4/6: Things I cooked, books I listened to

Rye bread

I had no idea Owen read my blog until he came storming into the kitchen last night, yelling about a caption in which I'd written: "Owen would never admit it, but I think he's going for Justin Bieber hair." Owen said, "It would be like if I had a blog and wrote, 'My mom's really old and though she'd never admit it, she tries to look young.'"

The caption has been changed. But I wonder if that paragraph I just wrote violates his rules. Hmm. If so, I'm sure he will let me know and I will erase.

Yesterday: quite productive in recipe testing. If you want any of these recipes, I will happily post.

First: deli rye bread (see top).

Assessment: Recipe is solid, bread is very good. My only regret is that it works so much better with high gluten flour, a special order ingredient I didn't want to have to recommend in my book.

hot chocolate mix


Assessment: Good. Dislike cocoa powder because it makes such a mess, but it has been gratifying to demystify Swiss Miss.

fudgy flourless chocolate cake

Assessment: Superb! Much loved by all. As you can see. Very pleased with this recipe.

Angel pie

Assessment: Looks as it should. Will taste today.

sauerkraut and kimchi

Assessment: Both look correct. Will have to wait a few days so they can ferment.

ricotta

Assessment: Love. 

peanut butter

Assessment: Love.

english muffins

Assessment: Don't love. Like. Not sure there's enough of a payoff with homemade english muffins. Recipe is solid, yield correct.

root beer, ginger ale, cream soda

Assessment: Only the ginger ale was ready as of this morning. It's phenomenally good and gingery and tastes almost healthy, like a tonic. Root beer hasn't been great in the past, so I doubt it will make the cut. 

vanilla creme brulee

Assessment: Looks correct, but haven't torched it yet. There were limits to how much we could eat yesterday. I tried to fancy this up with cardamom the last time, and was harshly censured by family.

negroni

Assessment: Perfect. This recipe isn't going in the book, but has certainly helped and hindered the writing of the book. Foolishly, I mixed the negroni before tackling my most nettlesome recipe.

duck egg ravioli with ricotta, smoked paprika, and asparagus

Assessment: Delicious, but sloppy. I may have to retest without cocktail in hand.

Books listened yesterday to while cooking:

Freakonomics. I'm late to this party. As I'm sure a lot of you know, it's a pretty good party. A little too smarty pants/smugly counterintuitive/Malcolm Gladwellish, but interesting, especially the stuff about names. I named my daughter "Isabel" in 1996. According to Freakonomics, you could write a socioeconomic profile of me based on that one fact. Recommend this audiobook, if not strongly.

The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert. Although Elizabeth Gilbert's work is obviously much adored by the female population at large, none of my friends like her. None. I loaned Eat, Pray, Love to a friend who brought it back the next day and made savage fun of it. Well, I loved Eat, Pray, Love. Go ahead, snicker. I can take it. I even loved the widely panned sequel, Committed. Written before either of those two books, The Last American Man is a profile of a real life male who is very similar to the males in 127 Hours and Into The Wild, a type I find incomprehensible, annoying, intriguing, and had crushes on when I was 15 and then never again. I think this audiobook is excellent and highly recommend. Narrated by Patricia Kalember. Remember Thirtysomething? I thought they were all so old.