i'm entertained by the notion of seeing how many introductory courses and prerequisites i would be able to place out of.

i wish for peace on my to-do list. x_x

a big part of feeling confident/comfortable in the kitchen is having a familiar, expansive base of both ingredients and techniques to choose from when creating a meal. having only a scant few options for either tends to inflexibility, which is especially discouraging when you pick out something new to try out and find you don't know how to put ( Read more... )

I was cooking dinner for knightofstarz and xsavvyx the other night, and I ended up with much more celery than onions and turkey, so I began to pick a bunch back out of the skillet. I was surprised to see that they were surprised at this - how else would you be supposed to deal with having too much of something so stifling?

my grandmother wants to get me a cooking-related graduation gift. i suggested a good knife set, and now i get to pick one out for myself. now i have some decisions to make, and i only know so much about good knives. apparently you only ever need three knives:

- for a chef's knife, the main question seems to be japanese vs western. i find myself ( Read more... )

they say that once you see just how much butter goes into croissants, you will be too terrified to ever eat one again... but after doing the first few steps at encouragement of feis, i am pretty sure i have seen worse. spreading the layer of floured butter over the pastry dough and folding it over to put in the fridge i felt nothing short of pride and ( Read more... )

i am growing more fond of foodstuffs that have exotic flavour profiles, simply because of the challenge inherent in using them right - and, of course, when you do it well, it is all the more impressive. (went to nacl a while ago, who lives right in the middle of impressive country without quite being pretentious, and i hope the inspiration will ( Read more... )

(based off of this, and several others)

2c flour, 1T BP, 3T sugar, 1/2t salt, 6T butter, 1c buttermilk, 1/4c finely grated cheddar, at 425F for about 15 minutes.

1. the trick to making pastry-like doughs, i learned over break, is that you must never touch the butter. these tools exist for blending the butter with the dry ingredients (the goal state ( Read more... )

The bowls and knives, the table, the teapot,
the leftovers, the molding vegetables,
the juicy fruit,
everything is asking this of you:
make full use,
take loving care
of me.
The cups, the glasses, the sponges,
the sticky honey jar,
all asking to fulfill.
Just to make deepest love all the time,
concentrating not on the food, but on yourself
making your best ( Read more... )

why foie gras is not unethical

previously, i was one of those people who wouldn't eat foie gras, because i'd heard that it was unethical and didn't do much research beyond that. so, when i read this, it came time to revise some opinions. (i'm assuming i can take the article at face value.) for one thing, this makes me pretty angry at people who don ( Read more... )

so at the urging of my family i made soufflés again, this time out of a composite recipe that I came up with since i didn't remember the old recipe and research couldn't find a trustworthy one.

( recipe )