Tag: food

Transcendent Donut Experience

I head about this donut shop, something about quality ingredients, good donut, etc.  I like a good donut, so I wandered over.
The interior was industrial, spare and hip.
 
A statement.
 
More hipness.

Here’s the donut in question.

The verdict.  A-mazing.  Here’s how it usually works with me and donuts.  “I wish I had a donut.” I say to myself.  Then, being gainfully employed and mobile, I get myself one.  Sometimes I get them from the grocery store bakery case, sometimes from an official donut shop.  I eat the donut and it leaves me feeling a bit empty.  It was okay in the moment, but the moment has passed, leaving me with a bit of grease and a few coins shorter in my wallet.

Here’s what happened with this donut.  I paid my money, sat down and bit into it.  And it was chewy and substantial and burst with flavor.  The donut was a substance in and of itself, not just a carrier for the toppings. And the toppings!  The chocolate was rich, the coconut was toasted perfectly.  The whole experience was exactly what I’m looking for when I’m in the mood for a donut.  At $2.50, this donut wasn’t cheap, but I’ll take one of these over three of the standard donut, any day.

Sourdough pancakes


I bought a sourdough starter with hopes of making my own whole wheat sourdough bread.  And other products.  Here’s my first attempt at pancakes.  I neglected to take any photos of the final product.  They were thinner than I would have liked, which is something that I can fix next time. They were a rainbow of brown hues, due to the fact that cooking pancakes in a cast iron pan involves a range of temperatures from “a bit too cold, still” to “darn it, this pan is much too hot.” 

Making pita bread/chips

I’m off to the Rose Festival Parade tomorrow, and I’m bringing along Hummus and Pita Bread. I’m making my own pita bread from my new favorite cookbook Make the Bread, Buy the Butter.    It’s so exciting!

Pita balls ready to roll.
 

Pita balls rolled and ready for the very hot pizza stone (pita stone?)

Finished pitas.  I think my stone was hot enough that I needn’t have baked them for very long.  In the recipe, she recommends eight minutes.  My first batch, baked for that long, were nearly burnt. I  kept reducing the time baked, but they all went from dough, passed quickly through bread and into chip form.  The author mentions she can’t get hers to puff, but all of mine did. I’ll try again next time with very little cooking time and see what results they give.  These were very, very good.

Found it!

In my essay about Mrs. Brown I reference a stir fry recipe.  I still have it, it was in one of my memory boxes.
 

Are you hungry for stir-fry, made in the style of 4-H circa 1985? Here’s the recipe:

You need:

  • 1 teaspoon cornstarch
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (if you have it)
  • 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon soy sauce
  • 1/3 c. water
  • 2 tablespoons oil
  • 2/3 cup carrots, sliced thin
  • 2/3 cup celery, sliced thin
  • 2 cups broccoli, separated into flowerets; cut the stems into think slices
  • 1/3 cup onions, sliced thin
  • 1 cup bean sprouts (or use canned green beans) [Here I must interject and say, no, do not use canned green beans as they are nasty]

Equipment

  • large skillet with lid
  • knife
  • cutting board
  • measuring cups (nested and liquid)
  • measuring spoons
  • wooden spoons

Note: you can use frozen vegetables in this recipe too.  Be sure they are defrosted. Then dry them with a paper towel to prevent splattering.

1. Mix cornstarch, ginger, garlic powder, soy sauce and water in a glass measuring cup and set aside
2. Heat the oil in a large frying pan with a lid
3. When the oil is hot, add the dry carrots, onions and the celery
4. Cook for one minute, stirring occasionally
5. Then add the broccoli and cook for 2 minutes. Stir constantly.  The broccoli will turn bright green.
6. Add the liquid and continue cooking for 1 minute or until it’s bubbly.
7. Then add the bean sprouts, reduce the heat, cover the pan and cook for 2 more minutes
8. Don’t get your face over the pan when you take off the lid.  Steam will rise up and could burn you.
9. If you want, serve over rice.  Makes four servings.

Yes! I boiled them!

Thanks to my new cookbook Make the Bread, Buy the Butter by Jennifer Reese I made bagels.  When I told people I was going to/had made bagels every single person asked me, “Are you going to/Did you boil them?” And yes I did.  Here’s proof.
 
I have to say that making the bagels was incredibly fun.  It was a bit labor intensive, but well worth the time.
 
I love my new cookbook!

Bigger bread

I found a pretty good “no knead” bread recipe, but it gave me two “bricks” or small flat loaves. Not exactly what I’m looking for for sandwiches and the like. Then I remembered my mother mentioning that she never could figure out how my grandmother’s biscuits always came out so large until she realized her mother doubled the recipe and cut out the number for one recipe. I combined my two loaves into one and got a big loaf. See it there, on the left, as compared to its earlier friends on the right.

It was a little too big, as evidenced by this ooze. I’ll make 2/3 of the recipe next time and see if that makes a difference.

Holy Peanuts Batman!

I paid six dollars and something cents for this jar of peanut butter only a week ago. Today:

I’ve been sticking my head in the sand about the rising food costs, but this has shaken me out of it. I’m going to keep a closer eye on what I eat and how much it costs. Peanut butter is somewhat like water in our house in that both Matt and I dip into on a regular basis. Between us we easily finish a jar a week. But no longer for me. My average 2-oz serving of peanut butter now costs $0.44 which (in my mind) is the price of a candy bar. Of course, candy bars cost even more now.