Last night was the Mariners Stitch and Pitch.
This gentleman… he’s working on 14 socks at once.
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| From Blog Photos |
I think he’s tired of having folks take his photo. (no not really thats just how the photo came out.)
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| From Blog Photos |
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| From Blog Photos |
What’s a game without a hotdog?
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| From Blog Photos |
Apparently there really was a game going on, even if I didn’t pay much attention to it.
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| From Blog Photos |
The August 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonful
of Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular Dobos
Torte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers’ cookbook Kaffeehaus: Exquisite
Desserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.
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In an effort to please you, I ate cake for breakfast this morning.
You see, the cooks challange this month was Dobosh Torte. I love the idea of Dobosh Torte.
What is Dobosh torte? Well it looks like this…
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| From Daring Kitchen |
This image is from Swiss Colony. Every year we would get a catalog urging us to cakes and sausage and gift baskets to give to friends and family. I have a soft spot for catalogs. I’d flip through the pages wondering if the petis fours were as tasty as they looked and if there really could be 27 flavors of Cheese spread. But the Dobosh Torte was always king in my heart, I wondered what they were like, if they were always as pretty as the pictures.
So when the Daring Kitchen challenged me to make a Dobosh Torte I got a shine in my eyes and said “I can do it!” I went to work on the recipe a few weeks ago, and did a trial run, for a friends Tupperware party. The first run taught me a few things, mainly about kitchen supplies. I chose not to take pictures, planning to do the recipe a second time before the challenge for photos.
Well the challenge reveal date is today. So last night I ran out after dinner to get cake flour and tried again. Where I spread the batter on a silpat and baked each layer one at a time the first time, this time I tried making a smaller one, and using my small springform rings as molds. Both times, I didnt get the frosting quite right. Last nights frosting was much more of a ganache, and I recognize that the butter was too warm when I used it.
Even though I tried smaller molds the cakes were still a little uneven, so last nights solution was to use a biscuit cutter to cut perfect rounds, then cut the cake in half. I ended up with a small cake, Perfect for 3 people of 7 layers, smothered with a chocolate ganache. How can you go wrong there?
So if you ate cake this morning where are the pictures?
A mixture of forgetting the card reader at home and the camera being out of batteries. There is a picture or two waiting on the camera that I will share later. i’m also going to make this cake again. Jasmine enjoyed it so much that she wants it for her birthday. I promised I’d make it with 17 layers as it is her 17th birthday.
What’s the challenge?
So I figured out what the challenge for me in the Daring Kitchen challenges is. It’s not getting the recipe done. It’s not even the recipes themselves. Even though I may be playing with new techniques, there is little in the realm of cooking that intimidates me. The challenge for me is making it pretty. I think I’m going to focus on plating and visual appeal more as I work through these challanges. Its all and well to be able to make a cake that looks ok , or to make a dish that is tasty, its even more of a blockboster if you can plate it in an appealing fashion.
Anyway, I promise more pictures to come. In the meantime, here is the recipe.
I’m not much for trinkets. Where Griz* had a shelf full of little glass ornaments. You know the kind that sparkle in the sun, and collect dust like the dickens.
I don’t have many collectibles. Got rid of the tin musical ornament collection years ago, my Christmas ornaments are a small box of heirlooms then whatever we make with salt dough and construction paper.
However, the heirlooms I have? they are special.
The afghans Mom and Griz crocheted?
Special.
The Santa mugs Mom collected?
Special.
The teapot Pa brought home from WWII, special. Pa brought home at least two tea sets from his time serving in the navy. One set was for mom, one set was for her future daughter.
I’m not sure which one I ended up with. It might be “mine” or it might have been hers originally. I don’t know what happened to the teacups, but I know I love the pot itsellf. You can see the jade and burgundy dragon, the gold leaf circling the edge.
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| From Blog Photos |
This is the teapot that came out when mom made chop suey.Filled with Oolong tea or Contant Comment tea that we poured into little cups and sipped with lots of sugar.
There is much less sugar in the tea at this point, but I still adore sipping out of little cups. I’m not much for trinkets, but having the occasional heirloom makes me feel connected.
