Category: Certain Someone

My First Macarons and a Early Friday Cocktail Hour.

Due to the Holiday and some other goings on week, I will finish this post with Friday Cocktail Hour and I wont post this Friday( stay tuned however because I will be posting mid week!). Certain Someone and I got a lot done this Holiday weekend and are still working on it. Our place is very cluttered and I have an abundance of books. He installed our new Expedit books shelves from Ikea to house my hundreds and books and bring some order and design to our space.I wont show you before because its frighting. And the afters I’ll post later. Certain Someone is a repressed interior designer. Anyway we also had some good cocktails, BBQ,and I decided to make Macarons for the first time.
Certain Someone loves Hazelnut and I had some Hazelnut flour from King Arthur’s. I followed the recipe and tips from the famous Tartelette. She wrote a informative long awaited article for a online Desserts Magazine. My ganache was bit runny,and some of my macarons cracked. But overall I feel some confidence in hope that they turned out OK for my first try. I hope my future attempts get better. My ganache was just some heavy cream, orange icing gel( a type of paste used for flavoring cakes and icicngs),some more hazelnut flour, white, and Amano Chocolate(from the Blake Makes Give Away). I used the Ocumare. I found a new spray luster from my cake decorating shop and sprayed a soft golden luster on top. I like the gold accents I see on some Pierre Hermes macarons.The taste? Very sweet but nice. I will play around with more variations. But I least I got over the intimidation factor. I’m also entering this in Couture Cupcakes Mad For Macarons In May.

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Friday Cocktail Hour Holiday Edition

I love a nice daiquiri. Just plain with some lime juice. simple syrup and rum. I played with this to use up a lot of apricots I have from the vegetable delivery. Its not to sweet and refreshing on a nice day. Oh and Peter if your reading this…this may be to girly for you. I have a nice cognac called Landy XO from France. A bartender once referred to it as ‘Happy Dog’. When I asked why he showed me the bottle. The stopper was of a dog with his long tail curved under. It gave the appearance of your nickname, thus the name. He also said it was a ‘Mans’ drink. So a pour of Landy for you and some daiquiris for my girls! Cheers!

Apricot Daiquiri serves 1

1 part rum
1 juice of a lime
1/2 part apricot brandy( I cheated and used some brandy I made from Prickly Pear)
3 apricots peeled and stoned
ice

Mix all with ice in a blender.Pour into a chilled glass.

Pan Roasted Chicken with Homemade Potato Spinach Gnocchi

Its Memorial Day weekend and how do I want to unwind Friday night? I want to make my first homemade gnocchi!I know Certain Someone and I should be watching it, but its a long weekend. Were sick of limitations.Cant we have a little treat? I figure at least its all homemade and fresh.I used half whole wheat flour in the gnocchi and a bunch of fresh spinach and potatoes from the vegetable box. Certain Someone being German loves potato dumplings and I failed miserably trying to make him some once. These are essentially the same thing and I was very successful. Gnocchi are relatively easy but a little time consuming. With about 45 minutes organized prep while the chicken roasts,and a quick boil, you have your dinner ready in about 1 and 15 minutes max! I had so much left over gnocchi I put them in the freezer for another date. I used the recipe from The Silver Spoon by Phaidon. As the gnocchi boiled, I took my roasted chicken out lightly seasoned with salt and pepper,and deglazed it on the stove top with some sherry. Then I added some pesto and the cooked gnocchi. A careful toss, and you have a great meal. The gnocchi was soft and wonderful. Not chewy and hard as I was fearing. The Certain Someone meter rating was… 2 servings!
Potato and Spinach Gnocchi adapted by Coco Cooks from The Silver Spoon ,Phaidon
Gnocchi di Patate e Spinaci
1 1/2 lbs spinach
1 3/4 lbs flour I used half whole wheat and half all purpose
1 1/2 lbs potatoes
2 egg yolks I used 1 whole egg and 1 yolk
Wash,peel,and boil potatoes for 25 minutes in lightly salted water.Cook washed spinach in just the water that clings to it. Squeeze out as much moisture as possible. Chop. I used my Kitchen Aid and ran the cooked potatoes and spinach through the food grinder. Combine spinach, potatoes,and flour.Add egg and salt.Knead for a few minutes. Shape the dough in several long rolls about 1/4 inch in diameter.Cut into 3/4 pieces and press against a fork or the underside of a grater. Dust lightly with flour. Add gnocchi a few pieces at a time and boil in lightly salted water. Remove with a slotted spoon as they rise to the waters surface. Drain and toss with the pan roasted chicken , pesto, and its juices.

