cooking in bad weather

hrm julia child can suck it.

2010-01-08T17:22:00.000-08:00

ok maybe not suck it but geez at least she could be easier. good lord. anyways this is the pregasme post. i am make beof bourginion or something and rum babas. the babas require yeast and i dont do yeast. although if this works ill try again. i the stew is coming along but god how many steps
i like to throw thing in let them simmer for a good long time and then voila good food.

so i will eat, and modify as i please. stay tuned

sponge cake square pants.

2010-01-06T20:11:00.000-08:00

i made a sponge cake. although it didnt seem very spongy. it was light but i guess i thought it would be spongy. it was delicious. thankyou to julia child. i made her recipe with the egg yolks and the egg white mixed seperately and her pinch of salt ( which is not a measurement) i think my pinch wqas perfect though. and my sponge cake light enough. i used a heavy marcopone whipped cream topping and just some berries. seemed appropriate. i shouldve added alchohol.
amazingly enough i am adept enough there was no disaster.
i am however going to be making a wedding cake for kiel and becky's repeat nuptuals. 2 3 tiered cakes and a large on in the middle. all the layers different buttercream fillings, all the cakes either chocolate or vanilla. there will be polka dots and ribbon and flowers if i learn fondant fast enough than i will work on sugar flowers but until then......
thanks karrin for my cake decorating box/teach yourself to do it.
if i am good enough i will start charging. yessirreee bob.
that might take awhile in the meantime everyone enjoy the free samples

nw years resolution.

2009-12-29T06:48:00.000-08:00

so normally i dont do new years resolutions because i always fail. so this year i will make one but instead of giving something up or losing weight (i plan on that as well but not so intently) I am going to cook new things.
yes yes i was inspired by meryl streep (not amy adams----sorry not vivacious enough i have seen you in movies where you shine and your amazing. you should always shine) in julie and julia. how cliche. however i am not going to go through the entire mastering the art of french cooking because then i would have to make aspic. blech. so i will pick some harder recipes, i will debone something, i will make fish and hollandaise sauce etc. i will start a dinner party on a monthly basis. but what i am most interested in right now is cake decorating. i have become something of a baker and now i want to learn how to decorate with fondant. so that is what i will do. i am going to learn fondant. my first prject in for 3 birthdays this january. all different cakes, all fondant and rice crispy treats and cake and butter cream and crub fromsting, and shapes. i am gonna make a cat cake, a wow cake and an anime cake. watch the excitment as i plan and execute my mad genius.

wild things

2009-09-25T11:18:00.000-07:00

So I make this Curry, which i am sure is an afront to india and thailand with their real wonderful tasty delicious curry. My is a recipe my mom gave me and i think either my grandmother or her got it from a newspaper article on easy other country dishes. which may just be how to make this stuff they resembles curry. It is mighty tasty though. so i made curry last night. and Beastie has some new eating rules. we accomodate them sort of. i will seperate the chicken from the rice and sauce. i will put rice on the side with sauce . veggies seperate. and while my daughter won't eat pasta she will eat a good curry. first the recipe then the results.

1 onion
4-5 celery stalks, from the middle preferably.
1 family size can of cream of mushroom soup
a can and a half of water (the can that previously had the soup in it)
curry to taste
1-2 pounds chicken breast
1 tub of sour cream
peas if you want
broccoli if you want
rice.

saute the onion and the celery, once onion is translucent add chicken ( i hope it goes without saying this is all chopped and cut in bite size pieces, except now i said it. hrm)
once chicken is brown then add curry. there are a lot of different curries, i like to combine them and the more you add the spicer it may get depending on the curry.
cook for a couple minutes until chicken is covered in curry. and it smells so good
add soup and water.
bring to a boil.
if you would like the peas or the broccoli in your curry now is the time to add them.
simmer about 10 minutes, add sour cream, start rice and when rice is done eat and enjoy.
now as with any dish you can simmer for as long as you want to get the nummy flavors all good together. just eat when you are ready

