Advent Event: 16-14 Days

What happened?!?! 

It happens to me every time I start an advent calendar: I start out doing it faithfully every day, and then it hit a wall. 

In this case the wall hit me...came right out and smacked me.  And it was like it was a taunting wall because I was specifically doing a "foodie" advent calendar and blam...first case of food poisoning in my life!!

Ahh!

So while I was miserable the last few days, I did have visions of sugarplums dancing in my head, so here are abbreviated days, with a catch up for today to follow shortly. 

Day 16.  Sugarplums.  I literally had sugarplums dancing through my head, but after I got on the Internet to find out what they actually are, I found out mine were nothing like the real thing - fake sugarplums, I guess.  I was thinking they were something along the lines of a baked apple or poached pear.  Wrong!  I was thinking, "Wouldn't it be wonderful if I could find a slow cooker recipe for sugarplums?"  Wrong, again. 

For the uneducated (that was me about 5 minutes ago), sugarplums are a type of candy made from dried fruit (not just plums) shaped into a ring.  Sounds interesting, right? 
So I found this recipe from Betty and think I might just have to try it:  

Day 15. Nuts.  I almost drove myself bonkers (did you see what I did there?) trying to figure out what to do with some nuts I got that no one seems to be interested in.  We hosted Thanksgiving at our house and I thought it would be lovely and somewhat decorative to put some nuts in a serving piece and place a nutcracker (old fashioned, not crazy looking, spooky figurine) next to it, so people could snack before or after the meal.  How many were eaten by the end of the day?  Not a one!

So, we are going out of town on Friday and I am at a loss.  They aren't the kind of nuts you can take with you on the road because they are in the shell and frankly, I don't think I want nutshells all over the car. 
So, my advent calendar treat is a question for you: What should I do with all my nuts?  Should I give them to a neighbor?  Find a squirrel?  Help!

Day 14.  Cooking with Class.  The only event I went out to do whilst sick was the annual open house for my local (and favorite) recreational cooking school, Cooking with Class!  I love this mother and daughter team of entreprenuers! 

Each year they have a Christmas open house and this one was wonderful.  They have food and wine tastings...which I couldn't partake (the aforementioned wall).  And they offer discounts on lots of great stuff.  I needed to pick up a very special gift for someone important, so I made the effort to get down there right when the doors opened.  It was packed and full of happy foodie shoppers - my kind of people!

So my foodie treat for the day is a shout out to my Cooking with Class people!  I love you guys and can't wait to take more classes with you in the future. 

If you are local, truly consider taking a class with them...any class; they are all good.  If you are not local, I encourage you to find a local cooking school and dive right in.  You will meet like minded food lovers and new friends. Oh, and you will get to eat amazing food!

Thanks for sticking with me...here's hoping there aren't any more obstacles to Christmas!

Pizza with panache

So, I have mentioned a local recreational cooking school around here via my Baking Course posts (I promise, I have more of them!), but I have not mentioned some of their one-off classes which are phenomenal.  I have attended the fresh pasta workshop and the fresh pizza workshop.  Most recently, I had the pleasure of taking my foodie friend Tara with me for the pizza workshop.  The teacher, Julie, is an authentic Italian chef with quite the credentials.  But it is her lifetime of experience the students benefit from most in these classes.  She is a wealth of knowledge and is ready and willing to answer all the questions we have. 

I have been wondering for a long time why pizza recipes call for corn meal for dusting.  I learned at the class that the cornmeal acts as "little wheels" to help the prepared pizza dough to transfer from the pizza peel to the the hot stone in the oven.  Genius!

On the menu for the class were:

Fresh Pizza Dough

Pizzas: Margherita, Quattro Stagioni ("Four Seasons"), Smoked Salmon w/ Goat Cheese; and Carmelized Onion, Mushroom and Fontina

Calzones: Four Cheese and other creations of the imaginations of the students
Flatbread from the Grill

Needless to say, we ate well that night as we learned a lot about traditional Italian pizza and were encouraged to get in the kitchen to make our own combinations.  Julie teaches the foundations of food, leaving lots of room for variation and playfulness.  My favorite combination of the night was the Carmelized Onion, Mushroom, and Fontina.The class is interactive and is a great way to meet new friends interested in food (as we did!).    As for pictures, Tara's talented techie husband helped us out by creating a link to the pictures from the class.  Thanks, Spencer!

The best part of the evening was the opportunity to take some fresh dough home to make pizza for our families.  Tara and I jumped at the chance and Drew was thankful!  The next night, while I did some things around the house, I sent Drew to the store to come up with his own toppings for our pizza.  He did great, bringing back fresh mozzarella and pancetta.  I threw some marinara down, added these toppings and some very thinly sliced red onions and we were set!  The results were amazing (that's it pictured above).  We are going to be having pizza regularly around here, I think!

Baking School: Week 4

Hello, my name is Leah and I am a breadmaker. 

For the last week, I have been working on a 12 step program.  No, not that one.  The one that results in warm kitchens, yummy smells, and yeasty goodness of a whole other sort: the 12 step program for baking bread. 

