October 5, 2014 by Andrea

Cake

A cool front came through south Florida and it was downright chilly this morning. I even waited to walk Jessie until it “warmed up” here. Thankfully this bit of brisk weather is fleeting and I should be back to warm tomorrow.

But while it was chilly, I decided to bake. It is a coworker’s birthday tomorrow so a great excuse for a cake. Originally I was going to do a basic chocolate cake with buttercream icing, but I decided I didn’t want chocolate, I am terrible at making buttercream and I wanted something just a bit lighter and more fall like.

I found a recipe for an applesauce cake. This intrigued me. I love the taste of apples, I’ve used applesauce in cakes before (to good effect) and I can pretend it is a healthier version of cake than regular chocolate cake. It also gives me a reason to test run the cake before deciding if I want to use it in a Thanksgiving dinner menu. All very good reasons to bake the cake. And, yes, the birthday tomorrow.

So how did it go? Well, it turns out I didn’t have as much brown sugar as I thought. Confectioners sugar? Sure. Regular granulated sugars? Plenty. Brown sugar? About a quarter cup. Also, apparently my back up bag of flour is whole wheat flour, not all purpose flour. But I figured I would still go for it.

I omitted the black pepper in this recipe. I just wasn’t feeling that adventurous. I also substituted Sugar in the Raw for brown sugar and used plain white sugar with a touch of vanilla in the glaze. But other than whole wheat flour, no pepper and the sugar changes, I actually followed a recipe. I even made Bob his in mini cake so he wouldn’t feel left out.

I really like how this turned out. It remind me a little bit of a spice cake, a little bit of an apple cake and it tastes like you want a fall dessert to taste. The icing was easier than most and really adds to the cake. It’s moist, flavorful and just a little sweet. Bob liked his mini cake and we shall see how it goes over with the coworkers tomorrow.

September 29, 2014 by Andrea

Butternut Squash “Lasagna”

I got in the mood to cook this weekend. I was going to make eggplant lasagna bundles, but then I realized our Hello Fresh box has eggplant in it this week. So I scoured some recipes and decided to try a Butternut Squash and Polenta lasagna.

Let me preface this with the weather. I’ve been in Florida for six years now and cannot remember a stretch with this much constant, pouring rain. A thirty minute afternoon shower? Sure. A whole day deluge followed by a week of the same? Not so much. I’m pretty sure if I waded into the grass I’d find mushrooms and poor puppy just isn’t getting the walks she needs.

This discussion of the weather does have an actual purpose beyond the explaining why I wanted to spend the day in the kitchen. As I gathered all the ingredients for my experiment I realized I needed rosemary and thyme. Rosemary and thyme are in my garden and I don’t have a stash of frozen or dried on hand. So what is a girl to do? Well … I sent Bob into the weather to acquire my herbs. Aka – I made him go venture forth into the pouring rain, wade through the puddles and bravely harvest some herbs. I figure, I do all the cooking, this was his contribution to the meal.

I started with making polenta. The recipe I used called for a different polenta than the Alton Brown miracle polenta I use all the time, but I decided to give it a try. I chopped my shallots, measured my water and milk, grated my cheese and went to work.

It was looking pretty good, but I probably should have cooked it a little longer. It didn’t set as I expected, but the flavors were still good.

As the polenta cooked I got the squash ready. Peeled, sliced, piled and seasoned into the oven they went.

Next up was the chard and cheese. I know chard goes from massive pile to almost nothing with cooking, but I always get a tad nervous when I start making it.

With a mound like that, do you blame me?
The chard, once cooked down into a handful, and cooled was combined with ricotta and fontina cheeses, an egg and some seasoning. I was ready to assemble.

Layer of polenta (should have been set, but I rushed this part) then the cheese and chard followed by butternut squash and then all repeated. It looked super pretty in the pan.

But a little less so once I cooked it and played it.

However, the taste was fantastic. It had some earthiness from the chard, a little sweetness from the squash and a creamy texture and herbal note from the polenta. I can’t wait to have this for lunch the rest of the week.

Future notes … I’m going to use the Alton Brown Polenta instead of the one in the recipe. It always works and it is just perfect. I may keep the herbs, but I’m going back to the basic recipe for this. Also, I’m probably using more ricotta or a smaller pan than they said. It was almost not enough for that layer. I’m keeping the chard and the roasted squash. I really loved this dish and with fall coming, I think it going to be perfect.

Also, I paired this with a cider – and not just any cider, a kiwi cider from New Zealand.

