Eating on Jitneys

I really didn’t want this to turn into a pastry school blog photo show-off…but honestly, that is all i have been doing lately. That and scrounging for food. So here are pictures of pastry school, and explainations of what it’s like to be someone that loves grocery shopping that hasn’t had time or means to go grocery shopping in three weeks.

First, the sad stuff. Literally, I haven’t been grocery shopping in three weeks. I accidentally went to Costco with FVD two Saturdays ago which was probably the biggest mistake of the New Year. Costco…sucks if you don’t have at least 4 people in your household. I bought some Diet Coke because yes, I like Diet Coke. I am no longer ashamed. I also bought Orange Juice. Everything else just seemed like a rip-off. Also, driving to Costco on a Saturday is definitely the worst possible idea that could ever happen.

On to other topics. Since I have been working and in school I have had about 1-3 hours of personal time a day. I usually like to spend those hours showering, checking email, having some red wine, and watching TV. That sounds lame but when you only have a very small amount of free time in your day and it is 1 degree outside, please try and tell me that that is not what you would do too. Come on. Because of this lack of time, you might wonder…Eating on Jitneys…what are you eating? Well, I ask myself that every night while I’m walking back from the train. I have realized that it’s all about stocking up and hiding food from yourself. If I hadn’t bought that sweet potato 3 weeks ago or hidden those toasted (whole!) almonds from myself this summer I would be starving tonight. Being busy leaves to to make small egg sandwiches (scrambled eggs inside toasted bread, spread with mustard and cream cheese and sprinkled with diced artichoke hearts) and have boiled sweet potatoes for dessert.

Speaking of dessert…here are some pastry school pictures. I tried not to include these, but I am so proud:

This is long overdue, but things have been busy. I made these Christmas cookies last weekend, but, despite the fact that I keep eating them as a dessert to my breakfast, there are still a ton of them left so I really don’t think it’s too late.

Even just a year ago I thought that Russian Teacakes were something that just my extended family made. Same with Thumbprint cookies. I don’t know where I was. I mean, how did I somehow miss the cookie tin in every single childhood friends’ house that probably was filled to the brim with every American childs’ favorite fucking Christmas cookies: Russian Tea Cakes? It’s not that it ruins the cookies, knowing they weren’t especially special to my family, but it does make me realize there might be more than just one recipe for them. However, Christmas makes me crave tradition like nothing else. And what’s more traditional than a Betty Crocker recipe? For Christmas cookies that your mom made? Right?? So I used that one, and here’s a picture:

Next came the Thumbprint Cookies: also a mistaken family secret. As a kid, I used to only like these without jam in the middle. I would eat them before my mom had put the jam in the center for…I have no idea what reason. Jam in cookies is so good!

Thumbprint Cookies
(adapted from Betty Crocker by my mom)

1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup brown sugar (packed)
1 egg, separated
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup finely chopped nuts
jelly or jam

heat over to 350 degrees.
mix thoroughly butter, shortening, sugar, egg york and vanilla. work in flour and salt until dough hold together. shape dough by teaspoonfuls into 1-inch balls.

beat egg white slightly.
dip each ball into egg white; roll in nuts.
place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheet; press thumb deeply into center of each.

bake about 10 minutes or until light brown. immediately removed from baking sheet. cool.
fill thumbprints with jelly or jam (raspberry is best)

I also made these Swedish Christmas Cookies because I wanted to make something I had never tried before, in addition to the two family staples.

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My friend Emily sent me this cool link that I thought I should share…

Foodpairing

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I want to bake something this weekend. It’s cold and dark and snowy, and I have many things to do on the computer at home. Baking and working on the computer is a good combination as it forces me to step away from the screen and punch some dough around. Or, I could make cookies. I took the Red Line down to China Town last night because I could have sworn that Woks ‘n’ Things sold tartlet tins. Obviously, this must have come to me in a beautiful beautiful dream (I remember them being basically perfect) because the man working there had no clue what I was talking about. It’s a pretty great place, and I had gone all the way down there, so I decided to look around. I saw a big jar of cookie cutters for 25 cents each. Literally 3 seconds after I reached my hand in, said worked ran up to me with a package of 6 cookie cutters and said (VERY excitedly), “6 for only $1.25! What a deal?!” so I just had to. Then he started to whistle some Christmas songs, and I knew I had done the right thing.

