Foodie Films: Chocolat & Fondues!

This month's Foodie Films luncheon paid tribute to chocolate, as it is a popular month to give and enjoy chocolate treats. What better movie to celebrate chocolate with than Chocolat?!

Nominated for 5 Academy Awards(R) including Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress, CHOCOLAT is the beautiful and captivating comedy. Nobody could have imagined the impact that the striking Vianne would make when she arrived in a tranquil, old-fashioned French town. In her very unusual chocolate shop, Vianne begins to create mouth-watering confections that almost magically inspire the straitlaced villagers to abandon themselves to temptation and happiness! But it is not until another stranger, the handsome Roux, arrives in town that Vianne is finally able to recognize her own desires!

For our Foodie Films event, we enjoyed a sweet and savory fondue luncheon. It was an amazing spread that we all contributed to! Here's our fondue luncheon menu (with clickable recipes) which we enjoyed before watching the movie...

Fondues:
Garlic Parmesan Cheese Fondue
White Cheddar & Pepper Jack Cheese Fondue
Ghiradelli Chocolate Fondue
Buttery Caramel Fondue
Savory Dippers:
Bread Cubes
Turkey Bratwurst
Grilled Turkey Cutlets

Vegetable Platter:
Cubed Zucchini
Red & Yell Bell Pepper Slices
Steamed Asparagus
White Button Mushrooms
Baby Carrots
Broccoli Florets

Annie's Breakfast Casserole
Sweet Dippers:
Johns Angel Food Cake
Nicole's Pound Cake

Fresh Fruit Platter:
Strawberries
Grapes
Canteloupe Slices
Honeydew Slices
Granny Smith Apple Slices
Banana Slices

Anna's Chocolate Cake Balls

Preparing a day before:

• For my fondue luncheon, I opted for a simple yet colorful runner and silver chargers for my dinner plates to rest on.
  
  
• I normally don't use any centerpieces because the focus on my tables are usually the food and wines. But if you wanted to have a centerpiece, I would suggest something simple and low so that you and your guests are able to see each other across the table. Nothing is more annoying at a table than a centerpiece you have to dodge around to see and speak comfortably with guests!
  
  
• To save time, I set the table the night before with all the serving ware & utensils, dinnerware, appropriate flatware, glassware, chargers and linens.
  
  
• Since this luncheon is a potluck, I have various serving ware (bowls & platters) and serving utensils ready for friends to transfer their potluck dishes into. This allows a more streamlined presentation at the table and ensures all dishes can be passed easily. When having a family style meal, it's important to note that your serving pieces should not be too heavy and are easy to pass. Avoid large, heavy serving pieces or ones that are an awkward shape for your guests to handle at the table.
  
  
• For every 3 people attending, I have a water carafe and a bottle of wine set on the table which prevents having folks to get up for drinks.
  
  

Preparing the day of:

• In the living room, I positioned our seating to accomodate the number of guests around our tv. The movie is ready in the DVD player and is set so I all I have to do is press play.
  
  
• When I fondue, I use small crockpots rather than an actual fondue set. I prefer these because I can use them for other things aside from fondue (I'm not big on unitaskers!). These small crockpots come in handy and I find them much easier and safer to use than traditional fondue pots. I set 4 mini crockpots on my buffet and kept the fondues warm there until guests arrive.
  
  
  

Preparing 1 hour before guests arrive:

• Regardless of whenever my event is scheduled, I finish preparing the dishes I'm serving about 1 hour before my guests arrive. I don't like fussing over things I need to do when guests are over so I make sure I set my deadline to 1 hour before they come... that way when they are here, I can give them 100% of my attention.
  
