California Dreamin'

Things remain busy here at Chez Marshmallow thanks to planning for some upcoming renovations, but I still apologize for the lack of posting. I need to work harder on making time for this. 

Our recent trip to California was a welcome respite from all the things going on here recently, and we enjoyed it fully. We began by flying to San Francisco on a Sunday morning; thanks to the time difference, we left here at 7 am and got there at 9:30 am, leaving us a full day to play. We found our bags and engaged in some Tetris-like calculations to fit them all in the car, and then took off in search of some authentic Dim Sum. Doing some research before the trip, I found that a restaurant called Ton Kiang kept popping up as a great authentic place to go for dim sum. Literally meaning "a bit of heart",  dim sum began as small snacks to be eaten with tea, but has become an experience all its own. Small plates of various preparations are carried around on trays or carts, as the server pauses at each table to tell you what they've got. After struggling to find some parking, we found that the restaurant was already full and bustling at 11:15 on a Sunday. By the time we were midway through our meal, there was a line out the door. 

I only took one shot of the table, as I'd forgotten my camera in the car (bad blogger!) and was using Mom's. Also, I wanted to get back to eating. We had a wide range of dishes, including roast duck (with bones, our least favorite) spicy long beans, shrimp-stuffed scallops, green chive & shrimp dumplings, egg rolls, calamari, foil-wrapped chicken, pot stickers, BBQ pork buns (both baked and steamed) and egg custard tarts. The pork buns and the calamari were my personal favorites, although the pork bun/Hambow in Seattle still wins as best, merely for the reason that it had a better ratio of meat to bun. The calamari was amazing; super tender with a thin batter so crisp that it crackled when bit. The egg rolls were also perfectly fried; they positively shattered when you bit into them, and weren't greasy at all. The green tea was a refreshing and appropriate accompaniment. After an incredibly satisfying lunch, we got back into the car. 
We traveled over what is probably the most famous bridge in the country and headed up to Muir Woods to see some redwoods. Fortunately, we arrived into the most beautiful day the city had had in quite awhile: mid 70's, no fog. Unfortunately, this meant that Muir Woods, the closest and most accessible National Park to many San Franciscoans, was packed. The closest parking space we saw was more than a mile from the head of the trail, so we headed out again and stopped to take a few photos of the beautiful vistas that to road to Muir Woods provides. 
We headed back into the city, toward the piers, to get to the Ferry Building Market. The architecture of the old building was beautiful:
and the vendors were amazing. Summer truffles and fresh porcini anyone? I was so tempted. We browsed, oohed, and ahhed, but we knew that few things would survive the trip home. We settled on some chocolates from Recchiuti, bread from Acme, and sweet treats from Miette. The chocolates were delicious; Hubband and I shared some fleur-de-sel caramels and some burnt caramel hazelnuts, while Mom tried the chocolate peanut butter balls and Key Lime apples. I felt that I couldn't go through San Francisco for a second time without trying their sourdough, which is what we ordered at Acme, while Mom tried their 'Not-so-cross' buns, which she loved. 
Hubband got a vanilla cupcake with strawberry buttercream from Miette. He enjoyed it, but I felt the buttercream was too whipped; it was nice that it was so light, but buttercream (to my mind) should also be rich, and this one had so much air whipped in that it was closer to whipped cream than frosting. I got a few macarons, which were fairly forgettable. The chocolate-lavender had far too much of the latter ingredient. Instead of an accent, it was an herbal punch to the mouth, and was rather unpleasant. The hazelnut was very mild, but nice. The salted caramel was the best of the bunch, but that's a hard flavor to mess up. The texture on all three was good, however. 

Armed with treats and some bottles of water, we settled in for our ride to the next destination: Big Sur. 

Happy Harvest

Well, we're home. The trip was amazing, but I'm still in the process of acclimating to being back home, as well as organizing the 700+ photos I took, so posting about that is going to wait, just a short while. 

In the meantime, check these out!

My first morning home I went out to check on my little tomato plants. First off, they're not so little anymore! They've really taken off, and have set quite a bit of fruit already. My earliest yielder is an heirloom variety called 'Lime Green Salad", shown above along with one early graduate of the 'Porter's Dark Cherry' plant in another container. I got three from the LGS plant, two chubby rounds and one lovely semi-oblong, classic heirloom shape. Deeee-licious. 
I enjoyed them simply, with a sprinkle of good salt and some fresh mozzarella for lunch. It was a nice little welcome home from the garden. 

