Dessert Disaster

Oops!


So much for that cake.  It did a complete flip as I took it out of the oven.  We got out the broom, the mop and the vacuum cleaner, cleaned  it up and started all over.  That's the apple cake from an old Betty Crocker cookbook.  With caramel frosting, it's bomb.

Lots of Baking on a Snowy Day

Molasses turkey and bell cookies, sticky icky hard to handle dough. Two loaves of whole wheat bread, gorgeous lovely to handle dough. We made BLT's for dinner and found the Two Vines cabernet was a perfect match. I have a votive candle going in case the power goes out, but so far, just lots of blinking off and right back on again.

The other day, before it snowed, I was out doing some pruning and discovered a very strange thing. At first, I thought someone had run into this very shrubby willow with a truck and scraped off a lot of bark, but then I realized it had to be done by an animal. No beavers around so it must have been the deer, nibbling away at the bark. I checked with Joe, our very excellent and knowledgeable neighbor, who just had to come over and take a look. He said he'd never seen anything like it before but it must have been the deer who had been around recently. Then suddenly he knew! It was the one with the big antlers! It's rutting season and they like to rub their antlers on trees and get the scent from their sweat glands out to attract the females. Apparently, they don't ever do it so close to a house, but these critters feel right at home around here. After all, we've planted all these special tasty treats in our gardens just for them!

"Molly's Bread" version 1

All I have to say is that "no-knead" crusty French type bread is awesome, but there's nothing that compares to a handmade, fully kneaded loaf. Look what I made tonight! The recipe came from the world famous food blogger, Molly, who became doubly famous with the launch of Delancey, a tiny restaurant in an obscure spot in Ballard in Seattle. I haven't been there yet -- word is it's always packed -- but I take a peek at her blog every now and then. That's where the recipe came from for this dense, moist whole wheat/oatmeal bread, perfect for toast and general enjoyment. Still warm from the oven, we cut big slices and indulged in butter and my homemade blackberry jelly. I can hardly wait for morning and toast!

http://orangette.blogspot.com/2010/08/it-is-called-toast.html

Galaktoboureko: a different Christmas dessert

Galaktoboureko take 2, with fresh pumpkin puree incorporated into the custard. I'm going to get over to the kitchen right now and eat the very last little diamond shaped piece!