Still sick. I totally want farina.

Yep, I’m sick.

So, I broke in my shiny new gadgets over this last week. I made pizza dough in the Kitchenaid and hummus in the Cuisinart. Unfortunately, the yeast I used for the dough was dead (oldness), so it never rose. Fault of the ingredients, not the recipe or equipment. And the hummus turned out well (No. 1), although I didn’t have quite the full amount of sesame seeds. I was going to make up the rest with tahini, but I couldn’t find it. I think I left it at my parents’ house, so I’ll get it when I head over there sometime this week. So I used peanut butter. It was fine.

On Saturday, I went down to Mountain View and hung out with Rob and Jer. There was much Katamari Damacy and snacking. Jer and I went for pho. I’d never had it before. Big ol’ bowl of beef broth with noodles and meat and veggies. Not bad, especially when you glopped a bunch of hot sauce on it.

Last night, I went over to Jon’s to witness the making of fromage fort (we were inspired by the recipes of Jacques Pepin and Alton Brown, but this recipe seems closer to what we made). If you’ve never heard of it, it’s what to do if you’ve got a bunch of different leftover cheeses. You cut them up into chunks (removing the rind and any mold, of course) and put them into a food processor with a bunch of garlic, salt, pepper, and some white wine. Process until creamy, and use as a spread on bread or crackers. However, we learned that maybe you shouldn’t just use wine, that you should cut it with a little water. Because our comment while tasting and tweaking seasoning was, “Well, it’s definitely got enough wine in it!” So yeah, a little on the boozy side. And I reek of garlic today. ^) ^

I think I might be coming down with something. I’ve started coughing. Hm, better make some chicken soup. Yay!

Before I left the company, I got a lovely present from one of my supervisors- Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. She’s basically the Julia Child of Italian food instruction (except she yells at you a little more). I’d actually been looking for her books at my local used book stores. So bravo to Tracy! Excellent choice.

Yesterday, I made “A Single Fish Cooked Fish-Soup Style.” I described it to my brother as a fish soup, then outlined the ingredients, and he said, “Sounds like cioppino.” I described it to my mom as cioppino, and she said, “Without shellfish or fennel or stock?” So it’s kind of halfway between the two. Seriously, one of the easiest things I’ve ever made. I used about a pound each of swordfish steaks and red snapper fillets. When I make it again, I’m just going to stick to one fish- probably the red snapper. I had moments of panic thinking about doneness, because the swordfish steaks were quite a bit thicker than the red snapper. Also, I had too much fish and not enough soup. So, one pound of fish next time. And I’m not quite sure how to reheat it without overcooking the fish. I should have known better and had people over to eat it all up.

Why am I the best sister ever? When Jon and Ryan came back from Hawaii, they had several containers of stock, a loaf of bread, and a batch of cookies waiting for them. Why are Jon and Ryan the best family members ever? They brought me salt. Beautiful red salt.

I think today is going to be spent moving stuff around on my shelves so I have enough space for all my lovely cookbooks.

“Hey, Sarah. I’m in downtown Palo Alto and have five dollars burning a hole in my pocket. What should I do?”

You should go to Coupa Cafe and get some spicy hot chocolate. And possibly pick up a few of their specialty chocolates. (I guess their coffee’s good, too, but I’m not a coffee drinker, so I couldn’t say.) Mm, tasty.

The spoon bread is pretty good, but clearly only something you make, like, twice a year. A cup of cream? Real maple syrup? Wow. Also, I slightly overcooked it. I was doing the knife test, and stuff kept clinging to it. So I changed the knife test in the recipe from “clean” to “mostly clean.”

I remember reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder books when I was a kid, and being fascinated by the maple candies she made (I think in Little House in the Big Woods) by pouring syrup on snow and letting it harden. I tried that once. With crushed ice and Mrs. Butterworth (or maybe it was Log Cabin). Needless to say, it really didn’t work.

No D&D tonight.

Custard-Topped Spoon Bread

Joy of Cooking

1 cup AP flour

3/4 cup stone-ground cornmeal

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 cups milk

4 Tbsp melted butter, separated (2/2)

2 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 Tbsp white vinegar

1 cup cream

Maple syrup, for serving

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven. Place an ungreased 8×8 baking dish on that rack. Heat the oven to 350.

Combine the flour, cornmeal, baking soda, and baking powder. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, 2 tablespoons of the butter, sugar, salt, and vinegar. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir together until smooth and free of lumps. Don’t overmix.

Place the other 2 tablespoons of butter in the heated baking dish and tilt to coat the bottom of the dish. Pour the batter into the baking dish. Place the dish back on the oven rack. Over the batter, pour the cream slowly and evenly.

Bake until the custard on top is puffed and golden brown but still quivery and a knife inserted in the center comes out mostly clean, 50 to 60 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sstand for about 10 minutes before serving. Serve with maple syrup.

Basic White Bread

Great Breads

2 tsp active dry yeast

2 cups lukewarm water

4-5 cups AP flour

2 tsp salt

Dissolve the yeast in the water in a large bowl and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes, or until creamy. Mix together 3 1/2 cups of the flour and the salt in a medium bowl. Gradually beat the flour mixture, 1 cup at a time, unto the liquid mixture, with a wooden spoon; the dough should be stiff enough to turn out onto the work surface.

Dust the work surface with flour and turn out the flour. Knead, using a pastry scraper to facilitate folding, for 10 to 15 minutes, adding flour to the work surface and to your hands as needed. At first the dough will be sticky, but it will become resilient after the first 5 minutes, and by the end of the kneading, it should be smooth and elastic. Sprinkle the work surface and your hands with more flour and shape the dough into a ball.

Rinse, dry, and lightly oil the large bowl. Place the dough in it and turn to coat with the oil. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and a towel and let rise in a warm spot for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until doubled in bulk.

Punch down the dough and let rise a second time for another 1 1/2 hours, or until nearly doubled in bulk again.

Turn the dough out of the bowl, moisten your hands, knead it a couple of times, and shape it uinto a ball. Cut the ball in half and shape into 2 balls. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.

Oil or butter two 8×4-inch loaf pans. Form the loafs by flattening the balls of dough into rectangles. Roll the long ends up tightly and pinch the seam. Take the short ends and fold them into the center, pinching those folds as well. Place the loaves in the pans, first seam-side up, then turn over with the smooth side up (so the loaves are coated with oil). Let rise until the tops curve up above the sides of the pans.

Heat the oven to 375 when the loaves are almost done with their final rise. Move a rack to the middle. Slash the loaves across the top with a razor blade or sharp knife. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the loaves are brown and respond to tapping with a hollow sound. Remove from the pans and cool on a rack.

Woo! New year. My resolution is to blog more this year than last year, which won’t be very hard, considering I have an extra three and a half months. I made stock today, as well as a couple of loaves of white bread. Yes, there are more interesting breads out there, but I’m new to that area of baking and decided to start out simple. They are currently baking. I am very excited to try them- I hope they don’t suck.

I’ve been spending my free time over at Jon’s so I can play video games. Katamari Damacy, more accurately. I had been planning to try and beat Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal in a week, but I put in the Damacy disk and it’s just stayed there. What a hellishly fun game. It’s not hard to beat, but it’s got excellent replay value, at least in my opinion. My moon’s 845 meters in diameter (The King was extremely happy), and I suck at the constellations where you have to pick up the biggest one of anything (Ursa Major and Taurus). So fun! I am really looking forward to seeing Lydia’s costume for the Prince of the Cosmos.

Oh! I feel it! I feel the cosmos! The timer has gone off, and I need to go take my bread out of the oven.