Tis the Season

For getting fat. And hopefully making other people fat as well so then you don't feel so bad about your own weight gain. Today I bring you pictures of peanut brittle. First, the ingredients: 1 cup corn syrup, 2 cups sugar, 1/2 cup water, 2 tsp. baking soda, 2 T. butter, 1 tsp. vanilla, and 2 cups raw peanuts. To make good peanut brittle, humidity should be less than 60%. Just trust me, or say goodbye to your teeth.

I skipped the pictures where you wait and wait and wait for the water, the sugar and the corn syrup to become a boiling pot of silver over medium-high heat. You "spin a good long thread" in the words of my grandmother, which means you dip in your spatula and then hold it up high over the pan and let the syrup ooze down and watch the thread. When it's about the size of a piece of string and is about 2 feet long, then you're ready for the next step, which is adding in the peanuts and turning the heat down slightly.




When you first put the peanuts in, give them a good stir, but don't be discouraged if they all stick together. It takes a little bit of time. You are now cooking the peanuts. Keep stirring them - not constantly, but you don't really want to leave them alone either. After the peanuts are cooked, you add the butter, vanilla and baking soda, and stir like crazy.



This is what the brittle will look like as you're frantically stirring:

("Mad dog! Mad dog!")

Once the butter, vanilla and soda are mixed in, grab your greased jelly roll pan (I use Pam spray) - you really need something with a lip on it - and pour out the brittle.



This is how it will look in the pan:


With your oven mitts, take your brittle outside and let it cool. About 10 minutes after putting it outside, you can insert a knife underneath it to help get it out of the pan when it's cool. When it's cool, then you bring it inside and turn it over on your countertop. I line my countertop with paper towels, but it's up to you.




Then with that knife, take the heavy end and tap the brittle:



Break and break and break, and you have the finished product:


And there is one way to treat your friends and family. Don't fall prey to the peanut brittle you buy in the store. It's not that complicated. Try making it yourself.

Today We Rock

Lately I've noticed myself slipping. Not as happy, avoiding people, letting the house go...oh, wait, that was going on before....oh well...not caring as much that the house is messy. But today, today, I rocked my world.

I made Indian food.

Edible Indian food.

You don't understand what this does for me. Wiley learned how to make Indian food while we were in Sarajevo. I tried it in Iowa at my grandma's house, but I forgot one very important ingredient - tomato paste. Yes, tomato paste. You read right. And it was ok, but not great, and I didn't attempt it again for two and a half months.

So while I was at the store, I picked up a can of tomato paste. Last night I took one chicken breast out of the freezer to let it thaw overnight, and tonight, I put on my little plastic gloves (touching raw meat is disgusting to me and I can't do it), cooked my chicken, then put in all my ingredients.

And it friggin' rocked.

Rocked, I tell you.

Can you tell how happy I am that I was able to make something edible and tasted good and wasn't a dessert?! Wiley thinks I keep him around 'cuz he can cook; there are other reasons now!

Melted.

Irvine Robbins, of Baskin-Robbins fame, passed away today at the over-ripe age of 90.

In my day, Baskin-Robbins was the expensive ice cream. Consequently, I never ate it. And I never wanted it melting into my cake. Now, in my older age, I'm a big fan of ice cream, even with my cake, though it's still best when it's cheap (and I really love me some custard from Sheridan's). Bloomington's got some great ice cream stands; I can't wait to eat some.

Cards

Tonight was supposed to be Girls' Night, but it turns out a friend's wife was in town (she's a prof. in Virginia while hubby is still here), so we went to a local Mexican joint and then went back to the house to play cards. We decided on Hearts.

As I'd only played Hearts on the computer, I wasn't sure I could play with people. But I turned out to be pretty good, garnering some "ooohs" and "aaahhhs" when I played a certain card. When we finished, I was in second place, having gotten the queen of spades just one time and maybe 22 hearts.

