tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2084988845381260277Sun, 15 Sep 2024 22:34:12 +0000Records of a crazy teen chef's quest for yumminess. Updated when I make something worth blogging about.http://madchefsanonymous.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Samantha Panikian)Blogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2084988845381260277.post-2863832924577884286Fri, 27 May 2011 11:03:00 +00002011-05-27T04:03:46.913-07:00It happens to the best of us. I'm not "the best of us," but I fail sometimes, and this is especially true of angel food cake. I've only ever made it twice, and both times have been horrific. Yesterday, it was lovely and summery, so I decided to make up a bountiful batch of batter, with which to formulate some fantastic angel food cupcakes, and then the following happened: I looked at the wrong http://madchefsanonymous.blogspot.com/2011/05/failiure.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Samantha Panikian)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2084988845381260277.post-734211708029401466Wed, 25 May 2011 22:35:00 +00002011-05-25T15:36:15.403-07:00  Please, don't call it "short" bread- It's actually very sensitive about its height, and would appreciate it if you chose a different term to describe it. But fun-sized bread is very polite, and won't say anything if you  decide to ignore it. I whipped up a batch this afternoon, and the results were fantastic! This cookie is ever so classy, and goes great with a cup of iced tea, coffeehttp://madchefsanonymous.blogspot.com/2011/05/fun-sized-bread.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Samantha Panikian)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2084988845381260277.post-8831257060731293539Thu, 19 May 2011 20:34:00 +00002011-05-19T13:36:25.154-07:00Four of my best buddies are celebrating one more trip around the sun in the next few weeks, meaning that there's a huge potential for overexcited birthday chaos, presents, and,  inevitably,  cake. I don't know about you, but I find the concept of birthday cake to be pretty darned scary! Mostly, that's because we've cannibalized the poor pastry, and left it to languish in grocery http://madchefsanonymous.blogspot.com/2011/05/cake-is-lie.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Samantha Panikian)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2084988845381260277.post-4295575517695184985Wed, 18 May 2011 23:38:00 +00002011-05-18T16:38:32.232-07:00 Oh no! I haven't blogged since July, and it made the doctor cry! O___O Might as well start this old thing back up again, and get it nice and presentable. I'll be back tomorrow, with a portal-themed cake, alright? http://madchefsanonymous.blogspot.com/2011/05/wipes-away-cobwebs.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Samantha Panikian)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2084988845381260277.post-5604246924546573814Tue, 29 Jun 2010 21:35:00 +00002010-06-29T14:35:27.123-07:00...Is worth two in the stomach. Chickens are strange creatures, having inspired their fair share of terror, culinary and otherwise. But the most infamous of all is, without a doubt, the roast chicken. Everyone's got their favorite. Your grandma, your uncle, your second cousin's uncle's best friend's sister, and probably you. Admit it: we are all obsessive about roast chicken. The skin has to be http://madchefsanonymous.blogspot.com/2010/06/bird-in-pan.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Samantha Panikian)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2084988845381260277.post-5480005792532047387Wed, 23 Jun 2010 12:04:00 +00002010-06-23T05:04:42.096-07:00Mmkay. Story time, everyone! Pull out one of those little carpet squares that you sat on in preschool. (What's the point of those little carpet squares anyway? Discuss in the comments.) Now, I have no idea if this is actually true, but it makes a great, totally-related-to-this-blog-well-not-really story. One day, there was a lady walking into a store, searching frantically for "chicken ballshttp://madchefsanonymous.blogspot.com/2010/06/mind-scrambler.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Samantha Panikian)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2084988845381260277.post-1329967004025247202Tue, 18 May 2010 23:40:00 +00002010-05-18T16:40:45.714-07:00Raisins... Those little mummified grapes have often been denied serious culinary cred. Truth is, few Americans appreciate these purple powerhouses unless they're coated in sugar and followed by the word "bran," or slathered onto peanut butter and piled on a stick of celery. Has everybody forgotten about raisin  bread? Warm, soft, and swirled with cinnamon filling, it can be made into the http://madchefsanonymous.blogspot.com/2010/05/give-us-this-day-our-raisin-bread.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Samantha Panikian)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2084988845381260277.post-1754980745821088867Sat, 17 Apr 2010 02:19:00 +00002010-04-16T19:19:53.840-07:00I'm baaack! You may now re-tape the black paper to your screens. Candy: the pinnacle of sugar highs and finger foods. Sadly, most of these ethereal edibles have been degraded to mass-produced, sugar substitute packed, neon bricks. But the hardest hit are the basics: those little things that those big producers think you're too stupid to make yourself. Join the battle- we have cool hats. This http://madchefsanonymous.blogspot.com/2010/04/whoa-new-post.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Samantha Panikian)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2084988845381260277.post-3912335334703825954Sat, 27 Mar 2010 23:49:00 +00002010-06-23T05:33:27.070-07:00 Waffle time, it's waffle time, will you have some waffles of mine? Waffles are great. Really. Their uniqe shape means that the waffle has more outside than inside! And here's the waffle's real claim to fame (at least to us nerds) One day, a US man figured out that the trick to making great shoes could lie in the interesting physyology of the waffle, and poured liquid rubber into his wife's http://madchefsanonymous.blogspot.com/2010/03/waffle-time.