Treacle Tart

If you have been keeping up with my blog as of late, you know that I am currently rereading the Harry Potter series and I am constantly watching Food Network channel. With the TV watching has come researching food that I am familiar with. Sincee I'm assuming most of you are Harry Potter fans (if you're not, you're just super lame), you will know that treacle tart/fudge often makes an appearance in the books. But, upon my recent research, I have realized that I don't actually know what treacle tart is. Hopefully I'm not alone? So next time you decided to pick up those Harry Potter books again, you'll know what treacle tart is!

Alright, so the basics. Apparently this is a very popular dessert in Britain. It is made with treacle, or "golden syrup." Treacle can also refer to molasses, but true treacle tart is made with golden syrup. The dessert is basically a pudding pie, there is a crust on the bottom, then the custard on top, then the pastry is latticed on top for a yummy tasting pie that is usually served with whipped cream or ice cream. YUM!

So what is treacle? According to wikipedia and wisegeek.com (yay for unreliable sources!), treacle, or golden syrup, is a by-product of sugar making, more specifically the process of turning sugar cane into juice, or by mixing a sugar solution with acid. I won't go into all the science-y details (even I don't really care about that!), but picture a substance that is very similar to honey in texture and color, but apparently extremely rich (sign me up NOW!). Mmmmmmmm... sugar.

Wisegeek.com describes treacle tart as the following: a rich, shortbread pastry for the base, the filling is golden syrup, breadcrumbs, lemon juice, and some spices (ginger was mentioned), and then the pastry stripes lining the top for more crisp.

I guess treacle is hard to come by in the US, foodnetwork.com doesn't even have a recipe for anything with "treacle" in the title. However, there are a lot of recipes on-line (all Harry Potter themed, for some reason :) that call for light corn syrup or molasses if you can't find golden syrup. Most recipes though said that golden syrup is key, so you can find it on Amazon or in the syrup section at your local Whole Foods (which for me is about 5 hours away in Atlanta. Boo). I think I might try to make it one of these days, using honey, since a few websites said that golden syrup is often used with people who don't eat honey. I also find molasses to have a really strong flavor, so if given the chance, I'll use something else.

Great. Now I'm really hungry. For something really sugary!

A Tale of Pus and Saline

Well, ladies, gents, and Lieutenants (all two of you), the time has finally arrived: my cyst came out! It only took 3 appointments in one week at the base clinic, but the infected cyst is all gone! All that's left is a giant cut in my back that the doctor decided shouldn't get stitches but instead stay open. Yay. Here are some highlights:

-Lidocaine injected into your skin as a local anesthetic hurts like a b*tch. It really does. I don't exactly know what happens after that initial needle poke, but man, about 5 seconds after that my skin was on FIRE. Oh that sucked. Thankfully it only lasted a few seconds. But then he did it again.

-I was left by myself to numb up for about 15 minutes, just enough time to build up the nerves. Yay.

-I love how during the cutting procedure, the doctor says "Oh this doesn't smell nearly as bad as I thought it would!" Good. I also like how he mentioned to me, "Yeah, I'm putting my flu shot off too because I also hate needles." WHAT?

-I can honestly say I have experienced a nurse knocking an entire bottle of saline onto my face during a minor procedure. It was certainly interesting! I'm just glad it was something as harmless as saline and not, say, iodine.

-Only I would started talking about how cool I think elephants are when my doctor is busy with a scalpel on my back. I really shouldn't distract him.

-Next time, I would definitely prefer a wound like this to be stitched up. I have a gaping hole in my back at the moment. To prevent it from healing from the outside first, we have to place some gauze in the actual wound to keep it from closing. Yeah... that also hurts like a b*tch when Matt is removing or replacing my bandage. Freaking OUCH.

-I think I will order that leather jacket from Nordstrom. It's 55% off, and I kind of deserve it. I have a freaking hole in my back.

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice!

Well, this is kind of old news, but... I got the job at PetSmart! Or at least I should. They sent me directly to get a drug test, and unless Columbus has drugs running through it's water system (which wouldn't surprise me in the slightest), I will get the job! YAY! No more being stuck in the house with no car. And as an extra bonus, I will be bringing home a paycheck that will most likely go to coffee and my closet, since my wardrobe needs some serious style.

I have started on one of my pillows, we'll see how it turns out, I'm quite hopeful, it doesn't look too hard.

