Cobbler The IB Way

When I first started this blog one of the things Katie and I talked about was recipes and cooking for college students. We tossed this idea around, I flirted with it but I could never find a good time to start. Then Katie and her friends got together and started a blog about IB and how to cope with all of the demands of high school and before long... MOM got involved. I'm not writing for their blog but I told them I will start posting recipes once a week that will feature easy and cheap recipes that hopefully will be healthy. Then I decided to do cobbler. Oops.

For full disclosure: I have never been to college but I have to feed 6 people on a limited budget so I think I can help. Also, I am assuming a couple of things...

1. There will be a communal dorm kitchen or apartment kitchen or maybe just a hot plate. There will be some recipes that you might not be able to do. I know you guys are scary smart but DO NOT think about doing something stupid. Use your common sense. Also... DO NOT rig/make/or even think about making an indoor grill like this guy did (he's a grad student at Berkeley! Make sure if you see him you point and say, 'Ha ha' like Nelson from The Simpsons.)

2. That you will have a few staples on hand. Butter, eggs, flour, sugar, oil (olive and vegetable), salt, pepper and water. Have your parents buy them or better yet, buy your own!

*Guys, want to impress that girl of your dreams? Cook for her! Even if it turns out bad she'll be thankful and happy you tried. She'll think it's cute. I hope.

Homework Assignment because you IB'ers live for homework!: When you get to college... take a day, an hour even and find the local farmers market or a good but cheap grocery store. Yes, you'll be busy... going to freshman orientation, eating pizza, doing homework, missing your parents but just go. (Hey! I hear you snickering. Stop it. Let's just pretend you'll miss your parents.)

One last thing, repeat after me....

"Cooking is fun. I can experiment and I can change a recipe to suite my tastes, no matter what someone tells me."

Blackberry Cobbler: (Adapted from several recipes)

2 tablespoons of cornstarch (flour will work)
1/4 cup cold water
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice, a couple good squirts
4 cups blackberries, rinsed and drained... make sure to get any little leaves or debris out.
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter, cold and cut into pieces
1/4 cup hot or boiling water

In a good sized bowl, stir together cornstarch and 1/4 cold water and stir until cornstarch is dissolved. This will thicken the juices that the blackberries will release turing baking and will create that yummy syrup you see in the picture.

Add 1 cup of sugar, lemon juice, and blackberries: mix gently.

In a bowl, combine the flour, remaining sugar, baking powder, and salt. Blend in the butter until the mixture is like a coarse meal. Add water and stir the mixture just until a soft dough is formed.

Place the blackberry mixture in a 8x8 baking dish. If you don't have a baking dish a skillet will do, so would a smaller type oven proof bowl. Be MacGuyver, just don't make a homemade indoor grill! Drop spoonfuls of the dough on top of the blackberry mixture. It will not cover all of the berries. Bake in a pre-heated 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until the topping is golden brown. Want to get fancy? Put some whip cream on top or better yet, vanilla ice cream. Shhhh, don't tell your parents I told you this, but it's really good for breakfast.

Also, if you want more cheap eats go to Thursday Night Smackdown. Every Monday, Michelle does Cheap Ass Monday. C.A.M. features dishes that are under 5 dollars that feed two hungry adults.

*Adults that read my blog... help me out here. If you have any ideas, recipes, suggestions, or tales of college life... let's hear them!

A Third Person Fairy Tale

This is not your usual Disney fairy tale...

Once upon a time, there was a fair young lass. She was a tomboy, stubborn (to the point of orneriness), sarcastic (it could be ugly), fiercely independent (it drove people crazy, especially her biological father who tried to beat it out of her) and very passionate (about books, food, anything) at 19-20 years of age it made her standout in not a good way. She also never really dreamed of getting married. It wasn't her thing. Big fluffy dresses, nails, perfectly groomed hair... she just couldn't see herself doing any of this. This has not changed even as she's becoming older. She is dreading the day her beautiful daughters come to her and say they want to get married. She's going to tell them to elope and spend the money that you would on the wedding on a fabulous vacation. It's the marriage, not the wedding, that counts. Yeah, that fair lass is going to win Mother of the Year.

Okay, back to the story... The fair lass had turned twenty and had just broken up with a not so charming prince or if you will a... my baby's daddy (god, do I hate that term but those three words can sum up a whole situation quite succinctly.) After the not-so-charming prince dumped our fair lass, her mother asked, 'When are you going to bring home an older prince. Someone more mature.' Our lass pondered that question but it didn't take long for an answer.