Certain Someone…Guest Blogger Round Two

Certain Someone’s Spicy Noodle( noodles,green pepper,red pepper, jalapeno,leeks,carrots, and chicken with his secret marinade)

Yesterday my honey decided to cook for his possible future Baby’s Mama.No I’m not pregnant but it was Mothers Day! He got up early to start to prep for a feast later. Certain Someone had plotted out a nice spicy marinade for the chicken made with or finds from last week. The day turned out longer than I expected , but I made it home in time for him to get started. Now I get a little anxious when he starts puttering around in my kitchen ,like he gets anxious when I start messing with his complex entertainment/gaming center.Nevertheless I offered to assist by slicing and wasking the leeks. We disagreed on the best methods for this but I differed to him.I was impressed with his use of a paring device for paper thin carrot slices.I didn’t teach him that. At times I couldn’t help but offer some slight suggestions. This was the first time he used his WOK. I had done all the cooking in it. I cautioned him to heat it right before adding the oil. We knew he run into trouble with the addition of the noodles. They didn’t require cooking and were supposed to be tossed into soups or the WOK immediately. He had them soaking in water to loosen. The smells were fantastic but Certain Someone was disappointed that the noodle were sticky and starchy. They didn’t brown like he wanted them too. Nevertheless it tasted great and was quite filling. We had plenty of leftovers. I had awoke with a cold and decided to stay home. I took the fry pan out as I was ravenous and heated up his noodles with some oil. Can I just say they were even better the day after.I like it that Certain Someone is taking a slight interest in cooking with his busy schedule and I look forward to the expansion of his repertoire. Thank You honey for feeding your sick girlfriend. Kiss.

It’s The Little Things

Life for me is erratic. Sometimes I have a lot on my plate and sometimes things are kind of slow.I constantly push myself.But I go out on a limb because I want to. The key is to find balance. Besides my day job I have some sidelines. I wouldn’t call them profitable yet, but I get pleasure and some other things from them. This past weekend to ‘support” my sideline product I gave a free demo on my dime and time.I really wanted to stay home with Certain Someone, play in the kitchen, blog, and veg.The day seemed fine enough. I noticed a man arrive besides me who seemed at a loss. Seems he was supposed to demo at this fine wine emporium but didn’t speak much English or know what to do. I thought it was odd and tried to help him out. We spoke a little English and French as he knew French. We offered each other samples. About a few hours into our boring Sunday the store manager came by. Seems this kind interesting man was the owner of the vineyard and made these fine wines! From that point on they moved him to his proper place and make a big fuss. Where were they at the beginning I ask? Anyway I went over to say goodbye and took a bottle of his Moscato. He grabbed the bottle and said something in halting English. He returned with the bottle all wrapped up for me . Gratis! A small thank you. Made my day.Check out his vineyards.

The today I had a special package awaiting me. I won some Amano Chocolate from Blake Makes! I don’t know how this blogger does it but he always has great giveaways. I’m waiting for Certain Someone to return so we can sample together.

And a final thought from me for the week. I want and love good food. Time is a question most times. While I don’t shy away from the complex, sometimes I like it simple. I pulled this one out of my hat the other morning.A slow cooked pork loin in my favorite Asian spices and seasonings. I wanted this slow cooked meal to be similar to my favorite Schezwan green beans. Not quite, but a good meal . I don’t have to tell you the Certain Someone had a few servings of the meat!

Slow Cooked Pork Loin

1 pork loin

1/2 cup Soy Sauce

1/2 cup water

4 Star Anise

Dried Chilies to your taste( I used 4)

1 tablespoon minced garlic

I/2 cup of a simple syrup I made infused with rum( leftover from the rum buns). Your could use Golden Syrup

Put all ingredients in a slow cooker. Place on 8 hours. Go about and enjoy your day. Serve with steamed Jasmine Rice and green beans.

BBQ…With a Asian Twist

This past Sunday was glorious in Chicago. I had a early meeting and Certain Someone played some golf. We knew we wanted to take advantage of the sunshine and BBQ. I have a spacious deck in need of repair. Currently a team is using it to work on the roof. Certain Someone has never really enjoyed my deck. In years past it was teaming with flowers.Me and my condo association are stalled on the maintenance of the deck.A neighbour is holding up the process of repainting and varnishing it. So until its settled I don’t feel like enjoying it. But the deck is what motivated me to buy the condo in the first place.So anyway the night before we went with some friends to dine on Argyle Street. Argyle St is up to the north and is teaming with Vietnamese business. On our way to dinner we stopped in a grocery when I loaded up.

Certain Someone got into the act and started adding the condiments and noodles he liked. I searched for more exotic finds like Pandan extracts,

Star Anise( look at this huge bag!), Tamarind Pods,

,

Lychee’s, and this amazing BBQ sauce in can that is a paste of spices and dried fish in a oily base. We sampled this at a friends house and were hooked.At least I was.We both thought of using our loot in the Sunday BBQ.Four bags of groceries for under $30.A BARGAIN!

So I woke up Sunday and marinated 4 chicken breasts in the BBQ sauce I purchased. This sauce comes with a plastic lid and seems to go a long way. It took us a while to light my old rusty charcoal grill. But Certain Someone got up and got it going. I had some Zucchini and green pepper I planned to grill alongside the chicken. Certain Someone was in charge of the noodles. We planned to slice up the grilled veggies and fry them up in the noodles with some garlic. Half my vegetable were lost as my grill basket came loose . But we saved half. He choose the thick white chewy Vietnamese noodles. The chicken had been marinating for hours and I decided in addition to add a final brush of Hoisen Sauce on the final moments of grilling. All in all we created a nice summer late lunch while we discussed buying some nicer deck furniture, Certain Someone enjoyed it outside for a change and suggested we do this more this summer. I’m all for it.Stay tuned for this weekend when Certain Someone flies solo and takes out the WOK for a guest appearance.
I will be closing voting on the Tamale Open Roundup Friday May 10. Please be sure to get your votes in.