Tell me what you see

Thatboy doesn't read my blog. If he didn't have a digital camera I don't think he'd ever use the computer at home. He is very much a "computer = work" kind of guy.

And yet when I write an entry that makes me laugh out loud I love to strap him down and make him read it. It's a good thing my duct tape supply isn't running low.

And when I read him some of my latest entries he said: Do your readers know the kind of trash you feed me? Do they understand we had nachos for dinner? As a meal? And if they're impressed by that, you should tell them about the pigs in a blanket.

And so we move to another one of Fannie's "fancy appetizers." She dresses them up by calling them "cocktail frankfurters in pastry" but it's not hard to see what they really are.

On the plus side, it gave me the opportunity to try a new pastry dough. I do love my Alton Brown recipe, which I use exclusively, but this is a great basic pastry. What's interesting to me is that my AB pastry dough is made in the food processor. Fannie says this dough cannot be made in a food processor because the flour and shortening should not be blended too well. The shortening bits left in the dough puff and expand during baking and make the dough flakey. This makes sense to me, given that my AB pastry dough uses both butter and shortening. (butter makes it tender, shortening makes it flakey)

While "flakey" isn't the first adjective that comes to mind when thinking of pigs in a blanket, this is a pretty good dough, and oh so easy. And the pigs in a blanket themselves? When I put them down in front of Thatboy he exclaimed, "WOAH! That's a lot of pigs in a blanket! I can't eat all of them." But he did. Every single one.

Cocktail Frankfurters in Pastry (From The Fannie Farmer Cookbook)

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup shortening
• 1/3 cup cold water
• 3/4 lb small cocktail frankfurters
• 1-2 Tbsp prepared mustard
• 1 egg, beaten with 1 Tbsp water

1. Preheat oven to 425. Mix the flour and salt.
2. Cut the shortening with a pastry blender or two knives. Combine lightly only until the mixture resembles coarse meal or very tiny peas: its texture will not be uniform, but will contain crumbs and small bits and pieces.
3. Sprinkle water over the flour micture, a tablespoon at a time, and mix lightly with a fork, using only enough water so that the pastry will hold together when pressed gently into a ball.
4. Divide the dough in half and roll out thin.
5. Distribute the franks on the dough, leaving enough room between them so that the pastry can be wrapped around each one.
6. Paint each frank generously with mustard.
7. Cut the dough apart with a sharp knife or pizza cutter, and make a package of each frank, pinching the seams together.
8. Place 1 inch apart on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Paint the tops and sides with the egg and water glaze and bake 12-15 minutes until crisp and golden.

Hope you will enjoy the show!

I love when the Ks come to play. But they seem to possess some kind of magic that makes time go by so much faster. Last night for instance - at one point we looked at the time and realized the Ks had been there for 5 hours! Sitting at the table with us, sharing stories and making each other laugh. And we realized that they would probably be in the same position for a couple hours more at least. But that's the beauty of good friends.

We were celebrating K1's birthday. K1 and I both have the most horrible, terrible, no good, very bad birthdays. And so it was important to me to make this a fabulous birthday celebration. We even had balloons!

This celebration centered around our "the world's blurriest cupcakes!"

In real life they weren't this blurry....they were in fact cupcakes from Eclipse Chocolat, an artisan chocolate maker in San Diego who has the most inventive combinations. Their creme fraiche cupcakes are all chocolate and filled with cream fillings. These were mint chocolate, chocolate goat cheese, and chocolate creme filled.

And from there the dinner just came together. Nothing goes better with chocolate cupcakes than champagne, so I knew we had to have that. And since chocolate and cupcakes sounds so French, I stuck with that theme.


I used some of the champagne to make a fondue with Brie! Which was perfect to keep us occupied while dinner cooked.


Leg of lamb is so French Provencal, n'est pas? Begun on the grill, and finished in the oven. Then hacked to bits by Thatboy.


For future reference, it is much easier to carve meat before you finish 2 bottles of wine. Although, as you can see, I take blurry pictures no matter how much alcohol I've consumed.


K1 was especially impressed by the homemade huckleberry vinaigrette.


Luckily, by the time the dessert rolled around, my camera was better able to focus. And the cupcakes were worth the wait! Even with some strange toppings they were a hit. And the Ks love corn nuts on their cupcakes! I was a big fan of the creamy goat cheese. And Thatboy by this time was insisting the chocolate crumbles were some sort of hallucinogenic herb. For those of you keeping track, we were almost 4 bottles in by this time.


I was a little worried about how the cupcakes would go over, and since I wanted to make K1's birthday fool proof, I whipped up an apple crisp earlier that day. But the cupcakes went over so well, the crisp went untouched! Which I'm sure Thatboy will appreciate when the hangover wears off.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY K1! We're so glad we were able to spend it with you!

Change the world

Growing up, Thatdad was in charge of yeast breads. Or one bread in particular, Challah every week. It was the only time yeast was used in our house. All other breads were Thatmom's domain. Zucchini bread, banana bread, and for special occasion dinners, baking powder biscuits.

I have a recipe for baking powder biscuits that I love. Everyone loves it. I get rave reviews when I serve it at my own parties, and when I bring them to holiday dinners. So when I saw that Fannie's next appetizer involved her recipe for baking powder biscuits, I was tempted to use my own recipe.