She was working at a place that can make many dreams come true, no, not Disneyland, silly. The place that all the princes took as a place to practice their archery skills because there is a big red bulls eye on the front of the building. Target. This Target, in a far off land called Lodi, hadn't even opened the store yet. Many people came from near and far to help get this particular Target opened. While getting this Target store opened, she met this guy. He was tall, very imposing, and her boss. They really didn't have much contact but he always made it a point to say hi. Our fair lass liked this guy, as crazy as this sounds, she dreamed about this guy before she had even met him. Which was crazy because he had transferred from a North Dakota store but later found out he was originally from Stockton. He seemed nice and very smart but he was older than her by 12 years.

'There's just no way he would be interested in me, someone not even legal to drink.' the fair lass thought, 'and anyways there are so many women flirting with him.' One thing to know about this girl is that she is actually very shy almost to the point of painfully shy but what's stranger yet, can and will flirt with any living thing... it's a conundrum for the ages. She didn't know how to approach her boss so she didn't do anything.

Then her not-so-charming boyfriend broke up with her in a not-so-charming way and because she didn't know any better she went to work that night! I never said our fair lass was smart.

When our girl went to work. The boss saw that she looked like hell and asked her what was wrong. Of course, the fair lass started bawling like a little baby and choked out some words about being dumped and the boss said something like, 'Well, if I was with you, I would always take care of you.' While the words didn't sink in that day they did later on.

Today, thirteen years ago, I actually listened to my mom and brought home someone older than me and married him. Yes, he's 45 and I'm 34.

He loves me for who I am and takes care of me whether I need it or not. He understands I am a prickly pain in the ass who still is fiercely independent and hates any authority. It doesn't bother him or insult his manhood. He laughs at all my jokes and useless facts. He calls from work just to hear my voice. He plays bad cop to my good cop, except when buying cars then the roles suddenly reverse! He loves me more than I can ever love him.

He also has some bad points and he can drive me absolutely crazy but you know what...

I'm still in love with him.

Banana & Dulce de Leche Paletas

Grace of Amazing Grace...how sweet the sound... sorry, I can't help it. I'm sure she's been serenaded her whole life but she's never been serenaded by a tone deaf wanna be evil chef! Okay, enough screwing around. It's not Amazing Grace, it's A Southern Grace and Grace has a little event called Beat The Heat . All she wants is 'your very best dish, whether entree, side, beverage, or dessert, that requires no heat to prepare.' Weather wise, it's been in the high 90's flirting with the low 100's for the last few days. Damn skippy, I can make you a little something using no heat.

Three little ingredients mixed in the blender and put into the freezer and you have paletas. Since there are only a few ingredients, that you control, it's much better than the stuff you buy at the store or even Baskin-Robbins. So what's a paleta?

Paletas are a Latin American ice pop usually milk or water based. In Stockton, we have a huge Latino community, so paletas are very common. At soccer games, the vendors come around and you can get, I swear, every flavor under the sun. Pineapple, strawberry, coconut, watermelon, walnut, tamarind, jamaica, cucumber, mango, guava... if it can be frozen, it will probably be made into a paleta. I like these better than regular ice cream. The flavor is true and simple with pieces of frozen fruit throughout the pop.

These measurements made enough for six paletas.

Banana & Dulce de Leche Paletas:

1 cup whole milk (I have never tried soy, low fat, or skim milk but I imagine it would work but I'm sure the flavor would be a little watery. If you do try it with soy or any other milk, let me know how it turns out. I'm curious to know what happens.)

3 ripe bananas

1/4 - 1/2 cup dulce de leche

Put these ingredients in to a blender and pulse until a smooth, almost milk shake consistency. Pour into popsiscle molds and freeze.

That's it. No ovens to turn on. A little something to beat the heat. Because it's too hot to even think, let alone cook.

Hopefully You'll Respect Me In The Morning

Dear Readers,

After Melissa's dust up with Cook's Illustrated/ Cook's Country, I thought it might be a good idea to put a code of ethics on my blog, so you know where I stand. These are rules I have tried to set for myself so you and I could respect me in the morning. These rules will probably change as I and this blog grows and evolves. If I could be presumptuous, I do have two favors to ask of you.

1. Call me out if you see me screw up. I will try to fix whatever problems come about. My email is on the top right hand corner of my blog under Contact Me. I am open to a good discussion and criticism. It was because of phillygirl64's comment I decided to do this post. She and a few others have some good view points that need to be discussed about credit and attributions. It might be boring but it gives everybody the chance to see where I stand. Look at how egotistical I am, like you care where I stand.

2. If you have a food blog, try to set up an email account for your blog. I think if more people did that, bloggers would have a way of contacting you asking if it's alright to post your recipe. Maybe then people won't poach recipes as much because you or I feel available. Also, if that book publisher/magazine editor wants you to contact you, he or she can!

