Foodie Stuffs

Bun in the Oven

2009-11-12T05:10:00.005-06:00

Those crazy kids Katie and Porter are going to go and make an aunt out of me. I am very excited. I have a feeling I'll be one of those doting relatives that sees any mildly cute kid's outfit or toy and buys it immediately for which to gift the child. I'm determined to be this kid's favorite aunt, and since for now I'm the only one living in the same town, I think I can best the competition.

I'm also hoping that a new baby is a good excuse to buy a decent camera, with which to take thousands of pictures of said baby. I voiced this opinion to Katie a couple of weeks ago, and the baby seriously hiccuped or burped or made some kind of noise from the womb to affirm that it is indeed a good idea.

Katie's co-workers gave her a baby shower last week. I collected pictures of Katie and Porter as children for a slideshow:

The hard thing about not being the oldest child in the family is that there are precious few pictures without the older siblings in them. And Porter, being the third child, is lucky there are pictures of him at all! Abby watched the video and said, "Wow, you guys dressed up a lot." I didn't even notice. I suppose we did dress up a lot as kids, putting on plays and fashion shows and for Halloween.

I made chocolate truffles for the shower. This is one of my favorite recipes. This time I took three different flavors, raspberry, almond, and coffee (Chambord, Amaretto, and Kahlua).

Perfect Chocolate Truffles
Recipe from Cook's Illustrated
Makes 2 dozen 1-inch truffles.

Ingredients

Ganache

9 ounces semisweet chocolate or bittersweet chocolate, chopped coarse
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
2 tablespoons Cognac , dark rum, Grand Marnier, Framboise, Kirsch, Frangelico, Amaretto, Kahlua, or port

Chocolate and Cocoa Coating

8 ounces semisweet chocolate or bittersweet chocolate
2 cups Dutch-processed cocoa powder , sifted

Instructions

For the ganache:
1. Melt chocolate in medium heatproof bowl set over pan of almost simmering water, stirring once or twice, until smooth. Set bowl aside.

2. Bring cream, butter, and corn syrup to strong simmer (about 160 degrees) in non-reactive pan over low heat. Remove pan from heat, cool for 5 minutes, then whisk into chocolate. Whisk in liquor.

3. Refrigerate mixture until it cools to 80 degrees, 15 to 20 minutes.

4. Either in bowl of electric mixer fitted with whisk attachment or with handheld electric mixer, whip mixture at medium speed until slightly lightened and thickened to a texture like store-bought canned chocolate frosting, 25 to 30 seconds.

5. Spoon ganache into large pastry bag fitted with 1/2-inch plain tube. Hold bag perpendicular to pan and with tip about 3/4 inch above work surface, and pipe 3/4-inch mounds (pulling tube away to the side to avoid leaving points) onto parchment or wax paper-covered baking sheet. Alternatively, scoop mounds with tiny (less than 1 tablespoon) ice cream scoop or melon baller.

6. Refrigerate mounds until hardened, at least an hour.

For coating:
7. Following directions in step 1, melt coating chocolate, then cool to 90 degrees, making certain that no water comes into contact with chocolate.

8. Arrange chilled truffle mounds, bowl of melted chocolate, and cocoa-filled high-sided roasting pan on work surface. Working one mound at a time, dip palm of one hand about 1/4-inch deep into melted chocolate, pass one truffle mound with other hand to chocolate-covered hand and close hand around mound to coat, re-dipping hand into chocolate every third or fourth mound.

9. Drop coated truffle into cocoa; roll to coat using fork held in now empty clean hand, leaving truffles in cocoa until chocolate coating has set, about 1 minute. Repeat process until all mounds are in pan of cocoa.

10. Gently roll 5 to 6 truffles at a time in medium strainer to remove excess cocoa, then transfer to serving plate or tightly covered container. (Can be refrigerated for up to one week.)

Notes: These truffles are meant to look like the real thing—small, irregular mounds instead of perfectly spherical balls. If you decide to omit the liquor flavoring, reduce chocolate from 9 to 8 ounces. For microwave-oriented cooks, you can melt the chocolate at 50% power for about 3 minutes. The ganache mixture is quite forgiving. If it cools too much in step 1, place the bowl in a larger pan of warm water and stir the mixture until it has softened and warmed up. If this overwarms the mixture, cool it again as directed. The same flexibility applies if you overwhip the ganache by mistake. Simply warm it over the hot water, cool it, and whip it again. One person alone can dip and coat the truffles, but the process is simpler with a second person to roll coated truffles in cocoa and lift them onto a clean pan.

If the predictions are right, baby Rondella should arrive around Christmas.

Halloweenie

2009-10-31T14:34:00.008-05:00

For Halloween, I went as a website - not even a particularly good website, or one I frequent, mind you, but a website nonetheless. Okay, so it might be a little 2007, but by the time people in Lubbock catch on to something, the trend has already faded in the civilized world.

http://icanhascheezburger.com/
I dressed up at work on Friday, October 30. I had the ears, face paint, tail, and signs to set at the reference desk. Unfortunately, very few people were at the library since it was a Friday (and its being Halloween Eve possibly affected traffic as well), so my awesome costume and lolspeak signs were not seen by many. I did see some other fun costumes: the Tattooed Ladies of TX Library Association, a pirate, a Super Trooper, and my personal favorite, a Texas Tech coed. Sight unseen, I correctly guessed most of the components of that costume: big, blond wig, t-shirt, short running shorts, and UGGs. There was a little boy of 5 or younger that came trick-or-treating to the library, dressed as a Bumblebee Transformer. Someone said, "Don't hurt me!," and he quickly retorted with a loud, "It's just a costume!"

Mark dressed as another website, People of Walmart, which I found hilariously ingenious. He also sent me a scary and disturbing birthday card:

Even though that is a terrible picture of me, I can't resist sharing. This is the result of not having taken a good picture since the 1980s. I involuntarily screamed when I saw that card, and it was awkward because I screamed loud enough that I needed to explain to the people around me why I screamed, but I didn't really want to go there.

Among the Halloween candy I got, and I guess it was actually birthday candy: Seattle Chocolates Coconut Macaroon Truffle Bar, Vosges Mo's Milk Chocolate Bacon Bar, and my favorite bar for awhile, the Vosges Red Fire Chocolate Bar.

Oh, and no Halloween is complete without a little mischief. Here are a couple of "Costume Crimes" from the BYU Police Beat:

October 24: A boy in a gorilla suit was reported attempting to scare girls in Wyview Park. Officers located the monkey man, asked him to go home and he did.

October 29: A suspiciously dressed male was reported entering the law school. He was dressed in all black, was wearing a leg holster, a bulletproof vest, a portable radio, and five rounds of shotgun shells across his chest. The individual was carrying a black bag that contained two Airsoft pistols. The suspect turned out to be a law student and was called out of class for questioning. He stated he was dressed up for costume day; however, he was the only one in the class dressed up in costume. He was directed to remove his vest and was released since he was not violating any federal or state laws.

The Spinster Librarian

2009-10-21T22:13:00.001-05:00

I've had a lot of interesting dates and pseudo dates in the last few months. It helps my self esteem to count any one-on-one time with a single guy as a date, and I'm sure they're all really into me, too. Definitely some highs and lows (very lows!) in the mix.

