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The Platformers Podcast
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The Platformers Episode 67 : Karma Chameleon
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The Platformers Episode 65 : Go Play Brawl
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The Platformers Episode 6X : Buffer Overun
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The Platformers Episode 63 : GDC - Gamers Don't Cry
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The Platformers Episode 62 : Tranquility Base
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The Platformers Episode 61 : Twisted Podcast Black
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The Platformers Episode 60 : SuperCast VX
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The Platformers Episode 59 : Not Sixty
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The Platformers Episode 58 : Fifth Eight-th
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Tehran 'steps up nuclear drive'
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Xstrata resumes dividend payments
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Avatar dethroned at US box office
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• Goth leather pagan robs bank, gives the money away, turns himself in. Ta-WTF? [Strange]
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Out with a few friends last night I finally got a chance to having dinner at Frankie's Sputino, the Carroll Gardens stalwart that's impossible not to love. Well, unless you're waiting an hour or two for a table or trying to pay with a credit card, that is. Our wait was projected to be two hours, though it only ended up being 45 minutes, and they were happy to take a cell phone number and call us when when a table was available. We also put our names down at Prime Meats, figuring we'd grab whichever one opened up first. Frankie's won, so there we went.
Logistical quirks aside (seriously, bring cash), Frankie's really is the kind of restaurant you need to make a point of getting to if you never have. I had the sweet potato ravioli (something I've been meaning to make forever, myself), and it really was impressive. Others in our party had the gnocchi, the cavatelli with sausage, and the pappardelle with lamb, each of which was great. I know the cavatelli and the pappardelle were home made, but I'm not sure about the ravioli, only because it didn't specifically state it on the menu. It tasted fresh, in any event. Sorry about the lack of pictures, but I wasn't in my usual restaurant review mode.
While their dessert menu looked good, we decided to scoot down the block to Buttermilk Channel, another place I'd never tried. I had the roasted apple bread pudding, and it was very good. It was lighter and fluffier than most bread puddings I've had, which wasn't bad, but I prefer something more dense and overtly artery-clogging. it was very good, though, and I'd get it again. Two of my cohorts ordered Doug's Pecan Pie Sunday, which is a pecan pie and ice cream parfait in a big float glass. Don't pass this up if you have even a passing interest in pecan pie. It's really unconscionably good.
I'd be remiss if I didn't point out one really awfully annoying caveat to our dessert, though. Most of us were ordering drinks (beer and wine), but since I was driving I decided to just have a club soda. Well, it turns out that a club soda at Buttermilk Channel costs you $4. Really? Come on. The dessert was good, but that was annoying enough that I'll think twice about going back again, or at least bringing my own water.
Information:
Frankie's Sputino
457 Court St.
Brooklyn, NY
718.403.0033
http://www.frankiesspuntino.com/
Buttermilk Channel
524 Court St.
Brooklyn, NY
718.852.8490
http://www.buttermilkchannelnyc.com/
Sometimes it's Sunday. And sometimes, on some very special Sundays, it's a Sunday with playoff football. No matter what anyone tells you, everyone loves playoff football. Even people who claim that playoff football is stupid and they'd rather host a gaggle of chatty women to watch the Golden Globes and talk about dresses and Jeff Bridges' beard and Christina Hendricks' breasts actually love playoff football. Those people especially love playoff football.
However, sometimes the norms of society dictate that instead of watching playoff football, your girlfriend is actually going to host a gaggle of chatty women to watch the Golden Globes and talk about how drunk all the beautiful people are and how stupid Avatar is. What to do in such a situation? Why, you come to my house, where there was no talk of Golden Globes, attached to Christina Hendricks or otherwise. Instead, we watched a lot of football and drank a lot of beer and ate a lot of pasta. Pasta that I happened to make that very day. I now do as is required of me and bring you pictures.
Basically we just wanted to eat a lot.
I went with my basic pasta recipe, hand cut into pappardelle.
I kind of winged it with the sauce. Initially I was just going for a basic butter and sage, but I threw in some half & half that was leftover from last week's alfredo in order to thicken it up. It didn't come out as well as I'd hoped, but it served its purpose - add some flavor to the pasta. 
