Osiris

About 10 years ago, on one of the days my best friend and her kids came over for dinner, her and I were chattering away, laughing and drinking good wine while I cooked.  Just as we had started on the second bottle April said, "Shhhh, I hear a cat."  So I listened intently with her for a few minutes and heard nothing.  Looking at her with skeptical eyebrows, I pronounced that she was cut off from the vino and promptly took away her glass.

We went on with the talking and laughing, and then got around to the eating.  When dinner was finishing up and we were all sitting around the table being fat, I heard her phantom cat outside the window by the kitchen table.  After a few seconds of her saying, "I told you so!" (and yes she really said that, quite loudly and with great emphasis) I opened the front door and there sat this beautiful charcoal grey and white cat with luminous yellow-green eyes.  He was malnourished to the point of starvation and while giving him water and some tuna, I noticed that he had been fixed.  Then I noticed that he'd also been front declawed (which I just don't understand), and that could only mean one thing: he had either been someone's pet and gotten lost, or he had been someone's pet and been abandoned.  And that is when my heart broke and I knew without a doubt that he was going to be moving in.


I named him Osiris, but after about a week I had begun calling him Beebee, a bastardized from of Baby.  And about a week after that it was the only name he would respond to.  I became his Human and he became my Cat. 

Over the past few months Beebee had doing poorly, with what ailment I do not know.  I did not have enough money outright to bring him to a vet for tests and I wasn't able to find a vet who would make payment arrangements.  This morning when I woke up and tended to him I saw that his health had deteriorated rapidly in the past 48 hours.  I made one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make.

At approximately 8pm this November 3rd, 2010, Beebee died.  Though I sit here and remember all of the joy and love that he brought to my life, and think of how happy and content he was, I cannot stop the pain in my chest...as though someone is squeezing my heart in a vice.   

Oh Oui Maria Bagette Bon Soir, FRENCH TOAST!

Having breakfast for dinner is always looked upon with great favor in our house.  For the most part they are planned out, even if they are simple.  But every once in a while it's a matter of "this sounds good" and "that sounds good" and "hey what's in the fridge?".  Which is how my daughter and I came up with an amazing combination of really simple things.  These French toast rocked our damn socks off. Bren was adamant that I post this recipe, but I suspect for selfish reasons rather than a desire to let everyone share in it...he wants to make sure I don't forget what Karina and I did so we can make it again.

Blueberry Cheesecake French Toast
for the French toast:
4 eggs
1 cup French vanilla flavored coffee cream
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
bread of choice

for the blueberry sauce:
16 ounces frozen blueberries
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
2 tbs cornstarch, mixed with a little cold water


for the cheesecake sauce:
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 to 3/4 cup half and half



For the blueberry sauce, mix berries, sugar and water in a medium sauce pan over medium heat.  Cook until berries are heated through and some have popped open.  Bring to a slow boil and stir in cornstarch mixture.  Cook for about one minute, or until thickened.


For the cheesecake sauce, mix the softened cream cheese thoroughly with the powdered sugar.  Stir in half and half in small increments until thoroughly combined.  Amount will depend on how thick or thin you want to make it.


For the French toast, mix the cinnamon with a few drops of water to make a thin paste.  Beat eggs thoroughly in a medium bowl with a wide flat bottom.  Stir in cinnamon paste and salt until combined.  Add coffee cream to egg mixture, stirring constantly.  Heat a griddle over medium-high heat and brush with a little canola oil.  When the griddle is hot, remix the custard to re-disperse the cinnamon, dip a slice of bread in it on both sides, let the excess drip off and place the bread on the griddle.  Repeat with however many slices will fit on your griddle.  Watch carefully and flip when browned on one side.  Repeat with as much bread as the custard will allow.


Serve French toast with both sauces spooned over them. 

你瘋了嗎

 

Thanks Blizz, for making our toons do badass poses on the character list screen, but do you think you could fix the bug that makes it look like they're wearing their guild tabbard when no tabbard is equipped?  It's hard to give off that "I will kill you dead with my pointy axe!" vibe when your guild happens to think it's funny to have a pink tabbard with a bunny on it.  kthnx.

So my push for insanity is nearing a close, and I can tell you that it's none to soon.  I feel like a lifeless drone.  The only two reps I have to complete are for Ravenholdt and Darkmoon Faire.  

