It worked out pretty well, actually.

The cucumber, without its peel or seeds, pretty much just faded into the background and left me with a dense, moist, blueberry quickbread (not sweetbread.  Different thing.)  Denny and I polished half a loaf last night.  I bet if it hadn’t occurred after Miles’s bedtime, he would have liked it too.  We’ll find out soon.

Ingredients:

3 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup applesauce
~2.5 cups shredded cucumber from a cucumber that has been peeled and seeded    (for me, this was 1 large cucumber)
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
3 cups AP flour
2 tsp kosher salt or 1 tsp regular salt
1 tsp baking powder (I will increase this next time for more lift)
1/4 tsp baking soda (again, I will increase this next time)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 pint fresh blueberries
2 tablespoons raw or turbinado sugar

Method:

Heat oven to 350F.

In the bowl of a mixer, beat eggs lightly.  Add oil, applesauce, sugars, and vanilla; beat to combine.  Gently mix in cucumber.  In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon; add to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.

Stop the mixer, remove the beater, and fold in the blueberries by hand.  Pour into 2 9×5 loaf pans.  Sprinkle each loaf with 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar.  Bake at 350F for about 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until a pick comes out clean.

We thought we were so smart by not planting any zucchini this year.

I was a little sad when Denny accidentally smashed one of my two cucumber plants in its infancy.

Yeah, turns out one is plenty.

I haven’t been very good about grabbing them up when they’re little, and I’m getting kind of sick of cucumber/tomato/onion salads (they’re great, but ya know).  I’m thinking about grating them up and using them like zucchini in a zucchini bread recipe.  I’ll report back.

I have been on a hunt for a perfect pie crust for years.  My old stand-by, the Cooks Illustrated recipe, makes a delicious-tasting crust, but the dough is so delicate that I always end up swearing a lot when I make it.  Miles is getting old enough now that he shouldn’t hear sh*t like that.  What’s more, the CI recipe results in an extremely tender crust that can’t really hold up to juicy fruit fillings.  Getting a slice out of the pie pan usually results in a glob of fruit on the plate with pie crust sprinkled over it.

It’s tasty, yes, but not perfect.  It’s also kind of a pain, because it involves shortening and butter separately diced and chilled, then it’s done in the food processor, which seems easy at the time but loses its appeal when it comes time to clean all those parts.  And forget making a double batch.

Next I tried a supposedly fool-proof all-butter crust from Smitten Kitchen.  That author eschews the food processor and recommends a pastry blender.  To be fair, I was using a butter I hadn’t used very much (Lurpak), which I thought was going to be great because it was expensive and European.  But something went wrong, and although the dough was one hundred times easier to work with than the CI recipe, it resulted in a tough, really unpleasant crust.  To this day I’m embarrassed that I served it to my Grammy.

I didn’t make any pies for a while.

Then I found this recipe from the awesome Chez Pim.  She claims it’s perfect, suitable for sweet or savory fillings, one- or two-crust pies, tarts, even Pop-Tarts.

Her technique was one I’d never tried before.  Not only does she not recommend a food processor, she doesn’t even employ a pastry blender.  Wha?  I never realized there was alternative (except maybe two knives, but does anyone really do that?).  What she suggests is a method in which you plop unfussily-cut butter directly onto a pile of flour, then mash it with your palm.  You keep tossing flour into the mashed-butter, smashing and mooshing all the way, until it’s incorporated.  Then you throw some water on there and chill it.  That’s first step.

Next, you use a puff-pastry technique of multiple flips and folds that’s a lot easier than it sounds.  Pim’s site has a complete step-by-step with photos, and you’ll find it’s really quite simple.  It’s counter to all I’d read about pie crust prep, but having done it once now, I’m a true believer.

My crust came out crisp yet delicate, extremely flaky, and with the great flavor that can only come from good old salted butter.

I’m blogging a simplified version here, though I recommend you reference Pim’s original for your first time.  She admits to cribbing the idea from the Zuni Cafe, and they make a helluva chicken, so why not?

Fantastic Pie Crust that Makes Me Hopeful for Humanity

250 grams (~2.25 cups) AP flour
8 oz (2 sticks) salted butter
60 ml (.25 cup) cold water

Cut butter into slabs and work it into the flour with the heel of your left hand (or your right hand if you’re left-handed).  Use your other hand to scoop the loose flour into the mix with a pastry scraper.