I could write a book on relationships. I guess everyone thinks that. Here's one piece of advice: If you're in a long-distance relationship, demand some kind of collateral from the guy, like a piece of expensive furniture that's worth more than he is. Hopefully all three of you will be in the same location at some point in the future, but if not, you and the furniture can make a very happy couple. Or it can be good kindle for a fire when you're ready to burn all the pictures, cards, and gifts he gave you.

You can't get that kind of golden advice just anywhere. Here's another one: keep the top of the backrest of your leather couch dusted. If you're snuggling up on the couch and your date tries to put his arm around you, getting an armload of dust is a real mood-killer.

So here's the thing, what do we think about online dating? I've had friends that have met some crazies that way, but let's face it, I'm dating crazies anyway. I've kind of tried that scene before. It was more to make new friends, not love connections, and it worked only passably for that.

My dear friend Kim keeps telling me to try it, but I don't know. The Lubbock market is a small pond, but I don't think I'm in a position to strike up a relationship with anyone out of town, either. Any advice, opinions, or funny stories appreciated.

Dinner and a Book

2009-10-21T07:05:00.004-05:00

I'm a hypocrite. I'm a bad piano teacher; I don't practice. I'm a bad librarian; I don't read books. I could rationalize it somewhat when I was in grad school, but now that I'm past that, I've found other lame excuses. Over the last few months, I've been socializing at such a breakneck pace, I didn't have time for it. I've realized that I'm not going to miss meeting any fabulous men if I cut the outings down to 3-4 nights a week.

If I weren't a librarian, I'd like to be a sociologist or maybe a behavioral economist (except that would involve that pesky math stuff). I ordered a slew of books in that vein that have been on my Amazon wish list for awhile:

Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
By: Dan Ariely

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
By: Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives
By: Nicholas A. Christakis, James H. Fowler

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
By: Chip Heath, Dan Heath

SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance
By: Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (P.S.)
By: Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner

What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures
By: Malcolm Gladwell

Stumbling on Happiness
By: Daniel Gilbert

The Desk and Beyond: Next Generation Reference Services
By: Sarah K. Steiner, M. Leslie Madden

Which one of these things is not like the other? That very work-related book on the bottom, which was the most expensive and least enticing of the lot. It also had these goofy pixelated cover graphics. Thank you, library world, for being stuck in the 20th century as usual.

So when I can, it's no phone, no accompanying friends, just me and a book at home or in a restaurant booth if I really don't feel like being home in my lonely house. Last week, it was Cancún for the Durango Special: juicy, marinated grilled chicken and shrimp smothered with melted cheese; served with rice, guacamole, and pico de gallo; with Predictably Irrational. It is a little hard to concentrate with Tejano music blaring in the background, but the food was great, and the book enthralling. Last night, it was Lean Cuisine Linguine Carbonara with The Black Swan. I've been excited to leave work every night and get home to my books; when it's to get home to my cats, then you can really worry.

Last night, I read until I fell asleep, ignoring any calls, texts, emails, calendar reminders all evening. I did get a call at 5:45am or so this morning. In a case of friendship fail, I had forgotten to set my alarm clock to wake me up so I could drive some friends to the airport for an early morning flight. Already fifteen minutes late, but luckily I arrived at their house two minutes after the call. I think all was well, but maybe a little reading is a bad thing.

Ship of Fools

2009-10-13T19:08:00.005-05:00

In my foodie world, Christopher Kimball is like a rock star. The bow tie is hot; the food snobbery, condescension, and choosiness about ingredients is attractive. He's the editor and founder of Cook's Illustrated and the host of America's Test Kitchen. Cook's has been a go-to recipe source of mine for awhile now. Their recipes are almost always perfect in terms of flavor, technique, etc. I feel comfortable making their recipes for dinner parties without a dry run, because they rarely give me any trouble.

Kimball wrote an Op-Ed article inspired by the closing of Gourmet magazine. He lamented the shift of loyalty away from experienced, credentialed chefs and towards untrained cooks and the democracy of the Internet, read food blogs. My favorite quote from Kimball's piece is: "The world needs fewer opinions and more thoughtful expertise." He talked of food media specifically, but it's the same issue for all of them - radio, television, publishers, recording industry - and it's a similar problem in libraries and academia as well: Why would you want to pay for anything when you can find what you want online for free? Why would you want something that requires more effort than a Google search?

So I set out to write a ditto blog post, complete with passion and exclamation points, railing against "the democracy of the Internet." I was prepared to support all of Kimball's assertions.

And then I started writing.

Duh, I'm completely guilty of succumbing to the democracy of the Internet, where content is free and conveniently accessible. I don't have cable or even local television channels these days, because I usually just check YouTube, Hulu, or Netflix for whatever I want. They've got Matlock. Purchasing music? Why would I want to do that? There are more free radio stations and free sample downloads than I could ever listen to. Magazines and newspapers - a complete waste of money if I can get their content online for free. Most products of the mass media are complete drivel anyway, but it's also a factor of my pretentiousness to isolate myself from all of it.

I didn't read Gourmet. Any Gourmet recipes I've made came from the free site Epicurious. My mom has a few cooking magazines at her house, and I've never looked at a single one of them and thought it was something I'd want to subscribe to. I don't buy cookbooks. When I need a recipe, I always search food blogs, Epicurious, and yes, the Food Network site. You can bet I'm right there reading all of the comments and reviews written by inexperienced anonyms.

What was I going to rail against? I'm part of the problem.

Now that doesn't mean that I don't still use a LOT of Cook's recipes. Kimball followed up his Op-Ed with a post on his blog titled Ship of Fools? and I agree with his statement (down in the comments section) "I have had hundreds of people tell me over the years that the one thing that Cook’s has done for them is to build their confidence — they realized that they were not lousy cooks, they were just using lousy recipes." I have said many times that being a great cook doesn't take that much skill or innate talent, you only need start with a good recipe. Going through the process of cooking through dozens of Cook's recipes, with their precise instructions, helped me build a knowledge base of the fundamentals of cooking.

And yet, Adam Roberts of Amateur Gourmet made a good point when he tweeted "Chris Kimball, your recipes might work, but your magazine is the dullest, most brain-numbing one around. Blogs r better." (His more gramatically correct opinion is here.)

What do you think?

Fluffernutter

2009-10-06T01:05:00.004-05:00

What's your favorite sandwich? The favorite sandwich of the Massachusetts legislature is the Fluffernutter, a sandwich made with peanut butter and marshmallow fluff. And if you try one, it might become your favorite, too.

Have you ever heard of a fluffernutter before? I really can't remember when I first ate one. I do have a memory of visiting Washington, DC in my late teens. My family ate dinner in Union Station at some tourist trap that advertised world cuisine and had an entrée on its menu for each of various countries. Do you know what it listed for the United States offering? The fluffernutter. And Scott ordered one. It's not that he was foolish to do so. It was simply remarkable to me that of all the things that could have been on the menu, the fluffernutter was the thing chosen to represent the United States.

It's a very northeastern thing. The Marshmallow Fluff made by Durkee-Mower in Lynn, Massachusetts can't even be purchased in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Colorado, Utah... I like this Mister Rogers video about how it's made.

I've half a mind to order a case of the fluff if only to support a small US company that's still in the family and still making their product one small batch at a time. It's probably the only business using Comic Sans on their site that I'd patronize. And after all, the shipping costs couldn't be that much - it's just fluff.

