Courtesy of the crock pot...I flipping love the crock pot! Above you see the very first meal - ever - served on our wedding china. I am almost getting weepy about plates. The main dish of the evening was a bolognese served on polenta...I stole the idea from a meal we had at Nopa the week prior. They had a killer sauzerac on the menu....mmmmmm!
Saturday, June 23, 2007
9 Hour Bolognese in 3 Hours
Courtesy of the crock pot...I flipping love the crock pot! Above you see the very first meal - ever - served on our wedding china. I am almost getting weepy about plates. The main dish of the evening was a bolognese served on polenta...I stole the idea from a meal we had at Nopa the week prior. They had a killer sauzerac on the menu....mmmmmm!
Toilet Paper Brides
Pic of Vy, Molly, Me and Hollis at my bridal shower hosted by the LVH and Hollis down in Sunnyvale. The ladies are quite the pros at these sorts of events so it is damned near impossible to not have a good time. Needless to say, it was a blast and it was very nice to get the women members of the family and various groups of friends all together for the afternoon. Thank you so very much.
Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
Ta-Da! At Forrest's request, this week's "dessert of the week" is Pineapple Upside-Down Cake. I have been meaning to make this one ever since we had one for dessert at Roy's and recently we had seen an episode of "Good Eats" featuring this desert as well. Recipes for this cake are not abundant and it's genesis even more slim.
Although I found a good article here that states skillet style cakes were not new, but a recipe contest held by the Hawaiian Pineapple Company (later Dole) popularized this in 1925 after it was published in a book of pineapple recipe contest winners. So here goes week #3 and dessert #3.
Pre-flip, the cake looks like any other ordinary cake...unassuming in it's plain old cake pan
But oh my goodness, what gooey goodness lies here? What, my dear, were you hiding under there?
It looks like a picture out of an old Good Housekeeping magazine, and I half expect to see a jello mold next to it. I love the kitschy look of the pineapple rings with maraschino cherries in them. I didn't saute the rings like some recipes suggested so they were not totally soft, some thing to keep in mind. Next time I think I will add some crushed pineapple to the actual batter as well and soften the rings with a little pre-bake saute in the caramel.
Although I found a good article here that states skillet style cakes were not new, but a recipe contest held by the Hawaiian Pineapple Company (later Dole) popularized this in 1925 after it was published in a book of pineapple recipe contest winners. So here goes week #3 and dessert #3.
Pre-flip, the cake looks like any other ordinary cake...unassuming in it's plain old cake pan
But oh my goodness, what gooey goodness lies here? What, my dear, were you hiding under there?
It looks like a picture out of an old Good Housekeeping magazine, and I half expect to see a jello mold next to it. I love the kitschy look of the pineapple rings with maraschino cherries in them. I didn't saute the rings like some recipes suggested so they were not totally soft, some thing to keep in mind. Next time I think I will add some crushed pineapple to the actual batter as well and soften the rings with a little pre-bake saute in the caramel.
The countdown begins...
Two weeks left until the big day. Craziness....Spent some time today writing out the place cards, working on the guestbook and will start to build the favors tomorrow. I think we've got all the little details worked out now as well - so nothing left to do except to get married...so very very excited!!!!
Red Velvet Cupcakes
Last weekend, I made a batch of Red Velvet cupcakes to serve as the dessert for our Father's Day Dinner. 20 cupcakes were made on Friday night and it was a struggle to keep enough cupcakes around the house for there to be two cupcakes per person at dinner.
Red velvet has an interesting history...interestingly unclear. Upon reading a few different recipes, I couldn't quite understand what the fuss was about...especially since red food coloring is not what makes a dessert memorable. Still, I needed to know more, especially since it is so well loved as evidenced by this article in the NY Times. Apparently the use of cocoa and acid (buttermilk and vinegar like the recipe calls for) used to cause a reaction that turned the batter a deep red color. Unfortunately, the processed cocoa we now use is too processed to react - thus we add food coloring.
Cupcake in the "cup a cake" traveling container...courtesy of Hiroko for my bridal shower. They are so flipping cute!! It makes me want to bake cupcakes all the time so I can pack them in my lunch every day :)
Oh my...what is this? A wonderful little package is inside, complete with cream cheese butter cream frosting. I now know how to make frosting - butter cream is literally, butter that has been creamed with sugar.
