As I write this, NORAD has spotted Santa over Australia. This is too exciting for words! They even have video of Santa over Auckland, New Zealand. To track Santa, check out the Norad Santa Tracker!
24
Dec
As I write this, NORAD has spotted Santa over Australia. This is too exciting for words! They even have video of Santa over Auckland, New Zealand. To track Santa, check out the Norad Santa Tracker!
11
Dec
I’ll try to get a post up by tomorrow. I got in last night, after a three hour mechanical delay. I should also mention that I had no culinary adventures in Las Vegas. I was in a seminar (or driving back and forth from it about 14 hours a day), and I was exhausted. I did visit a couple of buffets, the Bellagio and the Mandalay Bay, and they were . . . not good. Either my taste has improved, or the quality has deteriorated, or both. The baked goods were virtually inedible. I blame Tuesdays with Dorie and the Daring Bakers for that!
And you want to know what the final straw was? On Monday night, I had dinner at a Certain Establishment (not one of the aforementioned buffets), and I GOT FOOD POISONING! I missed the last day of my seminar, since I spent it in my room, running to the bathroom. Then I had to get on a plane yesterday morning, sat on the runway for 2.5 hours before they de-planed us and put us on another plane. I got home about three hours late, and I never want to leave again. But I’m getting on another plane in two days to visit my favorite auntie, but she is totally worth it!
So, if I haven’t been visiting your blogs much, please know that I haven’t forgotten you. At least at my auntie’s I’ll have some computer time to catch up with what all of you have been doing!
28
Oct
This week, Clara of I Heart Food4Thought chose Chocolate-Chocolate Cupcakes on pages 215-217. I have to take a pass, but want to thank all of you who stop by on a regular basis and leave lovely comments and suggestions. Please be sure to stop by the TWD blog, click on the links, and visit the bloggers who bake up a storm every week. Clara thought it might be a good idea to decorate the cupcakes for Halloween, so even though I couldn’t participate this week (another busy week), I’m going to have fun seeing what y’all have been up to!
22
Aug
What you don’t know CAN hurt you:
Federal inspectors at U.S. border crossings repeatedly turned back filthy, disease-ridden shipments of peppers from Mexico in the months before a salmonella outbreak that sickened 1,400 people was finally traced to Mexican chilies.
Yet no larger action was taken. Food and Drug Administration officials insisted as recently as last week that they were surprised by the outbreak because Mexican peppers had not been spotted as a problem before.
But an Associated Press analysis of FDA records found that peppers and chilies were consistently the top Mexican crop rejected by border inspectors for the last year.
31
Jul
Back in the day, I would only buy shellfish in months that ended with the letter “r.” I have family in Alaska that harvests wild shellfish, and they stick to that rule. “Shellfish can be problematic in the summer for several reasons. The first has to do with red tides, vast blooms of algae that collect along coastlines, usually in warm weather. They can spread toxins that are soaked up by oysters, clams and mussels.” (Source.) I can’t stand oysers, so I don’t eat them, but if you do, you can find more info here, and there is some medical info here.
With the increased availability of commercially farmed mussels, however, safety concerns aren’t as great. I still try to stick to the old rule, but every once in a while I’ll get a fresh bag and cook them up this way. It’s fast, easy, and healthy.
Recently, I also found some steamed snow crab legs on sale at Whole Foods. I’d never had them before, but my sister-in-law highly recommended them, so I bought a couple to try. Because they were cooked, I placed them on top of the pile of mussels in the pan, just to heat the crab. It worked perfectly. With a tossed salad, and a little French baguette, this is a perfect light summer meal. Just be careful where you buy your seafood.
11
May
I’m traveling, so I won’t be posting again until Wednesday. Please come back then and see what I’ve been up to! I love visitors!
13
Mar
Erin of Dinner and Dessert has passed along the “E is for Excellent” award to me! Thank you so much, Erin! I started reading her blog, and discovered many others, through the Daring Bakers and Tuesdays with Dorie.
When I started blogging, my primary purpose was to keep track of my cooking experiments, and to motivate myself to actually use my voluminous cookbook collection. Much to my surprise, it worked, and I’ve enjoyed blogging about food, and reading all of your blogs almost every day. When I don’t get a chance to go on line and see what everyone is up to, I feel like something is missing.
I’m passing this award on to Cookbook Catchall, Kathy at a Passion for Food, Joy the Baker, and Breadchick Mary at the Sour Dough, great blogs, all!
21
Feb
Two wonderful videos that will make your day! The first, a dolphin and dog playing – watch the dog’s tail wagging!:
The second: two little otters hold hands, but be sure to watch what happens at around 0:56. Via Tammy Bruce.
3
Jan
I found this tip on A Merrier World, via Rose Levy Berenbaum’s blog. This may be helpful to those of you living outside of the United States, where you may not have access to bleached flour. Thanks to Kate from A Merrier World for her discovery:
For those of you around the world who do not have access to the wonderful bleached flour available in the US (such as Gold Medal) necessary for the best texture and flavor in butter layer cakes, Kate has been doing some astonishing work using the microwave to ‘heat treat’ the flour, enabling it to gelatinize in much the same way that bleaching accomplishes. (Source).
30
Dec
When you chop nuts or chocolate, do you find that the pieces jump off your cutting board? You can always place the items to be chopped in a plastic bag or kitchen towel, and then whack it with a rolling pin. But what if you don’t want to do that?
A few years ago, I read a tip that I’ve used successfully ever since: use two chef’s knives simultaneously to chop. It really works! And if you’re wondering what’s all over my knives, I’ll have you know it’s chocolate and butter. Yum.
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