Thursday, December 29, 2011

Latkes


I finally figured out how to make these. I went through a lot of raw latkes and zucchini fritters before this. The key is oil. Use a lot of it just like the tradition goes. I used seven tablespoons of canola oil initially and then added more when I started running out.


My latke guests

Rugelah


This is another one of those 'never again' projects. This dough is impossible to work with. Note the patchwork in the second picture.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Napoleon

 Periodically throughout my life something happens that makes me think the same particular three things. This is due to the fact I am lazy and something like this for someone like me is of the same magnitude as becoming the next president or discovering the moon for a regular person in terms of achievement. The three things are:
  • I cannot believe I did this 
  • I cannot believe it actually worked out as planned 
  • I do not think I will ever do this again
These are the thoughts that go thorough my mind when I look at the above photo. This is Napoleon. The king of Russian homemade deserts. My maternal grandmother used to make this. I cannot remember the cake very well in terms of taste although I imagine it was out of this world but what I do remember is the layers. They used to have huge air bubbles on them and seemed somewhat odd to my five-year-old self. What can I say 35 years later, when I made this for the first time my layers looked exactly the same way.





Thursday, December 15, 2011

Christmas Ties

Christmas ties at Macy's ... for lack of a better topic

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Popovers


I have been planning on making these since I first learned of their existence at my brother's after wedding breakfast in 2007. However I did not have a popover pan. Incidentally I do not own a muffin tin or ramekins so I literally had nothing I could use to recreate this lovely food object. This recipe comes from my brother's father in law Robert Wallack and it's flawless: http://www.food52.com/recipes/8142_popovers I over-mixed the flour and milk until there were no lumps and opened the oven in the beginning. I forgot to remove the upper oven rack and was worried the popovers would crash into it if they were to rise. 

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Knitting class notes

Back - complete it, approximately 8 rows. Do one row of the smaller pattern thing.
Front - decrease 6 times from 28 to 22 and then make it so it matches the back.
right side - knit 2 together and slip one, knit one pass one over
left side -  purl last 2 and 1st 2. Do not decrease. Purl each one.
Can connect shoulders if remember.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Mushrooms

Another expedition to the cape

Chestnut

Something from my childhood

Friday, September 30, 2011

Bread & Circus

 I found this in my spice collection ..

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Mushrooms

Apples


I collected an absurd amount of apples and made Smitten Kitchen's lemon ricotta pancakes with apples of course. I really like this photo of the naked lemon.




Sunday, September 18, 2011

Omelete

This was just a nice picture, at least I thought so. I used to do something like this below, but now I improved at least on a visual level. Eggs, milk, parsley, tomato, purple onion and feta.
This was good but looks uncoordinated.The green thing is spinach with water. I can never fully get out the water.

All Purpose Cake

I love this recipe. I think it's a typical Russian household cake but since no one ever taught me how to make traditional Russian food for me it's a big delicious novelty. In my old apartment I used to bake it for a full hour but in my new one I baked it for 45 and it was a little much. I think I will try 40 next time. I think what really makes this cake is the orange rind. It's like a difference between ordinary and a step up. The cake is very light meaning you can pretty much eat as much as you want. For the above I used apple, some strawberries and some raspberries.  This is fully stolen from  http://www.beyondsalmon.com/2007/05/my-moms-rhubarb-cake.html  recipe below. I thought I'd blog it in case it ever disappears or I get Alzheimer's and can no longer find the recipe online

Serves 8

3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
1 cup all-purpose flour (4.5 oz)
1/2 tsp baking powder
Zest of 1 orange
1 Lb rhubarb, diced
Butter for greasing the pan

1. Preheat the oven to 375F.
2. In a large bowl, beat eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt with a wire whisk until frothy. Add the flour, baking powder, and orange zest and continue to mix just until combined. Stop mixing as soon as the flour streaks disappear.
3. Butter an 8x8x2 pyrex dish or a baking dish of about that size. Spread the rhubarb in the bottom of the dish and pour the batter evenly on top. It will look like you have way more fruit than batter. Don't worry -- it will puff up in the oven.
   4. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until the skewer comes out clean (just make sure you are piercing the batter and not a piece of rhubarb).

Friday, September 2, 2011

Cookies!

I stole this recipe from smitten. These are so cute and delicious filled with nits raisins and cranberries to the brim. This is my 3rd time making these but  today when I put them in the oven I realized that I forgot the to add the oatmeal.There is a story to this. I stayed at a hostel in Nantucket and they served something that looked like this for breakfast. They were gone before I had a chance to try them. They looked so good that  when I got home I decided to call the hostel and find out the recipe. When I called I was told that the recipe was on the opposite side of the lid of Quaker Oats. I only buy oats from Whole Foods so I looked online for this lid recipe and found it but then I went to smitten to see what she had to say and of course she had oatmeal cookies that were very similar but I presume better then Quaker's.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Sweater

These are just notes. Since I knit so rarely now I cannot seem to remember what's going on each time I decide to resume. I finished front and back. I decided that I want 5 rings on the sleeve instead of the 8 that I had. I vaguely remembered the knitting lady saying something about this last time I was there. I looked at the photo and the sweater on the model has 5 rings. I undid one sleeve and I will have to undo the other one later.When I knit through the entire ball on sleeve#1 then it will be close to decrease point. Sleeve should measure about 17"

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Lost in Translation

I have to post this for preservation purposes. Every few years I when I am in desperate need of a good laugh I search for this on the internet but today it took me a while to find it and it got me thinking that next time  I may not be so lucky. My mom's co worker Sandy showed her this I think years ago. This is a true classic. As legend has it these are actual signs posted in various establishments around the world.

