Riding COACH with Grape Soda and homemade doughnuts? GET OUT!!!!

My friend Angela shares some of the same ideas that i do, like making and eating food that is totally Jem (see earlier posts for obvious 80's definition) and ridiculously tasty.  She called yesterday and said that she had made some grape soda (she has a machine that can add carbonation to things, I'm super jealous) and doughnuts (made from brioche dough) and was wondering if she could drop them by. C'mon now, am I going to refuse tasty homemade food?  That's a big big no.  The grape soda was actually kosher concord grape juice with bubblies.  I should have taken a picture.  It wasn't really around long enough for that to happen.  I barely snagged one of the doughnuts.  Let me just say that they were the best doughnuts I have ever had, and one of the best sweet treats I have every tasted.  If you know where i work and who my posse is, that's saying quite a bit.  So, props to angela for the tasties.

Other newsworthy news:  Totally scored two Peugeot salt and pepper mills at the TEEJ yesterday!  Retail would have been around 50 bucks.  We paid 14.  If that wasn't enough, we were looking in the men's outerwear section when I saw some leather gloves that looked more than nice.  I reached out to feel them and my tactile senses were sent into overload.  Soft, supple grandeur that felt ridiculously smooth.  I felt the insides and realized they were lined with cashmere.  It gets better.  I couldn't find a tag anywhere.  I was wondering who possibly made these delicious digit warmers when I saw, far in the lining, a COACH tag!  When did the TEEJ start carrying coach?  At half price???  Let's get em.  Wife bought them for me. the end.

Sultry Poultry

A few holiday pics for you crazies.  I am a big advocate of herbed butters.  This one has sage, thyme, and rosemary.  Most of the time, when I roast a whole bird, I loosen the breast skin and smear some of this stuff under there.  It makes for a continuous basting process, and ensures moist juicy white meat.  I also place some type of cured pork on top of the breast meat (prosciutto, pancetta, or bacon) and then remove it when it has cooked to crispy status, usually about 30 minutes before the bird is done.  This has two purposes.  It lets the skin where the meat was resting crisp up and brown nicely, and also it gives you something nice to chop up and put in salad/mashed potatoes/gravy/your mouth/etc.  

the second picture is of my mom's better than excellent sweet potatoes.  She slices them thin and cooks them in some butter/oil with salt and peps and a tiny sprinkling of gran sugar, just to caramelize.  They are sooooo good.  I wish I had some right now.  The last photo is of the brined, buttered, and baconed turkey.  It was pretty delicious.  Wife loved it.  I loved it.  It was a hit.  Try the method out.  You can't beat it, seriously.  You can practice on some chickens, which are far less expensive and then work your way up.  peaces.

Thanksgiving Reflections in Segmented Sections

Makenna had never tasted something so delicious.  Mom grabbing a power snack of mini wheats, preparing for the mayhem, Dad needing an emergency coffee fix to get through the 3rd or fourth round of doing dishes.  What a thanksgiving holiday it was.  I reclaimed my title as turkey master, tasted my first non-liquid wild turkey, spent some time with extended famsies, and made a small venture out into black friday.  Yes, as I said previously, I am the turkey master.  scratch that, I am the whole roasted bird master.  Three steps, maybe two, that guarantee success (mad skills also help).  Herb butter, brine, and pork fat.  not necessarily in that order.  steps and secrets to follow.  stay tuned peeps.

Making the Most of this Chickeny Roast

Well, I believe I have said this many times: "Buy Whole chickens, people!"  Come on, seriously.  I made three different meals out of this roasted chicken.  The whole picture is obviously raw, it was so good and I was so excited, that no photos were taken.  The second meal, was some really easy but really tasty chicken tacos.  On corn tortillas.  Buy corn, they are better.  The last and third meal I made was a breakfast meal.  I had the leftover chicken taco meat and was wondering what I could do outside the realm of tacos when I thought that it would make a really good hash.  Potatoes, onions, and peppers later, it made a pretty smashing breakfast.  No complaints were heard.  Lots more posts to go.  Wait for it...

Pork Belly Rub

So, if you haven't figured it out by now, I loves the meats.  Most all of them.  However, in this post, we pay homage to the meat of all trades, pork.  I love pork.  I can't think of a more useful, adaptable meat.  Sausages, cured hams, chops, shoulders, loins, bacons, and not to mention pork fat  (hmmmmm... gurgle... gurgle).  is it getting hot in here?  Just me???  Anyway, we had a work party on saturday night that just so happened to be potluck.  I made andouille and kale soup (my favsies), and I also smoked this pork belly.  If you are a lover of the pork fats (which I am, big time) you will absolutely love this piece of meat.  I recommend serving/preparing it like it is pictured above (thinly sliced).  I also made a gastrique for this and coated the fat side several times while it was finishing cooking.  When eaten on a baguette, the results are crazy delicious.  I finished cooking it in my oven (it was very cold out and I only got about four hours out of my smoker

) and made a makeshift roasting rack out of some potatoes.  Worked pretty well, the juices and fat drip down into the potatoes giving you ethereal buttery goodness.  I cubed those up and served those along with the pork.  By that I mean that part of one of them actually made it onto the dish (hey, I was hungry.)  