ECM's Ethics So You'll Respect Her In The Morning:

1. You Tube or websites that have embedding codes to share: I feel this is fair game. Eric Ripert's Avic Eric clearly has an embedding code on his videos. If he didn't want you to copy and embed it to your blog he wouldn't put it the codes on his blog for sharing. If he or anybody else asks for me to take their videos down from my blog, I will do so promptly and with apologies.

2. Recipes From Other Bloggers: I will try to get permission by emailing them or commenting on their blog. I have posted two recipes from Pioneer Woman (The French Breakfast Puffs and Hot Crash Potatoes) and I have tried e-mailing her for permission. By her own admission, she doesn't answer many e-mails. In the future, if I don't get permission. I won't post the recipe. I will link back to that particular post on their site but if I did make any modifications I will post those on my own blog. If they ask me to take down a link, I will do so within reason.

3. Recipes From Cookbooks or Magazines: I will do what I was taught in school. Make sure to give proper credit to the author. Here are the two things I have been doing. I haven't settled on one particular method and your input would be helpful here.

The Cut and Paste Method. I'm referring to people who post recipes verbatim. While I'm not cutting and pasting (you are talking to the mom and student who has NEVER purchased Cliff Notes because that's cheating) what I mean is typing a recipe verbatim, then adding my modifications, somewhere in the recipe by using different color type or asterisk. I like this method because you can see what I have changed to suit my taste but yet gives you the freedom to use the original recipe or at the very least the original thought process of that chef or author. Remember when I listed 'trust your gut' as one of those rules to live by. This is the rule my gut tells me to go with.

The Inspired By Method: Still gives credit to the author but uses their recipe as a guideline only. How many things I modify, is up for debate. There are no clear laws/rules/guidelines anywhere for this type of thing.

The only problem I have with the Inspired By method is baking recipes. Baking recipes are so exact that you almost have to copy them verbatim because if you don't, your recipes doesn't turn out. This is my personal Catch-22.

4. Pictures: most pictures I post are my own. If I pull a picture from Google Images, I will try to make sure to link back to the site I pulled it from or give credit. This one is going to be the hardest to remember because I don't pull pictures from other sources often.

On a personal note, I have only done one, what some would call, restaurant review. My feeling is that if you are a mom and pop place and I like your food, I might talk about it but if I don't like it, I'm not going to slander that restaurant unless I saw something so egregious that I absolutely had to blog about it. Like cockroaches on the table and even then I didn't blog about it! Chain restaurants I don't have a opinion on. I lied, I do (mostly bad) but when and if I post on those things is a whole can of worms I'll get to on a later date.

I don't think I ever said this because I'm not good at this type of thing and I don't want it to sound false but thank you for reading my blog and taking the time to either leave a comment or a private e-mail. I think in the last day or two people have shown that bloggers do have a voice and even though we don't see each other face to face we are people that will stick up for, root for, and support each other.

Let me know if I have forgotten something that you feel needs to be addressed. Sometime this weekend I will be posting an actual recipe and some other plans that I have up my sleeve that I need some input on.

Enjoy your weekend and take care,

Krysta

Still Pissed Off...

If you haven't read about Melissa's Cook's Illustrated problem click here.

It's been twenty four hours and I am still pissed off. I don't do well with two things... arrogance and picking on the little guy and when you mix those two together, it's not pretty.

If you're tempted to make linguine with clams according to the kitchen's preparation, you should understand that the only ingredient that's measured is the pasta. (A serving is four ounces.) Everything else is what you pick up with your fingertips, and it's either a small pinch or a large pinch or something in between: not helpful, but that, alas, is the way quantities are determined in a restaurant. (When a cookbook is prepared, a tester comes to the kitchen, picks up all the ingredients needed to make a dish, and takes them away to translate them into quantities that people at home might recognize. In the foodie publishing world, these testers- who have very white kitchens with carefully calibrated ovens and computerized weighing devices- are despots of the written recipe. But I've never been persuaded by the reliability of the translation. Bill Buford, Heat

While this is talking about cooking in Batali's Babbo restaurant. I think this paragraph sums a few thing up for me.

Here's what made me so upset about CIs response to Melissa recipe. In bullet points 'cause I'm pissed off.

1.) Most chefs, cooks or the mom and dad slaving away at the stove are not measuring when cooking dinner. Baking a cake, yes, you are measuring but cooking... not so much measuring. If you are measuring ingredients for dinner either a.) it's your first time making a dish or b.) you are very inexperienced in the kitchen, and that's okay. I think most chefs would tell you cooking is an improvisational art. Once you can make that switch from measuring to doing, you have truly became a cook.

