Pictures! And captions! And a cat!

Panko Chicken. 

Panko is pretty much the best thing ever.

I'm not even kidding you.

It's just so delicious and comforting, no matter how you do it. 

 Creamy Lemony Chicken Pasta. With veggies. 

SPRING IN YOUR MOUTH.

 That's whipped cream with cacao nibs on it, like sprinkles, only better.

You know what's under that?

Delicious honey-vanilla ice cream and chocolate mint ice cream. 

Slightly melty.

You can also just call this "medicine" since that's basically what it was.

Lyra, playing Little Red Hen. 

"Mom, can I have a treat? I've been sleeping all day and I'm bushed."

Your lovely chef.

Who apologizes for not having a legit entry tonight. 

Work + Dealing With Cruel "Friends" + Other Issues = EXHAUSTED

Not too tired to cook, just too tired to post. So. Recipes (not shown above) coming soon! 

Delicious ones! 

xoxo

Beth & Lyra

If you cheat, may you cheat death.

To whatever you celebrate, be it socially or genuinely, may you enjoy it.

This is not a cupcake recipe. (no, really, it isn't.)

 

I'm delicious!

Find me! I'm in the blog!

Not this post though. This is a trick. Damn, Beth, damn her tricksy ways. 

Well, I haven't been posting anything, but there are multiple reasons!

A) I work a lot.
B) I went to Memphis! I ate po'boys and biscuits pretty much every day. Blackened chicken! BBQ Shrimp! So happy!
C) I've been recycling recipes the past week. I've done a stir-fry (not tipsy chicken, but still delicious) and Lock It Down Curry, this style of cooking, and I tried my hand at another chicken tender tonight (not a fail, in fact delicious, but also not really something to post home about in the sense of amazing chicken tenders SO, that's that there), and sometimes - when I'm being particularly sassy - I just make, say, a biscuit. From a can. And then I eat it. With butter. Maybe honey.

Though since Memphis, everything is usually brimming with veggies. Delicious! I love veggies.

Those are good reasons!

Still. I'm trying to post, you know, more frequently. But I'm working on it! You guys aren't sending me hate letters based on my cell phone pics of food, so, onward and upward as they say!

'Cause, oh my! The ideas I have!

A Picture of Brioche. Yeah. That's right.

Who me?
I'm just insanely delicious brioche-muffins whose recipe got lost.
Did I mention I'm insanely delicious?

Know what I haven't done since I last spoke to you guys?

Cooked. I haven't cooked a single thing. I could explain the amount of work I've been doing or this or that, but I thought about cooking tonight and instead popped the Homemade Pizza Co. pizza that was in the fridge into the oven and had done. I was so hungry that everything sounded good and was thrilled to find this when I got home. I was so starved after work that when I realized the crust was sliiiiightly underdone? I just ate it anyway.

Still. I have been compiling a list of things I'd like to try from cookbooks I have. I want to do brief reviews, even, I think. I do love to use the library for cookbook scoping.

I did make brioche early December. I even woke up my sleeping roommate to offer him a warm, buttered, fresh-from-the-oven brioche. It was my first attempt.

I will do it again and better.

Not that this was anything other than oohhh my god delicious. I'll offer you a better recipe though, once I've discovered how to do it.

In the meantime, at least I'm updating!

Two Thousand and Win!

A melty picture of love.
She may be trying to escape and, yes, this was taken much earlier in the year.
But it's still a picture of love!

Ah, yes, the adorableness of a girl and her cat. Or of anyone and their cat. Hell, of simply a cat.

Another year is here and this time, I'm thinking that while I do not tend to make resolutions (though I excel at breaking them), I may have a few things I want to keep in mind this year. In general terms, I'd like to finally finish cleaning my room before the end of next week. I'm giving myself some time on that. I got a My French Coach on my DSLite and I want to, clearly, learn a little French. I've started and can say the days of the week, the months, colors, and am learning to conjugate the verb To Be.

That's about as general public as I'll get here, at the moment.

As far as the blog? I'd like to update more frequently. I'm not going to make a particular day or schedule or anything, but I want to keep an eye on it more. I also want a camera, but that isn't a resolution so much as a material desire. I'll work on that later. Posting more, yes, want to do that. I also want to use more recipes from my cookbooks. I haven't done terribly, I do use them, but I mean - they have so much more to be done with them! I want to experiment a little more, to perfect some things, and maybe even to pay more attention to measurements so as to explain better.

That last one, though, is pushing it.

Then again, maybe 2010 is all about pushing it?

I did already set up a dentist appointment. Haven't done that in longer-than-any-of-your-damn-business.