In order to make sure we absolutely couldn't move after eating I also fried up a pound of hot Italian sausage that I picked up at Arthur Ave the day before. 
There's really not much more to it - I've given you all these recipes before in some form or another. It was just a lot of really good food, some really good football, and an unprecedented lack of Hollywood awards shows.
Hey! Blogger is an awful, buggy mess of unfinished code and horrible GUI decisions so I'm using Wordpress! Go there instead! There's a ton of great new stuff, including a whole slew of Wallet Abuse updates.
The beginning of a new year presents us with the ideal opportunity to imagine where we might be going by examining where we’ve been. A year is a long time in the tech world, and a lot of things happened in 2009. Our own little corner of it (Tech Tips) is no exception. [...]
Regular readers know well my fondness for homemade pasta. Well, this Christmas I was blessed with a pasta press attachment for my mixer, and last night I decided to put it to use and make some homemade rigatoni along with a chicken alfredo sauce.
I didn't do anything different with the basic pasta recipe, so if you're curious about that, check out this post. The only difference here is that the pasta needs to be broken up into walnut-sized balls in order to work properly with the press.
I've never made homemade tube pasta before, so this was new for me, and the results were pretty great. Consider this a hearty recommendation for this particular Kitchenaid attachment.
As for the alfredo? Well, it wasn't particularly fancy, but it sure was good.
Chicken Alfredo
Ingredients:
2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
4 cups chicken broth, separated
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup half & half
2 tbsp butter
1 1/2 cups freshly grated parmigiano reggiano
5 cloves of garlic, minced
8-10 basil leaves, chiffonated
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
1 leave fresh sage, chopped
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
Directions:To start, pound out the chicken breasts between two pieces of wax paper. This helps them cook more evenly as well as making them easier to cube later on. Set aside 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth for the alfredo sauce, and heat the rest in a pot and bring to a boil. Cook the whole chicken breasts in the broth.
In a heavy-bottomed sauce pan, melt the butter and add the minced garlic. Add the 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth and bring to a boil.
Reduce the heat and add the heavy cream and half & half, as well as the basil, parsley, and sage. Bring the sauce to a soft boil and add the salt and pepper, stirring frequently. Add the cheese and let the sauce simmer, stirring frequently while it melts and the sauce thickens.
Remove the cooked chicken from the broth and let cool on a cutting board. Dice the chicken and add to the alfredo sauce.
I steamed some broccoli to go along with it, as you can see.
In addition to my marvelous, frequently updated blog, I now have a twitter account. It is, of course, fantastic
twitter.com/Nfinit
Basically I'm everywhere on the net* and you cannot escape me! Succumb now or feel my wrath!
(*note: Everywhere 'cept here)
I swear, we've reached the point where every post is the same.
I just watched Avatar. I now don't want to go to bed, for two reasons. First, I am still processing it. Second? I'm lonely. Romances, of any level, knock out my self esteem like nobody's business. And let's be honest here: Cameron is one of the best at them. After all, I was crying like a baby over Titanic. But this one...
The movie, at its core, had a strong element of discovering one's self, learning to listen to the world. But it is not a journey one can make alone. It is in our DNA that we are to be coupled, and so I always feel like a failure when I think how that hasn't happened. I know I shouldn't. I know it will come for me, eventually. But what am I to do? Lower my standards? Hope for someone to just walk into my life? No.. none of that will work.
This situation is made worse by my creation desires. I haven't written anything -- seriously written anything -- in months. I don't think I have since I graduated. So what will my legacy be? Can I tell stories like that? Maybe someday. Maybe. But I need to get there first.
So yeah. No one was around to talk to, to feel lonely with. So I post here, in the chance anyone reads. I doubt they do. But I will still try.
CLICK HERE TO JUMP TO THE PRETTY COLOR-CODED FULL RESULTS This explanation will look a lot like last year’s, but: Every year since 2004 I’ve been hosting this Game of the Year poll for the users of some forums I read. There are a lot of GOTY polls out there, but this one I think is kind [...]
Van over at Clinton Hill Blog, writer of the great Lunchtime With Tillie articles, has handed out the 2009 Lunchtime With Tillie Awards, a fun rundown of some of the better bites in our fair 'nabe this past year.
