Splendid Sustenance

Move on back....

2007-03-08T20:57:00.000-08:00

I moved everything to my main blog, I won't be posting here anymore and will delete this in a month or so.

http://thicketquicket.com/blog/

I don't know if these cupcakes will take over the world, but they sure as shit have taken over my kitchen...

2007-03-05T22:11:00.000-08:00

Two days and 36 cupcakes from VCTOtW. Yes, 36. Not all for me, 18 of them are for Owen's toddler class tomorrow. It's his teacher's last day so we are having a potluck. I made the maple cuppers for that, but let's go back a day and start with the Green Tea Cupcakes I made. It took me a few phone calls to track down the Matcha green tea powder, that stuff is intense. The powder is so fine that I was blowing green boogers out of my nose later.

These were quite lovely to make, the green hue made me feel sort of giddy. The taste is very much like green tea ice cream that you would get in a Japanese restaurant. The only set back I had was the cooking time. I inserted a toothpick at 20mins and it came out clean, but when we dove into them after they had cooled they were a bit soggy on the inside, wasn't a buzzkill but I will definitely cook them a bit longer next time.

I wanted to make the sweet little Marzipan art but August was fussing (I know, imagine it) and I just couldn't get as creative as I wanted. I had grand plans of skulls and crossbones but resorted to Owen's playdoh cookie cutter.

It worked wonderfully. See? Kids are good for something. In an effort to spruce up the stars a bit I kneaded in some sprinkles, think I will skip that next time though, they just sort of disappear or end up looking like there is dirt in them.

Next up:
Sweet maple! Man these Maple cupcakes are good. The freshly grated nutmeg is a must. I put in a bit more than the recipe asked for, ANARCHY! No, I just really like nutmeg.

All sorts of things went wrong regarding the frosting on these though. I REALLY wanted to make the maple frosting that goes with them, but I was missing a crucial ingredient (again, I WAS JUST AT THE STORE!) So I thought ok, I'll make the buttercream frosting, creamed the butter and shortening and realized I had no confectioner's sugar...DRAT! Soooo I thought I would do a quick melty chocolate ganache with maple extract in it....ding ding ding...good grief was that a good choice.

Sort of a Jackson Pollock inspired sweet, don't you think? I think I will lay off the cupcakes for a bit and focus on some other baked goods for a bit. Or not.

You are dying tonight....ok ok ok you're not dying....

2007-03-01T11:59:00.000-08:00

but you get a crazy weird disease that leaves you unable to taste anything

What's your last meal?

edited to add: OH come ON! yeesh, I'm not saying you really are going to die tonight, answer the question.....pleeeeease.

Where the magic happens...baby!

2007-03-01T10:23:00.000-08:00

Well I don't know if I would call it magic, but I thought you all might want to see my prep station. It's small, but it works ok.

The thing I hate about it most is the placement deems it a dumping ground, so I have to clear all the shit off every time I use it...sigh. Man what I wouldn't give for a gourmet kitchen *salivating*. Anyway, see the chopping board? That board rocks, Pete gave it to me for our anniversary 2 years ago. I use it daily and it hardly shows wear, it is quiet and soft on knives, I highly recommend these boards. You can see that my cookbooks lack a 'real' home, I dream of a bookshelf next to my workstation. And my spices? c-l-u-s-t-e-r-f-u-c-k! I SOOOO want a spice drawer, if you could see me now you would see a single tear rolling down my cheek, and not from the onion on the on the cutting board. I know whoa is me. Well let's move on from this pity party. I want to show you the ass of the kitchen...

Another lovely gift from my husband. He watches over and makes sure all is right in the kitchen. Everyone needs an ass as a mascot...no? Ok, one last picture of the beginnings of dinner last night. I made Skillet black beans with potatoes and tortillas from the Veg Family CB, very yummy. This is the third time I have made it, I halve the potatoes she calls for and add hot chili pepper and more lime too. Man it is good eatin, sorry I neglected to get a picture of the final concoction, Pete got home late and my stomach was eating itself.

Meh...

2007-02-28T17:15:00.000-08:00

I made Soba, Tomato and Tofu from Veg Family last night. It was just alright. I overcooked the soba a bit leaving it a tad slimy. I think it might have been better with regular pasta. It has a fab curry/soy/sugar/sesame oil sauce though. I was able to chow it, but will definitely give it my own twist next time. I like to make a recipe just like it says the first time, I guess to give it a chance, then if I think it deserves another shot I can mess it up just how I like it.

...........