Something A Little Different

Here's a little something different. About a month ago I tried to improve, or at least germinate, another skill set: sewing. Hubband's cousin is expecting a wee bundle of joy, and the organizers of her shower asked that everyone decorate a onesie for the baby. I decided that instead of just breaking out some tie-dye or puff paint, I would attempt to sew the baby a matching onesie and stuffed animal set. I already had the pattern for small stuffed animals, so I shrank it down to 30% or so and used it for the onesie as well. I think they came out quite well for was what basically my first solo project. 

Here's another view, with a better angle of the onesie. 
Fun! There were some tight spots, as the pieces were so small, but I really enjoyed making them. I hope Hubband's cousin thinks they're as cute as I think they are! 

Things will be quiet around here, again, as I'm heading out for a much-needed vacation! I will have LOTS to share upon my return however....shall I drop a few hints? No, the anticipation is more fun! 

Le Sigh

1) No, I am not dead. 

2) No, the blog has not been abandoned. 

I know it's become a familiar refrain here lately, but things have been so damn busy! How busy? Well, for the past week I've been saying that I want to make a trip to Whole Foods, and I still haven't had time to get there. All I've been able to manage are quick trips to Publix to get bare essentials, and even that's not working out so well. (Example: we're out of olive oil. Gasp!) On top of, indeed because of, the busy-ness I haven't really been in my groove food-wise. We've been eating of course, but nothing particularly interesting. A nice change from that happened on Sunday, when I had a fun and wonderful little cooking class with my friend M, and we made 2 flavors of soft pretzels, 2 fondues to dip them in, and Chinese chicken salad. Of course, being in teaching mode I didn't take any photos, and I was reluctant to interrupt Hubband's tete-a-tete with M's boyfriend J to make them do it. (They were pretending it was the 50's, as M and I were in aprons in the kitchen. Theirs was a discussion of wood-paneled man-rooms and old scotch. Hilarious.) 

We're going on vacation soon, and I think that a week of decompression will be really good for me. I'm hoping that by our return, I will have found my groove again. I'm hoping that I will be re-energized and ready for what lies ahead. I'm hoping to find new inspirations that lead to great dishes. 

I'm hoping to hit the store today, and hoping to make something new for dinner tomorrow. Hope springs eternal. 

Oops!

I forgot to mention this little bit of fun in my last post about Hubband's birthday dessert buffet. When I was dipping the buckeye centers in melted chocolate, one went in too far and had only a thin line of center left showing.  I picked up a toothpick, added two little dots, and instead of a mistake, I had created (drumroll please!) BUCKEYE NINJA!

He was pretty awesome. Why did we find him so amusing? I don't know, but I was sad when his number was up a day or so later. 

Is This Thing On?

Wow. It's been a long time, hasn't it? I apologize. Things have been out-of-control crazy around here for the last few weeks, and if you know me personally, you know how much I detest it when things are out of control. Things are mostly back to normal now, which means I can get back to cooking real meals and posting! Hooray! First, though, there's quite a backlog to get through. There were a lot of fast meals there for awhile, but I still occasionally managed to take a photo and make something semi-worthwhile. 

Let's rewind the clock a few weeks, to mid-April. 

It was Hubband's birthday! 

He didn't want a big party and all the attention, but did want to spend time with friends and neighbors, so he decided on a dessert buffet. We invited a few folks without telling them the occasion, and just enjoyed their company and some sweets on a Sunday evening. 

Above (on the beautiful etagere Hubbs gave me for Christmas!) we have buckeyes, bite-size smores, and jammie bodgers. Jammie Bodgers are a sweet, crumbly cookie, almost like a shortbread, but more buttery, that are filled with buttercream and jam. They are also Hubband's favorite cookie. We also served Mud Pie and our favorite homemade strawberry balsamic ice cream, made from strawberries we picked a few months ago. I roasted the strawberries back then and poured them into a vacuum-sealer bag with all their juices, (they were a tad too much for pint jars, so I couldn't go with the original idea of canning) sealed them, and froze them until required. It worked perfectly! 

We had a great night with our neighbors, although as usual I made too much and there were too many leftovers. The next day was Hubband's actual birthday, which he took off from work. He did request a menu, which began with his favorite biscuits: sweet potato. He wanted them topped with another of his favorite things, but one that I've never made before and he doesn't get very often: sausage gravy. As it was all an experiment anyway, I made it with spicy italian sausage instead of the usual mild or breakfast variety. I made a double batch of biscuits, but cut the usual number to get thicker, double-height biscuits to stand up to that rich and heavy gravy. Served with an egg over easy, they made Hubband smile and proclaim 'Best Sausage Gravy & Biscuits Ever', so I guess they turned out just fine. And yes, because he didn't let me make him a traditional birthday cake, or anything remotely close, I stuck a candle in his biscuits. On second thought, that sounds like some sort of family-unfriendly innuendo. I'm leaving it anyway. 
I know sausage gravy isn't very photogenic. I should have used Michelle's trick, and topped it with a chive. 