Give it a look!
Aqualis Grill is a new Mediterranean restaurant that arrived back in July, and the other day I finally had an opportunity to stop in for lunch. I'd tried once before for brunch on a Sunday, but they don't open until noon and I was a couple of hours early.
The space is really simple and charming, and while I'd be concerned about crowding if it were full, that wasn't an issue when I was there, as we were the only customers in the restaurant for the couple of hours we were there. It felt a bit odd, but on the other hand, the service was superb since they only had to worry about one table.
The menu isn't very expansive, which certainly isn't a bad thing, and it's delightfully heavy on the seafood. If you're in the mood for fish, I'm not sure you can go wrong with Aqualis.
Before we started ordering, we got a customary bowl of bread. Usually I wouldn't mention it, but the bread at Aqualis is so good that it's worth making a point of. It's warm, soft, toasted bread with plenty of olive oil and rosemary, and I couldn't help but have more than a few pieces while we mulled over the menu. You also get a small plate of seasoned olives and il to go along with it.
To start, we got an order of fritto misto (fried calamari) and the sardines, which are grilled with herbs and olive oil. The calamari was really fantastic, and might be the best example of fried calamari I can remember having in the area. The batter is subtle, the pieces of calamari are huge, the dipping sauce is interesting and spicy, and the portion is massive. Now, I wonder a bit whether we got so many because we were the only ones there, but if this is a typical order, it's an incredible value. It's more than enough for two people as a starter.
The sardines were a little disappointing, but I'm not sure what I expected, really. For some reason, seeing sardines on the menu made me think of sauteed fresh anchovies (which are great), so I decided to order them. Of course, grilled sardines are nothing at all like sauteed fresh anchovies, so it's really my own fault for being disappointed. You get four large, whole sardines that have been grilled with the head, tail, and bones still in there. Getting to the meat of the fish meant some delicate surgery to remove the bones, and in the end I wasn't all that thrilled with what I got for the effort. It's not a bad dish, but I wish I'd ordered the calamari.
On the recommendation of our waiter, I ordered the cod filet with sauteed spinach and golden beets. Now, they did have Mediterranean sea bass on the menu, which was very tempting, but at $25 it was about double the price of everything else and I decided to pass. The cod was great, so there were no regrets. The spinach and beets provided an interesting contrast to the sauteed fish, which was decently sized and seasoned well.
The skirt steak was also good, though it was accompanied only by greens. You can definitely find a better steak in the neighborhood, so if that's what you're after, I'm not sure Aqualis would be your first choice. That said, it certainly wasn't bad, but you get the feeling that these guys really wish that every dish was seafood.
We didn't order any dessert, but the staff was kind enough to provide us with some anyway - two orders of Greek yogurt with nuts and honey. Very good, and very welcome.
Aqualis certainly has a lot of competition in the area, being steps from the great No. 7 and a stone's throw from Pequena, Stone Home, the Smoke Joint, etc - there are a lot of ways to spend money on good food nearby. Still, if you're in the mood for reasonably-priced seafood, you'd be hard pressed to find a better choice than Aqualis Grill. I'll certainly be back, if only from the amazing fried calamari.
Information:
Aqualis Grill
773 Fulton St
Brooklyn, NY
718.797.3494
Google Map
Hello anyone out there: I’ve got this Game of the Year poll that I run on some web forums I frequent. The way it works is that you rank your favorite games of the year– up to 20, though vote for as many or as few as you want– and the script will sort out [...]
This year I had the great honor of cooking our Christmas dinner, which is always an adventure when you're trying to squeeze in entertaining family for the holidays. I'll leave it up to my guests to determine how successful I was in all endeavors, but I did enjoy the cooking.
I went back and forth over what to make for a while, and I thought I'd settled on a chateaubriand until I actually tried to find one on Christmas Eve. Poor planning on my part, to be sure. I ended up at the Columbus Circle Whole Foods, and they did, in fact, have a beef tenderloin. For $29.99 a pound. I would have needed about 2 1/2 lbs, so that ended up being prohibitively expensive for me. Fresh Direct, which I usually think of as being convenient and awesome, but expensive, actually has then for $21.99/lb. Food for thought.