OK, on to this contest. I want to bake something new, but don’t have much direction. Searching through cookbooks and websites is overwhelming when you don’t even have one main ingredient that you want to use. So I am asking you, trusty readers, to tell me what I should make. Bread? Cookie? I’ll choose one person’s suggestion, make it, photograph it, and I’ll either deliver or mail that person (most of) the finished product. If you read this about 4 hours ago I had claimed I would be making this tonight. However, other things took priority and I didn’t get a change to. So! If you want to be the winner, let me know what I should make and I will choose one. Hope you are all staying warm.

Last night I went snooping through my grandma’s recipes while she was away so that I could take pictures of the physical pieces of paper without her thinking I am completely nuts. While I find myself drawn to each stain (notice the three coffee cup stains towards the bottom?  That’s my grandma!) and taped edge, I hardly believe she thinks twice when whipping this out. I really encourage you to try making this bread on a very cold day when you find yourself with nothing to do and the Bears have lost and the laundromat is too far away to provide you with a simple comfort like clean, warm clothes. As with most yeast breads, this one tastes best either fresh out of the oven, or toasted with butter the next morning.

On Saturday I had a yard sale. I made a total of $11 all day, and spent over $20 on ingredients for baked goods at the sale. Classic. It was an exciting day, though. Ellen, Lindsay and LB and I sat on the front porch reading celebrity gossip and catching up on the lives of Brit-Brit and Lil’ Lohan. Have you ever seen Britney Spears stoned?? Priceless!

Oh, back to food. Ok. I made three things: Almond Lemon Scones, Blueberry Muffin Tops and Fresh Fruit Pizza. The scones are kind of my staple by now. So easy to make and so delicious. The Fresh Fruit Pizza was also not new. I made it for a BBQ at Lindsay’s once, but it was much better then. I tried making it in a pie dish this time which caused the crust to be way too thick and the egg, sugar, butter sauce on top to be way too thick and runny. Not very appealing, although it looked beautiful with the plum around the edge.

The Blueberry Muffin tops were new and, honestly, nothing that exciting either. I ran out of sugar going into this one and had to substitute a mixture of brown and powdered. This never really works but I always make myself believe that it will. They weren’t bad by any means, just nothing special. Which is too bad because the blueberries were AMAZINGLY good.

I’ll be making the fruit pizza again, as well as the scones. But next time I have blueberries I’m trying something else. So long Muffin Tops!

SWEET POTATO PIE:
What else to make on a hot summer day? I love sweet potatoes so figured it most appropriate if I make sweet potato pie with whatever I have available in the kitchen. Oddly enough, I had just about all of the ingredients.

ALMOST PRIMARY COLOR PANCAKES:
I usually add lots of fruit to pancakes so that they don’t taste like the breakfast equivalent of white bread. Since I was in Texas with my brother, and not in my own kitchen full of fruit, we decided to make them more awesome with food coloring. So that they weren’t too plain, I also added a lot of sesame seeds. MMM.

PICNIC:
Featured here are the fruit of my Saturday night labor: curried potato salad with green beans, spiced nuts, and homemade butter (I went crazy) with dill and lemon.

BBQ PINEAPPLE+BANANA FLOWER SUMMER DRINK:
This little number was created very late into the night of a BBQ that was eventually stopped by Lindsay’s landlord (human pyramids in the backyard aren’t as quiet as you might think). If memory serves me, it includes vodka, juice, bbq’d pineapple, strawberries, bananas crushed into flower shapes, and a certain amount of bravery.

Since I don’t want to live too far in the past, I felt I needed to add these little summer treats into one scrunched entry so that I could get them out of my system and move on. Not pictures are lots and lots of BBQ creations. This summer is the summer of BBQ’d potato packets: Add potatoes (all kinds), dill, garlic, oil, fennel, onion, and anything else you want (spices? yes.). Wrap them up in tin foil and wait wait wait while they cook slowly on the BBQ. You will never be disappointed.