Wednesday, August 27, 2008

lately





mostly I've been taking care of these dudes. One of my professors is on her way over to meet them, but as of right now they all need homes!

I made a key lime pie. Let's clear something up, shall we? Key lime pies are not supposed to be bright green. They may be a bit green, but mostly they are yellow. Green key lime pies are full of probably carcinogenic dyes and are, as a rule, less delicious.





Key lime pie is easy. Pretty much all recipes are the same, and they all rely on the magic of chemistry! After hand squeezing a bunch of key limes (aiming for about 1/2 cup juice), mix that with 4 egg yolks and a 12 oz can of sweetened condensed milk. The milk and the highly acidic juices react and start to thicken immediately.

An aside: I make my own graham cracker crust. It is so easy and so much better. Like pancake mixes, the success of commercially prepared graham cracker crusts shall always remain a mystery. Just smash some graham crackers, mix with a little melted butter and press in a pan.

I think people are needlessly afraid of eating raw eggs. In this case, however, baking the filling for 10 minutes at 350 helps it to set a little further. Beat the remaining egg white with some sugar until stiff peaks form, ice the pie and bake about 10 more minutes.

My camera ran out of batteries (?? I think, I took these a few weeks ago) so the final picture I have was with my cell phone.



I also made my brother an apple pie that evening. If I make a pie specifically for someone, I think it's important to put their initial on it. I also think that it is non-negotiable to make pie crust without butter.



sorry for the flash. it was pretty late at this point.

now, back to the kittens!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

I'm a pretty bad blogger

I've been cooking and baking lots. I haven't been taking any pictures or writing about it, however.

Last week, between Tuesday and Thursday, I made: rice crispie treats, custard (traditional, almond, and blackberry), key lime melting moments cookies, key lime pie, and apple pie. I had some good dinners, too, walnut burgers one night, more of my favorite gozlemes... and some more things that I don't even remember. But here are a few things that I had pictures of on my computer already.



That was an amazing cherry pie--picked the cherries myself from my backyard!



Here are some of the famous New York Time's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies. I enjoyed reading about their search, and maybe it really is better to let the dough rest for 24 hours. But the recipe itself wasn't anything groundbreaking.



farm fresh eggs are better. and such fun colors!



Blackberry muffins. Mark Bittman's basic muffin recipe plus blackberries from my backyard.



mmm.

I'm getting up early before work tomorrow so I can have super fresh chocolate chip cookies.