On another note, this is one of my absolute favorite olive oils, there in the back, Lucini. Man I could drink this shit! It's a bit on the spendy side, but all you have to do is get some rockin' crunchy bread, dip a corner in this nectar, close your eyes and you are in a tiny villa in Italy. It's that good.

Conversation

2007-02-28T07:01:00.000-08:00

Me: Did you see I brought you a cupcake?
Pete: Yeah I did and I'm a little scared
Me: eh?
Pete: Well they're so fucking good I think they might just take over the world

Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World Part 3

2007-02-26T22:33:00.000-08:00

And the conclusion is that these cupcakes could possibly take over the world. Domination is near. Today was a rough day, August (aka Fuss) was living up to his alias. How did I manage to make cupcakes? I really don't know, I almost didn't make dinner let alone cupcakes. It didn't help that I ran out of vanilla and Pete had to stop and grab some on the way home. DAMMIT! I was JUST at the store yesterday! Don't you hate that? Anyway, hell or high water, cupcakes got made (albeit with the soothing sound of screaming in the background). I am still keeping it simple. I wanted to test out my new pastry bag and tip. The pastry bag I got is a bit too big I think, but it worked ok, it was just hard to clean. I think it is meant for cakes, where you are doing a lot of icing. I bought 5 tips, the one I used tonight I believe is a No. 22 (it's not in front of me so don't hold me to it and I am not about to get my ass out of bed to check). It was marvelous fun to swirl luscious mounds of heart stopping butter cream frosting on lovely little chocolate cakes. I found some bunny baking cups, but I think they will be better served with a light colored cupcake, the darkness of the chocolate made the design disappear. They really are precious little things, cupcakes. I even gave them some sprinkles, you know, to give them some bling.

So 3 different attempts (so far) and all are absolutely de-fucking-licious. Now the bad, the cookbook drives me insane. It is a sweet little cookbook and the design and photo's are awesome, BUT...FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! WHY? do authors/publishers of some cookbooks wrap the recipes around to the next page. It is a GIANT pet peeve of mine. So absolutely irritating to have to flip the page. Almost all the recipes in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World wrap around. If I were an editor of cookbooks I would avoid this at all costs. The recipes only take 2 pages in this book so it would have been easy to have them all on facing pages. Maybe the revised edition will address this annoyance.

Fried Rice!

2007-02-22T20:39:00.000-08:00

I marinated 2 blocks of extra firm tofu in tamari, dark sesame oil, rice vinegar, maple syrup, pineapple juice (from the can of pineapple), and fresh ginger. Fry it up...

meanwhile cook 2 cups of Jasmine rice, have to love the ricemaker, can't beat perfect rice every time.
Once the rice is done , toss it in with the tofu adding a bit more tamari, sesame oil, large can of pineapple, cup of shelled edamame, and anything else you want. Stir-fry this until it's heated through Eat, unless you think it's gross.

More cupcakes, still having trouble with the poo look

2007-02-19T21:54:00.000-08:00

I thought I would try another batch of cupcakes. You know, for the blog, I have to test them so you all know which recipes work....right?

I thought I would make the same vanilla cupcakes (from Vegan Cupcakes) but try the chocolate ganache topping this time. I certainly don't make the prettiest cupcakes on the block and so far they all seem to resemble cupcakes that people like to poo on, but they are fucking yummy. I am going to get a set of tips for a pastry bag. These cupcakes deserve to be pretty. Not sure what the next ones will be, maybe the Chai Latte Cupcakes.

My feet are sore...but my belly is full

2007-02-18T21:25:00.000-08:00

I apparently decided I wanted to be on my feet for more than 3 hours tonight. I made corn chowder and potato edamame samosa's (from VWaV). I was very pleased with the outcome and there is plenty left over. The samosa's went quite nicely with mango chutney (the only part not homemade). The samosa dough was tasty, I think the secret to the flavor was the tumeric. I will definitely make those again, they are time consuming so I will plan better next time. I wanted to eat by 7, we didn't sit down til 8.

Owen makes cookies

2007-02-16T13:59:00.000-08:00

I was trying to figure out something fun (and not so hard on a head cold) to do yesterday with Owen. We ended up making chocolate chip cookies. Nothing like being snotty sick and making food to share...want to come over for cookies?

More product plugs

2007-02-14T11:42:00.000-08:00

If you love fresh herbs but lack space this is for you...

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It's on sale too!