  
• When folks are bringing dishes to a potluck, it can be a little challenging as the hostess, especially if I'm not ready for them. One big distraction is a cluttered and messy kitchen. An hour before guests arrive, aside from having my prepared dishes ready, I also clean my kitchen and workspace:
  -- No dirty dishes, pots, and pans are allowed in my sink when they arrive - friends can wash up and do some last minute prep without having obstacles in the way in the sink. I also make sure soap and paper towels are refilled if needed.
  -- My stove, oven and microwave are clear of any pots, pans, bakingware and are wiped down clean - friends can use my stove and ovens to warm up or finish cooking their dishes.
  -- The garbage has been taken out and a fresh empty garbage can is nearby - so folks can discard foil, plastic wrap, packaging, etc without asking where the garbage can is and from having the garbage can getting too full.
  -- Counterspace is all wiped down and is ready for friends to use.
  
  

Preparing 15 minutes before guests arrive:

• About 15 minutes before my guests arrived, I filled my water carafes with ice and water, opened up my wine so they could breathe a bit and lit my tealights to set the mood. Soft jazz is playing, however if you wanted more of an Italian mood, play some Italian music!
  
  
• I also check the bathroom to ensure there is enough toilet paper available, the hand soap is refilled and clean hand towels are ready.
  
  
• Lastly, I do one more walk through of the places where my guests will be going through to check for cleanliness - living room, second bedroom, bathroom, dining room & table and kitchen.
  
  

Event start time/as guests arrive:

• As guests arrive and settle in, I have them place their coats/jackets/belongings.
  
  
• I also have drinks and appetizers ready for folks to nosh on while we await for all my guests to arrive.
  
  
• I then welcome them into the kitchen to plate the dish they've brought to the potluck. If they need to do any last minute prep, my kitchen is available for their disposal. If they need to transfer their dish to something smaller or more appropriate, my serving ware and serving dishes are ready for their use.
  
  
• If folks need to use the oven, I remove any dishes being warmed, plate and set on the table.
  
  
• Once their dishes are plated, I take them to get photographed (for blog and our group website purposes) before we place them on the table.
  
  
• For my parties, I generally allow a 30 minute cushion to allow for traffic, parking, and public transportation timing. I tend to start our meal 30 minutes after the set time I indicate in my invitations. This is communicated to my guests and I also welcome them to arrive early if needed.
  
  
  

About 30 minutes after our event time/as guests arrive:

• We all gather at the table and do a round of introductions along with a little explanation or information of what we brought to share at the table.
  
  
• Then we dig in! It's such a great time to be able to enjoy various dishes and learn about the recipes and each other.
  

After lunch:

• We moved into the living room and settle in with our food coma to watch the movie. Unfortunately we had some major technical difficulties and were unable to watch the movie... however my friends are great for their flexibility and we ended up playing the board game, Eat It! instead.
  
  
• We was definitely a fun time enjoying a fabulous meal and a great afternoon with friends!
  

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Είμαι από την Αίγινα

Ορος, παραλία, φάρος Μπουρα, Σουβάλα, Ασώματοι, Κυψέλη, Αιγινίτισσα, Μαραθώνας, Πλακάκια, Φάρος (α ρε Κώστα) Περιβόλα ,Κοντός, Αλωνες, Βαγία, Αγιοι, Αφαία, Πόρτες, Σφεντούρι, Κλειδί, Μονή ,Αγκίστρι, Κοντός Πέρδικα,Παλιαχώρα, Παναγιά Χρυσολεόντισσα και ο καλός μας Αγιος Ανθρωπος ο Νεκτάριος.

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Autism Reporting: Mainstream Media's Incompetent Handling of Autism Issues

One point that has become crystal clear in the recent discussion of the vaccine-autism war. The mainstream media, as a general rule, is not competent in its coverage of autism issues. The New York Times and the Globe & Mail (self promoted as "Canada's National Newspaper") have been brutally one-sided in their misrepresentation of vaccine-autism issues. They have largely abandoned their journalists' hats to promote the views of public health authorities and the vaccine industry.