My oven decided to quit working today. I emailed the landlord, who assured me when I moved in that he would come out the same day I reported a problem to take a look. Hmmm...unless he's coming in the next 45 minutes, ain't gonna happen today. What really pisses me off was that I was making cookies...had them on the sheets ready to go in, and kaput. Burners work, but not the oven itself. I toggled the heating coils, but got nothing in return. So now the cookie dough sits in the fridge, waiting to be baked. The bad thing is that I also like cookie dough, so it's hard not to get into it...after all, it's just sitting there. A friend used to like me to make her a batch without the egg so she could just munch on it. Tasty vittles.

Cake, I Love You.

Nearly every day for the past two weeks, I've gone past this little store called Angel B's - A Galleria of Cakes. Being a cake person, I was intrigued, so I went online and checked them out, and my oh my, their cakes and pastries looked scrumptious. Check this out:


After staying up last night until 1 am looking up information online for my new case, and dreaming all night about my case, this morning, as I was driving into work to fix the paperwork I knew I screwed up (which I hadn't, but I needed to add something, so I did), I said, "Screw it, I'm stopping in." I'm so glad I did. That little apple pastry above? Outstanding; even better when it's warmed up. They also had little cupcakes, and since I just love cake, I had to get one. So I got two: one chocolate and one raspberry. YUMMY. The frosting was light, almost like the whipped icing, but not quite. And the flower on top was a different kind of light...as in not so much, but not as heavy as those really big flowers on the corners of birthday cakes.

The really cool thing is that there was a little cake called Black and Tan at a little eatery, and I found it today at Angel B's! This is closer, so I look forward to sampling it and the little carrot cakes. Oh, cake. Don't ever stop tasting so, so good.

The Nose, It Runs

This is a good thing, considering I have a deviated septum and am always fighting with it to make sure I don't get another sinus infection. I've found one secret to the nose running is to have Wiley cook more Indian food. He goes off a recipe slightly, then adds this and that, and before I know it, I've got some tasty vittles in my mouth going down to my tummy.

I will never go hungry - Wiley can cook.

Baking Again

Melinda here. Internet screwy and ticking me off. Made these carrot cupcakes a week ago, and we're still enjoying them.

Tearing Up

I found a wonderful dahl soup recipe a long time ago and bookmarked it. Then the bookmark stopped working. I've been searching for another dahl soup that's just as easy and just as tasty, but I haven't found anything yet.

So tonight, I winged it. Threw in some lentils and water, an onion and carrots, ginger, sage, cumin, garam masala, saffron (which is WAY cheap over here and tastes better than what we have in the States), salt and pepper, and lo and behold, I kick ass. While not completely done just yet, I've taste-tested it, and I can declare it a masterpiece. It's funny when you don't measure anything and just throw things together and they turn out tasty. Wiley's pretty good at this, but being a baker, I know measuring spoons were made for a reason. It's nice to let loose every so often and still have everything turn out all right.

Here Birdy Birdy Birdy

Well, we're trying it again, if not a little early. Wiley and I went to Mercator on Thursday to get some groceries, and we found a real, honest-to-goodness turkey breast - 4 pounds. It was frozen stiff. After two days, it's finally thawed out enough that we can attempt to roast it. I'm really wishing we had one of those turkey bags...those work great, and no basting required.

Last night we went out for Indian with some friends, and it was so, so tasty. I have enough left over for lunch. It's been a little jewel for us - it's a popular place for take-out, but not a lot actually stay in and eat. It was us and another table last night, which is just fine with me! Afterward, we went out for cake. My cake was ok, but it had that darned marmalade in it. Marmalade's ok, but I'm not sure I like it with my chocolate cake. But my friends got the Havana cake. I don't know what's in it other than whipped cream and cinnamon, but that's the next cake I'll get. We even got a dollop of hazlenut ice cream.

It's colder here now. Currently, it's snowing. Again. This time, it snowed and I didn't have to go to the doctor like all the other times it's snowed. I only had to go out last night to the Indian joint, but we walked very very quickly. You see, the wind howls here. Our friends told us it was -5 Celsius last night. In other words, damn cold. Had I known it was going to be that cold, I would've worn my hat. Live and learn. And in the apartment, I can wear shorts.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Melinda and I had our Thanksgiving lunch. It was just the two of us. We had a full spread. Check out all of the dishes here. We had to make some of it last night because we just have the one casserole dish, and several dishes were a challenge since there is no Campbell's condensed soup here in Bosnia. We had to use powdered cream of mushroom and cream of broccoli soup, but they all turned out pretty well. Our "bird" was a smoked turkey breast that we just warmed up. It turned out pretty darned well.