And if you really loved me you would get me this apron

A Pan

2007-02-13T21:04:00.000-08:00

I have been slowly upgrading all my most used kitchen objects. This is not a cheap endeavor and I can mostly thank my awesome husband for the high dollar objects in my kitchen arsenal. If you cook a lot (like myself) then it is simply a must. Yes Calpholon is ok, but I have worked through 2 sets of it, I take care of it, that is just how much I cook. I recently decided to steer away from Teflon. I won't go into a preachy 'why', but let's just say it's toxic shit. I do keep a non-stick fry pan for eggs, there is just no better surface to fry an egg on. Anyway, last April Pete bought me a Demeyere 3qt pan. This pan has rocked, seriously rocked. It is the only pan (except for my Le Creuset) that I still praise (out loud) on a regular basis, i.e. at least weekly. The lid holds a tight seal, the handle has a slit in it that holds the lid while you stir or add ingredients, ingenious I tell you! And nothing hurts this thing, dishwasher, metal utensil, hand wash, high flame, etc. They are all handmade in Belgium, and are compatible with every cook surface imaginable. I love my pan, and I obviously recommend you own one as well.

(psst, and that is a Demeyer kettle in the background, stout mother fucking kettle I tell you!)

who says poo doesn't taste good?

2007-02-11T22:26:00.000-08:00

For Pete's birthday I made a successful attempt at Golden Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting and raspberries from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. Good grief, fucking YUM! So what if they look like someone missed the toilet, that's what happens when you only have a Ziploc bag for a pastry bag, all tastes the same though.

Oh and comments are fixed, anyone can comment now. Sorry about that.

4 Dozen, my ass

2007-02-09T14:46:00.000-08:00

Is it just me? I NEVER get the recipies actual yield amount. I just made Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies (collective YUM?) and VWaV tells me it yields 4 dozen, um I got 2. This always happens too, with any cookie recipe. It asks for a heaping tablespoon, I heaped a tablespoon, maybe my heap is to heapish? I don't know, but I want the miracle cookie dough that actually gives me twice as many cookies, my ass needs it damnit!

Another lazy night

2007-02-06T20:05:00.000-08:00

So the baby seems to be in a screaming phase (yet again), which means I am one armed unless we are in the car. So another easy dinner. I threw the leftover pineapple/pea fried rice in the fry pan and then boiled dumplings up. Have you had these?

Seriously, they are so easy and yummy. They come in chicken too, which I have noticed they have in 800lb bags at Costco (go America!). Pete seems to like the veg ones better which works out for me. But then again he isn't fond of bird. I think the sauce they come with is poopoo, but it's easy enough to make your own dipping concoction. Yes,yes I realize making dumplings from scratch is simple, but when you don't have time to even butter toast these babies are the shit!

Frozen Pizza

2007-02-05T19:27:00.000-08:00

It can be the nectar of the gods when the last thing you want to do is fucking cook. And I didn't want to fucking cook!

Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World...

2007-02-04T09:04:00.000-08:00

I have been waiting to get this cookbook for awhile now. It is fantastic. The photo's are edible, or at least appear that way. I believe the first cupcake I will try is the basic vanilla yellow one. They talk about the importance of each ingredient is in making the cupcake light, fluffy, and of course yummy. I don't want to try and make a fancy cupcake only to have it fall on me. I'll let you know how they turn out.

Clicky~click

Itadakimasu...

2007-02-02T22:38:00.000-08:00

or, let's eat!

I thought it would be good to start this blog with something I have never made before. I attempted sushi and it worked.

I can kiss those 4, 5, 6 dollar rolls goodbye! It was much easier than anticipated. The rice is by far the hardest to get right. I did an alright job, but it will be better next time. The rolling will take a bit to get used to as well. A very sharp knife is a must when cutting the rolls, I ended up using my serrated bread knife to get decent cuts. It's no wonder the Japanese make incredible knives, that shit is hard to cut through! I made carrot, cucumber, and Neufchatel (that lighter cream cheese stuff) rolls. We ate them all so I guess they went over well. My toddler (Owen) even ate it. He did eventually resort to just licking the tamari off them instead, however.

I bought pickled ginger from The Ginger People Co. and it was fabulous.

You can even use the ginger juice after the actual ginger is gone. Nothing goes to waste.
It has no chemical after taste and the color is reality, opposed to the pink shit you get in lower class sushi restaurants. I always say you know you are in a decent sushi bar if the ginger is not pink. Anyhoo, I bought some wasabi powder and it was just fine. It was a bit runnier than the blobs they give you in restaurants, but had the same effect.

Definitely going to try making these again. The possibilities are endless for fillings.