After your first time making a meal, I am assuming you start switching out ingredients, adjusting cooking times to make it YOUR OWN. Melissa switched out 4 ingredients of potato salad and to me that makes it her own, not CI's. If CI is going to be upset that she modified their recipe they better get a whole gaggle of lawyers and start suing everybody. From the caveman who started barbecuing to all of us. They are going to sue your grandmother who has a family recipe that's been handed down for generations just because it has the same list of ingredients and cooking instructions as July 1988 edition. Do you think I am joking? Because I'm not.

2.) I want to know how you can copyright ingredients and methods? If this were the case, Bourdain would sue Ripert (maybe just a cage match, because I have a dirty mind that way) Joy of Cooking would sue Alice Waters because all their recipes call for peel the potato or turn the oven to 350 degrees. This argument doesn't work for me. A kitchen is a place with many variables. Heat, humidity, cookware, even my measuring cups are different than anybody elses.

For example: Give Melissa and I the same recipe to cook and the dish will probably in all likelihood taste different than hers. Not much but you would be able to tell. Why? All sorts of reasons. She cooks with gas and I have a lousy electric stove. I have heavy duty restaurant cookware that retains heat, she doesn't. I threw in a splash of wine and she added parsley. I could go on and on. The same recipe does not equal the same dish. Never has, never will.

For example: Katie makes chocolate chip cookies for the family all the time. Guess where she gets the recipe from... the back of the Toll House bag. She modifies the recipe by adding one fricking ingredient, almond extract and it dramatically changes the flavor of the cookie. Is it a Toll House recipe anymore or is it Katie's?

3.) My problem is that everyone and their great-grandma's uncle second cousin's dog Duke (Bush's baked beans, and he's trying to give away that recipe!) has a recipe for potato salad. My ex's mother gave me a potato salad recipe, 17 years ago, that's pretty damn close to this one. Adding pickle juice to potato salad is not a new idea. I have at least 20 potato salad recipes because I'm a potato-ho that way. All of them are similar, can I post them? Should I post them? If I made pretty clear modifications to the recipe, who does the recipe belong to now? Is it my own recipe, or is it theirs? Should I write inspired by or when I serve dinner should I announce to my family this meal is trademarked by so and so. When does it become my dish and not the creators of the recipe?

4.) No one recipe is perfect... see reason #2.

5.) Permissions, Credits, and Linking.

phillygirl64 (i'd link you but I can't find anything to link you to.) left an interesting comment on my blog as I was typing this post that I think needs to addressed because I do understand where she is coming from.

A few posts down you say you felt you had to ask permission first from another blogger to print a couple of recipes, but then you criticize CI for requiring permission to print theirs? Or let's say you write a major report...you do all the research, write and revise a number of drafts, then finally type it all out...then someone else comes along, copies it, changes a few things, and calls it their own...how would you feel?

I feel like I have to ask for permission even for a dish that was only inspired by a blog because that is who I am. I don't want the guilt or my reputation to go down the toilet. I want to be a stand up gal. Melissa is the same way. Melissa asked permission* and told them she made modifications to their recipe. (and as most food bloggers do, she would have linked back to them) What pissed me off was the arrogance of the emails. Their recipes are perfect and have been tested over a hundred times (i.e. because they work.) Again see reason 2. Or better yet this comes off sounding like the Soup Nazi. 'No potato salad for you!' or a harpy shrieking about 'how dare you change my recipe!' Sorry CI folks, recipes are changed all the time. I'm smart enough to know if you cook my recipes either...

a.) you are going to change them to suite you and your families taste

or

b.) it might turn out like shit.

I'm putting myself out there so I'm willing to take that risk. If it does taste like shit, let me know so I can figure out where the recipe went wrong. Hell, knowing me I would probably also take your suggestions and incorporate them into my recipe with permission and links, of course. Also, I think that the food bloggers work on some sort of trust and honor system. I am hoping that you will either e-mail me to ask for permission to post my recipe or at the very least link back to my blog. A bloggers way of bibliography or footnote.

....and yes, I would be pissed about a report phillygirl... talk to Artie who went to UCLA off of all my school work but cooking is a little different. I think we could agree that it like comparing apples to oranges. A potato salad is so common and every recipe is so different but the same, it would be like trying to re-invent the wheel. If you come up with a new cooking style and recipe to go with it, then patent, copyright, do what ever you need do but potato salad, come on. I mean food bloggers rarely put Thomas Keller's recipes on their blogs because they know that his recipes are unique. Oysters and Pearls, anybody? You won't find them anywhere else and that's the difference.

I think everyone is so up in arms because we love food and it threatens our community. (ugh, my bullshit meter went off, but I have no other way of putting that.) We try to run on an honor system and when we try to abide by it and The Man says "Oh no. Can't do that." It upsets our little world. The laws aren't clear and we try our best to work within what we think is right.

Melissa, I'm so proud of you for taking a stand and sticking it to that little prick with the bow tie. I got your back and I'm sure most of the food blogging world does too.

