Month: January 2005

… or in other words, All Your Brains Are Belong To Us.

One in three U.S. high school students say the press ought to be more restricted, and even more say the government should approve newspaper stories before readers see them, according to a survey being released today. The survey of 112,003 students finds that 36% believe newspapers should get “government approval” of stories before publishing; 51% say they should be able to publish freely; 13% have no opinion. Asked whether the press enjoys “too much freedom,” not enough or about the right amount, 32% say “too much,” and 37% say it has the right amount. Ten percent say it has too little.

Original link here: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2005-01-30-students-press_x.htm

Yes, it's what you think it is. Katy's reaction: you are *so* washing that. Poor thing was really traumatized. You should have seen the wild look on his face when he touched the buzzy thing :D

Said this morning: “I want a hig and a kuss”…

That's one of my better ones.

Buttermilk Rolls
1 tablespoon dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (105-115 degrees F)
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
2 cups regular or non-fat buttermilk
3 tablespoons canola or other vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups unbleached white flour

In a small bowl, combine the yeast water and sugar and set aside until bubbles begin to rise to the surface, about 5 minutes.

Warm the buttermilk, oil and salt in a saucepan to about 115 degrees (about 40oC – warm to touch). Transfer to a large bowl. In a separate bowl, sift together with whole wheat flour, baking soda and 2 cups of the white flour. When the yeast is bubbly and dissolved, add it to the buttermilk mixture. Combine the buttermilk mixture and flour mixture. Beat vigorously 100 strokes. Add enough additional white flour to make a stiff dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and cover with the bowl for 15 minutes.

Uncover and knead well for 5-10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.

At this point, roll the dough out into a large rectangle, as if to make cinnamon rolls. Roll the dough evenly to about 1/2 inch thickness.

While the dough is resting for 15 minutes, you can start preparing the filling for the rolls. You can get very creative with what you use for filling, but I'll include my simple recipe below.

Savory Filling
8 ounces cream cheese
quarter of a pack of bacon, cubed
2 shallots, chopped
8 mushrooms, such as Shiitake, chopped
coriander, sage, salt, pepper

Cook bacon, shallots and mushrooms. Season to taste with the herbs. When cooked, drain excess fat and combine well with cream cheese.

Assembling the savories
Once the dough has been rolled out and the filling prepared, it is time to assemble the savories. Spread the cheese mixture evenly over the dough, leaving a small margin around all the edges.

Roll the dough and filling cinnamon roll-style, into a tube shape. Seal the seam and turn it to the bottom of the roll. Slice the roll into 1 inch pieces and place on cookie sheets or baking pans lined with parchment.

Cover with a damp towel and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 45 minutes to an hour. When the rolls have almost finished rising, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

When the rolls have risen completely, uncover the rolls and bake for about 20 minutes, until golden brown.

Remove from pans and enjoy. They are particularly good with a bowl of soup or a salad. They can also be individually wrapped in plastic and frozen.

I've been cooking for close to 5 hours straight. In that time, I have made:

– a big batch of pasta sauce goodness
– citrus-glazed orange bundt cake
– bacon & mushroom pastry rolls
– cottage pie dinner.

I'm tired, but god DAY-UM does my apartment smell nice!

http://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipes/recipedetails/recipe%5F6297.asp

Pound Cake with Citrus Glaze

A pound cake traditionally calls for a pound of each butter, sugar, eggs, and flour but Ive played with the formula a little to make a rich buttery pound cake that is not as heavy and dense as some pound cakes can be.

Ingredients:

Pound Cake

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (175 ml)
3/4 cup super fine sugar (175 ml)
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted (375 ml)
3/4 tsp baking powder (3 ml)
1/4 tsp salt (1 ml)
1/3 cup homogenized milk, at room temperature (75 ml)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (7 ml)
Zest of half an orange, finely grated

Citrus Glaze

2 tbsp fresh orange juice (30 ml)
Zest of orange, finely grated
3/4 cup icing sugar, sifted (175 ml)

Directions:

Pound Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease and lightly flour an 8 x 4-inch loaf pan.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Stir and set aside.