My personal favorite thing to order at Sheridan's is a vanilla custard concrete with peanut butter and marshmallow fluff, so I may venture to try a few of these Fluff recipes. And you've got to listen to these catchy jingles:

Fluffernutter Theme
The Flufferettes

Remember When We Cooked?

2009-10-04T10:27:00.002-05:00

I attended a "cooking demonstration" on Thursday night, where two cookbook authors were promoting their cookbook "Remember When We Cooked?" That was pretty much the most ironic title ever for a cookbook, because for most of the recipes, the two ladies on stage merely combined a couple of ingredients from a can or the freezer. I don't think I'm shattering their reality by saying what they were doing wasn't cooking. One of the ladies even said, as she poured several cans of fruit into a bowl for "Spiced Hot Fruit," "This is my kind of cooking, dumping." The same woman later said she didn't go in for that fancy stuff like kosher salt. Here is one of the recipes that they demonstrated from their cookbook:

Mystery Fruit Salad
Serves 12

6 crisp apples
6 bars (2 ounces each) Snickers
12 ounces whipped topping

Cut apples into bite-size chunks. Cut Snickers into small pieces. Combine apples, Snickers, and whipped topping in a mixing bowl. Chill before serving.

Maybe you're like me and surprised that anyone had the need to write that one down, not to mention that it's being passed off as a fruit salad. The ladies seemed like your stereotypical sweet, rural, baby boomer soccer moms, and I say good for them creating a moneymaking opportunity out of a cookbook that any community church's ladies society could have put together.

But back to their cookbook's title, "Remember When We Cooked?" I didn't think it was a reference to the days when grandma went out and caught, killed, plucked, gutted and roasted a chicken for dinner, but I thought at least they meant the good old days when grandma combined flour, sugar, eggs, and milk into something without opening a can or boxed mix. Even the ridiculous opening sentences in the A-J's writeup - Really, all they require is water, electricity and a table. Then stand back and watch the magic - make no allusion to, you know, food! being involved in their recipes.

One of the most beautiful things I've read in the New York Times lately is Michael Pollan's Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch, which discusses among other things, the popularity of the Food Network amongst people who couldn't boil water properly, and how the amount of time spent on food preparation has an inverse relationship with obesity. He wrote:

I spent an enlightening if somewhat depressing hour on the phone with a veteran food-marketing researcher, Harry Balzer, who explained that “people call things ‘cooking’ today that would roll their grandmother in her grave — heating up a can of soup or microwaving a frozen pizza.” Balzer has been studying American eating habits since 1978; the NPD Group, the firm he works for, collects data from a pool of 2,000 food diaries to track American eating habits. Years ago Balzer noticed that the definition of cooking held by his respondents had grown so broad as to be meaningless, so the firm tightened up the meaning of “to cook” at least slightly to capture what was really going on in American kitchens. To cook from scratch, they decreed, means to prepare a main dish that requires some degree of “assembly of elements.” So microwaving a pizza doesn’t count as cooking, though washing a head of lettuce and pouring bottled dressing over it does. Under this dispensation, you’re also cooking when you spread mayonnaise on a slice of bread and pile on some cold cuts or a hamburger patty. (Currently the most popular meal in America, at both lunch and dinner, is a sandwich; the No. 1 accompanying beverage is a soda.) At least by Balzer’s none-too-exacting standard, Americans are still cooking up a storm — 58 percent of our evening meals qualify, though even that figure has been falling steadily since the 1980s.

So perhaps the dump-and-stir brand of cooking the ladies did at the demo was in fact cooking.

Red Ribbon for Red Velvet Cake

2009-09-29T00:25:00.002-05:00

The South Plains Fair is back in all its glory. A few hours there is enough to last you for a year until it returns. The freaks of the town come out of the woodwork for it, and that includes me. They even shipped Eddie Money in for a pretty pathetic concert. I don't ever want to get old or listen to his songs again.

The typical assortment of fair foods is available, with nothing too shocking to report. The hit of the state fair, Deep Fried Butter, hasn't made it west to Lubbock yet. The only new vendor I saw was the frozen chocolate banana stand, which I fully expected to see the Bluths manning.

As usual, my focus was on the women's building and the culinary competition. This year proved to have no shortage of cake wrecks. I was completely befuddled by a Best of Show decorated cake that had strange blue smears on top and Goldfish pressed into the sides and by the cake with off-center pecans and crumbs scattered on top.

But what do I know? I delivered my Red Velvet Cake entry with pride, saw another red velvet cake already in the display case, and snickered at it. It's not really fair for me to enter. How could I lose? My cake is twice as big and much better looking. Well, if you can't tell from the picture below, the cake that I laughed at got a blue ribbon, and mine, a red.

I wish the judges had to give me feedback on why my cake came in second. I think I should challenge the winner, Theresa, to a Throwdown. She's probably a very nice person, but when it comes to baking, the gloves (cooking mitts?) come off! I think I could take her.

My undefeated fair run is over, but I guess when you think about it, red is really the best color ribbon to award to a Red Velvet Cake.

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
from Cook's Country - Serves 12

ingredients

Cake
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
Pinch salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons natural cocoa powder
2 tablespoons red food coloring
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

Frosting
16 tablespoons unsalted butter , softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar
16 ounces cream cheese, cut into 8 pieces, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Pinch salt

preparation

1. For the cake: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. Whisk buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla, and eggs in large measuring cup. Mix cocoa with food coloring in small bowl until a smooth paste forms.

2. With electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and sugar together until fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down bowl as necessary. Add one-third of flour mixture and beat on medium-low speed until just incorporated, about 30 seconds. Add half of buttermilk mixture and beat on low speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Scrape down bowl as necessary and repeat with half of remaining flour mixture, remaining buttermilk mixture, and finally remaining flour mixture. Scrape down bowl, add cocoa mixture, and beat on medium speed until completely incorporated, about 30 seconds. Using rubber spatula, give batter final stir. Scrape into prepared pans and bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool cakes in pans 10 minutes then turn out onto rack to cool completely, at least 30 minutes.

3. For the frosting: With electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add cream cheese, one piece at a time, and beat until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Beat in vanilla and salt. Refrigerate until ready to use.

4. When cakes are cooled, spread about 2 cups frosting on one cake layer. Top with second cake layer and spread top and sides of cake with remaining frosting. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve, up to 3 days.

Goddess of the Library

2009-09-17T02:51:00.002-05:00

My optometrist asked me if I have a lot of people come up to me and ask for directions, help, etc. He said that my pupil size is a subconscious indicator to people that I'm friendly. Once again, I have to think that I chose the right line of work for myself, because that is the majority of how I spend my workday: doling out directions and instructions, leading tours, and generally caring way too much about solving people's problems.

People come up to the reference desk and need help finding things in the library, and I talk them through the process step by step. Teach a man to fish and all that. But I'm starting to talk to myself all the time because I'm so used to showing people how to do things. "Now I'm going to check my Gmail. First, I'll open a new tab in Firefox, and then..." It's starting to draw some stares.

The job is very rewarding. I had a faculty person tell me that I changed his life by showing him how to locate articles through the library website. I helped a couple of new students with a library scavenger hunt, and they were effusive in their thanks. One of them said, "It's like you're the goddess of the library. No one else could help me. They just gave me your card." So I think I'm changing my title from reference librarian to goddess of the library. Definitely has the connotation of superpowers, which should help with job security.