I wasn’t sure about this initially, but I love ciders, love kiwi and have a particular fondness for fruit ciders. This did not disappoint. In fact, I got a fruit taste, but not kiwi in particular but there was a great, clean cider taste that was perfect. It doesn’t beat the Stella on tap in England, but it does, at the very least, rival the bottled Stella Cidre I get here in the States.

September 23, 2014 by Andrea

Curry Attempt #?

What a week. I can’t say for certain that I’ve been really busy and I’m certainly not stressed out, but it has been a little while since I’ve posted. I have done some experimenting in the kitchen which is generally a good thing.

I love a good curry. That creamy, rich gravy/sauce that has layers and layers of flavors. I’ve tried making curry before and … well … The results were less than spectacular. Part of me wants to place a standing order with our local Indian restaurant to be delivered once a week, but another part really, really wants to conquer making curry.

In my quest to make good, homemade curry, I came across a blog that had what looked like a reasonable korma recipe. I’ve read and re-read this recipe for months (no exaggeration), copied down the shopping list and plotted and planned exactly how to do this. I want good, homemade curry, darn it.

I started on Saturday with making a curry base that just seemed ingenious. Curries all do have a similar starting point, so why not? The answer to that same as Bob and I chopped ten (yes, ten) onions Saturday afternoon. But we chopped the onions, I gathered all my spices, made my mixture and got to work. It takes time to cook down ten chopped onions.

And yes, I had to use two pots. I made the base, and I think it went ok. I definitely need a good blender. I just have a food processor (which I adore) but it doesn’t make things smooth and creamy. But I made do and after a few more steps and a lot of time, I had a curry base that seemed like I was on the right track.

Sunday came and it was time to try for a Korma. Vegetable Korma to be exact. I broke out the recipe, gathered my ingredients and went to work. It seemed easy enough and it looked like a korma.

It smelled like korma and it even kind of tasted like korma … But it was missing something. The texture was definitely off but I blame most of that on the missing blender. It was also just missing something else. The deep flavor, the rich, creamy almost heavy sauce. It wasn’t bad, it was far better than my prior attempts at curry, but it just wasn’t the korma of the local Indian restaurant.

Somehow I have to convince Bob that he wants Indian this weekend (or just meet up with one of the girls and go for it) or buy a fancy blender and thicker coconut milk. While experimenting and tweaking the recipe sounds like a ton of fun, I might just go for the real stuff. Thankfully, they deliver.

I can also place part of the blame on Gracie. She is super cute, but she does tend to get underfoot when I’m cooking.

September 14, 2014 by Andrea

Animal Kingdom

One of the nice things about Sarasota is that it’s a two hour drive from Orlando. I am a huge Disney fan so when we decide we want to go for a day, we can. This week we decided we wanted to go to Animal Kingdom so we got up Saturday morning, headed up and spent a really nice day out.

I am not a huge zoo fan and always feel bad about the animals in captivity. AK has some of the same issues, but from what I remember when researching, a good number of the animals in AK were injured and not able to survive in the wild. I’m sure it’s not all of them, but if the idea is to get people to see what diversity of life is out there and start taking steps to safeguard it, than I’ll be ok with the animals being there. Not being a wildlife expert, I can’t comment on living conditions or how much area each need, but from a lay person perspective, they always look well cared for and with enough room to roam.

So yes, I am aware of the controversy surrounding this park, but I still love going there. I stopped this time and focused on some of the smaller, less appreciated animals there. The bats, the birds I can’t identify (they are all fowl to me)

and the meerkats. I could watch the meerkats all day. They are adorably cute and remind me a lot of the kitties at home – especially when Gracie wants to come inside and the door is closed. She does the same stand on back legs and stretch that the meerkats do.

I also have a particular draw to the Affection Station (aka the petting zoo area) of the Conservation Station. Now, inside the conservation station are some less pet-able animals like the tree lizard

Yes, I know it has a different name, but I can’t remember it. This little guy reminded me of the lizards Gracie and Leia like to bring home … only way larger. But it is the petting friendly animals I really go to see.

The cow and pigs were cute, but there was a particular goat that I really liked. He was super affectionate and just wanted attention. I wanted to bring him home, but Bob wasn’t sure we could get him to the car.

After Animal Kingdom we checked another restaurant off our list. We had dinner at Jiko, the Cooking Place.

Jiko is inside Animal Kingdom Lodge and has African and Mediterranean inspired dishes. When we looked at the menu, we didn’t see a lot of that influence, but once you taste the food, it is all right there. We also tried a South African wine – a Pinotage. Having never heard if this varietal we asked the waiter for information and suggestions.

We ended up with a dry, fruity, medium to full bodied wine that was different than anything I’ve had before and paired incredibly well with dinner. We started with the Taste of Africa – a selection of breads and dips that ran from classic hummus to a spicy chili and tamarind dip.

