i made a bread animal

Hi everyone,

on Ob Gyn now, long hiatus from blogging. abandoned the BHAG cookbook because im tired, but I did make banana bread from it this weekend -- didn't take pics.

The first pic is of a mickey mouse resembling pita that I made but I couldn't recall mickey's actual face... so I just made that smile out of raisins, a marshmallow, and some honey

Then I also made a pig out of bread. Then I carved it and ate it like one would carve a real pig. That first piece that was carved out is the foreshank. mmm.

carrot dog

I made a carrot cake for my roommate's birthday and we left it on the dining room table overnight before serving it. This is what it looked like after we came home from work and the dog had apparently gotten on the table.


The dog had eaten the majority of it.
This is what it looked like from the side.


It was once pretty good looking. That's also the last we ever saw of that plate, because the dog later destroyed it by shattering it on the floor violently.

Now the dog resides in a crate while we are at work. I am pleased with this new development.

Today I learned how to use GIMP

GIMP is an open source software that is similar to Adobe Photoshop, except it's free and for people who love the internet. Today I learned how to edit photos in GIMP. I taught myself on Jennifer's Save The Date for her wedding magnet instead of learning neonatology from Drs. Bradley S. Marino and Katie S. Fine.

Notice that this photograph is full of distracting glare, even to the point where some of Jennifer's hair has disappeared.



Now notice that Jennifer's hair has been replaced, along with some of the curtains and part of the wall!

Hooray!

Rice Pudding

I made this up but it is pretty delicious. The only thing that could make it more delicious would have been golden raisins, which are nature's most delicious dried fruit.

This was my recipe:

1 c leftover rice from some gross restaurant where the rice was hard
1 c milk
1/4 c sugar
pinch salt
pinch cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Put above ingredients in smallest pot possible and bring to a boil. Remove from stove and stick the whole pot in the oven with the lid on for 30 mins.
2. Take it out of the oven. It is hot so don't put your hand on the pot handle. I did this but it did not make the rice pudding taste better.
3. Lightly beat 1 egg. Add some of the hot rice mixture to the egg so that your egg is a little warmer. I don't know why this step is crucial, it's just the way things seem to be done. Then put egg in the pot and stir it in.
4. Turn heat on high and stir until the egg is cooked (60-120 seconds)
5. Voila! Serve hot or put in two glass cups and refrigerate for easy breakfast later.

sour cream cheesecake

i made it. it was delicious. it looks like a cake, but it's a cheesecake. graham cracker crust, cheese cake center, sour cream top, and a chocolate chip.

egg salad

I recently remembered how much I love egg salad.

This is not my egg salad, it's some picture I stole from the internet. Nevertheless, I made egg salad yesterday, with celery salt, parsley, and dill weed. No pickles because I didn't have any, and because I don't think pickles and eggs really go well together. Lots of tips on the internet about mashing the eggs with a potato masher or a pastry cutter, but I just used a steak knife to stir in the mayo and the eggs incidentally got cut up pretty well. I didn't use the BHAG recipe because I looked at it and there was something I didn't like about it but I forgot what it was.

I did use the BHAG recipe for hard boiled eggs.

i like this too

this makes me go, "hahahahahahahahhahahahahahaha"

!!!!!!!!!!

SUMMER VACATION YAY

it was a hot June day and my ass was sticking to the seat

My boyfriend was here this weekend and we made caramels. I do like caramels. They are a combination of all the things I love, like half and half, butter, and brown sugar. This was maybe my second or third foray into candymaking so you can see these caramels are SUPER RUNNY. They are at the "soft ball" stage of caramelization, while we were attempting to achieve the "firm ball stage". I was just terrified of overcooking and getting to "hard ball", resulting in a Werthers Originals type candy, or god forbid, "hard crack" stage where the caramels would have formed a hard crust on everything they touched.

And now for something that I like that is not food:
Bomb the Music Industry! is a band from Nassau County, NY and they provide delicious and free music on the internet. The one show we almost went to was like 7 bucks, because they only charge the cost of the venue. They are the new Fugazi of the internet, and stylish to boot. Check out this picture of themselves that they posted on purevolume.com.
They have catchy songs with even catchier titles, and all their songs remind me of good times with good friends singing in the car with the windows rolled down. Who am I kidding, I only have like three friends, total, they don't live here, and I don't like to drive with the windows down, and I don't like to turn the tunes up either. But if I liked any of those things, I would be doing them to this song, available for free download on the BtMI! website.

THIS BLOG IS ON A TEMPORARY HIATUS AND WILL RESUME FOLLOWING SURGERY (THE ROTATION).

1. poached eggs - This was ok... I prefer boiled or fried i guess. The white had a weird texture, foamy-like.

2. hash brown potatoes - My hash browns don't stick together. What is happening?!

3. milk shakes - yum.

4. beef barley soup - pretty good.

5. focaccia- I'm not sure what focaccia is supposed to be like in real life, but I was under the impression that it was like a salty dinner roll, but flatter and wider, but definitely not a crusty bread.

