Day of Yum, Part 2

I finally got to eat some of my tasty treats!

The Chargrilled Yellow Bell Pepper soup is good, even chilled, but I think the flavor comes out better when it's warm. I would not put the gremolatta on a warm version. It would taste too lemony. The gremolatta is very good on the chilled version though.

While the base for the coffee ice cream was super tasty, the coffee flavor is almost imperceptible in the frozen and churned finished product. What I have in my freezer tastes more like vanilla with heath bar. In the future, I will double or triple the instant coffee and espresso. I may even try to stir a little instant coffee into what I have to sharpen the coffee flavor.

To go along with my chilled bell pepper soup for dinner, I made a little venison (butterfly cut--not sure of much more). I had planned to eat this Saturday, so I pulled it out of the freezer, threw it in a tupperware with coffee, beer (a dark lager), molasses, soy sauce, lime juice, garlic, and maybe a hint of cayenne pepper. I can't fully remember, and I definitely didn't measure. Then I threw it all in a skillet on med-high, and flipped the meet quite a few times to keep it juicy. The end product smelled like heaven and tasted like it too. The tang of the venison came through too, so it wasn't lost in two days of intense marinade. Heavenly. I am so excited by how good it was. I can't wait to eat the leftovers over the next couple days.

Yum, yum, yum. I'm going to have a beer while I bake my red velvet cake, and then I will indulge in some ice cream. Ciao!

Day of Yum!

Today I went a bit crazy in the kitchen. Both sinks are full of pots and pans, the stop top is bearing the burden of the ones that won't fit in the sink, but it was successful.

I prepped the base for my coffee heath bar ice cream. I'll pick up ice after work tomorrow and finish it up. I did taste the base, and it's heavenly!

Then I made the zucchini cornbread. Amazing! It does have a very buttery flavor, so you could cut the butter a bit. I did add parsley as some reviewers suggested. Yum, yum, yum.

Last, but not least, I made a Chargrilled Yellow Bell Pepper Soup. It's a chilled soup, so I can't indulge untile tomorrow on this treat either, but the bit I licked off the spatula was very tasty. My taste test was also suggestive that this would be good warm too. It actually tasted a bit like a soup I had at Harry's once.

Since there's no link to the soup, here's what I did.

1. Halved and de-seeded 3 yellow bell peppers.
2. Broiled them until the oustide was blacked.
3. Wrapped the peppers in a damp cool cloth and let them cool.
4. Pelled off their skins.
5. Then I finely chopped the following:
• the 3 bell peppers
• 1 very small potato
• 1 very small onion
• 1 smaller carrot
6. In a medium/large saucepan, I heated 3 tablespoons olive oil on medium heat.
7. Then I tossed in a teaspoon of minced garlic and my chopped onion and cooked for 5 minutes.
8. Threw in the peppers, carrots, and potato, some salt & pepper, and cooked for 5 minutes.
9. Poured in 4 cups of vegetable stock and brought to a boil.
10. Lowered the temp and let it all simmer for 10 minutes.
11. Pureed it in my happy blender.
12. Strained it into a large bowl, and placed in a nice cool space in from fridge to chill.

It needs a mimimum of 2 hours to chill, so I haven't eaten it yet. When I do eat it, I will put Gremolata on top (mix of 3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley, 1 lemon's worth of zest, and 1 garlic clove diced up).

This soup will go very well with my zucchini bread.

Tomorrow, I will endeavor to conquer red velvet cake. I did buy all the ingredients for it today.

Writing, Baking, Pawning Books

It's going to be a busy Saturday. At least, that's the plan, but I never accomplish half of what I want to on Saturday. Sunday seems to be much more productive for me. It's probably because I am a procrastinator to my core.

Today starts with a bit of sad news. I think my parakeet Holmes is sick. He was balled up and shaky, sitting in his furry little blue house this morning. He never sits in the house -- I think he can tell it was the favored spot of his predecessor. He didn't acknowledge me when I sing-songed his name, and his response when I lightly tapped his cage was not his usual enraged panic. He's generally startled and irritated all at once when I catch him off guard. He just sort of meandered around to face me this morning.  I'm hoping it's that the apartment is ungodly cold this morning. I'm in a sweater and wrapped in a blanket. I've also noticed this apartment is alarmingly moist for living in near-desert climate. That worries me for my Australian native bird--the moisture.  If he doesn't perk up later, we'll head to the vet.

Then before finishing this post, I got distracted with Youtube videos from new discoveries Danny Tieger and Julia Nunes. Julia is really talented. I love the pairing of her voice with ukulele. See First Impressions for a sampling. Danny's voice is not as great, but his lyrics, his daring, and his presentation completely make up for it and make him unique. See The Gollum Song and My Universe Revolves Around You for his clever wit. I'm also a big fan of Ode to Pollster.