Ravenholdt:  Revered 13124/21000

Darkmoon Faire:  Honored 800/12000

I'll have Ravenholdt done by the end of this week.  My baby rogue can pick-pocket mobs in Tyr's Hand without being spotted (unless I'm a noob and right-click on the mob) so I didn't have to level her further in order for her to benefit my main.  That's not to say that she'll stay at 60, but for the time being I'm going to abuse her for her pick-pocketing abilities.

Darkmoon Faire and I should be ok....once I stop crying in the corner thinking about all the decks I'll need to make and turn in to finish rep with them.  Hey, I don't have a lot of gold so buying higher decks is out of the question and I don't plan on having a lot of gold in the near future so my only alternative is to make the cards and decks myself.  It's going to hurt.

*Thanks to Emily for the Chinese translation of "Are you crazy?"....and for the cocoa roasted almonds, omg, I drool

Two For The Price Of One

I have 15 year old son...who is 6'2" tall and weighs in at 212 pounds, none of which is fat.  As such, when I cook I make enough to feed a small army and its host nation.  I still rarely have leftovers for more than two days.

Bren is currently in a phase where he doesn't particularly appreciate the incredible edible egg.  However, when I bust out the Quiche Lorraine, he starts salivating like one of Pavlov's dogs the second I start putting ingredients on the counter.  He doesn't stop until he's eaten half of one dish and is lying on the couch in a savory egg custard coma.  I threw in the cakes because I was feeling like a bit of kaffeezeit.

Quiche Lorraine (adapted from The Best of Baking by Annette Wolter and Christian Teubner)

For the Pastry:

1 1/3 cups flour

1 tsp salt

7 tbs butter, cold and cut into small cubes

3 to 5 tbs ice water

For the Filling:

1/2 - 1 lb of Black Forest ham, finely cubed
8 oz extra sharp Vermont white cheddar cheese, shredded or finely cubed
6 eggs
2 cups of heavy cream
salt
pepper
ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix flour and salt together in a medium bowl.  Cut in butter with a pastry blender or rub in with your fingers (I've never been able to get the two knives technique to work for me).  Mix in 3 tablespoons of ice water with a fork.  If dough does not start to pull together add another tablespoon of water.  Remove dough from bowl and knead as briefly as possible to bring dough together into a ball.  Pat into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.  Remove pastry dough from the refrigerator, dust a clean counter with flour and roll pastry to fit a 10-inch pie plate. Wrap dough around rolling pin and gently pat into pie plate.  Place pastry in freezer.

Break the eggs into a 4 cup measuring cup and beat with a fork until whites and yolks are mixed. Add heavy cream to eggs and mix together until well combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste and stir to incorporate. Finely cube the ham and the cheese. Remove the pastry from the freezer and sprinkle the ham and cheese over it evenly. Pour the custard mixture over the ham and cheese. Sprinkle top lightly with nutmeg. Place in the middle of preheated oven and bake for 45 minutes or until center is barely set and top is browned. Let sit for 5-10 minutes before cutting.  The above recipe can be doubled (see picture).

Fruited Spice Cake (Recipe makes 2 cakes)

Dry Ingredients:

6 cups flour

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1tsp salt

Wet Ingredients:

6 eggs

2 cups applesauce

1 1/4 cups mashed banana

2 - 15 ounce cans pear halves, finely diced

1 cup canola oil

1/3 cup molasses

Glaze:

3 cups powdered sugar

2 tbs melted butter

3 tbs strong coffee, preferably espresso

1/2 tsp rum extract

Preheat oven to 340 degrees.  Grease and flour two 10-cup bundt pans.  Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl; set aside.  Mix wet ingredients thoroughly in a medium bowl.  Add wet ingredients to dry and stir together until moistened through.  Evenly pour batter into bundt pans and bake for approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until a tooth pick comes out clean.  Cool in pans for 10 minutes then invert onto wire racks to cool completely.

Sift powdered sugar into a medium bowl.  Stir in melted butter, coffee and extract until glaze is smooth.  It should fall in a thick ribbon, if it is too thin add a bit more powdered sugar.  If it is too thick add a bit more coffee.  Drizzle over cooled cakes and let the glaze set for about an hour before serving.

Sind Sie Verrückt?

