1.11.06

long-overdue update


much to report on since my internet went down at home. i’ve been having great fun with braises, obviously, and this week, my impending departure for paris and NJ (for campaigning) forced me to finally play with all of those “easy suppers” i’ve been pulling for the past few months, with varying degrees of success. friday night i made rosemary and orange chicken. it was good, but not particularly stellar. saturday i made a tortilla pie, which was excellent except that i got a little too spice-happy with the paprika and red chiles. too hot to eat! sunday i finally made the brie soup and a middle-eastern recipe from my spice book, prompted by the presence of lamb chops at the farmers market. i am sad to report that while the braising of the lamb went really well, i flaked out when reducing the sauce for the lamb and ended up with tar. so i had semi-dry lamb with brown rice pilaf--not exactly an appetizing meal. fortunately i’d had the brie soup. dessert was equally disappointing--tried to eat the rice pudding from last weekend, but didn’t like the taste NOR the taste of the chocolate pudding (also from last weekend). i consoled myself with a bailey’s-spiked hot chocolate.

in other news, doughnuts:


excellent, simple ricotta dough that made moist and chewy doughnuts. caveat: they must be eaten straightaway. they do NOT keep well. i was devastated on monday morning to find them almost inedible.

starting to plan the thanksgiving/leftovers menu. although i was nominally put in charge, i’ve had very little input so far. i think i’ve sold mom on the brie soup as an appetizer, and we’re getting a really nice selection of phyllo appetizers from williams-sonoma: apple chutney with brie and mushroom truffle risotto. i’ll have to try those sometime on my own, but they should be a good start. we’re also going to make some latkes and i am definitely in charge of dessert: chocolate creme brulee with some fresh fruit. i was originally thinking of a rustic tart, but ccame to my senses today when i realized exactly how much pie crust that would actually be. so then i started thinking chocolate. first thought was, obviously, a molten cake, but i think the brulee will be fun and tasty and also easy. i’m going to make some linzer hearts for dad and i also want to do the cute little brownie buttons from dorie greenspan’s book. (p.s.--finally caught up on all of that scanning! i think i’ve got, for now, all of my recipes actually in my recipe program!)

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