Barking Mad.

In order to be really happy, I need to do something creative every day.  Usually those things happen with some sort of needle and some sort of thread.  But sometimes they happen in the kitchen.

Lately I can't get enough of making chocolate bark.  I got onto the idea from an article in Midwest Living magazine.  I have no idea why I get this magazine - I've never subscribed or paid for it, it just shows up every couple months!  The November/December issue had a nice spread with all different kinds of chocolate bark recipes, and I couldn't wait to try it.

I've been posting pictures of my bark on Instagram, and people are going kind of nuts.  But it's super easy to do!  The article linked above tells you everything you need to know - really it's just melting chocolate and putting some stuff on top.  But I went ahead and took some pictures today when I made some up, so I could share it with you all.

My big take-away from this article was the part about fake tempering chocolate.  I've always melted chocolate over a double boiler, but you can easily scorch it that way if you're not careful.  This way is so easy and gives great results - the chocolate comes out smooth and silky.

Start with block chocolate you like.  It doesn't have to be anything fancy.  I used Trader Joe's Pound Plus - 17.5 ounces for $4.99!  And for those of you with no Trader Joe's nearby, don't fret:  apparently you can order this stuff off Amazon!   For each of the following "bars" I used about 4.5 ounces of chocolate.

Chop the chocolate fine.  This is the hardest part of the whole thing!  But the finer you chop it, the faster it will melt.  You could also grate it, but chopping is easier for me.

Place the chocolate in a bowl, then float that bowl in another, larger bowl half full of very hot tap water.  The water I used was about 125 degrees F.

Now this is VERY IMPORTANT - do not let ANY water get into your chocolate.  If it does, the chocolate will "seize" and not melt.  (This is a problem I've had with using the double boiler, because of all the steam it produces.)

Every once in a while, give your chocolate a stir, making sure not to let any water get into it.  It should be completely melted and smooth in 10 - 15 minutes.

Carefully lift the bowl out of the water and wipe the bottom with a paper towel to continue protecting the chocolate.

Pour it out onto a piece of parchment (or waxed) paper, then sprinkle your prepared toppings on it.  You can do your topping prep - chopping and such - while the chocolate melts.  I spread mine to about 1/4" thick; that 4.5 ounces gives me a bar that's about 8" x 4".

I got creative with my first one today and did a combo I've been thinking about for a while:  Turkish dried figs, walnuts and Urfa pepper (a spicy, sweet, smoky red pepper from the southeast of Turkey) on top of 45% dark chocolate.

I made a second bar with white chocolate, which I love but Hubby hates.  Teeheeeheeee!  This one has almonds and candied ginger.

And finally I made one of the recipes from the article:  "The Macaroon."  This one has toasted slivered almonds, shredded coconut and a sprinkle of sea salt on top of 72% dark.

And here's the first one I made a few days ago, now half gone.  This one had walnuts and cranberries, and Hubby loved it.  I've been putting a few pieces in his lunch for the last few days. <3

I've really had fun making these and I think it would be a great activity to do with kids.  There are so many topping possibilities, it's been fun thinking about what to do next.  Of course, it would make a great gift or party theme too.

If you decide to try it out and come up with any creative combinations, let me know!

Look what I made!

Butterscotch Cookies

I've lived in this house for two and a half years, but somehow I never realized until recently that my microwave also has a convection feature! 

I've never had one of these before, so I got out the manual and read the instructions before making anything.  It's quite simple though, so this morning I whipped up this cookie dough and popped in the freezer.  A couple hours later it was ready to cut, and 15 minutes after that they were ready to eat!  Now I can have cookies whenever I want!  Uh-oh!

This was my first time using this recipe and I think I like it.  (As of this writing, I've only tasted one cookie.  Further research is required.)  This one came from Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers, a book I use a lot.  Because I remembered to set my butter out first thing in the morning to soften, it only took me about 10 minutes to get the dough together.  I made a half batch because the full batch makes 6 dozen, and even I can't eat that many cookies!  I'm giving you the measurements for the half batch here:

Butterscotch Icebox Cookies

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1 c. packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 t. vanilla
1/4 t. salt
1 1/2 c. unbleached white flour

With a mixer, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.  Beat in the egg, vanilla and salt.  Mix in the flour until well blended. 

Shape the dough into a log about 1 1/2" in diameter.  Wrap in wax paper and put in the freezer until firm, at least 1 hour.

When ready to bake, cut off 1/4" slices and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 12 minutes.  Remove to a cooling rack while still warm.

