I couldn’t not take photos of these breads yesterday. It being a busy fall with harvesting, butchering, etc, I haven’t fired up the wood oven nearly often enough. There’s something meditative about watching a fire that’s akin to getting lost in music. Add to that the satisfaction of baking up lovely loaves of tasty bread while tending the oven, and … Read More
BBQ Oven Action
I’ve posted about this setup before. But then in all my wisdom, I nearly deleted all of my new wordpress blog-post-blogger-transition. I don’t recommend it. So some of the content from that post, well, died. Permanently. No matter. I had a good friend coming over for lunch today as I live close to his new City TV gig downtown, and … Read More
Dinner Party Menu
A breakdown of the menu for some new friends that came by for dinner last night. Excluding the first course – a salad from the garden…forgot the photo. The first three courses were paired with an alsatian riesling, the following 3 with a right-bank bordeaux. Overall, a lovely night: berkshire tenderloin on white bean purée, crispy sage pickled whitefish, dill … Read More
Hardcore Chocolate Cupcakes with Raspberry Jam & Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Icing
My wife love cupcakes. It was her birthday. I do have the ambition to bake quality cakes one day. And there’s no way in hell this cheap-ass is going to splurge at a local cupcake shop on $3 cupcakes – no way, no how. I made two dozen – so…roughly…$72 worth of cupcakes? As if. I respect the entrepreneurial spirit … Read More
Foccacia di Vernazza
Yep. Bread. Again. This time 1/4 whole wheat, and a quadruple batch. I will find out how many kilos of bread my oven can bake at once one of these days. Fortunately, not all of it ended up in bread loaves. Not sure what to make for supper, I stole some of the dough, and made a quick foccacia. Man … Read More
Amended Bread Gig
Long ago, I posted about my ‘usual’ bread recipe. It’s the kind of recipe I’ve made so often I have the numbers in my head. But today I realized that for some time, I’ve making the same modifications to it. So why follow the same recipe all the time if I end up tweaking it anyway? Yeah…no good answer there, … Read More
Born-Again French-Pastry-Lover
I never thought I’d write this, but I have to admit that ever since a wonderful pastry shop finally opened up in our town [ICS], I’ve been jaded about eating pastries in France. It’s a loss I’m having to deal with. ‘Not bad, but I can get it better at home‘ is a thought I wish upon nobody who loves … Read More
Another Classic for My Repetoire: Scones
Where have scones been all my life?! Not that I haven’t eaten them before – I have – and I’ve loved them then…but why have I not made them at home before? Why!??! So many lost years of scone eating. Shameful. But the leaf has turned, and today my family indulged in fresh scones with strawberry and raspberry jams. And … Read More
Bread. Again.
I’m all for culinary adventures – on a semi-regular basis. But I’ve realized over time that I enjoy simple things more vigorously than the overly-complex. I take great joy in making a bread at home. One can shop the best boulangeries in the Paris, and be hard pressed to match or defeat a simple loaf of bread baked at home. … Read More
‘The Tornado’ Pizza
Yesterday evening I had the pleasure of kneading dough in my new kitchen for the first time. I had a bit of a ‘moment’, as the sun shone in the two windows flanking a lowered piece of counter top [roughly 30″] that happens to perfect for kneading dough [36″ is just too high for this short guy]. A view of … Read More