A request was made by RamenBoy for an update on the insane title, so here we are.  (Don't think this means I won't talk about food again see post below)

Rep Update:
Bloodsail Buccaneers: Honored
Darkmoon Faire: Friendly (3225/6000) (can't do anything about this until 10/3)
Ravenholdt: Revered (224/21000) (give me a break, my rogue is only lvl 56)
Shen'dralar: Exalted
Booty Bay: Exalted
Everlook: Exalted
Gadgetzan: Exalted
Ratchet: Exalted 


*btw, if you add another r to his name, he would be Bicycle, Grand Mater Rogue..hehehe

Study Break

When I'm bogged down with the books and I'm feeling kind of peckish, I like to grab something a little more substantial than a bag of Cheetohs.  Don't get me wrong, Cheetohs rock, it's just that if I have gotten to a stage of peckishness while doing homework or studying it usually means I've forgotten to eat dinner...and possibly lunch.  Most times this happens I go for a good hearty sandwich (turkey breast, havarti, giardiniera, and cream cheese on rye) with pickled beets and cucumbers on the side (my mother makes the best pickled beets ever *sniff* I could live on them I think).  Other times I get to have leftovers.  And sometimes those leftovers are better than they were the first night we had them for dinner.  

That was the case about a week and a half ago when I ate this delicious bowl of lentils and sausage.  They were divine.

Lentils and Sausage
To Start:
1 pound dry lentils (any color will do, mine were just ordinary greens)
2 smoked pork neck bones
2 bay leaves
2 tsp salt
water

To Add:
1 pound bacon
2 medium onions
2 tbs minced fresh garlic
1 1/2 cups chicken stock

To Embellish:
1/2 pound polish sausage
1/2 pound andouille

Rinse the lentils and put them in a 4 quart stock pot.  Add to the pot the neck bones, bay leaves and salt.  Pour water over the lentils to cover by about an inch.  Place stock pot over medium heat until boiling.  Reduce heat to medium low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are soft, but firm to the bite.  Add more water if necessary to keep lentils covered.

Dice the bacon finely and saute in a 10 inch skillet until barely crispy and fat is rendered.  Remove bacon pieces with a slotted spoon and set aside.  Chop the onions into about 1/4 inch pieces; add to skillet and saute until tender and translucent.  Add minced garlic and sweat for about 2 minutes.  Pour onions and garlic from the pan into the cooked lentils.  Add bacon and stock to lentils.  Cook until heated through.  Taste for salt and add if needed.

Brown both sausages in skillet used for bacon and onions.  Either add to the lentils or serve on the side...in case you have someone in your family who has developed an aversion to sausage.  Which will make you question whether this person is actually related to you and may necessitate a DNA test.



**It's been a while since I sent in a post for a blogging event, but as I was perusing the cooking interwebs I  found The Well-Seasoned Cook....and she's hosting My Legume Love Affair 27 which ends day after tomorrow...and I had made these wonderful lentils.  So here I go again.  Nevermind the photography, I still seem to lack the edge I had at my other food blog.  I'm working on it.

Non Compos Mentis

When we last joined our heroine, she was diligently plowing her way through Dire Maul over and over and over again.  And then, just for kicks, she ran it again and again.  Crazy, you say? No, folks, not crazy, she's heading toward insane.

Rep Update:
Bloodsail Buccaneers: Honored (this one is still done)
Darkmoon Faire: Friendly (3225/6000)
Ravenholdt: Honored (6240/12000)
Shen'dralar: Exalted (yeah baby, this one is done!)
Booty Bay: Exalted (up yours dire maul!!)
Everlook: Exalted (ditto)
Gadgetzan: Exalted (xerox)
Ratchet: Exalted (reasonable facsimile)


What really got my panties in a bunch during the last runs through DM was that I had not one, not two, not three, hell...not even four, but TEN pristine black diamonds drop. And I didn't need a single one of them *fume*.  Oh, and to top it ALL off, I had no less than 21 librams drop as well.  


I swear there are days I think I'm cursed.

Blue Monday

 

from http://iharthdarth.livejournal.com/

Last week my daughter was having a particularly bad day and I wanted to cheer her up with something warm, hearty and homey.  I scanned the shelves and bins in my kitchen for a while, finally settling on a favourite of both hers and mine; pinhead oatmeal.  As I moved the bag of oatmeal out I saw behind it a bag of spelt flour we had bought some time ago, intending to find wonderful things to do with this ancient species of wheat.  Seeing it again made me think about that and I had an overwhelming urge to use it.  I ended up searching the internet for recipes containing spelt and was happy as a clam when I saw that one of the links was to a category for spelt over at 101 Cookbooks, a blog I use to read quite often when I had my previous cooking site.