I get some funny questions, too. This summer, a new student asked when the first day of classes would be. I answered August 27. She said, "Oh, I wondered, cause that's the same week as Rush and I didn't know if they'd conflict." I get plenty of questions with seemingly obvious answers such as "Where is the basement?"

I had a freshman come up to the desk to ask where room 159 was, or wait, maybe it was 179. Yeah, she had no idea where she was supposed to be to attend an extra-credit lecture. We don't have a room 159 or room 179 here, I told her. I did some hunting, walked her around the building, even took her to the room that later turned out to be what she was looking for. To all this, she said no, no, I don't think this is it. "What's your instructor's name? I could call him or search the library calendars..." She didn't know the instructor's name and wasn't too sure what the course number was.

"I wrote all this down in my planner, but I lost my planner."

By this time, another student had come up to the desk with the same question. "I'm looking for an extra-credit lecture in room 200."

"Room 200?" I said, "There's really not any place on the second floor where that could be..."

The two students huddled with me for a moment. Then luckily another student, a total overachiever, came up at that moment and asked where room 309 was for the lecture. Eureka. "You guys really need to write things down," I said and smiled. I'll be a great mom.

You see, these are the kind of goofy stories and non-funny jokes that librarians sit around and tell each other for a laugh. I made up this joke I'm rather proud of:

What's a reference librarian's favorite question to get?
"What's your number?"

After some pondering, I decided that joke lacks the essential element of truthiness that makes a joke funny. So here's the revamped one:

What's a question that a reference librarian will never get?
"What's your number?"

The Once and Future Beans

2009-09-09T04:25:00.003-05:00

I've wasted a lot of time despising West Texas. I thought cowboy culture wasn't my thing, and maybe it isn't, but I feel like I can at least appreciate it more than before. There are fun things to do in this town, as mentioned in this long column, and Lubbock is full of honorable, hard-working folks. I decided to cowboy up and start supporting local tradition and heritage.

Mike and I went to the Ranching Heritage Center fundraiser where they staged Andy Wilkinson’s "Charlie Goodnight: His Life in Poetry and Song." The five inch stilettos I wore turned out to be very impractical for the walk across the dirt and grass to the seating area. And that's one thing a West Texas woman should never be, impractical. I should have worn my boots to keep from being bitten by ants.

I've been going over to my granddaddy's house once a week to watch old film reels from the 1950s of my dad's family and to see slides of the farm, family parties, and vacations. The family and the farming equipment look completely different, but it's pretty amazing how little the view has changed from around my folks' house in the last fifty years.

In the cowboy tradition, here's a recipe for baked beans worth a long trail ride: Once and Future Beans - the beans that will change your life. Although I've alluded to the fabulous recipe here, here, and here, the Once and Future Beans deserve a post of their own.

These beans are so simple, a cowhand could make them, but they do require some advance planning. First, you have to soak a pound of dried beans overnight, and then the beans themselves have to cook for 6-8 hours. Not a recipe you can be spontaneous about. There are basically only four steps after you soak the beans.

These beans fill your home with the most wonderful aroma while they cook. Last time I made them, I left the house for a few hours and was fairly overwhelmed upon pulling into the garage, opening my car door, and catching the scent of the beans cooking in the house. Another time the smell wafting through the neighborhood attracted a dog to my garage door.

Serve them alongside some beef, chicken, barbecue, taters, or let them stand alone. I cannot overstate the greatness of this recipe. They'll be the hit of the party every time.

Vernon, Florida

2009-08-19T07:23:00.009-05:00

I read the preprint of an article discussing the documentary Vernon, Florida. After reading that the town got the nickname "Nub City" because people in the town were lopping off their own limbs to collect insurance money, and that at one time more than fifty such cases were reported in a town of only 500 people, I knew the film would have some colorful characters.

So I invited Steve, my good docu-/mockumentary watching friend, over. And what menu goes with this film?, I asked myself. I could do turkey, because one of the main characters was a Zen Master of turkey hunting. Other possibilities? Ham perhaps? All my ideas seemed too conventional, and then it came to me.

I had seen frog legs in the seafood case at the United Market Street stores. I had heard they tasted like chicken. If ever there was a perfect dish to accompany a film about "Nub City," surely frog legs was it. I went to Market Street on 98th & Quaker and searched without success for frog legs. I asked the girl behind the counter if they had any frog legs. With a half smirk, she said they were out, but I should try the other Market Street store, because "they sell weird stuff."

I went to the Market Street on 50th & Indiana and approached the seafood case. There were the frog legs at $5.99 a pound. I made eye contact with the woman behind the counter. "I would like one pound of frog legs, please." The face she made was classic. It was a perfect combination of surprise, horror, and disgust. "You don't get that request often?" I asked.

I bought my frog legs and went home. The meat was almost as inexpensive as chicken. I had a recipe ready, Sauteed Frog Legs with Tomato Garlic Butter. Unfortunately the recipe did not specify whether to sauté the meat bone-in or not, and since I had not cooked frog legs before, I wasn't sure what the norm was - if there is anything normal about eating frog legs.

I set myself to the task of cutting the meat off the bones, and it took me awhile just to finish a pound of legs. It took me so long, in fact, that poor Steve had to go to work mashing potatoes. The meat cooked quickly. I added tomatoes, shallots, and substituted sherry for the white wine. I didn't measure it out, and I may have put too much in. Added a little chopped parsley and plated it up with mashed potatoes and corn on the cob. I tried the first bite. The frog meat was a little rubbery, springy, you might say, if you're into bad jokes. It had a slightly fishy flavor as well.

Suffices to say I wasn't the biggest fan of frog legs. What was even worse was that I tossed the bones and scraps of frog meat into the trash, but I didn't take out the trash for a couple of days. By that time, the stench was quite lethal. Scott said it could be used in chemical warfare.

For dessert, I made a Buttermilk Chess Pie, which sounded good and Southern to finish off the meal. I tried a recipe from the Good Book. I guess I undercooked the pie, but it was still especially awful. Perhaps it was bad kitchen karma on account of what I did to the frogs.

As for the film, it was interesting, though not quite the freak show I hoped for. I had to turn on the captions to understand the speakers due to their thick accents. The panhandle of Florida is a lot like the Panhandle of Texas. I could envision any one of those characters sitting at the local Dairy Queen telling the same wild tales.

Harold and Maude and Ginger Pie

2009-08-12T04:15:00.009-05:00

I'm on a great streak of combining my food with movies, the latest pairing being Harold and Maude with Ginger Pie. Talk about a quirky little movie. I hadn't seen it in years; the thing I remembered most about it was that I liked the soundtrack provided by the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens.

A few months ago Rob asked me if I could make ginger pie as in what Maude serves Harold in the movie. Humph, I've never had that or made it or heard of anyone else doing so either, I told him. I started searching for recipes online. There's nothing out there, I've looked, he said. There are only recipes for lemon ginger, pear ginger, ricotta ginger, but there's no ginger pie. He was right. I found Mile High Ginger Pie, but it still looked to be more instant vanilla pudding than ginger.