What I ended up doing was getting a giant top round roast, which while not nearly as tender, is a more manageable $7.49/lb. Cooked slowly, it can certainly be a tender piece of meat, and I planned on making a similar sauce to go along with it.
The initial inspiration for the chateaubriand was this recipe at Epicurious, and I played with it a bit to end up with the recipe for the roast and the sauce. The end result was pretty different, but the goal was the same - a tasty meat.
Christmas Roast Beef
Ingredients:
Roast:
1 3-4 lb top round roast (mine was 5 1/2 lbs, but I'm a bit of an idiot)
Celery salt
Kosher Salt
Freshly-ground black pepper
Sauce:
1 lb sliced baby portabello mushrooms
4 tbsp butter
1 1/2 tsp minced fresh rosemary leaves
1 1/2 cups beef demi-glace
2/3 cup port
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Rub the roast down with the celery salt, kosher salt, and black pepper. I'm very liberal with the spices. Insert your meat thermomometer. PLace the roast in a roasting pan or other suitable vessel and cook until the thermometer reads 120 degrees. This will take 20-25 minutes per pound of beef, but I keep a close eye on the thermometer, not the clock.
For the sauce, start by melting the butter along with the mushrooms and rosemary. Mix the contents of a 1.5 oz pack of demi-glace (I use Demi-Glace Gold, which is amazing stuff) into 1 1/2 cups of water and then add to the mushrooms. Once that has simmered a bit, add the port (or a dry red wine).Once the mushrooms are soft and cooked through and everything is combined, you can remove from the heat and set aside until you're ready to quickly reheat and serve.
The beef and sauce turned out great, and I sliced the leftover meat and have kept it in the fridge marinating in the leftover sauce. I can tell you with all sincerity that this stuff makes the best roast beef sandwiches ever.Yukon Gold and Sweet Potato Gratin
Adapted from this recipe at Epicurious
Ingredients:
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter, room temperature, divided
2 1/4 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, rinsed
1 1/2 pounds red-skinned sweet potatoes (yams), peeled
2 cups whole milk
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup whipping cream
Directions:Preheat oven to 400°F.* Coat 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish with 2 tablespoons butter. Thinly slice all potatoes; place in prepared dish. Bring milk and next 5 ingredients to boil in medium saucepan; pour over potatoes. Dot with 2 tablespoons butter. Cover with foil. Bake until potatoes are tender and milk is almost absorbed, about 50 minutes.
Bring cream to boil in saucepan. Uncover potatoes, pour cream over, and dot with 2 tablespoons butter. Bake uncovered until top is golden brown in spots, about 25 minutes. Cool slightly.
*This was a very poor choice of recipe on my part since I had the oven at 300 for the roast. I felt the roast was more important than the potatoes, so I kept it at 300 and just cooked the potatoes a lot longer. It didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. I think this is a good recipe, but not if you already need the oven set at another temperature. Amateur mistake on my part, there.
Kale with Panfried Walnuts
Adapted from this recipe at Epicurious
Ingredients:
3 pounds kale, stems and center ribs discarded
1 cup chopped walnuts (3 1/2 ounces)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Directions:Tear kale into large pieces, then cook in a large pot of well-salted boiling water, uncovered, until tender, about 6 minutes. Drain kale, and, when cool enough to handle, press out excess liquid.
Cook walnuts in oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until pale golden, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook, stirring, until very fragrant, about 1 minute. Add kale and salt and pepper to taste and cook, tossing, until heated through.
Serve kale warm or at room temperature.
The salad was just spring mix with some walnuts, goat cheese, and dried cranberries tossed in along with a quick and basic balsamic vinaigrette. Nothing fancy there.
Well, I've been talking about this one for a while on Twitter. There have been a few cheesecake ideas floating around in my noodle for a bit, but none of them have been enticing as a red velvet cheesecake. I mean, come on.
