AWITLOL* - Day 3

* A Week in the Life of Lori

Admittedly, yesterday was a weird day in my food world. Breakfast was a bit of a rush, due to me heading out for a haircut, lunch was actually at 3:30 (because we were going to catch a movie between the wedding ceremony and reception, but the movie we wanted to see was at a time that didn't work, so we got lunch instead), and then dinner was at a wedding, so it was completely out of my control.

But all said and done, I think I did okay. I justify it by all of the walking around downtown, a little dancing at the reception, and how hard my internal system had to work to keep my core body temperature high enough while I was walking around downtown for two hours without a jacket and in my dress.

I was a bit disappointed that the fish wasn't the healthier option, though every single thing that came out looked great. I just made sure to eat my vegetables first, then the fish, sans crumbs, and lastly the deep fried starchy goodness with cheese.

And last, but not least, congratulations to Al and Tatiana!

Saturday
Breakfast

• 1 slice of bacon
• 1/2 apple
• (I told you it was weird...)

Lunch

• Skinny Combo at Burrito Beach (1 chicken taco, southwest quinoa salad, and veggie chili)

Cocktail Hour

• Soda water with lime
• Melba toast with creme fraiche and caviar, boursin stuffed mushroom (one of each, just to sample, but I did pass on the deep fried appetizers)

Dinner

• White wine, 1 glass
• Spinach salad with citrus vinaigrette
• Whitefish with buttered breadcrumbs (scraped the crumbs off and it was still delish)
• Roasted asparagus with capers
• Fried risotto cake (I wish I was joking... it was really rich, and tasted really good. I had about 1/3 of it and then traded the rest to Steve for one of his carrots:)

Dessert

• Fresh fruit with creme anglaise (kind of pudding-like)
• Champagne, 1 glass

No recipes today, but here's a tip for you - when you're cooking bacon, use a metal cooling rack set inside a rimmed cookie sheet. The fat will drip off of the meat and end up in the tray, not your arteries. And speaking of fat, if you bake it at 325 for about 40 minutes, more of the fat will render out so you still get crispy bacon that isn't totally burned.

Have a great week! Tomorrow's another day...

Simply Slicing Strawberries

Quick tip for you tonight, just before a week back to work and just as strawberries are coming into season.

In the coming weeks and hopefully month or two, you may find yourself making something that requires cut-up strawberries. If you're lucky, you'll have some great strawberries and find yourself making things like jelly or jam, fresh fruit salad, or in the case of my dad's birthday dessert, strawberry shortcake.

Instead of standing over a cutting board with a knife, chopping away, just tear off the green leaves, use a paring knife to cut out the center "core", and then use an egg slicer to cut them neatly into slices.

An egg slicer, you may question?!

Believe me, it works. See for yourself!

Mints & Fudge (or "Why I'm on a Sugar Buzz That Will Last Till Next Tuesday")

Merry Christmas!

For the past month, I've been telling Steve that it just doesn't feel like Christmas, and I couldn't put my finger on why that was. Maybe because there was no snow, or maybe I was just feeling grinch-y, but I finally figured it out.  Two weeks ago, I was elbows-deep in a batch of banket when it finally started to feel like Christmas. Turns out, the key to it all is going crazy with cooking and baking - then it feels like Chrismas is upon us!

The banket was a total bust this year (fortunately there are certain members of my family who will simply scrape off the disastrous crust and eat the almond filling), but I did have two smashing successes - homemade peppermint patties and, as always, fudge.

Tomorrow (or maybe Monday...) I'll share the peppermint patties recipe, but today, for the fudge. Now, the recipe is pretty standard, but it was my Grandma Smits' specialty, so even if the recipe is well-known, the fudge itself is special. This year, I made it with 60% cocoa, so it wasn't as super-sweet, and it really nice! I like the bit of dark chocolate. And Henry didn't seem to mind either.

