Mother's Day...

... a.k.a the tale of two cakes.

First of all, happy (late) mother's day to all the mom's out there. :)

(And a happy 16th birthday to my favorite cousin named Katie!)

As I'm sure the majority of you are well aware, yesterday was the celebration of those hard working women we love so dearly... our moms! :D In my house we celebrated with me stuck in the kitchen. Well... not stuck, as I am the one who put myself there... but I was there practically all day.

We started the day off with smoked salmon scramble, peach nutmeg scones, and (of course) cafe au lait. The salmon was smoked on Thursday along with some almonds, pecans, and pine nuts. (Post meatloaf smoke. HOLY CRAP! Was that delicious! I highly recommend that anyone who has or can get their hands on a smoker try smoking a meatloaf. It's got a wonderful smokey exterior (made smokier by a home made barbecue sauce) with a juicy, melt-in-your-mouth interior. A friend of my dad told him that once you smoke your first meatloaf, you will never want to have a regular, run-of-the-mill meatloaf again... and I think I must agree with him.) The nuts were actually pretty good for just throwing them on the smoker. My favorite were the pecans because they seemed to retain more of the smokey flavor than the almonds, but both were good and the two large bags we smoked disappeared in days. It's definitely something that will be done again, especially because they're so easy to make.

Okay, so... onto dinner. I had planned on grilling pork tenderloin wrapped in pancetta, served alongside sauteed asparagus, risotto, and a green salad. HOWEVER, My trek to the local market led me to three possible vendors to buy said pancetta from... and they were all out! Each one of them had a sad, empty opening where the sign read "pancetta". Not to mention, the market was utterly packed full of people. I had to stand in long, looping lines just to get to the counter and realize the items I needed were not there. Woe is me. :( All was not lost, though, because when I got home, I whipped out the "Webber's Big Book of Grilling" again and decided upon a recipe entitled "Disappearing Tenderloin", how could I pass up a promising name like that? This recipe called for a two-hour marinade period followed by a rub and about 25 minutes on the grill. Wow. That was superb! I think I much rather prefer this one to the one that would have been wrapped in pancetta. Maybe the North Market was trying to tell me that. ;)

The risotto was kind of made up in my head. I used the basic recipe for risotto from my mother's simply named "Risotto" cookbook. But, I simply used that to get the proportions of rice to stock, then I just added my own ingredients based on my knowledge of risottos. Wanting to keep it light and simple, to compliment and not overwhelm the delectable pork, I went with a red pepper and baby garlic risotto. My aunt and uncle down the street have a crop of garlic that overtakes the very back of their garden every spring. The early garlics look almost like scallions, but taste intensely of garlic. We are a family that obsesses over garlic, so these are like heaven to us and I have been attempting to use them in any dish I can. (The eggs I made had chopped up baby garlics in them instead of leaks that the recipe called for.) Anywho, looking to experiment a little with spices, I added a bit of cinnamon, ground allspice (love the scent), a bit of smokey paprika, and some cayenne for heat. It was a decent risotto. I enjoyed the little kick from the cayenne, but other than the smokiness from the paprika, that was really the only spice I could taste.

Dessert, oh dessert.

My mom loves lemon (and can't stomach chocolate, unless it is frozen and has at least a 60% cocoa content). I try to make her a new lemon cake every year (mainly because I don't like making the same thing twice, I get too bored with it). This year, I definitely did not turn out the best product... I think I'm still a little partial to the lemon curd filled, whipped cream/white chocolate iced, and pistachio brittle coated cake I made a few years back from Bon Appetit. This year's cake wasn't bad (actually quite delicious), it just wasn't one of the best... and caused too much grief... here's why...

Cake layer #1. (The other layer from this batch is more than half eaten. :P) This is one of the layers I made in the morning. Cake flour is not something that we have on hand here often, so I usually just use regular, all-purpose flour for my baking and that usually works fine. However, I may have to dedicate myself to making the perfect, fluffy cake this summer and in order to do that I probably need to purchase some cake flour, eh? This cake was pretty dense and that probably has something to do with the flour... or maybe it's just supposed to be dense? Clearly, though, this layer is too thin to even have considered using it for my cake. (Although I had considered it before I removed it from the pan and saw just how depressingly thin it was.) How sad would that flat thing have looked? (Pretty darn pathetic, if you ask me.) So I decided to go for round two, this time I would be more careful about whipping the butter enough, gently add the flour/milk, and not over beat it. I also changed the size of my pan as I think I was using a 10" round where I should have been using an 8"... whoops.

This second cake baked up higher/thicker, but I think that largely had to do with the decrease in pan size, because the denseness of the cake did not change much. Thus, I've come to the conclusion that, for my next cake, I am in dire need of cake flour. Everyone raved about this one (my mom even said she thinks it's the best lemon cake yet, but I don't think she has a clear memory of the previous ones :P), but I don't think that would have been the case without the frosting. The frosting was, by far, the best part of the cake. Whipping cream, whipped up with confectioners sugar and folded into lemon curd. Wow. So yummy! The lemon curd was very tart as that's the way I like it... I'm not a fan of the overly sweet... which added some much needed depth to the cake. I practically had a whole slice of cake while I was decorating, nibbling on the bits I cut off to the level the layers and dipping it into excess frosting. 8D (<--- that's me... wide eyed and beaming with delight at my pre-dinner snack.)

This picture probably represents the extent of my artistic ability when it come to photography. I wanted to showcase the drastic change in height of the cake layers. (Look how flat that baby is!!!) Maybe I should outsource my photography to a friend... I have just the one in mind... but she'd have to work for Monopoly money (not to be confused with Canadian money) as I am pretty much dead broke. Check out her skills on her blog anyways, because she does some extremely excellent work. Right now she's working on her latest passion, food photography for her final project at CCAD. She hopes to put together a sellable cookbook (along with her chef boyfriend) featuring her beautiful photography and his excellent cuisine made with fresh, local ingredients. She's pretty awesome. :)

This picture I liked because you can see some of the yellow flecks in the frosting from the lemon rind. Yum yum yum.

Oh, another missing aspect of this cake was candied orchids. I have never candied a flower and was in need of organic orchids, which I could not find and was not in the mood to trek all over for. They would have been wonderful an added a little more visual interest, but ultimately would not have added much to the final product, so I'm pretty content in not having gotten a hold of them.

I wish I had taken pictures of dinner to share with you all, but it seems to be too much work to slave over dinner and then wait another 45 minutes or so to eat because I'm setting up and taking pictures. Huff! I am tired just thinking about the extra work. How do all these bloggers find the time to continuously update and manage to fit in exquisite pictures. I guess I'm still an amateur.

More to come soon, I hope. :P

P.S

I have to mention that there was a slight competition for cakes this year. I had set out to make a Persian Love cake that I have been gawking at for years now on the epicurious website. However, in the end I opted to keep this relatively new tradition alive and make a lemon layer cake. The Persian cake will have to come later this summer... but don't worry... it will get made... and pictures will be shared. :)

Summer is Within Reach!!

Dear whomever is reading this blog,

I know I have been slacking on the blog front... but most definitely not on the making and eating food front. :P

HOWEVER...

Summer is fast approaching... which means more time for cooking, baking, picture-taking, and blogging! Yes!

Get pumped for more adventures in my kitchen. :P (I know I am exciteded to regale them to you.)