'Cook's Illustrated Go Fuck Off!'

end rant...

* my misunderstanding... she did not ask for permission but did give credit. duly noted and corrected. sorry.

a little something to get your blood pressure up...

Want to read something that will piss a food lover off? Click here.

Goes {not so much} with this little rant!

Send Out An ABP!

Missing: One Global Utility Knife

Last seen: July 19th, 2008 approximately at 7:00 pm


Owner is distraught. Matter of fact, she spent 6 hours cleaning her kitchen from top to bottom to find said knife, before calling the SKPD (Stockton Kitchen Police Department) Owner says it might have ran away with the cow, spoon, and her wedding ring. Owner is paranoid, might be on drugs. She claims little things are always missing, never to be found again, briefly mentioned about she thinks the house might be haunted or she lives in a Bermuda-like triangle. When Owner calms down, we will conduct a full search of home and surrounding areas with the help of her husband, who seems to think some little sous chefs might have thrown it away on accident. We haven't ruled out the sous chefs as suspects. When we know more we will hold another press conference.

It's All Her Fault!

I love me some Thursday Night Smackdown. So much so, that I blantantly stole her ideas. Well, not actually. I emailed Michelle and asked if I could print two of her recipes that inspired me. See, I say I'm all evil but I can't just go steal someones idea and call it mine. It's just bad manners. Hell, I would probably write my blog just like hers but I'm too goody-goody (i.e. chicken shit) and don't want offend anybody with all the cursing. Ahh, the life I lead. I should call this blog Wussy Chef Mom. I agonize over every stupid word. For example, is someone going to object to the word wussy?

I get the feeling I could have a few shots of tequila with Michelle and she'd give me a ration of crap (shit) for not letting loose on my blog. In real life, I have a foul-foul mouth. Worse than a sailor. Worse that a ten cent whore. Michelle would then double dog dare me to sit down in front of a computer, drunk, and force me to write as my true self. Then there would be no more readers and my blog would die a slow gruesome death. I think I'll live vicariously through her blog. But anytime you are in town Michelle, I'll be more than happy to buy you a few drinks.

Sausage and Peppers Pasta: (inspired by this dish)

This dish is one of those use as much or as little as you want or need to feed your family. You know your family better than I do.

red, yellow, and green bell peppers, sliced. Do I really need to tell you to take out the seeds?

yellow onion, sliced into thin half circles

spicy Italian sausage


salt and pepper to taste

pasta

Cook pasta according to directions and salt that water! Make it taste like the ocean.

Cook the Italian sausage over high heat and break into bite size pieces. When it is cooked all the way, take out the sausage and put into a bowl. DO NOT DRAIN THE PORK FAT! LEAVE IT IN THE PAN. I said, leave it!

Okay, turn down the heat to medium and throw the onions in the pan. Let them cook until they are golden brown. Low and slow for the onions, folks. When the onions are about done, add the peppers. Cook until the peppers are tender but not over done. Who wants to eat mush? Add the sausage back into the pan and add the done pasta. Give it a few tosses and dinner is done and so freaking fanflippingtastic. It's the shizzle fritz. Only two things on this blog have gotten the shizzle fritz stamp of approval and this is one of them.

Snozzberries. This recipe for wine marinated grapes I had read about and laughed because Michelle quoted Willy Wonka. 'The Snozzeberries taste like Snozzberries.' and the only thing I could think of was 'I have a blueberry for a daughter.' and 'You boil him up, I know you did' and 'Springtime the only ring a ding time, birds sing a ding a ling a ling. Sweet lovers love the spring.' and one more for good measure...

"Candy is dandy but liquor is quicker."

Which seems apropos in this case.

Back to the snozzberries. I wasn't going to make these but while buying some stuff at Cost Plus, to some of you it's called World Market, I ran into some old co-workers and they showed me a new wine that came in. It was called Sweet Pea Apple Wine. This wine is an apple flavored wine with natural peach flavors. Guess what? It's good, not at all wine cooler-y or overly sweet. For some reason this wine called out and said, 'buy me! and use me to make snozzberries.' I did and by jove, this was really good. Everyone liked it. I caught the kids sneaking these out of the freezer.

Michelle, when CPS comes after my ass for me letting my kids eat wine marinated grapes I'm going to blame it all on you.

P.S. Can you add a post script to a blog?

P.P.S. I was awarded an award, maybe I have had too many snozzberries, because that didn't come out right. I was given an award by Ms. Snooty Patooty AKA Snooty Primadonna for Just Plain Fun to Read. Are you sure this is what you has in mind when you were thinking I was fun to read? Snozzberries, movie quotes, kids eating wine soaked grapes, CPS, and questionable language. Yeah, that's right, you know I'm a fun blog to read. Thank You.

leftovers...

