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October 26th, 2009
09:27 pm - Ok, Important safety tip time
Do not bake an eggplant without poking a hole in it. Really.
Now how am I going to get the eggplant off my ceiling?
Also, ow.
Current Mood: irritated
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June 7th, 2009
07:49 pm - Bread Shrapnel
As some of you who know me in person may be aware, I am not what we would call a light and fluffy baker. I make dwarf bread. Sometimes, this turns out to be "mm, chewy!" Sometimes, when I accidentally under rise it, or heat the oven too high and kill the yeast early, it's more "here, the rats could stand to grind their teeth down a little." All of it, when it gets stale, however, goes clunk.
There are lots of recipes that call for stale bread. They work with very stale normal bread, or kindof stale my bread. Not really stale my bread, which mostly turns into a lump. The ends and crumbs get stale fast, which is why I keep a bread jar. Into it go all those little bits that are very stale, when the rats have a cage stuffed to bursting. If you leave the bread long enough, it actually gets so stale it breaks up again.
The bread jar just got really full, so I made bread crumbs. Ordinarily, this would involve a food processor, but mine is not about anymore. I use a stick blender for most of these types of jobs. Discovery! You can indeed make bread crumbs with a stick blender. Just...watch out for shrapnel.
In other news, rope purchased for pavilion. Am making bound canvas grommets instead of leather. Got surprisingly little done today, yet I am tired.
Current Mood: crumby
Current Music: in extremo
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October 29th, 2008
03:16 pm - On Chocolate
Last night I had a chocolate craving of epic proportions, but not quite enough to make me put on outside clothes and trek to the market in the cold and the dark. So today, I went out while it was bright and pleasant to remedy that.
I've been complaining that it's hard for me to find high end milk chocolate, since the race appears to be to make the most bitter, cocoay bar possible. Today I was proven wrong in a tasty way. I found Omanhene dark milk chocolate, which is high cocoa, but not bitter or hard. Is very, very tasty - chocolatey without being sharp. Is also reasonably ethical (made in Ghana) and the company appears to be based in Milwaukee. I am pleased. If I am good, I will not eat all of it today.
Current Mood: chocolate
Current Music: Leonard Cohen - Various Positions - If It Be Your Will
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October 25th, 2008
09:28 pm - Walking! Pictures! Food!
Today I walked a touch over six miles in total, including a trip to the last farmer's market of the year, to the library to get my card and some delicious looking new books, to Asia Mart (yes, it's really called that), and to the local Ethiopian restaurant, where I got to have sambussa. They're like samosa, but full of sagey lentils.
Eating in season is cheap, especially when you aren't buying particularly romantic vegetables. For twelve bucks, I got two bunches each of carrots, beets and turnips, a pumpkin for Samhain night soup, three large colored peppers and a carton of pretty colored eggs. Here is a very blurry picture: ( Read more... )
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/sad.gif) cold
Current Music: Steeleye Span - Now We Are Six - Thomas the Rhymer
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October 11th, 2008
07:43 pm - Colonies of Microbes in My Fridge
Intentional ones! In Champaign, I'd gotten used to being able to buy my yeast in bulk at the natural food store. None of the ones around here seem to sell it, so I wound up with some packets from the grocery store, which are damnably expensive, at least comparatively. So I decided to experiment, and have been yanking a chunk of dough off the bread each time I bake. I just toss that in some liquid and let it warm up for a few hours before I bake again, and so far, it's been a success. It may be much less elegant than a sourdough, but it seems to be a viable colony. Plus, if I forget and use up all my dough, I won't feel as bad, since a very similar colony can be purchased at the supermarket.
Unfortunately, all I have in the house is pastry flour. That's because the white wheat (as opposed to red - the standard type) I bought turned out to be soft white wheat, not hard white wheat, as I'd hoped. Hard wheat makes bread flour. Soft wheat makes pastry flour. That means I can't make bread till I use it up. Why not buy some bread or all purpose flour, you ask? Well, I have a very small kitchen, and a limited number of storage jars. So, in the meantime, it's going to be muffins and such. Which, I have just discovered, can be made quite nicely with yeast (had to keep the colony going, after all!)
Current Mood: alchemical
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October 9th, 2008
11:06 pm - Fantasticness
To put a counterpoint to the dental woes (which are in abeyance at the moment), I have a happy thing. You see, a few days ago I ordered some real vanilla beans from this seller: http://stores.ebay.com/Vanilla-Products-USA
They arrived very, very quickly, and today I put them to the test. I like vanilla yoghurt quite a lot, you see. I may never purchase it again, because I am currently in my happy place, which involves the seeds from about 1/8 of a vanilla pod, some sugar and some plain yoghurt. Really, really good. I think it might only be improved upon by the use of full fat yoghurt, which I sadly do not have.
Current Music: Pink Floyd - Obscured By Clouds - Obscured By Clouds
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October 4th, 2008
12:09 am - Hello, Livejournal!
