Happy belated Thanksgiving and happy last day of November, everyone! Tomorrow I might start getting out Christmas decorations! So exciting!
I am right now drinking a white russian...Andriy loves them and we had some of the fixin's for one left over from this weekend. So, I don't mind if i do!
I am not ashamed to say that every thing i tried to prepare this past weekend came out as either a full or partial fail. I don't know what was wrong with me...maybe the planets were misaligned or my qi was screwed up or something. (that is the correct spelling of "chi." I looked it up.)
First screw up: "Mystery Pecan Pie", Paula Deen's recipe from Foodnetwork.com. I was taking it to Nana's house for Thanksgiving the next day. Okay, to start with, I had never made that recipe before and I know i shouldn't try a recipe for the first time when cooking for a group. But, I couldn't help myself. It's pecan pie with a layer of cheesecake like filling in it (yum!) I followed the recipe perfectly and popped it in the oven, but it came out a little too jiggly. So i put it in for 10 more minutes...still jiggly. I didn't want to over-bake it, so i let it cool and decided to take it as is.
Second screw up: The next morning, before heading to Nana's, I made my other dish i was bringing along. I had Mom's recipe for brown rice casserole, which i've eaten quite a few times in my life and it's really simple and delicious. However, i hadn't ever actually prepared it myself before. But, I had all the ingredients ready and even called mom to make sure there weren't any special tricks that weren't written on her recipe card. So, I baked it and took it directly from the oven to Winchester and Nana and Papa's house.
Well, the rice turned out crunchy and the pie turned out runny. I asked Mom about the rice dish and she said, well maybe she usually added a little more water to the recipe...ha. I'll note that on the recipe card. And the pie wasn't totally firm, but still tasty. My old oven just didn't want to cook it all the way. Lessons learned!
While in Winchester, I borrowed my aunt Shari's bread maker to give it a test run (I've got one on my Christmas list.) I got up on Saturday, found a recipe online from the manufacturer's website and started a loaf. It started making this horrible clanking sound. I called Shari and Nana to ask if it was supposed to be that noisy. They both said, well, it might make some noises but they weren't totally sure. I decided to let it run. If i stopped it, the ingredients would be lost. So, i let it go and left Andriy to check the results when it was finished. I went to Mom and Dad's, where I decided to make these delicious homemade sea salt caramels, which I had successfully made last year. This time, I burned my 1st batch and had to start over. My second batch looked okay as i set it to cool in the fridge. I got recruited into making my 2nd sugary treat of the day by Mom and Lara, who went to church while i stayed behind and cooked. The recipe was for almond brittle, taken from the internet. I followed the recipe as best i could, but it wasn't exactly the most thorough instruction i had had in the kitchen. I did the best i could and poured the brittle onto the baking sheet.
At the end of the day, my bread ended up as a hard lump of bread, surround by unmixed flour. Apparently, I hadn't snapped the pan in all the way, so the ingredients hadn't mixed together completely. Half of it became bird food and the hard cooked lump of bread will end up as croutons.
The caramels ended up setting more like soft toffee. I think i let the temperature of the candy get to the "hard ball" instead of the required "firm ball" stage. Candy makers will know what i'm talking about. They were still very tasty, but kind of harder than they should have been. I still loved and ate them. I LOVE caramel and toffee, so it was a sort of semi-win.
The brittle turned out with a slight burnt flavor. I think the sliced almonds didn't hold up well to the hot lava heat of the melted sugar (the recipe called for whole almonds.) However, it was still yummy and i'm pretty sure it all got eaten.
So, my only real win of the weekend was my successful batch of bread which i baked on Sunday, with the pan snapped in all the way. ;) The machine was much quieter this time around and the bread turned out warm, soft and full of cozy tastiness. SUCCESS!
I heard a great version of a Christmas song yesterday that was new to me. It's Peggy Lee doing "Jingle Bells (I Like a Sleigh Ride.)" I feel like this might play at Don Draper's house around Christmas time. It's a great vintage holiday tune.