Now that I've finished being sucked around Youtube by the vortex of curiosity. I'm going to go to the store to get things for baking a red velvet cake and zucchini cornbread. The cake is a practice run for my sister's bridal shower. The zucchini bread is for daily snacking of which I commonly partake.

Then, I need to focus on writing a short story for the new blog I have intended to start for weeks. When I finish that, I will read Dune. I've never experienced this sci-fi classic from Frank Herbert before, and it took me a bit to get engaged, but I love it. I don't think I have Netflixed all week because of Dune.

I also wanted to take some books to the used bookstore to get them out of my living room, but I don't think I left enough time today.

Being an Adult - More Frequent Bad Days

I keep telling myself that I won't be a real adult until I can afford a place with a backyard so that I can have a big furry dog to mess it up. This has always been my marker of adulthood. I also attach the requirement for a garage or at least a carport to qualifying adulthood.

I change my mind. I'm an adult already -- I hate my job.

Better Book Titles has provided this gem of a new title for Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

If this is how we measure adulthood, I am most assuredly an adult right now. I aspire to find a more childlike job where I can not feel this way on a nearly daily basis. Let's test librarianism -- soon.

Fried Shrimp!

Okay...this was super tasty. You should try it.

As a single person trying to cook minimally, I'm going to cover 2 servings of shrimp, not much.

Shrimp Ingredients:

• 2 servings of raw shrimp
  (Follow the bag recommendation since shrimp size can vary. I used 10 shrimp from a bag of 31-40 shrimp per pound.)
• 1/2-3/4 cup flour
• 1-2 tsps salt
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tsp minced or smashed garlic
• 1/3 cup beer
  (I used a lager and recommend a lager for frying.)
• 1/2 cup panko crumbs
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp spicy dried pepper
  (Optional. I have a homemade blend of dried ground dried pepper that I put in just to spice it up a bit.)

Frying Process:

1. In a small bowl, mix flour with salt.
2. In another bowl, mix beer with lime juice and garlic.
   (This needs time to soak up garlic flavor--usually while shrimp is thawing.)
3. In a third bowl, mix panko, cayenne, cumin, and dried pepper.
4. Thaw and peel raw shrimp.
5. When shrimp is thawed, heat 1/4 inch oil in pan on medium. I used mostly vegetable oil with a hint of sesame oil for flavor (it's what I had on hand). Peanut oil is good for frying too.
6. Roll shrimp in flour.
7. Dip shrimp in beer.
8. Roll shrimp in panko.
9. Throw shrimp in the oil.
10. When shrimp is golden brown on one side, flip it.
    (Just a couple minutes on each side.)

When your shrimp is done, eat it.

I put mine in a spinach tortilla with a homemade tartar sauce (which is nothing like the store stuff) and some shredded cabbage and carrots. It would be really good dipped in a sweet, sweet and sour, or sweet and spicy dip.

Quick Dip Options:

• Tartar Sauce --1/4 cup mayo, 1/4 cup sour cream, 1 tbps spicy mustard, and 1-2 tsps of any one or a combination of the following: cayenne/ground spicy pepper/cajun seasoning.
• Sweet Dipping Sauce --in a sauce pan heat & whisk sugar, ketchup, salt, ginger, soy sauce, cooking wine, and some water. For spicy flavor, add crushed red pepper. Quantities to taste/consistency desired. Sorry, I don't measure.  

Enjoy!

Frosting Craze -- My Newest Distraction

It's after 11, and I'm still up.

What am I doing?

Watching Youtube videos on how to make frosting decorations, and reading reviews for red velvet cakes.

I don't even like frosting, but I'm reading about different flowers I could make, and different strategies. Silly.

I think I've picked a recipe for cupcakes, not for frosting, but I'm ready to practice a few frosting strategies--I think I'd like to do a whipped cream frosting that won't be too sweet, but I'll also try the one that is paired with the cake recipe.

Now I should go to sleep.

Some time this week, I will try to make some red velvet cupcakes and frost them in preparation for my sister's bridal shower. The cupcakes are going to the office though. I am not eating more than one.

Late Night Crochet

It's late, I should be asleep, but I am crocheting.

I started with working on finishing the blanket for Kerrie while I was watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Then an episode was over, and it wasn't time for bed yet, but I didn't have enough time for another episode, so I needed to do something else.

I had enough time for an episode of Arrested Development, so I decided one episode would be a good idea.

I switched to hat crocheting to go with the change of show. Now it is way passed bed time, but I am still crocheting and still watching Arrested Development.

Productivity?