Anxiously awaiting summer break,

Abbie

P.S

I felt there needed to be a picture here... so here is le gran inspiracion... my Grandma Leah. :)

Clearly this is not a current picture of her... but it was her favorite of herself and I love it.

I love you grandma and all that you taught me.

Sourdough Bread, The Final Frontier

Hello Blogosphere!!!

I know I've previously had a longer hiatus on here than one week... but since blogging so frequently for the week I was on break and then returning to reality, which means classes suck any life out of me that I may have... I don't know... It just feels that I have not written a new post in ages. And boy do I have so much to tell! I haven't let my studies get in the way of making food and thinking about food... constantly! :)

(Last night my roommate made dinner and I decided to attempt a lighter New York cheesecake recipe courtesy of Cooks Illustrated... hopefully I'll have the time to embellish with another post... but it was less than perfect. I feel a bit disappointed with my friends at Cooks Illustrated. I value their food intelligence and research into their recipe to come up with the perfect product... but this cheesecake fell short of my expectations. Again... I'll get to that at a later date... just know that I have not been slacking in the food department... just the written portion of it. :P)

So this is it. (Michael Jackson reference, anyone?) All my love and devotion... to produce this sorry looking frisbee. (With an ode to the King, himself in the background.) What happened? Why did my lovely yeast buddies fail to produce the beautifully rounded boules that King Arthur promised me would come from all my hard work?

For one thing, I think the loaf was waaay too massive. Can you see that? It's huge. Maybe the pressure of it's size was just too much for those little yeast creatures to keep up with, and it collapsed. Also, my inexperience no doubt led to this conclusion. The process of shaping the boule (the term for the sourdough loaf I made) involved a lot of kneading and tightening to produce a taught, round ball. I'm thinking my ball could most definitely have been tighter. I was too afraid to harm the live cultures inside my bread with too much force. Next time I wont be so nice... next time I'll make sure to exert more power while kneading. Thirdly... I didn't have all the proper tools to bake off the bread. I'm not quite sure it really matters that much, as I did some other research (on epicurious) and there was no mention of it, but I lacked a spray bottle. Sir Arthur, King of Flour tells me that to produce the proper, hearth-like environment for a sourdough loaf, you need three things. A baking/pizza stone, the heat from the stone (that is heating in the oven while the oven gets hot) immediately transfers to the bread which catalyzes an instant reaction within the yeast and causes it to rise significantly in the first few minutes of baking. A cast iron skillet below the stone, when you're putting the bread on the stone, simultaneously... with one of the three extra arms you've now sprouted to accomplish this... you're too fill the also heated skillet with a half cup of water to create a steam-filled environment. The last item I was told to have was said squeeze bottle of water. This is to add a bit more steam in the beginning process of baking. (The first ten minutes is the only time the steam is utilized in the baking process.) However, poor little me got out of class too late and the dollar store was closed, which is where I planned on buying myself a spray bottle. (Actually, I went there a few days ago, to buy the bottle... and, having failed to visit an ATM post Jean Talon... I was completely out of monetary funds... and barely had a dollar to cover my purchase. :P)

Anyways, I'm not sure the spray bottle is completely necessary, but next time I'll be prepared with all the tools. I'll probably halve the recipe too to make a smaller, more manageable loaf.

Oh... the other mishap I ran into was that I neglected to fully read through the recipe and calculate how much time it would take to prepare and then bake the bread. I would like to have done it all in one day, but I didn't start the process until later in the day and had to stash the rising boule in the fridge over night. I think that might have added to my failure a bit. In the fridge, the loaf looked beautifully risen and plump, but then I took it out of the fridge to come to room temperature, released it from its plastic wrap confines, and it began to fall.

Basically, I think a large portion of my problem came from the massive size of said loaf. Next time it will definitely be made smaller. Hopefully that adds to my success.

Look at it, though. The inside did have quite a nice texture and good amount of air pockets. This is the picture I would share with others to make myself out to be a professional... who knows what she's doing. Aside from the obvious lack in height... you can hardly tell it looks like a nicely browned frisbee. :P

Or this one... I'd share this picture to strangers to impress them as well.

I must say... this slight failure has not deterred me from trying again. Au contraire, I am actually more excited to make the second one. The flavor that this first loaf wielded was not very sour at all. Being a young starter, I guess that's to be expected. Now, I've been feeding my little yeast babes for an extra week (every day... who would have thought that maintaing a starter would be so expensive?)... they should have developed a more sour flavor now that they're more mature. I like my sourdough breads more on the sour side. Then again, I'm not sure what kind of intensity I can expect to achieve in the sour department. The King tells me that depending on your location, your starter can adapt different characteristics depending on the bacteria and yeast cultures that are available in your surroundings. Certain states (or countries for that matter) produce different flavored sourdoughs. I'm hoping to increase the sour-ness quite a bit though... but I'll keep you all updated.

Alright... off to do some research. No... not the productive, school-related kind of research. My building is having a bake-off tomorrow and I'm thinking of entering... only if I can find the perfect, wow-them-all recipe. So I must get crakin'.

I hope to have the time to do a couple more posts this weekend... but I do have a bunch of other work I should PROBABLY get out of the way (and by probably... I mean most definitely). So... we'll see.

Sourdough Starter, Day 7

Faster than oozing molasses.

More powerful than a glass of water.

Able to raise whole loaves of bread in the oven.

Look! All over the bottom of the oven!

It's spilled milk! It's cake batter! It's my sourdough starter!

I woke up this morning, ready to make my latte and inspect my starter. Not wanting to disturb the activity of the starter, I decided I wouldn't take it out of the oven until after my latte was made and I was ready for the photo shoot. (I usually, take it out, look at it, then replace it in the oven while I'm preparing said latte.) Ha ha. Silly me. I should have known that any plans I had would not have been fulfilled. One glance at the oven and I saw a mass of starter all over the bottom. :( Who would have thought that it would increase in volume so much over night? It might have been that I put it back in the oven too soon after using it for roast chicken last night. The hotter than normal environment could have been too much for my poor yeasty buddies and they went into hyperactive mode... expanding like mad.

Luckily, it was fairly easily cleaned and minimal damage occurred. :)

Yes... those caked on lines of starter goo are the remnants of what had oozed over the top of my jar. That top is a screw on lid, I might add. This baby really wanted to escape! :P

Look at that bubbling activity, though. I am so excited because I did not think that the starter would be this advanced by today, day 7, the final day of feeding. :) Maybe that little extra heat did it a bit of good.

Sir Arthur tells the starter should smell and taste sharply sour. Boy does it ever! What a drastic change in both from yesterday. For that matter... there've been drastic changes all around... in appearance, smell, and taste. The amount of fizzy bubbles have increased ten fold to cover the entire surface of the starter and even permeate throughout its contents.

Since my little pet is ready to begin the actual process of making bread, Sir Arthur, King of Flour tells me to discard all but 4 ounces (or 1/2 cup) of the starter and add to it 1 cup (8 oz.) warm water and a scant 2 cups (8 oz.) all-purpose flour. Then I wait... again... for another 6 to 8 hours. At this point, says the King, "the starter should be active, with bubbles breaking on the surface." Touching it will provide evidence that the gluten has formed as it should feel "somewhat elastic". When it has reached this stage, I will either use it, or place it on one of the two maintenance schedules he recommends. I'll probably opt to make my first loaf at this time.... wish me luck.