Lo, I am indeed alive. It's been a while since I posted here, and since then, I've moved, had serious car trouble and finally gotten Internet at my place. ( Read more... )
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/cool.gif) accomplished
Current Music: Clannad - Magical Ring - Theme From "Hary's Game"
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July 1st, 2008
09:12 pm - Through adversity, we shall bake
I have, I realize suddenly, developed a habit of angst-baking. When I am none too comfortable and feeling anxious, I cook, and work on the kitchen. I am somewhat dismayed that this has not translated to sorting my belongings or painting, instead, because there is a limit to the amount of food that one house can hold. This is, however, why dinner tonight is fresh salad, spicy black bean, rice, and kale soup, and there will be fresh bread. Now to convince my brain that these efforts are better spent fixing garb, working on overdue commissions, or writing for pay.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/growf/pengies/sob.gif) lonely
Current Music: Clannad - Na Buachaillí Álainn
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June 18th, 2008
06:06 pm - Go, apple corer!
I am a disaster with a paring knife. It's only the fact that I make stock from the parings that saves the giant hunks of vegetables and fruits that stay attached to the skins. It also takes me forever, and the results are poor at best. So:
Some months ago, I purchased one of these things: http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/apple_corer.jpg
I was dubious, but today I actually gave it a try. Best thing ever. Peelings do tend to have a lot of apple attached, but my apples were old and soft, and that might be less with a fresher apple. It takes the peel off in a spiral, more or less completely, pops out the core, and chops up the apple for me. Six apples - about ten minutes, compared to the half hour or more it would have done before.
I'm gonna make more pie in the future. I can tell.
Current Mood: sick
Current Music: Dropkick Murphys - Dirty Water
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March 13th, 2008
07:36 pm - A good day! Cleaning, pumpkins, and more
Having a good day at last, after a nasty patch of late. I did more work in the first five or six hours of today than in the whole of yesterday. I have decided to post about it because too much of my journal is griping and such. Eight articles down, another two to go, minimum, but that should be no great trial.
( the million joys of mundanity )
Current Mood: sore
Current Music: Dio - This Is Your Life
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March 1st, 2008
09:20 pm - Nom Nom Nom
Been a while since I made a food post, so here's the solution to my refrigerator fullness.
You see, it turned out that there were nice looking squash at the Asian market, and that there was a good coupon for plain yoghurt at Meijer. So I found myself in possession of several squash (zucchini and a green Asian one with stripes that I don't know the name of), and more than a pint of leftover tzatiki sauce, as well as plenty of other yoghurt. Middle Eastern food! I thought.
Turns out there's not much Middle Eastern/Mediterranean food using squash. Lots of eggplant (which some people seem convinced is a squash (it's not - it's a nightshade, like peppers and tomatoes)) but little zucchini. That which does exist is usually in company with lamb, which I don't eat. So, I engineered a vegetarian (not vegan, but could be easily) version of a few stuffed zucchini recipes.
( Lebanese/Iranian/Greek Stuffed Squash Without Lamb )
Current Mood: full
Current Music: Mabel [Mono]
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January 24th, 2008
08:11 pm - Holy penguins, Batman
The Mexican hot chocolate that Alicia gave me for Christmas has real chili peppers in. This is tasty and fantastic, but startling!
Current Mood: spicy
Current Music: Nightwish - Elvenpath (live)
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December 30th, 2007
01:54 am - Today I...
Finished Nghi's skirt. Need to give it another run through the washer, as Tempest has strategically shed all his white fur onto it.
Dyed my hair pinkish red (needs more on the length, though, as it's not so bright as the top). This necessitated washing it the normal way, with lots of shampoo all the way down, to strip it. Even after the killer conditioner that comes with hair dye, my hair has neither been so flyway nor so dry and brittle feeling in months. How did I stand this? If it continues, I shall have to oil.
Made pumpkin bread
Burnt some miscellaneous nut and fruit bread
Watched anime
Now I am downswinging sharply. Stupid winter.
Brain, you'd best not keep me up tonight.
Current Mood: depressed
Current Music: Oingo Boingo - Dream Somehow
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September 18th, 2007
03:20 pm - The Lurking Illness
It's loopy time again! I seem to be going through another of my periods of very mild illness - enough to impair daily function, but not enough to qualify as really sick. This is irritating, as I must get on a plane tomorrow, and have things to do before then. Being able to stand and do other things in a non-wobbly manner would, for instance, be of great help in my quest to get this well-overdue print matted and mailed. Plus, there is writing to be done before I head airportward.
We recently received a truly amazing Chinese menu here, in other news. A great deal of it is in Chinese, and the portions that are in English promise excursions into the culinary unknown. Just what is "Color To Fu" or "Boiling Radish?" If I am functional for driving tonight, we may go investigate. Thrills, terror, soy sauce!
And, since I haven't anything new to report on the project front, we'll delve into some of that old random research, and bring you ( A short treatise on the many kinds of soy sauce )
Current Mood: ill
Current Music: Joe Hill - Billy Bragg
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September 13th, 2007
11:54 pm - How about some food?
Oof. I got distracted and missed yesterday's Informative Post (tm). Therefore, I'll see if I can't compress today and yesterday's food related activities into one.
As most of you know, we've joined up with a CSA, and have been getting lots and lots of vegetables that up till now, I didn't know too well and wasn't necessarily all that fond of. I mean, I'd eaten eggplant, cantaloupe, turnips, etc. However, I wasn't a big fan. With an unknown number of veggies arriving every week, I've had to learn to come up with ways to eat them.( Read more... )
Current Mood: sleepy
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