When it’s a nice mix of big flakes of flour-coated butter and some smaller crumbs, make a well and pour in the water.  Quickly gather it all together with your fingers until it makes a cohesive ball.

Chill the ball for 30 minutes.

On a well-floured pastry board, roll the chilled dough ball into a rectangle, then fold it over into thirds (like folding a letter to put in an envelope).  Before you overlap any dough, brush off excess flour with a pastry brush (this is important, according to Pim.  I’m not going to doubt her on this.).  Rotate 90 degrees and repeat the rolling/brushing/folding.  Repeat, making a total of 3 or so operations.  The dough will become more elastic as you work.  This is what will save you from scarring your kid’s brain with profanities.

Divide into 2 balls, then chill for at least 30 minutes.

Roll one ball into a ~11-12 inch  round, then transfer to a 9-inch pie plate.  I did it on the first try, no horror at all!  Fill it with your favorite filling, then put egg wash around the outer edge.  Roll out the second ball and put it on top.  Pinch the edges decoratively.  Do an egg wash on top, and if it’s a sweet pie, sprinkle coarse sugar on top.

Romance Peach Pie filling

6-7 peaches, peeled and sliced
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice (I used white wine vinegar + Meyer lemon extract because I didn’t have a lemon around)
4 tablespoons cornstarch
1 pinch salt
1 pinch cinnamon
dash cloves
dash nutmeg

Combine the above.  Be sure you’re using a glass pie pan.  Pour the filling into the lower crust and place the upper crust.  Cut vents in the upper crust.  Preheat oven to 500F with a rimmed metal baking pan in it.  When oven is ready, place pie pan directly on metal baking pan and lower heat to 425F.  Bake for 25-30 minutes.  Reduce heat to 375F and bake for another 25-30 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the juices bubble.  You may need to put a pie guard or aluminum foil around the edge to prevent over-browning.

–

Why is it Romance Peach Pie, you ask?  Well…Denny and I shared a peach on our first date, and we had peaches on our wedding cake, and peaches are always coming into season right around our anniversary.  So there you go.

A newish Mexican restaurant is in Iowa City, on Market Street across from the Bluebird where Motley Cow used to be.  I heard some anecdotal good things about it, so we gave it a try last night.

Atmosphere:  it was very pleasant, small and cozy.  A lot of the Mexican places in town are just too big and loud, and that was not the case here at all.  The decor was not too kitschy.  The bar is nice, made in part from a tree that the owner rescued post-tornado.  I would have passed on the TVs playing sports, but a lot of people seem to enjoy that sort of thing.  Rating:  4/5

Service:  Our waiter was chill and friendly without being obnoxious.  He was nice to Miles.  I like that in a waiter.  Rating:  4/5

Drinks:  The drinks were the highlight of the evening for me.  I had a margarita and Denny had sangría.  My margarita was great.  It was expensive-ish ($6), but the portion was generous (pint glass) and I could tell the ingredients were high-quality.  It was very tart with a strong fresh citrus flavor, and the waiter mentioned that it’s all homemade with actual fruit juice and simple syrup, none of that bottled stuff with high fructose corn syrup.  Denny’s sangría was sweet and tasty without that harsh liquor taste that sometimes comes through in sangría.  Rating:  5/5

Chips and salsa:  The chips were obviously freshly made, hot and crisp.  We ate two baskets of them.  Miles liked them a lot.  The regular tomato salsa was okay, nothing special.  When Denny asked if it was very hot (mostly asking for Miles, I think), the waiter offered to bring out some habañero salsa if we liked it hotter.  We did, so he did.  The habañero salsa was in a tomatillo base, and it was certainly hotter than the tomato salsa, but still not blistering.  I liked it.  Rating:  3.5/5

Entrees:  I got carnitas (marinated pork) served with tortillas, rice and whole beans.  The meat was served in large chunks that were nicely seared on the outside and falling-apart tender once you poked them.  The rice and beans were bland.  Denny got a steak fajita burrito, which I didn’t try, but he said he liked.  It was a generous portion, and he brought home half.  I finished mine, but I usually do.  Rating:  3/5

We didn’t try any appetizers or desserts.

I heard that they’re expanding into the place next door, which would be nice since the space is pretty limited right now.  It would be a really fun place for after-work drinks and snacks.  The entrees, in my opinion, weren’t any better (or worse) than the existing Mexican joints in town, but the atmosphere and drinks were deciding factors for the positive.

Overall rating:  4/5

You can see the full menu and more details on their website.