Now it's off to ponder my pizza stone dilemma... and buy more all-purpose flour. :)

Sourdough Starter, Day 6

"Walk this way, talk this way! Walk this way... just give me some head!"

Really Run DMC? Really? I had no idea these lyrics were so dirty... actually, I guess I did and I should have expected this line, but I was listening to "Walk This Way" this morning and this line just caught me totally off guard. I always find it funny when songs have blatant sexual references... especially where I don't expect them.

Okay... on to day six of my sourdough starter shenanigans...

Yesterday was almost catastrophic for my yeasty friends. Since I'm keeping the starter in the oven, I've placed a large sticky note on it reminding my roommates to be aware and take proper precautions so as to not bake up my starter as they are warming the oven. The sticky note was on the handle of the oven (I have since moved it to cover the actual oven controls)... clearly that was the wrong place for said reminder. I was sitting innocently at my computer when I began to hear the beeping of the oven heating up. It didn't register in my mind what the noise was immediately so I let it go for a bit... then sprang to my feet to rescue my poor starter. Luckily, it wasn't in there for very long, and the next feeding was only hours away so I could scoop out the hardened clumps that had formed in the heat. Today the starter looks unharmed... and has still been bubbling away, so I'm remaining optimistic that all is still well. The new placement of the sticky note is sure to catch everyone's attention, there's no way this mishap can possibly happen again. Phew!

So here it is. It's kind of evident by the larger size of the bubbles that the mixture has definitely thickened a lot. It's very gloopy (<-- that's a technical term, people). The smell is slightly sour and the flavor is actually beginning to resemble that of sourdough.

Tomorrow is day seven, and is supposed to be the final day of the starter process... but I don't think my yeasty mates will be ready for the bread making process. That, and since I am approaching the end, nearing the actual making of the bread, I am beginning to worry about how to carry out the baking. Sir Arthur, King of Flour tells me that I need such supplies as a pizza stone. The stone, being super hot from warming in the oven, immediately allows heat to flow from it to the loaf which apparently sends the yeast into a "feeding frenzy"... causing the bread to "rise dramatically". The good news, my brother and his girlfriend gave me a b-e-a-u-tiful pizza stone for Christmas... the bad news, having to Greyhound back to Montreal, there simply was no room for said pizza stone... thus it remains in Ohio... yearning for my crappy apartment oven and the chance to aid in the process of sourdough bread making.

So... somehow I have to figure out how to tackle this problem. Either way, I will probably be feeding my starter for at least another two or three days... ergo I can prolong the solving of this dilemma for now.

I had to (pad) thai it...

Ha ha ha. How clever I am with that title. :P Well... I thought it was witty, anyways.

The first time I made pad thai was the last time as the recipe was quite horrendous. I don't really recall the flavor (except that it wasn't very good), or appearance for that matter, (it was many a years ago)... but the main thing I do remember is the handful of strange ingredients that required running all over creation to find. One of the items called for was some odd pickled item that was a strange bright green... I think it might have been little pearl onions (but probably not).. either way, it was strange... and green was most definitely not the color nature intended it to be. Where on Earth did I get that recipe? And why did I think it would be a good one? It's amazing the insight and skill a few years of experience will give you.

Having made those wonderful spring rolls (I'm really loving this whole linkage tool) I had a lot of bean sprouts left over (and still do, as a matter of fact). The first thing that popped into my head to utilize these sprouts was Pad thai, naturally, right? :P That left me with the task of finding a suitable recipe... with less extravagant ingredients. My first instinct (again... going off my love for the beloved Bittman) was to turn to 'How to Cook Everything', but, seeing as his recipe seemed to be a bit plain, I took to the internet for some more ideas. Mah-vel-ous, this idea was (<--- my ode to Yoda), as it gave me the idea to add a little extra heat with asian chili sauce, a little sweetness with tamarind concentrate, and a bit more crunch and flavor with some scallions. Actually, the next time I make this, I think I will omit the tamarind concentrate, or at least mix it with a bit of water before hand. Even though I mixed the concentrate with the fish sauce and sugar (in attempts to loosen it up a bit), I think it mostly absorbed the fish sauce and stayed rather clumpy... creating random bites of over-sweetness.

I made this last night and was a bit disappointed with it then, but giving it time to rest in the refrigerator overnight ended up doing a world of good. Eating it for lunch today was more enjoyable than dinner last night, I'd say.

Onto the recipe... before we go there, though, it's important to say that you MUST have all your ingredients prepared and ready to add to your hot pan. There is NO time for prep during the cooking process lest you want to scorch your ingredients. That being said, once the rice noodles are soaked and your ingredients prepped, the cooking advances extremely quickly... and there's not much prep, so, minus soaking the noodles, this recipe really only takes about ten minutes. (It's also important to read through the recipe a few times so you know what you're doing. I can't stress how quickly this cooks up once you get going.)

Pad Thai

Makes 4 servings (I halved this recipe for myself)

Adapted from Mark Bittman's 'How to Cook Everything' (tweaked slightly by me)

Ingredients

• 12 ounces rice noodles, preferably vermicelli
• 3 Tablespoons peanut (preferred) or other oil
• 2 Tablespoons minced garlic
• 4 scallions, cut on the diagonal into about 1/2 inch pieces (reserve one for garnish)
• 1 cup peeled, large shrimp, roughly chopped (or use small shrimp and leave whole)
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 Tablespoons fish sauce (nuoc mam or nam pla, available at Asian markets)
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1 Tablespoon asian chili sauce (I used a bit more... and then garnished with more as well.. I like it spicy)
• 1-2 Tablespoons tamarind concentrate
• salt, if needed
• 1 1/2 cup mung bean sprouts (I should also say that bean sprouts most definitely do not last very long, even in the fridge)
• 1/4 cup roasted salted peanuts, chopped (I had left over unsalted peanuts from the spring rolls which I used)
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
• Minced cilantro leaves (this is essential in my opinion)
• 2 limes or lemons, quartered (I opted for limes)

Preparation

Soak the noodles in warm water to cover until soft; this will take from 15 to 30 minutes. You can change the water once or twice to hasten the process slightly. (I soaked mine for about 18 minutes, changing the water once.) Drain thoroughly, then toss with half the oil.

(REMEMBER: PREPARE ALL THE INGREDIENTS BEFORE HAND. This includes mixing together the fish sauce, sugar, chili sauce, and tamarind concentrate so there is no fumbling to measure these ingredients once you get going.) Heat the remaining oil over medium-high heat in a wok or large, deep non-stick skillet, for a minute or so until the first wisp of smoke appears. Add the garlic and scallions and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the shrimp and cook, stirring, for another 30 seconds; don't worry about fully cooking the shrimp.

Add the eggs and let sit for 15 seconds or so, until they begin to set. Then scramble with the shrimp, garlic, and scallions, breaking up any large clumps. Add the fish sauce, sugar, tamarind concentrate, and chili sauce and cook, stirring, for 15 seconds. Add the noodles and toss and cook until heated through. Taste and add salt as needed. Add 1 cup of bean sprouts and toss to distribute through the noodles.

Turn the noodles out onto a platter and garnish with the remaining bean sprouts, the peanuts, the remaining scallion, a sprinkling of crushed red pepper flakes, and some cilantro. Squeeze some lemon or lime juice all over and serve, passing more lemon or lime around separately.