...a face to the blog. Morning sunshine!

...if it was only it was winter.

smitten kitchen's chocolate sorbet. best.thing.in.the.whole.entire.world. How did this scoop end up in the shape of a heart? A cracked heart, at that.

I like the optical illusion in this photo.

breakfast.

I love these reds.

Chilaquiles verde with scrambled eggs and pico de gallo.

I will be posting this dinner sometime this week. It's really good! No, I mean...really good like when I post it, you will run to store and make it, good.

same with these very special grapes.

The Man is being a grumpy gus. If I didn't know better I'd say he's on his period. I love how guys get a pass for pissy behavior but not women. To combat his behavior, I took a nap and got to thinking about something my grandmother said a while back. She was talking about the sous chefs growing up and she said while she missed her kids when they flew the coop, she doesn't miss getting up early and now she can sleep in as long as she wants. So I want to know...

What would you do if you had no responsibilities?

No kids or spouse to worry about. Would you stay up late and sleep in every day? Would you paint your living room red like you always dreamed about? Live in a shack on the beach? Eat sushi every day? I can't be the only one you has these thoughts.

Cinnaminny Goodness

Lets get business out of the way first, shall we?


I'm hosting this month's potato ho-down on August 20th. All entries need to be in by the 17th of August. Also, Cathy and I want to clarify one thing. Please make sure all potato ho-down entries are no older than one month from the previous ho-down entries. For example; for this month's event we will accept entries dated on your blog from July 17, 2008 to August 20, 2008. If you don't have a picture or a blog you can still participate. Just email me (evilchefmom @ aol.com) the same info below and I will make sure to include you in all the fun.


Rules and all that other legal stuff:


-Your name (how you want it to appear on post)
-Your Ho name (first pet's name + middle name)
-Your blog's name (if you have one)
-Your post URL
-Name of your dish
-A very short description of your recipe that will appear in the roundup
-Attach a 575 pixels wide photo of your final dish


Send entries to evilchefmom @ aol.com. Also you can find the information here.

All right, I wanted to clear something up for any new readers. The last post about the flea soup was a little confusing if you haven't been a long time reader of my blog.


If you have kids, you have had the dreaded question come up..."Hey Mom, what's for dinner?" When I was a little kid when we (4 kids) asked what was for dinner, my dad liked to gross us out by saying thing like 'snake eyes and gopher guts' or 'bbq baboon butt.' which quickly shut us all up. Like father, like daughter... anytime any of my kids ask me what's for dinner, by law I'm required to say something to gross them out, hence Nancy's answer of flea soup.


Click here for some other what's for dinner answers.

Everyone of the blogs I have listed on my sidebar, I read everyday. I might not comment but I do read. It's funny how on these blogs you think you have finally found your long lost twin, for whatever reason. I know of four people on my blog roll that I would totally get along in person. Either because they like the same books, blogs, or most importantly food. Grace of A Southern Grace is one of those people. Loves Mexican food, the spicier the better, and loves cinnamon. Matter of fact she just posted a recipe a while back called Just How Much Cinnamon Can One Mouth Handle? I took that as a double dog dare ya'.


Cake:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
4 large eggs
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons grated orange peel
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

* I also added some freshly grated nutmeg because what's cinnamon without the nutmeg. It's like John without Paul. It's porkchops without applesauce. It's peas without carrots. It's just not done!


Frosting:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
2-3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons cinnamon


Preheat oven to 350°F. *Butter and flour two 9-inch cake pans. Sift first 4 ingredients into small bowl. Stir milk and butter in small saucepan over low heat just until butter melts; set aside.Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar in large bowl until thick enough for batter to fall in heavy ribbon when beaters are lifted, about 5 minutes. Beat in orange peel and vanilla. Add flour mixture; beat just until blended. Add warm milk mixture; beat just until blended. Divide batter between prepared pans.Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean and cakes begin to pull away from sides of pans, about 24 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on racks 20 minutes. Cut around pan sides and turn cakes out onto racks. Turn cakes right side up.For frosting, mix the butter and cream cheese together with an electric mixer until very smooth. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure even mixing. Add the vanilla extract and cinnamon and mix. Slowly add the powdered sugar. Keep adding until you get to desired sweetness. Spread one cup of frosting onto first layer. Top with second layer. Smooth the rest of the frosting onto the top and sides.


*I baked mine in a sheet pan, then used a square cookie cutter to make mini layered cakes because I'm turning into a mini cake freak. First, Katie's sweet 16 birthday cakes and now this.


Holy Cow, this is a good cake. I knew there was a reason I liked Grace.

What's For Dinner?

ECM: " Hey Nancy, what's for dinner?"

