Panettone

have you ever eaten a panettone? the cute little boxed cake was calling our name last week at Whole Foods, and we shelled out $4.00 for a bite-sized cake. Totally worth it, but I wanted more and paying over $20 for a packaged cake isn't really up my alley.
So the next logical thing to do was figure out how to make it! Martha came to my rescue, as usual. Her recipe (well, not technically hers) is here.

There are many steps involved in this recipe commitment, and i was going all for it or bust.
Step #1: acquire candied orange peel. Can't find it? Then make it!
Be willing to have aching hands from careful peeling, but the end result is sweet, slightly chewy orange sugary deliciousness. The panettone recipe used up 75% of my supply, so i plan on using the remaining sugary orange peels in some sort of fancy martini.


Careful Peeling of that pesky white skin


Finished Peel, before giving it a sugar bath


...To be continued

holiday baking, part 1

so the holiday baking has commenced! i baked all morning, and this is project #1, totally complete:

Oat Crackers

1 3/4 cup flour
1/3 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1.5 tsp sea salt
Pepper
2 sticks softened butter
3 egg whites
1.25 cups rolled oats

Sift flours, soda, salt and pepper. Put butter and eggs in food processor, whiz until smooth. Add half flour mixture and pulse, remaining flour, then oats. Form into flat disc, wrap, chill for 1 hr.
Preheat 375.
Divide dough into 4. Roll each quarter out thinly and stamp out rounds. Bake for 12-15 minutes until lightly colored and crisp.


Negative Space


Raw Cutouts


Baked Cutouts

November, in pictures

some of my favorite pictures of the month from mauricio's camera phone:


(eating and drawing at the Full Moon Restaurant in huron village


(waiting for m. to buy some booze in davis square)
(aka Lurking in the Bushes with the wolf-dog)


(playing at our favorite neighborhood playground/park)


(i miss fall already)


(gorgeous somerville sky)

crackers

my contribution for thanksgiving this year was a butternut and pear bisque and some seeded, whole wheat crackers.

i've been itching to make crackers from scratch for a long time now, and it was as rewarding as i had anticipated! basically just a dough, rolled flat and sliced however you want, covered in seeds and sea salt. they're still fresh, two weeks later. but only a couple are left :)


(bowl of seeds)


(rolled and ready to cut)


(fresh from the oven)

bags for sale

good news!

massart is opening up a funky little store in the spring (featuring merchandise only by students and alumni), and my collection of handbags is going to be sold. since i've been out of business for so long, this week i am taking an inventory catalog in photos. mauricio was so kind to make a set-up for me tonight in our office, so starting tomorrow morning i'll be taking photos of ... maybe a hundred or so? any inventory that doesn't go to the store needs to be SOLD. stay tuned for some pictures and bargain prices...

trying to channel martha stewart

as an earlier post showed, i've already completed my christmas cards. i wasn't feeling particularly in "the christmas mood" last week while making them, but over the weekend we visited my parents and decorated their christmas tree. john denver's muppet album blasted on the sterio, we ate fresh-from-the-oven cinnamon babka, and toasted with a cheery rose(insert accent) cava.

those subtle holiday traditions led us to buying our own mini tree, to fit in a nook under our big window. buying the tree led to stealing a set of my momma's old xmas lights, and figuring out what the heck i was going to use for ornaments!

well, after some sneaking around fresh pond for free, natural inspiration, i came home a couple days ago with a poo-poo bag (a fresh one, bien sur) filled with acorns. i glittered, i glued, i reassembled, then i strung. and ta-da! here you have it:

spain on my mind

tonight we ate a curry with shrimp, cauliflower, potatoes and carrots. oh, and way too much heat. damn that penzy's madras curry powder. or, maybe, my pickled jalepenos. ouch.

it wasn't particularly spanish themed, but once we split the last bottle of stella and drank it out of juice glasses, and opened the bag of sesame breadsticks i bought today at capone's. and apres dinner, we busted open a few of the clementines i got at trader joe's. a spanish middle and ending, at least.


(our kitchen always glows orange in the evening)

lazy bums, and the week's recap

today is saturday, and we haven't done much besides eat, sleep and walk.
lounging in bed til after 10, eating yummy homemade yogurt parfaits on the couch while watching Mary Poppins. we took a walk around fresh pond with the doggie, and ate again at high rise! man, i live for the sandwich i ordered- fried eggs, spicy mustard, onion and tomato. holy crap!
oh, i did do one productive thing- i made my christmas cards! trying to not shell out $30 for two boxes of gorgeous papersource cards, since, you know, i don't have a job... i got out my three boxes of craft and stationary supplies. the envelopes are leftover from two other stationary projects, the penquin liners were from a present mauricio wrapped for me last christmas, and the sparkly brown paper was leftover from our awesome squirrel placecards from thanksgiving!




this project went along with my cooking theme this week: plan meals around whatever's in the fridge/freezer/cupboard.
meal #1: thai spring rolls. i bought the rice paper wrappers earlier this year, wanting to make these rolls months and months ago. i finally got around to it, after raiding the veggie drawer of the mint, carrots, scallions and spinach. (oh, ok, i went out and bought shrimp. but used a 1/2 lb. on two different cooking projects!!)






also, last weekend mauricio showed his love for me and my cooking habit and bought me a gorgeous new stainless steel wok! our tiny wok's non-stick surface was peeling off and grossing me out.
to christen the wok, i made a "clean out the veggie drawer" stir-fry, with brown rice.
as a reminder, the sauce i used, and always use contains:

STIR FRY SAUCE
(sorry, i don't ever measure these quantities)
-brown sugar
-ketchup (i used homemade)
-rice wine vinegar
-soy sauce
-mirin
-hot chile paste


BEFORE & AFTER

Finally, the "clean out the cupboard" project ended with last night's pizza dinner.
I made whole wheat honey dough, and topped our pizza with tomato sauce (using our last 2 cans of ANYTHING from the cabinet), carmelized red onions, monteray jack, the last of the spinach, chorizo, and the last of the sweet potatoes (roasted), and banana peppers that i pickled over the summer. it was gorgeous.