Dough will keep in the freezer for up to two months, but if you're not going to use it within a day, place the log in a freezer bag.

I love the brown sugar bits that don't break up!

Agenda in the kitchen

I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon cooking.  I had a lot of things I wanted to use up before they got too old.  Now we're set for a few days!

First up was to make some Lemon Buttermilk Sherbet.  Last week when we had guests for dinner, I made a berry cobbler which required a half cup of buttermilk. Of course, the store only had the quart containers in stock!  So I had a Whole Lot of buttermilk left.  I made blueberry buttermilk pancakes over the weekend (for dinner!) but that didn't put much of a dent in it.  I'd made a similar sherbet before with buttermilk and pineapple, but I didn't have any pineapple in the house, so I googled and came up with this. Simple enough!  I didn't have any real lemons either, so instead I added about 2 tablespoons of Key Lime Juice.  The result was delicious, if I do say so myself!  So tangy and refreshing!

This ice cream maker was a wedding gift.  We'll
be married 15 years tomorrow, and we still use
this thing!

Yes, you may have some.  But you have to eat your dinner first.

Next up:  Blueberry Pie.  Mmmmmm . . . pie.  I love pie.  And blueberry is my second favorite (number one being cherry, and number three being Key Lime. Number four is Lemon.)  Last Friday I popped into Whole Foods to get a loaf of bread, and they had pints of organic blueberries on sale for $1.99!  Unheard of!  I bought three.  One became the pancakes and some smoothies, the other two became this:

Would you like a slice with your sherbet?

OK, so it's not the most gorgeous pie you've ever seen.
Thankfully, Martha Stewart doesn't read my blog.
I'm pretty sure.

As it was sitting on the counter to cool, I kept wondering if a hobo would come along and steal it.  Good thing we have an alarm system.

So that's dessert settled.  How about some dinner?  I made a main dish salad of brown lentils, potatoes and garlic-sauteed spinach with green onions, parsley and red wine vinaigrette, a summer favorite of ours.  Delicious (and healthy) to eat, but not so beautiful to photograph.  It's very brown.

Its accompaniment is brown too, but I did take its picture.  I made some garlic crostini, on top of which we put this Sardine-Tahini spread:

I taste much better than I look.  Honest.

And some fresh tomatoes on the side.  Way back in the dark ages, when I was in my early twenties, I decided it would be a good idea to eat a macrobiotic diet.  It didn't last long.  This was the only macrobiotic recipe from my macrobiotic cookbook that I actually liked.  It's super simple to do:  a can of sardines, approximately 1/3 cup tahini (the cookbook is long gone, so I just eyeball it) and about 1-2 tablespoons of soy sauce.  Mush it all together and you're good to go! Fishy and salty - yum!  And full of calcium too. (In case you were wondering.)

And now, if you're still reading, I really ought to invite you to dinner!

Nails n' stuff

I haven't been changing my polish much lately, mostly because I've been doing a lot of cleaning up around here, taking lots of things to Goodwill and the recycling center.  Also because I've become kind of absorbed in my library book!  But here's the color I put on two nights ago:

Zoya Avril

I love this color - for me it is the perfect browned pink.  But application was kind of tricky.  It was very thin, so I had a hard time controlling it.

Then last night, I added some Konad:

Zoya Avril
China Glaze Millennium
Konad plate m79

I love this!  I'm definitely going to do this again.  I will say though, it looked a lot better last night.  I've already been doing a lot of work with my hands today!  No matter, I'll be taking it all off later, because my Zoya Touch collection is due to arrive today!

I just got done making the first batch of thyme lemonade of the summer - yay!! Can't wait til it's cool!  And now, I have some weeding to do in the garden :-)

Lemonade

Yesterday afternoon, I planted the thyme and basil I had picked up the day before in the containers on my balcony:

I use lots of these throughout the summer, so I got three of each plant:

I like the shadows the pots made in the late afternoon sun:

The basil will become pesto, pan bagnat, caprese salad and pizza.

The thyme will be made into this:

Mmmmmmmmmm . . . thyme lemonade.  I got this recipe from the Martha Stewart Everyday Food magazine, June 2008.  The addition of thyme really enhances the lemonade.  Here's the recipe:


1 1/2 cups sugar
1 bunch fresh thyme
2 cups fresh lemon juice (about 10 lemons)
1 cup gin (optional)

In a medium saucepan, bring the sugar, thyme and one cup water to a boil; stir until sugar is dissolved, about 2 minutes.  Stir in lemon juice, gin (if using) and six cups of cold water.  Strain into a large pitcher.  Refrigerate until cold, at least one hour. Serve over ice, garnished with thyme sprigs, if desired.

thyme-y sugar-y goodness!