so dinner was served, and beastie spent some time making a ruckus and being quiet then making a ruckus then being quiet again. once we were done with dinner we went to get her and we found this (she eats in the other room because otherwise she spends dinner throwing a tantrum):

there was rice everywhere. imagine the bath. ugh, all you friends with children look forward to the mess, because it is hilarious, a beautiful disaster. and also a pain in the ass.
xo

cooking with family

2009-09-15T09:10:00.000-07:00

So i cook at my mother's house a lot with my sister (they are my in laws but they are exactly like direct family so i am not going to add in law to their proper nouns(?)) My mothers house is like a dream kitchen come true seriously its the best place to cook ever. 2 ovens, a lovely gas stove. a granite counter and it turns into a bar area where you can have conversation with the people you are feeding while you cook. it is amazing. it is the closest thing to home to me. i feel the safest and calmest when i am in their kitchen. and let me tell you right now that feeling is hard to come by. so last night my sister and i cooked INA GARTEN's Chicken stew with biscuits. INA likes us to make everything from scratch. the chicken stock, the roasted chicken and the biscuits. but to you INA i say i don't have the time, nor do i have your kitchen and i don't live the Hampton's. i will only makes everything from scratch if i can live in the Hampton's.
anyways., so here is the modified for easier less time consuming stew with biscuits. or fancy chicken pot pie.

1 pre baked rotisserie chicken which can be bought at any grocery store with a deli.
1 onion
1 bag of frozen stew vegetables. ( i just discovered these but they have potatoes, pearl onions, celery and carrots.) * the actual recipe only calls for the pearl onions and carrots but i like starch so the addition of potatoes and celery i don't mind one bit*
1 cup of frozen peas
1/4 cup heavy cream ( please don't substitute this, this is part of what makes the stew thick and delicious *i never said this was low fat)
1.5 sticks of butter
3/4 cups of flour
5 cups of chicken stock
2 cubes chicken bullion
salt and pepper to taste
2 cans (12) biscuits from the store.

so first take all the meat from the chicken and put that into a bowl. shred it, cut it whatever fits your personal aesthetic. set that bowl aside.

pre heat your oven to 375

in a small pan heat up the chicken stock and bullion together on med heat.

in a big pan it can be a frying pan with extra high sides or a small wide pot. whatever just know there tends to be a lot of the food/liquid so you need something big.
melt all the butter (again i know its a lot but it is for thickening.) then stir in the chopped up onion ( figured it went without saying that you would chop the onion but if it doesn't chop that shit up) stir it around a bit and cook until the onion is cooked clear. then add your flour and stir that in. what is gonna happen is the butter will mix with the flour and make a roux which is your main thickening agent. * now here is where i stray even farther off INA yellow brick road i add the salt and pepper here with the roux. she adds it at the end. I think when you do it with the roux it integrate the flavor better. plus that is what my grandma taught me and she is the best cook ever. so now you have a thick clump of onions and roux, add your broth and the cream. stir until the roux and melted into the liquid. then add your veggies (the bag of stew stuff and your peas) mix some more. then put all of that into a 9x13 pan and cook for 20 ( i like to make sure the frozen potatoes are actually cooked) after 20 mins. bring the stew out and cut up the potatoes a bit ( they are whole when they are frozen and impossible to cut until after they have had some time in the stew) then place 12 biscuits on top of the stew, pop it back in the oven and cook until the tops of the biscuits are browned and they look like biscuits.

to serve i prefer bowls but whatever, everyone gets a biscuit and some stew. yummy. enjoy.

this should help you weather any storm my dears.

