Friday, December 26, 2003

Hello readers, and happy belated holidays.  I had a very, very lovely Christmas this year.  I made a lot of food, and although I suspect this weblog is quickly turning into a place in which I write too much about the things I cook, I'll mention a few brief high- (and low-) lights here, before moving on to different things.  I baked a bunch of stuff to give to our neighbors, and take to various family gatherings.  I wanted to make a gingerbread with dried cranberries, so one morning I kind of listlessly surfed around the web, looking for a suitable recipe, and of course found one on the Ocean Spray website.  As I was preparing to begin baking, it occured to me that I should probably extrapolate a recipe from a known-good source, like the Joy of Cooking, rather than relying on a website solely designed to sell Ocean Spray products.  I (foolishly) paid that thought no heed, and proceeded with the recipe.  It will come to no surprise to you, I'm sure, to learn that it was a complete and total failure.  Seriously, I would not have given the resulting brick-like object to my dog. So, I went back to the Joy of Cooking, made its basic gingerbread recipe, and added a cup of dried cranberries at the end.  The waste of time and resources involved in the preparation of the first recipe did have one good result, however.  I was feeling so frustrated and perverse while preparing the second batch that I added a teaspoon or so of cayenne pepper to the batter.  It was really good! It didn't add heat or pepper flavor to the bread; rather, it deepened the other spices (clove, cinnamon, ginger) so that they lingered a bit on the tongue.  Failure has its rewards I suppose, particularly when one deals with it as poorly as I sometimes do. Also:  A very good roasted chicken, rubbed outside and in with a mix of dry mustard, ginger powder, salt and pepper, then slow-cooked resting atop four quartered onions, and basted with a quick giblet-based stock (giblets, onions, chicken stock simmered for thirty minutes on the stovetop).  Ratatouille with pesto, and risotto with fontina and tallegio cheese, on the side.  This risotto was probably the best I have ever made, although I'm not quite sure what I did differently from previous attempts.  I've cooked so much over the past few months, and I find that my confidence in the kitchen has increased tremendously.  Just six months ago, I would never have attempted the meal listed above, for lunch guests.  I started at ten-thirty in the morning, and had everything on the table by one in the afternoon, taking all the dishes out of the oven or off the stove within five minutes of each other.  I did sit down that morning with a scrap of paper and a pen and figure out exactly how to do that; it felt nerdy and compulsive, but it was well worth it, in the end. My girlfriend was in town for Christmas this year, for the first time in seven or eight years.  I was so, so happy about this fact that nothing, barring a complete catastrophe of some sort, could have ruined my holiday, but it was perhaps even better than I anticipated.  Now she's off to Kansas for a few days, and I have time to work on some home-improvement projects, take my dog for leisurely walks, and read all the books that I've accumulated since the fall semester began. I'm also bound and determined to learn how to operate my new Palm Pilot effectively, and to write here a bit once or twice each day.  So, I'm off to navigate the always muddy waters of consumer electronics documentation, readers.  Wish me luck. 1:00:30 PM