But that does defeat the purpose of my little New Year's foray, doesn't it? Besides, there is a slight problem with my fabulous biscuits. They use a cup of heavy cream. Now, granted, this is probably why they are so fantastic and addictive, but it makes them a little unhealthy. And this is a New Year. And everyone's vowing to Change their life, Change their lifestyle, Change their world. So I figured I'd give Fannie's recipe a shot since it uses milk instead of cream.

What's great about this recipe, is it makes plenty of biscuits, which are perfect for on the go breakfasts. The biscuits are the real recipe here, the appetizer itself is another less than inspired recipe. But it does work fantastically for an easy lunch. Who doesn't like ham sandwiches?

These biscuits are best served warm. That's where you really get the crusty outside, with the melt in your mouth soft doughy insides. Thatboy loves them with a spot of honey inside, I'm happy enough with melty butter.

Baking Powder Biscuits (From the Fannie Farmer Cookbook)

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 2/3 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 450. Grease two 8-inch cake pans. Put the flour, salt, baking powder, cream of tartar, and sugar in a bowl.
2. Cut the shortening into the flour with two knives or a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
3. Add the milk all at once and stir just until the dough forms a ball around the fork.
4. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured board and knead 14 times. Pat until 1/2 inch thick. Cut into rounds with a cookie cutter. Place touching each other in the cake pans and bake 9 minutes.

Small Biscuits and Ham (From the Fannie Farmer Cookbook)

• Baking Powder Biscuits
• 1/4 lb sweet butter, softened
• 1/2 lb cooked ham, sliced thin
• 3 Tbsp mustard

1. While biscuits are still warm, split and generously butter the insides of the biscuits.
2. Cut the ham to size and place 2 slices, with a dab of mustard, between the halves.
3. Close the sandwiches and serve warm.

See the tear?

I've been really harsh to Fannie lately. Maybe you've noticed it. I've even been questioning whether or not she should perhaps have written a cookbook at all.

And then I made these.

They are beautiful. Their beauty made me cry. Of course, the tears could also be due to the martinis I made for us tonight...I'm embarrassed at what a lightweight I've become. Nevertheless, these are gorgeous and tasty. AND even better - far easier than their name belies.

I do have to admit, I take a certain amount of joy in presenting something that looks and sounds complicated, but is, in reality, incredibly easy. I think that's why I like making bread so much. Tell your guests you're making cream puffs from scratch, and you're sure to get a raised eyebrow hiding the thought "who does she think she is, Martha Stewart?" But when they come together this easily, why on Earth wouldn't you take the accolades?

These were stuffed with some leftover potroast, defrosted for the occasion. If you don't have pot roast in your freezer, you can fill them with whatever your heart desires. Or, as my 9th grade health teacher used to say: Whatever Floats Your Boat. Funnily enough, he only used this phrase with me...I must have had some very strange ideas for a 9th grader!

Savory Cream Puffs (From The Fannie Farmer Cookbook)

• 4 Tbsp Butter
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 425. Combine 1/2 cup water and butter in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
2. Remove from heat and add the flour all at once, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon.
3. Return to moderate heat and stir constantly until the dough leaves the sides of the pan and forms a ball.
4. Remove from heat and let cool about 5 minutes.
5. Add eggs, one at a time, beating hard until the dough is smooth.
6. Place large rounded tablespoons of dough on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake for 25 minutes.
7. Remove to racks and cut nearly in half, let cool.
8. Using a small spoon, push though the slice just enough filling to fill the puffs. Heat for a few minutes more before serving.

Move over honey

Oh Fannie, crackers are not your friend, are they? Were you taunted with triscuits at a young age? Wounded by a wheat thin?

First we had those dreadful cheese wafers - which were more like cheese crumbs.
Now comes the Benne Pastries.

Pastries? Really? Because when I think of pastries I think of something doughy. Sometimes fluffy. Usually flakey.

These definitely fall in the "cracker" category more than the pastry category. And I'm not fooled by the mock french name. I don't think you'd find these in any patisserie.

The recipe itself has some kinks. I let the dough "chill" and it turned into a rock solid ball. Like playdough left out overnight. Not a pretty sight. I let it sit out on top of the warming stove and it was still a rock. Eventually I heave-hoed a sigh and added water until it was a workable dough ball.

As you'll see from the picture below, these "pastries" also suffered from the dreaded crumb disorder, but I was able to keep them a tad more together than the cheese wafers, although I made them a little thicker to compensate.

The black seeds might throw you a bit - don't worry, these aren't diseased cracker pastries - I used black sesame seeds. Why is that you may ask? Well, you can get a ginormous container of black sesame seeds for under a buck in the "Asian Section" of the grocery store, while a small container of sesame seeds in the baking aisle runs you closer to $5.

As for the result, I think Thatboy described them best: "You take a bite, and you're like, hmmm, these aren't bad. And then you taste the sesame seeds and are like, man this is pretty sesame seed heavy, I don't think I like them. And after you finish one, you're like, oooohhh I think I'd like another."

Benne Pastries (From the Fannie Farmer Cookbook)

• 1/2 cup sesame seeds
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 Tbsp shortening
• 2 1/2 Tbsp butter

1. Put the sesame seeds in a skillet and toast over medium heat, shaking the pan often, until golden brown. Set aside. (If you use black seeds like I did, use your nose. When the seeds start to get fragrent, remove from heat.)
2. Place the flour and salt in a bowl and cut in the shortening and butter, using a pastry cutter or two knivces,until it resembles coarse meal.
3. Add the toasted sesame seeds.
4. Beginning with 1 Tbsp, sprinkle on not more than 2 1/2 Tbsp of ice water. Stir with a fork, using only enough water to allow the dough to stick together.
5. Pat into a ball, cover, and chill.
6. Preheat oven to 400. Roll out the dought 1/4 inch thick and cut into rounds or diamonds. Place on a cookie sheet and bake 7-8 minutes.