*Griz. Grandma on my mom’s side was always Griz. She gave great bear hugs and could growl like a grizzly if mad.
So a couple of weeks ago I got a new copy of the Ball Blue Book, courtesy of Can Across America. I got it so that I could teach some simple canning using my beautiful plums in the back yard and share the knowledge with some friends. The plums have taken a little longer then i wanted to reach their ultimate ripeness but we are about there now.
So we’ll spend an afternoon or two canning the plums . I’m going put some up in syrup this year, instead of just making jam like last year. I’m wondering if there is an interest in doing a canned good swap. You know, you make a batch of your fabulous pickles i bring my plums and the other peron brings their kimchee, One jar of each gets opened at the event, we then go home with a jar of each good brought to the event.
For it to work, I’m thinking there need to be between 6-10 of us. Anyone interested?
I have a kitchen aid. It sits in the front hall, in its box under the mail table. It’s been there since we moved in. Seems an inefficient way to use it for baking, truth of the matter is it’s broken.
Not only has my kitchen aid been broken for over 2 years, but I haven’t missed it… much. A recent post on a foodie community got me thinking about gadgets we rely on , and the disservice we do ourselves when we become over reliant. A fellow cook was looking for advice on how to make cheese straws without a food processor. She lamented that she didn’t have a food processor, was it going to be possible to make them without one?
It took a number of people assuring the original poster that yes it would work just fine with a pastry blender or a couple of forks, that yes cheese straws would work out just fine. I don’t blame the poster for her hesitation.
Even in the baking I do, I see so much encouragement to pull out the stand mixer that I question if I will be successful working by hand. I wondered with the marshmallows from the last Daring Bakers challenge. It was the one thing folks insisted I needed a stand mixer for, but the cookies came out ok anyway.
The plethora of recipes, the popularity of food network, and the rise of the superstar chef make me wonder if we are shortchanging ourselves. Instead of looking at a recipe, identifying the process and looking for alternatives, we feel like a lame duck when we are short a tool. Those cheese straws are simpler then you think. If you look closely enough at the recipe and the process you’ll recognize that this is close to a pie crust recipe. If you know how to handle a pie crust, you know how to handle a cheese a basic straw.
This is true of a number of recipes.
Let’s step back and look at the Milanos. While following the ingredients and process for the cookies. I realized that I was making a variation on a tuile, a “batter” cookie that gets piped onto a nonstick surface. It can be molded dipped or filled. The base cookies for the pinwheels turned out to be close to a basic piecrust or shortbread cookie.
Of course, it takes experience to get here. You have to have an awareness of what you are making and what properties different processes impart. You have to have experienced making pie crust to see the similarities, and for it to have any value. With that experience you’ll find it easier to cook, easier to bake. Is there help out there? Of course, Alton’s Baking book helps, I’d also recommend “The Ratio” by Michael Rhulman (While not bullet proof, it is a good start)
Even easier, when you do cook step back and observe your overall process, not just the tasks you are doing to create food. . Look at what you are making it, what steps you take to make it and what results. Then look at the next recipe and do the same thing, comparing similarities and differences. Think about recipe history and hypothesize how else a food might have been produced. Kitchens haven’t always been stuffed to the gills with the latest gadgets, and good food still came out of them.
This month’s Daring Cook’s challenge was hosted by Olga of Las Cosas de Olga and Olga’s Recipes. She chose the traditional Catalan dish of rice with mushrooms, cuttlefish, and artichokes.
The original recipe is under the cut, as it got very long. Basically this turned out to be a Cuttlefish paella using a sofrito for flavor. I hesitated on it. Seafood is funny at my house. Salmon and other fishy fishy are usually a no go. Crustaceans and squid in particular are pretty popular. Particularly deep fried. (There is a funny story of Jasmine only eating the tentacles of Calamari because she didn’t think the rings were real squid.)
Anyway, I knew cuttlefish itself was going to be a no go. Couldn’t find it easily at my normal groceries and i wasn’t going to push too hard to find it. The suggestion to use Squid was appealing, but even then I considered maybe going vegetarian, or using chicken instead. But the point is to challenge myself right? So squid it was.
