First Day of Fall

According to the calendar, fall began at around 11am this morning. Living in Michigan, that means, of course, TODAY IS THE DAY TO ORDER WINTER COATS and HATS and BOOTS and GLOVES. It might be sunny and close to 80 today, but it's going to be gray and cold within weeks.
I sent the kids to bed having ascertained coat and shoe sizes. I forgot about glove sizes though. Harnessing my desire to obtain free shipping by ordering tonight, I crept into their rooms with a tape measure and flashlight to record the length of their hands -- fingertip to wrist.

In just a few days, we'll be all set.

The Evil Eye

My fourth grader has started giving me the evil eye. You know, the "get-out-of-here-mom-you-are-totally-embarassing-me" look. I'm not sure which behaviors I have induce this. I don't try to kiss him goodbye in front of others... Certainly this is only the beginning, and I don't really like it.

TWD: Chocolate Chunkers

Old wives tale or not, I was told that one's taste's change every seven years. Since I celebrated my 35th birthday this week, perhaps that explains why I enjoyed this cookie so much. I've only recently acquired a taste for nuts -- of any kind. Peanuts still aren't my thing, but otherwise, I'm game. My chocolate chunkers contained some toasted walnuts that I found in the freezer. Raisins, well they haven't been my thing for years either. It took Dorie's French Chocolate Brownies to sell me on the raisin/chocolate combination.

I did a double take in reading this recipe. Did it really contain only 3 tablespoons of butter? Was that a typo? 3 tablespoons + cocoa powder+7 oz. chocolate+1 cup semisweet chips+1 cup milk chocolate chips. I guess the cocoa butter makes up for the lack of regular butter... I would have liked to add the dried apricots to this recipe, but couldn't find them at Meijer.

Thanks to Claudia of Fool for Food for selecting this week's recipe. You can find the recipe on her blog, and check out Tuesdays with Dorie for those who made the apricot variation

TWD: Malted Chocolate Whopper Drops

At least one, and possibly 4 years ago, I found a recipe that required malted milk powder. I searched high and low for malted milk powder and never found it. Some time later, in one nameless, nondescript grocery experience, I found the malted milk powder. Given the time that had elapsed between my initial search and my success, it should come as no surprise that I couldn't, and to this day, can't locate the original recipe. Boy, was I psyched to find that Dorie had a use for my heretofore unopened can of malted milk powder. (I know, you're thinking to yourself, why doesn't she just up and make a "malted!" Well, that would be too obvious, and besides, there are other recipes just begging to be made.)

One of those recipes is clearly this one-- malted chocolate whopper drops, chosen by Rachel of Confessions of a Tangerine Tart. I once OD'd on the whoppers that my boss kept in his office, so the name-brand option was scratched off my list. While shopping last week for a cup of basil to make tomato sauce , I ended up at By the Pound. While cruising the aisles, I noticed that they had four, yes, four different kinds of malted milk balls. If you've been following my tale, you are well aware that I left the peanut butter malted milk balls right there in their bin. I brought home traditional milk chocolate, espresso dark chocolate, and triple dark chocolate.

I made one batch of the dough according to the recipe, divided it into three portions and added one type of candy to each of my bowls. I baked each type on its own cookie sheet and cooled them in separate corners of the cooling rack. Then, the cookie hordes came, ate them with vim and vigor and a vengeance. Va, va, va, voom! By the time I went to enjoy my cookies, it was tough to distinguish by their cocoa-brown exterior. So I tried one, delicious. Tried another in search of a different candy. Yum. They were all good. In not too much time, they were all gone. Mostly enjoyed dunked in cups of milk.

TWD: The back-to-school cookie

8:12am: J., K., and I leave the house to take J. to new school for first day. After playing "Christmas-season-at-the-mall-parking-garage", taking requisite photos, and being subtly evil-eyed away by a too-cool 4th grader, K. and I head home.

8:34am: K. and I pull into the driveway just in time to see the school bus take her neighborhood friends to the first day of kindergarten. Miss Preschool has, of course, another 2 weeks of summer break.

8:35am: Tears roll down the face of Miss. Preschool as she thinks about a day where "school is fun and home is sooooo boring."

8:36am: Mom replies, "let's go make cookies!" K,. "that sounds great." Tears stop.

3:30pm: Everyone's eaten the cookies and we've even delivered a plate to the neighbors. Still more dough in the fridge.

I don't eat peanut butter, so at least this one's good for me. While the school calendar says fall, I'm still thinking summer. I've got a bushel of tomatoes on the counter waiting to transform into sauce.

Omnivore's 100

I found this posted on several other TWD blogs. It seemed like an interesting experiment. I've eaten 2/3 of the list, and only ruled out a few foods that I really wouldn't want to try. As food often makes the memory, I've commented to myself where applicable.

If you'd like to play along:1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold or Italicize all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Highlight in red the foods that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.
Without further ado...The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:
1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros: a weeknight staple
4. Steak tartare: My mom used to make it with plain ground beef from the store – very 1970’s
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht: USSR, 1988. It was so much tastier than the “American” food that Intourist tried to serve.
10. Baba ghanoush: With Marieke at the Starving Chef, Exeter NH. No one’s made it better since.
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich: Once, as a toddler. I’d have to be a contestant on Survivor to consider it again.
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns: From Phil’s, in college
20. Pistachio ice cream: Ah, spumoni
21. Heirloom tomatoes: the best of summer…
22. Fresh wild berries: I have memories of Portland last summer
23. Foie gras: Le Cirque 2000, Feb 2001
24. Rice and beans: Another weeknight staple
25. Brawn, or head cheese: I see it in the case weekly. Never tried it.
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper: yes, but not a whole one
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters: I grew up in the SC Lowcountry
29. Baklava: I now live not far from Dearborn, MI
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Saurkraut: For good luck in the new year.
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel: Unagi
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut : hot from glaze line
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi: They go really well in the Japanese rice porridge
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips: Beegee’s mom used to offer them for dessert
61. S’mores: It wouldn’t be a camping trip without them
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis: For breakfast in the diner outside Edinburgh. Never made to Burns night at the St. Louis Brewery
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho: It’s chillin’ in the fridge right now
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Daring Bakers: Chocolate Eclairs

I made the eclairs -- with a cointreau pastry cream filling. I sure don't feel like writing about them, though. Funny thing... I enjoyed each of the parts alone more than the completed project.