Melinda here. Wiley wrote the top part but then said I could add or edit (he left out a word up there). This is what cooking's all about, Dear Reader: making do with what you got to see how it'll turn out. And I'm pretty impressed with how we were able to pull it all together. The turkey was interesting...parts of it tasted like deli meat, while parts of it tasted like real turkey. Of course, I'll be very happy when I can make a real bird, where you pull the meat off the bones (though I'm happy not to be dealing with bones), but this was better than I thought it would be.

So have a happy Thanksgiving, Dear Reader, and remember: doorbusters start at 4 am!

First Course Served

With no condensed cream soup and no Velveeta, we made a helluva tasty cheesy broccoli rice casserole. We tried to resist, but we had to sample. Tomorrow just wasn't soon enough.

Tasty vittles! My guess is this is going to be the crown jewel, as the turkey breast we bought is already smoked (I didn't realize this at the store). I just hope we didn't get 2.5 pounds of deli meat.

Black Bottom

Wiley burned the oatmeal. The black in the bottom of the pan looks like it's about a half-inch thick. This will require an all-day soak. I put some salt in the pan, and if that doesn't work, I'll try the baking soda. A few other sites suggested boiling vinegar (but that would smell just as bad as the oatmeal), boiling dishwashing soap, or using Coke to clean it out. Coke is now a delicacy, so I shan't be trying that.

Burned oatmeal smells awful. Yuck.

Mmm mmm Good

Wiley and I decided to go out today for lunch since our kitchen sink drain was still leaking. While walking around one day, we found an Indian restaurant just down the street from our apartment, so today we decided to try them out. I had chicken kurma, or chicken korma, and Wiley had a split dish consisting of palak paneer and vegetable korma. The kormas tasted completely different from each other, but both were tasty. We also got some stuffed naan - they didn't have my veggie samosas, but they had naan stuffed with potatoes and peas, and when I tasted it, except for the deep-fat-fried goodness that makes up the outside of the samosa, it tasted the same. They even had mango lassis, which I didn't try this time - must save something for next time. As we were finishing, our landlord called and said he was on his way to check out the drain, and when we came home, it was fixed! So now I have a functioning kitchen again, and I can begin a most important thing: making cookies. *grins broadly*

Adventures in Cooking: Lasagna

We made something that tastes fairly close to the original! Wiley made his spinach lasagna. We found cottage cheese that really looks more like ricotta and is a bit more sour, mixed it with something resembling pureed spinach, then put it in the dish with these noodles that are really quite different than what we're used to. They're thin and completely flat, and I think they were egg noodles. After 20 minutes, we took it out of the oven, and it looked a little soupy, but it tasted just fine. How about that?

This Was a Surprise

Wiley just informed me that he eats his POPCORN in his LENTIL SOUP. "It's the only way to eat popcorn," he said.

My mind is reeling. Surely he didn't eat his popcorn in his soup the last time we ate it. I didn't notice. This time, I'll be watching, and then I'll be bleching. What a way to RUIN popcorn!!!

Adventures in Cooking: Popcorn

So tonight, after a trip to the grocery store, Wiley and I came home and attempted to make popcorn. On the stove. The "old-fashioned" way. You'd think this is fairly easy, as I did.

First batch: burned.

Second batch: perfect until the lid to my seasoned salt fell off, making the popcorn look like Pompei after Mt. Vesuvius erupted (the seasoned salt here looks like pepper, though thankfully, doesn't taste like it).

Third batch: burned.

The fourth batch turned out to be the charm. Now my belly is full of lentil soup, popcorn, and chocolate milk, and my teeth are full of hulls. Excuse me while I release them from their holds.

Tis the Time for Roasting

How to Roast Pumpkin Seeds, taken directly from WikiHow:

With all the carving to be done during Halloween season, why not make a healthy, delicious and seasonal snack from the leftovers? It's easy to roast pumpkin seeds, and they make a yummy end to a pumpkin carving session.

[edit] Steps

1. 

