foodish miscellany

lilcee bestowed upon me some lovely gifts from paulette. beautiful. and delicious. these macarons are not delicate in terms of flavor (or color saturation...LOVE the bold colors). i had fun trying to guess the flavors while eating and before looking them up on the website.

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beige on beige on beige

i baked some peanut butter chocolate chip cookies [via tastespotting]. they were delicious but rather crumbly and crumb-y. lucky for me and my food baby that needs to disappear, the bear's friend ate about half of the batch while over one night.


the fork imprints + added chocolate = yum, visually and taste-wise

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bah. point and shoot.

brunched here for lilcee's birthday. pricey, but very delicious brunch buffet with sushi, amazing dessert bar, lamb, prime rib, chawan mushi, deviled eggs, cheese, potatoes, sausage, soba...and the list goes on. all served in a rather genteel, quiet, yet unpretentious atmosphere.

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lunched at julienne's for vasey's birthday.



there was a wait, but it was definitely worth it. nicely sized portions (not too big, not too small). food that we didn't expect much from due to its looks (a pale green broccoli mustard soup, the below lemon meringue tart) surprised by being extra delicious.


deceptively blah.
very good lemon meringue.
not too tart, not too sweet.
cool, fluffy.
especially perfect pastry.

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the most expensive homemade meal


inspired by wan
lobster rolls on light brioche buns [both via smitten kitchen]

the bear wanted to buy the jetblue all-you-can-jet pass. maine was on his list of destinations as he's got a cousin there. i've also got a good college friend, gel, there, who i'd love to visit. alas, we decided to be responsible employees/students and not jet-set around the country. so instead, i settled for the much cheaper option (but expensive for dinner at home) of making lobster rolls at home. i've never had one in maine. the bear has. these were pretty dang delicious.

first, the brioche. yeast and i are not friends. let's just say i took a cooking class in college in the nutritional sciences department (the fancy schmancy hotel school one that taught knife skills, how to cut up a whole chicken, etc. never fit in my schedule). one day, we worked with yeast. class time was limited. i killed the yeast the first time with water that was too hot. then i ruined another batch by using water that was too cold. and then class was over. and i had no bread. anyway, i decided to get a proper candy/deep frying thermometer to exact the science and face my nemesis head-on and well-armed. enough jibba jabba (the bear's tom tom gives him directions in mr. T's voice. mmm yeaaaah.)


mise en place
pretty simple, non?
hee hee hee honh honh honh!
[baking bread brings out the little mermaid french chef in me, i guess.]


the yeast starting to work.
beaten egg.
flours and salt.
eventually all stirred together.


dough that probably could have been kneaded longer.
kneading is fun, yo. and a good workout.
you can also see my "dough cutter" to the right.


mini dough.
should have been smoother and elastic-ier. ah well


to show how much of the bowl it took up to begin with.

meanwhile, back at the lobster ranch...

steamed!
mmm yeah. fancy, expensive cameras can't help user error blur.
anyway, the lobster and its drippings in the steam water smelled so salty, briny, ocean-y, meaty.


chop, chop, chop over $20 worth of lobster meat.
a measly pound.
(yeah, i halved the lobster roll filling recipe. :(. major sadness.)
no more lobster at home until i find it on sale somewhere.


mix, mix, mix.
i added more celery and lemon than the recipe called for.
we like crunchy and tangy.

an hour and a half or so later, the dough monster grew. a lot.

the dough has gas. see the bubble holes? tee hee.
oh, and it stuck to my non-greased saran wrap. oops.


and...from it's no-longer-as-svelte side.


after de-gassing [sniggle] and dividing up the dough.
my "dough cutter" (rubber spatula) didn't work as well as my hands.


oops. too close together.
butt buddies.
yeah yeah, they're not perfectly round, either.
save the critcism for my craft for when i go back to school.
i'll get plenty of it then anyway.


golden!
don't mind the blob of four buns to the right.
nothing a little siamese quadruplet surgery couldn't fix.


someone got a bit anxious.
you would have, too, if you smelled our house.


the [delicious] end.