Nancy: " Flea Soup"

Oh Eric, How Do I Love Thee?

Can we all just sit and watch Eric cook while he talks in that beautiful French accent? Swoon. He could {almost} replace Anthony Bourdain as my favorite chef/secret husband/boy toy.

I had a mango, we were having pancakes for dinner, so VIOLA! Pancakes with caramelized mangoes with rum was born. It was like sex on a tropical beach without the sand getting in certain places. I wouldn't know about that because I've never been to anywhere tropical but I do have a great imagination!

So here's the deal, use your favorite pancake mix or better yet make your own pancake batter. After you make the pancakes make the mangoes with rum. Serve over pancakes.

Caramelized Mango with Rum: recipe on line at Avec Eric

Serves 2

1 mango

2 tablespoons butter, softened

1 tablespoon brown sugar

¼ cup dark rum

Peel the mango and cut into ¾ - inch thick slices. Heat toaster oven* to broil. Line the toaster oven tray with foil. Lay mango slices on the tray and brush soft butter evenly over the mango. Sprinkle the brown sugar on top and broil for about 5 minutes or until soft (to avoid flare up, do not put rum in the toaster oven)

*Here's the deal, I don't have a beautiful Cuisinart toaster oven. I did mine on the stove top. If you have a gas stove be careful adding the rum, you don't want flambéed eyebrows. Other than that, enjoy your little tropical vacation. Don't do anything I would do... which isn't saying much. I'm a wanted women in 5 different countries.

Voulez-Vous Coucher Avec Moi Ce Soir?

Hey Sister, Go Sister, Soul Sister, Go Sister
He met Marmalade down in Old New Orleans
Struttin' her stuff on the street
She said 'Hello, hey Joe, you wanna give it a go?

Lady Marmalade, Labelle

Seriously, I'm surprised no one has gone this route yet. Or is it too common? Anyways, Lady Marmalade is the perfect ho name. It has a food reference and everyone including my kids know what this song is about. Yes, I am a bad mother but when they ask questions it's easier to tell the truth than to lie. I'm a horrible liar.

If I go by the rules my name is Christina Shane. Which soooo reminds me of a 70's porn star.

This is what I picture me to be. A young Jacqueline Smith. Come on Christina Shane? I have to have long brown feathered hair. Kind of the girl next door. You know the girl who is washing the car and the hose gets her wet, then the next door neighbor is over and...

cue the cheesy bow chicka wah wah music.

See there you go.

Speaking of porn and names.

Erm, what happened to Ron Jeremy?

If porn does this to you, please don't cue the bow chicka wah wah music.

and if I'm Evil Chef Mom, don't you think I need a dominatrix name?

Any suggestions?

'Mmm Hmmm Gitchi Gitchi Ya Ya Da Da

Here's my entry to the Potato Ho Down. It's Potato Salad with Bacon and Eggs. It's a Ina Garten recipe. cringe... I hope she has a good sense of humor after all this Potato Ho, porn, and dominatrix talk. I have a feeling she could get down and dirty with the rest of us. Here's my theory...

People who really enjoy, I mean enjoy, their food are not as up tight as people who have put limitations on their diets. I'm not talking about people who have allergies, don't like certain foods, or need to limit their food for medical reasons. I'm talking about people who won't eat this because of....{fill in the blank}. We all know some of these people. These people tend to be uptight. People who enjoy eating are normally a happy bunch and are pretty adventurous and that should equal a pretty good sense of humor. I could be wrong but I pretty sure I'm not. Anyways, are you really going to argue with a Cooking Dominatrix. Oh shit, that would have been the perfect blog title. Damn!

head making contact with the desk over and over again

Potato Salad with Bacon and Eggs: (House Beautiful July 2008)

2 pounds medium-small red-skinned potatoes, scrubbed
Kosher salt
1/2 pound thick-sliced applewood-smoked bacon
1 tablespoon imported Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons white wine or champagne vinegar
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup good olive oil
1/3 cup dry white wine
3 extra-large hard-boiled eggs, peeled
5 scallions, white and green parts, sliced

Preheat the oven to 425°. Place the potatoes in a pot and cover them with water by at least 1 inch. Add 1 tablespoon of salt, bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes, until the potatoes are just barely tender. Drain the potatoes and place a dish towel over the hot potatoes, allowing them to steam for 10 minutes. While the potatoes are cooking, place the bacon on a baking rack over a foil-lined sheet pan and bake for 20 minutes, until crisp. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels to drain. In a small bowl, whisk together the Dijon mustard, vinegar, 1 1/2 teaspoons of kosher salt, and 1 teaspoon of pepper. While whisking, slowly add the olive oil and set aside. As soon as the potatoes can be handled without burning your hands, cut them into 1-inch chunks and place them in a large bowl. Immediately add the wine to the potatoes and toss them carefully, allowing the potatoes to absorb the wine. Add the dressing to the potatoes and mix carefully. Coarsely chop the hard-boiled eggs, crumble the bacon, and add them along with the scallions to the potatoes, tossing to combine. Season to taste and serve warm or at room temperature.

