Braisin' Hussy

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Happy Halloween, everyone!

I have a costume out in my car, but I'm probably not going to wear it. The Press does not seem so into the holiday spirit. I bought some candy to put at the front desk. One piece has been taken so far. Yay.

I think we might get trick-or-treaters tonight! I haven't seen any of those in AGES!

ETA: Okay, I just got back from lunch with Rosy. I did dress up! Rosy was a Viking, and I was Mandy, the misanthropic 10-year-old from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. We went to Chili's. It was much fun. (I'm back in plainclothes now.)

And to answer my mom's question, I bought a variety pack at Safeway this morning on the way to work (I figured I should have candy at the front desk). It's a mixture of Butterfinger, Nestle Crunch, Baby Ruth, and chocolate Laffy Taffy.

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Monday, October 30, 2006

Blackout Cake
Ebinger's Bakery (attempting to recreate the recipe)

CAKE
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup milk
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp table salt

PUDDING
2/3 cup sugar
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp table salt
1 1/2 cups milk
3 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 tsp vanilla extract

FROSTING
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
1 stick unsalted butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
3 cups confectioners sugar

CAKE
Heat the oven to 350. Butter two 9-inch cake pans. (Make sure they're 9-inch, I accidentally used 8.5-inch and had such a mess.) Dust them with flour and tap out the excess. Set aside.

Stir the cocoa with some of the milk to form a paste. Stir in the rest of the milk, and beat with a whisk until the mixture is smooth. Set aside. In a stand mixer combine the butter, shortening, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Beat for 1 minute, or until the mixture is fluffy.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the mixture, alternately with the cocoa mixture, to the contents of the bowl, beating between additions. Begin and end with the flour mixture, and beat only until the dry ingredients are absorbed. Divide the batter between the cake pans and smooth the tops with a spatula to even them.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the layers shrink from the sides of the pans and the tops spring back when gently pressed with a fingertip. Cool the layers on wire recks for 10 minutes, then carefully invert them onto the racks. Turn right side up and let cool completely.

PUDDING
Combine the sugar, cornstarch and salt in a small heavy saucepan. Gradually add the milk, mixing thoroughly with a wire whisk. Add the chocolate. Place over moderate heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and bubbles for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Pour into a small bowl and put plastic wrap or wax paper directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Cool completely.

FROSTING
Melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler. Remove it from the heat and cool slightly. In a medium bowl, beat the butter, vanilla, and eggs until well mixed (be aware that the mixture will not blend completely). Gradually beat in the sugar, a quarter-cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the melted chocolate. Chill the frosting while assembling the rest of the cake, about 15 minutes.

ASSEMBLY
Cut each cake layer in half horizontally, using a serrated knife or cake separator. You now have 4 layers, 3 for the cake assembly and 1 for the outside crumbs. Break up the fourth layer into large crumbs with your hands (or use a food processor with three or four 1-second pulses).

Sandwich the remaining 3 layers with the chocolate pudding filling. Frost the side and top of the cake with the chocolate frosting. Gently press the cake crumbs all over the top and sides of the cake, pressing them to adhere.

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Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Grr. You know what makes me mad? Er, one of the things? Establishments that overcharge on single-serving sodas. I went to Izzy's Brooklyn Bagels today for lunch because I really like their egg salad (no celery, hooray!). An egg salad bagel is $3.25 (including tax). I decided to eat there and grabbed a Diet Coke. The total came to $5.42. I was all "Huh?" at the cashier, because dude, $2.19 for a twelve ounce can of soda is INSANE. Apparently that was right, though. So I went without soda.

The end. Good story, Sarah.

I made a cake this weekend. It's based on the legendary Chocolate Blackout Cake from Ebinger's Bakery in Brooklyn. It was pretty decent. Cakes are not really my strong suit, but I keep trying! I'll post the recipe later today.

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Tuesday, October 17, 2006

I am working on an easy chai recipe. The stuff I made last night was overpoweringly peppery and too watery. I'm learning!

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Friday, October 13, 2006

I have got to start bringing my lunch to work again. I'm spending too much money and eating too much crap. Starting Monday! I promise! It probably won't be anything interesting for a while, but it should get me back in the game. I haven't been doing any cooking or baking (you've probably noticed). Thankfully, I'm having a get-together next weekend that should, at the very least, require cookies.

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Tuesday, October 10, 2006

FALLFEST 2006!

Rosy and I got there a little late. First, the train was super-crowded with people going to Fleet Week and Stanford freshman going to do some scavenger hunt thing, so it arrived in San Francisco sixteen minutes late. Then there were no cabs (and a long line of people waiting from them). When we finally got a cab, the traffic on the Embarcadero was ridiculous because of (again) Fleet Week.

But we did make it, albeit a half hour after it started. Thankfully, no one had run out of food yet. YET. I think the exhibitors hadn't really planned how much the event had grown, because they were running out of food and wine much earlier than last year.