   
   Scoop all of the pumpkin's stringy insides out of the pumpkin and into a bowl.
2. 

   
   Separate the seeds from the flesh and strings. It's not that easy. One way to do it is to put the combined seeds and flesh in a strainer and run water through it as you rub the seeds between your fingers, separating them from the flesh.
3. Place the seeds in a strainer or colander and discard the rest.
4. Rinse the seeds under cold water. Make sure all the pumpkin meat and strings is off the seeds; it will burn in the oven.
5. Soak the seeds (optional).
   
   
   • Fill a large bowl about 2/3 with water.
   • Add salt to the water until it is saturated.
   • Place seeds in the salt-water solution and let soak for 8 to 48 hours.
   • Dump all of the water out of the bowl.
6. Dry the seeds with paper towels.
7. Season the seeds. This is where you can get as creative as you want. Here are some ideas:
   
   
   • sprinkle with additional salt
   • toss every cup of seeds with 1 tbsp of vegetable, olive or canola oil until the seeds are coated; it will help additional seasonings stick
   • substitute melted butter for the oil
   • season with old bay/crab seasoning, chili powder, garlic powder, cajun seasoning, and/or other strong flavors for a savory snack
   • season with sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg for a sweet snack
   • toss the seeds in sauce like hot sauce, soy sauce, Worchestershire sauce, etc.
8. 

   
   Spread the seeds on a baking sheet or pizza pan. Make sure there is only one layer of seeds.
9. Roast the seeds. There are several ways to do this:
   
   
   1. 

      
      Broil - Preheat your oven to the "Broil" setting, so only the top element is activated. Place the sheet into the preheated oven. Watch carefully, as different ovens broil at a variety of temperatures. This should usually take no more than 10 minutes. When the top of the seeds has turned brown, you can do one of two things based on your texture preferences: (a) Remove the pan now for a slightly crispy and nutty texture, or (b) remove the pan and flip the seeds over. Replace back in the oven and toast another 10 minutes, or until brown. This yields a very crispy and salty seed.
   2. Bake - Preheat the oven to 150º C or 300º F and leave the pumpkin seeds in there until browned (45 - 55 minutes), shaking them around every 5-10 minutes to prevent burning.
   3. Microwave - Put the seeds in the microwave for 2 minutes. Take them out, stir, and put them back in for 1 minute. Keep stirring them after every minute in the microwave until they're crispy enough.
   4. 

      
      Pan - Roast them in a pan, constantly shifting them around so that they roast evenly and don't stick to the pan.
10. Set them aside to cool. Hot pumpkin seeds can burn your skin.
11. Store seeds in an air-tight container and refrigerate them for up to two months.

A friend of mine used to season hers with Lawry's seasoning salt. Very tasty.

Yet Another Surprise

We made this - with our own hands! And it tasted wonderful!!! We found a really easy recipe online: 1 1/4 cups warm water, mix with about a teaspoon of yeast (I guessed on this, as it said a package but our package of yeast probably was a half a cup, not what you'd find in the States), then add in 1/2 cup olive oil, 1 T sugar and 4 cups flour gradually. Mix until uniform, then split into 2 balls, roll out (we don't have a rolling pin so it was just pushing for us), then place on a cookie sheet, take a fork and make some holes, and bake at 375 for 10 minutes sans toppings. Take out, add your sauce and toppings, and put in for another 10-15 minutes, and voila!! We used green olives and hamburger. Growing up, I hated homemade pizza. Normally my mom was a good cook, and she and my dad liked the thin-crust, runny tomato-sauce creation she concocted, but not me. But this - this I can do!! And no longer am I at the mercy of pizzerias. I can make my own good-tasting pizza!

Tonight, We Try Cookies

We went to the grocery store today. I got two milk chocolate candy bars and one bittersweet bar that I'm going to have to chop up by hand (the butterscotch bar was consumed by two people who shall remain guiltless), some vanilla, brown sugar, flour, baking soda, and butter because there is no Crisco or coconut oil to be had at Mercator, the biggest grocery store we have. My secret ingredient is nowhere to be found, so we'll have to do without that, and I'm worried that the cookies are going to turn out like cake because of the butter I'm using. But we'll see. I'll update you later.

