Blues Song for Blue Baker

Perhaps this will get me a life time of free BlueBaker cookies...I doubt it though.

A Blues song for Blue Baker (think of me soulfully singing with a guitar on my lap and a fedora on my knee…maybe throw a harmonic in there too

I have the blues before sunrise,
waiting in line for an everything bagel with cream cheese.
I have the blues before sunrise,
adoring the array of baked pastries, oh may I have a Nutty Muddy Water latte, please.
It was a wonderful feeling,
Now babe, a feeling I do despise.

I have to leave, leave you baby,
But I’ll be back before noon.
I have to leave you baby,
I’m coming back for my Quattro Formaggio Wood-fired pizza real, real soon.
I’m gonna pack up and leave you darling
but make sure no one sits in my favourite booth. Ahh…yea…baby.

I have to leave, leave you baby,
But there is still dinner
I’m gonna leave you baby,
perhaps I’ll have a Caesar salad or a soup with bread bowl-owl-owl.
I’m gonna pack up and leave you darling
But you know I don’t wanna go…cause today is rosemary kalamata olive bread day baby, ahhh yea.

Well now goodbye, goodbye baby,
I’ll see when I’m home from college one weekend soon.
Well now goodbye baby,
I still expect there to be no one sitting in my favourite booth, cause you know I’ll kick ‘em out, ahh bluesy baby.
You can go ahead now little darling,
Keep on making those daily breads of yours, shiner bock beer bread and jalapeno cheese too, but for now… I’ll just take my cinnamon roll for the rooooooaaaaad.

Adapted from Leroy Carr
For the complete adoration for my local bakery called Blue Baker in College Station, Texas.

Look for the full story and the wonderful world of Foodzie on their blog.
They claimed me a winner for this little diddy and my smokin' mug. Hello carrot cake caramels!

The Remains of a Sunny Day

Its cheesecake month again, yet the skies aren't filled with dainty songbirds and the park benches aren't packed with teenage couples whispering into each others hair so I'm reluctant to whip out my cream cheese. The clouds have been hanging so low, bellies full of fresh rain, and the winds have been so bitter, probably pissed about years of warm Texas winters. My newly planted lavender shrinks back in its clay pot wrapping in on itself and dreaming of the good old days back in Provence. My moccasins and the chill are the only dependable constant these past few weeks.

Saturday, a bit of sunshine peers over the windowsill. Birds from every corner of the earth seem to grace the single tree in my front yard. Droves of people, dogs and babies a plenty, shove past one another through the front doors of houses that have been shut up for ages. I think I heard the feint clap of a long forgotten flip flop down the sidewalk. It was a splendid day indeed. So I broke out my cream cheese and the sunniest thing I could find in my cupboard: oranges.


Orange and Ginger Cheesecake

1 3/4 cup ginger cookie bits
1 cup sugar
3 packages cream cheese
4 eggs
1/2 stick UNSALTED butter melted
juice of half an orange
zest of one orange
2 tablespoons ground ginger (or even fresh ginger all mashed up)

1. Combine cookie bits and butter and press into pan. Let chill in freezer for at least half hour.
2. Combine all other ingredients. I find its best to whip the sugar and cream cheese a bit first.
3. Pour into pan. Tap lightly on counter to release any oxygen bubbles at the bottom.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45mins-1hr. Place a baking pan of water on the second rack to help keep the oven humid. When the top of the cheese cake begins to crack a bit and browns ever so slightly it is done. Jiggle it a bit and if it springs back to formation then hoorah, you've cheesecake!
5. Let cool for a few hours, or not at all. I hate it when people say you can't eat hot cheesecake. Its divine hot.

Daring Bakers January: Nanaimo Bars

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

Au jour d'hui, tout en francais! Ma meilleure amie, elle s'appelle Elli, est Canadienne. De plus, aujourdhui est son anniversaire! Elle a 20 ans! J'aime les points d'exclamation! Et, pour elle, j'ai fait ses petits gouts.

J'ai fait deux types: une du citron et la vanille; l'autre de la framboise et du chocolat. Les deux bars utilisent l'homemade biscuit de farine complet (graham) epice avec la plante d'Asie (cardamom) et du sucre turbinado.

