amazing roast chicken

amazing roast chicken
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I decided to roast a chicken this weekend.

This chicken was about 4.5 lbs. It was tough deciding to get a whole chicken. That's a lot of meat. I will freeze a lot of it.

Since I don't know how to roast a chicken, and my recipe books were somewhat lacking, I searched online and found this Whole Foods recipe. I completely modified it since I didn't have rosemary, lemon, or wine at hand. I didn't add the chicken broth until after 30 minutes, when it seemed clear it would be needed (I was afraid it would be soggy).

The hardest part was deciding when it was done, since I don't have an oven thermometer. I don't like dry chicken, but was afraid to undercook it. Total time in the oven was about 2.5 hours, at which point I cut open a leg to see if it was still bloody. It seemed to have cooked through, so I turned off the oven then.

Now I'm just waiting for it to cool down enough to try it. It looks really really good.

pie crust made from shortening

pie crust made from shortening
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I've never made anything with shortening before. It's a little scary, solid white greasy stuff which you don't have to refrigerate, but which claims to be edible. But I found Spectrum organic shortening - no trans-fats - at the Whole Foods store, and decided to try it. My hope was for a less greasy pie crust than what I usually get with butter.

Here's the crust as I'm rolling it out. It's considerably easier to work with than a crust made from butter.

Below is the resulting pie. It looks incredibly good and the crust looks perfect! Too bad I have to wait till tomorrow to break into it.


apple pie
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

climbing followed by chinese chicken

chinese chicken
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I went for another climb today. Got some practice belaying, nice!

Then I went home and made Chinese chicken for dinner. It looked so good I had to record it for posterity. It tastes even better than it looks!

got bored (rated 3 stars)

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto

by Michael Pollan

The message: You shouldn’t eat processed foods, they’re not all that good for you. Well, duh! It’s not that there’s anything wrong with In Defense of Food, but the content is not exactly news. I don’t feel like I got anything out of it that I didn’t know already.

See more about In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto

hood ice cream sandwich

hood ice cream sandwich
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

There was an ice cream truck on the DeCordova grounds today. At first, I thought it was a new installation! Fortunately, there was a guy selling real ice cream. I haven't had an ice cream sandwich in a long time, but I was hungry so it seemed like a good idea. I got one ($2) and ate it while I hiked. It was quite nice, although the ingredients sounded kind of icky.

A review of "Vegetarian Dal Makhani"

Vegetarian Dal Makhani

by French Meadow Bakery

You wouldn’t expect a really good Indian dinner to come from a company called French Meadow Bakery. I’ve eaten a lot of frozen dinners, and I was skeptical when I picked up their Vegetarian Dal Makhani. The picture on the front looks appetizing, but most frozen dinners look nothing like the image on the outside of the box.

I was pleasantly amazed. Not only does the food really slide out onto your plate looking picture perfect, it tastes absolutely perfect as well, as if it were prepared in a restaurant. The meal has 5 g of fiber, 8 g of protein, and only 340 mg of sodium, which is relatively low for a frozen dinner. And it tastes delicious! I will definitely try more French Meadow dinners.

See more about Vegetarian Dal Makhani

petit dejeuner at chevallot

petit dejeuner at chevallot
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

In addition to the wonderful skiing in Val D'Isere, the town has a lot of old world charm.

For the best breakfast, you must go to Chevallot (the one on the main road). Their "petit" dejeuner is huge, and every bite is mouth-watering.

relaxing!

This evening, I was feeling enjoyably fatigued after my afternoon hike. Tired enough to feel like kicking back and relaxing in a non-productive way. So I'm settling in to watch a French movie, Qui a tué Bambi?. I've made myself a nice cup of hot cocoa, topped with some delicious tiny marshmallows. I found the marshmallows at Whole Foods. They are branded "Bread and Circus Bakery", and they are soft, fluffy, and far superior to any other marshmallows I've eaten in my lifetime.