Then I procrastinated. I pushed it back further and further, with the due date looming. Finally, on a night when Aron was out on Thursday I did it. I didn’t give myself enough time and rushed the cook time of the sofrito and gave up entirely on the idea of doing the aioli. (The aioli will get a post of its one one of these days soon.)
I cooked the tomatoes,mushrooms, onions, garlic and spices togetheruntil they were fairly broken down. In the meantime I prepped squid, mushrooms, artichokes for the main dish. I did end up using squid, about a lbs worth, after finding a great deal at Cash and Carry. (2.5lbs for $6 )
I pushed through the recipe urgent to get dinner on the table. Not really rushing, but not necessarily giving everything the time needed. At about 7:30, 30 minutes after our normal dinner time, I brought it to the table, and tasted.
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| From Daring Kitchen |
In the end? It was good. It needed some salt, and in the future I’ll probably up the sofrito flavor a bit, and maybe add a little more spice. But it was good. The leftovers were awesome for lunch yesterday, and tonight we’ll finish it up for dinner. The squid didn’t overpower the dish, in fact it didnt bring that much flavor to the dish. I think I’d add shrimp and a little sausage too, but Leah says that’s too close to Jambalaya.
So give the recipe a look over, and if you try it let me know how it comes out.
Fewer Americans are cooking these days. Who’s fault is it?
Well beyond FoodTV and food corporations selling us yummy premade foods it’s the women’s fault.
It’s generally assumed that the entrance of women into the work force is responsible for the collapse of home cooking, but that turns out to be only part of the story. Yes, women with jobs outside the home spend less time cooking — but so do women without jobs. The amount of time spent on food preparation in America has fallen at the same precipitous rate among women who don’t work outside the home as it has among women who do: in both cases, a decline of about 40 percent since 1965. (Though for married women who don’t have jobs, the amount of time spent cooking remains greater: 58 minutes a day, as compared with 36 for married women who do have jobs.) In general, spending on restaurants or takeout food rises with income. Women with jobs have more money to pay corporations to do their cooking, yet all American women now allow corporations to cook for them when they can.
Micheal Pollan in the New York Times.
See if the women don’t get back in the kitchen and cook, how can we expect to eat at home?
Right?
As I stated in my preview post I had a couple of interactions with vendors, some good and some less then good. I think the best interaction I had was with a gal who made accordion photo albums.
I asked for her information because I loved her photo album and wanted to get one in the future. She shook her head and said “No, I don’t do that” I was a little surprised, but our conversation continued. She dedicates her craft work to the shows only. With children at home she doesn’t have the bandwidth to do orders or communicate properly, so she offers her work at the shows, take it or leave it. While I was disappointed that I won’t be able to get a photo album, I was impressed.
Too often in craft dealings you find vendors who overextend themselves and either have a shitty turn around, or shitty customer service or both.Her ability to assess what she could do and not over extend herself is outstanding. I wish more vendors would do that.
On the other hand, of the picks I had listed for this year, I ended up scrapping at least 3 of them for having empty etsy stores. While they claim its a hiatus, you just never know.
I had a couple of interactions with folks over pricing. One booth offered a grocery tote of sorts, 2 for $38. She also offered a small wallet for $40. This boggled both Melissa and I. While the wallet may be the same amount of work, I think it was over priced. On wallets, since they are small, I think you’d make more on quantity in the long run.
On the other hand another booth was offering handmade washcloths in the cutest flannel. $6 for 5. Way under priced. I let her know too. Both booths took my feedback in stride. It’s not that I’m an authority, I’m just a consumer and think its hard to step out of the vendor mind once you step in.
Lastly I had two “size” interactions. One was a pattern company who’s patterns went up to size 18. Melissa and I scanned the patterns, looked at the size and just moved on. I’m sure there is a lot of work involved in producing a larger size, and I’m not even sure if the patterns were true to ready to wear size or true to pattern company size.