of bad tuna and good risotto

2009-09-07T12:10:00.000-07:00

i admit that i would like to have on hand an easy recipe for tuna noodle casserole. something i could just whip up one night when i am too busy/tired for anything. so i have thought of trying various recipes. my first try was a suggestion by my mom in law who suggested making macoroni and cheese and adding tuna. sounds easy enough. blech blech blech blech. the beastie threw it on the floor. i didnt finish it and i am like a human garbage can. ick. so i think i am going to piece a recipe from my memories as a kid (my dad used to make killer tuna casserole) and try that. from there we go to the books. TO THE BOOKS

so beyond that last night iwas gonna try a second tuna casserole but decided i needed comfort food insterad and made a risotto.
a basic risotto recipe
chicken stock 4-6 cups depending
1/2 stick butter
onion or shallot
1 cup of white wine
arborio rice
parmesean cheese

saute your onion or shallot in the butter once clear then add 2 cups of the arborio, stir it and cook a little until it smells nutty, add wine and cook until wine has been absorbed. meanwhile make sure your chicken stock has been heated and is sitting in a pot on low heat. slowly add a ladle full of stock at a time ( turn the burner to low under the rice) stiring while the rice absorbs it. eventually you will use all or most of your stock and your rice will be fluffy like rice. stir in a tablesppon of butter and as much parmesean cheese as you want. and voila a basic risotto.

now once you have a basic recipe you can expand and add what ever you want. last night i made a variation of a lemon risotto by Giadia Di Laurentis. i added the juice of 4 lemons to my broth and also threw in the juice of 3 more lemons in the rice at the same time as the wine. at the end i stirred in marscopone cheese, some chicken, peas and parmesean. so really anything can be added to make the risotto a meal instead of a side. oh i also always add basil. its soo nummy.

thats all. just good old fashioned comfort food. i needed it so i did it.
the beastie threw it all on the floor. i sent her to bed without dinner.

i did not cook eggs today

2009-08-30T19:01:00.001-07:00

i did not cook today at all in fact. my cat bite is infected and i had to revisit the emergency room. i did not feel like cooking but instead we played out side. see

today

2009-08-25T15:22:00.000-07:00

Not such a bad weather kind of day. Papa beast took care of beastie (that's her new name) cuz we are celebrating my birthday today since papa has to leave tomorrow. so we took beastie on her very first boat ride. we took her to kingston on the ferry and she was enthralled it was amazing and i was retarded and forgot the camera. duh. but seriously the look on her face. oh boy she loved the wind and the water and even the scary seagull papa fed. she loved it all. we had lunch in kingston and then caught a ferry home. it was amazing. my little family together doing what families do on their time off. tnight he is taking me to dinner and a movie. I hurt today though i tried to stay as lucid as possible so that means way less pain killers and now i am going to bed. but i wanted to share my recipe for pap's birthday stroganoff. i make it eveyr year for him because its his favorite.

*1 large onion chopped however you want. into tiny bity perfect pieces, coarse chopped, large chops whatever they become almost non existent.
*1-2 pounds of beef, sometimes i use stew meat, this time i just cut up a flank steak ( i used kitchen shears it was way easier)
*flour with a little bit of salt, pepper and rosemary to taste ( mis all this in a bowl together)
*3 cubes beef boullion
*red wine you will only need enough to cover the beef after browning it.
*2-3 cups water
*medium sized container of sour cream
*egg noodles

8 cut up your onion, and your meat. saute the onion and dredge or cover/mix the meat in the bowl with the floour mix. once onion are clear add your meat and brown. the flour will act as your thickening agent eventually. (throw out whatever remains of the flour mixture). once the meat is browned add your wine and beef boullion. when things get thick and gooey then add your water. let this simmer for a while. 1/2 hour or so. then add your sour cream again bring to a boil then let simmer. it should simmer at least 1/2 hour but the longer it cooks the more tender your meat, also the flavor grows. when your ready to eat cook your noodles up and serve. et voila beef stroganoff

i am not sure how true my recipe is to the actual region this dish comes from but man is it good. My mother in law also has a recipe from her grandma for beef stroganoff that is to die for. i will only share it if she ok's it.
also it is ok to make things to your taste. you don't always have to follow a recipe exactly it should be to your discretion. i mean follow as closely as possible but if you think that 3 tablespoons of salt is a lot then decrease it. you don't have to use a whole stick of butter either, just enough to cover the pan and wet the ingredients. do what feels right when you cook. especially when you cook for the ones you love.

helpful hints

2009-08-24T18:15:00.000-07:00

so i would read from the bottom to the top. i always forget how blogger works. but you know the first entry is on the bottom and every additional one is added on top. soooo

also the marzipan was delightful. everyone loved it and the balance was nice. not too rich of a cake/frosting.

also my eggs will be an egg baked in a nest of orzo with cheese on top. see you sunday.

