More Rain

More rain is coming tomorrow. We were having dreams of Big Bear Mountain but the road is closed. Typical.

Rain

I kick myself for not being ready with the rain barrels. Right now its sunny and raining, I feel like I'm Hawaii except that its kinda cold.

Another good one from Jose.

Its Raining

Thanks Jose for the pictures of your street here in Wrigley.

I'm Sick

Not literally, well not right now anyway, last week I was. The cutest baby in Hawaii got me sick. I knew he was a big ball of germs but I didn't care. Too cute not to cuddle.

I'm sick because I am craving my heat gun and paint scraper. I actually want to take all the furniture out of my bedroom and get to it. I have 2 more rooms to go and I'm finished with the baseboards and jams.

As soon as the days get a little longer I'm going for it.

Told you I'm sick.

Happy New Year!

Its already week into the new year, I'm a little late with my resolutions. But I can say that I resolve to eat more out of my neighborhood and not out of the super market. I need to hook up with my friends who just came back from a hunting trip. If we are lucky enough to get some meat then I might never have to go to the store again! Well unless I dig a rice patty that is. Not sure about that one.

We spend some quality at the Kanno family farm in Hawaii. The Husband took these pictures, I love Long Beach but I sure do miss home.

I hope everyone has a great 2010, I know we will!

I Can!

My Brother who is always one step ahead of me is a canner. Him and his wife have been gifting us pickled beans and jelly for a few years now. I am finally ready to test the canning waters, or water bath as it were.

For my first attempt I pickled beets. They look beautiful in the jar but I suppose we wont know what they taste like for a few months. The Brother says wait for at least 3 months. It will be tough but I'll wait.

Yesterday we made 3 Citrus Marmalade from Well Preserved. This cookbook is neat because it not only gives you the canning recipe but then it give you 2 recipes for use of the canned goods. We did have a bit of trouble getting the temperature up to 220 as was recommended in the book. Ours jelled up just fine and looks beautiful in the jars.

Looking into the sport of canning (if you break a sweat its a sport) there seems to be lot more options if you are also pressure canning. Fish and meats can be canned the pressure way. For now we are going to use the water bath method. If anyone has any tips please leave them in the comments section.

Marmalade anyone?

Eat Eat and More Eat

I just noticed that this post was never published...sorry for the old news.

Thanks to all the bakers and to Kelli the cookie contest was really cute. Tough competition! We are gearing up for the soup swap we have our team ready and am looking forward to it. We have already tested a few recipes. The Husband keeps talking about the butternut sausage soup from a few Thanksgivings ago, might have to revisit that one.

I also made some Limoncello and it is resting quietly in the cupboard. And for our final holiday act Rachael and I made these cookies. They were amazing, we highly recommended it. We made ours into starts, they were so cute and very tasty!


Alfajores de Dulce de Leche (Caramel Sandwich Cookies)


Prep and Cook Time: about 1 1/2 hours, plus about 30 minutes to freeze. Notes: Dulce de leche, a thick, rich caramel made with sweetened milk, is sold in Mexican markets and some well-stocked supermarkets. If it's unavailable, use a thick caramel sauce or caramel ice cream topping.


1 cup (1/2 lb.) butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
2 large egg yolks
1 large egg
3 tablespoons dark rum
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking powder
About 1 3/4 cups dulce de leche or caramel sauce (see notes)
About 1 cup sweetened flaked dried coconut or unsweetened shredded dried coconut

1. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and sugar until smooth. Add egg yolks, whole egg, rum, and vanilla and beat until well blended.

2. In another bowl, mix 2 cups flour, cornstarch, and baking powder. Stir or beat into butter mixture until well blended. Divide dough in half. Flatten each portion into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and freeze until firm, about 30 minutes.

3. Unwrap dough. On a lightly floured surface, with a floured rolling pin, roll one disk at a time to about 1/8 inch thick. With a floured 2- to 3-inch round cutter, cut out cookies. Place about 1 inch apart on buttered or cooking parchment-lined 12- by 15-inch baking sheets. Gather excess dough into a ball, reroll, and cut out remaining cookies.

4. Bake in a 350° oven until cookie edges are golden, about 10 minutes; if baking more than one pan at a time, switch pan positions halfway through baking. Let the cookies cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then use a wide spatula to transfer them to racks to cool completely.

5. Turn half the cookies bottom side up and spread each with about 1 tablespoon dulce de leche. Top with remaining cookies, bottom side down. Place coconut in a shallow bowl. Gently squeeze each sandwich until filling begins to show at the edges, then roll edges in coconut.

Nutritional analysis is per sandwich cookie.