The saga continues...

The sponge cake was a FAILure. Texture was off...grainy, with bits of what seems to be flour that was not incorporated, perhaps. It also did not taste good. <sigh>

Swiss roll that just looks like a Yule log

...and is happened to have been served on what other families call Christmas night.

Hmmm...this might just work!

Chocolate sponge cake (Joy of Cooking; page 707 in 2006 version)

Photo is pre-filled. Need to find an open store on Christmas day to buy whipped cream for filling...

Snap crackle and pop

Cioppino (EPI)

Lake Forest Sunset on Christmas Eve = Old Money Mob Scene

Hello long weekend

Sukiyaki
Banana bread (Fresh Loaf)

Thankyou for health. Thankyou for Adam. Thankyou for Max. Thankyou for the bounty before me. Thankyou for this life.

When you go down with the weather...

Plain congee (HK)

Whiffs of bliss from the oven...

Milk Bread from Joy of Cooking

The obsession continues...

Lisa's Maple Oatmeal bread made with mostly oat bran and just a little oatmeal.

The beauty of bread baking: the techniques has to be exact, requiring so much practice, experience, patience, and time, YET, the ingredients can be so varied (within limits).

Just like human relationships.

Ding! Poignant blog observation of the day.

The recipe called for "flour", assuming all-purpose. I used a mixture of bread flour, "white whole wheat", and all purpose. I poured 2.5 Cups of water into the oats, in an attempt to be exact, the dough is not nearly as wet as last time. I must have done something wrong last time...

I didn't knead it long enough though, I think...

Final product turned out tasty. A little doughy perhaps, cakey. But good.

Shabbat with the Dors

Korean braised short ribs (Gal bi jim; Saveur）
Stir fried vegetables and tofu
Rice
Vanilla ice cream with melted chocolate

Note to self....

....never make dinner on a Wednesday night with a sink full of dirty dishes

Fish tacos: walleye coated in panko, homemade tartar sauce, flour tortilla, Zatarain's Spanish rice, sour cream, grated cabbage, Frontera Red Pepper taco sauce.

All hail Walleye! What a yum fish!!
Avocados were NOT ripe, we tried making guac anyway. No it does not work. Do not fool yourselves.
End result still great. They should invent square tortillas so that there would be less extra tortilla hanging out of a taco.

Maybe I should make some cheese quesadillas next.

Tuesdays with Maxie

More Buttermilk Bread
Chinese poached chicken w/ ginger scallion sauce (香港小菜大全； HK)
Chocolate cake (WS)

Do-over with the bread, this time added flour gradually. Only about 3 cups were used and recipe called for 6!!! Turned out beautiful. I still had to tent the top after 20 min to prevent the top from charring. Divided into two balls and baked in a loaf pan. 35 min in 425 degree oven was perfect. Poached chicken is so good. Decided last minute to make chocolate cake for Sarah to welcome her back. Good recipe from WS, except I neglected to beat the yolks and sugar for 3 whole minutes so the cake ended up a bit flat. I also used a pan that was too big. Next time, maybe a 9 inch pan.

Adam's Birthday

Green Minestrone (NYT Jewish) x 2

Roast leg of lamb with shallots, mustard, and herbs (WS) x 2
Acorn squash, baked with butter, brown sugar, maple syrup
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/classic_baked_acorn_squash/
Garlic green beans
Anna's Mashed potatoes (NYT)
Pennies from Heaven (Carrot coins) (New Basics)
Endives salad with mustard dressing & chives (Quaglino's)
Buttermilk Cluster (Fresh Loaf.com)

Birthday cake (WS) with whipped cream filling
Wild Blueberry pie with almond crumble (EPI) x2

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Adam's 47, Adina's 51, Nathan's 17

In Attendence: Adam, Joyce, Max, Larry, Elissa, Adina, Sammy, Nathan, Elana, Shani, Noam

The plan is to have a celebration dinner for Adam's birthday that is unlike other dinners I have hosted. This time: unhurried, classy. I will use nice serving dishes. I will hire help. Adam will choose exactly what he wants. I did end up helping him shape the menu, but he was the main architect in what was served.

The Green minestrone I have made before and is surprisingly yummy for a vegetable soup. The lamb ended up underdone, I trusted the thermometer too much. MUST check the meat next time!!! Now I am making a broth with the bone. Best best best lamb recipe ever!! Acorn squash was my first time and requested by Adam. Very good! Must make more often. Maria helped with the green beans. Turned out great. I was careful in not adding too much moisture to the mashed potatoes and was glad I did. The recipe yields a version that is way too viscuous. I was afraid the carrots may be too cinnamony. Next time ok to add more sugar perhaps, or maple syrup? I brought back Nestle cream from HK (meant to be for Filipino macaroni salad), and was able to use it for the Quaglino salad. Everyone loved it, even those who were skeptical, or not familiar with endives. The bread turned out underdone. I must remember that that is the problem of this recipe. The inside tends to be
undercooked if only baked for 1/2 hour, and the top tends to get burnt. Must adjust next time. Perhaps lower temperature for a longer time. Perhaps turn down the temperature after ten minutes. Also, when I made the dough, I forgot my own rule and put mostly all of flour of what the recipe called for. I ended up really struggling with the consistency. The end result was ok but I have made better ones. Wow cakes are still so hard for me. The cake ended up with kind of a hard, wet texture. Perhaps i need to turn it out from the baking pan sooner. Also, when making whipped cream frosting, MUST always make double!! Blueberry pie was the BEST ever!!

Back to our Northwoods Winterland Vacation Home

December 7th, 2010

Peapod rules!
But jetlag certainly does not.

"Fried" Chicken (EPI)
Cornbread from Jiffy box
Racket pasta with butter and salt
Puttanesca sauce (New Basics; NB)
"Stolen" Jar of Rose Petal Jam from the Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong
...which led to...Currant Scones, Sarabeth Levine's recipe (EPI)

Max loved the fun pasta shape, not that pasta needs to be in any special shape for Max to love eating them.
Puttanesca is so easy! And so good!
In HK, my parents attended a special dinner cooked by a freshly flown-in Thomas Keller at the Mandarin Oriental. They came home with a gift bag. I stole the jam. I was not sure what it was really, just had a feeling it would be good. When we got home, I opened the lid and had a taste...high tea at the Mandarin! Scones with clotted cream...and this exact jam! It all made sense, the memories all came back. "I must make some scones to eat this with!"