Cookie Fest 2008... Triple Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies Last night I began my holiday cookie f est.  I made Chocolate Chip Bars and Nigella’s Triple Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies.  Mmmmm.  I doubled the recipes for both and I now have five containers of cookies ready to eat/give/serve in the freezer.    Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars I will be doing Jam Thumbprints and Peanut Butter Cookies sometime this week, and this weekend...

Post Turkey Day Wrap-Up... Pumpkin and Pecan Pies I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving, if you celebrate it.  I took some time off so I would not lose my mind.  The two days prior to Turkey Day I spent making all my make aheadable side dishes.  I marinated and wrapped the green beans in bacon, I made the sweet potatoes, baked the cheesecake, made croissant dough, baked Pecan and Pumpkin pies, and whipped cream cheese with herbs.  The day...

Oh, bring it on Thanksgiving!... I will admit this to you, dear cyber readers.  For the last few months I have been a TOTAL baking slacker.   Cooking slacker also. Really?  Oh, yes. But, the impending holidays have reignited my desire to bake and fiddle around in the kitchen.  Well, that and a trip to Ireland.  Yes, Ireland the country.   I am addicted to back bacon and smoked salmon now.  I also got Nigella’s new Christmas cookbook...

Odds and Ends... Who doesn’t love a good muffin?  I know I do.  And the muffins pictured below are hard to resist.  Trust me!  I told you all about these muffins last week.  Here is a link to the blog entry that includes the recipe for these chocolaty lovelies.  You really should make them. I am so PLEASED that the Giants won the Super Bowl!  I was afraid, at the end, that New England was going to win but the Giants were...

How Evil are my Shenanigans?... Not all that evil for the last two days.  I am sorry I did not post yesterday.  I was feeling quite under the weather, but I am on the mend and back to the daily grind. Ok, so if you go back and look at my posts from last week you will find posts where I declare that I am excited about school, despite some misgivings, and I was looking forward to the rest of the semester.  I would like to...

Playing in the Kitchen - Pork Chops... So let me start by saying that Nigella Lawson's Mustard Pork Chops are SO tasty.  I can't recommend them highly enough.  Not only was the recipe fast and easy, it was darn tasty and something I would be proud to serve for a dinner party.  If I had them. The sauce, really, is what makes the dish.  I used a whole grain mustard so the sauce had lovely brown flecks in it, I reduced the cream from...

A Long Night... Last night was a very long night.  One of my dogs has an infection in her paw and we ended up taking her to the 24 hour vet clinic to get it looked at.  It looks like she will be ok, we have drugs and ointments to give her, but we are keeping an eye on her.  It was really sad at the 24 hour vet.  At 10pm there is not a lot of happiness to be had there.  While we were waiting for the doctor to...

A Weekend at Home - Gougeres... I had a busy weekend in the kitchen, and most of it was spent with Nigella Lawson’s cookbook Express. To start let me say that I think the principals of Express are wonderful.  Real food that does not take forever to make.  I can attest to the speed of the recipes, the five I have made took less than 30 minutes to get from pantry to plate, as well as to the tastiness of the final product.  Maybe the food is not...

Surface to Mass Ratio... Well, I survived the first night of Laminated Dough, Pâte à Choux, Donuts, and Fritters.  Better than survived.  I did pretty well.  The class was busy and Chef did his level best to keep us working.  He does not tolerate slackers.  I love that.  A few observations: 1.  I love pâte à choux.  I love making it, piping it, baking it, and best of all eating...

So, I did something bad … and other things.... I'm not happy about something I did last night, but it had to be done. I dropped a class for the upcoming semester.  Aside from the faint blush of shame I feel that I dropped the class before it began, I find I am more relieved than anything else.  The class was on Saturdays, and Saturday classes are hard for me since I work full-time during the week, and I attend classes Wednesday and Thursday nights. ...