C'est pas tres dificile, mais ils sont tres riches, ainsi que on faut partager avec tes meilleurs amis canadiens aussi!

ca suffit du francais? oui...

toasting les coconuts

So, yes I still have yet to determine the phonetic pronunciation of this no-bake Canadian treat but I don't care so much as all I think about when it comes to Canada is Elli and half naked Mounties. Not together, bien sur. Les Mounties sont pour moi.

There is a sweet little bit about Nanaimo Bars on Cakespy, who has much more to say on the matter than I do.

The Nanaimo carnage...

Spiced Apple Cake

With new kitchen tools at my disposal and an empty sad looking cake platter beckoning me from the pantry I could only do one thing. Bake. While this sounds epic, it wasn't really. Just wanted to blow up your expectations there a bit. So here you are. No frills, no exclamation points, just apples, the rest of my bottle of cinnamon and loads of butter.


I sliced an apple wafer thin and dehydrated them ever so slowly in the oven to make apple chips for the top of the cake. I know am in the mood to do this to every fruit in my cupboard...it might not be a good thing. We will see.


What's more, my lovely kitten Eleanor has decided to become a chef. Yes, she told me so and has gone so far as to clean the contents of the kitchen sink to show her dedication ( even if it was with her tongue). She for some reason loves to watch you cook, clean or prepare anything in the kitchen. She helps you sprinkle flour leaving kitty paw prints on the black range. She is my taste tester for boiled noodles, although she doesn't understand the meaning of al dente quite yet. She likes all fruits and vegetables including strawberries, cucumbers and the dregs of the salad bowl. Although I've also caught her nibbling on the ends of sticks of butter...that must be her weakness.

Daring Bakers December Challenge: Gingerbread Structures

So instead of a basic gingerbread house I decided to go "all out" though my stomach and my ambitions were beyond me skills and time frame. No matter, four year old Tristan and I had plenty of wholesome farm-to-market fun while building our little Gingerbread Austin Farmer's Market.


Our Ginger Market's fair this week included gummy cherries, sugar plums (for the holidays of course), mallowcreme pumpkins, swedish fish, mini marshmallows and chocolate bits, sugared watermelon slices and olive painted jordan almonds.

The plans that did and did not help...



The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.

Daring Bakers November Challenge: Cannolis

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

On a full stomach of turkey and cranberry stuff, I managed to fry up some cannolis and convince my equally satiated family members to taste test.


Pumpkin Cannolis...


black pumpkin seeds and chocolate shells with a real pumpkin and spice ricotta filling


Ginger Cannolis...


sugared ginger pieces and chopped ginger wafers top a ginger and vanilla spiced ricotta layered onto plain cannoli shells...

Cooking with the Copain: Scratch Made Corn Dogs

So just after we went to see AB we re-watched a few his episodes to keep the hysteria alive. Josh was particular smitten with the "Man Food" episode that begins as a ruse as Alton is pretending to show the male viewers how to impress their loved ones via fancy food and asks kindly that the women leave while the men are instructed. "It's a surprise!" As soon as the girls are "gone" he pulls a bottle of beer out of tall glass of freshly squeezed orange juice and macho fried food from under the quiche. Of course I didn't leave and we learned how to make homemade corn dogs.


We went and bought a gallon of peanut oil...and I feel like its coating my innards...


They were actually quite easy...but not so much on the stomach a few hours later.


We were going to wrap them up and take them on a picnic to Central Market Park however we didn't think they or our appetites would survive the trip, so we ended up on the front porch.

Ingredients

• 1 gallon peanut oil
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk ( it calls for this but a simple substitution is plain milk with a dash of vinegar)
  
• 4 tablespoons cornstarch, for dredging
• 8 beef hot dogs (I don't eat beef so we used turkey dogs!)

Directions:

Special equipment: 8 sets chopsticks, not separated

Pour oil into a deep fryer or large heavy pot and heat to 375 degrees F. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cayenne pepper. In a separate bowl, combine the jalapeno, corn, onion, and buttermilk. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients all at once, and stir only enough times to bring the batter together; there should be lumps. Set batter aside and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

Scatter the cornstarch into a dry pie pan. Roll each hot dog in the cornstarch and tap well to remove any excess.

Transfer enough batter to almost fill a large drinking glass. Refill the glass as needed. Place each hot dog on chopsticks, and quickly dip in and out of the batter. Immediately and carefully place each hot dog into the oil, and cook until coating is golden brown, about 4 to 5 minutes. With tongs, remove to cooling rack, and allow to drain for 3 to 5 minutes.

(recipe from AB on foodnetwork.com)