In an attempt to post shorter more frequent entries.....
I finally got to my holiday preparations and now have 4 different cookie doughs in the freezer. I had one log of Lemon Rosemary butter dough that I made up a couple of weeks ago already in there. It's a light lemony cookie with a twist from the Tish Boyle book, The Good Cookie (a book I highly recommend). Today I added three smallish logs of orange and chocolate checkerboard, a disk of dried cherry studded butter cookie and a disk of pecan sandies. So if I have a complete melt down or am completely overwhelmed with work I can still bake up cookies for Xmas gifts.
The checkerboard dough is two versions of a sable dough, one chocolate and one orange, which are rolled flat, then sandwiched and finally sliced and layered alternatively so that the cookies come out as little checkerboards of orange and chocolate dough. They are festive and decorative, as long as your checks are somewhat even. I love the combo of orange and chocolate, hope the giftees do too. The recipe came from the Good Cookie, although I modified it as hers was for chocolate and pistachio checkerboards. I added orange zest and a 1/4 t of orange extract to half the dough. I also added espresso powder to the chocolate dough as I find that always intensifies the depth of the chocolate flavor.
The cherry studded butter dough is going to be pressed into a sheet pan and baked, then covered with finely chopped chocolate (which will melt from the heat of the dough fresh from the oven) and dusted with chopped nuts. The whole thing cools and then you cut it into diamonds or squares. I've never made these ones before but the recipe sounded delicious. I bought some tasty dried cherries at Sahadis on Altlantic Ave and they should marry very well with the butter dough, the chocolate and nuts. Yummy. The recipe comes from Baking Illustrated, the Cook's Illustrated baking compendium. The basic butter cookie recipe they have is a very versatile one, and different. You make it more like pie dough, adding the cold butter to the flour/sugar mixture and then bringing it together with a couple tablespoons of cream cheese. The texture is good, supposedly more resilient for the rolling and cutting process, without making tough cookies.
The pecan sandies I am making for my mother, who I remember loving the Nabisco version when I was younger. I am on a roll with recreating commercial cookies that I grew up on, Fig Newtons and Pecan Sandies. They are an American version of the Mexican Wedding cookies without the 10X and a little sandier. This one also from Baking Illustrated. There are some good basic cookie recipes in there with interesting variations, this dough can be done with almonds (or I would imagine pistachios or walnuts).
As is typical of a Libra (which I am, though never completely sure I believe in these types) I am not good at making up my mind about what types of cookies to make. Can still add the ginger cookies to the mix closer to bake and shipping time, as well as the banana oatmeal chocolate chips and maybe the Swedish hardtack for a less sweet alternative. Wondering now if I have enough chocolate representation, could throw in the Pierre Herme sables from the Times a couple weeks back, or some the Alice Medrich chocolate biscotti.
And then again maybe I won't......
Also, ordered vanilla on eBay today for the first time. It's Mexican from San Luis(?) Danncy? I'm not really sure what any of this means although my research tells me that the Mexicans make the most complex vanilla from their orchids. I am hoping that I am not being conned. The stuff is pretty cheap, 34oz for $21.00 including shipping. We will see, will let you know when it gets here. The price is good, compared with Nielsen-Massey which is currently priced around $20 for 4 oz.
Going to DC to visit my father for a couple of days. Planning on doing some baking for him, was thinking to make up a bunch of icebox doughs so they can bake up their own Christmas cookies in the coming weeks. He has a beautiful kitchen, very well layed out, which is quite nice to cook in.
Back mid week and sad to say will be mourning the loss of my good friend Gwen's Father who died unexpectedly this week. Too many funerals. We must all appreciate our loved ones now while they are with us. Too soon they are not.
A bientot,
Samantha
Don't know why I can't seem to keep on top of the blogging. Makes me feel guilty that I can't. And I walk around composing posts in my head. I was all set to blog about our trip to Costco, my attempt at Fig Newtons, Don's mystery illness, the weirdness of not working, my problems getting through to Lahey at Sullivan Street, the wake/funeral of Don's Aunt Mary, Quinces, knitting socks.... I could go on and on, but I suppose blogging would just be a better solution.