6. mocha smoothies - This had a frozen banana. It was chocolate tasting.

7. easy risotto - I like the way the peas pop in your mouth.

8. broccoli and rice bake - Dece.

9. hot chocolate mix - I should never buy hot chocolate again cause this would be supa-cheap.

10. chocolate graham cookies - These cookies tasted really healthy, aka if someone gave them to me, I would probably choke them down out of politeness.

11. caramel sauce - I think they must not use real butter in store-bought caramel sauce, because this hardened upon touching the ice cream, but I think store-bought caramel sauce is flowy no matter what.

I also made, not from my cookbook, a mushroom potato soup, and a baked vegetables in olive oil w/ rosemary and thyme because I had to use up what was left of all the halves vegetables that I had used in my other recipes.

Week 5

The final panel shows how the weather was this weekend. Luckily the dog house has a lip on the roof.

1. Chocolate Crinkles - too sweet, not chocolatey at all. more decorative than tasty.

2. Baked Eggs - this was ok but the dishes were hard to wash. It was a mediocre egg dish.

3. Buttermilk Pancakes - normal pancakes

4. Buttered Spaghetti Squash - yum! but spaghetti squash is SO EXPENSIVE ($11 for 1 squash)

5. Spaghetti with Sauce - pretty average

6. Meatballs - too bready

7. Stuffed Mushrooms - These were ok, they look pretty fancy too.

8. Parmesan Potato Wedges - dry

9. Black Bean and Brown Rice Stew - didn't like the bean skins. were difficult to chew, and probably by nature of the black bean, nothing that cooking for longer could ever fix.

10. Baked Apples - these were ok. not a huge fan.

11. Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake - chocolate/sugar filling was good. cake part was gross.

12. Hummus and Cucumber Bruschetta - i liked this.

week 4

1. peanut butter blossoms - i don't like peanut butter cookies, but these were actually okay. sweet and light.

2. chocolate cake - a definite cakey texture as opposed to fudgy which is found in some chocolate cakes. topped with the creme fraiche frosting and strawberries in a shortcake like fashion. this was for my dad's 60th bday! it was great. this cake froze really well and was delicious frozen because the creme fraiche was like a sweet cream ice cream flavor. yum!

3. easy creme fraiche frosting - a little too sweet but good on this not-too-sweet cake.

4. macaroni salad - my mother liked this. i thought it was okay.

5. easy oatmeal batter bread - very soft, moist, difficult to remove from baking pan.

6. tomato saute - mozzarella cubes were replaced with paneer cubes. might have been better with mozzarella because paneer is a very stiff cheese. i liked it, but a little thyme-ey.

7. pizza dough - i hear that pizza is better with shredded mozzarella as opposed to cheddar. dough was good, but rolled out too thin, i like thick pan doughs.

8. ratatouille - i don't like bell peppers

9. mashed potatoes - i like mashed potatoes.

*insert* - fried noodles for sunday lunch made by my grandma. i made a smiley face with 2 quail eggs and an asparagus!

10. beef broth - tasted more like vegetable broth. could use more salt.

11. pan gravy for roasted meat - was very light due to beef broth's lack of saltiness. was ok for mashed potatoes.

12. carrot cake - carroty as expected. topped with cream cheese frosting, yum.

13. baked pastry tart shell - pretty good

14. key lime tart - too eggy, even though i love eggs. well i don't know. i've never had a key lime pie before so i don't know if it was abnormal, i always imagined key lime pie to have a jello-like texture.

15. pesto - sort of garlic heavy. would omit garlic the next time i make it because i don't like raw garlic.

More parties!

1. Chili - very liquid, more like soup. tastes vaguely Tex-Mex.

2. Marinated Cucumbers - I didn't really like these. The celery seed wasn't what I was expecting. I also broke two bowls, one of which I loved, making this. Now I am inclined to hate this dish.

3. Creamy Cucumbers - Yogurt and dill and cucumbers remind me of tzatziki. I also used a plastic container which is unbreakable.

4. French Bread Baguettes - chewy, holds moisture well. The holes were fine, I like a looser dough. Made good peanut butter toast, and I also used it for an apple-pork-onion burger bun.

5. Bruschetta - I don't like raw onions.

6. Buttermilk Coffee Cake - tastes like a spice cake. very nutmeggy.

7. Baked Potatoes - used to make the twice baked potatoes

8. Twice Baked Potatoes - yum, but would be better with bacon.

9. Caramelized onions - put into the mushroom stroganoff

10. Homemade Pasta - good flavor, easy to make but stiff dough was difficult to knead by hand. Need larger biceps.

11. Mushroom Stroganoff - sort of plain. i like its beef counterpart better.

12. Italian Cream Cake - received many compliments, a smashing hit. very light/fluffy - I haven't ever had to separate whites/yolks for a non-angelfood / sponge cake before.

13. Cream Cheese Frosting - YUM.

The last two photos feature my dog eating a baby pig leg, and my saturday lunch.

a celebration week

Only the cakes warranted pictures this week. They look pretty good! To zoom in, click on the collage and it'll open a big one in a new tab or something like that.