In a Tokyo Hotel:
Is forbitten to steal hotel towels please. If you are not person to do such thing is please not to read notis.
In another Japanese hotel room:
Please to bathe inside the tub.
In a Bucharest hotel lobby:
The lift is being fixed for the next day. During that time we regret that you will be unbearable.
In a Leipzig elevator:
Do not enter the lift backwards, and only when lit up.
In a Belgrade hotel elevator:
To move the cabin, push button for wishing floor. If the cabin should enter more persons, each one should press a number of wishing floor. Driving is then going alphabetically by national order.
In a Paris hotel elevator:
Please leave your values at the front desk.
In a hotel in Athens:
Visitors are expected to complain at the office between the hours of 9 and 11 A.M. daily.
In a Yugoslavian hotel:
The flattening of underwear with pleasure is the job of the chambermaid.
In a Japanese hotel:
You are invited to take advantage of the chambermaid.
In the lobby of a Moscow hotel across from a Russian Orthodox monastery:
You are welcome to visit the cemetery where famous Russian and Soviet composers, artists, and writers are buried daily except Thursday.
In an Austrian hotel catering to skiers:
Not to perambulate the corridors in the hours of repose in the boots of ascension.
On the menu of a Swiss restaurant:
Our wines leave you nothing to hope for.
On the menu of a Polish hotel:
Salad a firm's own make; limpid red beet soup with cheesy dumplings in the form of a finger; roasted duck let loose; beef rashers beaten up in the country people's fashion.
In a Hong Kong supermarket:
For your convenience, we recommend courageous, efficient self-service.
Outside a Hong Kong tailor shop:
Ladies may have a fit upstairs.
In a Bangkok dry cleaner's:
Drop your trousers here for best results.
Outside a Paris dress shop:
Dresses for street walking.
In a Rhodes tailor shop:
Order your summers suit. Because is big rush we will execute customers in strict rotation.
Similarly, from the Soviet Weekly:
There will be a Moscow Exhibition of Arts by 15,000 Soviet Republic painters and sculptors. These were executed over the past two years.
In an East African newspaper:
A new swimming pool is rapidly taking shape since the contractors have thrown in the bulk of their workers.
In a Vienna hotel:
In case of fire, do your utmost to alarm the hotel porter.
A sign posted in Germany's Black Forest:
It is strictly forbidden on our black forest camping site that people of different sex, for instance, men and women, live together in one tent unless they are married with each other for that purpose.
In a Zurich hotel:
Because of the impropriety of entertaining guests of the opposite sex in the bedroom, it is suggested that the lobby be used for this purpose.
In an advertisement by a Hong Kong dentist:
Teeth extrcted by the latest Methodists.
A translated sentence from a Russian chess book:
A lot of water has been passed under the bridge since this variation has been played.
In a Rome laundry:
Ladies, leave your clothes here and spend the afternoon having a good time.
In a Czechoslovakian tourist agency:
Take one of our horse-driven city tours—we guarantee no miscarriages.
Advertisement for donkey rides in Thailand:
Would you like to ride on your own ass?
On the faucet in a Finnish washroom:
To stop the drip, turn cock to right.
In the window of a Swedish furrier:
Fur coats made for ladies from their own skin.
On the box of a clockwork toy made in Hong Kong:
Guaranteed to work throughout its useful life.
Detour sign in Kyushi, Japan:
Stop: Drive Sideways.
In a Swiss mountain inn:
Special today—no ice cream.
In a Bangkok temple:
It is forbidden to enter a woman even a foreigner if dressed as a man.
In a Tokyo bar:
Special cocktails for the ladies with nuts.
In a Copenhagen airline ticket office:
We take your bags and send them in all directions.
On the door of a Moscow hotel room:
If this is your first visit to the USSR, you are welcome to it.
In a Norwegian cocktail lounge:
Ladies are requested not to have children in the bar.
At a Budapest zoo:
Please do not feed the animals. If you have any suitable food, give it to the guard on duty.
In the office of a Roman doctor:
Specialist in women and other diseases.
In an Acapulco hotel:
The manager has personally passed all the water served here.
In a Tokyo shop:
Our nylons cost more than common, but you'll find they are best in the long run.
From a Japanese information booklet about using a hotel air conditioner:
Cooles and Heates: If you want just condition of warm in your room, please control yourself.
From a brochure of a car rental firm in Tokyo:
When passenger of foot heave in sight, tootle the horn. Trumpet him melodiously at first, but if he still obstacles your passage then tootle him with vigor.
Two signs from a Majorcan shop entrance:
English well talking.
Here speeching American.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Brownies

I made brownies from scratch. I do not have them here. This is the Whole Foods unsweetened chocolate I am mutilating with my knife. The brownies were absolutely amazing. I am not sure if I will do this again so I wanted to post this as evidence of what took place.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Swan

This is from Boston Common. I am not sure what the story is with these guys. There are two of them. They lay eggs but no one ever hatches from them. Someone told me that both swans are female so I am very confused about the whole thing. Anyway they are both very beautiful. This is one of them here.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Sunday, April 24, 2011