April 5, 2010

Tell me. Do these words sound appetizing? "They smell like butt." Those are the words I heard in my kitchen while making Julia's Ham Georgia w/ Peach Glaze, Potatoes Dauphinoise and Green Beans w/ Sauteed Mushrooms. My response was, "they look like butt too!" My mother and I eeewww'd and yucked and laughed until we cried and almost pee'd our pants. Like I said; memories are made in a kitchen where the right tools give you confidence and make you want to be in there! So, what in the world was in my kitchen that we though looked and smelled like butt?! Dried peaches! I like peaches, but I'll never eat them dried now. They are forever ruined for me, but it's hardly a sacrifice given the hilarious memory.

Another memory/realization; southern folk can make gravy even when they're trying not to make it. It runs deeps in our veins. We were trying to make a quick version of demi glace and it turned into a really yummy gravy...which does not mix well with peaches. Thankfully, the peach butt preserve glaze turned out great! The potatoes and the green beans were actually pretty easy to make. I'm amazed a how each meal is easier to make. I have the tools, but my next step is preparation! Had I prepared, my demi glace would not have turned into a good southern gravy! Oh, well. I can't really say that having gravy is ever a bad thing. LOL!

March 24, 2010

Well, the cheesecake cooled and I took it to work for the contest. My poor cheesecake had the grand canyon running through it. It cracked so bad! Nothing could cover it up, especially not a little bit of burnt sugar. I think it's because I cooked it too long. Plus, I did just murder the cream cheese! I took my naked cheesecake, the sugar, butane and my empty kitchen torch to work with me on Monday. A co-worker helped me fill the torch and I had to tell her to give my torch back after she showed me how to turn it on! She wanted to burn the sugar herself. She said it's a lot fun and smells so good. Boy was she right! It is fun and it smells like heaven! I hope you can watch the video I posted. Anyway, i got the sugar burned and put it in the fridge with the other BEAUTIFUL cakes to await the contest.

After lunch we all took out our cakes, cut some slices for people to eat and put out some cups and paper clips with which to vote. Remember I said I forgot to butter the bottom of the pan before I put in the crust? Well, it still didn't stick AT ALL! Everyone gathered together eating cheesecake and not thinking about work was great! All of the cakes tasted delicious. The contestants were Canoli (top left), Creme Brulee (top right), Chocolate Strawberry (lower left) and Lemon (lower right). I don't know how people voted on just one, but they did and in the end................................ MY CAKE WON!!!! After all that labor and stupidity (haha), my pitiful little cake won. It was ugly, but it did taste SO good. I personally LOVE creme brulee though, so I'm a bit biased. I know with practice I can make it look as good as it tastes!

After everyone was gone, I did a little video of me scratching the HECK out of the base of that pan and not a thing happened! No scratches could be seen! So cool!! I posted a video of this too. Also, I'm looking forward to my next Julia meal adventure! It seems like it's been forever since the last one. I think we're going to wait and do an Easter dinner instead of on the last weekend of March. Makes sense to me. Catch ya later.

March 21, 2010b

Okay, the cake is baked and cooling on a rack. I finally put the cream cheese in the microwave for a few seconds to soften it up and it was "smooth sailing" from there on out. It's pretty simple actually. It just seems to take a little finesse to get it just right. Knowing exactly how long to mix. You apparently can't mix it too much. I don't think I got it quite right; HOWEVER, I bet my topping will hide the fact that it cracked. Plus about a quarter size or a little larger is supposed to still be really moist while the edges are raised and baked more. My edges rose up and the center is really moist, but a much larger section than a quarter or little larger is moist. I dunno we'll just have to see in the morning! Plus, I'm adding a burnt sugar topping tomorrow. I'm terrified of butane! I've never filled a lighter (don't smoke); never filled anything with butane and I gotta fill a little kitchen torch to burn the sugar. I'm scared. I think I'll have some else fill it for me and then I'll torch the sugar....although, I've never done that either. I don't know how to turn it on! All I know is keep it pointed away from everything except the poor sugar!

Now, I used a Kaiser LaForme Plus 9" round springform. What's really cool about this pan is that it has a scratch resistant base, so I can cut my cake in the pan and not mess up the base! We'll see! Now I'm supposed to be able to scratch this base and Kaiser has a 10yr warranty on the thing! There's a lifetime warranty on the buckle and it says the ring can't be put on wrong, so my lefty daughter can put on the ring her way and I can put in on my way. Kinda neat. I'm looking forward to tomorrow so I can scratch the heck outta this pan...see if I need to "cash in" on the warranty, or not. Hee hee. Oh! And how well will it release from the pan??? I forgot to butter it even though it's non-stick. Ooops. So this will really be a test for it. Kaiser says it has a ceramic based coating (Kairamic) that's PTFE and PFOA free. Well, tomorrow will tell. Night all.