The Same Old Line

I love looking at Allrecipes and seeing the comments. Comments like "My family hated this mushroom chicken. We don't like mushrooms, so we left them out, and instead of butter we used pam, and we added about 2 cups of onions. This recipe is terrible!"

Now, the problem here is obviously not the original recipe, but the person who decided to venture far off from the recipe with all their substitutions and add ins. And that my friends, is what we're about to do!!!!

We'll begin with the Montpelier biscuits, otherwise known as "common crackers"........yeah.......the main ingredient in this recipe......let's just say they are impossible to find. Apparently, if you live in Vermont, you can get these by the barrel - literally. Here in California you have to mail order them. But they look like pretty basic crackers, right?

So I picked up my own common crackers - Carr's.

Then next ingredient snafu I had was the sliced cheddar. I accidentally grated all my cheddar trying to make my life easier. But I did have some of Thatboy's favorite on hand, and I figured warm brie on crackers sounds mighty tasty. So for those of you playing along at home, we now have brie on crackers instead of cheddar on biscuits.

And because good things always come in threes, I ran into another little snag while putting together the recipe. You see, apparently, these Montpelier biscuits, or common crackers can be sliced in half. My Carr crackers? Not so much.

The good news is, you really can't go wrong with melty brie on crackers! So I give this recipe a big thumbs up. Even though it's a far cry from the original.

Montpelier Biscuits and Cheese (From The Fannie Farmer Cookbook)

• Montpelier or other hard biscuits (I used Carr crackers)
• Butter, softened
• Sharp Cheddar Cheese (I used Brie)

1. Preheat oven to 425. Split the biscuits and spread with soft butter. (Obviously I didn't do this. Just buttered each individual cracker)
2. Cover with a 1/4 inch slice of Cheddar (Brie) and bake for 8 minutes, until the cheese is bubbly.

I sure got a long way to go

"Fannie, this is your publisher calling."
"Oh Arnie! How are you? I haven't heard from you in ages! Everything's going well with the book I hope?"
"Smashing Fannie, but, well, the big guys are a little worried."
"Oh my, what has them worried?"
"Well, you have all these fancy recipes with pate, seafood, braised beef, cow brains; the big guys are a little concerned you may not reach as broad an audience as they'd like."
"I don't quite understand."
"Well Fannie, we're marketing you as America's Favorite Housewife, but you're not quite reaching middle America. We need you to tone it down a little."
"Tone it down?"
"Maybe something that will appeal to Americans without your...refined tastes."
"You want something trashy?"
"YES! Now you're getting it!"
"Well...I could add in the nachos I used to make for the boys when they were little. But I warn you - it's not really a recipe as much as a combination of ingredients."
"Sounds perfect. Love ya Fannie!"

Nachos(From The Fannie Farmer Cookbook)

• bag of tortilla chips
• 1 lb grated cheddar cheese
• 1/3 cup chopped canned peeled green chilies
• 1/2 cup chopped onion

1. Preheat oven to 400. Lay tortilla chips on a cookie sheet.
2. Toss together the cheese, chilies, and onion and sprinkle over the tortilla chips.
3. Bake for about 5 minutes, until the cheese is melted. Serve hot.

Take a chance

It is with deepest pride and greatest pleasure that we welcome you tonight. And now we invite you to relax, let us pull up a chair as the dining room proudly presents - your dinner (or breakfast as the case may be!).

It's time to share the entries of the Platinum Chef Challenge and announce the winner!

Our first entry comes from my very own home state! But an atmosphere far different than our sunny Southern California ways. Cookie of Workout then Cook heard eggs and thought brunch. And really, can you blame her? If the sound of her cheesy bacon potato bake doesn't make you drool then I suggest you check in with your doctor. Although, she's also supplied the pear and carrot muffins for those of you who are watching your cholesterol sail through the roof. I can just imagine how sweet these muffins must be with all the natural sweetness from the pears and carrots!

In case you're still hungry after that brunch, let's head over to The Missing Ingredient for lunch. xigumdrops thought the challenge would be a good chance to use her new immersion blender. I think it was a good decision. Her sweet potato pear soup has the beautiful color of sweet potatoes, and the consistency is nice and thick, just how I like my soup. She served the soup with one of my all time favorite foods - pretzels! Although it's unseasonably warm here, that doesn't stop me from enjoying warm soup with hot crusty pretzels! Especially when those pretzels are filled with garlicy goodness. Garlic, it's not just for vampires anymore.

We're going to have to travel quite a bit for dinner. Allllll the way to Cooking and the City. But don't worry, I'm sure that today Dell and I had similar weather - HOT and gorgeous. Am I right Dell? Dell went against the cardinal rule in impressing a judge of a challenge. She made a food I don't like. Salmon Patties with sweet chili mayo. But since I am a fair and impartial judge, I showed the entry to Thatboy who does eat salmon. Unfortunately he has now started asking me to make them, so I had to tell him that it's a rare Australian salmon we don't get here and is poisonous. Dell's saving grace may be her pear dessert cake which looks equally as fantastic and which will definitely be made in Thathouse.