I promised Molly that I was able to apply frosting with a butter knife in an "un-janky manner" but the last remaining cupcake is not evidence of such, eh, what do you do. Maybe that's why this one is still left uneaten.
Red velvet has an interesting history...interestingly unclear. Upon reading a few different recipes, I couldn't quite understand what the fuss was about...especially since red food coloring is not what makes a dessert memorable. Still, I needed to know more, especially since it is so well loved as evidenced by this article in the NY Times. Apparently the use of cocoa and acid (buttermilk and vinegar like the recipe calls for) used to cause a reaction that turned the batter a deep red color. Unfortunately, the processed cocoa we now use is too processed to react - thus we add food coloring.
Cupcake in the "cup a cake" traveling container...courtesy of Hiroko for my bridal shower. They are so flipping cute!! It makes me want to bake cupcakes all the time so I can pack them in my lunch every day :)
Oh my...what is this? A wonderful little package is inside, complete with cream cheese butter cream frosting. I now know how to make frosting - butter cream is literally, butter that has been creamed with sugar.
I promised Molly that I was able to apply frosting with a butter knife in an "un-janky manner" but the last remaining cupcake is not evidence of such, eh, what do you do. Maybe that's why this one is still left uneaten.
Cupcake Mecca
Recently Forrest shared with me this website www.cupcakeblog.com which belongs to his co-worker, Cheryl. I passed along to Molly and we are both in AWE of this woman's cupcake making prowess -she is an animal...practically a baking phenom, using wonderously interesting flavor combinations and making just plain beautiful cupcakes - OMG I can't wait to meet her!
Her cupcake pictures are so flippin cute too. Being the retard that I am , I have started a "one dessert per week" rule where I make one major dessert per week but have forgotten to take pictures of my shining conquests. The lemon meringue pie was rather nice and the red velvet cupcakes were adorable - I think there's one left in the fridge...better start taking pictures.
Her cupcake pictures are so flippin cute too. Being the retard that I am , I have started a "one dessert per week" rule where I make one major dessert per week but have forgotten to take pictures of my shining conquests. The lemon meringue pie was rather nice and the red velvet cupcakes were adorable - I think there's one left in the fridge...better start taking pictures.
Friday, June 15, 2007
Good Bye Jensine
On Wednesday June 16th , Lazlo (pictured left) gave me a call to forward the news that our friend Jensine (pictured right) passed away. Jensine had been battling ovarian cancer for the last year and more recently has been having GI complications during her post cancer recovery. I'm not sure quite how I feel about this...I am sad and will miss Jensine, but I haven't seen her since just before she got sick so in some strange way, I can't believe she's dead. The picture above is a skeletal picture of my former friend. If it weren't for that bright smile, she's almost unrecognizable. I have spent many years hanging out with Jensine & company at the Duke of Edinburgh down in Santa Clara...back when I used to live behind the Costentino's. I remember how all of us girls started "makeover mondays" out on the patio...spending hours painting our nails while confused English men stared at us...it must have been quite a sight at a pub. The only new year's eve party at Sushimania was spent with Jensine, Anthony and Vinny. There are many more stories I can share, but no need to - just a sad goodbye to Jensine and a pang of guilt wishing I had known sooner so I could have stopped by to give her a hug.
Friday, June 01, 2007
FINGERPADS!!!
Recently my skin decided to freak out and basically break out...into little tiny red bumps...all over my arms and legs. In addition to that, my arms decided to employ some ezcema spots in places that cannot be hidden easily.
Always a glutton, I decided that I would whole heartedly scratch them...of course to relieve the itchiness. Unfortunately that lead to some pain and general ugliness for my arms and legs.
After a week of this pain, and tired of having my hands swatted away by Forrest...I finally decided in my delirium to go to the doctor....who promptly gave me a steroid shot...that stuff works fast - but I was warned that I may experience the "inability to sleep, increased hunger and irritableness." Awesome - my own mini roid rage
Always a glutton, I decided that I would whole heartedly scratch them...of course to relieve the itchiness. Unfortunately that lead to some pain and general ugliness for my arms and legs.
After a week of this pain, and tired of having my hands swatted away by Forrest...I finally decided in my delirium to go to the doctor....who promptly gave me a steroid shot...that stuff works fast - but I was warned that I may experience the "inability to sleep, increased hunger and irritableness." Awesome - my own mini roid rage
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