After a quick glance at the list, I hit upon her Rosemary Olive Oil Cake.  It sounded delicious as written, but I knew I wanted to modify it to suit our tastes more.  Despite the driving force to make this being my daughter's bad day, I have yet to see my youngest son refuse cake of any kind and wanted to include him as a recipient as well.

What I came up with for us didn't include rosemary, but did include homemade granola.  And oh wow, was this cake fantastic.

   

Blue Monday Cake

Dry Ingredients

1 cup spelt flour

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups toasted granola

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients

3 eggs

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 cup whole milk

7 ounces dark chocolate with hazelnuts, chopped

2 tbs demerara sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 3 inch deep 9 x 5 loaf pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.  Mix dry ingredients together with a whisk in a medium bowl and set aside.  Whisk eggs in a large bowl until homogeneous, then whisk in oil and milk.  Fold the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined.  Fold in 2/3s of the chopped chocolate.  Pour batter into prepared pan.  Sprinkle the top with remaining chopped chocolate and press into dough very lightly with the back of a spoon.  You want the pieces to be on top, but not to fall off when the cake comes out of the oven.  Sprinkle the demerara sugar over the top of the batter.  Bake for approximately 1 hour, or until golden and a metal skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.  Cool briefly in the pan, then remove to cool on a rack.  Serve while warm, if possible, or at room temperature. 

Check Your Sanity

I've finally gone back to working on my insane title in WoW after the slight distraction of leveling a warlock to 80. She's ultra cute and has minions, what's not to love?

As part of my work on the title I have also started leveling my own rogue (see above). In order to get Ravenholdt rep up to exalted I'll need to turn in something like 1400 heavy junkboxes....boxes only obtainable by pick-pocketing rogues. And since I didn't see anyway I could convince Alex to farm all of those for me on his rogue, I made my own. She's level 40 at the moment and moving up fast. That's because she has massive amounts of BoA gear and can kill mobs around 4 levels above her own without much trouble.

As for the other reps, here's the latest:
Bloodsail Buccaneers: Honored (this one is still done)
Darkmoon Faire: Friendly (2775/6000)
Ravenholdt: Honored (2305/12000)
Shen'dralar: Revered (19000/21000) (four more turn ins until exalted)
Booty Bay: Honored (222/12000)
Everlook: Honored (97/12000)
Gadgetzan: Revered (9982/21000)
Ratchet: Honored (360/12000)

Hummus

I remember before I had actually tried hummus thinking that it looked so delicious and smelled so good that it couldn't be anything else. Well, the first time I tried commercial hummus I was very disappointed. It was so sour that my mouth was unhappy and the wonderful garlic smell didn't translate to a wonderful garlic taste. So I developed a recipe with a lot less lemon juice and a lot more garlic. And now my mouth is happy.

Hummus
2 - 14.5 ounce cans garbanzo beans, drained, liquid reserved
1/2 - 3/4 cup tahini
3 tablespoons minced garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
juice of 1/2 lemon
sea salt, to taste

Puree garbanzo beans in a food processor or blender with a little of the reserved liquid until smooth. Add in tahini, garlic, lemon juice and salt. Process until well incorporated. With food processor running slowly pour in olive oil. Taste for seasoning and adjust if needed.

And that's how I would have made it if my blender had not frizzed on me. As you can see by the photo, I ended up using my potato smasher and a fork to do the work of the blender. This obviously made a more chunky hummus, but it still tasted great. The recipe above is also just the base that I use. While it is a very traditional hummus, I prefer mine very creamy so I add sour cream and cream cheese...and more olive oil. While it won't garner any brownie points with people who love real hummus, it's so fabulous on pita or bagel chips it's almost a sin.

On a side note: garbanzo beans, whether canned or rehydrated from dry, have a tough casing on them that I don't care for in my finished hummus. I remove it very easily by just popping the bean out of it. A tedious job it may be, but a smoother product it will yield.

I Am A Cheesewhore

Every Sunday my best friend and I meet up at the university library to work on our on-going book project. The library has these really great rooms on the 5th floor that bring in a lot of light, have large tables, comfortable chairs and even one with a pc. If we're having a particularly good session we can end up staying for 3+ hours. Working our creative brains for that long means we get hungry....really hungry. Since we're allowed to bring food and drinks into the library, we usually bring special "snacks", alternating Sundays.