Is anyone else excited for the start of the new TV show season? Holy cow, I totally am! America's Next Top Model started this week, SUPER AWESOME! Bones, The Office, and CSI are starting next week, and The Big Bang Theory and Parks and Recreation should also be starting pretty soon. It will be nice to not watch reruns! Project Runway has already started, so I'm going to be super busy trying to remember to DVR all these shows. I think most of them will all be on Thursdays at 9... sigh. Oh, well. Yay Hulu!

The kitten and the puppy are doing well, they're great at always doing the wrong thing when I'm super busy. Let's hope today will be the first day in about a month that is potty accident free! I'm so hoping.

Bet You Don't Know What This Is

Guess it's time to post again... I've actually been quite busy, and with lots of projects plans, but no down time when both the animals are sleeping, I have to rotate. Anyways, I thought it was time to write about one of the mystery ingredients on "Chopped" and cross something off my list.

So have you ever heard of... Gefilte fish? No, you haven't? What's wrong with you?

Ok, just kidding. Unless you're Jewish, you probably haven't heard of gefilte fish. I never had until it showed up in the Mystery Basket.

What is it, you ask? Well, obviously it's Jewish. Gefilte means stuffed or filled, based from the German word with the same meaning. Basically, white fish is ground into a paste, then boiled with carrots and onions. Then you shove it into a whole fish and cook it. Think Thanksgiving stuffing stuffed into the turkey. I guess modern cooks are really lazy, because according to the website I checked out, most gefilte fish is no longer actually stuffed into the whole fish. So if you think about it, it should be called "Not Gefilte Fish." But I'm sure there's pure forms out there.

So I guess they are served in patties with some horseradish-vinegar sweetened sauce (give me some of that, please!). They look disgusting, you should Google Image it. (Because I'm way too lazy right now to upload a picture to this post).

And I just had to go cockroach hunting. Or at least keep the dog and cat away while Matt killed it.

Ok. Well. So why would people want to eat gefilte fish? Jewish people eat it because one of their laws on the Sabbath includes "not deboning fish." Since gefilte fish doesn't have bones in it, they can eat it quite easily! And it was probably made ahead of time.

Eeeehhhh, I'm not sure if I could eat this. Maybe if you didn't tell me what it was... this is based mostly on the fact that 1. it looks disgusting, and 2. I'm not so much into white fish, which gefilte fish is primarily made of.

So happy eating!

Hippogriffs and Golf

I'm definitely not the one in this family about to go play golf. I think that is the dumbest sport around. Even curling is better. Although the athletic expenditure is probably about the same. And besides. People right now only care about golf because of Tiger Woods' sex scandals. So clearly sex is better than golf.

Well.

Day Fourteen brings me to the end of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Now, after having just finished it, I might be reconsidering my favoritism to HP1. I do indeed love HP3. And while I didn't keep track of quotes this time, I must admit I LOVE this book. Enter Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, mix in part entrance of Crookshanks (a cat! I love cats) and the first real fight between 2 of the 3 Best Friends (this time between Ron and Hermione) and you've got yourself an action-packed book! I love it when the 3 Best Friends are fighting. What a great way for Rowling to introduce a moral lesson: See children? Threesomes never work.

The books are getting longer so Book 4 will take more time to read than this book did. I don't like Book 4 all that well, but it's better than Book 5, right? At least Harry isn't whining the whole time and you get to see lots of Quidditch.

So while the animals are taking some seriously needed nap time, I will go start Book 4 with some Thai iced tea and cinnamon sugar chips while Matt goes off and golfs. I totally have the better end of this deal.

From My Recipe Box to Yours: White Chocolate-dipped Almond and Lemon Biscotti

I know, it's a mouth full. And it might seem like there are a lot of bold flavors in this, let me tell you, it's not. At least not for me.

If you're at all a coffee addict like me, you've probably had biscotti, or at least heard of it. It is a famous Italian shortbread, specifically for dipping in hot beverages (usually Italian espresso). There are lots of varieties. I'm not sure if Italians make them chocolate dipped, but they sure are delicious that way! I discovered this recipe when I received the cookbook Giada at Home from my in-laws. I've made this recipe a few different ways, and I've even tweaked it to my own liking. The latest way I made it is definitely my favorite.

I am going to give you MY version of the recipe, if you want the original you can find it at foodnetwork.com under the same name. :)

Ingredients:

2 c all-purpose flour

3/4 c WHITE cornmeal

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp sea salt

1 c sugar

3 large eggs

3 tbsp grated lemon zest

1 tsp almond extract

3/4 sliced almonds

White Chocolate, melted

Sliced almonds for garnish

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, bk powder, and salt.

