Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Sushi!


Sushi, the unatainable dream for midwesterners. I used to say "i don't eat sushi, because we can't get fresh fish here". I now think different, but am still leary of any kind of 'fresh fish' dish in the midwest (save catfish-and so far I haven't seen that as a sushi highlight...except for these crazy cats).

However, the lure to create my own sushi masterpiece has grown to new heights, fueled by a series of well written instructables.

Tonight at 8:00 I decided it was high time, I conquered sushi. I found a sushi mat at world market (i know, i know--but in my defence, the previous midwest argument), smoked salmon and nori and set off on an adventure. As the pictures show, my rolling technique needs some work, but all in all my cucumber-cream cheese-smoked salmon rolls came out pretty good. To heck with the fact that no self-respect legit sushi maker would put include cream cheese...referring to that Midwesterner argument: everything's better with cream cheese in it!

I tried to make some sesame fish sticks for appetizers. They turned out well, but were a bit too sesame-y, i think maybe next time they could do with some added spices in the batter.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

V-Day 09




This valentines I had one desire...delicious layered chocolate cake.

Roadblock: the man doesn't like chocolate cake, or chocolate frosting (I didn't ask-but my guess is he probably doesn't dig chocolate whipped cream filling too much either...me thinks he might be an alien-luckily for me, we have nicole kidman on the job).

Desire fulfilled: some friends of ours needed a V-day dinner delivered (due to medical problems and the inability of the other half to cook much beyond mac & cheese).

Game Plan: chocolate layered cake for us, apple pie for the man.

After searching countless cookbooks i came across this chocolate heart cake that fit the bill. Not wanting to give our friends half a heart (nor did I much feel like purchasing a one-time-use pan) I made mine in a good old 9" round pan, with superb success.

The process encompassed a three day period from start to finish:
Night 1 - Bake the cake and cool (store in fridge)
Night 2 - Whip chocolate filling, assemble cake, and frost with ganache
Afternoon 3 - make truffles from leftover ganache and decorate cake

Our V-day feast included:
Italian Sausage Lasagna (recipe courtesy of Betty Crocker)
Rosemary & Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Lemon Butter Steamed Broccoli
Homemade Bread Wish Fresh Oregano & Rosemary (with olive oil and balsamic to dip)
Cartilage and Brown (doesn't that sound appetizing) Red Wine

Apple pie (Actually the 'apple wrapper pie' also from the great BC)
Chocolate layer cake
French press Kona coffee

Don't you wish your were my valentine??

Time For Change

I'm the first to admit to my infinite laziness. Before starting any school work in the morning I must first 1) drink my coffee 2) check the news 3) check as many RSS feeds as I can possibly rationalize I 'have time' for...then...and maybe then I'll pick up my notes. Unfortunately this laziness has often expressed itself in the form of not-blogging. I have great plans for a blog, and then the hindrance of uploading pictures, and coming up a recipe stymies my attempts.

But, it's time for change. Tonight, my plan is to learn (via my infinitely less lazy husband) how to upload said pictures, and then I'll HAVE to blog....

Or at least come up with another excuse.