Last Sunday I brought in green onion cream cheese with everything bagels, among other things. Since I have yet to attempt bagels from scratch, I made the cream cheese. And it was insanely easy. The best part, though, was that after I mixed it all together and it mellowed for a few hours, it tasted really close to a mixture of pepper and garlic-herb Boursin. Oh happy days for the cheesewhore.

Green Onion Cream Cheese
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon freshly minced garlic
1/2 - 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, but over night is best. Take out about an hour before you want to serve so that it comes back to room temperature.

You Don't Call, You Don't Write...

It's been a while, but sometimes life will intrude on the things you want to do in your spare time. Well, I'm back now and with a super delicious recipe to warm you up. Ok, that's probably not what you want at this time of year in the Northern hemisphere, but that's what you get...deal with it.

When we lived in Washington state just outside of Tacoma, my sister introduced me to this little bitty place called Bangkok Thai....and therein we did have some of the best Thai food we've ever had. It was so good, it became our guilty pleasure. And while they had quite an extensive menu of delectable treats, she always ordered the Pad Thai and I always ordered the Red Curry Chicken, which we would share because the portion sizes were family style. We'd also share an order of Thai Spring Rolls, but I can't talk about them now because this isn't that kind of blog.

I haven't had either dish at any other Thai place that I liked better. However, I have tried a few times to make Red Curry Chicken that tasted close to it....and last week I finally succeeded. There were shouts of joy and a few tears were shed. Just to note before you even get started on this one, you can adjust the amount of the red curry paste that you add. Adding the full amount I listed is akin to number 3 or 4 on a Thai restaurant's "How Badly Do You Want To Burn Your Mouth" o'meter.

Red Curry Chicken
3 chicken breast halves, very thinly sliced
1 medium bell pepper, julienned
2 carrots, very thinly sliced
1 cup fresh green beans, trimmed
1 - 8 ounce can bamboo shoots, drained
4 - 13.5 ounce cans coconut milk
1 - 4 0unce can red curry paste (I use Maesri brand)
2 tablespoons canola oil
chilli paste with sweet basil leaves (optional)

In a small stock pot heat the oil and fry the curry paste for about 3 minutes. Add the carrots and cook for about 2 minutes more. Add the green beans and cook for about 2 minutes more. Add the bell pepper and cook for about 3 minutes. Add the coconut milk and stir to combine. Add the chicken breasts and bamboo shoots, cover and simmer until chicken is cooked through. Stir in chilli paste to taste or, if you can find it, about 2 tablespoons of Thai basil. Serve over jasmine rice.

Pork Love

What you see above is the remains of the pulled pork, macaroni and cheese, and broccoli meal I made the other night. I *may* have forgotten about pictures until we were all sitting around being fat. It was so tasty, we really didn't think about anything else outside of "where's my fork?".

Now, pulled pork is probably a misnomer for what I made, but I've always called it that and I'm not going to stop now. It's kind of like my sister and I calling Nitzer Ebb Nitzer with a short i instead of a long i as we found out it was actually pronounced years later. It's still Nitzer with a short i to us...and what I make is still pulled pork to me no matter that it's technically slow cooked pork.

Pulled pork is extremely easy to make and can be taste customized to the extreme. All you need is a nice piece of pork shoulder, an assortment of herbs and spices, and an oven. For the pork I made I used a 10 pound bone-in pork shoulder, which is actually pretty large. You can certainly use a smaller one, but make sure that it is bone-in for the best flavour. Let your pork sit out until it's room temperature. Then pre-heat the oven to 275 degrees. Mix together the herbs and spices of your choice, along with salt, and rub and press this mixture all over the pork shoulder. Place the pork in a large baking dish, cover tightly with foil and place in the oven. Let the pork cook, depending on weight, anywhere from 4 to 6 hours. You will know it is done when it is so tender, it pulls apart easily with a fork. Allow pork to cool for a few hours, then pull apart with either forks or your hands. There will be a fair amount of juice in the bottom of the baking dish that can either be poured over the pulled pork or used as a base for homemade barbecue sauce. I poured it over the pork because not everyone likes barbecue sauce in my house. Use the pork for sandwiches or serve as is with the side dishes of your choice.

