BunkBlog

I’ll let y’all know how this tastes tomorrow. It’s got caramel and apples baked into an apple cake. Oh, yeah.

Happy Birthday to me. I made a cake. I’m told that I’m not using an authentic Bavarian recipe for Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte, but I like it anyway.

The latest in “food you didn’t think anyone would be interested in” – hot pepper ice cream. According to one customer, “It tastes like fire with a side of fire.” Oh, that’s what I’m looking for in a cold tasty treat.

For those keeping score at home, the following items are good, but time consuming:

• Sweet-and-sour Chicken tapas
• Glazed halves of cornish hens

The following items are good, and not too tough:

• Grilled shrimp with mango salsa
• Individual baked alaskas

And margaritas, beer, wine, cola, diet cola, iced water – always good things to have around.

And a dinner party down, with many dishes to clean.

BTW, the game “Battle of the Sexes” is rigged. The questions that only men are presumed to know are dead simple, while the questions that only women are presumed to know are so obscure even the women didn’t know them. WTF?

And now Cat has heard “The Doggie in the Window” – only took her 37 years. 🙂

The latest in the world of “energy drinks,” Coca Cola Blak, is quite possibly one of the strangest beverages I’ve ever tried.  Coke and coffee?  I think I’ll stick with Dew.

Rachael Ray is my friend. I’ve been going through the recipes in her book “365 No Repeats” for the past several months, and Alex is loving most of them.

A couple weeks ago, I made a three-onion soup with cheesy bread – twice in a row, by request. Tonight was a creamy broccoli soup (with cheesy bread again, go figure), made with pureed broccoli and onions, cream, and chicken stock. Again, a big hit.

I love that my boy tries new things without complaint – some kids are supposedly quite evil about eating. I guess years of, “if you don’t eat it, you get nothing until breakfast” work, so long as you actually stick to your guns. I can’t imagine making two meals, one for me and one for him. Shoot, when I am not feeling well I have a hard time convincing myself to cook for the boy at all.

Surprisingly, Alex is in love with a new recipe for onion soup with cheesy bread. Pretty simple soup (sauteed onions, leeks, and shallots in beef broth), but the cheesy bread had three cheeses – smoked gouda, gruyere, and cheddar.  I’ve got a bowl sealed up and waiting for lunch at work tomorrow, along with one chunk of bread.

The Boy actually requested the soup two days in a row.  Guess it’s a keeper.

Seriously, is Veteran’s Day really a good time to attack your political rivals? I know, every day is campaign day in modern politics, but give it a rest already! I spent twelve years in the Army, and I’m proud of that service. I’m also happy to live in a country where I can disagree with a policy decision or pretty much anything else, and do so in public without fear of arrest or other bad things.

Here in San Angelo, the local school district finally decided to recognize Veteran’s Day. This is something which has been a long time coming, and is really bizarre considering how much the local population actually likes the military (not something I was used to at other postings in the Army). So, the Boy and I went to the parade again. Last year, it was cold and we had hot cocoa while sitting on a bench beside the Federal Building, watching the relatively small parade go by. This year, it was nice out, we stood in the street near the Federal Building (until he got tired and needed to take a break on the lawn), and the parade was much larger. It’s not quite as large as the parade for Rodeo Day, but you take what you can get in West Texas. I’m sure if we had a High School Football Day, the parade would be astounding in its scope. Anyway, a few new pictures up at the gallery of the Boy and the Cat. We built a gingerbread house that looks less impressive now than it did while we were decorating it. The Cat didn’t help.

Althought the traditional Bavarian recipe I have been using for Black Forest Cake has always been a hit, this month’s Cuisine Magazine included an alternate recipe. So, that’s going to work tomorrow. Well, I’ll keep a piece or two home, but most of it goes to my coworkers – I don’t need that much chocolate.

This recipe omits the chocolate mousse and cream cheese frosting, replacing both with more layers of whipped cream and cherries. And, the cake is noticably moister than the European norm. Unfortunately, it has to set overnight so I can’t taste it, but it sure does look good. Mmmm… chocolate and cherries….