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Samantha Panikian)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2084988845381260277.post-8924842357094045065Wed, 24 Mar 2010 00:37:00 +00002011-05-18T16:48:42.263-07:00MCAS. M Massachusetts C hild A buse S ystem. (actually, it's Massachusetts comprehensive assessment system) I have this lovely torture on Wednesday, and, like every other person who's taken it, I was dragged to several meetings in an attempt to get us students "exited' and "ready to learn." Along with the other usual rants, the things that comes up over and over again is "eat a  good http://madchefsanonymous.blogspot.com/2010/03/do-you-know-muffin-man.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Samantha Panikian)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2084988845381260277.post-3501943686638901452Tue, 23 Mar 2010 00:58:00 +00002011-05-18T16:49:49.882-07:00Who doesn't love apple sauce? A better question- who loves searching those little plastic cups in the grocery store for the one super-organic package of zero-sugar noxious hippie chow that your children will not trade to a classmate for a half-eaten melty candy bar? Nobody. You can make apple sauce, but then you'd need to get out the big pot and simmer for 2 hours and mash it up with a potato http://madchefsanonymous.blogspot.com/2010/03/shh-im-eating-apple-sauce.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Samantha Panikian)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2084988845381260277.post-7696279554363637986Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:44:00 +00002011-05-18T16:50:28.152-07:00I'm better!! Evil, thy name is egg. Poached egg, to be precise. As of today, I have, in my life, made these 3 times. You'd think that dropping an egg into water and letting it sit for a few minutes would be easy, but it's not. What you expect: Nice little jiggly blobs with a yummy, runny yolk sliding onto a clean, shiny plate, and sitting down to consume with some nice toast. What happens: You http://madchefsanonymous.blogspot.com/2010/03/poachd-ouch-my-e.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Samantha Panikian)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2084988845381260277.post-7550464401036433437Mon, 15 Mar 2010 23:18:00 +00002010-03-15T16:18:00.457-07:00Sick day.... Fun. What makes it worse is that I was sick with a stomachache, so I can't pig out on ice cream and chips like every other person in the world because I don't want it to be worse. Here is a list of all the things I ate, in no particular order, so that you can laugh at my sadness: bagel yogurt grapefruit dried cranberries fruit2day fruit snacks shaped like bunnies organic pop tart Tohttp://madchefsanonymous.blogspot.com/2010/03/sick-day-food.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Samantha Panikian)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2084988845381260277.post-944193872924380259Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:19:00 +00002010-03-11T17:19:13.142-08:00Potato pancakes- a Hanukkah staple. If you haven't tried one of these delightful devices, you have been sadly deprived. I'll attempt to describe them: Shredded potato and onion fried with egg and flour into a warm, crispy, fluffy circle or rectangle. They are a bit of work to make, but with a few decent tools and sound food science in your soul, you don't need to wait for winter to have potato http://madchefsanonymous.blogspot.com/2010/03/you-say-potato-i-say-pancake.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Samantha Panikian)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2084988845381260277.post-6098880667420830591Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:43:00 +00002010-03-10T18:43:30.736-08:009:36. For me, this is late. And you just can't be up late without a midnight snack, am I right? The beauty of the concept is that you don't usually have to do any cooking, just pull out whatever seems appetizing, and maybe stick something in the microwave. Tonight am going stick with my standard glass of water, but I want to know what you guys pull out when you're looking for a nighttime http://madchefsanonymous.blogspot.com/2010/03/once-upon-midnight-dreary.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Samantha Panikian)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2084988845381260277.post-3730454500243994045Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:25:00 +00002010-03-09T15:25:08.185-08:00Today I found a recipe for "1 minute microwave cake." It tasted horrible and was rubbery, so I won't rant about it anymore. Instead, I want to talk about the all-too-overlooked pantry pals: plastic wrap, tinfoil, and the pretentious parchment paper. These are are everyday, run-of-the-mill, can't-possibly-live-without-it, borrow-some-from-a-friend things that make cooking possible. Tinfoil- Our http://madchefsanonymous.blogspot.com/2010/03/another-blog-post-for-another-time.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Samantha Panikian)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2084988845381260277.post-4363022891579330712Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:49:00 +00002010-03-08T16:49:21.540-08:00I love my pug, Beatrix. She's my most willing food tester, and enjoys eating everything I make, edible and otherwise. :) There are a lot of pocket-sized things these days. You can carry in an iPod touch a computer about a million times more powerful and about 1/1,000,000,000 times smaller than the Mark I. (or II. whatever.) But you know what isn't usually pocket-sided? Pie! The divine devicehttp://madchefsanonymous.blogspot.com/2010/03/ipie.