The mixture I used on my pork contained the following:
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
rubbed sage
sweet Hungarian paprika
garlic powder
ground coriander
ground ginger
crushed red pepper flakes
light brown sugar

The macaroni and cheese was homemade as well. It was amazing and quite simple.
1 pound uncooked elbow macaroni
3-4 cups bechamel sauce
2 cloves garlic, crushed
8 ounces extra sharp Vermont white cheddar, shredded
8 ounces Havarti, shredded

Heat bechamel sauce over medium heat until simmering. Stir in the garlic. Slowly whisk in the shredded cheeses by the handful until each is melted and blended in. Turn off heat half way through. Boil macaroni until al dente, drain and add back to the pot. Pour cheese sauce over macaroni and fold in. Serve immediately. My kids are spoiled for mac and cheese now.

Insane, Now With More Mount

There are some sweet benefits to working on Insane. One of those is Baron Rivendare's Deathcharger. See, part of working on the title requires that you pick up Frayed Abomination Stitchings, which are soulbound (they are bound to the character that loots them), because they are part of the mats needed for Libram of Protection turn ins for Shendra'lar rep (say that three times fast). These things only drop in Old Stratholme and only off of the abominations in front of Baron Rivendare's quarters. Back in the old days it was kind of difficult to get to Baron before the 45 minute timer ran out and he skiddadled. Nowadays at level 80 you can one-man the instance and, even if you kill all the mobs and other bosses, make it to Baron with time to spare. Which is fantastic because one of the things that can drop off of him is his deathcharger. Granted, it only has a 1% drop rate, but when you compare that to other rare mounts in the game, that's pretty damn good. And I got it last week. It was a bittersweet moment since I was elated for myself and sad for Gaz and Bluey who have been farming for this mount since they ran Stratholme back in Vanilla.

Bloodsail Buccaneers: Honored (this one is still done)
Darkmoon Faire: Friendly (can't work on this one again until next tomorrow)
Ravenholdt: Friendly (haven't worked on this one for a while)
Shen'dralar: Revered (1500/21000)
Booty Bay: Hostile (710/3000)
Everlook: Hostile (710/3000)
Gadgetzan: Honored (7557/12000)
Ratchet: Hostile (973/3000)

It's called a lance, hello!

I love asparagus and if you ask me, it gets a really bad rap. But I can kind of understand why. For the most part people are introduced to it via canned vegetables *shiver*, which means that they get mushy, greyish "spears" that taste like ass. Fresh asparagus is a complete 180; snappy, vibrantly green and succulent.

About a month and a half ago, I bought three pounds of asparagus and wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it. I really didn't feel like Hollandaising it or dousing it with any other heavy sauce. Luckily, I was on the phone with my mom gushing over my fabulous purchase and she gave me told me what to do.

Sauteed Asparagus
2 lbs cleaned and snapped aparagus
2 tbs olive oil
2 tbs unsalted butter
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
zest from one lemon (optional)
juice from 1/4 lemon (optional)

In a wide pan over medium heat melt the butter with the olive oil. Add in the asparagus a single layer at a time, adding salt and pepper to taste. When all the asparagus is in the pan use tongs or two spatulas to move the spears around so that they all get coated. Saute spears for about 15 minutes, rotating frequently. Remove from heat, add in zest and juice, and gently toss to distribute. Serve immediately.

And yes, my stove really is THAT small.

Not sure how to snap asparagus? Join my daughter's hands...

Beef, It's What's For Dinner

Cooking steak intimidates me. It always has. I think it's because I can't grill or barbecue to save my life. I've tried pan frying and broiling before, always with lackluster results. But with the meat bundle I bought from Jaworski's I got some really, really nice Angus steaks like the ones you see above; sirloin tip. And I couldn't just let them sit around...I mean look at them! They're beautiful! And I couldn't get the image of Gibbs and Shepard eating steak au poivre out of my head (I really do watch too much NCIS). So I brought out one of my French cookbooks to see how this wonderful sounding meat was made.

To say that it was simple is an understatement and as long as you have a good piece of beef, your taste buds will sing "happy, happy, joy, joy".