CNN's Campbell Brown has also weighed in with a largely ignorant, mostly bull and lots of bias, attack on those who express concerns about vaccine safety and autism disorders. Contrary to Brown's ill informed opinion there is evidence in support of a vaccine autism link. Science has not "decided" the issue. The question, according to at least 3 very senior and credible health authorities, doctors Healy, Gerberding and Alexander, is still very much open and should be studied further. On other autism issues Canada's CBC, the New Yorker, and many other major media outlets have pandered to the Neurodiversity movement's misrepresentation of autism and persons with autism.

There have been exceptions. The Vancouver Sun did an excellent series, Faces of Autism, on the diversity of autism spectrum disorders and was not afraid to show and describe the realities of life for a severely autistic girl and her vamily. Faces of Autism, with its balanced, honest portrayl of autism was everything in terms of responsible journalism that the CBC's Positively Autistic series was not. Likewise CBS (and US News and World Report) have done some excellent work on the vaccine-autism war presenting the very learned, well informed views of Dr. Healy that the existing studies are not specific enough to address population subsets that might be more vulnerable to autism exposure.

The reality today is that those actively informed about autism issues and seeking more perspective on autism issues are more likely to find them on the blogosphere. The Huffington Post has featured the autism vaccine issues on its Autism News page. It has provided an outlook for both sides of the debate, with David Kirby and Robert F. Kennedy featured on the same page as vaccine patent holder and industry spokesperson Dr Paul Offit. The Age of Autism is not as balanced as the Huffington Post but is an excellent site for information from the perspective of those who believe that vaccines cause or contribute to autism disorders.

Informed, balanced blogs are now being written by academics and professionals interested in autism issues. One of my favorites is Autism Research Blog: Translating Autism authored by Nestor L. Lopez-Duran Ph.D. a clinical child psychologist and neuroscience researcher working at a large Midwest university-based child psychiatric institute. The Lovaas Institute and the Center for Autism and Related Disorders also have blogs.

There are many fine parent blogs of which this blog is the best (just kidding). Many are listed on the side bar of this blog. There are also blogs by autistic persons, including Jonathan Mitchell's autism's gadfly and a blog by autistic artist Stephanie Lynn Keil.

The Neurodiversity movement with its anti-treatment, anti-cure, social construct model of autism has many blogs including the neurodiversity page at change.org authored by Dora Raymaker and Kristina Chew and Kevin Leitch's LB/RB. The latter site can offer provocative discussion on important issues at times but often degenerates into smears, name calling and insults of those who do not share a neurodiversity perspective. About.com Autism by Lisa Jo Rudy is a corporate blog written by a parent who shares a neurodiversity perspective but tries honestly to present all sides of autism issues objectively and with impeccable courtesy.

The mainstream corporate media really showed its colors with its grossly unbalanced reporting of the Autism Omnibus hearings jumping up and down in the air and declaring that science has spoken and that vaccines do not cause autism. The same media ignored the 2007 decision in Bank v HHS for which compensation was announced recently for a decision in which the Special Master accepted a claim that vaccines led to ADEM in a child which resulted in PDD-NOS, an autism spectrum disorder. The same corporate media, in announcing that vaccines did not cause autism also ignored the Poling case in which government acknowledged that vaccines caused "autism like" symptoms (autism currently is diagnosed by symptoms there being no accepted biological test). As stated above, the mainstream media largely ignored the views of former NIH head Dr. Bernadine Healy, recent CDC head Dr. Julie Gerberding and Dr. Duane Alexander an NIH agency head that more research on vaccine autism issues could and should be done preferring instead to regurgitate pejorative descriptions of parents who describe their own first hand observations of their children's regression after vaccine treatment.