And the winner of the Platinum Chef Challenge is ......
Dell! Congratulations and everyone stay tuned to Cooking and the City for the next challenge!

I forgot to remember

When I plopped these snacks down in front of Thatboy he took a bite and told me he wasn't a fan. Not a big deal, because we had other food on the way. But then he ate another one. And another one. Pretty soon he had eaten almost the entire plate. He said they grew on him. I guess so! Although, cream cheese is always a popular appetizer ingredient, so I shouldn't be too surprised. And doesn't everyone like things they can eat with their hands?

Hot Cream Cheese Canapes (From The Fannie Farmer Cookbook)

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 onion, minced
• salt and pepper
• 30 small bread squares, toasted (I used baguette slices, untoasted)
  

1. Preheat the broiler. Mix the cream cheese, egg, onion, salt, and pepper.
2. Spread on toasted bread and place under broiler until puffed and lightly browned.

I say I don't know

The funny thing about this journey I'm taking through a cookbook, is that sometimes it makes me feel better about my own recipes. I mean, certainly there are some things I make that make me think "Holy Hannah I am outstanding!" but a majority of my own creations are things like: Cut fruit in slices. Place goat cheese on slices. Drizzle with honey. Nothing fabulous or phenomenal there.

And then I open a cookbook that has international acclaim, published and republished for over 30 years, and I find a recipe like this. I can almost imagine Fannie standing in her kitchen, having just received a call from her husband informing her that he's bringing his boss and the boss's new wife over for dinner and could she please whip up a pot roast since they've heard so much about her culinary skills. Desperate and slightly deranged, Fannie glances around her fridge and can find only a loaf of bread, a wilty looking onion, and of course, the ever present jug o' mayonnaise. While the pot roast simmers in the oven, Fannie throws these items together and changes into her best dress and heels, arriving from the kitchen with a tray of snacks, just as Mr. Farmer, Mr. Boss, and New Wife enter the home. "Oh this ole thing?" Fannie says with the relaxed air of a woman who knows she's won - "I just threw it together!"

Easy Onion Bites (From the Fannie Farmer Cookbook)

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan
• 4 slices white bread
• 1 medium onion, very thinly sliced

1. Preheat the broiler. Mix the mayo and the cheese.
2. Decrust the bread and spread with the cheese mixture.
3. Cut each slice of bread into quarters and top with an onion slice. Broil 4 minutes.

Listen to Me

There are times when I'm sure Thatboy questions how he ended up with me. There is never ice cream in our freezer, and in general our cupboards are devoid of anything chocolate. Truthfully, he is a far far better person than I am. Because if he didn't love cheese, there is no way our relationship would work.

Lucky for me, he does love cheese. Even if he doesn't know the name, even if he isn't as cheese adventurous as I am.

The next three appetizers all revolve around cheese, and as such they were big hits in Thathouse. Well the first two were big hits. The third one....not so much......but I'll explain more shortly. Fannie notes that salty appetizers such as these, will encourage thirst and therefore should be served with drinks. She also notes that snacks are a great way to temper alcohol - something every good bar knows. (My favorites have popcorn machines). Small portions should be artfully arranged on plates, but I know I need to work on presentation!

Welcome to Cheese-a-palooza!

Cheese straws - I kid you not, these were gone in a matter of minutes. SO easy to make. SO easy to eat. Perfect cheesy bites. Thatboy ate 10 or 12 before asking "These aren't good for us at all, huh?"

Cheese Straws (From The Fannie Farmer Cookbook)

• 1/4 lb butter
• 2 cups flour
• 1/3 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 lb sharp cheddar cheese, grated

1. Preheat oven to 400. Cream the butter until light, add the flour, cayenne, and cheese.
2. Roll out on a floured board. Cut into strips and place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake until golden (Fannie says 6 minutes, but it took me over 10).

Cheese puffs - Thatboy was so excited to see more cheese snacks the following day. I told him there was a suprise inside, and after a recent trip to the "world's most ridiculous McDonalds*" he probably thought there would be a toy inside. There wasn't, but he did enjoy what he found! He kept telling me to take a picture of them cut in half and I forgot before they were gone. If you like salty, these are the ones for you!

Cheese Puffs (From The Fannie Farmer Cookbook)

• 2 cups grated sharp cheese
• 1/4 lb butter
• 1 cup flour
• pimento stuffed green olives

1. Preheat oven to 400. Put the cheese and butter in a food processor and blend until smooth.
   
2. Add the flour and salt and mix well.
   
3. Roll out to 1/4 inch thickness.
4. Cut the dough into 2 inch square and wrap square around olive, sealing the seams.
   
5. Place on a cookie sheet and bake 15 minutes.
   

Cheese Wafers - My first clue that something was not going to go well was the inclusion of pecans in the recipe. I read the entire recipe and thought "how am I going to cut this into thin wafers with chunks of pecans in them?" I should have been forewarned. While the other cheese recipes have you combine the butter and cheese in some sort of appliance. This one just says "combine" and they never really came together. "Aha!" I thought, "When the butter solidfies in the fridge, it will come together." And the next day when I went to cut it into wafers it turned into crumbs. Those three discs you see above are the only ones I was able to get from the two logs. Bah!

