The Smells in My Kitchen

[Luet]

Steph, I'm wicked impressed by the pandoro. And I wish I could have some.

[VelvetElvis]

Green bean casserole, stuffing, and cranberry sauce

All made completely from scratch

[Petra456]

Today was pie day!

Lemon meringue, pecan, and two pumpkins! The lemon meringue looks like it turned out alright, this is the first time i've tried making it from scratch. This is also my first time making a pecan pie ever, everyone says they're really hard and they turn soupy really easy, but mine seem to be holding up alright. I can't wait to try it tomorrow!

I've also chopped all the veggies and made the Jello for tomorrow. Normally I do all of this the day of Thanksgiving, but I have to work until almost noon tomorrow : (

[Eaquae Legit]

I worked the overnight last night and the dinner shift tonight, which was great because I like finding out people's reactions to my cooking. I ignored the recipe we had (we didn't have yoghurt, anyway), and made my own "Turkish Chicken Legs". I ground up almonds with a bay leaf, mint, paprika, oregano, parsley, dried onions, garlic, and flour. Then I dredged the legs in olive oil and the coating, and baked them. They smelled really, really good this evening, and people said they were pretty tasty! My salad (greens, walnuts, shredded carrots, apple, and old cheddar) was also very well received.

Tomorrow I'm not sure what I'll make for dinner. Maybe Moroccan spaghetti, mmmm.

[Jayelle]

Happy Thanksgiving you guys! You are making me want stuffing and pie again.

[steph]

Steph, I'm wicked impressed by the pandoro. And I wish I could have some.

Thanks! I still need to perfect it. The flavor was perfect, but the texture was a little heavy and the bottom (the top while being baked) was a little under done. I did some research on how to fix the denseness, so I'm excited to try again! Off to eat some pandoro for breakfast!

[Young Val]

steph, I echo Nomi's comment on the pandoro! I admire your culinary bravery!

For Jan, and those of you who are interested, I won the homemade tater tot competition! (Just barely--David's were also excellent).

Here's a picture!



My tots are front and center in the martini glass, David's are on a plate in the background, and we got some tots from Sonic at my mother's suggestion as a basis for comparison.

It was loads of fun; my family and friends served as judges and filled out scoring cards and everything. While I feel triumphant and totally tot-capable now, I can say with relief that I'm glad it's all over. Tots from scratch are a LOT of work.

[Rei]

Brava!

So the verdict is: while you can make them yourself, in the end you're better off buying them?

[Young Val]

Exactly.

[Rei]

In which case we thank you for your enduring efforts in the name of science!

...not that I think I've ever had tater tots. But still!

[VelvetElvis]

In which case we thank you for your enduring efforts in the name of science!

...not that I think I've ever had tater tots. But still!

... Whaaa?

[ender1]

In which case we thank you for your enduring efforts in the name of science!

...not that I think I've ever had tater tots. But still!

... Whaaa?

My thought exactly.

[Eaquae Legit]

Exactly.

This is kind of how I feel about samosas. I know other people think gnocci isn't worth the effort, I like homemade gnocci enough to bother, but I don't find samosas worth it.

And nobody blame ME for the tater tot deficiency, I've had them.

[Rei]

I'll be honest, they don't exactly look overly appealing. I'll take my roasted vegetables any day, thank-you very much.

[Eaquae Legit]

Roasted vegetables aren't for breakfast. These are more like tiny hashbrowns, or french fries. Totally different entity. Maybe I'll have to get some so you can understand.

[Syphon the Sun]

Here's a picture!

*drools*

[VelvetElvis]

Roasted vegetables aren't for breakfast. These are more like tiny hashbrowns, or french fries. Totally different entity. Maybe I'll have to get some so you can understand.

Be sure to get them from Sonic! They're my favorites!

[Petrie]

I've never been a huge fan of tator tots or hashbrowns, for that matter. I have to be in a very specific mood for them and I'm hardly ever in that mood. Same with bacon.

With that said, those look pretty fantastic, Kelly.

[steph]

steph, I echo Nomi's comment on the pandoro! I admire your culinary bravery!

Thanks, Kelly. You know, if it weren't for you and all your bread experimenting, I probably never would have attempted it. In all seriousness, you were an influence in this pandoro making decision.

Also, would you mind posting your tater tot method? Not that I'm going to attempt them, but I'm just curious.

[powerfulcheese04]

I've got steph's salsa chicken (with mashed potatoes) sitting in front of me. Yum yum!

(Though, I did modify the recipe and cut the apricot preserves to about 1/2 tablespoon and a whole packet of chicken gravy to make it less sweet.)

[Young Val]

steph, here's a brief description of my method.