Autism reports in the mainstream media should be taken with a huge grain of salt not because of the existence of a conspiracy, although conspiracies a la Madoff and Enron do exist, but because of the widespread ignorance of many in the media and their increasingly ill informed, imbalanced, and unobjective journalism.

autism

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Daring Bakers Challenge...Chocolate Valentino

This months Daring Baker Challenge was truly one of my favorites! I absolutely loved it and I knew that I would the minute I saw it!!! The cake was perfect and the prospect of making ice cream was wonderful (more on that later). To make this event even more wonderful was the fact that I had my good friend Jenn The Leftover Queen here during the month of February!

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.
We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

Thanks Dharm and Wendy for a great choice!

I do have a confession though...somehow I never got around to making the ice cream! I did make a fresh berry sauce that went with it wonderfully but the ice cream never happened (no one here likes vanilla ice and I don't have a machine) and I didn't get pictures of the berries. Does it count then that I really did the challenge? I think so!

We made this for a really fun dinner we had with Jenn and her hubby Roberto and 3 other friends of mine that we invited. This was a wonderful ending to a great meal. Unfortunatley by the time dessert was served I got no pictures of the slices!

This cake was so rich, gooey, creamy and full of chocolate flavor. I can't wait for my next excuse to make this...

Chocolate Valentino
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.
2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.
3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).
5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.
6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.
7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. {link of folding demonstration}
8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C
9. Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C.
Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.
10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.

Silly Jenn taking a picture of me taking a picture of her!

Dharm's Ice Cream Recipe
Classic Vanilla Ice Cream
Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Recipe comes from the Ice Cream Book by Joanna Farrow and Sara Lewis (tested modifications and notes in parentheses by Dharm)

Ingredients
1 Vanilla Pod (or substitute with vanilla extract)
300ml / ½ pint / 1 ¼ cups Semi Skimmed Milk – in the U.S. this is 2% fat (or use fresh full fat milk that is pasteurised and homogenised {as opposed to canned or powdered}). Dharm used whole milk.
4 large egg yolks
75g / 3oz / 6 tbsp caster sugar {superfine sugar can be achieved in a food processor or use regular granulated sugar}
5ml / 1 tsp corn flour {cornstarch}
300ml / ½ pint / 1 ¼ cups Double Cream (48% butter fat) {in the U.S. heavy cream is 37% fat)
{you can easily increase your cream's fat content by heating 1/4 cup of heavy cream with 3 Tbs of butter until melted - cool to room temperature and add to the heavy cream as soon as whisk marks appear in the cream, in a slow steady stream, with the mixer on low speed. Raise speed and continue whipping the cream) or use heavy cream the difference will be in the creaminess of the ice cream.

1. Using a small knife slit the vanilla pod lengthways. Pour the milk into a heavy based saucepan, add the vanilla pod and bring to the boil. Remove from heat and leave for 15 minutes to allow the flavours to infuse
Lift the vanilla pod up. Holding it over the pan, scrape the black seeds out of the pod with a small knife so that they fall back into the milk. SET the vanilla pod aside and bring the milk back to the boil.
2. Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and corn-flour in a bowl until the mixture is thick and foamy. 3. Gradually pour in the hot milk, whisking constantly. Return the mixture to the pan and cook over a gentle hear, stirring all the time
4. When the custard thickens and is smooth, pour it back into the bowl. Cool it then chill.
5. By Hand: Whip the cream until it has thickened but still falls from a spoon. Fold it into the custard and pour into a plastic tub or similar freeze-proof container. Freeze for 6 hours or until firm enough to scoop, beating it twice (during the freezing process – to get smoother ice cream or else the ice cream will be icy and coarse)
By Using and Ice Cream Maker: Stir the cream into the custard and churn the mixture until thick (follow instructions on your ice cream maker)

Wendy's Ice Cream Recipe
Vanilla Philadelphia Style Recipe
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
2 cups (473 ml) of half and half (1 cup of heavy cream and 1 cup of whole, full fat milk)
1 cup (237 ml) heavy cream
2/3 (128 grams) cup sugar
Dash of salt
1 (12 grams) tablespoon of vanilla

Mix all ingredients together (we do this in a plastic pitcher and mix with an emulsifier hand blender-whisking works too).
Refrigerate for 30 minutes or longer
Mix in your ice cream maker as directed.