Mmmm... pull out those chop sticks and enjoy. :)

Sourdough Starter, Day 4 and 5

Oh the bounty I have reaped from Jean Talon Market. :) Payed a visit to my local vendors yesterday to stock up in case of an impending blizzard (too bad it was pretty much already blizzarding (and hailing on the way back) yesterday). Going to the market is pretty much a work out in itself... or at least the coming back bit... if you're me, that is, and fill a backpack and large Trader Joe's bag full delicious veggies and the like... my shoulders are still in pain. Boy is it worth it though (except for maybe the tripping up the metro stairs... I could have done without that). Listened to Radio Lab's "Numbers" podcast at the market and learned about Frank Benford who discovered a "cosmic preference for certain numbers" and Paul Erdos, a curious mathematician who wrote more mathematical papers with more people than anyone and as a result, there exists a relationship between him and many other mathematicians... like the six degrees of separation. It was an interesting episode. (Although... it took me twice as long to listen to it as I was so engulfed in my surroundings that I had to essentially restart it on my way home.)

Anyways...

Wednesday marked the first day of my starter's twice a day feedings with all-purpose flour. The King of Flour (King Arthur) tells me that this is because the rye flour developed the yeast and the all-purpose flour is now feeding said yeast. For me, doubling the feeding essentially means doubling my love and attention for my new friends. :P I wake up every morning thinking of my starter, enter the kitchen and strike up a conversation... well... not a conversation... let's remember, I'm not crazy. More like a "hello, buddies. How are you? Are you comfortable? Hungry? Doing well?" That sort of thing... and of course, it is pretty much one sided... but again... gardeners talk to their plants, do they not... so why can't I talk to my developing (or hopefully so) yeast?

I've combined days 4 and 5 mainly because I began to write this yesterday... eked out one sentence... and then stopped from exhaustion. Ha. But also, the starter has not changed much in appearance since yesterday... so these pictures and descriptions serve double duty.

This is a curious process because every time I discard and feed it, the mixture gets thick and gloopy, but as it rests and feeds for about 8 hours, the mix thins out... while still maintaining some of its elasticity. The smell, also, has mellowed out a bit and is far less pungent... almost smelling sourdoughy. Dare I mention the taste...? Or rather... dare I mention that I tasted it a bit when it was just the rye flour and water? I couldn't help it... Sir Arthur mentioned how it should taste after a week and I had to have something to compare it to. (I taste EVERYTHING... I make cheese and peanut butter treats for my dog occasionally (separately, of course... not so sure I'd be okay with feeding my dog a cheese-peanut butter combo... not that she wouldn't gobble them up and look back up at me with a face that says "what... no more?") and since they actually taste decently good... I decided a while back that I had to compare them to store bought dog treats. BAD IDEA! Boxed dog treats taste utterly disgusting. What do they put in them? And why do dogs like them?) The starter on days 2 and 3 tastes almost like it smells... not so pleasant. However, I can happily say that today my starter is beginning to taste like actual sourdough. :D

The color is more agreeable as well. No more unsightly discoloration and and strange dissociation. There doesn't appear to be as much activity now as there was the first couple of days, though. The bubbles are smaller and changes in appearance less drastic. But I guess it's good that there are still bubbles of any sort... signifying some feeding frenzy going on in the inter-workings of the flour.

This whole process is quite fascinating to me. Who would have thought that flour had so much liveliness within it? By the time my starter is fully developed, it will be strong enough to raise a loaf of bread, sans store bought yeast. How cool is that?

Radiating Risotto

For me, risotto is one of those great comfort foods, both to make and to eat. It's a recipe that requires a lot of attention, but really not that much skill, contrary to what seems to be popular belief. I feel, it seems complicated only in that it requires almost constant attention and stirring. I enjoy this somewhat tedious process, though... watching over it, stirring, putting more effort and energy into it. These are the most rewarding dinners for me... the ones that require more effort for a greater, tastier pay off.

Earlier this winter, I made a butternut squash risotto which was pretty much an utter failure. My brain was scattered... I totally lost track of what I was doing and ended up adding a good portion of my stock all at once... resulting in WAY undercooked rice which lead to unpleasant eatings... but the squash was nice. :) This time I may have slightly overcooked the rice (it lacked a slight bite that I wish I had maintained) in an effort to use up all the stock, the last scoop may have been one too many. Nevertheless, still creamy and all the right flavor components were there.

I'd began craving risotto again... pretty much right after the earlier disaster. Ha. I needed to redeem myself. Having some decaying peppers from Jean Talon, I decided it was necessary to roast them so that they would preserve in my fridge for a little bit longer. This, in my opinion, gave me a perfect excuse to make risotto with roasted peppers. :) And what a magnificent notion that was. (Although I still have a good cup or two of peppers left over and am wondering how I will utilize those.) This was one of the greatest risottos I think I have ever made. So many flavors that didn't overpower each other, but rather worked in copacetic harmony... with just the right amount of blissful heat from a jalapeno pepper.

Again, kind of going on a Mark Bittman binge these last couple days as this recipe stemmed from his cookbook too. Stemmed pretty loosely, though. I only really USED him for the basic idea of how to make risotto (sorry Mister Bittman... I feel a bit dirty for that :P). Having become a bit obsessed with food blogs and finding new, interesting dishes others were tasting, I have been ignoring my mountain (well... not mountain... maybe a small hill, or a mini mound, if you will) of cookbooks. What was I thinking? Trust the experts, that's what I should be doing... mastering the basics and then making my own tweaks.

I'm feeling a bit uncreative tonight :( so I'll save you all the agony of scanning further through my mundane thoughts by going on to the recipe. It's essential to have all the ingredients prepped and ready to add to the hot pan because there's little to no time to chop once you get going. Oh... right... feeling a lack of protein in this meal, I poached an egg to put on top. I learned this trick from a fellow blogger and I adore it. Poaching eggs is my new favorite culinary task to master... and I must say my skills are being honed nicely. I used to stare at the pot of boiling water, reciting a short prayer in my head that all goes well and wince as I put the egg into the swirling water, hoping all turned out well... but now it's no big deal. And the outcome is superb. I love the creaminess of the yokey egg spilling over my risotto... they mingle so wonderfully together.

Roasted Pepper Risotto

Adapted from Mark Bittman's 'How to Cook Everything'

Halved for little old me (As it is, the full recipe is supposed to serve 4-6, so I'll get a good three meals of this.)

Ingredients (halved)

• 2-3 cups chicken broth (again... I used all three cups, but could have omitted about 1/4 for a slight bite to the arborio.)
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 a medium onion (I used 1 small red one)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 a jalapeno, seeds and all (of course, for slightly less heat, remove the seeds)
• 3/4 cup arborio rice
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1/4 cup parsley, chopped
• 1/4 cup basil, chopped (Further devastating my basil plant. I didn't have parsley, so I used a mixture of basil, oregano, and cilantro... Bittman states that any fresh herb will do (and suggests chervil to be "especially good") but not to substitute dry ones.)
• 1 Tablespoon softened butter (Master Bittman suggests that adding butter is the key to a truly excellent, creamy risotto... but I opted out of it.)
• 1/4 cup parmesan, grated
• about 1/2 cup Roasted peppers, chopped (I roasted a green, orange, yellow, and red one days before making this, but, in my haste to incorporate them, I took a bit from the top of the mix which ended up being only red and yellow... which I like anyways because they are slightly sweeter, adding a nice flavor contrast.)
• 1 egg

Preparation

Warm the stock in a medium saucepan over medium heat and leave the heat on.