Marzipan

2009-08-23T12:27:00.000-07:00

So my first foray into god knows what, was Marzipan duh duh duh. For those of you who do not know what marzipan is, it is basically very very sugary almond fondant. I mean fondant has a taste but gods does marzipan. It is sooo sweet and nummy, however, it is soo sweet and most people don't actually enjoy it. Unfortunately it is the only and i really mean ONLY dessert my husband will eat, he won't even eat Martha Stewart cream cheesy chocolate brownies which are to die for and I made a batch every weekend for like 2 months straight. That is besides the point, so every year for his birthday his parents go to Larsen's bakery in Ballard and get a Marzipan cake for him and his twin brother. ONCE a year, but this year he was on the boat for his birthday, also this is the first year Delicious knows what a birthday is so I decided; against my better judgement; to make marzipan from scratch. With help from the kiddo.
I got my recipe from Emeril Lagase and the food network web site. The basic gist is (not the actual recipe if you want that go to www.foodnetwork.com)
*8oz almond paste ( it comes in cans or a roll tube thing at the grocery store.)

*About 2 Cups of powdered sugar. (why can't they just say powdered sugar anyways why always confectioners)

*Roughly 3 Tablespoons of Light Karo syrup. The light refers to the color you don't want dark because it will make your marzipan dark and marzipan is something you want light so you can change colors by adding food coloring.

*So you want to beat up the almond paste first. To break it apart because it literally comes out of the packaging in one big brick. So break that shit up.
Then add just a little of your powdered sugar to start the incorporation process, beat that for a little while until crumbs start to form.
Now here comes the use your own judgement time ( a time i did not take advantage of by the way)
you can A) add ALL of the remaining sugar and try to incorporate it all at once or
B) you can slowly add the sugar and incorporate a little at a time.
In hindsight i would have gone with B. the recipe told me i could just add it all but it didn't incorporate well enough. so i would try B unless you are a brave soul who likes the mess.

Once all the sugar is incorporated, you add the Karo syrup and again beat to incorporate. You should end up with crumb like stuff. This is good. if it is gooey you have too much Karo so add more sugar. Do this maybe while you have it in a bowl ( again in hindsight this would have been great) once you have your crumb like stuff put it on a clean non stick counter. I actually used a silpat sheet because nothing sticks to that mother.