UPDATE: I did it!!! The vanilla here is a bit too bitter, so I'll be using less of that, and the brown sugar isn't packed, so I added a quarter cup more, but I buttered and floured the sheet and they turned out pretty well! Next time, I need to add more chocolate, as the chunks were big and I cut the amount I normally use to make sure they didn't disintegrate in chocolate. They taste just a bit different, kinda like a sugar cookie, and the last dozen or so I tamped down instead of just letting them deflate on their own (which, with butter, they don't deflate much). These cookies were a labor of love, I tell you: the butter had to be pushed down into the measuring cup by hand and the chocolate was broken up by hand. My poor little hands have no moisture left from being washed so much! But they're a success, and this will be my way of meeting my upstairs neighbors.

New Shoes!

We struck out this cold October morning after having tackled 1) our landlord to replace a part in our toilet so we don't have to keep shutting the water off after using it (Monday, he promised) and 2) T-Mobile, who has an idiotic customer service rep who doesn't know how to read a document that is in Bosnian with the English translation right underneath it, thereby causing four extra days of headaches and two long-distance calls to the US to sort everything out. Just before noon, we set out along the promenade to walk into town to get our bus tickets and eat at Metropolis, the premier restaurant in Sarajevo to get cakes. It has rained in Sarajevo since Tuesday. Leaves are down and different shades of yellow, brown and green are pasted to the sidewalks, making it a bit slippery to walk. As we walked into town, we could see the hills in the distance; with them so tall and the clouds so low, it looked like the hills were on fire. Of the ones that could be seen completely, the sun and clouds danced on the hillside, illuminating one and darkening its neighbor. After getting our bus tickets, we walked down the main street and Wiley showed me some hiking boots he'd shown me earlier. We went into the store and came out with these darling little light-blue hiking boots for moi. The saleswomen were very helpful and after I tried on about four pairs of shoes and decided on just the boots, I placed one hand on the shoes and said, "Ne," which is "No," and then placed my hand on my boots and said, "Da," which is "Yes." Wiley laughed and the saleslady, after realizing I didn't speak hardly any Bosnian, said it was a good way to start. We then decided to grab a little lunch at this place called To Be (the rest of it is or Not to Be, crossed out). The small restaurant in the bascarsija is two levels. This time, we decided to sit downstairs, as we heard people upstairs, and we were rewarded with watching the cook make meals in a kitchen smaller than ours. I had grilled chicken and Wiley had veal kabobs. They were both served with a generous portion of vegetables - fried zucchini, tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant and red pepper. After that little treat, we headed back to Metropolis to see if the place was a little less busy for dessert and a little warm nip of coffee (cocoa for me). We settled upstairs in a corner where Wiley's head touched the ceiling, ordered our drinks, waited 10 minutes, ordered a crepe with forest berries in it, waited about a half-hour for that, and then waited another 20 minutes for our waiter to come back so we could pay the bill. Wiley left the last of his change as a tip at To Be, so when the waiter asked if he had any coins, Wiley said no, but the waiter persisted: "Not even a Mark? Half a Mark?" he asked in Bosnian. Wiley answered in Bosnian and waved his hands. It was a less than pleasant experience, and I hope the next time we go back, we have a waiter that doesn't have the entire upstairs to cover and that the food is a bit better. I know the pasta is great (but I wasn't interested since we'll be having that tonight), and we also noticed they have sandwiches, so the next time I have a craving for a burger and we're in that part of town, that's where we're going. Since we walked into town earlier, we decided to catch a bus to take us part of the way home. I hate the buses, though not quite as much as the trams. They're still crowded, and I realized that people probably don't like me very much because I stand near the front, where the hand-rails are lower. I try to move as people get on, but I'm too short to stand in the middle of the bus/tram, as in the lane where people walk. I can't reach the rail because it's way over my head. So Wiley devised a plan: get on in front, stamp my damn ticket, then walk to the middle where the other door is because the rails there are lower, and to hell with those people getting on and off...at least I'm not completely in the way there because I can squeeze to a side, whereas in the front, I'm screwed, and I just hate waving my ass in front of some stranger who's sitting down. If I'm giving a show, then I want compensation, and the bus riders just won't stand for that.