For dinner itself Bob went classic with short ribs

and I went vegetarian with the Sambusas. These are similar to Indian Samosas, but the flavor profile is entirely different. Excellent, but different.

All in all, it was a fantastic day. We have another a Disney day planned next month – food and wine fest and all – and I’m sure we will get out there again. After all, it’s Disney.

September 9, 2014 by Andrea

Curried Corn Soup

I’ve been a little lax in posting recently and I’d like to blame it on being super busy at work, but I just can’t. I have regular hours (they rotate throughout the week, but they are regular) and I’m not doing a ton outside those hours. Oh, I do some work Sunday mornings before Bob gets up, but I don’t feel crazy busy or stressed like I use to. I’ve been pretty good about cooking, and Bob has even starting prepping the ingredients Thursday evenings so all I gave to do is cook. It’s nice.

But this weekend I did cook and I experimented. I saw a corn soup recipe that I thought looked interesting and would make great lunches this week. I started out following the recipe – remove the kernels from the cob, dice the pepper and roast everything.
After that I started having a few issues. I cut the cobs and covered them with water to simmer, but how much water? How do I know when enough flavor has been extracted? I kept checking the cob water, but it just never seemed really … corny? Anyway, I melted butter, added the garlic and onion and sweated those down while keeping an eye on the cobs. I added the corn and peppers, tossed everything with salt, pepper and paprika then added the water and milk.

It was missing something. I tried more paprika and a little more salt, but it wasn’t enough. I then added some curry powder and more salt. Almost. More paprika, more salt (probably a teaspoon or less total) and more curry powder. Just about perfect. The soup has a great flavor, but was a little thin. I think next time I’m going to simmer the cobs in milk instead of water and skip adding it at the end.

I think I’m trying a version of eggplant lasagna this next week. If all goes well (and probably even if it doesn’t) I’ll try to get that up too.

Hope everyone is well.

September 3, 2014 by Andrea

When It Rains, It Pours

Ever have one of those days? Of course you have, that’s why we all say it was ‘one of those days.’ It’s universal. Some day, sometime, everything seems to go wrong at once.

My “day” started off last night. Multiple times last night. What happened? Tigger happened.

So cute. So sweet. So innocent looking. … The loudest cat you’ve heard outside a wild animal. Tigger, for all he’s afraid of everything, will sing the sing if his people, at max volume, multiple times a night. This is also interspersed with Gracie playing with her catnip ball.

Super cute and super sweet kitten, but she is not exactly a delicate player.

So we had the multiple wake ups from the cats last night followed by my alarm going off at five am. No big deal except for the life of me I could not turn it off. I managed to turn on the nightlight feature I didn’t know it had, but it took me so long to turn it off, I thought for certain Bob would be awakened by this. After finally getting the alarm off, I managed to trip over Tigger on the way to the bathroom before turning on the coffee pot only to have it not work.

Not only did the coffee pot not work, it managed to break in the loudest possible way. Out coffee pot has a bean grinder option. We never use it because it sounds like a tanker truck rumbling through the kitchen, or a jackhammer digging up the tile. For this reason I grind my beans in a regular grinder and set the coffee the night before. This morning, however, I pushed “start” and rather start brewing, it goes to grind beans that are not there. Realize the settings are correct – set to pre ground and brew – and I’ve done this pretty much every weekday morning since we got the coffee pot a year or so ago. But this morning it just would not work. I tried a second time with the same results. I unplugged the coffee pot, reset everything, and tried again. Same result. After the fourth or fifth attempt I was afraid Bob (whom I was certain was now totally awake) I nixed the regular pot of coffee and decided to use the weekend one cup at a time coffee maker.

So after a night of no sleep, trouble with the alarm clock (at least it went off at the correct time), tripping over a cat, a loud and broken coffee pot, I was ready to head to work … And could not find Gracie. She decided to wander a bit this morning, like she does most mornings, but she hasn’t gotten use to my new work schedule so she was no where to be found when I had to leave. I left a note in the one place I knew Bob would find it – on the coffee pot – and asked him to look for her before he left. And oh yes, the coffee pot is broken.

Because I can’t do two days of no (or very limited coffee) in the morning, we decided to go out and get a new coffee pot this evening. Wouldn’t you know we got caught in a down pour, soaking both of us. I thought the pouring rain was pretty fitting for the day. But we have a new coffee pot!

Needless to say, Bob picked this one out, but I think it’s very pretty. It’s also very simple and has few parts so I’m hoping it lasts longer than the last one. As long as the cheap coffee pot that brewed pretty good coffee that Bob had for years would be fantastic.