Lunch was another of his favorites, homemade wheat bread with raisins and a cinnamon sugar swirl, made into a chicken salad sandwich. We went out for dinner. This birthday baking frenzy came soon on the heels of Easter, which I already mentioned was hampered by my lack of an oven. Fortunately the oven was fixed just in time to complete most of this, although a few early pieces were done at Mom's house. 

Spicy Sausage Gravy

This was all done by sight, and isn't very hard, so these amounts are going to be approximate. If you want exact measurements, I'm sorry, but look at the bright side: this way you can make as much or as little as you want! 

Spicy Italian sausage (I used 3 large links)

Olive oil

All-purpose flour

Milk or cream (I used skim milk with a little half & half for richness)

Dried thyme

Freshly ground black pepper

Salt 

Red Chili Flakes (optional)

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Remove casings from sausage and crumble into skillet. Add about 1 Tb of olive oil to get things going. Cook sausage until it is browned and cooked through, stirring occasionally and using your spoon to break the sausage into small chunks. When browned, use a slotted spoon to remove the sausage, leaving the fat in the pan. Add an approximately equal amount of flour (i.e. 3 Tb fat in the pan, add 3 Tb flour) and whisk together to make a roux. Let the roux cook for 1-2 minutes to remove the raw flour flavor, then gradually begin whisking in your chosen dairy product. Continue adding dairy until the gravy is a bit thinner than you want the finished product to be. Let the gravy come to a boil so the flour fully thickens, and add a little more milk if necessary to make your desired consistency. Add salt and lots of pepper, as well as dried thyme. (Dried thyme is powerful, so unless you're making a huge batch, you probably only want a pinch. Crumble it between your fingers before sprinkling it in.) Taste for seasonings, and add more salt and pepper as you see fit. If it's not spicy enough, add a pinch of red chili flakes. Add the sausage back into the pan, stir to combine, and simmer for a few minutes to meld the flavors. 

Serve hot, over biscuits. 

Back in the Saddle

Yes, this post is overdue. Can anyone say they were really on the edge of their seat? I thought not. 

Easter, to me, is all about breakfast. Sure, I like Easter dinner; when I was a child it always included ham and green bean casserole, and this year we were hosted by some wonderful neighbors who fed us delicious grilled salmon. But the breakfast...Easter breakfast should always include something sweet, to my mind, and so it is an excellent day for making cinnamon buns or french toast. This year, I set my mind on having homemade danish to accompany our shirred eggs, home-smoked bacon, oven-roasted onion potatoes, and Bellinis. I've made the danish recipe once before; it's by pro pastry chef Sherry Yard and was a feature for The Daring Bakers, which is how I heard about it. It's a nice dough, subtly scented with orange and cardamom, smooth and silky to the touch. It's fairly easy to work with, provided you allot yourself enough time: from start to finish, flour to baked good, this takes 11 hours. Unfortunately for both Mom and me, my oven stopped working two days before Easter, and so I hauled lots of groceries to her house to get things done. I called her at 9:30pm the night before Easter, asked her to preheat her oven, and said I'd be there in a bit. I showed up around 10, popped the danish in the oven, and we stuffed glassine bags with Easter cookies and drank wine until the danish were golden brown and puffed. I wasn't too sad that my oven had stopped working. 

The danish recipe makes enough dough for two braids, but I like to do one braid and one set of individual danish. The individuals were shaped into 'spandau', or envelopes, and filled with sweetened cream cheese and a rhubarb-vanilla compote. 

The big braid was filled using Sherry Yard's recipe for spiced apples, as well as my personal addition of frangipane. Hubband loves the almond flavor, and I think it compliments the apples perfectly. 

We brought dessert over to our neighbors, as they were providing dinner. With Hubband's invaluable help I settled on making my good old carrot cake recipe, as it's simple, delicious, and fitting for the season. (Rabbits like carrots.) The cake was baked, just like the danish, the night before at 10pm in Mom's oven, then blanketed in cream cheese icing on Sunday afternoon. I had leftover fondant at home from a project that never got off the ground, and decided to try my hand at a little cake decorating. Some grass, flowers, a rabbit, and a bee were all I could muster in the time I had. Each got attached to the cake and brushed with a little luster dust, and off we went!

The carrot cake didn't fail me. As always, it was soft and super-moist, and I was pretty pleased with the decorations considering they were only my second time playing with fondant.