The work party was a great time.  There was so much good food and everyone was eating and having drinks and just getting to hang out without worrying about bakery things.  I had a great time.  Unfortunately, the camera was left at home, so you only get to see what I brought.  Oh well, just know that good food was in abundance.  Peaces  

I come from the marshland of mallowton

Marshmallows...Kid's stuff, right.  NO, that's a big fat negative, my friend!  I love marshmallows.  IF they are homemade. By me...only because I don't know anyone else who makes them.  Shame, really.  They are super duper easy to make.  You just need the proper tools and you're golden.  Needs:  hand or elec. Mixer, saucepot.  Here's your do:  3 packs of gelatin (plain, unflavored Knox type) poured into the mixing bowl along with 1/2 C cold water.  Let that hang out and in your saucepan bring 2c sugar, 2/3 c corn syrup, and 1/4 c water to a boil and boil for 1 minute.  After the minute is up, slowly pour the hot syrup into the mixing bowl with the gelatin, toss in 1/4 t salt mixing (w/ whisk attachment on medium high speed.) for about 12 minutes. (once you start getting fluffified, add 1 T vanilla).  pour into a pan lined with oiled plastic wrap, and also cover with oiled plastic wrap.  Let hang out for about an hour or so.  turn out onto counter and dredge in powdered sugar.  Now you're ready to cut them up!  Make whatever shapes you would like.  I usually just go for squared.  You could, however, use cookie cutters in the shape of abraham lincoln's head if you would so desire.  dredge the indiviual pieces in the powdered sugar also.  Great in hot chocolate, or coffee, but best in your mouth.

It's Cold Outside, Better Have Some Soup and a Blanket!

Look at that dog.  Seriously.  He has, as of late, developed a habit of sleeping like a human.  He loves to rest his head on a pillow...spoiled.  It was WICKED cold this week.  Perfect weather for a velvety bowl of lentil soup.  Even though there are a thousand ingredients in here, it all blends up to the color orange.  Pretty cool, I think that I used too many lentils, though.  I think that next time will be about half as much.  It ended up being kind of a gas bomb.  Delicious, but a little gassy. In other news...I have been toying with the idea of getting into making some delicious candies this holiday season.  Loves the holiday season, by the way.  I like wearing sweaters, going to parties, snuggling, roasting mallows on my weber grill (you do that too, right?), and pretty much just cozing up and spending time with the beloved ones.  I have a lot of projects planned for the coming days so expect some tasty posting.  Chill...

In State Intuition

Wife was craving enchiladas hardcore yesterday.  Believe it or not, I've never made them, so we were on a mission.  I've done the rice and beans so many times now that I don't even have to think about it, so the real challenge here was the main course.  Oh, let me mention that these were no ordinary enchiladas, but mole enchiladas.  Mole doesn't scare me.  Many cooks cower at the thought, losing sleep at the thought of producing a rich earthy mole sauce.  You just have to know the basics, and it is not that scary.  Here they are.  FLAVOR.  lots.  just kidding, but seriously, that's what it boils (or in this case, simmers:) down to.  onion, garlic, scallions, poblanos, anaheims, jalapenos, nuts (or peanut butter), raisins, tomatoes, tomato sauce, chiles, chili powder, cumin, cumin seed, cilantro, salt, pepper, and IBARRA mexican chocolate, broth/stock/water.  I've made it with other forms of chocolate before, but there really is no substitution.  You can get by, in a pinch with some cocoa powder and a dash of cinnamon, but it's best this way.  Basically, saute the onions and peppers, add the rest of the stuff and simmer for about and hour, or two, or three, then blend it all up.  Get a stick blender, it will change your life, seriously!  

Other pic is my delicious salad I made for lunch today.  Lots of veggies, mixed greens, nuts, berries, sprouts.  And a vinaigrette made with three kinds of vinegar, Delicious.  I am going to watch goodfellas now. peace. happy trails. eat some food.

Hope you are hungry...I made a Lat kes

More pics from work, along with killer breakfast feasties.  Breakfast first.  When we were in portland, there was a sweet jewish deli we ate at.  They served latkes and all sorts of other stuff (see older posts).  I wanted to recreate them so I set out to do so.  I made my own "applesauce" by grating some granny smiths and sauteing them in butter with cinnamon and dark brown sugar.  Medium low heat until everything gets a little browned.  Delicious.  try it out.  next, the latkes.  2 Shredded potatoes (squeezed and drained), 1/4 minced onion, 3 eggs, 2 tbs flour, salt and peps.  Mix it up, fry it in veg oil.  Top with applesauce and sour cream.  Eat your heart out, and then let your doctor or neighborhood surgeon put a new one in.  Caution: this breakfast may cause addiction.  Extreme goodness can leave subjects craving these day and night.  Best follow up with salads for a week.