1. Triple Layer Lemon Cake - pretty good, light and tender. was assembled with lemon curd between the layers, and then frosted with #3. was much celebrated!

2. Lemon Curd - tastes like a liquidy version of the tops of lemon bars. i wish i had made more of this. it may have been the best part of the cake

3. Creamy White Frosting with Lemon - this tastes more like butter than lemon... so i liked it.

4. French Omlet - maybe the fluffiest omlet i've ever eaten. i had a cheese omlet

5. Pan-fried Fish - wasted oil, i don't like that. was very tasty.

6. One Pot Spaghetti - delicious + easy clean up

7. Rice Pilaf - you brown the rice with oil before you cook it which makes it taste different, it's cool, i'd eat this again

8. Yellow cake - cupcakes - fun to make, very basic cake that is a little chewy... but not all the right tools were used. I wonder how it would have been in a fully equipped kitchen.

9. Butter frosting - not very sweet, we made the chocolate variety on the cupcakes

10. Hot Milk Sponge Cake - pac man cake above - was originally a circular cake, but used the leftover lemon icing after my family had already eaten a couple slices. Very basic. I prefer the original sponge cake recipe - it doesn't require baking powder (NaHCO3), which is better for people on low sodium diets, but if your kidneys are young stallions like mine (AKA you are not a granny), this one might be easier to make, and tastes just about the same.

11. Oven fried fish from last week - used salmon, this was ok, very healthful, would eat again, but wasn't as crispy and rich as the pan fried version. no oil was used, this is a fast and healthy way to prepare fish in <10 milk=""> flour => bread crumb mix => milk=> bread crumb mix).

9/10 is not that bad.

2 things:
1. i left my camera at school so i couldn't take pictures
2. flu like symptoms hit me like a truck on saturday night at 3:00 am - they woke me up from sleep and i weh weh'ed all day on Sun and Mon and I didn't move from the couch.

so i made 9 things this weekend from my better home and gardens cookbook.

1. Lady and Sons chicken pot pie - Submitted by Paula Deen - holy crap i finally know why she is so fat. this was the richest pot pie i have even ever attempted to eat in my whole life, except i had no mood to eat, i felt like I was going to barf it up.

2. onion rings - these were pretty delicious going down but were disgusting coming up. I don't think I'm going to eat onion rings for the next several years.

3. Wild rice and barley pilaf - very light, fiberful, healthy but good. I would put this in my staple grains section.

4. Hot Orange and Mocha drink - I don't like coffee but my mom said this was good.

5. Lemon Bread - My mom gave rave reviews. I personally thought it was a little dry.

6. Deviled Eggs - I love mayonnaise. That is all.

7. Chocolate chip cookies - These were some of the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever made. Chewy and delicious.

8. Crispy oven fried fish - did not complete this task because I was dying.

9. Creamed spinach - This was ok but tasted very spinachy...

10. French toast - I don't know what I thought would happen, but I've never liked french toast anyway. It tasted like all other french toasts.

wow, there is actually something exciting to talk about today.

People often buy cookbooks that sit on the shelf collecting dust. Example:

I bought this book today. It was 16something dollars at Half Price Books and I felt a little guilty, because my mother actually has an old edition of the same book. And actually, I don't even like following recipes all that much... typically I wing it, with semi-disastrous results. But, I decided, I am going to make every single recipe in this cookbook, cover to cover. That's right, every single recipe. And they might not all be delicious, and I might even dislike many of them, but I will make them and then I will eat them all.

*EDIT -- 10 mins later*
OMG. I have thought about this more extensively. 1400 "mouthwatering recipes"... how many years of a new recipe a day is that? Wow, like 3 years and 10 months. I don't know. I don't even eat very much. I think I am in over my head. This is a 10 year commitment!!! Hopefully I will be able to knock out several each weekend, or like 5 at a time by hosting lavish dinner parties. Also, lucky that my dad is able to afford all this food.

sandwiches and chocolate cake

My bf was here last weekend, that was great. I made these sweet rolls with honey on top that I have been using for sandwiches. Unfortunately my sandwich-protector tupperware is too squat and they get squished every time. Next weekend I'm going to make them again, except I'm going to make them flatter and larger, cause I've been having to make myself two sandwiches. I am still growing, you know.

I was telling Sam in school yesterday why I decided to make snow pea-turkey-mayonnaise sandwiches. It is because snow peas add texture, like lettuce would, except I don't have to buy the whole lettuce and watch 98% of it go bad. Also, I love mayonnaise like fat boys love cake. I also love cake.

goddamn, i love candy.

i ought to eat nothing but candy for 10 years, maybe i'll hate candy then... or maybe i'll just be diabetic.

Some of my other interests include home hemodialysis (i have to start advocating for medicare to cover it, because i'm also interested in becoming diabetic) and wearing onsies that include hoods and socks, which are nature's most perfect article of clothing... but you couldn't exercise in them, it'd be miserable. exercising isn't that great anyway.