In another large bowl, beat the sugar and eggs with an electric mixer until pale yellow, about 3 minutes. Mix in the lemon zest and almond extract, and then the flour mixture, and beat until just blended. (The dough will be extremely sticky). Stir in the almonds. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.

Divide the dough evenly into 2 equal mounds and place on the prepared baking sheet. With moist hands (this is pretty important), space the dough evenly apart and form into 2 loaves, about 9 x 3 inches. Bake for 35 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Using a serrated knife, cut the logs crosswise into 3/4 inch thick diagonal slices. Arrange the biscotti cut side up on the same baking sheet. Bake until the cookies are pale golden, about 25 minutes. Let cool COMPLETELY.

Using a rubber spatula, spread the white chocolate on the SIDE of the biscotti. Sprinkle with sliced almonds. and let the chocolate cool/harden before enjoying.

Notes:

-You can certainly use yellow cornmeal if that's what you have. The original recipe actually calls for it. I prefer the white cornmeal, though, because I find it less powering and less grainy.

-If you don't like almond extract, you can leave that out, too. I added it to my recipe because I LOVE almond extract and I didn't think the original recipe had enough almond taste in it.

-You can use chopped whole almonds, but I prefer sliced :) They also make the biscotti look pretty

-Baking time the SECOND time through can vary. Biscotti is supposed to be really hard, but the original called for 25 minutes and I thought that was way too long. 15 minutes is just perfect. If you like your biscotti slightly soft, though, cut that down to 10 minutes.

-You can certainly dip the biscotti in the chocolate instead of spreading it on the side, but I like it my way because then every bite of biscotti has white chocolate in it :)

-If you're not such a fan of white chocolate and would prefer to use real chocolate, I would substitute out the lemon for either orange or lime. They "go" much better with chocolate than lemon does. I have done this recipe, unchanged, with chocolate instead of white, and it still tastes good, but lemon and chocolate aren't the best combination.

NOM NOM!

And on the Ninth Day...

God said, finish the second Harry Potter book already!

So I did :) I swear, for as bored as I have been lately, it's amazing how much busier I am now that I am rereading this series, writing more blog updates, and planning all these knitting projects. As you can tell from the title, I am nine days into my Harry Potter series reread. It's the perfect day to read LOTS, since we're bunkered down for Tropical Storm Lee and it's FINALLY cold outside. YAY! The rain has been leaking from the sky all day and there is a lake in my front and back yards now, but I don't care. It's great to feel cool again when going outside. I actually broke out long pants- I haven't seen those since we left Portland on May 19th. That's almost 4 months. It definitely felt weird to be wearing long pants again.

So while I sit inside with my pajama pants, wrapped in a blanket, with some Thai-style tea (recipe to follow), I thought I would recap my reread of Harry Potter 2. I don't like it nearly as much as HP 1. I'm not sure why, but maybe it's because I can't stand Gilderoy Lockhart. I know his character is supposed to be annoying, and he's funny at the end, but seriously, I don't like him. And I don't the dialogue between characters or the one liners nearly as funny as the other books. That's not to say this book isn't funny, I just don't enjoy it nearly as much as the others. The quote I would like to share, though, is from my favorite part. The quote says it all (which is a narrative, nobody is speaking): "Ron opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Instead, he gave an almighty belch and several slugs dribbled out of his mouth onto his lap." Firstly, that idea is genius, mostly because that would be included on my list of Top Ten Things That I Hope Never Happen To Me Because It's Gross. Also, I love her word choice. Hello, dribbled? Paints a great picture in your mind, plus that word is just absolutely ridiculous sounding.

Another part of this book that I do like is the introduction of the Weasley's Borrow. Rowling makes that house feel so homey and warm-fuzzy. There's always something going on in that house, and Mrs. Weasley is just so full of compassion, I secretly wish I lived there :) I love every scene that takes place at the Borrow in every book.

Let me pass on the Thai Sweet Tea recipe that I found in my Everything Thai cookbook. I was first introduced to Thai Iced Tea at a Thai restaurant in Portland and let me tell you, it's DELICOUS- and I don't like tea all that much! But this is too good to NOT like. Granted, it is SUPER sweet, so if you can't tap into your sweet tooth, pass on this recipe. Here goes:

1. Place 1 tbsp sweetened condensed milk and 1 tbsp sugar in a glass. (If you want something less sweet, try lessened the amount of sugar- but don't mess with the condensed milk, that makes all the difference!)

2. Pour 1 cup boiling water into the glass and let 1 tbsp Thai leaves steep until desired strength. (I used Lipton tea bags since that's all I have- and it tastes great even with them! I'm actually not sure what the difference is between using Lipton vs. Thai leaves. Just make sure it's your basic tea, no weird flavored ones!)

