Philotic Web

A good name. Is there a story behind it?

I'm guessing this:

Homemade pizza tonight, and an extra one in the freezer. It was quite tasty, although I'm still searching for the perfect crust recipe. One that has good flavor, is moist, chewy and just the right amount of crunch.

Maybe this should go into complete randomness, but you kitchen people will appreciate it the most. Brian discovered today that a group of bakers is called a tabernacle. A gaggle of geese, a tabernacle of bakers.

ooooooh

Alright, finally took pictures of croissants. This is the first that I was worried about because they weren't rising as much as I wanted. The other batch is in my freezer.

Fred, they look so great!!

Pot roast.

Mac and cheese. Of the homemade variety. Well, kind of homemade. Seeing as I don't have a cow and the ability to make shell noodles, it's as homemade as I'm going to get.

Mmm. I made a Mac and Cheese with Cauliflower Bake (from Jamie Oliver's site) that was really good. Mark actually ate it since the cauliflower was totally hidden.

I'm making hot wings in my pizza oven as we speak.

Mmm. I made a Mac and Cheese with Cauliflower Bake (from Jamie Oliver's site) that was really good. Mark actually ate it since the cauliflower was totally hidden.

About 30 apple hand pies!

About 30 apple hand pies!

Pot roast in the crock pot!

Not exactly a smell in my kitchen, but this seems like a fitting place to post this.

We went to see Alton Brown tonight for his cookbook tour. It was awesome. He gave a little talk (10 minutes or so) then he took questions from the audience. There were 1400 people in the audience, so they had a system set up where audience members wrote their questions on little pieces of paper and they randomly chose about 15 questions. He also set up a specific email address and allowed people to email him and he picked and chose emails on the fly from his ipad. When that turned out to not work so well, he had them bring up the house lights and he just randomly selected some people from the audience to answer their questions. After the Q&A session, he went out and autographed books. The amazing part about this, is that admission to the show included an autographed book. He personalized the books, took pictures with fans, and just plain did nice stuff for us. He had already signed 1400 books earlier today, but he stood out in the lobby of the theater and talked with us, and didn't make us feel rushed or complain when we brought him books that weren't already signed (we had some extra books to get signed for a silent auction).

I've gotta say, if you ever get the chance to see him in person. Do it. He's hilarious, smart, and just a genuinely nice guy. He said it was bittersweet to end Good Eats, but he has a few different projects in the pipeline including a new show called "The Foods That Changed the World."

**jealous**

Lasagna!!!
I started making sauce and boiling water at 3:30 and just put it in the oven at 5:30. And its huge! the sauce was made with 2 lbs of beef, 3 onions, a bunch of garlic, 2 jars of sauce, and lots and lots of good spices. cheeses; the biggest mozzarella and ricotta cheese you can find in the regular grocery store. and about a box and a half of the good lasagna noodles (none of that no boil just back crap). Mix and layer it all together and you've got the yummy smell backing in my oven!
Once its done I have some Texas Toast to throw in the oven then....
We Feast!!

I'm kinda excited!!!!

My MIL made white bean and moose sausage soup, it was awesome.

I made a apple and pear pie for desert. Oh! the timer just rang!!!! its pie out of the oven time!!!

Getting ready to fry up some homemade mozzarella sticks!

Sugar cookies and human flesh. :D Sugar cookies because who needs to diet? :D Human flesh because stainless steel spatulas transfer heat from baking pans and cookies really efficiently and quickly, so while one is being careful not to touch things like the oven racks or baking pans one might accidentally touch one's side with said spatula. Ouch! Lesson learned: Wear a shirt while baking.

chocolate chip cookies

Not exactly a smell in my kitchen, but this seems like a fitting place to post this.

We went to see Alton Brown tonight for his cookbook tour. It was awesome. He gave a little talk (10 minutes or so) then he took questions from the audience. There were 1400 people in the audience, so they had a system set up where audience members wrote their questions on little pieces of paper and they randomly chose about 15 questions. He also set up a specific email address and allowed people to email him and he picked and chose emails on the fly from his ipad. When that turned out to not work so well, he had them bring up the house lights and he just randomly selected some people from the audience to answer their questions. After the Q&A session, he went out and autographed books. The amazing part about this, is that admission to the show included an autographed book. He personalized the books, took pictures with fans, and just plain did nice stuff for us. He had already signed 1400 books earlier today, but he stood out in the lobby of the theater and talked with us, and didn't make us feel rushed or complain when we brought him books that weren't already signed (we had some extra books to get signed for a silent auction).