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

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Guava Pound Cake

For a Cuban inspired dessert, I made a guava pound cake which I served with a homemade strawberry & banana vanilla soy ice cream. This pound cake recipe was recently featured in Ashlee's blog where she used the recipe for a cake. It's a recipe from Paula Deen and much to my surprise, it wasn't as heavy as I expected.

To adapt Paula Deen's pound cake recipe with a Cuban flair, I substituted 1 cup of sugar with 1 cup of guava syrup... and it came out beautifully and moist!

Guava Pound Cake
pound cake recipe adapted from Paula Deen

1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter
2 cups sugar
1 cup guava paste
1 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups all-purpose flour
6 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. Add the guava paste, sour cream and mix until incorporated. Sift the baking soda and flour together. Add to the creamed mixture alternating with eggs, beating each egg 1 at a time. Add the vanilla and pour the mixture into a greased and floured 10-inch tube pan. Bake for 1 hour 20 minutes.

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Johns Hopkins Reports ECT Helped Autistic Child Reduce Severe Self Injury

Deanna Chieco, in the Johns Hopkins Newsletter, reports on a case study in which ECT, electro convulsive therapy, was used to treat a young autistic child who was incurring 109 self injurious incidents per hour. With ECT the self injurious behavior was reduced from 109 to 19 incidents per hour, permitting the child to be able to attend educational programs, behavioral therapies and family activities and thus dramatically improving the child's quality of life.

This article and the study on which it reports should be must reads for parents of autistic children, neurodiversity ideologues, autism therapists and health care professionals and researchers. Reducing severe self injurious behavior should have no ideological component. Even Michelle Dawson, Ari Ne'eman and Estee Klar will have a difficult time arguing that dangerous, life restricting behaviors should not be reduced by treatment.

autism

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Shrimp & Mango Skewers

With a Cuban inspired dinner menu planned in February, I wanted to give a taste of the tropics despite the cold winter weather. I always thought food on a stick were fun so skewers were added to my menu. These shrimp and mango skewers are both sweet and savory as well as colorful! They're easy to make and lend a nice refreshing flavor.

Shrimp & Mango Skewers
original Joelen recipe

1 cup homemade salsa verde
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 lbs shrimp (jumbo size)
1-2 cups fresh mangoes, cubed
chopped cilantro for garnish
lime wedges for garnish

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees (or warm your grill to a medium heat).

Prepare your salsa verde (or use a bottled version) and add the minced garlic and oil. Stir to combine to create a basting sauce.

Skewer the shrimp and mangoes alternately onto your skewer (I used metal skewers).

Once they are all threaded onto the skewers, brush the salsa verde basting sauce over the prepared skewers and place on a baking sheet.

Bake in the preheated oven for 7-10 minutes until shrimp are pink and cooked through.

Serve on a platter with lime wedges and garnish with freshly chopped cilantro.

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Whole Baked Tilapia Cuban Style

For a Cuban inspired dinner, I prepared the following recipe. It was both easy and flavorful and definitely a hit among our guests! The recipe comes from Emeril Lagasse and I used whole tilapia fish. I will definitely make this again!

Whole Baked Tilapia Cuban Style
recipe adapted from Emeril Lagasse

2 (3-pound) whole fish, such as striped bass, tilapia, flounder, or sole, cleaned and scaled
2 limes, juiced
3/4 cup Spanish olive oil, divided
2 onions, peeled and thinly sliced, divided
1 large green bell pepper, cored, seeded, and thinly sliced, divided
1 lemon, sliced thin
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
1 cup tomato puree
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 cup dry white wine
Sliced green onions for garnish