This recipe produces a slight variation on a batch of brownies Denny’s coworker Jay brought for us shortly after Miles was born.  They were seriously the best brownies I had ever had in my life.  Admittedly, I was sleep-deprived, starving from breastfeeding, and easily influenced.  Still, they will remain in my memory as the greatest treat in the world.

I was in the mood for a batch tonight, and I decided to make a few tweaks.  They’re still in the oven, but if the raw batter is any indication, they are fan-freaking-tastic. [Update:  the batter did not lie.]

The Best Brownies You Ever Put in Your Face

Preheat oven to 350F.

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons amaretto (original called for 1 tsp vanilla)
1/2 cup AP flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (original called for 1/4 tsp table salt)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, melt 1 stick the butter.  While it’s melting, mix the eggs, sugar, and amaretto in a medium bowl.  Add flour, cocoa, salt, and baking powder, sifting the cocoa through a fine mesh strainer.

Brown the butter:  after it has melted, it will foam up.  Stir it frequently.  The foam will subside, then after a brief break from foam, more foam will appear.  Keep stirring often until it is a nice medium brown.  Remove from the heat.  Don’t let it get too brown, because it will continue to brown a little after it’s off the heat.

Carefully pour a little (maybe 1/4 of the saucepan’s contents) of the butter into the batter.  Stir to incorporate.  Repeat, a little at a time, until it’s all blended.  If you dump it in all at once it will separate, and that is gross.

Pour into a nonstick cooking sprayed 8×8 baking dish.  I had about half a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips lying around, so I sprinkled those on top.  You could do that too, if you wanted.  You could also use Andes mints, nuts, cut-up Snickers bars, whatever.  If I were you I wouldn’t get too crazy, though, since you don’t want to overwhelm the awesomeness of these brownies in their pure state.

Lick the bowl.  It’s your duty as an American.  When I did it, I actually said “Oh hell to the yes” out loud.

Bake for about 25 minutes.  Do not overbake—check it a little early.

“What do you mean, there are no more brownies?”

I start thinking about my birthday cake months in advance.  Winter begins birthday season at our house—Miles’ is in January (supposed to be February, but in a way it’s kind of nice to spread out the celebrations a little), my mom’s and brother’s are in February, and Denny’s and mine are in March.  There are more as the spring continues in the extended family.  That’s a lot of cake in a short timeframe.

Making cakes is fun.  I don’t generally make a cake for people outside the “little family,” or as Miles calls it, “Mommy-Daddy-Mi.”  I’d be happy to if they asked or the opportunity arose, but it’s not part of our current set of traditions.  I look forward to making and sharing my own birthday cake and don’t find it depressing at all.  Sometimes people are shocked by this, and a while back, I mentioned making my own cake and bringing it to share with coworkers.   Someone in my sphere found the idea horrifying, and she insisted that she would bring a cake for me.

It was one of those things where I had to act like I was really appreciative—and I was appreciative of the gesture, because it obviously came from a place of generosity and kindness—but the fact is, I was psyched to make the cake.  And I couldn’t exactly say no, you know?  She asked me what my favorite kinds of cake were, and I told her, and then she brought something totally different.  It was fine.  I’m not picky at all, and I will eat just about any cake, but it was all kind of a let-down.

This year, I will not be thwarted.  I saw this recipe today, and while it’s not a cake technically speaking, I think it will be my special birthday treat.  Besides, after a cake for Miles (vanilla with orange cream filling and chocolate frosting) and Denny (carrot with cream cheese frosting), I might be ready for something else.

From Chocolate and Zucchini.

Galette des rois (Tart of Kings) — Original post has helpful photos

- 500 grams (17 2/3 ounces) all-butter puff pastry, thawed if frozen

For the crème d’amande:
- 125 grams (9 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
- 125 grams (1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons) sugar (I used a blond unrefined cane sugar)
- 110 grams (1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon) almond meal (= finely ground almonds*)
- 20 grams (2 tablespoons) hazelnut flour or finely ground hazelnuts** (optional; you can also use all almond meal as in the classic galette)
- 8 grams (1 tablespoon) corn starch (in France, this is known under the brand name Maïzena)
- a good pinch sea salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 drop almond extract (optional)
- 1 tablespoon orange flower water or a liquor of your choice, such as Grand Marnier or rum

For the eggwash and glaze:
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon confectioner’s sugar

Accessories:
- 1 porcelain trinket or dried bean
- 2 paper crowns

Serves 6 to 8.

