Beignets for Second Breakfast

This morning, I woke up, ate first breakfast, took my physics final, and went back to sleep. Then I woke up again with a brilliant idea for second breakfast: beignets!! (New Orleans style doughnuts). It's basically a choux paste that gets fried.

Whipping the chouxish dough to satiny ribbons!:

Frying in bacon grease:


A landscape of beignets sprinkled with cinnamon-butterscotch-sugar:

Bread!

With nearby Essential Bakery moving far, far away to South Seattle in search of cheaper rent, Alex mentioned that we should start making bread. My first reaction was excitement at the possibility of Alex learning to make bread, then I realized maybe I could make bread too. I haven't had much luck making bread in the past several years, but I did have 48 hours with nothing but studying to do and Baking With Julia. This is roughly the Country Loaf recipe, the big change is all the flour I used is equal parts white flour and whole wheat flour.

Yesterday I made the "sponge" (basically a starter) and let it sit on the counter covered with a cloth for about 8 hours:
Then I put it in the fridge to ferment over night and pulled it out in the morning to warm up before adding the rest of the ingredients and making the bread dough. Here it is, in a lightly oiled bowl, ready for it's first rise:


I let it sit for several hours while I ran some errands and it rose a lot!:


Next I shaped it and let it rise a second time for about an hour before putting it in the oven:


Finished Product:


Delicious!

Raw

I've been skeptical of raw food diets ever since I first heard about it. Plus the only so called "raw food" I have ever had has been really unimpressive. But this evening I attended a raw food dinner that absolutely blew my mind. It was truly phenomenal and ingenuous food. It was the type of food that's recognizable, though I really had no idea what I was eating because it was unlike anything I've ever had before and absolutely delicious. I found it interesting that after a while I could actually taste and recognize most of the ingredients in each dish, though they were still perfectly balanced - I wonder if this is what a super taster feels like! I talked to a few people who try to eat only raw foods and they said they recognize that it's not for everyone, we all have different body chemistry, and for them, raw food is it. For me, eating locally is a top priority and a lot of the staples of a raw food diet are not at all local, like bananas and almonds. Most of the people that were in charge of the dinner work for Thrive, and thus used some of their recipes. I definitely need to explore this more...

Happy Birthday to Me!

For my birthday this year I decided to attempt to perfect my favorite cake to make (and eat). It's not perfect, though it's better than the last time I made it for a friends birthday several years ago. I started it on Monday, with a basic chocolate sponge cake. On Tuesday I made my chocolate mousse according to a recipe I perfected while I was in culinary school. It's the best chocolate mousse recipe I've ever used! I used an IKEA mixing bowl lined with plastic wrap as a mold and poured the chocolate mousse into it, placed the sponge cake on top, and froze it solid over the next couple of days. On Saturday, I made the shiny chocolate glaze, quickly flipped and un-molded the frozen cake and poured the chocolate glaze over it. This is the trickiest part, the last time I made it my glaze was too hot and partially melted the mousse. This time (in reaction to last time) I made the glaze too cool so it set up before it finished oozing over the entire cake. Despite the minor aesthetic failure, it was definitely a winner. Especially since I only used Valrhona chocolate and the best eggs and cream that western Washington has to offer (this is the other reason I don't make this cake often, it's not cheap!).

Without further ado, here is the infamous Giant Chocolate Bombe:

A Life Changing Sandwich

Alex just whipped this up as a quick late night snacky-dinner sort of meal, I'm utterly amazed. It's absolutely incredible. It might even be the best sandwich I've ever had!

Bacon, apple slices, fresh ginger slices, winter salad mix, raw red onion slices, and mayonaise all between two toasted slices of Essential Bakery sourdough.

One happy girl and her sauerkraut!

I'm on a sauerkraut kick again. I couldn't wait to get home this evening so I could have my daily bowl of cabbage and microbes! Perhaps I'm just connecting with my German roots, but sauerkraut sure is tasty and makes me feel great! On a trip to Hofbrauhaus in Pittsburgh over the holidays my dinner came with the most amazing hot sauerkraut I think I've ever had. It was milder, sweeter perhaps, and served hot made it oh-so-comforting. A few days ago I stopped by the German delicatessen near my work and was blown away by their sauerkraut collection. They have sauerkraut made with red or green cabbage, sauerkraut juice, and a wide variety of brands of regional flavors of plain 'ole traditional sauerkraut. I noticed the Bavarian style is made with white wine in addition to the usual cast of characters and bought it. It's my favorite. The sweetness from the wine adds a wonderful level of complexity and distracts from the possible bacterial harshness. According to Wikipedia, sauerkraut has high levels of vitamin C, lactobaccili, and other vital nutrients. It's credited as being the antidote to almost any ailment, prevents cancer, and may even be an aphrodisiac! Woohoo! In conclusion, I would like to extend a special thanks to Klebsiella, Enterobacter, Leuconostoc, and Lactobacillus for making sauerkraut possible!

The Devine Gastronomique!

Two weeks ago my dad sent me an email asking me to make reservations at the fanciest restaurant in Seattle. Without a seconds delay I picked up the phone and called Rover's, crossing my fingers that they would have reservations open for less than a week away. To my luck, they did! It was one of those utterly divine, life-changing experiences that has left me to re-acclimate to normal food again. We all got different menus; my dad had the Julia Child tribute, Alex had the Menu Degustation, and I had the Grand Menu Degustation. The wait-staff provided an impeccable show of gastronomical intelligence with high class French composure. The delivery of each course came with grace and a hint of theatre. The presentation on each plate was exquisite, playful, and utterly perfect. Needless to say, the food was incredible. As part of an Amuse Bouche, we all got a small cup of soup so smooth it reminded me of why Thomas Keller says to strain soups 20 times, it's worth it. I had the most amazing oysters, and I don't consider myself a person that likes shell-fish. One was warm with a buttery sauce and one was cold with a fennel-vinegar gelee and caviar. They were crisp to the tooth and silky smooth on the tongue with absolutely no "fishy" or ocean flavor to them. Amazing. A first for me at this dinner was Escargot, out of the shell and dancing around my plate amid colorful sauces. Just like the oysters, I was pleasantly surprised by crisp texture and a wonderful delicate flavor. Then there was venison, so moist and tender I didn't need the provided steak-knife. A sorbet cleansed the palate mid-meal with little beet pearls, apparently made by bubbling beet juice into almost cooled agar. Dinner was concluded with a "Symphony of Desserts" followed by macaroons and passion fruit gelees. Absolutely phenomenal, I would definitely put it on par with Daniel in New York.