Work pics:  Blue cheese loaf (pretty much a unanimous favsies around town, also addictive, same caution as latkes) and plain and chocolate croissants.  mmmmmm.  we are the only ones (for miles, and I mean hundreds) who do this right.  If you haven't had one, better stop in and freak your mind!

Let us Leif

Apparently, it was the week of stews around here.  Actually, these were pretty spaced out, it just seems like that.  I took my camera to work on saturday, so the bread pic is just some of the breads that are available on a typical saturday.  Now that the market is over, selection has gone down a bit. I made a beef stew the other night because it was so darn cold.  Really, Really cold.  Scarf weather.  Pretty basic, just beef, tates, carrots, shrooms, etc.  I did use a bottle of Leffe in there, which made it super exquisite.  The other stew is made out of brats, potatoes, sun dried tomatoes, and kale.  Of course, there are onions and garlic, celery also.  I finally feel like I am starting to get some more rest now, so things should be swinging back to more of a normal state.  I shall resume riding to work (unless it gets below 18 degress), and hopefully, be a more frequent poster.  I am going to try something new this week.  The plan: To eat only salads at lunchtime.  no, not taco salads, or bacon and egg salads, or even potato salads.  Just veggie salads.  I had been feeling like I hadn't been getting enough veg in my diet, and i bought a lot of lettuces, (mixed baby greens) so I thought that it would be a good way to experiment, and to get some vitamins all at once.  I know what you are thinking:  How could such a carnivorous beast make this resolution?  I know, that's what I thought at first, however, I think that it will be a really good opportunity for me to come up with some sweet dressings and such.  So far, its day two and I am liking it!  (erin, you should be proud)  more posts...

retspih, def. the opposite of a hipster. someone who likes listening to bands everyone else has heard of.

Made a red wine, chocolate cake two days ago.  It was pretty good.  Very earthy and rustic.  I got the recipe from a "Gourmet traveler" magazine.  I remember wanting to make it a long time ago, but the recipes was in grams and I didn't have a scale back then.  I think that I would make this again, but I think that next time I would make it into cupcakes. I like cupcakes for their size.  There is less commitment in a cupcake. It's more like having a casual relationship with your dessert.  Oh yeah! I almost forgot.  I am going to be in the paper tomorrow.  A reporter came to the bakery this morning to interview Martha and I.  Hopefully we didn't make fools out of ourselves.  Guess we'll have to see. I'll post the link on here tomorrow.  In the meantime, happy cooking.  Also, are you noticing the stellar photos?

Chopping Bones With one of the Stones.

Ok, so that took a little while.  Sorry about that.  I have been really busy with work and stuff.  It was the month of vacations, so that meant that everyone was working hard and being over-worked.  soooo, the good news is that Software was loaded on the pute and now I can upload lots of sweet new pics.  The dutch oven there is my birthday present from wife.  8 quarts of exquisite bliss!  I also treated myself to a global cleaver.  I am going to cleave the crap out of food.  Lock up your chickens and butternut squashes!  So, back to the dutch oven, I think that I prefer this brand to the more popular "LeCreuset." It's made by a company called "staub."  They're located in Alsace, France.  Seems a lot more heavy duty than the other.  I have a Lecreuset, and they are really nice, you can't go wrong with them, I'm just saying I think that these win out, they're built like a tank, or more like Keith Richards in a tank! I like the inside of these because they are just plain, seasoned cast iron, instead of the enameled cast iron.  

To the food...I made some delicious pork the other night.  Made a gastrique out of apple cider vinegar and oj and white wine.  Reduced it a lot and then basted it on the pork roast that I was grilling (over indirect heat, of course!).  So, anyway, I chopped the leftovies and simmered them in some bbq.  Sandwiched them up and served with roasted root veg (parsnips, carrotsnips.)  Exquisite!

I heart odd...um...photos!

We took this picture at the japanese garden in portland.  Crazy beautiful, huh?  That place was very peaceful and great.  I am going to start taking food pics again.  I am getting used to the new camera and want to make sure that I know what I am doing, before I snap some photos.  Made some chicken and broccoli saute last night.  Pretty delicious.  I felt like i had been in a slump lately.  I hadn't been riding my bike to work and also felt really stagnant in working out.  So, to remedy the situation, I cleared all of the music off of my ipod and uploaded new stuff that I had never heard/hadn't listened to in a while.  I think that it is doing the trick. I found myself not being bored throughout the workout, which was really good.  

Other newsworthy news:  Going to take the camera to the bakery and take pics of bread/baking/bakery stuff.  It's going to be great!  I am really excited because then I can show people a more in depth version of what we do.  I think that a lot of people do not understand what goes on in a bakery and think that it is really easy and cupcakey.  Big mistake.  It takes muscles, and determinaash.  Sleepy.  food pics soon.

ps- Is that photo amazing or what???