My main worry here is that with the Oreo crust and cream cheese frosting, this would end up being far too rich. Those worries proved to be valid, as it turns out, as this thing has no regard for human life whatsoever. You will get a rampaging sugar high from this, there's no two ways about it. I've been mulling over how I'd tweak the recipe in the future - maybe a mascarpone frosting instead? - but I haven't come to any decision yet. In the end, this is a very, very good cheesecake that should be consumed with extreme moderation. I think it goes well with any holiday dinner, but give yourself at least an hour after eating before you dig in. I post the recipe below. Use at your own risk.
Red Velvet Cheesecake
Adapted from the recipe at recipegirl.com
Ingredients:Crust:
17 regular-sized oreo cookies, crushed finely (I use a rolling pin and a Ziplock bag - works wonders without having to get out the food processor)
¼ cup butter, melted
1 tbsp granulated sugarCheesecake:
3 8-oz packages cream cheese, softened
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 tbsp cocoa
1 cup sour cream
½ cup whole milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp distilled white vinegar
2 1-oz bottles red food coloring
Frosting:
1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened
¼ cup butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions:
Crust:
Stir together oreo crumbs, melted butter, and 1 Tbsp. granulated sugar; press mixture into bottom of 9-inch springform pan.
Preheat oven to 325°F. Prepare water bath: Fill large roasting pan (big enough for springform pan to fit into) with about 1 inch of water. Place in oven and allow to preheat along with the oven.
Cheesecake:
Beat cream cheese and sugar at medium-low speed with an electric mixer for 1 minute. Add eggs and remaining cheesecake ingredients, mixing on low speed just until fully combined. Pour batter into prepared crust.
Place the pan in the oven above the water bath. Note: Some recipes call for sealing the pan with foil and placing in the water bath itself. This is a great way to cook a cheesecake, but is also a bit more difficult. I choose to just cook with the water below the cheesecake in the oven.
Bake for 10 minutes; reduce heat to 300°F. Bake for an additional 75 minutes or until the center is firm via a toothpick test. Mine took about an additional 30 minutes of cooking before it was properly set, so be patient. Remove from the oven and let sit for 30 minutes before placing it in the fridge to cool further. I prefer to wait until the cheesecake is fully chilled before removing it from the pan.
Frosting:
Beat cream cheese and butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Gradually add powdered sugar and vanilla, beating until smooth. Spread evenly on top of cheesecake. Garnish, if desired.
I've had family coming in and out of town all weekend, and on Christmas Eve instead of trying to finagle yet another family dinner, my brother decided to throw together a light-ish dinner for the two of us. I must say that I came away pretty impressed with what he made. I didn't make it, so I don't have the exact recipe, but he basically sauteed some sea scallops in butter, and ended up creating a pesto, red pepper and mushroom concoction to go along with it. Everything was then served on a bed of egg linguine.
That description really doesn't do it justice, but I hope the picture does. There were a variety of interesting flavors going on, and it's certainly something that I'll try to replicate in the future.
So for my final dessert gift, I had planned on making double chocolate macadamia nut cookies, which isn't something I've ever tried but just sounded uber-tasty to me. Unfortunately for my grand plans, I had great difficulty finding any macadamia nuts while I was doing my shopping. I cursed the heavens, but decided to go a different, but equally tasty, direction.
I've made basic chocolate chip cookies before, but this time I went out looking for a new recipe to try. I settled on this one from Martha Stewart and modified it just a bit by using bread flour instead of all purpose and eschewing the nuts.
Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe
Ingredients:2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly firm and cut into chunks
1 cup packed light-brown sugar (there's dark brown sugar pictures, but rest assured I used light brown sugar)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup sour cream
2 cups semisweet chocolate, chopped (it took both packages, about 16 ounces)
Directions:Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a few baking sheets; set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt; and set aside.
With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until combined. Add sour cream, and beat until combined. Add flour mixture; beat until just combined.
Fold in chocolate.
Chill the dough for at least an hour.Scoop out tablespoons of dough and roll into balls, spacing them evenly on the cookie sheet.
Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until cookies are golden brown but still soft to the touch, about 17 minutes. Cool 5 minutes on sheets; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
This is my new favorite cookie.