Rob arrived as I was finishing the pie filling. I had no idea how this pie-making project was going to turn out. We tried the filling before pouring it in the crust. Hey, that's not bad--actually it's good. Filling in the pie crust, pie in the oven, checked it at 30 minutes, decided to let it stay in a few more, then out of the oven to cool.

We started Harold and Maude, and at the part where Harold is over at Maude's and she offers him oat straw tea and ginger pie, we paused the movie to try a slice. We liked it a lot. It definitely had the dark, sweet ginger flavor of gingersnaps or gingerbread. Rob was especially excited to taste it, because apparently he'd wanted to try this pie since 1985 when he first saw the movie. So without further ado, I present a completely original Kimberly recipe, that is, best I can tell, unlike any others out there:

Ginger Pie

ingredients

8 ounces crystallized ginger, chopped
1 cup water
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1 egg
1 prebaked 9-inch pie shell
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled

preparation

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Combine the crystallized ginger and water in a heavy saucepan. Cook over high heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until water is mostly evaporated and mixture is thickened and sticky, at least 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the heavy cream.

Mix the flour, brown sugar, honey, and egg together in a separate bowl. Then stir in the ginger mixture. Pour this mixture into the prepared crust. Thinly slice the butter and arrange the pieces over the top of the filling.

Place pie on the lower-middle rack of the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes. Cool to room temperature before cutting.

One change I made from what I originally did was specifying that the ginger be chopped. Last night I used large pieces of crystallized ginger, instead of chopping them, and when I got a bite with a big piece of ginger, the flavor was a little too strong for me. Also, it was only after the pie was in the oven that I realized that I hadn't added salt or vanilla to the pie filling, which things I'm pretty sure every pie needs a little of, so I may make that change for future experiments. The only other problem I see is that the filling is a little shallow for a 9" pie. I would remedy that with a little more cream and sugar and an additional egg.

Between the Ginger Pie and Sunday's Summer Berry Pie, I'm on quite a pie kick. I would love to know how the recipe turns out for you.

You can do what you want.
The opportunity's on
And if you can find a new way
You can do it today.

Julie & Julia

2009-08-10T23:28:00.005-05:00

Last fall, I read My Life in France and loved it. I was going through one of those ugly phases in life where you feel like all your circumstances are beyond your control, present life is unhappy, and there is no hope of respite in your murky future course. I had succumbed to melancholia and needed something cheery and inspiring. And it may be ridiculous to admit, but I did find the fluffy autobiography of Julia Child to be inspiring.

The joy and persistence with which Julia undertook everything - learning French, enrolling in the Cordon Bleu culinary school, practicing cooking techniques, creating recipes, traveling, doting on her husband, making new friends, writing Mastering the Art of French Cooking - certainly motivated me in the kitchen but in life as well.

I have been excited to see Julie & Julia since the online saturation of ad banners, trailers, critical reviews, and blog write-ups began. Perhaps you have not been so inundated, but foodie sites, blogs, and the New York Times can talk about nothing else:

NYTimes movie review

Nora Ephron owns NY

NYTimes on healthy marriages in the film

NYTimes on food styling in the movie

NYTimes on Julia Child by Michael Pollan

Ten things I liked about the movie

Alamo Drafthouse film screening menu

Saturday morning, I hosted a French breakfast before going to see the movie. We had pain perdu, omelettes, and white chocolate mousse with blackberries.

I enjoyed the movie. The Julie part of the movie was very reminiscent of You've Got Mail, complete with voiceovers, heavy old laptops, and New York scenery, so Nora Ephron definitely has her signature on this. The Julia part was better, with many hilarious scenes and a very sweet romance between Julia and husband Paul.

One of the pivotal points in the book and the movie is when Julia has her first meal in Paris, sole meuniere in a bubbling browned butter sauce. I tried to recreate the sensation for Sunday dinner at my house. I dredged orange roughy filets in flour and fried them in butter. Then I made a sauce by heating butter until it turned light brown and had a nutty fragrance, adding lemon juice and parsley, and spooning it over the fish.

I served the fish with asparagus and croissants. French bread would have been better as croissants are already too buttery, but I had to make do with what I had on hand. For dessert, a Summer Berry Pie with blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries. I don't know how French it is, but nonetheless, bon appétit!

Charade

2009-08-10T06:10:00.004-05:00

The hobby about which I'm most passionate after cooking is classic movies, and I define classic as pre-1950. I love talking about classic movies and the actors who played in them. I've always been a fan. In junior high english class when we had to do book reports, I did mine on Cary Grant biographies. For my ninth birthday, I asked my mom to get me An Affair to Remember with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr on VHS. Some of the other titles I requested around that same age were Casablanca, Rebecca, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and Roman Holiday. My other junior high obsession was The Beatles. I was as much a groupie as one could be in the 1990s, even waited in line at midnight at Best Buy for the Beatles Anthology albums. I had a watch that played "I Want to Hold Your Hand." This immersion in pop culture of previous decades had the effect of making me into a fuddy duddy at the age of puberty who went around saying, "The music and movies you young people favor today are rubbish."

Rob knows more about movies and pop culture than anyone else I know, so it's great to debate the merits of one film over another with him. He told me a few weeks ago that for his birthday party, he was going to show a movie at the Firehouse Theater in the Underwood Center, and so we hashed out some ideas for the film he should show.

Casablanca? No, too serious and would the audience tolerate a black and white film? Bringing up Baby? I said the dialogue was too fast; we need something more physically exciting. I suggested one of my favorite movies, Charade, and started naming its selling points. It stars Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. It's got comedy, suspense, romance, and mystery. It's set in Paris. Haute fashion from the 1960s. Score by Henry Mancini. I could go on. He agreed.

I made the party invitation, which I thought turned out well -

and offered to take a couple of treats. After Rob's input, I decided on Black Forest Brownies and White Chocolate Chip Blondies. The brownie recipe was a miss, but the blondies were alright. They're very sweet and akin to a White Chocolate Macadamia cookie. Rob also got popcorn and treats donated by Cinemark, quite a coup, since he does so much to promote film around here.

It was one of the most fun parties I've been to. I started to feel completely selfish for recommending one of my favorite movies as the film we should watch. I hoped everyone else would enjoy it, too. I've seen that movie countless times since I was a child, but it was exhilarating to watch it in a theater. View the Charade trailer and stream the entire film online, because it's in the public domain.

No More Playing the Field

2009-07-27T18:21:00.003-05:00

What do you think of themed wedding cakes? Does it depend on the theme? Like you're okay with a Star Trek cake (this one looks to be a good possibility to me), but you don't understand someone choosing a hunting theme? What about sports-themed wedding cakes?

I made a groom's cake this weekend. Once again, I made Bobby Flay's Chocolate Blackout Wedding Cake with Coconut Buttercream. If Bobby could only know the impact he's made on Lubbock with that recipe. The groom even said I could add chipotle pepper, which earned him my undying respect. He wanted it to look similar to this, but without the strawberries and drizzled chocolate.

I learned a few things making this cake. First, I was pretty sure that I was incapable of smoothing buttercream frosting to a perfect evenness; now I know it. It's even more of a problem on a square cake than a round one. Second, there's not a legal way to get bright red frosting without using two dozen bottles of red food coloring. Any amount less than that just gets you bright pink frosting. I'm not sure what blood would do for the color, but I was getting tempted to try it. I do have a big bowl full of red frosting left over. If you're above the red scare, come over and have some. It tastes pretty good despite the added quart of dye. The blue frosting was pretty bright, too. One mom said, "Don't you dare get any of that blue frosting on the bride's dress!"