Cheese Wafers (From the Fannie Farmer Cookbook)

• 1/4 lb butter, softened
• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 2 cups grated cheese

1. Combine all ingredients. Make 2 rolls about 1 1/2 inches in diameter.
   
2. Wrap in foil and refrigerate at least 8 hours.
   
3. Preheat oven to 375. Slice the dough into thin wafers and bake 6-10 minutes.

* Our local McDonalds has wood paneled floors, chadeliers, gold gilt frames on the wall, and velvet drapes. It contains all the regular stuff, along with a gelato bar, paninis, salads, pastas, and other gourmet sandwiches. The chairs are all overstuffed leather arm chairs.

Because you're sweet

I'm going to show you what a typical meal looks like at Thathouse when we have company. And I'll extend an open invitation to each of you - there is always an open seat at our table. I don't even need much notice - although notice is always nice. Feel free to stop by anytime!

First Course: Soup! This is a mushroom soup. Because this week all the cool girls were making mushroom soup. Although Thatboy spent more time talking about the melty brie on the bread than the soup itself. Except he didn't know it was brie - he just knows that he likes whatever cheese was on the bread. I heard about it all night.


The Main Course: Brisket! My friend Chill had never had brisket before, so she was really excited for this one. Thatboy wasn't as excited.


The sides: Carrots and Latkes. Chill was sad she didn't get any latkes this year, so I whipped some up for her. My final batch till next year. I also sent her home with a bag...for...her cat, I'm sure.



The Dessert: Croissant Bread Pudding. Thatboy thought this was incredibly rich, which is probably do to the layer of melty chocolate chips on the bottom. Think bread pudding meets molton lava cake.

Take it easy

Fannie notes that appetizers should demand attention with bright colors and appealing arrangement. The hot dishes should be served bubbling hot. I am excellent in serving hot food when it's hot, although Thatboy isn't amazing at eating it when it's hot. He's a bit of a pain. Especially now that my cooking corner has turned into his digital darkroom. He can barely lift his head to eat, let alone eat when it's warm. As such, these two shrimp dishes have turned into dinners for us. Even though they're supposed to be merely appetite whetting, neither of us has much of an appetite lately so these are perfectly fulfilling.

And finally we're on the right track! Both of these dishes were big hits. Finally fun, flavorful, and facile appetizers! The second one even reminded me of the Johnny Cakes at Lady & Sons!

There's no real skill involved in the first recipe. Mixing the ingredients, spreading on bread and then heating. Easy enough for a small child. Although - Thatgirl's words of wisdom - always supervise young children in the kitchen. They are not as smart as you or I.

The main skill in the second recipe is frying. Here are my tips for you since I am a master fry-er.
1) Regardless of what the recipe says, when frying any form of "cake" use medium low heat. It will save you from burning the outside of the cake while the inside remains raw.
2) Wear long sleeves
3) When working with young children, have them do the mixing, let the adults be the one who actually puts the batter in the pan.

Hot Seafood with Mayonnaise (from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook)

• 1 1/2 cups shellfish or boned and flaked cooked fish (I used shrimp, obviously)
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 3-4 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp minced onion
• 2 tsp minced parsley
• freshly ground pepper
• salt to taste
• 24 small bread rounds

1. Preheat oven to 400. Combine the seafood and/or fish and the seasonings, and add salt and pepper to taste.
2. Spread on bread rounds and bake 7-8 minutes.

Clam Fritters (changed to Shrimp Fritters) (From The Fannie Farmer Cookbook)

• 1 cup chopped clams (changed to shrimp)
• 1/3 cup bottle clam juice (changed to milk)
• 1 egg beaten
• 2/3 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp freshly ground pepper
• Vegetable oil for frying

1. Combine clam juice (milk) and egg, flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper and beat until well blended.
2. Stir in clams (shrimp).
3. Heat 1 inch of oil in a skillet. When it is very hot, drop the batter in by teaspoonful.
4. Fry until brown on each side. Do a few at a time until all are fried. Drain on paper towels.

You can imitate ev'ryone you know

...but it doesn't make you an expert. As much as I love to cook. As adventurous in the kitchen as I am, I am no expert. I like starting out with these appetizers because they come together so quickly, they make me feel far more proficient than I am.

However, we are so far 2 for 2 on these hot appetizers. As you may recall, Fannie mentioned they should appeal to both the eye and the palate. We're having a tough time with the palate one. These crab puffs are gorgeous to look at, but merely mehhh in the taste department. Thatboy's exact words were "they're a waste of perfectly good bread."

Lesson for the day: The French word "hor d'oeuvre" literally means "outside the principal work or main course."

Crab Puffs (from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook)

• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 cup flaked cooked crabmeat
• 1 Tbsp finely chopped scallions
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
• salt
• 2 egg whites
• 48 1 1/2 inch rounds of bread.
  

1. Preheat the broiler. Combine the mayonaise, crabmeat, scallions, cayenne, lemon juice, and salt to taste.
2. Beat the egg whites until stiff and gently fold in the crab mixture.
3. Spoon a mound of mixture on each of the bread rounds.
4. Place on cookie sheets and put under broiler until lightly browned.

I can however give you RAVE reviews on how I used the leftover 2 egg yolks. I made Peabody's Frozen Key Lime Souffle for 2. They were phenomenal!

Already knows her ABC's

A very very wise woman once said: "Let's start at the very beginning. A very good place to start." And where do you start with food? Why also at the very beginning. Appetizers, or small bites.

According to Fannie Farmer the goal of the appetizer is to stimulate the appetite without satisfying the appetite. It should appeal to the eye and the palate. Basically, what she's saying is, it should leave you wanting more.

I'm skipping over the part about dips and spreads and jumping right in to the hot appetizers.

