Nerds In The Kitchen

I know I’ve been horribly lazy about posting. Quick run down of my excuses:

- Traveling to areas of Virginia that do not have Internet faster than 36kps.

- Ran a 5k… and sprained my ankle.

- Turned 31 years old.

- A game.

I haven’t had any deep philisophical ideas to share so I haven’t posted those.  I have not tried any new recipes, though I received about a dozen cookbooks for christmas that am reading and trying to decide what to try next.  Really, I’ve only figured out two things new this year:

1. Skyrim is a great way to kill SEVERAL hours.

2. There is no feeling quite like finishing a 2.5+ mile run, coming home sweat drenched and heaving cold air out of your lungs, looking in the mirror and saying “Damn, I look good.”

I would blackout my site in protest of SOPA, but wordpress doesn’t make that easy at all.  Instead, I’ll go a different route.  Here’s some links to educate yourself on SOPA:

Wikipedia Explains SOPA

Library of Congress – 112th Congress – Stop Online Piracy Act - Warning, long and wordy

What is SOPA? – baby don’t hurt me, no more.

The chocolate mousse cake is 3 layers of deep dark chocolate cake with chocolate mousse for the filling and frosting.  This is basically the following recipe combined after baking and chilling (cause that’s what I do, I bake and I chill).

Deep Dark Chocolate Cake

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup Cocoa
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoons salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

Heat oven to 350°. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans. In large mixer bowl combine sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes. Remove from mixer, stir in boiling water (batter will thin). Pour into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool at least 10 minutes, remove from pans to wire rack. Cool completely.

Chocolate Mousse

• 2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
• 2 tablespoon cold water
• ¼ cup boiling water
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup Cocoa
• 2 cup chilled whipping cream
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a custard cup, sprinkle gelatin over cold water; let stand 1 minute to soften. Add boiling water, stir until gelatin is completely dissolved and mixture is clear. Cool slightly. In small mixer bowl stir together sugar and cocoa. Add whipping cream and vanilla. Beat at medium speed, scraping bottom of bowl occasionally, until stiff peaks form. Pour in gelatin mixture and beat until well blended. Chill at least 30 minutes.

It’s just a ride and we can change it any time we want. It’s only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings and money, a choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your door, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love instead see all of us as one. – Bill Hicks

The more I’ve looked at the religions of the world, the more I truly believe they all come from the same unifying force with the worst of man filtering them. I truly believe that every belief system boils down to “treat each other well and help the common good” but I watch as they get turned to “kill the ones that aren’t us” and “shun the non-believer”. To me, this is a crime on par with stealing a child’s innocence because it is the bastardization of something good.

Having said this, I’m Pagan. I have Christian, Buddhist, Muslim and Hindi friends (and followers of religions not mentioned, but equally groovy). I see it that we’re all trying to do the same thing: figure ourselves out and help each other. Methods differ with the same intent and (usually) consequence. They say pray, I say magick and ritual. In the end, we’re both pushing will and wish into the universe and hoping it works for the best.

When I was a kid (circa 1988), my aunt was food editor at the local newspaper.  After going to a local cafe and having a slice of Snickers Pie, I needed the recipe.  I called her at work and put in a request to the newspaper for the recipe which someone locally found and sent me.  It’s a bit of an undertaking to make but for those with no calorie limits and a sweet tooth (basically no one 30 years old or above, or diabetic) it’s heaven in a pie plate.

Snickers Pie

CRUST

16 Oreo cookies, broken into rough pieces

4 TBS unsalted butter melted and cooled

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Process cookies in a food processor until coarsely ground, then continue to process until fine, even crumbs. Sprinkle the butter over the crumbs and pulse to incorporate. Bake approximately 5 minutes. Cool on rack. Maintain oven temperature.

FUDGE LAYER

6 TBS flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 c unsalted butter (cut in pieces)

4 oz  semisweet choc. chopped

1 oz unsweetened choc. chopped

1/2 cup sugar

1 lg egg

1 lg egg yolk

1 tps vanilla extract

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into medium bowl.  Combine butter and

chocolates in a double boiler and stir until melted and smooth. (i cheated and did it in the microwave.) Cool slightly.  Using and electric mixer beat sugar, egg and egg yolk in a medium bowl until slightly thickened.  Add vanilla and cooled chocolate

mixture and mix until well blended.  Add dry ingredients and mix until just

combined.  Pour into crust and bake until almost set ( about 17 min.)  Cool

on rack for 10 min.

Cut up about 8 1/2 oz Snicker’s bars and place on fudge layer. (Don’t skimp on these. I added extra.)

CREAM CHEESE LAYER

10 oz cream cheese, room temp.

