time to be gourmet

This Christmas vacation was spent with my boyfriend's family in Minneapolis, Minnesota where the snow continuously fell on the Mississippi River, and all I had to do was cook, eat, and read. So on Christmas, I made chocolate truffles and venison meat balls with spaghetti (next time, I want to make fresh pasta), yesterday was brined and roasted chicken with acorn squash stew, and then, tonight was the piece de resistance:

For a first course, mushroom, bacon, and sherry chowder which I used several recipes to make, creating thereby a recipe of my own. To redo, I would say cook 4 pieces of bacon in the soup pan until crisp and then set aside. Add 2 tbsb. of flour to the warm bacon grease, whisking until smooth. Add 2 cups of vegetable/chicken broth, bringing to a boil. Then lower to a simmer and add 4 cups mushrooms, 1 shallot, 1 leek (which I didn't use this time), 2 stalks of celery, 2 sprigs of time, a sprig of sage, and kosher salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 20 minutes. Remove sprigs and add 2.5 cups of whole milk and half of the cooked bacon. Keep warm until ready to serve, at which point you add the rest of the crumbled bacon.

Second course was surf and turf: NY strip steaks grilled med.-rare and lobster tails with a beurre blanc.

Since I wanted a lemony bb, I added a couple of narrow pieces of lemon peels.

 My boyfriend did a fabulous job rubbing down and grilling the steaks, and he also made a wonderful apple pie. He is the pastry chef in our little family, although he learned a lot about making crust from my talented mother, who makes delightful pie.

And I, because I never had before, and because my boyfriend's father loves it so much, made bread pudding. Yum yum yum yum yum. I found this delightful holiday recipe that calls for eggnog and bourbon or brandy, and I used brandy. I didn't change this recipe much, but I did add a few dashes of cinamon in addition to nutmeg.

And yes, we all watched "Julie and Julia" last night, which inspired me, and Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking is officially on my wish-list.

Bon appetit!

Examiner article: tea for Christmas

I just published my first Examiner article in over a month (lost password, etc.); it's a brief introduction to blending tea with a recipe included. Check it out. I will be trying to keep my blog and the Examiner site more up-to-date moving forward.

cookies and pizza

Above are raspberry linzertorte thumbprints that I made for a Christmas party I went to; the recipe is from the December/January Readymade. They have hazelnuts, lemon zest, cocoa, cinnamon, and curry in them! I also made pistachio and cocoa truffles and the gingerbread men, women, angels, etc. below and set up a cookie decorating station at the party.

I bought my boyfriend a pizza stone for Christmas. Here's a picture of our first pizza, which we undercooked. But the second pizza turned out great; maybe our best homemade pizza to date with a great, firm crust, mozzarella cheese, goat cheese, tomatoes, mushrooms and brussel sprouts sauteed in wine, green olives, red onion, and thick sweet bacon.

Acoustic liberation

For those who love to craft and read, check out Librivox, an "acoustic liberation of books in the public domain." Perfect for when one wants to craft and read at the same time. Today, I'm going to make teas and Christmas cookies while listening to Emma by Jane Austen.

Black Rock City

For the past two nights, I have dreamed about BRC. I believe the universe may be telling me something.