I wish I had done a better job with it. I'm afraid it had a bit of Cake Wreck-ish quality to it, but the groom said he was happy and that they got some good pictures with it of him swinging the bat and whatnot. It's a little different negotiating with grooms on their wedding cake than brides. Not that I've ever done a cake for a bridezilla or anything, but brides have stronger opinions because they're under more pressure. Guys have it made. Groom's cakes can be fun and bright and silly or non-existent and guests don't really care. And are you aware of this superstition? A single girl should take a piece of the groom's cake home and sleep with it under her pillow, and the man she dreams of is who she will marry. Hasn't worked out for me yet, and frankly, that sounds like a waste of good cake.

But I believe the best sports-themed wedding cake I've seen is this AT&T Jones Stadium wedding cake. Mike sent me pictures of it and I am dying to know what bakery made this cake. If you know, please tell me! Steve put it best: "That's the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. And they included the score of the most beautiful game I have ever seen."

Happy Anniversary

2009-07-24T03:10:00.012-05:00

Katie and Porter just celebrated their one year wedding anniversary. I can't believe it's been a year since they got married. In a way, this year has positively flown by, and yet their wedding day seems like a lifetime ago. It was a wonderful day, though, on which I also made my first wedding cake.

Being the first anniversary, the bride and groom got to eat the traditionally saved top tier of the cake. Rose Levy Beranbaum of The Cake Bible says freezing butter cakes with buttercream frosting for the first anniversary is a tradition that needs to go away. I agree with her. Like so many other typical wedding practices, this is a ridiculous one. What a waste of good cake. The tradition of saving wedding cakes for a year must hearken back to the days when people served fruitcakes at weddings. Fruitcakes have the consistency of a rock to begin with, so keeping one around for a year doesn't really lessen its glory. Perhaps a better tradition would be hunting down the baker who made your wedding cake to order a fresh one for the anniversary.

It reminds me of that Seinfeld episode where Elaine steals the piece of cake from the 1937 wedding of King Edward VIII that her boss bought at auction for $29,000. "It was the most romantic thing I've ever eaten," she exclaimed. "How was it?," Jerry asked. "A little stale." This cake was a little stale, too. Not to deliberately gross anyone out, but the frosting had developed a few tiny green specks in it. The chocolate ganache filling was still good, though the toffee bits lost any crunch they once had.

I think everyone in the family had a small slice, but we threw half the cake away. Wendy ate the ganache off the plastic pillar that was in the center supporting the cake topper. Cake on the cob, someone called it.

I'm celebrating an anniversary of my own. I just marked four years since I bought my house. Another anniversary that I can't believe is here, yet so much has happened in those four years. Half of my house still isn't decorated, and the other half probably isn't decorated well. I've given up daydreaming about Prince Charming and prefer to daydream about kitchen remodeling and upgrades. I don't find that home maintenance costs and keeping up a lawn are always personally rewarding, but I love this house. I decided to commemorate this anniversary by purchasing a new bedroom set.

Maybe when it gets here I'll have that housewarming party -

Persian Love Cake

2009-07-23T06:31:00.002-05:00

Last Saturday I made the aforementioned Persian Love Cake for a friend before she moved away. Wendy said, "You're baking the love cake for a girl?" Yes, in fact, for one of my dearest friends, who was involved with the curious incident of the stapler in Jell-O, dinner parties, baking escapades, and introducing me to amazing Persian and Indian foods.

It was a chiffon cake, which has a really light texture, more similar to angel food cake than your typical butter cake. An angel food cake uses only egg whites (no yolks) and doesn't use any added fats like butter, oil, or dairy. A chiffon cake uses egg whites and yolks and oil. For both cakes you have to be careful to whip the egg whites long enough or they won't have that trademark fluffy texture and rise. For the chiffon cake, I whipped the whites to marshmallow fluff consistency, then stirred one-third of the whites into the yolk mixture to lighten it, then gently folded in the rest.

The creamy frosting for this cake had saffron and rose water in it. Very delicious. It also had rose petals on top which were painted with egg white and sugar to give them a sheen. And while the poor lighting in my house made it look a little radioactive in photos, it was a pretty cake.

I love the strong cardamom flavor in this cake. And yes, those rose petals and pistachios on top are edible. I think the cake was a hit with Gul's family. This is a good one to add to the repertoire.

Goober Grape

2009-07-16T05:48:00.000-05:00

Have you ever tried Smucker's Goober Grape? My grandparents always had a stock of the stuff when I was little, and I often requested a Goober Grape sandwich. Peanut butter and jelly out of the same jar? It blew my mind. I still think it must take a little bit of magic to get that peanut butter and jelly swirled into the jar so beautifully. But I tried a bite of the stuff today and was quickly reminded that going to the trouble of opening two separate jars is a better option. There's something not quite right about that peanut butter. I assume it takes some crazy additives to keep the peanut butter from mixing with the jelly in the jar.

Speaking of goobers, here are some more highlights from the recent editions of the BYU police beat. One of these made me laugh until I cried, but then, I'm easily amused.

Police Beat for June 28

FIREARMS

June 16: Someone reported seeing a man in the stadium with a rifle. The police responded and found out it was a grounds employee sent to eliminate pigeons with a pellet gun. Officers stopped him. The man was not able to shoot any pigeons.

ANIMAL PROBLEMS

June 18: A skinny brown snake was reported by the stairs at 800 N. 300 East. When police arrived, no snake was found.

June 20: A stray cat fell into a mechanical well and couldn’t get out. Officers responded and rescued the cat.

June 24: Concerned people reported someone chasing a duck around Maeser Hill with a motor scooter. Officers responded to the call and told the person not to harass ducks. The person complied.

Police Beat for July 7

July 3: Officers responded to a suspicious person at the Bookstore upset about the deodorant selection. The person picked up a stick of deodorant, kicked it across the floor, then paid for the deodorant and left.

Police Beat for July 14

SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY

July 8: A suspicious blue canvas bag was reported in the NICB. Police responded and found it contained a water polo ball and a towel.

ANIMAL PROBLEMS

July 4: An owl was found in the former president’s Home. An officer communicated with the owl and it left.

July 6: An injured bird was reported on campus. An officer helped the bird into a pine tree.

DISORDERLY CONDUCT

July 4: Several people in the parking lot of LaVell Edwards Stadium during the Stadium of Fire got into a heated argument. Police arrived and were able to calm them down.

July 9: Six individuals were reported dropping things off the southwest campus bridge at 12:30 a.m. They were found to just be waving towels over the edge.

Love in the Library

2009-07-15T23:54:00.003-05:00

Today may be the best day of my life.

For years, the man of my dreams has been named Rodrigo. I don't know much else about him except he's tall, dark, handsome, and brooding, very romantic, and yes, his name is Rodrigo. Because I find that little else matters in a significant other besides what name you're saying after "I love you," and I'd rather say Rodrigo than Horace.

There is a man who I've seen often in the library over the last few months. Today I helped him at the desk with a couple of things, then sent him a followup e-mail, knowing only that his first initial was R. Imagine my surprise when I received a very kind reply from him. The highlights were his dating the e-mail thus: 15 / VII / 2009, writing "You have been most kind and helpful," and signing it, "My best, Rodrigo."