Cheesecake whoas...or ughs...or I QUITS! So that thing I've been saying about having the right tools in the kitchen to make spending time in the kitchen more enjoyable has just bit me in the butt! I'm making a cheesecake to take to work, along with 3 other co-workers. These cakes will be judged by management and our other co-workers and the winner; well, the winner wins the satisfaction of knowing their's was the best.

Let me just say that I've never used cream cheese for anything other than spreading it on a bagel and I've never made a cheesecake before. I'm sitting in my kitchen with the mess from having just made dinner for everyone on top of the mess from STARTING to make a cheesecake. I made the crust just fine. No problem. Feeling pretty good about myself! Get to the part where I gotta make the filling and it falls apart quickly! Two reasons. Reason 1: I'm not well prepared. I read the recipe once before starting to make the cake....that I've NEVER made before. Genius. Real genius. Because I only read the recipe once about a week ago, I'm trying to mix 3 8oz packages of cream cheese, 8oz mascarpone cheese, 3Tbs flour and a pinch of salt NOT at room temperature. I guess the room temperature part is important because cream cheese is thick and hard and tough! Geeez! Reason 2: I don't have the proper tools! The recipe calls for a "stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment". A what?! Well, I have a hand held mixer and it ain't got no paddle attachment. So, I attach the balloon whisk...MISTAKE. All the cream cheese fills up inside the whisk and then it don't mix no more. Plus the cream cheese is too hard for the wires of the wittle whisk and it starts to bend them! I scrape all the cheese out and put on this other attachment...don't know what it's called, but it looks better than the whisk. NOPE! Same thing! I scrap all the cheese out...muttering a few choice words and figure fine, I've been working out! I'm a tough broad! I can just grab a paddle and mix it on my own. Onlt a few short seconds later I discover that's laugh out loud funny. Cream cheese 3 ; so called cook (me) zero. So, now I'm sitting here waiting for the cream cheese to get to room temperature and I'm just hoping I can somehow mix it! UGH!....does it matter how cool the crust gets before I add the filling?? I guess I'll find out. This is not fun so far. Soulution: Get the right tool. I need to price stand mixers, or find out who has one so I can maybe borrow it next time! I'll be back. Going to check the cream cheese now.

March 7, 2010

I'm sitting in my kitchen while frozen cordon bleu bakes in the oven and a box of instant mashed potatoes sits on the counter waiting to be made. There are frozen biscuits in the freezer waiting their turn for the oven and a can of veggies sits in the pantry waiting to be stuck in the microwave. Not every night can be a Julia night! As a matter of fact, certainly only ONE night a month can be right now! I barely know what I'm doing. I'd go broke and I'd gain "500" pounds othewise, but my family sure would be happier! =) Kidding. I'm thinking back to February's Julia dinner and I can't help but smile. I remember wandering around the Wal-Mart parking lot with a buggy; that's Southern speak for "grocery cart", full of our ingredients for that night's Julia dinner looking for the LOST car! this after we spent the whole time inside "fighting" over who's gonna pay the bill. My mother on one side of an isle and I on the other, we looked at each other and laughed. I thought to myself, "this is what we get for buying our ingredients at the local Wal-Mart!" I mean, how can one master the art of French cooking by shopping at Wal-Mart? Well, it's not about mastering it for my mother and I and it doesn't have to be for you either. It's about spending time together with family and friends and creating memories. You may find one night that we ate the back-up pizza when it all went horribly wrong! LOL Gosh, I hope not. What a waste of good ingredients.

Back to February's dinner; beef bourguinon. We finally found the car and made it home with our bags. You know, I don't even remember the details of how the meal was prepared! What I do remember are the good memories. Mom and I joking that chunk bacon from which to get lardons, whatever THAT is, must be nothing more than good 'ol fatback! The French just didn't know! We laughed and just bought thick sliced bacon and the meal was still wonderful! I remember going back and forth over dried vs. fresh herbs. Can you freeze fresh herbs, 'cuz I'm never gonna use 'em otherwise! Or should we just get dried? It'll never go bad...we opted for dried. The funniest part was at the part where you put the stock pot full of yummy goodness into the oven and then you have to pull it back out and do more amazing things to it on the stove top. Now the WMF Function 4 pots have stay cool handles...unless they go into the oven, dummy! I grabbed that handle and got a nasty surprise! What's hilarious is my mother did the very same thing not more than 2 or 3 minutes later! We laughed at ourselves.