Oh. And Gracie got a new box.

So while this was a comedy of errors kind of day, it was still a good day. The new job is fantastic. I commented to a Bob that I wasn’t exactly sure what to do with myself right now. I’m not stressed out, don’t have a knot in my stomach and actually like going into work each day. It’s weird, but in a very good way.

And on that little note, I’m going to end this day by getting my coffee set for the morning and try to sleep through Tigger’s singing tonight.

August 23, 2014 by Andrea

Sweet potato cakes with cucumber salad

It has been one heck of a week – in a good way. While I started the new job last week with orientation, this week has been prep week. Lots of meetings, lots of new faces and lots of planning. I’ve discovered one or two things along the way: 1) When I’m not the one in charge I can actually let go, not worry and just do my thing. 2) I can plan and plan but in the back of my mind I know half my plans will be thrown out the window as soon as the kids arrive. I’m ok with that. 3) I missed working as part of a team and letting other people help me. It’s weird to be the new kid and accepting help rather than constantly giving help, but it’s really nice too.

Needless to say all of this has decreased my stress level significantly – and that is a very good thing.

I didn’t have the mental capacity to do a ton of experimental cooking this week, but I did make one dish that I was particularly proud of – Sweet Potato cakes with a Cucumber salad. These two recipes were again found in my Plenty cookbook which so far has a perfect record. Every dish I’ve made from it has been fantastic.

This was pretty simple – cut up cooked sweet potatoes into small cubed. Add soy sauce, chopped green onions, flour, chopped red chili a tiny bit of sugar and some salt. The dressing is Greek yogurt, lemon, oil, cilantro and sour cream.

The salad was cucumbers and red onion with ginger, garlic and a rice vinegar dressing. Simple, clean and a nice pairing with the cakes. Best part about this dinner was the leftovers for lunch the next day.

I was going to make dinner last night but after standing for three and a half hours at work (plus everything else I did) my feet were killing me. So Bob and I decided to head to our favorite cheese shop for a cheese plate dinner. Louise makes up a great cheese plate (she gave Bob a little blue cheese, but put a little something extra on there for me since I don’t do blue cheese) that was simply amazing. We had an ash ripened goat cheese that was one of the best I’ve ever had, an amazing sheep’s cheesed a Camembert like cheese that blew everything else on the plate – as good as it was – totally away. There were also two hard cheeses, one cheddar like cheese and a Toma we’ve had before, that were great, but after the soft cheeses …. well, they were not the stars. The soft cheeses were so good we picked up a bit of each for this week and I’m making beer bread today to go with them.

Is that not just a beautiful cheese plate?

The kids start school Monday so I’m hoping to get one or two new dishes in before my brain shuts down. If not I always have cute cat pictures to post, I suppose.

August 17, 2014 by Andrea

Lemon Eggplant Risotto

It was a busy week. I finished up with one job and started the new job with no down time. There were days I was going into the new job while answering texts and emails from the old job. Needless to say my cooking creativity took a back seat to relatively easy.

That isn’t to say I didn’t cook. I experimented with two recipes from the Plenty cookbook and both were pretty good. The Brussels Sprouts and tofu was a little bitter for me, but it had some nice flavors and texture.

But the star dish of the week was the Lemon Eggplant Risotto. I really wanted to do a risotto since we had the Parmesan from our cheese box. The original recipe called for two eggplants, but I only had one on hand so I went with that.

1 eggplant (recipe calls for two and I think that would work better)
Olive oil
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
7 oz risotto rice
1/2 cup white wine (warmed)
3.5 cup vegetable stock
1 lemon (zest all and squeeze the juice from 1/2)
1 tablespoon butter
1 oz or so grated Parmesan
Basil leaves
Salt and pepper to taste

Chop the eggplant into 1/2 inch cubes. Heat oil in a pan and cook the eggplant about ten minutes, stirring frequently. Add more oil as needed (I start out with a little and add more as I go rather than start out with a lot and have to drain it). Set aside, sprinkle with a little salt.

Chop the onion. Add a little oil to a pan and cook the onion until soft and translucent – about 5-7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook another minute or two. Turn up the heat, add the rice and cook a few minutes, stirring frequently. Add the warm wine and cook until nearly evaporated/absorbed. Turn the heat down to medium. Add the broth/stock a 1/2 cup at a time, stirring frequently until it is all absorbed. Wait to add each 1/2 cup until the previous cup is incorporated.

Remove from heat and add most of the the lemon zest, lemon juice, eggplant, butter, cheese and a touch of salt. Let sit, covered, for five minutes. To serve, add a little lemon zest and shredded or chopped basil leaves.

