Braisin' Hussy

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Oh, my god. Yesterday's Order of the Stick (fabulous D&D-related webcomic that I follow) is awesome.

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Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Ha HA! The ANTM spoiler I read was wrong! Furonda stayed! Man, I was so surprised when they sent Nnenna home. It's not like Nnenna really needs this competition, anyway. Now that she's gotten some exposure through the show, I'm sure she'll get signed quickly. Ee, I'm so happy Furonda didn't get cut.

(Yes, I dork out over America's Next Top Model. What?)

So, tonight at D&D was very exciting. My character almost died. Mark's character (our wizard) almost died. We ran away from that battle! However, although we didn't earn any experience at all, we did get a bunch of money. I hope Kaya lives long enough to collect her mithril chain shirt. (Well, actually, Rob's first character, Hitch, put in the order, but then he got all dead and stuff.)

I've been trying not to use my car this week. I think I'll be able to make it to Saturday, but then I'm going over to Ryan's to hang out with her, Sara, and Nathan, and I'm toting my unfinished Katamari costume pieces. Hopefully I'll get Honey finished in a positive direction.

I got contacted by the guy setting up the Katamari Bay to Breakers. Man, I bet that'd be crazy, and possibly very fun. But even if I switched out my red shoes for comfortable black walking shoes (they'd at least go with the overall color scheme), I just don't think I could last with that head weighing me down (not to mention that with the face plate up, the heads look less good, and I'd have to have it up to see where I was going). Posing for pictures and walking around conventions is much easier. Imagine that!

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Monday, April 24, 2006

Bravo, Kashi!

I came home from work today to find a bag on my apartment door from the good cereal-makers at Kashi. "Ooh, free sample!" I thought.

I picked up the bag. It was much heavier than I expected. I got inside and opened it up. Not only was there a generous sample of GoLean Crunch, there was an eight ounce shelf-stable container of Silk Soymilk. That's awesome.

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Thursday, April 20, 2006

WHAT THE HELL UNTAGGED SPOILER DON'T TELL ME WHO GOES HOME NEXT I HATE YOU.

Holy crap, dude. Don't DO that. I'm so damn pissed, you have no idea. Ugh!

No one died last night. We came across a ton of treasure. I'd elaborate more, but I'm too mad at the insensitive poster over on the Television Without Pity ANTM forums.

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Wednesday, April 19, 2006

This is a very interesting idea, although I can't imagine walking 7.5 miles in my costume. Especially with the whole lack of vision thing.

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Monday, April 17, 2006

Sara and I are so talented that we can get negative work done on a costume. Honey is less finished today than she was before the weekend. Stupid Joanne Fabric and their discontinuing of dark magenta flannel.

I drove up to the city yestserday for the Cherry Blossom Festival. The weather was abyssmal on the way up, but once I got there, it cleared up (mostly) and was fairly pleasant. I even got a bit of a sunburn on my nose.

I am not sure when I'm going to be cooking. I think tonight I might go out with the Mountain View-ers, tomorrow night is our very late seder, Wednesday's D&D... maybe Thursday. I should defrost my last chicken.

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Thursday, April 13, 2006

Wow. We have lost two party members in two weeks. Last week our halfling cleric, Tibbet, was killed by an ogre. This week, our bard/warmage Hitch was killed by a howler, a kind of spiked demon dog. We also left Hitch's body behind as we ran the hell away. Bad comrades! Kaya's character has been moving from "foolhardy" to "paranoid" and now to "COWARD."

(I sort of think our party name should be The Quick and the Dead. Of course, that probably wouldn't inspire confidence in anyone who was looking for an adventuring party.)

I made this multigrain bread on Sunday. It's really quite tasty. I used a mixture of sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds (because strangely enough, I had pepitas in my freezer). I need to mix together some honey butter. I think that'd taste fabulous on this.

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Multigrain Bread
Cook's Illustrated

6 1/4 oz. 7-grain hot cereal mix, 1 1/4 cups (Bob's Red Mill or Arrowhead Mills brand)
20 oz. boiling water (2 1/2 cups)
15 oz. AP flour (3 cups), plus extra if needed
7 1/2 oz. whole wheat flour (1 1/2 cups)
4 Tbsp honey
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 Tbsp table salt
3/4 cup pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds (unsalted)
1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats or quick oats
Water or nonstick cooking spray

Place cereal mix in bowl of standing mixer and pour boiling water over it; let stand, stirring occasionally, until mixture cools to 100 degrees and resembles thick porridge, about 1 hour. Whisk flours in medium bowl.