Rinse the fish well under cold running water and pat dry on both sides as well as inside the cavity. Make several slits about 1/3-inch deep on both sides of the fish. Place the fish in a non-reactive shallow dish or platter and pour the lime juice over the fish. Set aside while you continue with the preparations.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Rub the bottom of a shallow glass or ceramic dish large enough to hold the fish with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Saute 1/2 of the onion slices and 1/2 of the pepper slices in 2 tablespoons olive oil and then place along the bottom of the baking dish. Lay the lemon slices over the vegetables, but reserve a few slices to stuff inside the fish. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons more of the remaining Spanish olive oil and season with salt, black pepper, to taste, and crushed red pepper flakes. Place the fish on top of the sliced vegetables.

Using a mortar and pestle, combine the garlic, kosher salt and oregano and mash to form a paste. Spread the garlic paste inside the cavity of the fish and into the slits on top. Place the remaining lemon slice inside the cavity of the fish. In the same small bowl that you used to make the garlic paste, combine the tomato puree and vinegar and stir to combine. Pour this tomato mixture all over the fish. Top with the remaining onion and pepper slices and drizzle the remaining olive oil and the wine over the top. Season again with salt and black pepper, cover the dish loosely with aluminum foil, and bake until the fish flakes easily when pierced with a fork, 45 to 50 minutes. Garnish with the green onions and serve hot or warm, with the pan juices drizzled over all.

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President Obama Requests Autism Research Dollars, Let's Hope Some Is for Environmental Autism Research

President Barack Obama has requested $211 million as part of the Department of Health and Human Services budget for autism research and services. Let's hope a substantial portion of the research is directed towards environmental research, including possible vaccine causes, and for treatments. The "it's gotta be genetic model" of autism research funding identified by Teresa Binstock in 1999 has ignored the environmental component of autism causation referenced on several occasions by Simon Baron Cohen. The notion that this complex condition is entirely genetic was never evidence based.

Hopefully President Obama will not let the IACC continue its shenanigans. Hopefully he will ensure that funding is set aside out for vaccine autism research as recommended by Dr. duane Alexander, Dr Bernadine Healy and Dr Julie Gerberding amongst others AND FOR ALL OTHER appropriate environmental autism research.

autism

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Winner of Foodie Freebie Friday: Cook's Illustrated!

Are you ready for the weekend?! It boggles my mind that we're just finishing the month of February and it's soon to be March! For this week's Foodie Freebie Friday, I was curious to see what cooking and baking resources (books, magazines, websites, etc) use to inspire and guide them in the kitchen. It was a great response of so many places to find recipes, tips and hints! I think it just goes to show how much of an impact cooking and baking has since we all have to eat.

It was especially interesting to see how many enjoy using online sources such as food blogs reflected in personal Google Reader listings and specific recipe websites including AllRecipes.com, FoodNetwork.com, CookingLight.com, Recipezaar.com, etc. There were also many that referred to classic & popular cookbooks such as Joy of Cooking, Better Homes & Gardens, and Baking: From My Home to Yours.

I use a combination of resources using the internet and cookbooks I've collected over the years. With many dinner parties I host around a theme, Google and my Google Reader has been a great tool for inspiration. My cookbook collection is varied where half offer recipes for specific cuisines, types of foods and/or are chef specific. The other half of my collection are more culinary reference books and textbooks with some culinary reads mixed in (think Tender to the Bone, Garlic & Sapphires, Heat, Mangoes and Quince, etc.) Then there are my large wicker baskets of magazine subscriptions including Cook's Illustrated, Saveur, Gastronomica, Cooking Light, Food, Taste of Home, Clean Eating, and Diet & Nutrition. .. and a handful of other trade magazines and publications. Writing these all out, I'm wondering if I should scale back on the amount of culinary information I'm housing!

So for this week's Foodie Freebie Friday, a lucky reader will get a 1 year gift subscription to either the Cook's Illustrated Magazine or Website! It's a hard choice to decide between the two since they both are great resources for cooks and bakers alike!


