"Anyone Can Cook."

Can they? Well, yes, but will it taste good? Will it be edible?
I don't know. I just know that I'm told to cook, bake more often than I do. Which is strange because I cook almost every night and I bake at least 2 a week. Shouldn't they be cooking more? Was that the message of Ratatouille?
I planned all week for this. Well, not really. I found a recipe yesterday for French Toast and adapted it to my tastes, and local produce. But still, I've been psyched for weeks- no monthes- about Ratatouille- the new Pixar film. (Of course, if you are reading this you've already seen it.) So I planned a French Brunch and an outing to the movie with a group of friends.
With the adapted recipe in my head, (still needs a little tweaking), I began this morning letting the bread absorb the custard. Going out to my usual errands like there was no party planned. Spent way too much money at the Farmer's Market, as usual. Came back made lemonade and waited for the guests to arrive.

My girlfriends showed, and we waited for the boy but to no avail, he did not show. We were hungry, so I made the Toast and the syrup, which was delicious. It does need tweaking. I mean really how can you taste French Toast to see what you need to add until after?
So with France in our stomachs, we went to the movie. Just wish we had some gondolas.
The movie was great! Remy gave a good performance. His passion for food was incredible. The way he smelled the produce, tasted things, and produced food was amazing. Pixar really did their homework and of course hired Thomas Keller. Oh and the brutally honest Bourdain. Did anyone else see his credit in the film?
So what did Ratatouille do for me?
Well, it made me want to cook. It made me want to open a restaurant. It made me hope that kids watching it would want to cook.
We all may not be chefs, but as long as we make good food for ourselves then I think everything will be alright. And I think that's what's Ratatouille is about. It's about passion.

I'm Late, I'm Late, Oh Wait!

"I'm late, I'm late for a very important date!" rang in my head during my lunch walk. Had I missed the bagel post? Was I a bad Daring Baker in my first month of becoming one? Would I shamelessly apologize like crazy to post late? Would my nervous breakdown finally come to tears flowing down my face?
Of course I came back to my cube and found that today was the post. A sigh echoed through my lips. Safe, but my pictures were at home. Well, you can't win them all can you. (They'll be up tonight I swear.)
Thankfully when I was making bagels, I wasn't in my current mood because I'm sure I would have cried.
To me bagels = Breakfast, or snack.
They are the one thing that I miss about NYC on a weekly basis because honestly Einstein Bagels are a poor substitute for real bagels.
In January, I was able to get NYC bagels in Phoenix, and I so wanted to take a bag home. Especially there Sun-Dried Tomato bagel. My ultimate favorite.
When I first read the challenge of the month, I was saddened that we couldn't do flavored bagels. That is because Sun-dried Tomato is inside the bagel and not outside. Of course my 2nd favorite is Cinnamon Raisin, so that was out, too. However, I was not going to be persuaded not to bake.

I began with a brainstorm. Savory bagels, savory bagels. Well, I could try an Italian bagel, a garlic, a plain, sun-dried tomato on top. So after the trip to the store I came and begun my quest for a bagels. An adventure into yeast and back.
The recipe recommends using your hands to mix the ingredients I did. Which honestly was fun, but a little gross. It was sticky! And took several minutes to get off my hands. I let them rise. Then took batches, poking holes in them. I found with this that they had a tendency to close the whole. I tried reshaping, but like chocolate and peanut butter, the sides came together.
Like many other of us Daring Bakers, my bagels floated like a little boat on the water. I wasn't worried about it at the time, but I should have been.
Afterwards I dressed them with parmesan, garlic, cheddar, or left them alone. I left them bake in the oven. Of course this was done in batches. Small kitchen doesn't lend well to eighteen bagels. My pot could only hold three at a time.
Oh and some didn't boil properly. I don't even know went on there. I also, learned that the shelf life on them was short as well. However, I enjoyed destroying my kitchen and thankfully there were no fires or smoke filled rooms with this adventure.
To see the recipe please visit http://www.jewish-food.org/recipes/brea0007.htm

Desires and Cravings in Hiding

For the past 2 weeks, I've been trying to figure out my craving, my muse, my desire. I found nothing. I flipped through old food magazines, my cookbooks, online blogs, and I found no inspiration, nothing that I said to myself I had to have. I could have cried, bitched, done damage to my kitchen. If I could crave Indian food, couldn't I crave something sweet?
So Sunday, I sat down again with my Nigella books, telling myself to find something. I discovered a strawberry ice cream recipe. I didn't have a pint of strawberries, but I had blackberries. Blackberry Ice Cream it was. I had my vintage ice cream maker. Surely it had to work. I followed the recipe. Got it into the machine, whirl, silence. Unplug, next outlet, whirl, silence. Maybe its the outlet. Unplug, move, plug, whirl, silence. Words surely came to mind. So I poured the cream mixture into a bowl and stirred every hour. I found that every hour, it tasted more like vanilla ice cream and not blackberry.
After having a glass of wine, I found myself craving a cookie- a chocolate chip cookie, then a peanut butter cookie. Well, I had already started making chocolate chip, when I started having the peanut butter craving. So I had to save those for another day. So I mixed the batter, did some quality control. A lot of quality control. Burned myself in the oven. And allowed my apartment to get the nostalgic smell of cookies permeating through my small apartment.
For the first time in a long time, the cookies came out chewy, puffy and delicious. The kind that go perfect with a glass of milk. The kind where you eat all the cookie dough before actually making the cookies. I could have eaten many, but I ate three.
And by the time I was done dunking my cookies in milk, my ice cream was still a soupy mess. I shrugged it off, saying "So much for cravings."

Original Nestlé Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies
(Of course, I wouldn't go with any other cookie recipe. When it comes to chocolate chip, you don't stray from Toll House.)

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) chocolate chips (semi-sweet, preferred)
  
• 1 cup chopped nuts (I used almonds)
  

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375° F.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.