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???