1/3 c sugar

1 lg egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

With an electric mixer, combime cheese and sugar, add egg and vanilla and

beat until smooth.  Spread mixture over Snicker’s and bake for about 15

min. or until set.  Cool on rack. Refrigerate and serve cold. Drizzle caramel sauce (see recipe below) and chocolate sauce (I cheated and used store bought) on top and sprinkle chopped peanuts before serving.

Caramel Sauce
recipe from Baking: From My Home To Yours, by Dorie Greenspan

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1-1/2 tbsp light corn syrup
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

Put the sugar, water and corn syrup in a medium heavy bottomed saucepan, stir just to combine the ingredients and then put the pan over medium-high heat. Heat, without stirring, until the caramel turns deep amber, 5-10 minutes. Lower the heat a bit and, standing back from the saucepan add the cream and butter. When the spatters are less vehement, stir to calm down the caramel and dissolve any lumps.

When I tell people I am a pagan, I can see most of them shift slightly and try to feel out who they are talking to.  I’ve debated with myself for a long time as to who I am and where I stand.  I’ve read, meditated, thought, listened, grokked and pondered this to no end.  In a nutshell, I think this will explain a lot to those who read and think on it.

First and foremost, personal accountability comes first.  Everything you say is meaningless unless you follow through and everything you do is meaningless unless you own doing it.  Half-ass a job and you are a half-ass.  This is nothing without the courage to know when to speak, which battles to choose, when to step aside and know that the task is too much for you and the will to admit “I’m in the wrong.”  Personal accountability folds into how you treat your guests.  Treat them as you would have them treat you.  Know when you’re over staying your welcome and be a hospitable guest as well as host.  Be willing to go to the extremes if you claim the extremes.  All of this leads to a clear conscience and the ability to look any person in the eye and speak with strength.

Next is family.  Family is not just who you are born into but those who raise you.  You will gain non-blood related family through your life and they will contribute to who you are and who you wish to become.  They will defend you and you will defend them from any attack, even when they attack themselves.  Be willing to pick them up and help them be better.  Doing so will also make you better.

Law is made by man to enforce these rules.  They exist to keep people accountable to others as they should be accountable to themselves.  Most laws are concerned with protection of the self and the community.  The community is the family not discovered or not wanted.

I love this one.  It makes me seem like a gourmet cook without my spending a lot of time on something.  I have a theory on tacos which I’ll expound on in a later post (and it does not involve taking over the world) but this recipes was found when I put that theory to an odd test.

Shrimp Chipotle Tacos

• 1/2 onion, diced
• 2 pounds large cooked shrimp – peeled, deveined, and cut in half
• 3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced
• 12 corn tortillas
• 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 lime, juiced
• salt to taste (optional)

I’m developing a theory on crème brûlée. Walking through a grocery store, we see 99 flavors of ice cream, but no one ever really experiments with custard other than “Flambe it and send it out.”  Even searching online, my options are kind of boring.  I managed to find a mint crème brûlée from Gordon Ramsey and had to translate it from specialty British ingredients to American Slob ingredients along with ml to cups, tbsp, bunches, etc.  Here goes nothing:

Mint crème brûlée

• ⅓ cup of Sugar
• 1 bunch fresh mint
• 6 large eggs
• ½ cup of milk
• 1 ½ cup of heavy cream

1. Put the cream and milk into a saucepan, together with the mint. Bring to the boil, then remove from the heat and put to one side to infuse for 2 hours.
2. Preheat the oven to 140C/275F/Gas
3. Whisk the eggs and caster sugar until creamy.
4. Bring the milk back to the boil, then pass through a sieve into the egg mixture.
5. Strain again and divide between four small dishes.
6. Bake for about 40 minutes then remove from the oven. When cool, refrigerate for at least an hour.

Just before serving, dust the top of each brûlée with 1 tablespoon of demerara sugar and glaze with a blowtorch.

Extracted from Kitchen Heaven by Gordon Ramsay, published by Michael Joseph on May 6 at £20, © Optomen Television and Gordon Ramsay, 2004. Food photography © Lis Parsons, 2004, reportage photography © Mark Read and Chris Terry, 2004. Available at the Books First price of £16 plus £1.95 p&p on 0870 160 8080;

My plan is to add mini-choclate chips just before dividing into dishes, making it a mint and choclate chip blend. We’ll see what the reviewers say.

Well, I said I’d do it. Here’s my blog. I’m planning to focus on kitchen and cooking but my attention span has the life expectancy of a suicidal fruit fly so we’ll see where this goes. Expect recipes, philosophy of life and cooking, pictures, and random crap.