I peeled a few russet potatoes and cut them into large chunks. I ran the chunks through my food processor using the shredding disc. I steamed the shredded potatoes for about 2 minutes and then salted them. I sprinkled the countertop with flour and covered my hands in flour as well. I picked up about a tablespoon of the potato shreds and painstakingly hand shaped them into little cylinders. (This part was VERY messy and frustratingly slow and tedious). Then I rolled the cylinders in potato chip crumbs (i put a few chips in a ziploc bag, closed it, and crushed them to dust with my rolling pin). Then I fried them in hot oil, salted them again, and served.

David peeled his potatoes, cut them into chunks, and then boiled them. He drained the potatoes and then ran them through the food processor with the shredding disc. He added salt and corn starch to his potatoes and made a kind of a dough. He rolled the dough into a thin log, sliced off little cylinders, and fried them in oil.

[Eaquae Legit]

For the love of all things fuzzy, something DIED in this house last night of something! I went out for my evening shift, stayed at the coffee shop to work and pick Rei up, and when we walked in the house, we were hit with a WALL of STENCH. Dead fish stench, is my guess, only worse than usual. And it just wouldn't go away! It's lunchtime the next day right now, and I can still smell it! It kept me up at night!

OIUCFVGBHjnkds.

[Rei]

It was bad enough that *I* could smell it when we got home.

[Eaquae Legit]

Apparently the source of the stench was in the garbage in the kitchen. When it got taken out this afternoon, the stench vanished.

Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!

[steph]

I've got steph's salsa chicken (with mashed potatoes) sitting in front of me. Yum yum!

(Though, I did modify the recipe and cut the apricot preserves to about 1/2 tablespoon and a whole packet of chicken gravy to make it less sweet.)

I ate that on sunday! How funny! I'm all about adapting recipes for personal use. I added the gravy packet to my mother-in-law's recipe. I thought it needed a more well-rounded flavor. I also used a whole packet of gravy mix this time. I'm glad you liked it!

Thanks for the run-down, Kelly! I would have like to taste them, but I'm sure not going to try and make them so that I can taste them!

I made another pandoro yesterday. The texture was right this time! I let it rise more than it needed, so it was a little... tall. Next time I'll get it just right!

[Wil]

My family has a bad habit of not throwing stuff away fast enough. By fast enough I of course mean we stick something in the fridge and forget about it for several months. Recently, our fridge started to smell... bad. I found a drooping-half-watermelon, some kind of totally molded onion, a bag of brown water that used to be lettuce, and tons of old left-overs. It was pretty disgusting. But! I've now cleaned it up, bleached the entire fridge, sprayed some Oust in there, and tossed in a fresh box of baking soda.

Just thought I'd share. Oh, you mean this is a thread for GOOD Kitchen smells? My bad!

[Eaquae Legit]

This has been a great week for food! Today we made curries (butter paneer and chole palak), and mint-cilantro chutney. Friday we made a baked rotini primavera of sorts, which got compliments and a request for a recipe(!). Thursday we made mushroom risotto in the slow-cooker. I feel so well-fed, it's wonderful!

[steph]

Beef stew, french bread, pandoro. It will be a yummy night at my house tonight!

[steph]

I burned the pandoro last night and it's put me in a bad mood today. I forgot to turn the temp on the oven down after the first 15 minutes when the timer rang. I just reset the timer for the remaining 25 minutes of baking time and didn't change the temp. Such a stupid mistake! Now I'm behind on my pandoros. I need to have a lot to give away, and I can only do 1 per day. Grrrr! Trying again today!

[Eaquae Legit]

Candied cocoa nibs! I think I need to tweak the recipe a bit, since the melting sugar kept clumping and solidfying as I stirred it - next time I'll either melt the sugar before adding the nibs, or try a double-boiler. Either way, they're pretty tasty, especially if you're a dark chocolate fan!

They're hot, too. Poor fingers, this has not been a good week for you.

[Rei]

Those candied cocoa nibs are soooo tasty!

[Eaquae Legit]

Definitely melting the sugar first helped, if anyone is inclined to try it. Didn't clump up as much and allowed it to melt more evenly. The perfect gift for your chocolate-loving secret santa (I hope!).

[Luet]

Kelly, I tasted my first macaron in San Francisco this week! I had never seen one in person before. Now I want them again. Are they really hard to make and do you have a favorite recipe?

[ender1]

Kelly, I tasted my first macaron in San Francisco this week! I had never seen one in person before. Now I want them again. Are they really hard to make and do you have a favorite recipe?

Same here! It was at, I think, Miette in the Ferry Building.

[Young Val]

Aren't they FANTASTIC?!

They are very tricky to make--extremely tempermental, but it's do-able, and it gets easier with practice. You can't really substitute much with them; when it says super fine sugar, you can't sub granulated and expect the recipe to come out well. With that said, they aren't overly time consuming, and you'll feel so triumphant when you get your first "feet" on them!

When I get home I'll dig through my recipes and find the ones I use!