1. Prepare the crème d’amande.

Beat the butter until creamy, but avoid incorporating air into it. In a bowl, combine the sugar, almonds, hazelnuts, corn starch, and salt. Stir with a whisk to remove any lump. Add to the creamed butter and mix until smooth. Add the almond extract and orange flower water, then the eggs, one at a time, mixing well between each addition. Cover and refrigerate for an hour or overnight.

2. Roll out the puff pastry.

Divide the puff pastry in 2 equal pieces, and roll each one out to form a rough circle a little larger than 30 cm (12 inches) in diameter. Use a sharp knife and an upturned plate of the right dimension to cut a neat 30-cm (12-inch) circle out of one, and a slightly larger one with the other, adding, say, 6 mm (1/4 inch) all around the edge of the plate.

3. Assemble the galette.

Place the smaller of the two circles on a piece of parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. In a small bowl, combine the egg yolk with a tablespoon water (or milk, if you have it handy) until smooth. Using a pastry brush, brush the outer rim of the dough lightly with the eggwash by a width of about 2.5 cm (1 inch). Make sure not to wet the actual edge of the dough, or it will impede its rise.

Pour the crème d’amande in the center and spread it out inside the eggwash ring with a spatula.

Place a porcelain fève, a dried bean, or the trinket of your choice in the crème d’amande — not in the center but closer to an edge, or your knife will keep running into it when you divide the galette. And if it is an elongated shape, make sure to orient it straight toward the center of the galette, again, to minimize the possibility of you hitting it with your knife (as you see in the picture below, mine was not, and sure enough, I cut right into the top of the little tower). Press it down gently to bury it.

Transfer the second round of dough precisely on top of the first, smooth it out gently over the crème d’amande to remove any air pocket, and press it down all around the sides to seal.

4. Score the galette.

Using the back of the tip of your knife (i.e. the dull side), draw a decorative pattern on top of the galette: a diamond-shaped grid, optionally with double or triple lines, a flower pattern… see examples here, here, here and here.

I chose to make a sun pattern as demonstrated in this video: you start from the center and draw an arc to reach the edge of the galette in a single, smooth gesture, exercising just enough pressure to score the dough without piercing it. You then turn the galette ever so slightly, draw a similar arc nested in the first one, and repeat until the entire galette is scored.

Holding your knife upright, blade down, and using the dull side of the blade, push the dough inward where each sun ray ends, to create a festooned pattern.

Brush the top of the galette lightly with the eggwash: again, make sure it doesn’t drip over the edges, or the eggwash will seal the layers of the puff pastry in this spot and it won’t develop as well. Let it rest a minute then brush it lightly again with the eggwash. (As you can see on the picture below, my eggwash pooled a bit around the bulge of the crème d’amande, which resulted in a darker coloring around the sides; I didn’t mind, but I’ll be more careful next time.)

Using the tip of your knife, pierce 5 holes in the top dough — one in the center, and four around the sides, piercing through the pattern you’ve drawn — to ensure an even rise.

Transfer to a baking sheet or a tart pan with a removable bottom, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. (Alternatively, you can place the galette in the freezer at this point, on the baking sheet or pan, and bake it the next day. Although I haven’t tried it, I’m sure you could prepare it up to a week or so in advance: once the galette is thoroughly frozen, transfer it to a tightly sealed bag to avoid freezer burn.)

5. Bake the galette.

Preheat the oven to 180°C (360°F); if the galette was in the freezer, take it out while the oven preheats. Insert the galette in the middle of the oven and bake for 30 minutes (35 if it was frozen), until puffy and golden brown.

In the final minutes of baking, combine the tablespoon of confectioner’s sugar with a tablespoon very hot water (heated until boiling in the kettle or the microwave). When the galette is done, remove it from the oven, brush it across the top with the sryup, and return it to the oven for a minute; this will give it a shiny finish.

Place on a rack to cool completely (it will settle as it cools) and serve at room temperature. (Some people prefer it slightly warm, so they reheat it slightly in a warm oven before serving.) The traditional pairing is with Champagne or hard cider.

Have one of the guests (usually the youngest) hide under the table if he’s willing, or at least cover his eyes or turn his back to the table. Cut the galette into servings and, for each serving, have the guest decide who should have it. If your guests are unfamiliar with the tradition, make sure you warn everyone that a fève may be hiding in their slice. Whoever finds it is king/queen for the day, receives a paper crown, and gets to pick his/her queen/king (or king/queen for that matter) by giving her/him the second paper crown.

