Smorgasbord

Oh my I haven't been very good at posting so far this year! Well, I blame this on two, well actually three things. One is work. It's just been a bit busy lately and it's hard for me to carve out little morsels of time to concentrate on the blog (even though really there's nothing I'd rather do). Two is mac is sick. Yes boys and girls, sick! So you see I've had to rely on old faithful at work, which is rather against company policy I'm sure. Hopefully the authorities will forgive me. Mostly because I feel this is a fair trade for making me take 8pm and 7am global phone calls every week.The third is I've got some other things cooking (please pardon the pun but I just could not resist!). Let's just call them other pokers in the fire. And I'm excited to say that I've got some motivation in me (at long last) to make some big changes in my life that I think are going to be tremendously soul satisfying. It's partly related to this blog and almost all in service of this craft I so love: food! So stay tuned and I apologize for being so mysterious at this point, but I hope you realize that it is necessary.

So what have I accomplished in the make-it-a-bake it kitchen this week. Well, after I wrote last Monday I served my banana cake with chocolate dream frosting it was received with top marks from all my people. My people (I will call them), are a panel of folks I see on a pretty regular basis who try all my cakes and treats. Now, they are almost always complimentary, but I've now come to detect the slightest variations in their tone, body language and exclamations of delight that tell me what they're really thinking. And this cake, ladies and gentleman was a winner. It's one of the best damn cakes I think I've ever made. I think there were two secrets to this cake. #1. Over, and I mean, over-ripe bananas. Here's what you do to preserve them in this state. If you find yourself not being able to finish that bunch of bananas you bought at the farmers market for 39 cents a lb (as I do often), just go ahead and let them ripen. But don't let them get all the way black. Let them get nice and spotty. Like a.. um..cheetah. Yep. Ok, then put them in your freezer. When you're ready to use them for your cake or your bread or whatever you're doing, pull them out in the morning and put them in the fridge to thaw (if you're making your cake that night). Don't fret when you open your fridge and they are blacker than black and feel soft and soggy to the touch. This is how you want them. Get yourself a liquid measuring cup (2-cup is my favorite), and position it under the bananan that is now hanging from your forefinger and thumb by its stem. Now take a knife and slit the banana. Now squeeze out the banana into the cup. Don't be alarmed that this feels a bit like a science experiment from the 2nd grade (you will think "eewwww" as you watch the banana slide out and glop into the measuring cup). The most beautiful thing is it's exactly the texture you want for your cake. No need to mash the bananas because in effect, they are already mushy enough.Perfect! #2. Chocolate dream frosting is made from a lot of stuff you have on hand. I will just be honest here and tell you I know diddly about cooking and working with chocolate. Almost everytime I try to do something with it on the stove it burns or breaks. [In fact as I write this I realize it needs to be a goal of mine to conquer this year]. Anyways, I somehow mananged to save the start of this frosting from itself, even though the heated conglomeration of butter, water and cocoa I had on the stove was all sorts of broken. I mixed this mess with some powdered sugar and just kept adding more until, well, it kind of just came together. Brilliant! Except I realized I wasn't going to have enough to frost the three layers. See, you can't keep adding more sugar because then it's so damn sweet your teeth hurt. Oh dear. Ok, well let's look and see what we have in the fridge. Ok, yep, let's add some milk. And then some more sugar. Still not enough. Ok, how about a little vanilla. And more sugar. Oh, and there's some mascarpone I have left over from boy's brother's cake I can use. Ahhhhh. Just right. Mascarpone is the secret to Chocolate dream icing. Not too chocolately, not too sweet, and the perfect texture.

So that was Missy's bithday cake.

What else, what else. Well the week was a bit jammed and I don't have anything to say about where I went for Client dinner on Wednesday except that it was another bland BR Guest restaurant meal. They share recipes across that franchise. Because I had the same fish at Primehouse that I had at Ruby Foos as I did at Fiammas. Hmmm. Not worth me writing about though.

I spent almost all of Monday in the kitchen (the other 4 hours I worked on sick mac). Brunch was delicious. Lemon ricotta pancakes, cajun-style sweet potato hash and bacon. Mmmmm. Dinner was fish tacos with mango salsa and mexican lime crema. Dig it and the boy did too!

And lastly a quick cranberry walnut cake for another Missy's birthday. This cake has almond extract and is just divine.

Have decided it's about time to tackle cake tasting for the bride-to-be. Am making notes and ideating. Fun!

Ok, must get back to work now. Was meant to be accomplishing a lot in this last hour. Oops!