And this first hot appetizer has led me to add a #4 to my caveat. I keep thinking I like liver because I like chopped liver. But really? I've decided I don't like liver in any form but chopped. And Thatdog agrees. When I tried to pawn these off on him he turned up his nose and asked what happened to the leftover bacon. Soooo this is the first and last liver recipe you will see from the book. Which should make a majority of you happy since as I seem to recall, there were very few liver lovers who are reading. And for those of you liver lovers, I apologize, but if you REALLY want you could always by your own copy of the book, start your own blog, and cook exclusively liver and "other organ" dishes. Oh! And you can make this recipe over and over and over again.

Skewered Chicken Livers, Bacon and Water Chestnuts

- Fannie reminds you to soak your skewers in water before beginning so they don't catch on fire, but as you can see, that didn't help my poor skewers.

• 1 lb chicken livers
• 1 can water chestnuts, drained
• 10-15 slices of bacon
  

1. Preheat the broiler. Cut each liver into three or four pieces.
2. Cut the water chestnuts in half.
3. Cut each bacon slice into three or four pieces and wrap a piece around the water chestnut half.
4. On each skewer thread a piece of liver and a piece of bacon wrapped water chestnut. Repeat so that each skewer has at least 2 pieces of liver. Place the threaded skewer on a broiler rack and cook 3 minutes each side or until bacon is lightly browned.

You better do what she said

My other New Year's resolution that is blog related is to improve my cooking skills. The basics. I thought a good way to do this is learning to make classic dishes and refining my skills through practice as well as learning new skills and techniques.

For help in this endeavor I turned to an old friend. You see, when I first moved out on my own, my mother entrusted me with her old and worn copy of The Fannie Farmer cookbook. It has proved invaluable to me. The first time I had my parents over for dinner I served a roasted pork - the first time I'd ever worked with pork, or roasted anything. I remember how nervous I was, and yet, reading the recipe, along with the introduction explaining all the parts of the pig and what they're used for, I felt a sense of reassurance.

I still turn to Fannie Farmer whenever I have anything new come up. You may remember it was my go-to when I had to figure out how to cut a chicken into 8 pieces. And then I got this month's Bon Apetit. I love reading through this magazine, especially since they began to include submissions by Molly Wizenberg, perhaps better known as Orangette. This month, Molly writes about a love affair with Pate de campagne. As usual, after reading anything she writes, I knew I would have to find a way to make some of my own. And instead of trying her recipe, which face it, is a little intimidating, I decided to turn to someone who I know and trust. Fannie Farmer. Sure enough, there's a recipe that's pretty much the same, except it has the addition of chicken! It was then I came up with the idea to cook the book.

So my goal over the next year is recreate the recipes from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook. A couple caveats:
1) I'm not going to kill myself by trying to complete the book in a year. There are over 365 recipes and I just don't have the time to make 15 recipes a day.
2) There will be some modifications. For those new readers to the blog - I don't make what I don't eat, but I will make some reasonable substitutions. For instance - I don't eat asparagus, so any recipe that calls for aspargus I will sub in broccolli. Fish dishes will transform to chicken dishes. Scallops or clams will magically become shrimp. And anytime you see "milk" just know I'm using skim.
3) I'm not going to make every recipe in the book. While I will do substitutions for the fish chapter, I'm pretty much going to skip the chapter entitled "other organs." I honestly don't think I can convince myself or Thatboy to eat calf brains. I know they're a delicacy in many cultures, but frankly I get a little closed minded when it comes to eating brains. (hahahaha - I crack myself up). Likewise, if I can't think of a reasonable substitution we'll eat, I'm probably going to skip that too.

So stay tuned for the fun! Tomorrow we start appetizers!

All my loving

I want to send all my love, good thoughts, and apologies to Sweetcakes. I never should doubt her. She is always fabulous. We met for coffee last month and were discussing my upcoming nonstop travel. The coffee itself was was funny timing since Sweetcakes and I had just seen each other the week earlier, while we were on our travels. She mentioned New Years and I groaned. New Years is the holiday I hate more than any other holiday. Ideally I would love to spend the night, curled up with Thatboy and Thatdog watching old movies. But I always feel the societal tug to do something splendid and fabulous.

Sweetcakes told me that we had to join her for New Years. Every year they spend New Years with "the crew." Thatboy and I have been inducted into the Crew several times and it's always a good time. A good time that has Thatboy feeling like an old man for days after. I accepted the invitation, relieved that the plans at least would keep us in our neck of the woods.

And then as the date approached we found out what the plans entailed. Dinner at a Georgian restaurant and then heading to a dive bar that only served beer. Thatboy called me on his way home from work:
TB: How are you feeling about tonight?
TG: Meh.
TB: I'm feeling the same way. Should we cancel?
TG: No. I don't want to be the girl who cancels last minute. Besides, we always have fun when we hang out with the crew. I'm sure once we get there we'll have a great time. I bet I'm just feeling meh because I'm still not feeling 100% healthy.
TB: Well we do have champagne in the fridge, so if we're not having a good time, we'll just leave early.

As I said, I never should have doubted Sweetcakes. The evening was a smashing success. Thatboy and I had such a good time!

We showed up at Pomegranate, a Georgian restaurant that seemed just large enough to hold our huge party. And yet more huge parties continued to show up. It's a neighborhood joint, with inspirational and humourous messages scripted by patrons all over the walls and ceilings, in more languages than I've seen outside a UN building.

