Likely Story

Omnivore's One Hundred

Ok, I know, its a meme (of which I am not traditionally a fan) but this one I found interesting.  If you have questions about the list itself (and yes, I know it is decidedly anglo-centric), go here for answers.

Here’s the rules:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten. (The ones I really, really love are also in RED)
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk (the origin of the meme) linking to your results.

The Likely Story's Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile (does Alligator count?)
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses (sadly, I have not tried this yet)
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters (there is nothing better than raw, cold water oysters)
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda (someday...)
31. Wasabi Peas (way, way over-rated)
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut (warm, with caraway seeds)
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects (sorry, I'm probably too chicken)
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel (good god, I loooooove broiled eel)
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut (even more over-rated than #31)
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake (all four please)
68. Haggis (vegetarian and original)
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse (I'm about 90% sure it was horse)
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa (just harissa, not with rose petals)
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox (and capers, please)
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

What have you eaten?

I've Been Busy.

Hello.  I made things this month.  See?

This is my velveteen, disappearing nine-patch quilt.  It's soft and velvety and so help me, I will never sew with velveteen again!!

This is a bloody enormous house square that's part of a quilt my MiL and I are sewing together. We're each sewing a block a month and then trading the blocks, so I'll have the blocks she's sewn and vice versa.

These are some peach danish I made the other day b/c I had both puff pastry and peaches going spare. They were delicious!!

FInally, here's a picture of my neighbors house at night.  I just really liked how creepy the place looks, so I've been stalking their house for creep-tastic night pics.  I'm sure they think I'm some sort of serial killer.  I do live in the heart of suburbia, so it's to be expected.  This one was taken on the 4th of July (obviously).

In Just Under 5 hours

2 Angel Food Cakes
2 dozen Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream frosting
1 large Vanilla Cake with Dark Chocolate Buttercream frosting
1 large Chocolate Éclair Cake
1 large Lemon Daffodil Cake
2 trays Double Chocolate Brownies: one w/ Butterfinger topping and one without
1 tray Lemon Squares
and finally
4 - 50 piece trays of assorted brownie/cheesecake/dessert "bites"

Now I'm sleepy.

Final Exam

This may be the last official pastry/culinary school post for some time as I will not be attending classes in the fall.  I have only one class left to take before I can graduate and it is a dreadfully boring class, so even then, no pretty pictures.  This last series will have to hold you for a while.

The Final Exam:  Mango Mousse Entrement

From the bottom to the top:
Coconut Pound Cake
Coconut Dacquoise
Raspberry Preserves
White Chocolate Mousse with bits of diced Mangoes
Mango Mousse
Mango Gelee
garnished with glazed raspberries and sliced mango.

    

Enjoy!  Mousse is good food!!

FO: Gruyere Bread and a High Class Fluffernutter

First, the Gruyere Bread.  Actually it's a Gruyere/Dubliner Bread.  The recipe can be found here and it is worth the trouble and completely delicious.  It also makes you feel like a baking ROCKSTAR being able to make something this pretty.  No, I'm not kidding and yes, I know I have problems.  But behold the beauty of Gruyere Bread:

Delicious looking, no?  Well hold on to your socks, people.  Here's the High Class Fluffernutter Torte!

So, here's what we've got.  From the bottom layer to the top it's a pate sucre crust, salted peanut caramel, banana cake, peanut butter and chocolate feullitine (think crispy), flambed banana chiboust (pastry cream lightened with meringue) and a homemade toasted marshmellow top garnished with milk chocolate placards, caramelized banana and peanut brittle.   Yes, it does taste good, but I totally agree with you if you're thinking that it all just seems a bit much.  This was our last project in Advanced Bakeshop and really the point of it was to make sure we could handle all of the individual components:  pastry, candy, cake, confection, custard, meringue, chocolate and fruit.  And what better way to do that then to make as throw all of those things into one dessert?  Unfortunately, I now have about 6 pounds of this sitting in my fridge.  So, you're welcome to come over and rescue all of this decadent goodness from the waiting trash because in 4 days that's where it's heading.  I'm home all weekend!  Bring a fork!

Chocolate Bliss

Have I been neglecting the pastry side of things?  My apologies.  Hopefully this will make up for it. 

Today we have a Triple Chocolate Bavarian Entrement.  It has a chocolate chiffon sponge cake base with dark, milk and white chocolate Bavarian creams layered from the bottom up, topped with a cocoa gelee and white chocolate drizzle.  I don't mean to brag, but not only am I in shock that it turned out so well, I honestly am 99% positive I could make it again and again.  Huzzah!

Bon Appetit!

Some Things Green and One Thing Sweet

Green things first.  Remember when I said I had planted sticks in the mud in my vague attempt at gardening (which I insist on pursuing at least once a year)?  Well, some sticks have sprouted!  Here we have blackberries and raspberries, quite happy in their containers.  No fruit yet, but there is plenty of time.

Next, you can just make out a strawberry plant peeking around the corner of the deck.  This tiny guy is laden with green berries (and by laden, I mean about a pints worth).  I am very excited.

And Yes, I did wait until it was pouring down rain to take pictures.  I have impeccable timing.  Why do you ask?

Now for something sweet.  Easter is around the corner and we have family coming into town.  This, or course, gives me the perfect excuse to order easter candy from Fowlers Chocolates.  When I was little, we used to get candy from Fowlers every year for Easter.  This is one of the many reasons why - Sponge candy:

There are no words.  Just look. You can choose from dark, milk or orange chocolate which enrobes a core of brown sugar sponge.  It has the consistency of florist foam, but in a good way, that melts against the roof of your mouth leaving behind the deliciously bittersweet taste of butterscotch.  Bliss.....

Catching Up

Hi there. Long time no speak, eh?  Yeah, I know.  That's my fault really.  I've been busy.  Doing what you may ask?  Well, I decided my life was in no way hectic enough so I took another job as the part-time pastry chef at a small cafe here in Mt. P called The Square Onion.  It's not much, just a couple of days a week, but it keeps me on my toes.  Otherwise, it's just been business as usual here.  Pretty boring really.  I am working on Noni's Cascading Fuschias Bag, as you can see:

Oh, and I made a very yummy poached pear tart, filled with vanilla almond diplomat cream in a chocolate lined shortbread crust.  Very tasty.  Deadly, really.  See?  It's a bit beige in the photo, but trust me when I say it isn't beige in flavor.

I should have more to say someday in the future, when I am not so bloody exhausted.  Until then, I leave you with the promise of more pastry to come and maybe even some sort of particularly witty commentary on something relevant.  Maybe.  Probably not, actually but dare to dream.

See Pretty Things!

First things first.  While it's no Saturday Torte, we made Tiramisu in class on Wednesday.  Homemade vanilla lady fingers drenched in a kahlua syrup, filled with a marscapone bavarian cream, topped with a cocoa gelee and chocolate shavings.  Want some?

Are you sure????

OK, then I'll just sit here and look at my new Jane Crossover Sweater Kit that arrived today.  ;-)

Fits In The Palm Of Your Hand

Teeny, Tiny Hazelnut Buttercream/Ganache Dacquoise Tortes. 
They fit in the palm of your hand.

Hazelnut Dacquoise (2) layered alternately with dark chocolate ganache and hazelnut  buttercream.  Finished with toasted, crushed hazelnuts and piped ganache.  Though it looks a bit fussy, one of my eaters informed me that it tasted a bit like a crispy-chewy moon pie, the BEST crispy-chewy moon pie one could ever imagine, but a moon pie none the less.  He meant well.  Go figure.