It's no surprise to anyone that the kitchen and the dinner table are great places to bond with family and friends, but imagine how much more you can do and with so much less frustration and limitation, when you have the right tools. I mean it! I know from time to time I'll sound like nothing more than a sales person (maybe a bad one), I love how having what I need gives me the confidence to try those "never could" recipes. And even if I mess it up, with the right attitude and outlook, what great and funny memories I've made! What's awesome too is that with quality equipment and gadgets, I don't dread the clean up. No lie - I washed WITH EASE the pot that sat baking in the oven for 3 hours without soaking it! I just wiped it right off! I almost couldn't believe it. Time to finish tonight's frozen dinner and spend time with my family.

March 5, 2010 b

January's dinner choice: Chicken fricassee with a mushroom onion sauce, asparagus with hollandaise sauce, carrots and corn and an apple tart for dessert. For our maiden adventure, my mother decided it would be fun to dress like Julia, so that made me Julie. I wore a sweater that we both thought looked kind of French...ish.

We chose to buy all of our ingredients and cook the same day. I think this works really well, so long as you have the time. We chopped all the veggies first so they'd be ready to throw in the pot. I guess I've always been around sweet onions because I thought people were exaggerating about onions making you cry, but they weren't! Chopping onions hurts!!

My mother in her heels and I just as confused as ever with all the strain this, cut this, skim that, combine those, were having a blast. We got frustrated a few times trying to figure out how to make so few pots work and trying to find the right utensils, but we still enjoyed our time together and the meal turned out AMAZING! It was a meal to eat slowly and savor every bite! We both commented several times it was so good we thought we might just cry! My stove top was as full as it had ever been though! I thought I wasn't going to have enough pots and pans!After our first blind adventure here's what I learned. First lesson: don't wear high heel shoes for 5 hours cooking! My mother was a real trooper; although, I think she still have nightmares of the pain she endured for a good meal. Lesson #2: Use a good veggie knife to cut veggies (shocker there) because it really does make a difference! I used a big heavy steak knife and it was very awkward. I chose to purchase the WMF Profi Plus Vegetable Knife and what I (personally) love most is the size. It's so easy to maneuver and it's super sharp...when you use the blade side...yeah, I actually cut a carrot with the blunt side of the knife! I kept thinking something was wrong and it definitely wasn't the knife. So moving along. The handle is smooth and round and comfortable in my hand. It is dishwasher safe and water tight...it won't get water inside the handle. It's made of 18/10 stainless, so it's got a long life ahead of it and is super rust resistant. Plus, it's just beautiful to look at. Lesson #3: Have a good variety of pots and pans and THINK about what kind of pots and pans will work best. The ones pictured on my stove are beautiful! I love the warm red color against the stark black on the inside; HOWEVER, the love quickly began to wane as the cooking got going. Why? Pots are for much more than decorating your kitchen...obviously. These have a non-stick coating on them. What's wrong with that?! Well there's nothing "wrong" with that other than you have to be careful what utensils you use in it, you have to be careful washing it, you have to let baked on food soak in your sink FOREVER to properly remove it so as not damage the coating. UGH! I have half el-cheapo plastic utensils and half metal ones. I was constantly worrying about finding a plastic utensil to stir with - had to rinse the same one several times to use between two different pots while clean metal ones sat unused because they'd hurt the pot! The solution that I found best was WMF Function 4 cookware. What's most cool about it besides the fact that it's made of 18/10 stainless, is that is has a mirror finish on the inside of the pot. I figured out this means that food particles won't get stuck in the pot. This is why it's so hard to clean other stainless steel pots. It also has an TransTherm base which is an aluminum core inside a stainless steel capsule. Even on my crappy burners, it still heats evenly! The reason it's called FUNCTION 4 is because each lid has three strainers, depending on how you turn the lid, and one side that completely closes the pot. They can also be put in the oven without the lid. I can use any utensil available because the pot can take it. I can scrub it and not worry about damaging it. Check out all this stuff online - way cool! Time for laundry, three baths (the kids), reading and a little cartoons before bed.

March 5, 2010

So, with all the YUMMY "bad stuff" in Julia dinners, maybe talking about it at the gym isn't such a good idea. Ooops. I'm off to a slow start here ladies and gentlemen! This weekend I'll be posting some pictures for you. I'll tell you about January and February's dinner experiences too....finally.