Steak Au Poirve
4 - 1 1/2 inch thick steaks
4 tbs unsalted butter
2 tbs olive oil
1/4 medium onion, finely diced
1/4 cup semi-dry white wine
kosher salt
cracked black pepper

Make sure to let your steak sit out of the fridge for about an hour before doing anything with it. I set mine on paper towels to make sure that any excess moisture would be wicked away. Sprinkle kosher salt lightly on one side of the steak, then sprinkle that side generously with cracked black pepper and press it into the steak firmly with your hand. Repeat on reverse side. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a heavy bottomed saute pan with the olive oil over medium-high heat. When oil and butter are shimmering add two of the steaks to the pan. Sear steaks without turning for 3 to 4 minutes (for medium rare). Turn and sear on opposite side for 3 to 4 minutes. Remove to a heated plate and put in a warm oven while searing the remaining steaks. Lower heat to medium and add the finely diced onions to the pan. Saute until onions begin to turn translucent. add wine and deglaze pan. Taste for salt and add if needed. Turn off heat, add remaining 2 tablespoons of butter to the pan and swirl to incorporate. Spoon sauce over steak and serve immediately.


I served my steak with sauteed asparagus and mashed potatoes. There was a general cry of joy as we all dug into our steaks and then we all sort of fell into a beef coma. That coupled with losing daylight made for a dark picture. Tomorrow I'll show you the asparagus. God, I love asparagus.

Insanity Update

I've made some progress for the Insane achievement:
Bloodsail Buccaneers: Honored (this one is done)
Darkmoon Faire: Friendly
Ravenholdt: Friendly
Shen'dralar: Honored
Booty Bay: Hated
Everlook: Hated
Gadgetzan: Honored
Ratchet: Hated

And I'm really sick of running Dire Maul North >.< I've been going out and killing the pirates in Lost Rigger Cove for goblin rep in between runs of DM. That's how Gadgetzan ended up further along than any of the other goblin factions.

Priestly Fail

I have an alt in WoW that I enjoy playing almost as much as my main, and on occasion I fool myself into believing I can play her as well as I play my main. Then I get my ass handed to me in Ulduar and I realize that I'm sailing a failboat and there are no life-vests or life-rafts on board.

Sephina is my priest. She's cute (see picture above), makes all my flasks (elixir master ftw) and has the ability to herb frost lotus at an amazing rate (seriously, I got 27 in one farming session). She's also a healer. Which means that even if I knew what it was like to be at range during a fight, I still wouldn't know what to do with lightening speed. Couple that with the fact that until today I've only healed as disc and what you get is disasterous on 10 man Firefighter. I wanted to cry, I was failing so badly. AND after I switched spec to holy, I didn't realize that I needed to train circle of healing and was using rank 1....*sigh* How the boys put up with me I'll never know, but they did. Even stuck it out when I said they should replace me.

To all the healers in my guild (except one who shall remain nameless), I take my hat off to you. Especially Dizzy, without whose help I would have failed even more abominably than I did. To the guys in my alt 10 man, thanks for sticking it out with my priest in the group. She looks like the ugly red-headed step child of alts on her lowly griffin. Getting a rusted proto on her will be like going from a gremlin to a rolls.

mmmmm....Gibbs......

When we were growing up, my mom would go through stages of food and we would eat a specific food type or group for weeks on end. One of those that happened when we were living in sunny California was bread. All different kinds of bread, including homemade pita and one that I fell in love with, scones. Like a biscuit, but richer and sweeter, I just couldn't get enough of them. Anyway, when I decided to make strawberry shortcake the other day I really wasn't looking forward to the hohum biscuit cake that is usually the base for this dessert. That's when I remembered scones. Oh yeah, that dog'll hunt.

Strawberry Shortcake
6 scones, warm or room temperature
2 lbs strawberries
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup Marsala or other fortified wine (optional)
2 cups heavy cream
powdered sugar, to taste

Hull and slice the strawberries. Mix them together in a bowl with the granulated sugar and Marsala (if using). Allow to macerate for at least an hour. Whip the heavy cream with powdered sugar to taste. Split the scones in half, slather bottom half with whipped cream and spoon over strawberries with juice. Top with the other half of the scone. Enjoy.


About those scones my mother use to make, I never did write down the recipe for them. And then I received as a gift Biscuits and Scones by Elizabeth Alston. The book has a plethora of amazingly delicious recipes that I've made...and it has a recipe for ordinary scones that taste exactly like the ones my mother use to make. Divine.