I've gotta say, if you ever get the chance to see him in person. Do it. He's hilarious, smart, and just a genuinely nice guy. He said it was bittersweet to end Good Eats, but he has a few different projects in the pipeline including a new show called "The Foods That Changed the World."

He is my culinary hero.

Beef stew. Yummmm!

We had quesadillas tonight and I think it was the first time I've ever had Salsa Verde. It was very tasty!

Pumpkin Soup. I roasted 2 pumpkins, along with carrots, celery, onions and garlic for an hour in the oven. Then I scooped out the flesh and put it and the veggies in my pot. Now I'm letting it meld with broth before I puree it and eat it with crusty bread for dinner.

Pumpkin (or any squash really) soup is one of my favorite foods in the entire world.

Pumpkin soup and The Blob (jello) for dinner on Saturday.

At my mom's last night we had Monster Eyes, Mummy Dogs, "Organs" (veggies labeled with organ names), Stuffed Orange Peppers carved like Jack o' Lanterns with brain stuffing, Butterbeer and Spudnuts.

This morning, we had pumpkin pancakes in the shape of jack o' lanterns, complete with green stems and chocolate chip faces.

For dinner tonight, we're having Slimy Worm Burgers, Slimy Jello Worms and Slimy Green Bean Worms.

(In case you didn't notice, I love fall and I LOVE Halloween!)

That sounds so awesome, Steph!

Not so much a smell, but I'm making chocolates to give away for Christmas. I'm in the experimental phase right now (which, of course, involves eating chocolates) to see what kind of fillings I should put in. I'm excited to give them away!

Oh man Jan, chocolate and I do not get along (I tried to make filled chocolates last year for Christmas, did not go well!). I'm really interested in how yours turn out!

Right now my kitchen smells like pizza! Halloween always makes me want pizza!

Did you have molds? I bought some molds that look like this: Plus some heart shaped and flower shaped ones (those will likely be either nutty, rice crispie or plain)

My main problem has been getting the chocolate on the bottom to be flat. I am not sure how to get it smooth without exposing the filling.

Jan, if you're having trouble getting flat bottoms on the chocolates, wait until they're all hardened and set, then remove them from the molds, dip the bottoms in melted chocolate, and let set on wax paper or slipat. You should then be good to go.

I used a silicone mini brownie pan because I liked the shape. I was filling them with caramel and peanut butter (not mixed). The biggest problem I had was the second they came out of the fridge they would melt instantly to the touch. You could hardly shove one in your mouth without a huge mess. I thought I tempered the chocolate and everything, just couldn't figure it out.

I used a silicone mini brownie pan because I liked the shape. I was filling them with caramel and peanut butter (not mixed). The biggest problem I had was the second they came out of the fridge they would melt instantly to the touch. You could hardly shove one in your mouth without a huge mess. I thought I tempered the chocolate and everything, just couldn't figure it out.

Alton Brown to the rescue!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww6pvI7bUks" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Burgers off the grill! Although, most of the smell is outside and smells like smoke from lump charcoal and some mesquite.

Oh, and I missed one last week since I wasn't around here any for some reason! I made beer bread for a Halloween get together some friends had. No idea where I got the original recipe from but it isn't the original recipe anymore. I usually use part all purpose white flour, part wheat flour, and part oat flour (which I make by putting some rolled oats into my non-coffee mill until it is floury) but I was out of wheat flour so it was the other two only, and I added a quarter cup of honey to the mix this time. It was a big hit, as always, with the honey butter I whipped up (literally, haha) for the occasion. Yum!

Kraft Dinner with fancy organic ketchup
Just like in If I Had a $1.00.00. I used the fancy ketchup even though I don't have a $1,00,00. It was yummy.

I will be making this tomorrow or Sunday. Except with my new pie crust recipe. Wish me luck!