The drinks menu was recited by our waiter, which consisted of a vast amount of Eastern European beers, and a couple bottles of Georgian wines. We all chose from the varieties, and then sampled whatever the person beside us got too. Well except for Sweetcakes who snubbed her nose at my dark beer!

I got a Georgian porter which was sweeter than any porter I've ever had! It tasted like black coffee with loads and loads of sugar! Thatboy ordered the extra lager because it had the highest alcohol content. Well at least he's predictable.

We let Michigan and her husband do all the ordering since they had picked the restaurant and had been there before. Plus, the owner was having her sit on his lap when they first got in, so we figured that was a good sign.

Vareniki

You may recognize these are pierogies. Or you may not be able to discern what these little blobs are. It was hard to take a picture before they got snatched up on all sides. Ahhhh just like Mrs. T used to make!


Khachapuri
Literally (or maybe not...I don't speak Russian) cheese pies. Feta, tomato, and a flakey pastry. These are fantastic.


Some salad appetizer. It's not on the menu, but the friendly waiter told us it was a must and so we ordered a couple for the table. We'll start at the top left and work our way around:
"The one with Tomatoes" otherwise known as "The Indian one": This was a table favorite. Spicy, meaty - even though it was meatless.
"The greenbean one": Sweetcakes husband loooved this one. I think. They all start to blend together after a while. I was less than impressed. I think Thatboy was too.
"The beet one": I skipped this one due to beet aversion. But Sweetcakes husband said it tasted like feet, so I don't think I missed much.
"The carrot one": I really liked this one. Thatboy thought it was garlicy, but no one else could taste garlic at all, so we think that extra alcohol must have kicked in right about now.
"The other one": I don't think anyone was really into this. We don't even know what was in it. Although judging from the above plate, we ate it anyway!
"The potato one": The general consensus was that it tasted like potato salad. Annnnnd that's all we had to say about it.


Pickles
We didn't order these, but they showed up anyway, just like the bread basket with garlic butter. Somehow these ended up right between Sweetcakes and I...and we didn't make a move to share them. Yum little pickles!


Thatboy ordered the special meatloaf - lamb and beef. Except the waitress who delivered them wasn't familiar with the term meatloaf so she kept asking who was having the lamb cutlets. And no one had ordered lamb cutlets. Finally Thatboy explained he had ordered the special and his meal was promptly delivered with an admonishment that it was indeed the lamb cutlets. Thatboy loooooved this dish. He declared that he MUST return to this restaurant. He asked for a box, and then ate the whole thing anyway.

Since this was my first time at a Georgian restaurant, I had asked for recommendations on my cooking board. Someone replied that I should get the cabbage rolls. Sweetcakes had checked the Yelp review before dinner which had also recommended the cabbage rolls. Michigan had also heard good things about the cabbage rolls, and so guess what we all ordered. And it was the most fabulous thing ever! I think it was a hundred times better that Thatboy's meatloaf! The tomato based sauce was filled with spices and so flavorful. The beef was also perfectly seasoned, and the cabbage came apart with just a little fork pressure - no knife needed!

Each meal came with a side plate of rice and potato. While none of us can understand why you'd need rice and potato, both were excellent. Sweetcakes said the potato was her favorite since it was salted to the extreme. Ahhh a woman after my own heart!

As we finished up dinner, the owner stood to make a speech and had each of us raise our glasses to toast the old year and look forward to the new year. It gave the place a great family atmosphere.

Instead of the plan to head to the dive bar, we went next door to bar that was so much closer. There was kareoke, and pool, and they handed out hats, noisemakers, and champagne. We had such a good time singing and drinking with the crew, midnight came far too early! So once again, all my love to Sweetcakes, she truly is the best.

Yes It Is

Some people may think that I chose the ingredients for Platinum Challenge based on a recipe I have in mind. This is so far from the case as evidenced by my entry this month.

I was talking to Thatboy about the ingredients: carrots, potatoes, eggs, pear, and parsley. I told him I was thinking of making a pear and chicken in pastry dish, using the egg as a wash and then roasting some potatoes, carrots, and pears to go with it. He liked that idea a lot. But then he started thinking. Since potatoes are an ingredient, and it is December, perhaps I should make latkes instead? Thatboy can be a genius sometimes. (But don't tell him that, I wouldn't want his him to start thinking he "knows things.")

Latkes have always been Thatdad's specialty, and I am thrilled to have come up with my very own recipe this year that is mine mine mine. It has some of the qualities I love about Thatdad's latkes, but with some special twists of my own. Thatboy's family fell in love with my recipe. Thatsister-in-law ate seven! Even Thatfather-in-law who refuses to eat anything I make, ate three. I didn't think it would be that difficult to add carrots and parsley to my recipe, and I thought that it might even make a welcome addition. It did. OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH were these good! SOOOO good. And the color? Let me just tell you - latkes are normally beautiful and golden. With these latkes the golden is matched in kin with a beautiful orange. Like a sunset.

I prefer my latkes with powdered sugar (and thanks to my bad influence, so does Thatniece), but Thatdad will tell you that the traditional way to eat latkes is with applesauce. But since apples are not an ingredient in this challenge, I decided to make pearsauce instead. This was a mistake because now I can never buy applesauce again. Thatboy has declared that he prefers pearsauce to applesauce, and since it only took 20 minutes to make, I don't think I can justify not making pearsauce. I think this year I'm going to have to learn to start jarring!