This one was a pretty perfect risotto. The lemon and eggplant gave it a fresh, hearty quality and we could really taste the cheese. This is definitely going in the make again pile. It wasn’t as pretty as the Brussels sprouts and tofu, but it was fantastic.

August 10, 2014 by Andrea

August Cheese Box

When we realized that our cheese club was about to run out, Bob and I decided to do another year of it. We love our wine and cheese dinners each month and really, we like supporting our local cheese shop. This month was the first in the new subscription and we had a lovely Italian theme.

First up, and the clear winner this month was Brunet, an Italian goat cheese. I love goat cheeses, but I’m a little wary of really soft runny cheeses. This one was both super soft and a flavorful, but not pungent, goat. So how good was it? We almost ate the wheel. This cheese was salty and had a definite goat milk flavor, but it wasn’t strong or in your face. It paired well with the beer bread I made and my favorite blackberry jam.

Next up was the Parmigiano Reggiano. This was the real stuff, the stuff I don’t usually get because a nice Pecorino works just as well in most cooked dishes (at way less money). But to eat, or to use on a fresh salad … well, the real stuff is amazing.

You can tell real Parmigiano by the rind. The needle marks and stamp imprinted into the rind to indicate the producer of each wheel. I can’t wait to make risotto this week, and maybe a nice salad to go with this cheese.

We’ve had the Toma before, but this Italian style cheese from a California dairy is about as perfect as you get. It is a solid cheese (not soft and runny) but it has the smoothest, creamiest texture that melts in your mouth. This is one I grab for lunch when I know it’s going to be busy.

While we were at the cheese shop we picked up a strong cheese for Bob. As he described it as having “some hair on it.” The Tunworth is what might be referred to as a stinky cheese. It has a strong taste that I like, but can only eat a little of. Bob, on the other hand, can eat a bunch of it.

To our little plate we added some of the Midnight Moon that I love and another soft goat called Kunik. We picked these up a few weeks ago and decided to use them up. Combine some really good cheese with a glass of wine and some homemade bread and we have one of my favorite dinners.

August 9, 2014 by Andrea

New Adventures

Sometimes I feel like it is time for a change. The last few years at work I’ve vacillated between loving my job – the kids, some of the people I work with – and hating it – some of the people I work with, the testing, the ever changing paperwork, the ever added work load. When I have the “I hate my job” days I look around at what else is out there. Sometimes it reminds me that I overall like what I do, but sometimes it reminds me that I can do something else.

Over the summer I decided to put a concerted effort into seeing what else is out there. I looked at district jobs, private sector jobs (not in education) other charter school jobs and private school jobs. I’ve looked at university positions and government positions and found there are a number of things out there. Most, being a teacher, I don’t qualify for, but the options were intriguing. The more I looked, and the more I left work at work for the summer, the more I did not want to go back.

I got lucky this summer. I interviewed for a few jobs and found one that I thought would be really good for me. Then came the hard part – actually getting the job. After a few rounds of interviews, I was offered the job and decided to take it. Come Wednesday I will be back in the classroom full time, but this time in a private school.

Going to a private school was a little bit of a hard choice for me. I’ve always worked in public education in one form or another and still, despite everything, believe a strong, well funded public education system is the best chance at empowering the next generation and ensuring the continuation of a productive society. Going to a private school almost feels like betraying that belief but I know that right now, it is the right decision for me to make for me. I will still be working with kids and kids who need extra support academically. I’m still teaching, but I don’t have the extra responsibilities that were wearing me down or the testing requirements that eat up so much of the school year. I may actually be able to teach and that is worth taking the chance. I’m excited and I know it is the right move because once I turned in my resignation to my old job, I started breathing easier and sleeping through the night.

Since I also put this post under pets, I should give an update on the furry creatures. They are wonderful. The kitties went to the vet today and they are all in good shape. Tigger is weighing in at 15.5 pounds and Gracie and Leia are each 9.4 pounds. I thought Tigger would be a little bigger, but the vet said he is in great shape (and I didn’t get a lecture on his weight, so I think he is still good.) Miss Leia still surprises me by being the normal cat of the three (although she is the hardest to get in a carrier) and in great health. No sinus issues, no breathing problems and no surgery needed.

So things in our little corner of the world are going great. I’m excited about the new job (and without the need to move), the pets are healthy and happy and Bob and I can look forward to a (hopefully) quieter school year. We got our cheese box this week, so look for that post soon – it’s an Italian theme this month!

Sixteen Paws

The random adventures of Andi, Bob, and four furry creatures