It is Thanksgiving eve and I have a pumpkin cheesecake cooling in it's water bath on the stove while the Quinces are boiling away for marmalade. I found the Quinces at the farmer's market on Saturday. Been reading about them and was intrigued, so when I saw a fuzzy box full of them at an Apple sellers table I had to dive in. They smell divine. Somewhere between an Apple/Pear and Pineapple. The aroma filled the whole apartment. A Quince is a relative of the Apple and the Pear, but it cannot be eaten raw, it is bitter and astringent, it must be cooked. However when cooked, they become sweet and spicy with this mysterious flavor that has notes of Apple, Pear and something tropical like Mango or Pineapple. If you are a cheese fan you have had Quince paste with a cheese selection, it also goes by the Spanish name Membrillo. It is a fruit that requires a goodly amount of preparation, making it less popular with todays fast food culture. But they are delicious and to my mind worth the work. I am making Quince Marmalade that will be given (at least some of it) as Xmas gifts.
This was one of the activities (the preparation of Xmas gifts) I was supposed to be engaging in while on this 'hiatus' from work. This includes the making of socks. I have made my first one and found it very satisfying. Working with little tiny needles and fine yarn so it's not as fast as some knitting I do, but I am enjoying it. Can't go into specifics here in case any gift recipients are reading. Have not gotten anywhere near as far with projects as I would have liked to overall, however, so will need to pick up the pace. Especially as I may have part time work at Craft in the next week or so.
Did however finally join Costco (a box store that I can tolerate, just barely) and purchased 8#'s of sweet butter for the astonishing price of $2.10 each. Very civilized. This will allow me to make many butter cookies when I finally get my procrastinating butt around to it. Also bought 10# of sugar for the price of 5 in the supermarket. Very proud of myself, if you couldn't tell. Found the store itself overwhelming in that mega store kind of way. Astonished at how much canned fruit juice people seem to need in their daily lives, but what do I know.
Fig 'newtons' or Fig filled sandwich cookies were a success. Suprisingly easy to make. You make 8 logs of fig filling wrapped in a soft dough which you slice after they have baked and cooled. When I first tried to slice them I had breakage issues. They kept cracking. I was bummed. Wasn't able to cut them all at once, left most for a couple of hours, wrapped in plastic and when I came back to them to finish slicing they had softened and so had no cracking problems. Not sure whether they will be on the Xmas cookie list as they do not travel very well, fall apart actually when moved too much. Probably won't go too far. But they are an interesting part of the repetoire. They were fun to make. Next time I think I will add some Orange zest to the fig mixture while it cooks.
Have now been phoning and leaving messages for Jim Lahey at Sullivan Street Bakery for a solid three weeks with no response. Don't know if I should take this as a hint or figure that he is in the food biz and this is his busy season, so I shouldn't give up. This weeks message alluded to feelings of stalkerazzi on my part. Figure I can keep this up for a couple more weeks but then will have to face the idea that he is not interested.
Have not heard from the folks at the Modern, the opening was last weekend. Don't really expect to hear from them for a while, figure it will take the PC a couple of weeks (at least) to figure out who he wants where. Just hoping that it doesn't take him a couple of months. Again, figure I can squeek by through the Holidays with part time work at Craft but will need a real full time job in the new year. Don't like not working, trying to use my time wisely, have been baking regularly (bread, cookies, tarts) and knitting (finished a Noro/Debbie Bliss number that I had made and frogged last year and it needs to be frogged again! Argh! ). But I do better with a schedule to arrange my life around. What does that say about me, huh?
Glad not to be on the road tonight, worst traveling day of the year. Going to the in-laws tomorrow with the cheesecake, some white/potato rolls I will make tomorrow AM and the makings of a pear/Gorgonzola/walnut salad that Don will assemble on site. I love cooking for Thanksgiving but for some reason am happy to abdicate responsibility this year. I am having issues with the Holidays again this year, as I did last year. If we had the resources to get on a plane and fly to Paris for Xmas I would already have tickets. Alas, that is not in the cards. We buried Aunt Mary on Monday. I did not know her that well having just married into this family a year and a half ago, but she was lovely what I knew of her. All the love that came through at her wake and funeral showed that she was a special person. The world feels a little darker without her. I am hoping that we have no more funerals for a while. We had three this year. I don't want to bury any more relatives.