*Tasting Notes: It has potatoes in it! It's a Barefoot Contessa recipe. Enough said.

Let's Take A Ride!

Hop in the car and go with me
You don't have to pack everything
Don't you wanna feel the breeze?
And forget everything, baby

Let's Take A Ride, Justin Timberlake

Okay guys, the skies have been grey from smoke and the sun has been orange for days because of all the wildfires in California and I'm nowhere near the Butte or Big Sur fires. So let's hop in the car and take a trip. Who cares about work.

Let's hop into my (dream) car. A 67 Chevy Camaro SS convertible and take a trip to the ocean. I'll play some local boy Chris Issak's music and off we go.

Stop looking at the ocean for a minute! Do you see that sign? Way up in the tree. Cool.

Oh, that can't be good! Run, little guy, ruuuuun!

Smooth sand, quiet beaches, let's dig our feet in, shall we?

Pigeon Point Light House.

In need of repair.

Okay, off to one of my favorite places. Bean Hollow State Beach. Bean Hollow or Pebble Beach (not to be confused with the golf course) is special because...

Just take a look for yourself. The whole beach is little smooth pebbles.

And they end up everywhere!

*nerdy science and random fact alert!

The pebbles on the beach are quartz chipped from an offshore reef, tumbled ashore, then wave-polished and rounded into small stones.

The holes in the rocks are called tafoni. It is created when water leaves behind mineral deposits that eat away at a rock with an inner layer that is softer than its exterior material.

Let's take a little hike and see the tide pools on the other side. You might want to empty your shoes because the little pebbles hurt your feet and trust me they are in your shoes. Also, because we love our state beach, we empty our shoes. Don't take the pebbles, I know it's hard they are really pretty and smooth and you need a souvenir but just don't. My kids tell me it's a two hundred dollar fine and right now California needs all the revenue it can get, they would probably search you, just to get some money.

Lots of crabs

and starfish. Underwater

and not so underwater.

Lots of witches hair.

Thanks for playing hooky with me. See you tomorrow.

Hey Baby! You Know You Want it...

Here's your potato ho badge. Pimp your blog. Remember the potato ho down is July 16. Click here for deets.

Everyone say Julia Grace is Fly... because she's the one who designed this badge. She's only 15, almost 16 and immensely talented. Thank you, Julia Goolia... why is that so funny?

*also there is now a den of iniquity for us hos. It's just a place to touch base. Hosting will not be done from there, Cathy at Noble Pig will have lists for people hosting this event. This is just to link some people up. I'll probably start a blog roll of participants if there is enough interest.

I Owe Someone My First Kaboobie!!

Alternate Title: I'm Such A Dude!

Well, White On Rice and I were emailing back and forth and they said something along the lines of "Hey dumb ass, try opening up your aperture. Sometimes your photos are a little dark." I was like, 'Aperture? That sounds like dirty talk.' Hmm...I should get my mind out of the gutter and open up that users manual that's been sitting around gathering cobwebs. Maybe, just maybe, I should open it up and read it. But I was all... dude like I don neeed no stinkin' users manual. Figures. I learned soooooo much stuff today. Apertures, shutter priority, exposure compensation. Wow, today I became edumacated. So, I now owe Todd and Diane one of my kids. Say goodbye kiddos!

Tonight's puppet master dinner was Drew's. You voted for kaboobies! Yes, I'm ten years old but admit it, kaboobies are much more fun to say than kabobs. Kaboobies, kaboobies, kaboobies. From now on when you have kabobs you'll think of kaboobies. This dinner was suggested by Meg from Becoming A Non Smoker but since she didn't email me a recipe, I just have some pictures and some random thoughts....

Kaboobies remind me of summer.

Speaking of boobies, Pamela Anderson is all for PETA and would rather go naked than wear fur. You would think that she would be all for the environment right? But you know what? She is definitely not biodegradable, if you catch my drift. How is that helping our planet when you last just as long as a plastic grocery bag? Not ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

I think it should be mandatory that all sports stars should have to take public speaking classes in college before going on to the pros.

...the true patriotism, the only rational patriotism, is loyalty to the Nation ALL the time, loyalty to the Government when it deserves it.

Patriotism is usually the refuge of the scoundrel. He is the man who talks the loudest.

Mark Twain

You've got to wonder what Mark Twain would have to say about the last 8 years.

Why is it when women flash their kaboobies they have to scream while doing it? It's one of those why are we on this earth questions. Any theories?