Category: cooking

Posted on

the famous Smith Island Cake

Wonderful Smith Island Cakes from the company of the same name! CLICK on the picture to see what else they do!

I guess I would have expected to find a version of the Smith Island (10 layer) cake in the food catalog of Neiman Marcus! I have seen similar, but nothing quite the same. To me it is an excuse for frosting lovers to have a never ending supply of frosting and bypass the need for all that cake! 😉

It is however, a dessert that is very filling with just a single slice.

Laura and our daughter Kristin are doing a bit of traveling (mostly business) and have discovered this item when served at a family get together. Personally, the dark chocolate goes into the same category for me as does mint, flavors that are too strong. However, I can see how we can adapt the recipe for a broader appeal. The condensed milk in the recipe goes out and heavy cream, Peter’s Chocolate and confectioner’s sugar where appropriate is inserted.

Not a difficult cake to make
 but for the many member s of my family that grab the heavy frosting products like “stroopwafels” , well, this will be right up their alley!

This’ll be fun to make

Posted on

the three ingredient bachelor meal for the son or daughter who cooks nothing

the simple three ingredient bachelor(ette) meal! 😉

I am constantly surprised by the young people I meet who don’t know how to cook? How do they live?? There is an exciting world out there of culinary discovery that can not be found in a restaurant with arches or without, because it is what you create yourself!

So, unlike IRONMAN, most budding cooks must walk before they can run and this means starting at the basics. Here are a few suggestions:

1) give them a very very simple cookbook
 Better Homes and Garden has a great one for less than $20 at Amazon.com. B.H.& G. is an old line cookbook — now in it’s 15th edition — that is a wonderful gift to anyone starting out. The recipes are simple, economical and with few ingredients and step-by-step guidance.

2) Translate your fun meals into even simpler ones for the new cook. The meal above contains three ‘ingredients’ (actually, three packages ingredients): one whole chicken ( they can be purchased without it’s natural ‘stuffing’), an Uncle Ben’s precooked rice package ( many contain a nice mixture that will appeal) and a little seasoning over the top of the chicken ( many pre-blended shakers available: salt, pepper and garlic powder is popular).

Bake 375 degrees F. for 2 hours and 20 minutes

Doesn’t get much easier than this!

3) Encourage the new cook to seek out a teacher
 someone who can get them to the next level. After mastery of the simple cookbook, you can gift them with specialty cook books in which they may have an interest: cookies and desserts, fondue, and celebrity chef’s books ( they only look hard, in reality, their recipes have only a few steps and simple commonplace ingredients
 This is key to selling a cook book ).

4) Practice — there is no substitute for experience.

 

Bon appetite

 

Roger

Posted on

what makes a perfect coffee cup?

the perfect copy cup.... CLICK on the picture to see where I bought it!

 

I love coffee as does every member of my family except one. The coffee experience is augmented with great coffee like “Pele Plantation” from Kona or Dunkin Donut! However, the right vehicle to deliver the exquisite beverage is critical to the experience.

So, what is important to a great coffee mug? Well, an ‘ergonomic’ coffee cup is nice unless it comes with the typical think rim. I would say that a perfect coffee mug has the following characteristics:  it has to hold a lot, be comfortable holding it and I really don’t like tasting a lot of ceramic
 a ‘thin lip’ is perfect!

Now, back for some more coffee!

Posted on

putting a little zing in your food can be dangerous

ghost sauce
don't let this sauce turn you into a 'ghost'!

The ‘Bhut Jolokia’ ( I call it the ‘ butt joker’ and don’t ask why) chili pepper is the world’s  hottest pepper and I have no doubt that their claim and those who have research it is true. I placed the smallest dab on my tongue and it sent me on a trip around the moon!

If you look at how hot it is on the Scoville Scale, you can see it is just below police pepper spray! It’s a wonder you don’t need trainning and a license to use this stuff! whew!  😉

Scoville Ratings and description of chili peppers various 'HOTNESS.'Actually, I am quite fascinated with this chili and plan to grow some of my own!  BTW,  I am also going research to see what recipes there might exist for it
 and how it is currently being used in India
 outside of as a defensive weapon!

 

Roger

Posted on

rediscovering pita sandwiches

On a diet? You could do far worse than chomp into a Pita Sandwich!

When I was in college ( in the very early 70’s), Pita sandwiches were all the rage on campus. In fact there — if memory serves me — a number of Pita sandwich stands around the university. I never had many Pita sandwiches as they were always less filling than my usual fare and disappointing. In any event , Pita doesn’t seem a very popular bread nowadays, and I had to travel to a number of grocery stores to find Pita bread, but it was a bit different than I remembered.

The   History of Pita is — like most foods —  very interesting, “the word pita has a mixed ancestry: from the Modern Hebrew pittāh, borrowed from the Judaeo-Spanish pita, borrowed in turn from modern Greek Ï€ÎŻÏ„Î±â€ ( Wikipedia).

Back to the ‘diet’ sandwich. The Pita bread is sliced in two and each half filled with dietetic and portion controled yummy things. The big caloric items were: the Pita Bread ( 100 calories) and 2 ounces of chicken breast ( 65 calories)
 so as a lunch it works great and stuffing it with diced tomato (right) or salsa (left) and an assortment of sprouts adds very little to the calories
 but makes the entire meal relatively filling.

Sometimes, we all need to diet, but we can keep things tasty!

Roger

PS: I have purchased some Indian Bhut Jolokia ( the world’s hottest pepper) and a plant to grow more. The name is funny enough, unless the joke is on those who try it.