* I normally mention that you can also grind your own almonds, but here it is worth seeking out almond meal (you’ll find it at natural food stores and Middle-Eastern markets): it is a lot more finely ground than what you could achieve at home, and this will make the crème d’amande incomparably smooth.

** Read more about the hazelnut flour I used. Alternatively, you can grind the hazelnuts yourself if you prefer: place 20 grams (3 tablespoons) shelled hazelnuts in a blender with 2 tablespoons of the sugar used in the crème d’amande, and pulse until finely ground.

Vegetarian (even vegan, I think) Black Bean Soup

1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 ribs of celery, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1.5 cups vegetable stock
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground cumin
2 15-ounce cans black beans, undrained
hot sauce to taste
juice of 1/2 a lemon or lime

Combine first 7 ingredients in a Crock Pot, plus half a can of beans.  Cook on low for, you know, whatever (a few hours, probably even a whole workday would be okay).   Using an immersion blender if you have one, or transferring the contents into a blender if you don’t, puree the cooked contents.  It’s okay if it’s not 100% uniform.  Add remaining beans and lemon juice.  Leave in the Crock Pot until it’s all hot.  Serve with whatever toppings you like, e.g., sour cream, salsa, cilantro, cheese, corn chips.

When I was a little kid, I thought my name was Apple Clock.  The title of this post reminded me of that.

The apple cake with apples from yesterday’s orchard adventure turned out very well—so well, in fact, we (mostly I, although Denny and Miles did their fair share as well) managed to consume almost half of it in the first 12 hours of its existence.  I put some in the freezer where I hope to forget about it and then have a nice surprise some time in the future when I’m looking for frozen chili.

I used basically this recipe.  My only changes were that I used pecans instead of walnuts and some brown sugar in place of part of the white sugar.

Man, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted.  I think between the Twitter and the Facebook and the everything else, blogging has fallen by the wayside.

I did, however, think of something I wanted to write about.

Yesterday was Denny and my anniverary (Denny’s and my?  Denny and I’s?  None sounds right).  On Wednesday night we went out for a lovely romantic dinner complete with champagne and the Mubby/Skittergramps babysitting service.  It was lots of fun.  Champagne makes me giggly.  The food was fantastic, as it always is at the Lincoln Café, and we even spent some time at the wine bar while we waited for our table, enjoying a couple of glasses and some spiced almonds.  When we got home, Miles was already asleep.

Last night, though, we were back to our normal routine.  Denny ran late at work, so Miles and I went downtown to meet him.  We had an informal dinner, then stopped by the library.  After that, Miles scrambled around on the playground right outside the library, and he made a little visit to the fountain as well.  We shared some gelato and enjoyed the beautiful evening.

And you know what?  I don’t know which of my two anniverary nights I liked more.

It also didn’t hurt that Denny had flowers sent to the house yesterday.  Miles tried to eat them, but his Beaniesitter thwarted him.

Having Denny and Miles in my life lets me enjoy so many different things in so many different ways.

I am making a cake.

Or rather, I am glorifying a cake.

I’m going to admit something here:  I’ve made cakes from scratch a handful of times, using cake flour and everything, and I’ve never had one come out with that lovely uniform, light texture of a boxed cake mix.  So you know what?  I’m using a freaking cake mix.  Sue me.  Can we move forward?

Aside:  Why is it spelled forward and not foreward?  Every other word I can think of with that prefix (even the homophone foreword) has an e.  What gives?

Anyway.

I am making a cake.  It’s a chocolate cake, and I wanted to jazz it up a bit, so I added a tablespoon of orange extract to the batter.  If what I licked off the beater is any indication, it had a really nice effect.  I was also all psyched to make a filling out of a layer of orange marmalade and a layer of chocolate ganache, but then I picked a bunch of strawberries from our garden and I wanted to get those involved, too.

Daunting was the task of layering those three items, but I came up with a brain flash to melt down the marmalade and coat the cut-up strawberries in it.  Then I drizzled the melty ganache on top of that.

Next, I made the frosting (cream cheese with a little orange extract in there too) and applied a crumb coat.  Confession #2:  I’ve never actually done a crumb coat before.  I know all the fancy bakers do it, and all those trijillion food blogs I read say you really, deeply must do it.  I decided to give it a try this time around, since it’s my first time using my Grammy’s fancy cake stand and I want it to be really pretty.