Still, I have things I want to try. I have ideas I want to mess with and create and then share with you. Hopefully, all these will turn out well. Maybe they won't. Still, I've been so busy with everything that I find myself cooking the same sort of things repeatedly and while that's comforting, I'm tired of trying new things when I'm suddenly stressing out.

And right now? I am resolving to go to bed. I had a strangely long day, but insomnia convinced me this was a Go.

Bonne nuit, my darlings!

Holiday Giving: The Explanation

This year, I did something I haven't done for holidays since...maybe four years?...since awhile. I made treats and passed them out to people and, unfortunately, I do not mean "all of my friends" but rather "the people I work with" only as I ran out of time and also had less to go around than I meant to. See: running out of time.

At any rate, the last time I did this I was celebrating a holiday with my ex, we were about to be at our respective hometowns, and I had a few days to myself. I was leaving on Christmas Eve and she was coming back on Christmas, so I decided to bake some treats (and also make mashed potatoes to be put in the fridge, as she was a loon). Then I decided that as long as I was baking, I might as well give some of the treats to our immediate neighbors in the apartment building.

Oh, how to explain those neighbors. One was a tiny older woman, maybe fifty or more, who wore heels and dresses and fake flowers in her hair and smelled like a lot of vodka. She was very sweet and we spoke often, as I worked in the neighborhood and she was often at my shoppe. The other lived on the other side of her and he was probably in his late twenties, lived alone and worked at an enviable job, as far as I was concerned. We got along well as we were both sarcastic and exchanged swift stories about dating perils and the neighborhood and our psychotic building manager. Still, we hadn't spoken very often so I'm not sure what made me think to add him to this list.

Honestly, I'm not sure why I did it at all. You don't tend to know a lot of your neighbors, here, and certainly the most I'd spoken with anyone else on my floor was one time the woman across the hall told me I left my keys in the door. I would see the same people all the time, we'd just never speak. I just had the urge and so I packaged up some various kolakies, cream cheese swirled brownies, and probably buckeyes. I wrote little notes on the two containers and left them at the doors of the other apartments before I left.

Fact: I would never eat something that I found in front of my door.
Fact: I did not, in fact, know the name of the guy living down the hall at the time, despite our friendly conversations.

The result? I made this guy cry. Seriously. Oh, the woman was touched and said thank you in a nicely written note. But the guy? He sought me out to tell me that he was alone for the holidays that year, that he'd been talking to his sister and came upon the package and apparently just started to cry and how much it meant to him. Which has stuck with me, how a small act of kindness can really mean something to someone. Something as simple as a brownie or a not-pretty-but-awfully-tasty-cookie or even just a handwritten note explaining you aren't sure if they have allergies or celebrate or anything, but you wanted to do something nice.

Then I never did it again until this year. For all I know, this meant nothing to my coworkers even though my bosses seemed to think it was nice of me. Still, it might have meant a lot or even a little, and it isn't the point.

AND OH MY HOW I HAVE RAMBLED. I will stick the recipe I am giving you in the next post, this is far too long I suspect.

Also, holy shit, was that ever sappy? Blargh.

Still.

If you'd seen that guy when he told me this, you'd want to share the story again too. Especially on cold January days, where you've tromped through snow and remembered the weird isolation that sometimes happens in large cities. I have an apartment where I live with my three close friends and two cats (my precious baby and my roommate's cat, who is oh-so-handsome), so it's not so isolated, but I've certainly been in moods where little things might make you cry or remind you about people.

I don't know. It's Eastern Orthodox Christmas, you know. Despite not celebrating, I still thought a holiday story might be nice.

END SAP.

Ice! Snow! Bluster!

Lyra, being precious and addicted to cat nip.
Taken last winter/spring (snow on the ground means nothing in Chicago) by a friend.

Given that right now, Chicago is ever so cold (I am on my computer on the couch, but with my hood up and a quilt draped over me), I figured a nice picture like that could be used to make everyone smile.

Plus, the photo for my cranberry nut bread hasn't arrived from my phone into my inbox yet and yes, as a matter of fact, I do think I am cursed as far as cameras go. Here's hoping the next one I get works out better. Here's hoping the next one I get becomes mine before summer. No, I have no particular one I am lusting after. Suggestions? Nothing that will make me weep over price.


-cricket chip-

Well. Thanks anyway. I shall figure something out.

At any rate, today was a successful cooking day! Tonight I made a variation on my own potato soup, though I can't recall which one I like better. I opted for veg stock instead of chicken, onion instead of leek, loads more garlic, and then a thinly sliced red bell pepper and some mushrooms chopped up.