If today wasn't the best day, then perhaps yesterday was, for that was when I helped the man with the Scottish accent. Small talk is more fun with someone who has a charming accent. A day before that I helped another patron who later sent me an e-mail and said, "You are a rockstar." I doubt I could soon forget that compliment.

I have wanted to make this Persian Love Cake for awhile. Besides being beautiful, it sounds like it would taste wonderful.

Epicurious' description says: This chiffon cake filled with rose-scented whipped cream is inspired by the aromatics found in Persian, Turkish, and Indian confections. Cardamom seeds have more flavor than the ground powder and are like little explosions of spice in the cake.

The cake uses cardamom, saffron, rose water, and pistachios and is decorated with candied rose petals. I can't think of a more romantic dessert.

Peanut Butter and Jelly

2009-07-13T23:42:00.001-05:00

Peanut butter and jelly is a classic combination. A lot of people put the two condiments together on a sandwich. I personally like to make two separate half-sandwiches, one peanut butter, one jelly, and then eat them in alternating bites.

If peanut butter and jelly turn you on, you'll probably get very excited about the Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting and Jelly recipe in Martha Stewart's Cupcakes (recipe also available online here). Perhaps you are like me and believe that there can be no such thing as too much peanut butter. This recipe uses 2/3 cup of creamy peanut butter in the cupcake, plus another cup for the peanut butter cream cheese frosting.

And then while you are eating your peanut butter and jelly, you can get in touch with your inner child by watching a classic Sesame Street short. This one is a near reenactment of the scene at my house every time I bake.

Anyone Can Cook

2009-07-10T06:01:00.011-05:00

Is it true that anyone can cook? A lot of people say that they cook, and then you talk to them awhile and figure out they really don't. Kind of like playing the Wii isn't really exercising. But pseudo cooks can combine a few purchased ingredients together with some amazing skill. I always cook from scratch, but I'm also always tied to a recipe, so I'd say I'm not much of a real cook either. Yet I find that people are amazed at my love of cooking. Maybe they're just feigning interest. I doubt guys are really as excited about it as they appear. I believe that the women, on the other hand, aren't faking anything.

Are cooking skills a generational thing? Is cooking and sophisticated taste in food emerging because of a bunch of hipsters? Current food writer wisdom via Michael Pollan, John Mackey, et al. says that 20th century housewives saw the wave of processed convenience foods as liberating. No longer would they have to slave over the kitchen stove for their husband and children. Parents and children learned of the glorious TV dinner and its like. No matter how unhealthy it was, they were hooked. I don't know if that's all true or not. This blogger believes cooking is a dying art, and I'm not too sure about that either. All my girlfriends are talented cooks, talk about food with me, and try new recipes and ethnic cuisine. I guess that could mean that I just pick friends that will let me blather about what I eat and cook, or they're talented overachievers. My boyfriends know enough to at least grill a steak and some are downright impressive with their skills.

I'm trying to build and maintain a reputation around the office as a good cook. It's easy to haul baked goods by the dozen up there, but what about non-sweets? I needed a menu for today's working lunch that could be microwave-free. Not being too sure of the tastes of the person I'm serving is intimidating. What if there's an allergy? I did have a tip not to use chocolate, which eliminated the majority of my usual desserts. In the end, this is what I came up with:
Mediterranean Chicken Salad
Ciabatta Rolls
San Pellegrino Limonata
Panna Cotta with Fresh Berries

Cupcake Palace

2009-07-04T06:51:00.003-05:00

Although I'm not really one for buying cookbooks, I do try to stay informed on the in vogue cookbooks and food trends. There are not many as rabid as the cupcake and cupcake shop trend, which you don't even have to be a slightly informed foodie to notice. Keeping up with the world's cupcake news could be a full-time job, e.g., check out this write-up and this one and one more of the Brooklyn Kitchen’s Cupcake Cook-Off. I can't wait to try baking the winning cupcake, the A-Rod Chocolate/Peanut Butter/Marshmallow Cupcake.

I expect to soon see a group of bloggers baking their way through this addition to the pool, Martha Stewart's Cupcakes. Martha is a one-name superstar like Cher or Madonna, a rock star in the culinary world. I find some of Martha's recipes to be lacking, but I could never fault her on the perfect presentation executed in her magazines, books, and TV shows. The decorating ideas in her cupcake book are creative and numerous. See a sampling of her slightly precious ideas here. I bought Martha's latest book to give to my new foodie friend, Shelley, for her birthday. But before I wrapped it, I shamelessly posed it amongst my own cupcakes in photos.

I took two varieties of cupcakes to her birthday party: Yellow Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream (dyed blue) and Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting. I had this goofy idea that if arranged correctly, they could look like the flag, which they kind of did - well actually, they didn't at all. One problem was not being able to get white star-shaped sprinkles, and another was not wanting to leave some Red Velvet Cupcakes unfrosted for the red stripes. Who wants a cupcake without frosting?

At the party, that baby blue frosting turned everyone's mouth blue. I can't imagine how much coloring it would have taken to make the frosting navy. Back to Martha, her Swiss Meringue Buttercream recipe is my go-to for vanilla frosting. Actually, you can add any of a range of flavors and colors. Get Martha's Swiss Meringue Buttercream recipe here.

I used almost a whole bottle of red coloring for the Red Velvet Cupcakes. I used the famous Magnolia Red Velvet recipe, but subbed cream cheese frosting for the vanilla.

: photo by Peter Brown

German Chocolate Cake Throwdown

2009-06-30T07:11:00.006-05:00

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the German Chocolate Cake Throwdown! In this corner, we have the challenger, a newcomer, the Bobby Flay recipe.

And in the opposite corner, our returning champion, the Cook's Illustrated recipe (requires subscription, e-mail me if you want the recipe). Let's try and make this a fair fight.

First the judges will compare the cake portion of each recipe. Bobby Flay's recipe uses cocoa powder for chocolate flavor, but the Cook's Illustrated recipe calls for melted chocolate and cocoa powder. The CI recipe uses a traditional creaming method, and will it cream the competition? Bobby melts his butter before mixing it with the sugars. Bobby also uses 3 cups of liquid - coffee and buttermilk. Is his method all wet? (The crowd boos the lame announcer.) The judges' decision: the CI cake is springy and has deep chocolate flavor. Bobby's cake melts in your mouth, but is a little too moist and there might be too much coffee in the recipe (which thing we never before thought possible).

In the second round, the judges move on to the filling, which is truly the most important part of a German Chocolate Cake. The CI recipe is fairly close to the original Baker's recipe, with modifications to the amounts of evaporated milk, sugars, and butter, and extra helpings of pecans and coconut. Is this the round where Bobby will deliver the knockout punch? His filling recipe starts with water and sugar, melted to a dark amber, then adds milk, coconut milk, and goat's milk, then simmers the mixture for an hour - like Mexican Cajeta.

Certainly a blow to the competition, and then Bobby strikes again with the added flavors of vanilla bean and coconut rum. Our challenger takes round two in a decisive victory.