The other size interaction was with Glam Garb, she had beautiful lingerie ,and I paused to look at her work. The sizing was based on bra size and i began poking around looking for a copper piece in my size. (The colors were fabulous) The vendor got up to help me and very quickly helped me “try on” the one thing she had in my size. A navy piece that was nice, but not really me. I don’t expect her to carry all sizes, in fact had she said “I don’t care above a X size but can do custom orders” or “I don’t carry above a X size yet, but take my card and maybe in the future”
But she kind of pushed me into the navy piece, attempting convince me it was what i liked. I’ll admit I was disappointed not to find more in my size in her great colors, but in the end the interaction was what bugged me was the “here this is your one choice your size, don’t you like it”
Ah well.
Anyway, best show yet. I can’t wait until December.
Yesterdays Urban Craft Uprising was probably the best on I have been to yet.
Not only was my goodie bag fabulous but the the mix of booths was better then ever, and the demonstrations were delightful.
One of the things that impressed me most was that there was more room for crafters as well as craft buyers. It wasn’t just about buying premade craft, but the demos, kits offered by Moxie for needle felting and the inclusion of “Creation Station” as a booth made it even more welcoming for those who craft.
I’d heard of the Creation Station up in Lynnwood and thought it was just for kids, but after seeing just a corner booth of their stuff, I’m convinced it has potential for a craft supply store. I’ll have to head up there soon.
Over all what I saw yesterday was unique, While there were some repeat booths, a number of them were fresh and new. Looking over my picks from last December, I noted that there were a number of booths from my picks that were no shows. Sadly Mishmashy of the fabulous bags was awol, leading me to believe that she has just given up on being a business.
So what did I like?
MudFlap Grrl Designs : Embroidered Items with a punk rock flair. I love the Neko Kitty design. She had it on a nice leather messenger bag that ended up on my wish list.
Zomsters Cuter then cute images on shirts , onsies, cards, buttons, magnets, and canvas.
I was very impressed with how well they were put together. Great booth design, great packaging, great statement about their company.
Sydney Designs Vintage Wallpaper cards. What a great use of something that would otherwise be trash. Very simple cards that allow the beauty of the papers to come through
Polymath I don’t think I can accurately describe what i saw at the Polymath design booth, beyond “Wow”. I’m not a jewelry person, but who could resist cuff links that looked like part of the periodic table, for an element called”geek”. Or a necklace that turned into a Spirograph.
Mugwump: Mugwump has found a way to recycle books in a unique way. Instead of just the “book turned into a blank journal” that is so common, she takes old books and makes them into bags, turns maps into checkbook covers and more. I was impressed with her work. Her bag including images from “The Five Chinese Brothers” ended up on my wish list.
Cake Spy Cupcake themed art that is cute as cute can be. The Seattle postcard pack was tempting for my postcrossing exploits. (And the owner is so friendly, I love to stop and just chatter with her)
Food! Actual packaged food take it home with you, small producer great products!
Secret Stash Sea Salts These were the most flavorful, most unique sea salts I have ever seen. With flavors like apple pie, black olive, and rosemary with lavender, its not what you would expect on your french fries. But warm pita with a brush of olive oil and a sprinkle of black olive salt would be divine.
Trixie Bakes
Sweet block of brownie goodness. The head baker was a doll, and offered me information on the commercial kitchen she uses. She said she was making “Skinny Blondies” I suggested she needed to come up with a “Fat Redhead” flavor.
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| From Blog Photos |
It’s hard to tell you what a great time I had today. I’ll let two pictures suffice for the moment.
This one above? Its a needle felted me. It was done at the demo for the Feltique and was given by Nickola and Brookelynn the authors.
The other picture below is the stash from my goodie bag. See, again I got up early, with a friend this time, and waited in line with my fellow crafters.
This was my great reward.
Included is a pin and card from CakeSpy, buttons from Midori, fat quarters of fabric from Stitches, a business card case from randl, a lighter from yarnia, a bag of chalk from the chalkboard t-shirt people , a spool of ribbon, a vintage needle holder and pen from Pacific Fabrics
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| From Blog Photos |
Lastly, here is a hair clip I made with Susan Beal of West Coast Crafty and Button it Up.
Susan was an utter doll, and I bonded with the crafter next to me as we worked together and chattered about our crafts.
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| From Blog Photos |
I had a great time, I’ll do my typical write up tomorrow once I have sorted through the cards. I also had a couple of interactions I want to share with you, about sizing and pricing.