Mix eggs, milk, vanilla and orange zest together in another bowl. Set aside.

With a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment or alternatively with an electric hand mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

To the butter mixture, add half the wet mixture and then half of the dry mixture, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat in the remaining wet mixture followed by the remaining dry mixture beating until incorporated.

Spoon the cake batter into pan. Bake until toothpick comes out clean when inserted, about 50 to 60 minutes. The pound cake should be golden in colour and the top will be slightly cracked.

Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Turn out cake from pan and transfer to a wire rack and cool completely. Brush with citrus glaze. Slice and serve with crfraiche, whipped cream, or ice cream if desired.

Citrus Glaze

Whisk orange juice, orange zest and icing sugar together in a bowl until fully incorporated. Brush over cooled cake.

Slept poorly again last night. Katy and I were both tired, mostly because she's feeling under the weather these days and that's affecting both our sleep patterns. We went to bed at 10pm. Note to self, going to bed before 11pm is usually a bad idea, because I keep waking up at all sorts of hours during the night.

The redrum handler paid me a repeat visit in dreamland last night, in the form of a deranged criminal trying to escape a futuristic sci-fi prison orbiting the earth. I hate those sorts of dreams, where you have someone or something chasing after you; getting invariably closer and closer… Turning to look behind me in my dream, I could see the face of evil… and that's when I woke up and snuggled closer to Katy.

In other news, I took Boris to see the vet yesterday in preparation of having him snipped. The vet was another frenchman that couldn't seem to stop talking. I tried to get him to speak in english, so that Katy (or Madame Cote, as she was referred to!) could follow, but to no avail. He's in fine health, yay kitty.

Decided to try my hand at making the tonkinoise soup last night. I deviated a bit from the recipe I'd posted. I sliced a chicken boobie lengthwise and sauteed it in a large saucepan with some olive oil, julienned leek, red onion, chili pepper and coriander. When it was cooked, I added a few cups of water, some lime zest and the juice of said lime and brought it to a boil for 5 minutes. Added some precooked broccoli and shrimp and served on a bed of rice noodles. I found it nummy, Katy gave it a 7 out of 10. Next time, more salt, less chili and fresh coriander (I only had dried flakes).

Basic Rules

• Always pat the fish dry with an absorbent paper towel before cooking it.
• Handle gently and as little as possible during and after cooking so that the fish looks its best.
• Thickness, not weight, determines the ideal cooking time.
• Lean fish cook more quickly than fatty fish.
• Cooking is complete when white drops appear on the outer surface. The flesh is then opaque and breaks up easily.

Poached fillets

– Fillets are cooked in simmering broth, just below boiling, to preserve tenderness.
– Poaching lets liquids penetrate fish meat evenly. Gradual cooking means fish are less likely to dry out and fall apart.
– Aromatic agents such as court bouillon, fish stocks, aromatic vegetables, white or red wine, or fresh herbs improve the taste of poached fillets.

• Bring the cooking liquid to boil in a saucepan.
• Drop fillets in enough liquid to cover them completely.
• Simmer, making sure the liquid does not boil.
• Cover and poach on very low heat 5 to 8 minutes per cm of thickness (10 to 14 minutes per inch).
• Remove and serve.

Tip:

For fillets placed in cold liquid, calculate cooking time from the point when the liquid starts simmering.

Steamed fillets

– Steam fillets in court bouillon, white wine, or fish stock using a perforated basket or steam flower in a covered saucepan.

• Trim fillets to no more than 5 cm (2 in.) in thickness for even cooking.
• Bring the liquid to a boil in a saucepan.
• Place fillets in a single layer in the perforated basket or steamer, over the simmering liquid. The cooking liquid should not touch the perforated basket or steamer.
• Cover to trap and concentrate aromas from the cooking liquid.
• Steam 5 to 8 minutes per cm of thickness (10 to 12 minutes per inch of thickness).