I think I may have mentioned that Don was under the weather for a spell. Well after many weeks of night sweats, fever spikes, body aches and strange splotches all over his body, he was finally diagnosed with Lyme disease. It took a ridiculously long time for the Dr. to figure out what it was. He had all the symptoms of Malaria but hadn't been out of the country. We had been to both Maine and the upper Hudson valley, two areas that are known for Lyme disease, but somehow that fact didn't spark any diagnosis ideas. Just as he was coming out of this on his own he got a prescription for a months worth of antibiotics. He is better now, but boy was that a nasty run. I do not recommend Lyme disease to anyone.
Have been cooking while I write this and it is tricky, running back and forth. Trying not to scald the Quince marmalade while writing good prose. I like writing, like writing about food, but must find some way to do it more regularly. When I don't do it every other day or so the material piles up in my head and gets clogged coming out. I try and get every interesting thought out and they get garbled in the process. Maybe someday I should try taking a writing class, in case there are some tricks of the trade I am unaware of. For some reason there never seem to be enough hours in the day.......
Happy Turkey day all.
A bientot,
samantha
And while that in itself is not a bad thing (at home, when alone, I can attribute this behavior to talking to the animals) I think I should be talking to someone when working. Or silent and concentrating.
The last couple of weeks at Hope & Union I would never know what mess I would be coming in to, so often I would be grumbling and cursing about my work conditions. That is no longer an issue as Saturday was my last day. I have quit my first pastry job. I am not thrilled with this idea but believe that I need to find a more challenging position and learn more, much more, at this stage in my career. I have learned some basic organizational things from working at H&U. Recipes need to printed out and stored in plastic cover sheets and kept in some sort of binder. And they need to be clearly updated when changed. Walk in storage should be labeled and divided so everything has it's own place. All containers going into the walk in must be ID'd with a date. There should be some sort of ongoing task list, I have seen dry erase boards at other places, with a running list of what needs to be done when. Employees should be given a standard training agenda and encouraged to stick to methods proscribed therein. Each week every piece of equipment and all surfaces should be thoroughly scrubbed down, all pans removed from shelves and said shelves scrubbed, sinks scrubbed down. In short a complete scouring should be done of any food production area once a week.
The jury is still out for me whether I actually want to have my own place or not. It does seem like an awful lot of work. But then I am doing an awful lot of work now without the benefits of owning the place. I will have to get a good deal more experience under my belt before I make any such decisions.
Which brings me to my unemployed state. I have a couple of things in the wings. If you have been reading you know about Danny Meyer's new restaurant at the soon to reopen Museum of Modern Art, the Modern and PC Marc Aumont. They open their doors this Saturday. Perhaps he will have a sense of his hiring needs shortly after that. And after much chasing I have managed to have a conversation with Jim Lahey from Sullivan Street Bakery regarding possible interview. He asked me to bring in some baking. Mind you I do not have a date for this bringing in. Nonetheless he would like me to bake a loaf of bread and some cookies for him to taste. I had this conversation with him 10 days ago, after which I began an earnest search for the perfect bread recipe to prepare for him. I settled on a potato bread recipe in the Baking with Julia book. As you may recall I have been having issues with the lower part of my loaves being somewhat dense. I believe this has something to do with the proofing times. I may be over proofing? Anyway I don't really want to bring a mediocre loaf in to Lahey. I had no such issues with this potato bread recipe so I will bring a loaf of that when I go in. Must bring brownies, as I think they are something of a signature for me. AS for the cookies, believe I will bring Lemon Rosemary butter cookies which are a refrigerator cookie that is quite tasty. The Ginger cookies I made last month were a success so they will come as well. I am going to try my hand at home made fig newtons. If they are good I will bring those, and then I will round it out with the Swedish Hardtack (also from Baking with Julia) that is half way between a cookie and a cracker.