Knead the dough; and it is a dough. Make it a smooth ball like thing. You can continue to add sugar and syrup as needed to keep the dough like consistency. Not to sticky, not to break apart-y.
Once kneaded go ahead and wrap tightly in Saran wrap or in a zip lock bag (that's what i did) and refrigerate until needed. The next day you can roll it out and then like fondant place it over your masterpiece of a box cake and voila marzipan. You can break off chunks and knead in color if you want to make pretty things like flowers or even things shaped vaguely like dinosaurs but everyone is too polite to ask what in gods name is that creation.
I also recommend you temper it with a smooth and not too sweet cake. Don't go with chocolate and sugar frosting/ filling. Go with a yellow or white cake, and a custard like filling ( I always use Dream whip frosting.) you can use fruit preserves as well. I have rules about fruit in my dessert but raspberry would be really good. Or just raspberries them selves in the middle and as decoration on top. why not.
so beyond the recipe:
I decided after a day of very painful back problems; ( blew my back out 3 weeks ago and am still in the throws of agony it's like back labor all over again except without the epidural) and 1 SOMA, ;that Delicious (it's starting sound porny now I need a new name for her; gimme ideas) would help me make this marzipan. It started well I followed the recipe and when I got to the add in the remainder of the sugar little sugary almond paste balls went everywhere. My daughter ate every single one of them. I added my syrup, there was no crumb like effect so just spoonula-d it out ( by the way Thanks Rachel ray for the word spoonula "its like a spatula and a spoon" how yum-o is that. ugh) so I have this now sticky whitish substance stuck on my hand ( not that we haven't had that happen to us at soe point in our lives) the spoonula, the bowl and the non stick silpat. I add another bit of sugar; still too sticky then I add more sugar still to sticky. meanwhile my daughter is still finishing the hunt for minor specks of this stuff everywhere. And roaring like a dinosaur. I almost started saying the our father in case she had become possessed. Suffice to say the marzipan did not become the consistency I desired but I refrigerated it anyways. Washed everything, came downstairs and updated my face book because why not, took a shower and hoped for the best. Meanwhile my daughter went from balls of marzipan to growling as she ate cat food. She also took a shower then shockingly enough the sugar high wore off and nighty night she went. God if this is what she is like on marzipan remind me to tell her NOT to call when she is high on acid or speed or coke. I don't need a growling, cat food eating teenager on my hands. This is the part where mothers usually say if you need me even if your high call me and no matter the time I will be there. Not me man if this is what you are like high I don't want to be there, I don't want you in my car and I certainly don't want you in my house. sleep on your side and call me when it wears off so I can give you the day after lecture.
I went to bed and this morning I have a lovely batch of marzipan waiting to be roled out and layed over my husbands birthday cake

An aside:
I watched the Hannah Montana movie last night with 1 soma, and 2 percosets. I was soo stoned it made me cry. ( the baby was in bed and it was like 10:30) there will be no mocking.

NEXT WEEK:
Eggs. something other than scrambled or poached. we shall see. I can only scramble and slightly burn my eggs and it takes 3 tries to make a good poached egg. so let us venture into the olrd of eggs. also hadboiled won't count. any ideas?

also here is the final product picture. the cake is surrounded by my fridge. i found that unlike fondant i could not just magically lay the marzipan nicely over the cake so I put it on in pieces and tried in vain to keep it smooth. (thank god i made a double batch.) i am not sure how to be a pro at this but practice might help.
here you go actually it is at the top not the bottom like i wanted but oh well. you see the finale before the story.

About me

2009-08-23T12:10:00.000-07:00

My name is Kai and I live in Washington state. I have a 2 year old beastie who will be called Delicious from here on out since she is sooo delicious. i am married to another delicious beast but he will be called Papa beast because he is delicious for reasons i don't have to explain to the masses. ( this sounded so much wittier in my head) . So Papa beast works on a tugboat andIi see him for just a little over 2 weeks in an 8 week period; depending on how much we need the money and what kind of trips he goes on; sometimes it is longer because of the whole money thing when he is not working he is not making money. so I wrangle 2 year Delicious with my "village" (friends and family) but I do a lot of the work alone. I am sure there is a lot of money to be spent on my particular neurosis but I am the best mother i can be.

I have chosen to write yet another cooking blog, hopefully from a different angle. My bad weather does not pertain to Washington state (although it is a factor, god have you lived up here) but it pertains more to general life bad weather. I doubt I will have a huge character arch or anything. its just blabbing because that is what blogging is. I will cook something every week whether it be new or old and I will blog about it because amongst my many bad parenting choices I have decided to let the Delicious help. No knives for her so don't call cps just yet.
Have you ever read Like Water for Chocolate ( hey I cant underline properly) anyways the eldest daughter basically loves the kitchen, she is not supposed to but she could taste before she could talk etc. Her cook/nanny taught her everything and throughout the book she pours her passion and sadness and love into everything she cooks. She loves cooking she lives to cook or cooks to live. And while I would rather my child not have the expectation that she will need to go to le cordon bleu or anything I would love for her to love cooking that way; to feel the passion. the intensity. so I do this for my Delicious child. and me.
sooo if you have any particular recipes you want me to try let me know i will find them and try them.
I will also blog about cooks, and books about cooking and shows etc. Enjoy the show.