What were my favorite things?

Pickled grapes with home-cured boar salumi. (from... ?)
Roasted peaches with chevre on crostini. (from Solstice)

Both of these things were AWESOME and are totally recreatable! Eddie, are you listening? (Well, no, he's in Italy right now, but hopefully he'll read this when he gets back.) The pickled grape/salumi thing was... wow, just incredible. Wish I could remember where it was from!

Another good appetizer-recreation was a fig and (I think) brie on nut bread. Really tasty, but I can't remember the specifics of the dish. ): This is why I should have taken notes at the event.

A dessert/wine combination that I very much enjoyed was a brandy winecake with a delicious orange moscato.

My favorite from last year, Wili's Wine Bar, came back with risotto? topped with oxtail. It wasn't actually risotto, but it was some sort of goopy rice thing. I happen to like oxtail, but one of my friends found the texture bizarre. It was a little disappointing after last year's triumph, in my opinion.

What was the big trend this year? Gazpacho. And you know what? I didn't think any of them were great. Last year, I remember one restaurant offering four different gazpachos, each with a different heirloom tomato as its centerpiece. Those were simple, clean, and wonderful. This year, the gazpachos offered were just... trying too hard.

The weirdest thing I tried was from the Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay. It was a cylinder of Dungeness crab salad, topped with a spoonful of CELERY ICE CREAM and a potato chip fried in olive oil. It was bizarre. From there, Rosy and I went to One Market and got Dungeness crab cakes with saffron aioli. Rosy's comment was, "This tastes more like food and less like an experiment."

I didn't try many wines this year. A Sauvignon-Blanc from somewhere fairly forgettable, the orange moscato, a merlot fom Irony Vineyards, and champagne from Gloria Ferrer. POM was serving "POM-tinis" which had a ton of vodka in them. I got one even though I hate the "-tini" naming convention. I did not finish it.

The cheddar from the Spring Hill Jersey Cheese Company was WONDERFUL. I also enjoyed all the very feet-y cheese from the Marin French Cheese Company. My favorite (if I recall correctly) was the Schloss, which the website describes as "replete with delicate naughtiness."

Will I go again next year? Hell yes.

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Tuesday, October 03, 2006

I was really hoping I'd find some fallout from the newly released Michelin ratings for the San Francisco Bay Area. People are getting pretty het up about the whole thing.

The San Francisco Chronicle says, "OMG they just don't get us. We're better than New York!"

"I'm disappointed by not getting two stars," said La Folie's Roland Passot, who has a four-star rating from The Chronicle but got just one from Michelin. "I was not expecting to get three stars, but I was hoping to get two. I don't know how they judged.

"Some of the one-stars have no tablecloths and people waiting in line outside. I know we're better than those restaurants," Passot said.

The Chronicle's restaurant reviewer says, "The French Laundry is TOO GOOD."

Maybe we should blame it on the French Laundry. I wonder if our restaurants are being handicapped because it's much better than any of the other restaurants here and the three stars in New York, including Per Se.

eGulleteers weigh in with mixed reactions.

I'll bite. After living in San Francisco for a number of years, I was eagerly awaiting the announcement, and to be honest, it left me extremely apathetic to the whole thing. I don't mean to discredit those who have earned their stars (and congrats go out to you!) but the whole Michelin Guide seems to me at least, to be a bit lost here in America.

But for the ultimate explosion, we turn to Joy at Confessions of a Restaurant Whore.

All I can say is: What the fuck?

I have been waiting for this announcement with the anticipation of a virgin on prom night. Sadly, like the aforementioned, I have ended up with nothing but the disappointing knowledge that the real thing can never live up to the fantasy.

Range, an excellent restaurant, is totally worthy of it's one star, but why then why no Delfina? Why no Zuni? And how do you put Range and The Dining Room at the Ritz Carlton in the same category? The Ritz should have two at least, in my opinion. They are making some bad ass yums over there. And Bushi-tei? Really? Because I just don't see it, folks.

Don't even get me started on Michael Mina's two stars. I just about puked on my keyboard reading that shit.

Fabulously over-the-top. I love it.

ETA: I forgot to check Yelp. They've got a big thread about it. It basically comes down to, "Michelin sucks, and our reviews here at Yelp are much better!"

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Monday, October 02, 2006

I spent this last weekend at Ani-Magic in Lancaster (warning: exceptionally ugly website). The con was pretty lame, but hanging out with my friends and being costumed dorks was plenty fun. Lancaster is... well, calling it a pit is being pretty generous. One of my roommates brought a rice cooker and made onigiri each morning. We were well-fed, which was awesome, because the only things within walking distance of the hotel were a 7-11 and a Carl's Jr.

Next weekend is FallFest! I'm really looking forward to this- last year was a blast. Food and wine and food and food and wine and chocolate and (hopefully) that lotion I really like but is way too expensive and Gray Goose and even more food. Oh, and another Riedel wine glass. (:

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