Right now my crumb coated cake is chilling.  I’ll report back when I’ve completed the next step.

——-

Update:  Oh my god, you guys.  I was a fool to have ever skipped a crumb coat.

Seriously.  It was kind of a pain to apply, and it looked like crap, but that was actually kind of freeing.  “Don’t worry,” I told myself.  “It’s okay that it looks like crap, because no one will see it.”  I got the thin coat of frosting on and stuck it in the fridge while I watched part of So You Think You Can Boogie Woogie on Tivo.

When I got back some 40 minutes later and applied the real frosting, it went on like a dream.  It coated easily, I didn’t pull off chunks of cake with the offset spatula, and it didn’t glob off onto the sides.  I also used a trick I read about on a food blog to stick pieces of parchment under the cake on the cake stand.  That way I could pull them out when I was done and the stand would be all tidy.

It looks all cute (if a little lopsided) decorated with my garden strawberries.  Tomorrow I’ll update with a picture of a slice of the cake, featuring its orange/chocolate/strawberry goodness.

And here it is with a slice cut out, as promised—actually two slices.  Denny and I each had one, even though I wanted thirty.

That is not a very good title. So it goes.

I’m a little perplexed by this whole swine flu thing (H1N1 or whatever). As far as I can tell, it seems like not really too big a deal. This is in no way to downplay the deaths in Mexico or the one death in the U.S. of the toddler who came from Mexico for treatment—I hear a vaccine is in the works, and I hope it is successful and adequately administered to those at risk. But disease exists in many forms, and for the most part, this hasn’t been worse than the regular old flu.

Excerpted from the L.A. Times:

As the World Health Organization raised its infectious disease alert level Wednesday and health officials confirmed the first death linked to swine flu inside U.S. borders, scientists studying the virus are coming to the consensus that this hybrid strain of influenza — at least in its current form — isn’t shaping up to be as fatal as the strains that caused some previous pandemics.

In fact, the current outbreak of the H1N1 virus, which emerged in San Diego and southern Mexico late last month, may not even do as much damage as the run-of-the-mill flu outbreaks that occur each winter without much fanfare.

So why the freakout?  I have my suspicions that there’s some racism involved.  I’m not sure people would be talking about closing the border with Canada if this were focused in the north.  There’s also the unfortunate association with pigs, which just contributes to the “Dirty Mexicans are going to kill us with their dirty disease!” mentality.

Maybe I’m just thinking wishfully and downplaying the facts because I don’t want anything to disrupt our vacation to the Bahamas next month, but it does seem like people are reaching a level of panic that is more based in emotion and prejudice than evidence.  Also, I think we’re a lot more likely to encounter people who have recently been to Mexico in Iowa than in the Bahamas.

I’m a long-time fan of handwashing (and Miles is shaping up to be as well; he particularly loves rubbing his hands together with soap or lotion on them), and I think some basic precautions can go a long way, like President Obama mentioned in his speech last night.

—

Speaking of Miles, he did something funny last night.  I was getting some asparagus ready for dinner, and he kept whining and tugging at me, trying to get my attention.  I wasn’t quite sure what he wanted.  I offered him cereal and cheese, two of his favorite snacks, but he wasn’t satisfied.  He likes asparagus, but it didn’t occur to me that it would warrant begging until he went over to the garbage can, got out one of the asparagus ends I’d cut off in the preparation process, and came over and showed it to me.

It was like he was saying, “For the love of God, mother, what does it take to get a message through to you?”  Then I gave him some cooked asparagus and he was happy.  He ate a lot of it at dinner, too, and had the asparagus-pee diaper to prove it.

He impressed me with his communication skills.  He’s using some basic ASL (including “all done” when I went to get him after his nap the other day) and picking up more words.  I’m excited to hear what he has on his mind.

You know what I think is weird?  I think it’s weird that many people seem to have a strict separation in their minds between cooking and baking.

My mom, for instance:  she’ll pooh-pooh her cooking skills and say my dad is the cook in the family, and it’s true that my dad is a very good cook, but my mom is a baking machine.  She makes the best pie crust I’ve ever had, a thousand different cookies and candies around the holidays, lots of different quickbreads and bars and other treats.  Why does this not count as cooking in some people’s minds?  It’s just as complex a process as any other culinary one, maybe more because of the chemistry involved.  That’s another thing my mom will pooh-pooh—her science skills.  She blames a mid-century Catholic school education in which the answer to every scientific question was “God did it.”  It’s true that she might not have a strong foundation in the periodic table or the geologic record, but understanding what ice water does to fat in pie crust, or how baking soda and liquid interact in pumpkin bread is no mean feat.