At the beginning of the year, I set a goal for this year to learn how to make bread.  But ,I have to be honest, I was pretty intimidated by my goal.  I had never attempted anything beyond banana bread and I had never used yeast in my life.  So, imagine my terror when I opened my textbook and found out the process of making bread was even more involved than I had ever imagined!  

Thankfully, our teacher is helpful in guiding us through the program, defining terminology, and encouraging us to go for it.  Over the last week, we made: focaccia, sweet rolls, danish, brioche, french loaves, and whole wheat dinner rolls.  Whew!  That is a lot of bread and a lot of patience!  If there is one thing I am learning about baking in general each week, it is patience.  The process of baking is not something you can just speed up because you are running short on time, or you just want to get it over with.  Attention to each of the 12 steps is necessary in order to acheive the best possible results. 

So, my teacher suggests that we select one type of bread and make it until we know it fully.  I think I am going to choose french bread.  My goal is to make it at least once a week for a while.  That means lots of bread to give away!  That also means I will be well on my way to fulfilling my New Year's resolution.

Baking School: Week 3

I had a friend in high school that used to quote an (unknown to me) eighties movie all the time.  We would be mid-conversation and she would spout off, "Shut your pie hole!"  I often took offense to it, but it was definitely memorable! 
So this week, the theme is, "Open your pie hole!"  Our class covered the very intimidating (to me) topic of pastry, more specifically: pie.  And I have a confession regarding pie-making:

I have never made a pie crust from scratch before.

I know, I know, this adventuresome kitchen rat, has never made a pie crust.  I have always been intimidated by the procedure.  It seems everyone has a recipe for the perfect pie crust.  They also have different techniques for creating the perfect crust.  Pile on this the fact that the crust has to be rolled out into a perfect circle and placed in a pie tin, and I am flustered and scared.

Well, not anymore.  Well, sort of!  Let me explain:

This week I learned a great recipe (butter is always better!) and a great method (hello, food processor!) to take all the intimidation away.  The procedure takes very little time and surprisingly few ingredients and is relatively simple to get together.  Our teacher was definitely a help in de-mystifying the pie crust for me.  She guided us through the right and wrong ways to make a pie crust and pointed out what we were looking for along the way.  I now know how to make a flaky pie crust and a mealy pie crust and when each is appropriate.  I know how to avoid "soggy-bottom" and make a pie so tasty, there is nothing left on the plate but crumbs.

So that's what I learned and I was so excited to get going and start practicing!  Then, I tried it...and my first pie crust fell!  AGHHHH!

But, I am not daunted...I think I have "figured it out" and I will be working on it again today.  I think the problem was docking.  I docked the sides of the pie crust as well as the bottom.  This time I am only going to dock the bottom of the crust.  Fingers crossed!   

If I get it right, I have a very strange idea up my sleeve.  Our textbook mentioned that back in the day, home cooks would make 21 pies a week because they had a pie at every meal.  This is because most pies back then were meat pies.  Although 21 pies would be a bit much (and unnecessary considering modern refrigeration), I am kind of getting the idea of having a pie week.  Drew would be scared, if I had shared this little idea with him.  He'll never know what hit him!

Off to the kitchen...

"Men may come and men may go...but Pie goes on for ever."  George Augustus Sala

Back to School

I have always been a sucker for back to school.  I love the search for new school supplies, the difficulty of remembering your locker combination, the newness of teachers on the first day.  My brother and I used to "play school" every year, a few weeks before school was about to start.  While we ate breakfast or on the way to school, my dad would lecture us again about the importance of getting a good education.  He trained us to believe that school was our job; school was for learning, not for socializing.  So, I have always approached school as sacred: pay attention, get your work done, don't pass notes (and don't write on your hand!). 

When I was a kid, we moved a lot and I started at a lot of different schools, not always on the "first day."  I was forever introducing myself, hoping to find someone to sit by at lunch, and adjusting to different teaching styles.  It was different to move that much, but it prepared me for later in life.  When I was a young girl, I spoke so softly, that people constantly had to ask me to repeat what I had said.  I was painfully shy.  I still am today, but I have learned to overcome it by being thrust into new situations so often. 

So, yesterday as I got ready for another "first day of school," I was thinking about all the same things I thought about when I was growing up: will I do well? will I find somebody to connect with? will they think I am a total loser?   But, I was also thinking that this would be different than any other school experience I have ever had before.  This would be a hands-on, get-knowledge-where-you-can-get it experience.  This would not be the one where notes were passed while the lecturer droned on and on.  This would not be the read 100 pages and write a three page report kind of class.  And I was excited!

I walked into my Professional Baking class last night, met my fellow students, and got to work.  The lecture was a little long and the practicum was short, but I really am looking forward to the coming weeks.  Things I learned at class last night:
The proper way to wash dishes (in a restaurant)
How to work with ratios in formulas (not recipes) to work with the ingredients you have
How to crack an egg (and to think I have been doing it wrong all these years)
How to separate an egg (been doing that right!)
How to measure and weigh ingredients

Next week, we are learning quick breads and cookies.