Fat and Crafty.com

So I’m not really keeping up with the Daring Kitchen, and may need to just take a break while I’m in school. I do enjoy the cook along format,  so I ‘ve decided to do something a little different with some friends.

We’re taking Micheal Ruhlman’s great book Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking.

Every two months we’re going to take a ratio and play with it, sharing what variations we come up with, what worked and what didn’t. I think it will be fun to see what other folks will come up with. What size batch can you make? How small or how big did you go? In the end, we’ll finish the year with 6 solid ratios and some great tried and true variations to use.

I’ve started a Google Wave for it, let me know if you want to play along and I’ll invite you.

Even if you don’t want to play along you should consider getting the book or the iphone app.

The holidays for us are less about gifts and more about the food. (To the point that adults don’t exchange gifts) After a rough quarter, it was a relief to get back in kitchen and do some cooking.  I thought I’d share my menu and how it worked. No pictures, as I opted not to photograph the food.

I woke  at 7:30 or so and headed up to make breakfast

• Baked Eggs & Sausage casserole from Simply Recipes.

I used stuffing mix for the day old bread, choosing some that was unseasoned , it worked perfectly. I used a little too much sausage but the end product was good. The baked french toast was just better.

• Baked french toast

I picked a recipe from about.com   that basically worked like this:

Mix 2 cups of brown sugar with 1 stick melted butter, place in bottom of 9×13 pan. Add maple, almond or vanilla flavoring on top.  Dip Challah or thick french toast bread in a custard of milk and eggs. Place on top of browned sugar. Pour remaining custard over the top. Sit 10 min, or overnight. Bake at 350, turning 20 minutes in, bake till custard is cooked enough, and sugar is carmelized. (45min-60min total)

This was amazing. Leah tasted it and said “This is covered in candy!”  I’ll be making it again.

• Orange juice
• Mimosas

Christmas Appetizers:

• Chex Mix – Julie’s  Extra Special Chex Mix. With Bacon!
• Cheese Puffs- Pâte à choux with cheddar cheese. It was ok, but not amazing
• Vegetable Tray – We skipped this. vegetables are for the weak.
• Deviled Eggs
• Smoked Sausages – Little smokies in barbecue sauce. So low class, but so tasty.

Christmas dinner:

• Roast Beef – Beef rib roast, turned out well. I pulled some off so it would be rare, then popped the rest in the oven to cook to everyone else’s standards.
• Roast Pork – A little dry, I should have brined it.
• Yorkshire Pudding – Tasty, but not amazing as usual.
• Sauteed Mushrooms with Garlic – Yum
• Roasted Carrots – A little overcooked, but good.
• Brussel Sprouts – Very happy making, cooked with bacon
• Mashed Potatoes – Easy and rounded out our plate

Christmas Dessert:

• White Chocolate Cranberry Trifle

The inspiration for this came from a cake found here . I saw it and new Aron would like it, but he had asked for trifle. So I made the cake, a white chocolate custard, and the cranberry filling. I layered cake/custard/cranberries and mandarin oranges. I let it sit overnight, then to the remaining custard i stirred in whipped cream and mandarin orange juice from the can.  It turned out really well . Next time I will cut the cake bits smaller, and mix whipped cream with all the custard.

• Hot Cocoa Cake

This came from Fine Cooking. Initially I decided to convert it to cupcakes, but the cake was so moist  they wouldn’t hold up. So I ended up making one large cake, cut and layered with frosting and homemade marshmallows. It was good, but very rich, as with every piece I heard “Omg this is soooo rich”

I’m tucked into what mght be the fanciest, most upscale coffeehouse downtown.

See tonight Miss Sunnie and i are going to Art Restaurant for  happy hour . They are having a chocolate buffet, and Sunnie and I decided to indulge in a proper end of the quarter celebration. I got off work at noon and decided to indulge in some free time, something i’ve been sorely lacking  as of late.

Somehow I ended up on a Seattle Times Coffee City article for the Fonte Coffee Roasters Cafe and Wine bar.  And I couldn’t resist.

So now I find myself tucked into a padded bar bench seat, counter height, I have a cup of coffee, and have finished a divine plate of salumi for lunch. Indulgent much? If I wasn’t going to  the chocolate buffet I’d be sampling the chocolate bread pudding.  There is a wide window out to 1st avenue ,  we’re across from SAM, and I can see people wandering by. A soccer game plays on the TV, and there are a few groups of people  enjoying lunch, or just hanging out.

The space is ultra modern, but the waitstaff beckons with hospitality.  The menu is varied from brunch all day to mac and cheese, to  sharable snacks. My salumi platter was considered a “shareable snack” I called it lunch with some sliced french bread, prosciutto , a capicola, bresola (i think) and  some pickles.

Everything is housemade. Everything.  Pastries, coffee syrups, chocolate syrup, entrees,  snacks, chai.  And if it’s all as good as my lunch was?

Thats two great Cafes in the Pike/Pine downtown area now. Two cafes to beckon me to come down here more often.  I look forward to indulging more as I  have more free time.