Tonight’s new meal attempt was teriyaki chicken, stirfried veggies and edamame rice. Everything was a hit, except for the edamame rice. Not only did Alex not particularly appreciate the soybeans, the rice vinegar-laced rice was also not loved. Ah, well. At least the teriyaki went over well. Tomorrow is an old favorite – cheese-stuffed manicotti. Mmmm…

As I was putting his lunch together Thursday morning, I noticed that the head of lettuce from Monday’s dinner was a tiny spike-like stump in the crisper.

What other five year-old sneaks lettuce to snack on? What a kid.

Although my previous Korean meal experiment, galbi, didn’t work out so well, I decided to give in to the begging and make Bulgogi tonight. Much better reception. Now I’ve got to keep him from making me put it on the menu every week. He likey. Like a little piggie.

I just saw an ad for the Fritos Chili Cheese Hungr Buster burger, from Dairy Queen. It’s a local Texas-only promotion, of course. What a great idea for a country that is already averaging about double “holy shit you’re fat” obesity levels…

Want some blackberries? We’ve got a ton of ’em again this year. Thanks to the relatively heavy rainfall and reasonable temperatures (for the most part), we’ve got a bumper crop of blackberries – we’ve made a half-gallon of jam, a largish cobbler, and the Boy has eaten a ton of fresh berries. They’ll be gone soon, though – one of the shorter harvest seasons for our backyard garden. Next up – tomatoes!

So I decided to break the mold of simple grilled salmon (which is good, don’t get me wrong) when I saw a recipe for chipotle-glazed salmon in Cuisine Magazine. It was way too spicy for me, but I’m a spice wimp. Alex was put off by it, and Ang thought it was good but not appreciably better than salmon on a grill.

The pineapple-cilantro rice bed was good, though.

Ah, well – nothing ventured and all that. Tomorrow is a simple crockpot pot roast. No worries about problems with that one.

I’ve decided to stop inundating my site with near-daily posts of the latest in epicurian experimentation. So, here’s the weekly wrapup (didn’t say I was gonna stop sharing entirely, did I?):
French Onion Salisbury Steak with Cheesy Bread – good, but a little too tomato – we’ll try it again with less tomato.
Honey-Sesame Pork Chops – not remotely worth the effort. Smelled great, tasted ok.
Honey Mustard BBQ Chicken – too much curry in the recipe. Next time, no curry.
Chicken Cordon blee burgers – great, yummy, definitely gonna do ’em again.

So, of the four new recipes, one definite keeper and two need modifications. That’s not too bad. I also made the semi-homemade clam chowder again. I likey.

Finished my homework a day earlier than necessary, played Pirates of the Spanish Main with monkey boy, went to the park until he asked to come home, watched Donnie Darko (brilliantly weird as hell), made barbecued pork loin for all and sundry (a hit), and now off to bed with nekkid woman.

Bonus – tomorrow is a day off.

The experiment du jour was Panini. We made grilled sandwiches containing coppa, sopprasetta, tomatoes, and two kinds of cheese. It was good, definitely a keeper. And oh so difficult (make sandwich, spray with olive oil, grill for three to five minutes)!

Dessert? Why, yes there is – super rich brownies.

Tomorrow is clam chowder. I’ll keep you informed.

Today’s epicurean experiment was a cassoulet. This particular recipe called for sausage and chicken, with lima beans and the usual winter veggie stuff (mirepoix?). It got mixed reviews. The chicken was good, the lima beans perhaps overdone, and the sausage definitely overdone. If we make it again, the sausage goes in later and the beans will be dry when we put them in (crockpot meals give you such flexibility).

Tonight’s culinary excursion was Galbi, a Korean barbecued rib meal. The fried rice was an unqualified success (even though I think I could have done better). The ribs, on the other hand, not so much. Oh, they taste just fine, but the Boy complained about the spiciness, and the Woman just wants ribs to have barbecue sauce on ’em in the Texan tradition. Oh, well. Nothing ventured, and all that…