Place the oil in a large saucepan or skillet, preferably non-stick, and turn the heat to medium. When it's hot, add the onion, garlic, and jalapeno and cook, stirring occasionally, until it softens, 3 to 5 minutes.

Add the rice and stir until it is coated with oil. Add a little salt and pepper, then the white wine. Stir and let the liquid bubble away.

Begin to add the warm stock, 1/4 cup or so at a time (I added by the laddle-full), stirring after each addition and every minute or so. When the stock is just about evaporated, add more. The mixture should be neither soupy nor dry. Keep the heat medium to medium-high, and stir frequently (constant stirring is not necessary). (<---- Except, in my opinion it kind of is. Maybe because I'm too afraid that the rice will burn, but every time I left for a bit and came back to stir, the rice began to stick to the pan... I didn't like that... so I'd say constant monitoring is a must.)

Begin tasting the rice 20 minutes after you add it; you want it to be tender but with a tiny bit of crunch. It could take as long as 30 minutes to reach this stage. (I would say 25 is ideal.) When it does, add the butter (which I omitted), herbs, and parmesan. Adjust the seasoning and serve immediately.

I assumed I would have more time to chop my herbs and roasted peppers during cooking... which was not the case and so I ended up forgetting to add the peppers when I originally planned to (which was with the onions, garlic, and jalapeno). This actually worked out perfectly, though because ultimately I added them with the herbs and parmesan. As a matter of fact, this seems the better place to add them as they are already roasted and soft.

For the Poached Egg

Bring about two inches of water with a splash of white vinegar to boil in a medium pan. Whilst you wait, crack your egg into a small dish. Once boiling, bring the heat down to a slight simmer, swirl the water violently and slip the egg into the water. Let it be for about 3 to 5 minutes, until the whites are set. Remove with a slotted spoon onto a paper towel lined plate to dab dry a bit. Place atop a mound of risotto.

So delicious. In my opinion... this picture is almost Food Porn worthy. :) I molded my risotto in the bottom of a circular tupperware :P... and served it alongside a simple salad of mixed greens and my favored vinaigrette.

Sourdough Starter, Day 3

First of all... what is with this Montreal weather?? Yesterday it was drizzly and quite comfortable temperature wise. The day before it snowed and rained (and I think there might have been a bit of hail knocking against my window in the morning). Then we get to today and it's BLIZZARDING! Okay... so maybe it's not a blizzard outside as that would require gale force winds in addition to all this snow (when I think blizzard I think Jon Krakauer's 'Into Thin Ar' and the intense conditions on Mt. Everest... this weather is most definitely nowhere near that). There is a lot of snow coming down though which has me wondering if I dare venture outside for fear of turning into a snowman as I walk down St. Catherine. It's pretty cool to watch out my big windows, though. There actually seems to be little to no wind at all sometimes, which means I get to view these large tufts of snow drifting straight down in front of me. Other times it looks as if the snow isn't falling at all, but rather suspended in air, dancing around each other. It's actually quite mesmerizing.

***Shakes self back to reality***

Right... onto to our fermenting buddies...

The morning of Day 3 has arrived and I'm a little worried for the health of my starter. Is this the first sign of disaster? I sure do hope not. There's clearly fermenting going on... but there's also a bit of discoloration and this peculiar line of separation at the bottom. :/ Still going off the idea from 'What the #$*! Do We Know?', I'm trying to send it all my good vibes and lovin' (maybe a sticky note of love would do it some good?). I really do believe in the power of words and good thoughts to change the outcome of an event. On that note... I also talk to my little yeasty friends. :) Telling them to grow, feed, and be good... just do their thing and live. That might sound silly, but all the great gardeners talk to their crops, don't they? Encouraging them to grow, maybe even playing them music. (The show 'Mythbusters' on one of the greatest networks, The Discovery Channel, did an experiment with the power of music on plants... but, alas, I forget what the outcome was. For my purposes, I'm going to assume that some pleasant music did them well.) After all, the yeast emerging from the flour is a living creature and all living creatures need love and nurturing.

That's better... no more examining that unsightly segregation going on in the previous picture. Look at those bubbles, baby. Today, the starter is even more thinned out than it was yesterday and you can kind of see it's a bit darker. Not quite as many voluptuous bubbles today... it looks more foamy that bubbly. The scent (dare I say perfume?) seems to have intensified over night as well.

I still have about four hours left until the next feeding and at that time I'll stir it all up (of course) and incorporate the separated bits. I'm afraid to do so now as I know for packaged yeast, mixing too much damages the product. So I'll just wait... and hope for the best.

IT'S ALIVE!!!

As promised... here's the first installment of my tracking of the sourdough starter featuring the first and second day of this yeasty journey.

I contemplated detailing the process of how to make this starter, but that's not the goal of these posts. Mostly, I guess, this is for me to track the process of this fickle creature so, if something goes awry, I can return to these posts and check where I went wrong... or, if all goes well, then this will serve as a shining beacon of a job well done. :) For now, I will just say that this recipe comes from 'The King Arthur Flour Baking Companion'. The basic idea of a sourdough starter, according to my minimal understanding, is to halve and feed, and halve and feed, and halve and feed, etc. over the course of 5 days to a week to develop the natural yeasty product already existing within the flour. This is a daunting process for me on account of it's a long and involved one. It's only day two, and I am already feeling pretty attached to this little baby. Maybe because of the awesome transformation that I have already witnessed... wait... I'm getting ahead of myself there. Basically... I'm very fearful that my starter wont work out, and I will have wasted all that flour, time, and nurturing on a failure. As it's still early in the process, though, for now I will attempt to push that trepidation out of my mind and just focus on loving this smelly, yeasty being.

Day 1

This will hopefully be the most boring picture of the bunch (if all goes according to plan) on account of here, we simply have the mixture of water, rye flour, and a bit of molasses, pre any sort of fermentation. Looks normal, right... like if you add a few more cups of flour, a little yeast, and knead... you'll get a regular loaf of bread. No. That's not what we want... so we place it in the oven with the pilot light on (as per Sir Arthur, King of Flour's suggestion... supposedly this creates an environment that is about 80 degrees Fahrenheit... admittedly, leaving the pilot light on in the oven kind of kills the environmentalist in me that goes around the apartment unplugging all appliances not in use and turning off lights to rooms nobody is in :/). There it remains for the next 24 hours for our microscopic buddies that live deep within the flour to awaken and start feeding. Nom nom nom.

Day 2

Woah, baby!! Look at that action. The concoction doubled over night, thinned out, and is fizzing with fermentation. In addition to the the visual cues of activity, the starter has developed a very pungent smell. I've been attempting to find the words to describe this intense smell ever since I unscrewed the jar this morning. Some of the intensity, I assume, comes from the fact that I used rye flour which gives off a slightly different scent than regular, all-pupose flour... but mostly, the smell is that of extremely potent yeast. Although, normally I enjoy the light aroma of yeast, this definitely has a more tangy, offensive odor to it (but also grows on you the more whiffs you take :P).

Okay... that's it for the first installment... 5 more days to go.