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Samantha Panikian)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2084988845381260277.post-3004140139955369885Sun, 07 Mar 2010 23:32:00 +00002010-03-07T15:32:12.714-08:00Guess what? In observation of the anniversary of Babe Ruth's first professional home run, I'm making corned beef! Not really. But I am making corned beef. The lazy way. These days, you can usually go to your local mega-mart and pick up a pre-brined, ready-to-go, vacuum sealed hunk of delicious cow product. You don't have to know how to do anything with one of these, and all you need is insane http://madchefsanonymous.blogspot.com/2010/03/corned-beef-beef-corn.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Samantha Panikian)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2084988845381260277.post-4538922704347847461Sat, 06 Mar 2010 13:15:00 +00002010-03-06T05:15:17.295-08:00Ever had a dutch baby? If you haven't, you missed out! It's essentially a huge, overgrown popover baked in butter and sprinkled with powdered sugar and lemon. They're easy to make, and even easier to eat! Try this out for sunday breakfast (because I assume most of you don't log on at 7:30 in the morning to read this):3 eggs3/4 cup flour3/4 cup milk1/4 cup butter (does not need to be chilled, but http://madchefsanonymous.blogspot.com/2010/03/dont-eat-my-baby.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Samantha Panikian)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2084988845381260277.post-9202863576916375407Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:13:00 +00002010-03-04T16:25:01.442-08:00Yup. Baked grapefruit. Not lying. While some people don't fully appreciate this humble yellow orb, those that do often only sprinkle a little sugar on top (or none at all) and eat while watching infomercials. (can you believe that my spellchecker recognized informercial?) I was leafing through our family copy of the New Doubleday Cookbook, and found a recipe for baked grapefruit. It said: Halve http://madchefsanonymous.blogspot.com/2010/03/grape-fruit-baked-fruit-wait-what.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Samantha Panikian)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2084988845381260277.post-1347692926982447533Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:21:00 +00002010-03-03T14:21:26.527-08:00Today, my principal came over to our lunch table and told us a joke. You know, the kind where it's clever but not very funny? One of those. Here it is: There was this guy named Art. He went out, and choked this guy to try and get his money. The guy only had 50 cents. He chokes another guy, and he only had 50 cents. The newspaper headline the next day? "Arty Chokes 2 for $1.00." Get it? Yeah,http://madchefsanonymous.blogspot.com/2010/03/arty-chokes-2-for-100.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Samantha Panikian)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2084988845381260277.post-2748913915686603415Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:20:00 +00002010-03-02T17:12:08.334-08:00I like omelets. I hate making them. Here is the process as I see it:1. Mix eggs2. Pour eggs into pan3. Realize you forgot to grease the pan4. Remember you are using a nonstick pan5. Watch it cook6. Wonder how long you should let it go before you add toppings7. Just give up, add toppings now and hope it works8. Scramble around for a spatula9. Break the omelet in an attempt to flip it in half10. http://madchefsanonymous.blogspot.com/2010/03/my-review-microwave-omelet-maker.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Samantha Panikian)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2084988845381260277.post-8774636461684609914Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:09:00 +00002010-03-01T13:09:59.085-08:00Happy March-day everybody! (is that a word? march-day?) You love them, I love them, everybody loves them. The flaky, fluffy, buttery bits of joy that are biscuits! Mondays are awful, so I whipped up a big batch last night in hopes to improve them. They could fix anything, in my opinion. I brought them in, and my friends and I ate them at lunch. You could hear the drool from everyone who sawhttp://madchefsanonymous.blogspot.com/2010/03/biscuits-and-bagels-and-monday-oh-my.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Samantha Panikian)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2084988845381260277.post-2387300017397898113Sun, 28 Feb 2010 11:52:00 +00002010-02-28T10:25:19.432-08:00 Unless you live under a rock, you've eaten (or at least seen) the finicky french food known far and wide as crepes; filled pancakes for the fancy. If you've ever tried to make them, chances are you've ended up with lumpy, deformed rubbery discs coated in sickening amounts of powdered sugar. I made them this morning, and it wasn't pretty. But they are fast, and much easier than pancakes. Reallyhttp://madchefsanonymous.blogspot.com/2010/02/crepes-how-do-i-loathe-thee-let-me.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Samantha Panikian)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2084988845381260277.post-5062601672583359707Sat, 27 Feb 2010 23:30:00 +00002010-02-27T16:43:05.123-08:00 I'll be the first to admit it; I can't spell anonymous. Without my spell checker; the world could, possibly, explode. But I digress; we've all had those days. You know what I'm talking about- the ones where you're cooking something new (or just really good) and then feel like you could bite someone's head off if they dare to step foot in your kitchen? The anxious staring at those evil little http://madchefsanonymous.blogspot.com/2010/02/mad-chefs-anonymous.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Samantha Panikian)0