The recipe will come in a sec, but first, I've gotten lots of comments about how perfectly porportioned it is when cut, so as an early Christmas gift, I'll show you step-by-detailed-step how I do it:

1. Prepping the Pan

Even before mixing up the fudge, line two 8x8 pans with plastic wrap. I use two pieces, one going each way, and then spray them lightly with canola spray (it has the lightest taste). Make sure you use pans that have squared corners, not rounded, to get the best corners on your candy.

2. Make the Fudge

See recipe below.

3. Prepare to Cut

Once the fudge has cooled to room temperature, put it in the fridge for 15-20 minutes, to let it harden a little more. Then, using the overhang of the plastic wrap, lift the fudge out of the pan and on to a cutting board.

 4. The Tools

In addition to the cutting board, you'll need a ruler (clean, please!) that is 1" wide (most school rulers are), a pizza cutter, and hot water.

5. Marking it Off
Start with the ruler on one edge of the fudge.

Turn it on its edge without moving the ruler over. While its standing vertically, press down lightly, just enough to mark it, not to cut through.

 

Next, turn it onto the other side...

...and then stand it vertically again.

 Continue until you've reached the other edge of the fudge.

Turn the fudge and repeat going the other direction.

 

6. Cutting the Fudge

Run the pizza cutter under hot water, or dip it into a small bowl of hot water.

Then, run the pizza cutter along the ruler markings going one way first...

... and then the other direction, re-dipping/rinsing the pizza cutter as needed.

After cutting along all of the marks throw the fudge in the fridge for a few minutes to let it re-harden along the lines you just cut.

Note that my work has been carefully monitored every step of the way. This is to ensure the highest-quality results for you, of course. No personal interest on his part whatsoever.

7. Finishing Up

Once you're ready to plate or package up your candy, bend the plastic wrap from underneath to pop off a piece at a time.

Finished product!

 

Of course, mine is packaged up in the Rijksmuseum tin from Grandma - it wouldn't taste as good otherwise!

Grandma Smits' Fudge

Ingredients

3/4 cups (1 1/2 sticks) Butter

3 cups Sugar

2/3 cup Evaporated Milk

12 oz. dark chocolate chips*

7 oz Marshmallow Creme

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Combine butter, sugar, and milk in a large saucepan; bring to full rolling bail, stirring constantly. Continue boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly, until a candy thermometer reads 234 degrees (about 5 minutes).

2. Remove from heat, stir in chocolate until melted; stir in remaining ingredients until completely combined. Pour into prepared baking pans. Let cool and cut into 1-inch squares using above method.

Yield: 3 pounds, 98 pieces

* Use different flavor chips for different flavor fudge (example: peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, mint chocolate chips, you get the idea...)



Kitchen Lessons, Part I

No recipe this time - just a few tips, tricks, observations, and lessons from along the way. These are all directly related to something I have recently made or something that will be popping up later this week. That'll keep you guessing, eh?

Observations

1. Fresh garlic is super cheap and it keeps for a loooooong time.
2. Fresh garlic can be a pain to peel and chop.

Tips & Tricks

1. To peel fresh garlic, you have two options:
• Leave a bit of the bottom part on the garlic clove (don't know the real term for it). Cut into that until you're almost through, then use that to help start the peel for the rest of the clove.
• If you have a pot of hot or boiling water already, dunk the cloves into the water for about 10 seconds and the peel will slide right off. Genius. (And I can say that because it wasn't my idea.)
2. To avoid chopping garlic with an actual knife, use a food chopper. I have one right now that I use for both garlic and nuts. I plan to buy a second one just for garlic as soon as I get another 20% off BB&B coupon. Although the garlicy nuts aren't too bad, unless they're in cookies.

Lessons

1. If the recipe doesn't look appetizing when you read it, it probably won't be appetizing once you've put in the time and effort to cook it.
2. If a recipe looks like goulash, smells like goulash, and quacks like goulash, its probably goulash. Even if its called "stroganoff." We wouldn't have eaten it twice this week if I had paid attention.
3. When you're making a recipe by The BC, heed her directions. They will not fail.