Monthly Archives: January 2012

Can You Be Addicted to Bread?

 

My daughter’s father has been in the kitchen hard at work experimenting with making bread. Some of his test subjects have not been too successful, yet MOST have been incredibly tasty!

Whenever I hear the running of the mixer and the clinging and banging of measuring instruments, I know he’s at it again as I wait in anticipation for the bread. He doesn’t make that quick stuff. Nope. He makes us wait a day for that chewy goodness by letting the dough age and rise slowly, sort of like sourdough.

Then when the sound of the oven’s alert alarm goes off, I know that it’s time to make the bread! Slowly the smell begins to permeate each room in the house. Then it happens! The bread is out of the oven. We stand over it like animals salivating over its meal. The smell is intoxicating. The crust keeps us transfixed just waiting for the cooling period to be over. Then the moment arrives when I hear the sound of crust giving way to the knife.

That first taste of the beautiful crumb in my mouth brings memories of San Francisco sitting in Boudin having that first taste of San Francisco sourdough. I’m not saying it’s better, it just gives me a taste memory of a bread I love so much.

He’s been chronicling his journey with baking bread and I’m glad that he’s taken up this new hobby. I wonder what he’ll make next. Okay, let me be honest, who cares. Just keep the bread coming! I need my daily fix! I mean bread. That’s what I said, bread.

My Love Affair with a Dandy Avocado Salad

I love avocados. I crave avocados. I MUST have avocados often. Yet, the opportunity doesn’t present itself  for me to have avocados every day. So when the opportunity does come around for me to go to Dandelion Communitea Cafe to enjoy a salad maybe even some soup with a mug of hot tea. I jump at the chance.

Each time, I take a glance at the daily specials just to see if my favorite is there. When I don’t see it I grab a menu and slowly open it knowing that it really doesn’t change except for more special items that have graduated to the menu. Like a sweet potato burrito I have yet to try.

I continue to turn the page and there it was, my beloved Avocado Fetish! I LOVE this salad. the lettuce is so fresh and crisp as if they walked outside to their lovely garden and picked each leaf to prepare your salad. The tomatoes actually taste like a tomato. The avocados are so creamy and rich with flavor especially when paired with the whirred peas. The whirred peas are just one of a selection of sides that come with the salad. I love the combination of the avocados and pea guacamole and a touch of balsamic vinaigrette is amazing. Now I am very light on the balsamic because really the avocados and whirred peas I order as my side work well together.

So whenever you get a chance to or want to give your body a wonderful treat in the way of a salad, go in, cross your fingers and hope that the salad is available to order. If it isn’t, there are plenty of other salads, great chili, nachos, soups, excellent teas, and desserts.

Happy Eating!

 

Scattered Food Thoughts

May I be honest with you?

I haven’t had a web presence for long. I am still learning what a blog is and what it means to be a blogger. I’m still learning how the entire process comes together. Let’s not even get into the photography process. I am terrible at taking pictures. Again, I am learning, just not fast enough for my taste.

Everyday I go online reading blogs. Marvelling at their author’s brilliance. I wonder “How can I go beyond what I perceive as difficult in order to create a web presence that I love?” That question is on my mind all the time. As with others like:

  • What do I need to make my blog work and be a success for my standards?
  • Do I immediately try to get ads?
  • Where do I get all the bells and whistles and how do I place them into my blog?
  • Do I post everyday, every other day, or once a week?
  • Is there a book, website, video, or a combination of it all to teach and help me with everything?
  • How do these bloggers continue to create recipes with ease?
  • Why am I not comprehending this? What is wrong with me?

I have been freaking out over this since I started my blog. The act of trying to write down the recipe of what I make as I make it is challenging considering that I don’t measure anything unless I am baking and I’m not a baker. Unless I am making biscuits, cobbler, or pie.

The ideas for dishes are plentiful. Yet when I get in the spotlight – the stove to create said masterpiece, I choke and then just about all my meals end up looking the same or have the same color  palette. I keep hearing Gillian McKeith in my head speaking of bland brown. However, in my case it’s a green orange curry color or tomato based. How do all the bloggers do it?!

My pictures. Oh my gosh, let’s not go there. I have blurry, angled, too bright, too dark. the list goes  on and on pictures. And none of the patients to keep taking pictures of the same thing until I get it right before I move on to thee next project.

The bottom line is I have been blogging for a few months  and already I feel lost and alone in this. I am not going beyond what I perceive to be difficult or even being my best. I feel as though I am trying really hard to get the hang of this blogging thing without getting anywhere. Maybe one day the switch will flip for me to finally connecting the dots and create a beautiful picture and seriously good site.

 

BabycakesNYC Cupcake Dreams!

January is here once again. It is the start of the new year; the time of the year when most people are thinking back to all those amazing treats and desserts that usually take over between October and December. It is non-stop back-to-back holiday celebrations and activities filled with candy, cakes, pies, cookies, and more! Did I say – PIE!

Yes, January is cold and dreary some days, even here in Florida. So you want all the rich soups and some hearty chili to the point that you eat more than you should. You still want to snuggle up in a warm blanket with a large cup of hot chocolate.

However, I, along with millions of others take a journey at the beginning of the year to purge ourselves of all the junk we inhaled over the holiday season. Here we are sort of in the middle of January and I am having sweet treats withdrawals. All I want are some BabycakesNYC cupcakes at Downtown Disney.

I have been doing very well with not having any sweets or treats up to this point. Still, I have been wanting the wonderful slight sweet taste of BabycakesNYC at Downtown Disney.

Is it wrong? Is it wrong to dream of strawberries with cake and lovely frosting. I really want to try this cupcake! YUM!

Maybe next month I will be able to have my BABYCAKES!

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap – Vegan Cookies

I can not believe that I forget to post about the WONDERFUL cookies I received in The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap!

They all came on the same day! Oh joy!

We gathered around our goodies ready to taste each cookie and taste we did!

The first cookie package we opened came in a beautifully decorated container of different shades of gold. We lifted the lid and there inside were “Maple- Frosted Pumpkin Spice” Cookies!

These cookies had a deep spicy pumpkin flavor that was soft like pillows when you bit into them. The frosting added to that softness with just a kiss of maple.

The next cookie we dove into were “Vegan Nog” Cookies!

These also were soft and frosted. a wonderful warming spicy nog flavor that complimented my nog, cider, and hot chocolate.

The final package of cookies were “What the He$%!” Cookies! Yes, you read that right. You read “What the Hell!” And that is exactly what I said when I opened them.

These had so many flavor nodes that blended so well that all I needed was a glass of almond milk.

None of the cookies lasted longer than a few days, if that. We gobbled them up real quick and brought smiles to our faces.

We are so ready the next cookie swap!