When my friend V turned 40 last spring, she decided to throw a party for a few close friends. A girls’ night, if you will, composed of a half-dozen women from the different parts of her life. We had a great time catching up with some old friends, and making a few new ones. We played games, drank a lot of wine, and everybody brought a dish to share. I volunteered for the cake (well, these cupcakes, to be exact). The recipe name sounds intimidating, but they were rather straightforward to make. The cakes themselves were moist, chocolatey, and delicious. I was more worried about the frosting. Seven minute frosting? What the heck is that? I was nervous, but it was simply a matter of reading the recipe through, having the ingredients all measured out and lined up before I started, and then following one step at a time. Read the rest of this entry »
No ordinary ordinaire
January 30, 2011
I think the very first bread book I ever acquired was Ultimate Bread by Eric Treuille & Ursula Ferrigno.* At that point in time I had no interest whatsoever in making yeast breads, but there were lots of shiny, gorgeous pictures, so I bought it anyway. I figured if nothing else, it would be nice to flip through once and then add to the cookbook shelf. As I paged through, however, I became intrigued. This book is filled with tons of information, describing a wide variety of processes and techniques, and the accompanying pictures show what things should look like at different stages of the recipes. Very cool, but it was still relegated to the shelf for several years. Yeast bread is scary, am I right???
I finally picked it back up when I was frustrated at work one day and needed something outside of my comfort zone to distract me. Turns out, yeast breads aren’t so terrifying after all. They require a little more attention, but the payoff is totally worth it. Working with the dough satisfied something inside me. The texture, feel, and smell of first the dough and then the completed loaf soothed the savage beast, so to speak. And for major bonus points, I discovered that kneading the dough was a great way to relax, pull some of the stress out of my shoulders, and it even seemed to help with some repetitive stress pain I’d been experiencing in my wrist. These days I mostly use the mixer to knead, but every once in a while I’ll still work the dough by hand.
eleventy!!
January 13, 2011I can’t believe it’s been a year since loveysoven began. Some months were more productive than others, but overall I enjoyed myself, and I hope you had a good time, too. Looking back, I can definitely say I learned quite a bit in 2010. Read the rest of this entry »
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