Oh right... the sound track for this post (and most of my day) has been WNYC's Radio Lab Podcast. CHECK THEM OUT. This show, springing from NPR, is such an interesting and creative listen. (One of the podcasts I listened to today involved a sort of love story between this couple essentially revolving around the exchange of a few of these podcasts. Anyways, that's not the point, the guy in the story described this podcast as an "investigation of what it's like to be a human being..." and then later went on to say that if you listen to these podcasts (specifically speaking of a certain three, "Who Am I", "Memory and Forgetting', and "Sleep", but I think it can be aptly applied to all their episodes) "you will find afterwards that your soul has been expanded, even if just a little bit." I thought those were extremely superb explanations of the show and how it makes me feel/think.) So go onto iTunes, or their website, and listen to some of their podcasts... it's FREE... how can you say no to free?? :)

(Towards the end of writing this, though, I switched over to some songs from the movie 'Clueless'... as I couldn't concentrate on both listening and typing. :P)

The BEST Spring Roll Recipe

WHAT?! Two posts in one day!?! It must be break... and I must be bored. :P (Or maybe I'm just getting better at this whole blogging deal... I'd like to think the latter is true... but we all know it most likely is not. Ha)

Oh spring rolls... how I love thee. The inspiration to make these delectable, savory treats this evening came from my building. Every Monday evening they supply us with a dinner if we choose to purchase it. Usually they offer pizza for $1.50 (recently increased from $1.00 ***gasp***), which I usually opt out of because I enjoy home made pizza more than that from a chain restaurant. However, tonight the woman in charge of said order-ins decided to go for sushi from the restaurant across the street. Now this is advertised all weekend, but it wasn't until this morning that I woke up and had an epiphany... SPRING ROLLS... what a great accompaniment.

Not just ANY spring rolls at that. It is my firm belief that these are the best spring rolls out there. The recipe comes from Mark Bittman, cook, blogger, columnist, traveler, genius. (If you have not previously stumbled upon his blog, Bitten, I highly recommend you do so. I recently made a fried rice recipe he posted in his "Minimalist" column for the New York Times, so simple, yet so divine.) These spring rolls contain non of those frou frou cellophane noodles to detract from the flavor of the other ingredients and fill your mouth with nonsense. (Yes... cellophane noodles in a spring roll are, in my opinion, complete nonsense.) For me, the key is in the dipping sauce (simple and light with a little extra kick) and the mint... yum... every other bite I got a mouthful of mint that perked up my taste buds. :) One of my favorite aspects of these spring rolls is the transparency of the rice paper, allowing you to view it's colorful contents.

Okay... I'm too excited... on to the recipe. (Oh... I thought it pertinent to mention that whilst I'm typing this, the song Twisted Nerve by Bernard Herrmann (the song whistled by Elle Driver in 'Kill Bill' as she goes to kill a comatose Uma Thurman) is running through my head and escaping my whistling lips. It's a fun one.)

Spring Rolls

Courtesy of Mark Bittman's 'How to Cook Everything'

Yield: 4 spring rolls

Ingredients

• 1 small, fresh chile, minced, or 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 Tablespoon rice or other mild vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon fish sauce (nuoc mam or nam pla, available at Asian markets) or soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic (On a side note, in lieu of a garlic press (and me being too cheap to purchase one) I have become quite the garlic mincing pro using a knife.)
• 8 medium-to-large shrimp, cooked, peeled, and cut in half the long way (precooked shrimp are okay, as are leftovers of any type) (I used 10 on account of I wanted to end up with slightly more than 4 rolls)
• 1 cup peeled and grated, shredded, or julienned carrots (Until now I don't think I have ever julienned carrots... it is quite difficult)
• 1 cup bean sprouts
• 2 scallions, cut into slivers the long way (This were equally as tough to accomplish, if not more. Again, I slightly increased the amount, to three, for more spring rolls)
• 2 Tablespoons roughly chopped, fresh mint leaves
• 2 Tablespoons roughly chopped cilantro leaves
• 2 Tablespoons roughly chopped peanuts (Bittman says salted are okay... but I opted for the unsalted variety)
• 4 sheets rice paper, 8 to 10 inches in diameter (I ended up with about 7 spring rolls... and thus needed 7 of my round rice papers... which is no problem because the wrappers are generally sold in larger quantities. What on earth will I do with the rest of them?)

Preparation

Combine the first six ingredients and set aside as a dipping sauce.

Prepare the other ingredients and set them out on your work surface. Set out a bowl of hot water (110 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit) and a clean kitchen towel.

Put a sheet of rice paper into the water for about ten seconds, just until soft (Don't let it become too soft; it will continue to soften as you work). (Really... there is a delicate balance between just right and too much, as, if you soak too much, your rice paper will become a gooey, unworkable mess. You want them to just become pliable.) Lay it on the towel.

In the middle of the rice paper, lay a few shrimp pieces (I went for three halves per spring roll... might have needed 4 for a more shrimpy flavor.) and about a quarter of each of the carrots, bean sprouts, scallions, mint, cilantro, and peanuts. Roll up the rice paper, keeping it fairly tight, and folding in the ends to seal. (My method is about two rolls, fold in the edges, and then finish rolling.) Repeat this process until all the ingredients are used up. Serve with dipping sauce... and enjoy!!! :D

Beautiful, non? Maybe not... I have made these three times now and I don't remember them ever being so difficult to assemble. My first roll was an utter disaster due to my over soaking of the rice paper. Literally... the paper turned almost to goo as I was rolling it up and I was forced to pour out the contents and start over. :( I don't recall this happening any of the other 2 times I've made these... but, then again, my memory is pretty poor...so it's possible I just blocked out the devastating aspects of preparing this dish.

Of course, I would say that my spring rolls were better tasting (by bounds and leaps) than the sushi offered by my building. The sushi was average at best, but had a lot of those little, burst-in-your-mouth eggs that make eating sushi such a fun experience. The overall flavor was nothing to write home about... especially because I'm pretty sure the restaurant they were purchased from is a Caribbean one. :/

Yum... can't wait to eat more tomorrow!!

Oh... P.S.

Today I began the process (yet again) of making my very own sourdough starter. I embarked on this mission while home for winter break... but ultimately abandoned it as I didn't have my King Arthur baking book or the proper ingredients. (I wonder if the starter is still lurking in the refrigerator back at home. Knowing my family... it probably is... and is now a living, breathing mass of yeast and mold.) This time around, however, I made sure to purchase the proper flour and am aided by Sir Arthur, King of Bakery. I'll be sure to photograph each step as my starter ferments, bubbles, and becomes a living creature for me to nourish and care for. :)

Over and out blogosphere.

French Onion Soup and Unrelated Ranting

Let it be known that I am not enjoying this hour of day. I most definitely do NOT want to be awake right now. But, alas, silly me forgot to turn my alarm clock (er... rather... phone) off and it woke me up at 8. :( True, today is a Monday and I would normally be awake by this time for class at ten... But... today marks the first official day of my "Study Break". McGill is so optimistic with this name... who actually studies over break? Well... I guess I will be, on account of I am stuck here in Montreal while others are frolicking with their families at home or in far-off warm climates. Woe is me, yes? The good news is that during my one day alone (the one day I had the apartment completely to myself, when all the roommates left and before one of them returned) I got a chance to clean clean clean. Ha. Sounds exciting, I know, but this place gets so darn messy. I swept the floors, mopped, cleaned the dishes (loaded the dishwasher the way I like it, ha), and cleaned the counter... which included windexing the stove top. :P This relative cleanliness will probably not last until the end of the week... but for now it looks pretty good.