Watching a French movie is in keeping with my goal to learn French, so the evening won't be completely unproductive.

homemade buttermilk biscuits

homemade buttermilk biscuits
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

On the way home from my hike, I developed a craving for buttermilk biscuits. So I made some, and now I'm enjoying a couple with butter and honey. The rest will go in the freezer.

chocolate cake

chocolate cake
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

This afternoon, I made my sister a double chocolate cake, for her birthday. I haven't made a cake in many, many years, but this seemed to turn out OK. I haven't tasted it yet, though.

A review of "Thai Yellow Curry"

Thai Yellow Curry

by Helen's Kitchen

The Thai Yellow Curry frozen dinner from Helen’s Kitchen is good! In general, I want my food to be cooked fresh. But for a frozen meal, this is a winner!

Caveat: IMHO, this is barely hot at all, but it has a very nice flavor.

Pluses: All organic ingredients, vegan, 13 g of protein, relatively reasonable 390 mg of sodium (reasonable for a frozen dinner).

Drawbacks: 5 g of saturated fat, presumably from the creamed coconut (but it tastes so good!), 10 g of fat total. So you don’t want to eat this every day. But you shouldn’t eat frozen dinners every day, anyway.

See more about Thai Yellow Curry

compare and contrast: theo bars

 

I haven't been able to find Theo Caramels at my local Whole Foods, anymore. Instead, I found a few Theo chocolate bars.

I was intrigued, in particular, by two bars that are both 75% cacao, but the cacao originates from different areas. One says "Ghana Panama Ecuador 75% cacao" (a mix of beans from Ghana, Panama, and Ecuador) and the other says "Ivory Coast 75% cacao" (all Ivory Coast beans). I bought both, and I'm going to sample them at the same time and see if I can tell the difference. For the moment, I'm just appreciating how nice their wrappers look, practically works of art.

I also bought something called "bread & chocolate", which has French bread in the ingredients. That should be interesting!

buttermilk blueberry pancakes

buttermilk blueberry pancakes
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

These are the best pancakes ever, made totally from scratch. Pancakes are not worth eating unless they are made with buttermilk.

Unfortunately, they are making me drowsy.

excellent chocolate! (rated 5 stars)

From BuddhaMouse Blog

Theo 6 piece Caramel Collection

by Theo Confections

Theo is an expensive brand of chocolate, but they are worth every penny, being fair trade, organic, and delicious! These caramels are fantastic. They taste incredibly fresh, as if I had just picked them from the case at a hand dipped chocolate store.

I will be going back for more!

See more about Theo 6 piece Caramel Collection

hoppin' john

hoppin' john
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

This is the buddhamouse variant of hoppin' john:

1) Fry two slices of bacon from the pig raised by your sister's neighbors.
2) Remove the bacon from the pan, pouring off most of the grease but leaving just a little for the next step.
3) Add one chopped onion and a chili pepper to the pan, and fry till onion is translucent.
4) Open a can of black-eyed peas, drain, and throw them in with the onions.
5) Cook until beans are heated through, then crumble most of bacon into the mix.
5) Meantime, rinse organic collard greens and steam them till tender (about 30 minutes). Crumble the rest of the bacon into the greens when done.
6) Try not to think about the apocryphal etymology while you eat it.

This isn't exactly hoppin' john because I left out the rice. I'm planning to make some buttermilk biscuits to go with the leftovers, tomorrow.

And you're supposed to eat hoppin' john on New Year's Day, so this is belated hoppin' john.

oh... too many cookies

My sister made Christmas cookies. They were good, but I went overboard.

pumpkin pie

pumpkin pie
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

And here's the pumpkin pie. It is fresh out of the oven here, all puffed up.

apple pie

apple pie
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I volunteered to make two pies, one pumpkin and one apple, for the family dinner this Thanksgiving. This is unusual for me; usually I just arrive and eat (my excuse being that I have a long trip).

This is the apple pie. The crust is made with butter. It looks really good. But I can't break into it. It's so unfair. *sigh*

Halloween cupcakes

Halloween cupcakes
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

I also went to a church fair yesterday, and scored these Halloween cupcakes. They must have been homemade... they were delicious!

pulled pork

pulled pork
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

This is some of the good food that I sampled at the Garlic and Arts festival. Delicious pulled pork sandwich with BBQ sauce, garlic baked beans, and homemade rootbeer. Incredibly good!