Last night I made an apple galette that was marvelous, Don suggested I bring one of those. I may make up an individual galettelet to bring. It was very tasty and suprisingly simple. My advancing years have taught me patience (at least a little more than I used to have) and that is the name of the game with much baking. You must assemble your components in their proper order, giving each it's due. For this galette last night I made the dough the day before and chilled it overnight (probably could have made the tart that evening but was too tired from my last day of work. Not too tired to come home and make the dough and prepare the apples, but to tired to put it all together.) I peeled and sliced the apples, tossed them with some sugar, cinnamon, lemon zest and juice and then put them in the fridge to macerate. Last night I rolled out the dough which has cornmeal and sour cream in it so it is resilient. It rolled out easily, then I mounded the apples in the center and pleated the edges up around the fruit. Into a 400 degree oven for a half hour and voila delicious crisp, flaky yet tender crust surrounding spicy, sweet apples. A little dollop of Stonyfield Farms vanilla yogurt (one of my favorite subs for whipped cream of ice cream) and we were good to go.
It really was quite marvelous if I do say so myself, so I think depending on timing I will try and reproduce it for Lahey. But there's the rub, timing. I have tried to get him on the phone since the conversation where he asked me to bring in some baked goods, he gave me his cell number, but have left one message and then not gotten any further for a week. He did say when we spoke that they were moving around operations and so he was busy. I do not want to be a pest. I also do not want to give up if there is a possibility of my working there. Will try again to reach him today. Don't want to leave a million messages so he gets annoyed. But I will need some lead time to do all this baking before I meet with him so would love to be able to set up a date even if it is for the future.
Last but not least, I trailed at Craft last week. Karen was looking for a night service person. While service at Craft does much more production than most plating jobs (many do NO production), I agreed with Karen that the night part of the job was not really what I am looking for. I trailed with Anya (who is also coincidentally friends with Sigrid) and she was very encouraging. First she confirmed all my feelings about H&U, said that she would not have reccomended I work there but couldn't say anything as she is Sigrid's friend. That was gratifying to know that I was not the only one with reservations about the place. then she also told me not to worry that this particular postion at Craft wasn't for me, that she and Karen think of me as part of their universe so when something comes up they will call me. And then on Saturday I saw Anya at H&U (she lives in the neighborhood) and she said to call her in a couple of weeks as there will be part time holiday work at Craft. Karen is going on Maternity leave sometime after Thanksgiving and they can't really afford to hire a body to replace her, but they will need help through Christmas. So that may mean something to tide me over while waiting for the other things to materialize, and it will be Craft on my resume as a paying job, not just an externship. It may also turn into a job as they are probably opening something in the meatpacking district sometime in the near future, another 'Wich outlet.
So I just need to sit on my hands, work on Xmas presents, and not panic till the right job presents itself. It will happen I just need to have faith, not panic and take anything just for the sake of having a job. Otherwise I will end up in another H&U, which to be honest I knew in my gut was not right the first time I went to trail. Should have listened....
A bientot,
Samantha
I cannot believe how depressed this election has made me. I feel like an outsider, like some alien who doesn't understand the beings who surround her. I am baffled at how anyone could vote for George Bush saying they respect his 'values'. The man is a liar and, worst of all, a born again christian alcoholic. He thinks that whatever he does is OK because god has forgiven him. He will not admit that he made a mistake, that he lied to the American people to take them into an unwinnable war in order to distract them from his failures as a president.
And half of the country re-elected him.
I am astounded. I am flabbergasted. I am horrified.
I am seriously concerned for the well being of myself and my loved ones in the next four years. That individual will have the power to nominate judges to the highest court in the land. And he believes in 'life', unlike the rest of us heathen who think that abortion is a medical right. The idea that Roe v Wade could actually be overturned makes me sick to my stomach. And that's not even thinking about the damage to our planet, our economy and our civil liberties that will be wrought upon us in the next 4 years. Why is the middle of the country so afraid of gay marriage? They should be much more worried about assault weapons in the hands of criminals.
The only comfort I take is in the fact that even in the 'red' states Kerry held his own. This election was not a landslide, half of the country voted for Kerry. It just wasn't a big enough half. Ah, the Electoral college......
I wonder if now would be a good time to go to Europe and study bread.....
A bientot,
Samantha