Okay... enough ranting about my sorry life... onto the food. It has been ages since I've posted anything... which is, admittedly, a problem for me, keeping up a writing regime. However, don't be misled by my lack of rigor in regards to blogging... I have definitely not stopped cooking... I have however been slacking in the photography department as well. :( Man... I am awful at this. Ha. I'll try to make up for that this week by taking pictures of ALL the food I make... which hopefully amounts to a lot. :)

As for now, I will delight you with a meal I made a while ago. French Onion Soup. I have been dying to make this meal for years. Winter always makes me yearn for this steaming, cheesy, oniony goodness. It just seems to be the epitome of warm and cozy... perfect for a drearily cold evening in Montreal.

I adore everything about this soup. First of all, it is a soup made completely of onions. How can you go wrong? Onions might be one of my favorite foods and, along with freshly baked bread, the perfume of sauteed onions is definitely a favored kitchen smell. Then, there's the individual bowls that look so darn adorable and makes this soup even more enticing. Add to that some crusty baguette slices topped with ooey-gooey melted cheese. Oh man... excuse me while I wipe the drool off my keyboard. In addition to the warm, fuzzy feeling I get from devouring (and looking at) this soup, I also love the process. Yes, it is a long one, but I like dishes that take longer to prepare. Not only does it taste better once it's made (as, by that point, I am most definitely starving), but I feel like the more time you put into a dish, the more time you have to send it your good energy and loving vibes. :)

This recipe was discovered on Cooks Illustrated's website... when I was on my free week trial. What a great magazine, though. I would always buy them for long car trips with the family, but should really start buying them on a regular basis. They churn out a lot of great, tried-and-true recipes and tips. Anyways... since my free trial had expired, I took to the internet to see if a fellow blogger had posted the recipe anywhere. Luckily, I stumbled across a blog entitled Cookography which had the recipe entitled "The Best French Onion Soup (... ever!)". Yippee! This was the exact recipe I was looking for, so I thank you Luke and Carolyn of Cookography for enabling me to make this b-e-a-u-tiful soup. :)

Apparently, traditional French Onion Soup is made on the stove top, which demands constant watching over and stirring. This recipe requires caramelizing the onions in the oven, bringing out more of that delicious oniony flavor and saving my sanity a bit. As for the ingredients... everything (well... almost everything) I put into this came from the ever so lovely Jean Talon market (save for the chicken broth which I had made myself at an earlier date). How I adore that place. Every time I venture there it is an adventure (and not just because I usually get a bit turned around and slightly lost when I go). So much great, local food in one place.

Alright... I feel as if I have rambled on quite enough about this recipe, now it's time to actually share it with you all, so here it goes...

Oh, before I continue, though, it should be mentioned that the best flavor is achieved a day or two after making this soup. Also, the onions can be prepared, through step one, cooled in the pot, and refrigerated for up to three days before proceeding with the recipe.

THE BEST FRENCH ONION SOUP

Courtesy of Cook's Illustrated via the Cookography bloggers

Serves: 6 (or just me for several days :P)

Ingredients

• 3 Tbs. unsalted butter, cut into 3 pieces
• 6 large yellow onions (about 4 pounds), halved and cut pole-to-pole into 1/4-inch-thick slices
• Salt
• 2 cups water, plus extra for deglazing
• 1/2 cup dry sherry (I, foolishly, neglected to buy this item thinking I would have no other use for it and not wanting to waste the money, so I used red wine vinegar instead. I assumed I would enjoy the additional tanginess, but next time I will definitely opt for the sherry.)
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken stock (again... I used my own :D)
• 2 cups beef broth (This was purchased from Jean Talon and actually looked like hand made broth, with bits of the herbs still floating in it, as opposed to that boxed stuff you buy from the grocery store which was probably never touched by human hands until it reached its box.)
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme, tied with kitchen twine
• 1 bay leaf
• Ground black pepper
• 1 baguette, cut into 1/2-inch slices
• 8 oz. shredded Gruyere cheese (about 2 1/2 cups)

Directions

For the Soup:

Adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat to 400 degrees (Fahrenheit).

Generously spray the inside of a heavy-bottomed large (at least 7-quart) dutch oven with a nonstick cooking spray. Place the butter in the pot, add the onions, and a teaspoon of salt. Cook, covered, for 1 hour (the onions will be moist and slightly reduced in volume). Remove the pot from the oven and stir the onions, scraping the bottom and the sides of the pot. Return to the oven, with the lid slightly ajar, and continue to cook until the onions are soft and golden brown, 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours longer, stirring the onions and scraping the sides of the pot after one hour.

Carefully remove the pot from the oven and place over medium-high heat. Using oven mitts to handle the pot (don't forget you JUST took this scorching pot out of the oven), cook onions, stirring frequently and, again, scraping the bottom and sides of the pot, until the liquid evaporates and the onions brown, 15 to 20 minutes, reducing the heat to medium if the onions are browning too quickly. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the bottom of the pot is coated with a dark crust, roughly 6 to 8 minutes, adjusting the heat as necessary. (Scrape any dark, caramelizey goodness that collects on the spoon back into the onions.)

Stir in 1/4 cup of water, scraping the pot bottom to loosen the crust, and cook until water evaporates and pot bottom has formed another dark crust, 6 to 8 minutes. Repeat process of deglazing 2 or 3 more times, until the onions are very dark brown. Stir in the sherry and cook, stirring frequently, until the sherry evaporates, about 5 minutes.

Stir in the broths, 2 cups of water, thyme, bay leaf, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt, scraping up any final bits of browned crust that has accumulated on the bottom and sides of the pot.

Increase the heat to high and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove and discard herbs, then season to taste with salt and pepper.

For the croutons:

While the soup simmers, arrange the baguette slices in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake in a 400-degree oven until the bread is dry, crisp, and golden at edges, about 10 minutes. Set aside.

To serve:

Adjust oven rack 6 inches from broiler element and heat broiler. Set individual (and oh so adorable), broiler-safe crocks on baking sheet and fill each with about 1 3/4 cups of soup. Top each bowl with 1 or 2 baguette slices (do not overlap slices) and sprinkle with Gruyere. Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly around the edges, about 3 to 5 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving. Voila! Then it's time to eat and revel in all it's oniony, cheesy fantasticness.

Oh how I wish I had this steaming bowl in front of me right now. **sigh** What a delight this was to eat... day after day after day.

So that's it... the BEST french onion soup. This is definitely a keeper of a recipe. :)

Oh, right, before I leave... my roommate, from Brazil, returned from a week in Florida with her visiting family yesterday (lucky little ba... er... girl) toting a ginormous wheel of authentic Brazilian cheese. (Apparently this is a highly sought after cheese in Brazil, as she squealed with joy upon presenting this beauty of a cheese wheel to me.) It's quite delicious, and nothing like I expected it to be, slightly soft and very flavorful. I'd assumed it would be a super mild cheese on account of it's white and soft and doesn't give off the appearance of being particularly strong, but it can definitely hold its own flavor wise. (The cheese wheel excited me too... so I thought it necessary to share with you.)

Alright... now I've gotten myself hungry. Time to root around in the fridge for something to satisfy my desire.

It's my birthday and I'll cry if I want to...

