:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cake for Bill's bday bake-off on Sept 13 2004. It is also my first try in making Chocolate Praline. It didnt quuite work out. I need a hairdryer ...

Posted by E at 8:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

White chocolate banana cream pie for Glen. His previous bday cake challenges were Triple Chocolate Mouse cake, Strawberry Short cake and Boston Cream Cake.

Posted by E at 12:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by E at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pink meringue kisses and stars. Created for the Valentine theme baking 'contest' at work.

Posted by E at 3:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Heart shaped chocolate filled with Earl Grey ganache.

Posted by E at 3:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On RC's recommendation, Will and Joanne went to Manresa.

Continue reading "Will's Manresa Review" »

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Cranberry compote recipe from Jess ->

Continue reading "Cranberry Orange Sauce" »

Posted by E at 10:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

White chocolate mouse, milk chocolate mouse, and dark chocolate mouse cake.

Posted by E at 10:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Alright. I dont usually take picture of food. It is quite a pet peeve of mine. But heck, here it goes. It is not a good picture. But it will give you an idea.

Glen shelled hazelnuts, and I made a chocolate hazelnut cake for a dinner with our friend Cindy. She made french dip sandwiches and potatoes. Mmm...

Posted by E at 4:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is the FIRST cake picture I try to take. The cake is very tasty .. it is a Lemon Curd cake with lemon cake, with lemon whipped cream ... with candied lemon zest .... lemon lemon lemon ....

I made this for Jess's Birthday. Nick got a flourless chocolate cake.

Posted by E at 8:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)