The Sweet Life

Well, honestly, it is closer to 1:30 than midnight, but still hunger strikes. And, of course, there's nothing in the fridge, since I cleared it out earlier today. But, necessity is the mother of invention, and I did have the makings of a bechamel-based cheese sauce and, of course, Kraft American singles. Always having pasta on hand, I chose penne (I rarely use elbow macaroni). So, after making a sauce I've never made before (it's simple, I know, and I've seen it done, I'd just never attempted to do it myself), I sat down to eat and thought to myself, why not take a pic and see what happens? I actually got a pretty decent shot before my food got cold. Now I'm going to go watch Romeo & Juliet, eat my bowl of comfort food and settle down for sleep.

Inspired by J's blog Kuidore and my own cravings, I decided to tackle the whole dumpling making process again. Again? I'd made a few dumplings a couple of years ago while in culinary school. I made a chocolate dough with some fruit filling for my final practical, but that's another story. I mentioned it just to say that even though I'd made them once before, I was still intimidated by the process. But, emboldened by mouth-watering photos, descriptions and hunger, I tried again. For my filling, I made a nice little list and went to the store (late, I might add) and was not happy with the produce at the only store open at night. But, determined to have something to eat, I made do with what I could find: bok choy, cabbage, green onions (the leeks looked horrible), carrots, and garlic. I washed, chopped, and grated until I had enough, I thought, to make just a few for experimentation, intending to make only 16 dumplings. Being raised in my mother's kitchen, I d

Well, I made it through another week. The highlights are: Saturday night we had a wedding reception for about 145. Nothing unusual about that, but around 6 there was a loud BOOM! and the lights went out. For about 4 hours. We had to move the reception to the restaurant where we could use the natural light. We also had to draw out the reception so that they could work on restoring power. The lights came back on and things went off ok after that. I ate my first oyster. I'm as surprised as you are (mom & dad). I'm sure the shot of Seagrams that followed the shot of oyster helped. It wasn't too bad, the way it was served, and I didn't get sick afterwards. Now I'm off and waiting for a friend to come over. Don't know where we'll end up going out to eat, but maybe it'll be something exciting.

Ok, so I did say it was too hot to cook, but I ended up baking last night, after the sun went down. I made chocolate cupcakes and experimented with frosting. My goal was to come up with a good chocolate coconut buttercream, but while the frosting I ended up with was edible, it didn't possess that wow effect I was looking for. Sprinkling some coconut on top did help with the coconut flavor, but I really wanted a stand alone buttercream. And yes, the photo isn't great, but I wasn't very inspired to take a great pic this time around. Perhaps when I try this experiment again? Please, dear readers, forgive my half-assed attempts to bake, photo and post. Next time, I promise, to do better. Now, I must go to the store to get some pineapple juice. I'm making pina coladas with the leftover cream of coconut.