And I'm hooooping this entry might inspire some more of you to enter the Platinum Challenge. So much so that I'm extending the deadline another week! So you have until next Friday. Get your entries in soon!

Potato and Carrot Latkes with Pearsauce

• 6 pears, peeled, cored, and diced
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 2 cups grated potatoes (Thatdad will tell you to use a mix of potatoes, even sweetpotatoes. I used 2 red potatoes and 3 yukon gold)
• 1 small onion, grated
• 2 grated carrots
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 1 Tbsp chopped parsley
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 1 egg
• vegetable oil

1. Place pears, water, sugar, and lemon juice in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil for 15-20 minutes. Puree in blender and set aside.
   
2. Combine potatoes, onion, and carrots in a medium bowl and press to remove as much liquid as possible. These are watery veggies, so you'll have a lot of liquid.
3. Add salt, parsley, flour, and egg and mix well.
4. Heat oil until hot, and then lower heat to medium low. Form the potato/carrot mixture into patties and gently place them in hot oil. Fry patties until golden brown in color, about 2 minutes per side.
5. Serve latkes warm with spoonful of pearsauce on top.

What You're Doing

Happy New Year everyone! It's 2009, and like everyone else I've got my own list of resolutions. Some of them are even applicable to this little ole blog!

First and foremost, I SCORED this year at the holidays. I got some incredibly great gifts. I won't bother to give you the gorey details of the rapture I felt when using my brand new can opener. When I reached into my stocking and pulled it out I squealed with joy. Thatboy was confused when I told him I loved it more than any other gift I received. He put his foot down when I asked if I could sleep with the can opener beside me on my pillow. But you've got to understand. I hate hate hate our old can opener. It doesn't work and I have more cuts from trying to get into cans then I'd care to share. It's uggggggly. Sharp metal is not my friend.

This one is like magic. It's got one handle and cuts the top clean off - no sharp edges! AND to save my fingers even more, it has a special tool to lift off the lid! There are plenty more cooking related gifts from Thatfamily and Thatboy which will undoubtedly make future appearances, but now it's time to introduce the newest addition to Thathouse... drumroll please

My brand new droolworthy camera!!!!!!! See, years and years and years ago back when we were living beside the Flintstones, Thatboy got me a gift of a digital camera. It ran off of Windows 2000. Anyone remember Windows 2000? The world was not kind to Windows 2000 and it wasn't long before Windows 2003 rolled along, and my camera became obsolute. Seriously it required special software to download the pictures, and that software would not run on Windows 2003. And the computer refused to recognize the camera as any sort of camera or storage device. So I was back to my old film camera I won at Senior Night at my high school. My parent's had given Thatboy a digital camera shortly thereafter and we pretty much both used it for all our photography needs. Shortly after getting engaged, I went to live in Europe for a summer and took the digital camera with me so I could send home pictures. I never really gave it back to him. Which was fine, we spend most of our memorable times together anyway. But the camera is old and takes forever to take a picture. It can't take any pictures indoors without giving me a message that it's blurry and am I joking or do I really want to save this piece of crap picture.

So Thatboy decided I've been such a good girl this year I deserved something bright and shiny. He picked this one out for several reasons. First and foremost, it's green! Green is my favorite color. Second, it can be dropped from 6.6 feet without any damage at all. Those of you that know me, can appreciate why this is probably a good thing. Third, it's waterproof! For real waterproof! As in, it can take pictures underwater! Which is good given that we love love love snorkeling. Although, in truth, the idea of taking the camera underwater scares the beejeebus out of me and I have told Thatboy under no uncertain circumstances that we won't be using that feature. He keeps threatening to drop it in the sink accidently onpurpose.

I love my new camera and all its new features including (and here's where it gets blog related) a CUISINE setting!!! (although I think I've been using the self-portrait setting more, and the people in line at BestBuy were highly entertained when I tried out all the different lighting settings on Thatboy. Best Buy has neutral flourescent lighting if anyone is interested) Now I can make even jam on bread look appetizing!

Mmmmmm don't you want to take a big ole bite of that goodness? And if you're ever in Idyllwild (and really you should be) be sure to pick up some of the Wild Huckleberry jam. It's very versatile. I put it on everything!

I'm still playing with all the settings on the camera, and so far have come up with a new favorite picture. It's a combination of various color settings, exposure settings, and zoom settings.

Thatdog really enjoyed his new Christmas ball. Thatboy really enjoys the fact it glows in the dark.

Tomorrow I'll fill you in on my other new year's resolution! But for now, I'll leave you with an improvement. You may recall the last time I made fried rice I deemed it completely inauthentic. All my comments said that mine was pretty much as authentic as it gets, but I still hate using the packaged stuff, so I used a tip from gaga: "The keys are to use leftover rice (ideally because it's drier and less likely to give you mushy fried rice) along with whatever meats and veggies and seasoning (usually soy sauce and/or salt) you want!" So here's my authetic version of fried rice.

Non-cheater fried rice

• 1 Tbsp butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 1 green onion, sliced
• 1 cup cooked rice
• 1/2 lb ground pork
• tablespoon soy sauce

1. In skillet over medium heat, melt butter and lightly scramble eggs. Remove eggs from skillet and set aside.
2. Brown pork in same saucepan and set aside.
3. Add oil to saucepan and heat on high until very hot. Add green onions and stirfry for one minute.
4. Lower heat to medium. Add rice and pork and stirfry 2 minutes or until heated through.
5. Add soy sauce and scrambled eggs and stirfry 1 more minute.