Once grain mixture has cooled, add honey, melted butter, and yeast and stir to combine. Attach bowl to standing mixer fitted with dough hook. With mixer running on low speed, add flours, 1/2 cup at a time, and knead until dough forms ball, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes; cover bowl with plastic and let dough rest 20 minutes. Add salt and knead on medium-low speed until dough clears sides of bowl, 3 to 4 minutes (if it does not clear sides, add 2 to 3 tablespoons additional all-purpose flour and continue mixing); continue to knead dough for 5 more minutes. Add seeds and knead for another 15 seconds. Transfer dough to floured work surface and knead by hand until seeds are dispersed evenly and dough forms smooth, taut ball. Place dough into greased container with 4-quart capacity; cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise until doubled, 45 to 60 minutes.

Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 375 degrees. Spray two 9 by 5-inch loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray. Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface and pat into 12 by 9-inch rectangle; cut dough in half crosswise with knife or bench scraper.

With short side facing you, starting at farthest end, roll dough piece into log. Keep roll taut by tucking it under itself as you go. Pinch seam gently with thumb and forefinger. Spray loaves lightly with water or nonstick cooking spray. Roll each dough log in oats to coat evenly. Place loaf seam-side down in greased loaf pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until almost doubled in size, 30 to 40 minutes. (Dough should barely spring back when poked with knuckle.)

Bake until internal temperature registers 200 degrees on instant-read thermometer, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove loaves from pans and cool on wire rack before slicing, about 3 hours.

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Wednesday, April 12, 2006

The Katamari Damacy website has just started a new contest. A cosplay contest, in fact. Of course, since I believe the world revolves around ME, I think that the reason they chose a cosplay contest (over another fanart one) is to correct the GRAVE INJUSTICE they showed to me and Lydia last year.

(Jo, if you're reading this, I'm just joking. [Well, mostly. I do still want to win.])

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Monday, April 10, 2006

So, if you make the recipe below, please read the whole thing first. Turn the oven on, start the brine, roast the garlic (covered), drain the chicken, finish roasting the garlic (uncovered), turn up the oven, cook the chicken. Don't turn the oven on, brine the chicken, and then a half hour later say, "Oh, I was supposed to be roasting the garlic that whole time?"

The 'rents and I went to Jardiniere last night for my birthday dinner. We had a lovely meal. For starters, Mom had some scallops that were beautifully cooked, I had duck confit which was just falling apart under its crispy skin, and Dad had lamb and bean soup. He didn't volunteer any "OMG it's so good!"-type comments, so I'm guessing he was not overwhelmed by it. For our main courses, Mom and Dad both got shortribs, which they said were good, except for the fact that the mashed potatoes kind of dissolved into the sauce. I had... let me copy it from their site... Loin of Cervena Venison with Black Trumpet Mushrooms, Glazed Baby Spring Vegetables, Smoked Bacon and Creamed Nettles, Sauce Au Poivre. It was tasty! That was my first time eating nettles, and now I'm keen on trying them again. (If I can find them, that is. Eddie made a nettle risotto a month or two ago that looked good.) My only complaints were that there were two cipolline onions that weren't fully cooked (which was sad because the ones that were fully cooked were so ridiculously wonderful), and that if anyone else had been eating it, they would have found it too salty. I think that could be said for pretty much everything we got, actually. A little too heavy on the salt. And we love salt in our family.

None of the desserts really interested me (although if I had gone for one, it would have been the date and pine nut tart). I really wanted to end the meal with a glass of vin santo, but I was so full. I was afraid I was going to lose my dinner on the way home. Thankfully, I didn't. I felt bad, though. Dad was interested in getting their grappa sampler (to which I say, ewww), but I was just too far gone.

Overall:
Service? Impeccable. Atmosphere? Lovely. Food? A bit salty, but in general, quite good. Prices? High, but probably worth it. Would I go again? If you're paying.

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Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic
Cook's Illustrated

Table salt
1 whole chicken (3.5-4 lbs.), cut into 8 pieces (4 breast pieces, 2 thighs, 2 drumsticks)
Ground black pepper
3 large heads garlic (about 8 ounces), outer papery skins removed, cloves separated and unpeeled
2 medium shallots, peeled and quartered pole to pole
1 Tbsp olive oil, divided
2 sprigs fresh thyme leaves
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 bay leaf
3/4 cup dry vermouth or dry white wine
3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
2 Tbsp butter
Baguette (or bread of some sort)

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Dissolve 1/4 cup salt in 2 quarts cold tap water in large container or bowl; submerge chicken pieces in brine and refrigerate until fully seasoned, about 30 minutes. Rinse chicken pieces under running water and thoroughly pat dry with paper towels. Season both sides of chicken pieces with pepper.

Meanwhile, toss garlic and shallots with 2 teaspoons olive oil and salt and pepper to taste in 9-inch pie plate; cover tightly with foil and roast until softened and beginning to brown, about 30 minutes, shaking pan once to toss contents after 15 minutes (foil can be left on during tossing). Uncover, stir, and continue to roast, uncovered, until browned and fully tender, 10 minutes longer, stirring once or twice. Remove from oven and increase oven temperature to 450 degrees.