I also blended it a little better than last time using my hand mixer. No bacon. (because I had no bacon)

But it was delicious. Wonderfully seasoned with salt, pepper, basil, Bridgeport seasoning, and a little dill and a little paprika.

Also, it's become clear that one of these days I am going to have to write something about The Spice House. Just sayin'.

On being burned.

Oh, it started off innocently enough yesterday.

That may be incorrect. It started off early, though, and I was warm and dry while the outside was soaked and blustery. Around eight in the morning, I realized I really wanted to be baking. I just wanted to devote a whole day to being covered in flour and maybe make bread that didn't need yeast or something. (my plan? irish soda bread or maybe railway cake.)

Instead, I heard rumors that my roommate wanted there to be cupcakes in existence when she got home. So I set to work! I made essentially the same chocolate cupcakes that I posted about previously (click the tag that says "cupcakes" on the sidebar if you missed it) but I added chopped up chocolate. Also! I have stopped having cupcakes fall in on themselves. So, essentially, I am brilliant. (and stopped taking them out that little minute too early. sorry, cupcake gods!)

At any rate. While my delicious, full-of-chocolate-but-less-mocha-powder cupcakes were baking, I decided to wash the other cupcake pan that was sitting on the stove from a few days ago. I tapped it - not hot - and picked it up and set it in the sink. I then turned on the water, and touched a different part of the pan. Oh. Oh, that was hot. There was a lot of swearing and leaping back, turnng off water and continued cursing.

Yes. Turning off water. Why? Because I recently read on Chaos in the Kitchen that a fresh-cut onion can help with a burn. And you know what? It did. It really really did. So all was good in Club Kitchen.

...sometimes, when I cook, I like to have really clubby music playing. I can't be positive, but I am relatively certain that while I was whipping up a fresh batch of sour cream frosting there was some singing and rocking out to Justin Timberlake. (whereas right now, in a normal non-cooking moment, the music of choice is currently The Airborne Toxic Event. they sound a lot like The Arcade Fire, if you ask me, which is a good thing.)

Come for the cooking, stay for the music recommendation.

At any rate. I couldn't just stop there, yesterday, with the cupcakes and the frosting and my (stupid) burned hand. I made some cookie dough which tastes pretty good, but hasn't been baked yet. Ask me later.

March Mehness.

I feel like I should have some sort of list. A list of things I'd like to make so that sometimes, when I can't think of anything and realize I've made stir-fry fifty billion times (last time there were carrots and sometimes there are freshly made chow fan noodles from a local Chicago place. there is no end of joy when reading Halsted on the noodle label) or something like - everyone makes tuna salad or egg salad. Or when I realize I've been eating bread and butter or this pasta bake that my roommate and I love love love (but I keep not taking snaps of it, so I can't exactly post it).

The point here is. I need to branch out! Document better! Try new things!

Which is, of course, one good thing about being so very very poor (due to being so very very unemployed). Creativity is a must. Especially when I've got to keep a tight watch on my allergy and my nickles. So maybe I'll get on that.

Of course, I have been feeling like not doing anything at all (thus eating things like bread and butter as a meal) because my brain is not what you might call "happy" these days.

In other news, Top Chef. Really? Hosea? He's such a tool, much like Stefan, but so much more annoying and so much less talented and so much less of a decent human. Carla was the nicest of the three, though I kept waiting for her to snap suddenly and violently. Really I just wanted Jaime and Fabio to be there, being awesome. Winning. Making everyone else pay. So at least Fabio won Fan Favorite.

And at least Jamie was adorable.

Plus, isn't my new Daring Bakers badge adorable? The Daring Kitchen now hosts all your daring needs!

Look what the cat dragged in!

So. It's been a while, right? But I am not dead, so hurrah!

I have a lot to catch up on, everything from stuffing to Daring Bakers challenges past to some fabulously simple and delicious meringues. And do not even get me started on what happened on Top Chef last night. Ugh.

Anyway. The past couple of months have been difficult and not only have I not had time to post, but I've also had little time to cook what with the personal issues and, well, when it rains it pours. Between some family situations and my computer deciding that "working" is not important and then getting laid off...well. It's been a rough time. Still. That which doesn't kill you inspires you in new and interesting ways and I'm glad to be in the position to get back into the swing of things.

That said, this is not the post that will explode with everything, but really this is the alert that yes, I am back and yes, I have things I've done to show off. I hope to start getting a few things posted tomorrow and to get totally caught up by next week. At the very least, I need to get my January Daring Bakers challenge up and the part of December's that I managed before, well, life stopped being okay. Still. The only way to get through anything is to just keep going.

And so, with that, I am pleased to return to world of food blogging after vanishing act. Time to really try and live up to the whole "cacophony" thing I seem to think I can do. :)