Anyway, this is cooking.  I think it’s dumb to demote it.  I also think it’s dumb that pastry chefs get less glory in the culinary world than other chefs.  Last night I made a fairly complex dinner by weeknight standards, but it took nowhere near the effort required for the dessert I’m planning to work on tonight.

Also, continuing  yesterday’s theme, I am excited about how I got to say pooh-pooh twice in one post.  I would say it’s because I spend so much time with an immature boy, but we all know it was always in there.

Whenever I read recipes that mention chopping something, I imagine chopping my own tongue on the cutting board.

That image never pops into my head when I’m actually cooking, just reading.

What’s wrong with my brain?

Oh my lordy, I’ve been terrible about posting lately.  In my defense, work has been busy, personal life has been busy.

Here we go, though.

There is a (relatively) new Mexican restaurant in town called La Reyna, and I’d heard really good things about it from friends, so the gang and I checked it out last night.

1.  Ambience:  pretty typical Mexican, a notch above “hole in the wall” but not luxurious by any means.  I wasn’t crazy about the clear vinyl table covers.  When you go in, the restaurant is to the left and the bodega (shop) is to the right.  There was no one stationed at the entryway, but they weren’t busy, and someone acknowledged us quickly and seated us.

Ambience score:  3/5

2.  Chips/salsa:  we received them quickly.  The salsa was very good—strong fire-roasted and tomatillo notes.  It was definitely spicier than an average salsa (in Iowa anyway).  Denny thought it was a little too spicy.  I disagree, except that we didn’t get any water right away, so it was a little hot without any liquid balance.

The chips were nothing special.  They were a little on the hard and greasy side, like maybe the oil wasn’t quite hot enough, but they were edible.

Chips/salsa score:  3.5/5

3.  Drinks:  we both got water and I got a margarita, which was only available on the rocks.  It was really bad.  I mean, seriously crappy.  It was too sweet, extremely artificial-tasting like Kool-Aid, with no discernible real lime or tequila flavor.  I did get a slight buzz, so I’m pretty sure it contained alcohol, but I wouldn’t put money on it being anything better than grain alcohol. On the wall by our table they advertised their margaritas and strawberry daiquiris, featuring photos of the pre-made mixes the use.  Um…?  I don’t harbor delusions that most casual Mexican restaurants have people in the back muddling limes or anything, but at least their mixes are reasonably tasty.
The water tasted like water.

Drinks score:  1/5

4.  Entrees:  Denny got enchiladas and I got mole poblano.  I didn’t try his enchiladas, but they looked pretty good and he seemed to enjoy them.  They came with rice, beans, and some lettuce/tomato/sour cream toppings.

My mole was a mixed bag.  The sauce was very good—it hit me first with the sweet and chocolatey notes, and it lingered nicely with more complex chile and spice flavors.  It wasn’t very spicy-hot at all.  The chicken was in large chunks.  It was all white meat, and the chunks were a little dry and tough on the interior.  It would have been better if the chunks had been chicken thighs, which would have stayed moister, or if the meat had been shredded so the sauce had covered it better.

It was served with flour tortillas.  I don’t actually know whether flour or corn tortillas are traditional with mole, but my impression is that corn are the default for most of the less-Americanized dishes.  Other items on the menu indicated that the diner could choose between corn and flour, but the waiter didn’t ask my preference.  Maybe flour is what’s supposed to go with mole.  Anyway, the tortillas were good, warm and freshly (what’s the word I want?  I want to say a la plancha.  Like…toasted on a griddle).  There was also rice in the center of the chicken/sauce situation.

The waiter warned us before we ordered that there were no tamales, which disappointed me because I love tamales.

I sopped up all the mole sauce with my tortillas.  It was good stuff.  We were too full for dessert.

Entrees score:  4/5

5.  Service

The place wasn’t busy, which was good because there seemed to be one owner/manager type person and just one server.  The server did a good job, though.  He checked on us several times and brought the bill promptly.  He flirted with Miles nicely.

My only criticisms of the service were that it would have been nice to have water immediately and place settings already at the table when we sat down.  I brought some fruit for Miles that I needed to cut up, and it was a fair amount of time before I got silverware with which to do it.