Magazines: More than 1.3 million home cooks rely on Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country magazines to provide trusted recipes that work, honest ratings of equipment and supermarket ingredients, and kitchen tips.


Websites: Our websites allow members online access to 16 years worth of recipes, menus, up-to-date equipment and ingredient ratings, and video content, including episodes of America's Test Kitchen. Members can easily search for, and print, recipes and shopping lists, build menus, watch videos, plus more.

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

19

Timestamp: 2009-02-27 14:10:43 UTC

Comment #19 comes from Laure who said...

The Joy of Cooking is my cooking & baking bible. I am not sure how a household can survive without a copy of this book! My copy is very worn, very loved. I think it's great to know the basics so that you can feel comfortable with your skills, and build on them with your own unique creativity.

February 23, 2009 10:16 AM

Congratulations Laure! Will you choose the magazine or the website subscription? Please email me at itsjoelen@gmail.com so I can confirm which subscription you'd like!

Thanks again to all those that commented and stay tuned to the next Foodie Freebie announcement on Monday,March 2, 2009! Don't feel discouraged if you haven't won yet - I have a whole year's worth of freebies ahead and next week is one that you won't want to miss!

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WELSH CAKES

When we think of Wales and all things Welsh, what comes to mind?

The Queen’s Welsh corgis?


Leeks?


A funny language and a bonnie Prince with large ears?


And Rugby! (again)

Ooops! That’s Chabal of Les Bleus…my mistake!

Friday night France vs Wales. I know that I keep talking about the Rugby 6 Nations Tournament, but this may very well be an exciting match! And, of course, this calls for a special traditional Welsh treat.


These are not quite as light and airy as scones, but dense and spicy, redolent of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger with the fruity sweetness of raisins or currents in every bite. JP loved them hot off the griddle, smeared with butter and jam. I can see them, avec ou sans the currents, eaten with a sharp cheese. Perfect!

WELSH CAKES

8 oz (225 g) flour + flour for kneading
4 oz (125 g) butter
3 oz (75 g) sugar + sugar for dusting
2 oz (50 g) currents
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp ground ginger
1 large egg + milk to bind if needed

(This recipe can be doubled. As is, I made 11 cakes.)


Place the flour, sugar, currents, baking powder and the spices into a large bowl. Whisk or stir to combine.


Cut the butter into cubes and toss in the dry ingredients. Then rub the butter and flour together until the mixture resembles sand or cornmeal.


Beat the egg lightly in a small bowl, then stir quickly into the flour/butter mixture until it all pulls together into a ball of dough. If there are clumps of dry left that don’t cling to the dough, then add milk, a little at a time onto the dry and stir again, until you have moistened all of the ingredients.


Scrape the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead very quickly until you have a smooth, homogeneous dough.


Roll the dough out to a thickness of about ¼ - to a slight ½-inch (½ - a slight 1 cm). Cut out circles (I used a 2 inch / 5 cm cutter).


Heat a griddle or a heavy-bottom frying pan over medium heat – if you have the heat too high, the cakes will cook too quickly on the outside leaving you with an undercooked center.

Using a paper towel or a brush and soft butter or margarine, quickly and lightly butter the surface once the griddle or pan has heated up. Place several Welsh cakes on the hot surface and allow to cook for 2 minutes. You will see the bottom cook, and when you take a peak underneath, you will see them golden brown.


Flip the cakes and cook on the other side for another 2 minutes. They will be a deep golden color on both sides.


Remove the cooked Welsh cakes onto a plate, sprinkle with sugar and serve hot. With butter and jelly.



Now sit back, enjoy your Welsh cakes with a cuppa and watch France win! Allez les Bleus!

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Conor and Mom Check Out the 7:10 Sun

Conor and Mom check out the 7:10 Sun. Mom is the "less tall" of the two :-)

The light in the window in the bottom pic is not the sun, it is the flash from my camera.


autism

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