3. When done steeping, stir with a spoon to dissolve the condensed milk. Throw in some ice cubes and finish with a splash of milk on top. YUMMY!

For variation, today I served the tea hot and instead of splashing with milk, I splashed with unwhipped heavy cream.

I think Pandora's box have been opened, I seriously don't need this much sugar in my daily intake...

Hueyisms

A Day in the Life at the Darnell's: Huey's POV

My day probably starts way earlier than theirs, since I have the run of the whole house- except the bedroom, where Mommy, Daddy, and The Dog are. They don't let me in. B*tches. They think I'll harrass The Dog or something like that. But it's never my fault. He just won't leave me alone. And I definitely don't provoke him. At all.

So at 6 am every morning, I nicely make my presence known outside the door. Because I'm hungry. But Mommy always lets The Dog outside first. I don't know why. It makes me mad because I'm hungry. So when she brings The Dog back inside and makes her way to my room to feed me, I make sure that she knows that I'm there by running in and out of her legs in front of her- and sometimes stopping- all the way to my bedroom. Sometimes she stumbles over me. Usually it's multiple times. I don't understand why she just can't walk gracefully. But at least she feeds me.

Then she proceeds to the kitchen to feed The Dog. Usually she ends up shutting me in the hallway when I come running out to the kitchen to help The Dog with his food. I don't know why. I'm still hungry.

So to punish her for not feeding me again, I make it very difficult for her to do her work. Mommy uses this thing called the laptop. It's very warm so I like to sleep on it. She doesn't like it when I do that. I don't know why. I'm just trying to tell her I need attention and I'm hungry. So usually I have to settle for her lap. Which is ok, because she makes sure The Dog leaves me alone. She also doesn't like it when I play with her yarn. I think it's called knitting???? She should be making that thing for me. But she keeps saying it's a Seahawk scarf. Whatever it is, I want it. But since I'm not going to get it, I'll just make sure it takes her a long time to do it. And every time Mommy goes to the kitchen, I make sure I go too. I try telling her nicely that I'm hungry, but she usually ends up saying something like "Shut the H*ll up already!" way louder than she needs too. So because she didn't feed me, I make sure to crawl into the refrigerator every time she opens it to keep her on her toes.

When I get bored or hungry, I like to play with The Dog. Funny thing is, he's kind of dumb. I like to provoke him, but when he starts playing with me, I start yelling REALLY loud and Mommy always comes and rescues me. Heehee! Stupid Dog. So somehow I need to work this to my advantage. I wonder if I start tearing apart the couch he'll get blamed for that too.

That's pretty much my life. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go let Mommy know that I'm hungry. She never feeds me enough.

It's a Harry Potter Kind of Morning

One of my to-do list items is to reread the Harry Potter books and see how long it takes me. Well, I started this wonderfully awesome plan on Sunday and I finished the first book yesterday evening. The shortest book took me 4 days. How pathetic. Now, I have read this book before in two days, but back then I didn't have a house to keep up with, a husband to cook for, or a puppy and a cat to referee between. And, of course, I didn't have facebook and a really fast internet to use, either :)

Anyways. It took me 4 days.

Now, I am actually not a fantasy genre type girl. I prefer historical fiction, mystery, and fiction series. It took me two years after the first - and by that time, the second!- to even start reading them. And then I became instantly addicted. I've never dressed up as any of the characters or gone to the midnight showing, or even bought the books on their first release date, or celebrated Harry's birthday, but I do love them. This was about the twelfth time (I'm not kidding) I've read the first book. For the longest time, the first book was my favorite, since it was pretty straight forward and you get introduced to all the characters. There's nothing quite like the first time/one :) (so to speak). Of course, now the seventh book is my fav, but the first one will always be my second favorite.

I thought I would share my favorite quotes from the books as I go along on this journey, mostly because it will give me something to write about. Of course, with J.K Rowling, it's hard to collect ALL of my favorite quote because she has so many one liners. But hands down, my favorite quote in Book 1 just happens to be said by my favorite character (oh, please don't make me write it down, I bet you can all guess). After the trio's tryst up to the forbidden corridor, when they get back, one of them says "I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed- or worse, expelled. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to bed." (See, I told you you would guess it!). BEST LINE EVER! Mostly because I can totally see myself saying something like this back when I was 11 (ok, maybe even now). I love Hermione since I see a lot of myself in her. I'm not nearly as smart, but I have the same study habits and I could be rather bossy as a child :)

Alright, onward to Book 2! I wonder what will happen next?!