January 26, 2010
I fell in love with Jaques Pepin when he said, quite without irony, that it was alright to use canned beans in certain recipes — and then proceeded to open a tin and do just that. Great chef, more concerned with showing people how to make good, simple food, than with all the intricacies of soaking overnight and growing your own. I thought it was pretty fabulous.
…well, this evening I finally saw something to top even that. Anthony Bourdain, cracking and devouring a small mountain of shellfish, using nothing but his hands.
Now, this comes with a story. Many years ago I had a French boyfriend, and said boyfriend and I sat down to a seafood dinner with Mint. You should know that I love fresh shellfish with a passion unrivaled by any other foodstuff. After watching me hand-crack and devour my own small mountain of shellfish, my boyfriend turned to Mint, saying, “If you want to know how a woman is in bed, watch her eat.”
August 23, 2009
IF YOU WANT TO LEARN SOME FINE ASS COOKIN SKILLS, GO READ SMOOVE RAT BLOG ON COOKIN. TODAY SHE IS TALKIN’ BOUT SOME FINE ASS CHOCOLATE PUDD’N, AND I HAVE MADE THAT PUDD’N BEFORE, AND I CAN TELL YOU IT IS A DELICIOUS PUDD’N, SON, AND YOU WILL NOT REGRET MAKING IT. “What do you mean “what kind of chocolate do I use, please don’t hit me?” GODDAMN!”
August 1, 2009
Our trip to the British/Australian grocers was surprisingly successful. Normally they’re these yuppified little numbers with nothing worth eating on the shelves and an overabundance of fancy teacups for sale, but this one’s in the middle of nowhere in a business park, and does quite the trade with expats. Lots of staples.
The main reason for our expedition was jelly babies, as I stole a few off the cosplayers at SDCC and remembered just how much I love them. They had two different kinds of knock-offs, which aren’t as good as the real ones, but for some reason you can’t seem to get those here. Something about carcinogenic food coloring? I guess unless I make a trip back to London I’ll just have to suffer with second rate confections. /cries.
We also got HP Sauce (it’s fair to say that almost anything is better with HP Sauce), an absolutely huge jar of Branston Pickle, Marmite (shut up, I like it), and a handful of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk bars. I’m so pleased. Their prices are even quite reasonable, considering exchange rates and freight. We’ll probably be heading back reasonably often.
Gabriel was puzzled at why they’d sell things like cereal, dried peas, pasta sauce, etc. He’s never spent a long time in a different country, so he doesn’t really understand how it feels when absolutely everything tastes different. There’s kind of a strange variety of homesick that tends to be cured by the sorts of things you never appreciated back at home. I would’ve killed for an American Diet Coke when I was in Paris.
July 31, 2009
The Threadcakes competition is pretty awesome. I’m becoming a real fan of the new trend in adorable delicacies, even if half the time they don’t look like something I’d want to eat…
For your free bonus link, here’s a short explanation of why we can’t have nice things edible ball bearings in California. Sometimes, yes, my state is really stupid, I know. /sigh.
July 18, 2009
Make the most of it! Bake cookies in your car! I swear to god Opa and I are going to do this at Con, it’s not as if we’re not already going to be leaving the car parked out in the sun all day anyway …and cookies are always a fabulous end to a long day.
June 20, 2009
- 2 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 6 large egg yolks
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- Dash of cinnamon
- Dash of ginger
- Pinch of salt
…and oh, oh my goodness is it marvelous.
I took the proportions from the Bitten recipe, but since I didn’t feel like baking anything tonight, I made it the lazy way…
Combine ingredients in a heavy saucepan. Cook on low heat, whisking constantly, until mixture thoroughly coats the back of a spoon, about 15-20 minutes.
Pour into little cups and refrigerate.
If you take the same recipe and double the dairy, it makes a lovely ice cream.
