Back and semi-alive again :P

December 6th, 2007 (05:31 pm)

Tags: baking, hoshi wa utau

current mood: hungry

Spent most of yesterday more out-of-it than not simply because I hadn't been sleeping overly well in Vancouver. The bed was comfy, but my internal clock went wonkers. (......where did that word come from??) >.> But, even more surprising was that FSU got the stomach flu or similar while I was away and was essentially dead when I got back. (Male parental ended up picking me up from the airport.) But, for better or for worse, since going away, I've managed to scribble out most of the plot outline for two more GH FFs to continue along with my NaNo FF. Mind you, none of this stuff is in any shape to be seen by anyone yet. ^^;;

But now that I'm once again among the land of the living(? really??), I'm hoping to start getting back into things again. :P

......Although one of the first "things" will be Xmas baking. *laughs* 'Tis the season, after all. ^^; This year's plan will include the English toffee candy wombat1138 mentioned a couple years ago, probably some cream puffs, and this year's fascination is creme brulee. ^^;; FSU bought me a kitchen torch recently, so I'm thinking about trying an orange creme brulee next or maybe even a chocolate one. ^o^ Unfortunately, I haven't decided on which cookies to make yet. >.> Ah Xmas baking, how you haunt me every year... Has anyone else started planning the Xmas baking yet?

Oh! And before I forget, because I've seen mention of Hoshi wa Utau lately even though I'm hopelessly behind on it, Vol 1 will be released Jan 18. Hopefully *that* will kick my butt into reading the series and seeing if I like it or not. I still haven't read beyond ch 2 or so. ^^;

Comments

Posted by: Ysabet (

umadoshi)

Posted at: December 7th, 2007 01:07 am (UTC)

I'm starting baking tomorrow, since we're having a St. Nicholas party in the evening. I'm gonna make Flamika's pan de polvo (sp? recipe's downstairs) cookies and my eggnog ones. ^_^

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Posted by: Shadow (

kagedreams)

Posted at: December 7th, 2007 06:41 pm (UTC)

Those eggnog cookies are absolutely *terrible*! I've been making them every year since you posted that recipe and will probably be making them again this year. ^^; I just have to remember to pick up some eggnog at some point. :P That said, there's an "eggnog" creme brulee FSU and I are currently debating. There's no actual eggnog in it though. ^^;

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Posted by: Ysabet (

umadoshi)

Posted at: December 7th, 2007 06:54 pm (UTC)

*g* I think they've turned into my one traditional cookie. I'm about to go make some, having just finished some very chocolatey ones (I revised my plan, so I'll make the others another day).

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Posted by: Too cute for evil (

ginny_t)

Posted at: December 7th, 2007 02:54 am (UTC)

Must make shortbreads this weekend. They're already a week late, which means a week less of curing time. :/ Must make.

Aside from that, I doubt I'll do any holiday baking. But I'm looking forward to some fanfic reading. When'll it be released? *poke*

*hides*

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Posted by: Shadow (

kagedreams)

Posted at: December 7th, 2007 06:47 pm (UTC)

Oohhh, shortbread. Yum! *___* I don't think I've ever made real shortbread before so I have no idea how it is to make, but I take it from your comment that you're supposed to let it age. Good luck with it!

Eep! I be poked. Umm... Not sure since I've started reviewing my plot outlines for the subsequent fics to see how they fit in, and I have to completely rework the first chapter or two of the original story. After that comes reconsidering story layout since I didn't have a proper plot outline that covered pacing. (What pacing? What's pacing? :P) Shall see how that all goes this weekend along with the resumption of some other stuff hopefully. ^^;

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Posted by: wombat1138 (

wombat1138)

Posted at: December 7th, 2007 04:21 am (UTC)

My most recent baking experiment was Black Hole Brownies of Death (comment #50 if the pointer doesn't quite work), with a few modifications:

The recipe's originator says that although the listed combination of rice flour (I don't know whether mochiko would work here) and cornstarch was first used as a gluten-free adaptation, the resulting texture is much superior to wheat flour, and so he has used the substituted ingredients ever since. I had some cake flour in the pantry, so I just used a cup of that; since I have no standard to compare it to, I thought the texture still turned out fine.

Instead of going out to buy a bag of chocolate chips, I chopped up what I thought was an equivalent mass of bittersweet chocolate. Unfortunately(?), I misremembered the standard mass of a chip bag, and ended up using 1 lb instead of 12 oz.

I also tweaked some of the methodology to fit my standard brownie-baking procedure:
- Stirred the cocoa powder into the melted butter as the first addition; iirc this is supposed to help bring out the cocoa flavor more
- Instead of spreading the batter/dough directly into a greased brownie pan, I lined the pan with aluminum foil, left substantial excess at both ends to use as "handles", and greased the foil; when done, the entire slab can be lifted straight out of the pan onto a chopping board.

Even when cut into bitty ~1" squares, these brownies are so chocolatey that they're nearly difficult to eat. (I said "nearly".) Nevertheless, the wombat-consort has heroically flung himself onto them to protect me; I'd better go have another one while there are still some left.

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Posted by: Shadow (

kagedreams)

Posted at: December 7th, 2007 06:54 pm (UTC)

Hmm... I might try these since I think I have all the ingredients (have to double check on the bittersweet choco) although I'm not sure if your comment suggests I should try them or if I should run for my life (or my waistline). :P Rice flour instead or regular flour sounds interesting! There's a doughnut you can get from Mister Donut in Japan that I love the consistency of and it uses rice flour as well although I don't know in what quantity. ^^;

Thanks for the link! ^o^

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Posted by: Shadow (

kagedreams)

Posted at: December 7th, 2007 06:56 pm (UTC)

O_O;; Oh my. ^^;; Ah, the fun that can be had in the kitchen... :P

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Posted by: Kakurenbo (

akinarei)

Posted at: December 7th, 2007 05:49 pm (UTC)

Welcome back from Vancouver! I can hear the relief. ^_^

Baking! The English Toffee candy recipe sounds divine.

Umm... happy writing? Shall I send you Charlie just to be on the safe side? =P

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Posted by: Shadow (

kagedreams)

Posted at: December 7th, 2007 07:04 pm (UTC)

*laughs* I traded wet for cold, but the cold's let up over here so I can't complain. :P

The English Toffee recipe is wonderful! Last time I made it, I used a mix of something (can't remember what) and roasted pine nuts. It was really yummy. The recipe is here. It's towards the bottom of the page but is really easy to make and really good. The tea I make after this recipe is quite deadly. :P

NOOoooooo!!! No plot bunnies allowed!! >.<;; I'd like to see Xmas and get some other things done and not be locked away in the loony bin with all the bunnies and FFs. >.

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Posted by: sakura_h_chan (

sakura_h_chan)

Posted at: December 14th, 2007 04:30 pm (UTC)

Hoshi wa Utau