The returning champion still has some fight left, but will it be enough? Here comes Bobby again to deliver the final blow. His cake is topped with bittersweet chocolate ganache, extra pecans and coconut, and it's served with coconut whipped cream on the side. Wow! A hush falls on the crowd and the judges are ready for the side by side, mano-a-mano, slice to slice competition.

With so much riding on this decision, the judges request anonymity. Their deliberation comments included the following:

This coconut whipped cream is excellent.
The bittersweet ganache is just that - bitter, and it's too thick.
Bobby's filling is better.
I think side by side I like the traditional [Cook's Illustrated] cake better.

They return a split decision. The fans deserve a rematch!

Throwdown’s German Chocolate Cake with Coconut-Pecan-Cajeta Frosting, Chocolate Ganache and Coconut Whipped Cream

Note: Original recipe here. I edited the recipe below for spelling errors, missing instructions (If you follow the original recipe, you'll never add the flour to your cake), points of personal preference, and to allow for a couple of ingredients I couldn't get in this one-horse town.

Chocolate Cake
2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups strongly brewed black coffee, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups buttermilk, at room temperature
3 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 325° F. Butter two 9-inch cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
3. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the cocoa powder and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and pour into bowl of standing mixer. Add the sugars and beat until the sugar is dissolved. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and continue beating until smooth. With beaters on low speed, add dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with coffee and buttermilk (in 2 additions), beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Beat until just combined.
4. Divide the batter evenly between the 2 pans and bake on the middle rack until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 42-45 minutes. Let cool in the pans on a baking rack for 20 minutes. Then invert the cakes onto the baking rack and let cool for at least 1 hour before frosting.

Cajeta Filling
2 cups whole milk
1 can unsweetened coconut milk
1 cup goats’ milk
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 tablespoons very cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 teaspoons coconut rum, optional
1 1/4 cups sweetened coconut
1 1/4 cups toasted coarsely chopped pecans

1. Bring the milk, coconut milk and goat’s milk to a simmer over low heat in a medium saucepan. Keep warm while you prepare the caramel.
2. Combine the sugar and water in a light-colored, heavy pan over high heat and cook (do not stir) until deep amber brown color. Slowly whisk in the warm milk mixture and continue whisking until smooth; add the vanilla seeds and corn syrup. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until the sauce is reduced by half and is the consistency of a caramel sauce, about 55 minutes.
3. Once the sauce is reduced, remove from the heat and whisk in the cold butter, vanilla extract, salt and rum and whisk until combined. Stir in the coconut. Let the frosting cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally. Stir in pecans just before frosting the cake.

Coconut Whipped Cream
1 1/2 cups cold heavy cream
1/4 cup Coco Lopez
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon coconut rum
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Combine heavy cream, coconut milk, sugar and vanilla in a mixer and mix until soft peaks form.

Ganache
8 ounces heavy cream
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1. Bring cream to a simmer. Place chocolate in a medium bowl, add hot cream and corn syrup and let sit for 30 seconds. Gently whisk until smooth. Let sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before pouring over the cake.

Assembly
1/2 cup toasted coarsely chopped pecans
1/2 cup lightly toasted sweetened coconut

1. Slice each cake in half horizontally. Place one cake layer on a cake round or platter and spread 1/3 of the frosting evenly over the top, repeat to make 3 layers and top with the remaining cake layer, top side up.
2. Pour the chocolate ganache over the cake. Garnish with pecans and some of the toasted coconut. Let sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before slicing.
3. Slice cake, top with a dollop of whipped cream and garnish with additional toasted coconut.

Marian the Librarian

2009-06-24T06:45:00.009-05:00

I get the feeling I picked the right line of work for myself. I love my job, though it isn't without its hazards. Like last week, I broke the heel of my shoe in the grooves of the Spacesavers - those mechanical shifting shelves. And if I forget to wear pants/skirts with pockets, I have to hide keys and pens on my person, and that can get weird and uncomfortable. Sometimes that leads me to sport a pencil behind the ear, which along with my hair in a bun and librarian glasses is charming to someone, somewhere, I'm sure.

I am doing old-fashioned librarian work, which is good because I'm an old-fashioned girl. I get some good questions at the reference desk. Mostly it's "Where is the bathroom?" But I do get some interesting ones, like people needing literary criticisms of a certain work or author, requests for obscure statistics and author biographies. People will tell long stories about what happened to them and their books, and "Do you loan jump drives because I had one but I left it in the pocket of my jeans and it got washed?" Or, "I'm looking for my friend. She has long, dark hair." At that one, I thought, okay, there are about 10,000 people that walk through these doors every day... I also get to tackle people that set off the security gate alarms. It's fabulous.

Ever since I started working at the library, I've thought my job was awfully like the girls' in Desk Set. Random questions, but in the days before Google:

I bought the movie and invited some friends over to watch it. What menu goes with Desk Set? I don't know, but in the movie Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy eat the dessert Baked Alaska, so I decided to make that. I found this recipe, which was extremely easy. The hardest part was finding peach ice cream. I didn't have time to make my own, so I had to buy generic United Food Club stuff, but it wasn't too bad. You slice a round of pound cake, top it with ice cream, and freeze it. Then beat egg whites with sugar and cream of tartar to stiff peaks and surround the ice cream with the egg whites. The ice cream needs to be hermetically sealed within the meringue. (I piped the meringue around the ice cream with a large star tip.) Return them to freezer if you have time, for up to an hour. Bake for five minutes to toast the meringue. I served them with peaches and raspberries spiced with cardamom, which I think added presentation and taste points.

I like this dessert because it has a nice presentation, tastes pretty good, wows people with the "You put ice cream in the oven!" factor, can be simplified by using store bought ingredients, is retro, and is open to limitless flavor variations. Christy and John came over last night for a weeknight dessert, and I decided to try Baked Alaska again. This time, I used a brownie base instead of pound cake, topped half of them with vanilla ice cream, half with coffee ice cream. I made the meringue with granulated sugar instead of confectioner's, then swirled it on with a spatula, instead of piping it. I also tried baking at 425° instead of 450° as in the other recipe, because the tops of the last ones looked charred.

I personally thought the brownie base was too sweet with the ice cream and meringue, so I probably would not use that again. Actually, I don't know why you couldn't just eliminate the cake/brownie base, and seal the entire scoop of ice cream within meringue. Then you could serve that alongside cake or brownies. Also, I thought after I took the autopsy shot above and moved the two halves back together, how much that looked like a human brain, split down the middle, which would make the dessert great for a Halloween party. You could great really creative with "grey matter" and a cerebellum... maybe that's too much.

Daddy's Day

2009-06-22T06:36:00.007-05:00

For Father's Day dinner we had Cafe Rio Salad: two tortillas under Romaine lettuce, Cilantro-Lime Rice, Black Beans, Sweet Shredded Pork, Tomatillo-Lime Dressing, Cotija Cheese, Pico de Gallo, Guacamole, Tortilla Strips... I learned that it's called Cotija cheese, not Cojita. I had been calling it Cojita and mocking people that said Cotija for a couple of years. It was a little depressing to learn that my foodie knowledge wasn't infinite. (It is now?)

My dad's three favorite things are German Chocolate Cake, Coconut Cream Pie, and me. This coconut cream pie was the best I've made yet, but it still needs some tweaking. It needs a deeper filling and less whipped cream on top, and there's something not quite right about the filling. Maybe it needs some dark rum? I'll have to go scavenge recipes.