Simple Sweet Scones (Biscuits and Scones, Elizabeth Alston)
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
8 tbs cold unsalted butter, cut up
1/4 - 1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup milk
1 egg white
sugar

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Put flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl; stir to mix well. Add butter and cut in with a pastry blender or rub in with your fingers, until mixture looks like fine granules. Add sugar; toss to mix. Add milk and stir with a fork until a soft dough forms. Form dough into a ball, put onto a lightly floured board and give 10 to 12 kneads. Pat dough into a round 1 to 1 1/2 inch thick. Cut round into 6 or 8 wedges. Place wedges on baking sheet lined with parchment. Beat egg white until frothy and brush over tops of wedges. Sprinkle with sugar and bake for about 12 minutes or until medium brown on top.

To make smaller scones cut dough ball in half and pat each half into a round about an inch thick, then cut into wedges.

The scones you see in the picture were made from a recipe and a half of the dough. I usually spread them liberally with butter and homemade jam and that means they need to hold up. My mother makes the best jams and jellies I've ever had, a teaspoon or two just isn't enough.

Oh, and sorry for the post title, I was watching NCIS while I wrote this. Gibbs makes my heart pitter-patter.

Odds and Ends

We all have times when our fridge looks like the plastic containers thought they were rabbits and multiplied accordingly. Most of the time that means it's time to throw out half the contents of your fridge. But on those rare occasions when it's all still good, you can build unique and tasty one-off meals. Or even more rare, build a meal you can reproduce with a little bit of work.

That's what happened a couple of months back when I was poking around, trying to find something to eat and not really wanting to work for it. Half a head of cabbage, some leftover chicken, a piece of cheese......mmmm....salad. It turned out to be so good that my youngest and I ate the whole thing and decided we would have to make it again.

House Chop Salad
1 head green cabbage
1 large onion
1/2 lb olives
1 lb extra sharp white cheddar
1/2 lb feta
2 cloves garlic
3/4 - 1 cup vinaigrette
1 - 2 lbs cooked chicken

Chop all ingredients, except vinaigrette and garlic, into pieces about an inch or so in size. Mix chopped ingredients together in a large bowl. Crush garlic and whisk into vinaigrette. Pour mixture over salad and toss to coat evenly.

Yeah, it's really that simple, but the taste will amaze you. And the type of onion, olives, vinaigrette and chicken you use is completely up to you. For this one I used a Spanish onion, green olives (the regular old ones you find in any grocery store), garlic-herb vinaigrette and citrus marinated chicken breasts that I made especially for the salad. The chicken I had used the first time I made this was of a similar ilk and I was looking for that flavour again. If you want to serve this as a side dish, cut the recipe in half and omit the chicken.


Citrus Chicken
2 - 3 lbs chicken breasts
1 grapefruit
1 orange
1 - 2 tbs kosher salt
3 tbs dried rosemary
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed

Cube the chicken breasts and put the pieces in a large zip-top bag. Wash the grapefruit and orange well. Cut each in half, squeeze the juice on top of the chicken, then cut the skins into large pieces and place in bag with chicken. Add salt (to taste), rosemary, olive oil and garlic to the bag and close while expelling most of the air inside. Squish the bag for a few minutes to mix all the ingredients together. Let the chicken marinate for at least one hour in the fridge, two or three is even better. Melt a few tablespoons of butter and a few tablespoons of olive oil in a wide skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add pieces of chicken breast to the pan in small batches and brown on both sides. Chicken is cooked when the juices run clear. Cool completely before adding to salad.

WoW Introduction

My main toon, Sephestra, a level 80 enhancement shaman. I raid with my guild, Bleach, on the US Azjol-Nerub server. We're pretty good and it's a lot fun. Right now we're working on 25 man Lich King in ICC and 10 man hardmode ICC.

And outside of raid I'm working on the Insane in the Membrane achievement....because I am an achievement whore. I can't lie, I love to see the little pop up when I get one. It's shiny and flashy and pretteh. (Yes, I change my toon's hairstyle based on the gear I get, why do you ask?) When I finish this achievement I'll get a very nice title, Sephestra the Insane, and a bunch of achievement points.

I'll tell you more about that later, for now just know that I enjoy playing WoW as much as I enjoy cooking. And that's saying something.

So this week has been pretty productive. I made cinnamon rolls, orange rolls, banana custard cake, schnitzel, potato salad, and macaroni 'n cheese....all from scratch. I also completed 10-man hardmodes for Marrowgar, Saurfang, Festergut, and Rotface. Food and WoW, two of my favourite hobbies. I hope you'll join me as I write about both of them.