I can't wait for my babies to get bigger, so I can make up a batch!

Yummy

Last week when our friend was visiting, the first thing he wanted to do when he got into town was head over to the French Market for lunch.  I was more than happy to oblige.  I think this is a hidden jewel in Chicago, or maybe just one of those things you don't find out about until you live here.

One of the stalls in the French Market

On the day in question, I had already eaten lunch by the time he arrived, but I was excited to go along because of this:

Oops, I just salivated on my keyboard!

Where you can get this:

Pastries . . . 

And this:

And more pastries . . .

But I was there for this:

The last of the macarons, on a Tuesday afternoon.

I love the macarons at Vanille, and was disappointed that so few remained by the time we got there.  These were orange with chocolate filling, and were OK, but not nearly as good as the almond or pistachio ones I usually get.  My friend had a pear and almond tarte, which was really wonderful.  I have a rather unflattering photo of him scarfing it down, but I'll spare his pride by not sharing it!

If you find yourself in Chicago and in need of a fun little excursion, I'd say make your way over to the French Market!  Amusez-vous!

Brunch

Today we went to brunch with some friends, so I used the occasion to finally wear a sweater I finished four months ago, but hadn't yet worn.  This is Livi, by Kim Hargreaves:

Livi and Cherry

I wore it along with Kim's pattern Cherry, which I knit using the leftover yarn from Livi.

The pattern called for about $250 worth of cashmere yarn (Rowan Pure Cashmere DK), but I substituted Elann's Peruvian Baby Cashmere, which gave me the same gauge.  This yarn has been in my stash for at least 5 years.  I originally bought it to make a cabled tube top, which I did make, and ripped out literally as soon as I had finished it and tried it on.  How could I have believed that a cabled cashmere-blend tube top was a good idea?

The yarn languished in my stash for a couple years, until I decided to try making a beaded edge bolero with it (Kim Hargreaves' Fleur - do we see a pattern here?  a step in the right direction).  But somehow, I didn't care for the fabric it made when knitted in stockinette.  Ripped again.

This fall I decided to try it out on Livi.  To be honest, I wasn't 100% sold on the pattern, but I really wanted to use that yarn.  But the more I worked on it, the more I fell in love with it.  The shell pattern on the bottom border was such fun to knit, and the texture stitch on the body kept things interesting.  And of course, working with this yarn was a dream.  I really hope to get more of it and use it again.

So you can imagine my disappointment when I finished the sweater and found it to be a little tighter than I'm comfortable with.  Back into the closet.  I never wore it, until today.  Hurray!  I've lost a few pounds recently and now it fits perfectly!

I wore it with this silver and marcasite dragonfly pin - his wings move!

Hello little dragonfly!

And American Apparel Nail Lacquer in MacArthur Park.

Brunch was at Marion Street Cheese Market in Oak Park, where they have lots of beautiful cheeses and wines:

lomo cheese

lomo wine

I ate some really yummy waffles and drank a mimosa . . .

Happy Hour

Very often, when Friday afternoon rolls around, I get in the mood for a cocktail. Something about the end of the work week just puts me in the mood, although I don't have a job, per se.  So I think I'll be popping one of these open tonight:

Lindeman's Lambic in Framboise, Peche and Kriek

Groceries

When we moved to Chicago from St. Louis two years ago, one of my biggest concerns was whether or not I would be able to find the Turkish groceries I was used to getting.  I was really spoiled there:  just a mile down the road was an international grocery store where I could get just about anything I wanted.

Turns out, I was right to be concerned.

There are a couple of Turkish grocery shops in Chicago (although not as many as you'd expect in a city this size), but the most convenient to where I live is about 30 minutes away by car if I plan my trip to avoid heavy traffic on the Kennedy Expressway.  Most days, this just seems an insurmountable effort.  So I've been limping along, bringing supplies back from St. Louis whenever I went there. Cooking fewer Turkish meals.

But the situation was becoming dire.  I used up the last of my very finely ground bulgur over the holidays, and we only have about 3 servings worth of Turkish coffee left.  So I finally decided to order from an online Turkish grocer, Tulumba.  I ordered on Sunday and received my groceries on Wednesday.  Hurray!