Using kitchen twine, tie together thyme, rosemary, and bay; set aside. Heat remaining 1-teaspoon oil in 12-inch heavy-bottomed ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat until beginning to smoke; swirl to coat pan with oil. Brown chicken pieces skin-side down until deep golden, about 5 minutes; turn chicken pieces and brown until golden on second side, about 4 minutes longer. Transfer chicken to large plate and discard fat; off heat, add vermouth, chicken broth, and herbs, scraping bottom of skillet with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits. Set skillet over medium heat, add garlic/shallot mixture to pan, then return chicken, skin-side up, to pan, nestling pieces on top of and between garlic cloves.

Place skillet in oven and roast until instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of breast registers about 160 degrees, 10 to 12 minutes. (If desired, increase heat to broil and broil to crisp skin, 3 to 5 minutes.) Remove skillet from oven and transfer chicken to serving dish. Remove 10 to 12 garlic cloves to mesh sieve and reserve; using slotted spoon, scatter remaining garlic cloves and shallots around chicken. Discard herbs. Force the reserved garlic cloves through sieve and into bowl; discard skins. Add garlic paste to skillet. Bring liquid to simmer over medium-high heat, whisking occasionally to incorporate garlic; adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Whisk in butter; pour sauce into sauceboat and serve. Spread leftover roasted garlic on slices of baguette.

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Friday, April 07, 2006

Well, that was surprising. Jacob, the TWoP recapper for Doctor Who, got in touch with me about my problems with his D&D reference. Apparently I was overthinking the joke- what a shocker!

At first Jacob explained that he was using the d20 roll to imitate the non-player-character behavior of the TARDIS against the Doctor. I replied, asking if the Doctor has to make a diplomacy check every time he wants to travel somewhere, or whether it was more like a will save that the TARDIS had to make in order to be influenced/controlled by the Doctor. Jacob agreed that it was more like a will save, but that on its simplest level, the joke was merely that there were 20 things that could go wrong with the TARDIS, and that each time the Doctor was making a roll to see which outcome he'd get.

This entry is really just so I can end with this testament to my nerdliness and obsessive nitpickery. "I just didn't think anybody would catch the reference in the first place, so it bugs me that it didn't make sense. I should have worded it better." Yaaaaay.

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Wednesday, April 05, 2006

The Doctor and Rose come running up against a barricade, still miles from ground zero, and converse at length about how amazing it is and how this is First Contact and the doctor is so lucky to...be there, or something. I don't know -- he's got a time machine. I don't understand how...so the TARDIS just runs all roughshod and 1d20 over him all the time? That's how it goes? No wonder he acts like a kid all the time.

This is a bit from the Television Without Pity recap of the Doctor Who episode "The Aliens of London." Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but that's referring to the teleport spell, correct? Which even I know is a d% (2d10 is totally different from a d20). I may suck hardcore at playing spellcasters, but I do remember that time Merreck transported us and Scott rolled poorly. Our party landed way off course, in the ocean. We would have drowned, but thankfully Merreck had another teleport left for the day (and this time, the roll was better).

Speaking of which, D&D's tonight.

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Monday, April 03, 2006

Orange Cupcakes
Adapted from a yellow cake recipe in Cook's Illustrated

2 eggs
1/4 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/8 cup sifted cake flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp table salt
1 stick butter, cut into 8 pieces
1/2 tsp orange extract

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare cupcake pan with liners.

Beat eggs, milk, and vanilla with fork in small bowl; set aside. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment; mix on lowest speed to blend, about 30 seconds. With mixer still running at lowest speed, add butter one piece at a time; mix until butter and flour begin to clump together and look sandy and pebbly, with pieces about the size of peas, 30 to 40 seconds after all butter is added. Add about 1/2 cup of egg mixture and mix at lowest speed until incorporated, 5 to 10 seconds. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add remaining egg mixture in slow steady stream, about 30 seconds. Stop mixer and thoroughly scrape sides and bottom of bowl. Beat on medium-high until thoroughly combined and batter looks slightly curdled, about 15 seconds longer. Stir in the orange extract by hand.

Divide the batter equally among the cupcake liners. Bake for 12-18 minutes, or until the tops are light golden and a toothpick inserted in the center cupcakes comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for ten minutes, then remove the cupcakes from the pan. Cool completely on a rack before icing (say, with leftover Chocolate Satin Frosting).

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Saturday, April 01, 2006

Dude. I went to an Indian market today (Kumud Grocery in Newark), and they were selling butter for $1.69 a pound. That is ridiculous! And it was a good brand of butter, too (Berkeley Farms, I think). If I didn't already have four pounds in my freezer, I would have stocked up!

What I did stock up on was yummy spiced breads. They're in my parents' freezer, since I'm out of room in mine. I keep trying to clean it out, but it never gets to be less! I have some challah and French bread that are taking up a lot of room. I should eat those. Flatbreads take up less space.

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