Okay... so one of those two statements is correct. It most certainly IS my birthday... but hopefully no tears will be shed today. Celebrating (or maybe lacking a celebration due to the heavy work load that I've managed to neglect and accumulate) my TWENTY-FIRST birthday... in Montreal... where the drinking age is eighteen. This is a bit anti-climactic seeing as how the big 2-1 is supposed to be the INSANE birthday in which you are finally, legally allowed to drink... whereas I've been here, drinking legally for three years. :P This is no big deal, as I'm not a big drinker anyways, but I feel a bit cheated out of the "21 shots on your 21st birthday" experience (not that I would dare embark on that mission for fear of approaching imminent death).

Anyways... this is what I woke up to from my beautiful roommates. :) Gotta love 'em.

Granted... this is from a box brownie mix... but I still maintain that box brownies are the best brownies. :)

So... another year older... another year wiser...? Not too sure about that one... but I'll work on it as I go to class. What a way to spend my birthday. :P

P.S

Planning my anti-Valentine's Day celebration... Horror movies in the theater (at my apartment) and Chinese take-out. Ha. Sounds like my idea of a great valentine-less Valentine's Day.

Goat Cheese, Sun Dried Tomato and Sauteed Onion Omelet

First of all, I am so EXCITED about this post because it contains my first photograph!!!! I have been toiling with my camera for years now trying to take an acceptable picture to start blogging with. Finally, my mom got me a lamp (with instructions to buy energy efficient DAYLIGHT bulbs) for this very purpose. The lights in my apartment give my food a sickly yellow appearance when the photo is snapped. My what a HUGE difference this lighting makes. I am beyond satisfied with the outcome and can't wait to blog with even more pictures. :)

What a great Saturday breakfast this was. :) Upon my very first visit to Montreal, to tour McGill Campus, my parents and I ate at this little cafe inside the Desjardins shopping mall. Sadly, I think this cafe has since closed, but it was a wonderfully unexpected find near the other more food court-esque stands. Their water pitchers contained a variety of fruits in them (I don't quite remember what kinds exactly as this was now about four years ago) which infused the water with a light, fruity flavor. That, however, was not the best part of our meal. Here, at this little cafe in the mall, my mom and I were introduced to goat cheese and spinach egg white omelets. So simple, but so delicious. It has since become one of my favorite breakfast meals (with the addition of a little tabasco thrown on top when I have it).

This morning, though, I lacked spinach, but did have goat cheese and was craving an egg white omelet. So, I took a look in the fridge to see what other ingredients lurked behind the door. Happily, I came upon sun-dried tomatoes (in oil) and some onion. What a fantastic combination. There were only three eggs left in my carton so I decided to use the whites of all of them for this omelet, sauteed the onions, chopped up the sun-dried tomatoes a bit, crumbled some goat cheese and threw it all together. Well... I suppose it took a little more effort than just "throwing" the ingredients in a pan and watching this beautiful omelet magically take shape. It takes a bit of skill to transform your eggs into an omelet, as opposed to a scramble. I've adopted the "scrape-and-swirl" method. This method starts off with a heated and greased pan, lest you want your skillet to turn into the omelet itself as the egg will never come clean from an un-greased pan. I separate my eggs into a bowl, add salt, pepper, and a few drops of milk then scramble it all up with a fork. Next comes the part that requires a bit of skill, but nothing that can't be easily learned. Pour the egg into the pan and swirl it around so it covers the bottom of the pan. Then I take a spatula, scrape up some of the cooked egg on the edge, and tilt the pan to fill in the new emptiness with some uncooked egg resting on top. I do this all around the edge of the pan until the egg is still slightly uncooked on top, but, when given a tilt of the pan, none of it makes enough of an advance to fill in a new gap. This is the point when I add my fixings. Usually I'll add the cheese first so that it has longer exposure to the heat and thus more time to become ooey gooey. Then comes the spinach, normally, but in this case it was my sauteed onions and chopped up sun dried tomatoes. Once I'm satisfied with the egg-to-other-ingredients ratio, I top the pan with a lid for a bit. (When using spinach, this encourages it to wilt a little more but also makes sure that the eggs get fully cooked.) Oh, also, I only cover one half of the pan with the filling because it's folded in half anyways. Next, you turn off the heat, fold over the omelet, and slide it onto a plate. And voila! A beautifully delicious omelet awaits your knife and fork (and your mouth :P).

Yummy! Look at that cheesy, oniony, tomatoey goodness seeping out. This is a good contender for my normal spinach-goat cheese omelet. All this need now is a giant latte sitting nearby... and it's perfect. :)

Saturday Morning and Quantum Physics

SATURDAY! It's finally here! This week has been one of those agonizing, never-ending ones. I've been a day ahead of schedule ever since Tuesday. (I attempted to attend my class usually held on Wednesdays, only to enter a large, full lecture hall (lecture in progress), climbed over some students, realized it was most definitely Tuesday (thus, that this was most definitely NOT my class), and clumsily climbed back over the same students to exit. Whoops.)

This morning is being spent much more to my liking than last week's Saturday, as on that day I awoke to a kitchen eye sore of dishes piled high in the sink that gave me a headache just to look at. There was no way I could ignore the mess. Now, I don't really mind doing dishes so much (as long as I have my pink gloves), it can be a relaxing experience to put on some music and just focus on getting the job done. However, I was really looking forward to sipping my latte and finishing up 1984 (great book). I think I might have scared my roommates into making more of an effort to keep the kitchen clean when I lamented my morning activity on facebook, because this morning there was no mountain of dishes awaiting me. :)

Today, however, I AM sipping on my latte while blasting music through my Bose headphones (there's something about loud music that makes it so much better :P). Although, by this time, my latte is now a bit on the cold side on account of I forgot about it while I was obsessing over making an iTunes playlist. :/ I must admit that I considered skipping my morning latte as I've had one every morning this week, but in the end my addiction gave in and I had to make one. :)

On to the true subject of this entry...

At the beginning of the year I purchased a basil plant in the hopes that it would last me longer than fresh, packaged basil. Much to my dismay though, the sorry little herbage lasted only about a week. Determined to maintain and utilize one of these poor plants throughout the winter months, I went back to the grocery store and bought another one. This time, however, inspired by the movie What The #$*! (Bleep) Do We Know?, I decided to write out the words "I love you" on a sticky note and attach it to my little basil plant. (In case you haven't heard of this movie, it is a difficult one to swallow as it deals with quantum physics and the idea that we create our own world, what we see around us may not be what is actually there. We're conditioned our whole lives to perceive our surroundings in a certain way. Anyways, there's an excerpt that explores the power of words in regards to molecular structures wherein a scientist wrote several different thoughts on bottles of water, such as "You Disgust Me" and "I Love You". Then he proceeded to photograph that water and the outcome was astonishing. These words manage to change the way in which the molecular structure of the water appeared. The ones with the more hateful remarks looked disorganized and sickly, while the water with the loving expressions took on a more appealing, intricate structure. There's a line in this scene when an older man comes up to the main character and says "Makes you wonder, doesn't it? If thoughts can do that to water, imagine what our thoughts can do to us.") Well, I'm proud to say that after months of neglect, my little basil plant is still chugging along. Albeit, looking a little sad and worse for the wear, but it really has been months and for a long portion of time I wasn't even here to watch over it.

I don't know if the prosperity of my plant has anything to do with my sticky note of love, but I'd like to think that the power thought and love can have this kind of effect. :)

Alright, latte's finished. Time to start this day. I'm off to the herb store to buy ingredients for some home remedies. :)

More posts and pictures to come for now I have proper lightening for better, less yellowy results. :D