Service score:  4/5

Overall, it was good, but not exceptional.  It hasn’t replaced Iguana’s in Hills as my favorite Mexican place in the area.

Overall score:  3.5/5 

Check out this super-cool Presidents Day cupcake mosaic.

The blog whence that link came, Cake Wrecks, is really great.  It’s one of the few that gives me legitimately out-loud LOLs.  The post above is more cool than funny, but you should read the other posts.

I should probably just post this to Facebook.  Blogs are out.

You know what I hate?

I hate when you’re not hungry, but you know you aren’t going to have a chance to eat again for a long time, so you force food into yourself, and you’re thinking, “Aprille (or some other name if your name isn’t Aprille), food is good.  You love food.  You should enjoy food while you eat it.”  And yet, it is an unpleasant experience.

This is what I’m doing.  Poor chicken that is going unloved.

I was going to go grocery shopping today, since we’re running low on food (actually that’s not true; we have tons of food but are running low on some essentials).  I was all set, then I realized Denny had the car with the carseat in it, so Miles and I were stuck at home.

As I am wont to do under such circumstances, I made dinner out of stuff we had around.  Tonight it was College Pasta, a dish I invented during my days of a smaller food budget.  It’s basically just whatever pasta you have around in a simple sauce of garlic, butter, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, grated parmesan, and anything else you’re in the mood for.  I’ve often done toasted pine nuts, sun-dried tomatoes, onions, and parsley, but once you start getting too fancy you miss the point.

Anyway, I reserved some for Miles before I added the crushed red pepper, and he loved it.  It was very garlicky, made with the special home-grown garlic from Steve.  I’m very proud of him.

I’m a year-and-a-half late on this, but Kool-Aid pickles?

Okay, why not?

It’s full-on citrus season now, both at the grocery store and my basement.  Denny’s Meyer lemon tree has some lovely fruit on it, some of which I used to make that delicious lemon pudding cake from last season.

What you see below is a grocery store acquisition, an orange that looked regular on the outside but on the inside looks more like a pink grapefruit.  It tastes pretty much like an orange, though.  It was good.

I got a bug up my butt to cook a fancy dinner last night.  It turned out pretty well, except that it’s hard to nibble the flesh off tiny quail with a grumpy baby in the high chair.  Don’t ask me why he wasn’t satisfied with mushed-up peas and Teddy Poofs.

Here’s the recipe, adapted from Gourmet (and epicurious.com). I didn’t take any pictures of this because it was my first time making it and I wasn’t confident about the beauty aspect.  I did, however, make a key lime pie for dessert, so the photo you see is evidence of that process.

QUAIL WITH ONIONS AND RED GRAPES (serves 2, can be doubled)

• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoons honey
• 2 teaspoons dried bouquet garni blend (could also use fresh thyme)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 medium yellow onion (I like Peru Sweets), cut into bite-sized chunks
• 4 whole quail (5 to 6 ounces each), cleaned and necks and feet removed  if necessary
• 1.5 cups red seedless grapes
• salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 475°F.In a small saucepan boil vinegar, honey, and bouquet garni over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until reduced to about 1/4 cup, about 5 minutes. Pour glaze through a fine sieve into a small bowl, discarding herb solids, and reserve. In another small bowl stir together 1 tablespoons reserved glaze and 1 tablespoon melted butter.

Heat a flameproof roasting pan (I used my cast iron) in oven 10 minutes. In heated pan toss onions with remaining tablespoon butter, remaining teaspoon bouquet garni, and salt and pepper to taste and roast in upper third of oven, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes.

While onions are roasting, prepare quail. Rinse quail and pat dry. Season inside and out with salt and pepper. Brush quail inside and out with about one third glaze-butter mixture and tie legs together with kitchen string (I didn’t do this and I wish I had, because they looked a little pointy).

Add grapes to pan and toss with onions. Arrange quail, breast sides down, over onions and grapes and roast 15 minutes. Turn quail over and baste with about half of remaining glaze-butter mixture. Roast quail, basting with remaining glaze-butter mixture, 10 minutes more, or until juices run clear when fleshy part of a thigh is pierced (I suggest checking them a little sooner, as mine came out a bit dry).

Discard string from quail and transfer to a platter. Arrange grapes and onions around quail using a slotted spoon and keep warm.

You can use the remaining glaze to drizzle around the plate; I also used some to make a little vinaigrette salad dressing.