I am right now drinking a white russian...Andriy loves them and we had some of the fixin's for one left over from this weekend. So, I don't mind if i do!
I am not ashamed to say that every thing i tried to prepare this past weekend came out as either a full or partial fail. I don't know what was wrong with me...maybe the planets were misaligned or my qi was screwed up or something. (that is the correct spelling of "chi." I looked it up.)
First screw up: "Mystery Pecan Pie", Paula Deen's recipe from Foodnetwork.com. I was taking it to Nana's house for Thanksgiving the next day. Okay, to start with, I had never made that recipe before and I know i shouldn't try a recipe for the first time when cooking for a group. But, I couldn't help myself. It's pecan pie with a layer of cheesecake like filling in it (yum!) I followed the recipe perfectly and popped it in the oven, but it came out a little too jiggly. So i put it in for 10 more minutes...still jiggly. I didn't want to over-bake it, so i let it cool and decided to take it as is.
Second screw up: The next morning, before heading to Nana's, I made my other dish i was bringing along. I had Mom's recipe for brown rice casserole, which i've eaten quite a few times in my life and it's really simple and delicious. However, i hadn't ever actually prepared it myself before. But, I had all the ingredients ready and even called mom to make sure there weren't any special tricks that weren't written on her recipe card. So, I baked it and took it directly from the oven to Winchester and Nana and Papa's house.
Well, the rice turned out crunchy and the pie turned out runny. I asked Mom about the rice dish and she said, well maybe she usually added a little more water to the recipe...ha. I'll note that on the recipe card. And the pie wasn't totally firm, but still tasty. My old oven just didn't want to cook it all the way. Lessons learned!
While in Winchester, I borrowed my aunt Shari's bread maker to give it a test run (I've got one on my Christmas list.) I got up on Saturday, found a recipe online from the manufacturer's website and started a loaf. It started making this horrible clanking sound. I called Shari and Nana to ask if it was supposed to be that noisy. They both said, well, it might make some noises but they weren't totally sure. I decided to let it run. If i stopped it, the ingredients would be lost. So, i let it go and left Andriy to check the results when it was finished. I went to Mom and Dad's, where I decided to make these delicious homemade sea salt caramels, which I had successfully made last year. This time, I burned my 1st batch and had to start over. My second batch looked okay as i set it to cool in the fridge. I got recruited into making my 2nd sugary treat of the day by Mom and Lara, who went to church while i stayed behind and cooked. The recipe was for almond brittle, taken from the internet. I followed the recipe as best i could, but it wasn't exactly the most thorough instruction i had had in the kitchen. I did the best i could and poured the brittle onto the baking sheet.
At the end of the day, my bread ended up as a hard lump of bread, surround by unmixed flour. Apparently, I hadn't snapped the pan in all the way, so the ingredients hadn't mixed together completely. Half of it became bird food and the hard cooked lump of bread will end up as croutons.
The caramels ended up setting more like soft toffee. I think i let the temperature of the candy get to the "hard ball" instead of the required "firm ball" stage. Candy makers will know what i'm talking about. They were still very tasty, but kind of harder than they should have been. I still loved and ate them. I LOVE caramel and toffee, so it was a sort of semi-win.
The brittle turned out with a slight burnt flavor. I think the sliced almonds didn't hold up well to the hot lava heat of the melted sugar (the recipe called for whole almonds.) However, it was still yummy and i'm pretty sure it all got eaten.
So, my only real win of the weekend was my successful batch of bread which i baked on Sunday, with the pan snapped in all the way. ;) The machine was much quieter this time around and the bread turned out warm, soft and full of cozy tastiness. SUCCESS!
I heard a great version of a Christmas song yesterday that was new to me. It's Peggy Lee doing "Jingle Bells (I Like a Sleigh Ride.)" I feel like this might play at Don Draper's house around Christmas time. It's a great vintage holiday tune.
And here's a great song by the Joy Formidable. I think this song has made me a fan of this band. It's "A Heavy Abacus"
No comments:
Post a Comment