I've mentioned Dolce Italiano before, notably when I made Gina's recipe for ricotta cheesecake. It's a really great book with a host of stuff I want to make but never get around to. In my search for Christmas treats, I decided to give the Lemony Semolina Cookies a go, for a few reasons. First, I like cookies and I like lemon. Second, I'm always up for using semolina flour, which I use liberally when making pasta. Third, the recipe calls for limonccello, which gave me an excuse to go get some. I like excuses to go buy booze. Finally, it seemed a good time to use a fantastic olive oil that I received recently as a gift.
As I mentioned a moment ago, this is my new favorite cookie. There's a subtlety and a delicacy to them while still having a burst of flavor that's not too sweet. Anyone who follows my twitter feed may have noticed my exuberance while making these last night. They're also, despite some esoteric ingredients, pretty easy to make. I always like to have semolina on hand, and one you have a bottle of limonccello, it should last you quite a while.
Lemony Semolina Cookies
Adapted from Dolce Italiano by Gina DePalma
Ingredients:2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup semolina (I used closer to a full cup)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup granulated sugar, plus extra for rolling
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
freshly grated zest and juice of one lemon
2 tablespoons limonccello (plus some extra for sipping)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:Whisk flour, semolina, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a bowl.
Using an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, oil and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and egg yolk, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Continue to add the lemon zest, juice, limoncello and vanilla, making sure to scrape the sides of the bowl down.
Using low speed beat in the dry ingredients until a very soft dough is formed. Scrape out onto a sheet of plastic wrap, flatten into a disc, wrap and chill for an hour.
Preheat the oven to 325F. Lightly grease two baking sheets, line with baking parchment or a silpat.Break off teaspoon-sized bits of dough and roll them into balls about an inch in diameter. Roll each in a small bowl of sugar and place on the tray. Make sure to space them an inch apart as they'll spread.
Bake for 14-15 minutes until they've flattened out and are crinkly on top. Cool on the sheet for 2 minute and then use a spatula to transfer to a wire rack.
Everyone's trying to save money this Christmas, and I'm no different. One of the things I decided to do this year was to make a lot of my Christmas gifts for other people, and the first thing I tried my hand at was a batch of English toffee. I've never made candy before, so this was a new experience for me.
I basically followed this recipe to the letter and it came out great. The only trick for me is that I stupidly didn't have a candy thermometer, so I was kind of winging it when it came to the final temperature. This isn't something I recommend at all, but it thankfully worked for me.
English Toffee Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter - I used unsalted sweet cream butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp water
Pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used half a bag of 60% Ghirardelli chips)
1/2 cup chopped almonds (half a bag)
Directions:
Before you get started, lay out a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet or cutting board. You want to have this ready to go before you start cooking the toffee.Start the toffee by melting the butter over a very low heat along with the water in a good-sized saucepan or heavy-bottomed pot. Once the butter has started to melt a bit, pour in the sugar, salt and vanilla. Start stirring.
Keep stirring.Seriously, keep stirring. This is your job now, to stir. Once the butter has melted and everything is evenly combined, turn the heat up to between medium and high. Keep stirring. The mixture will foam up and take up a lot more volume. Keep stirring. Eventually, the mixture will start to congeal a bit and you'll notice it pulling away from the wall of the pot while you stir. This is a good thing.
At this point, if you have a candy thermometer, use it. You're going to keep stirring until all the water has evaporated and the volume of the mixture collapses. You want to keep cooking it until it reaches 300 degrees, then remove it from the heat.
If you don't have a candy thermometer, like I did, pay close attention. I waited until the color of the mixture started to turn a caramel color, and then pulled it from the heat. In the picture above, you can see that the mixture has taken on the look of a brain. That's right before it was done.
Now, I made two batches. The first, I waited a little longer than the second, getting much more color in the toffee. I preferred the texture of the second batch, so I recommend doing a few final stirs then pulling it off the heat very quickly after you start to see the caramel color. But if you're going to do this, get a candy thermometer so there's no guess work. I'll be getting one for my next batch.Once you pull the toffee from the range, bring it over to your parchment paper and pour it out with the help of a spatula. Quickly spread the toffee evenly over the parchment. Be patient, but don't dilly dally, as the toffee will start to harden pretty quickly.
Once it's all spread out, quickly sprinkle the chocolate chips over the hot toffee. In about ten seconds, the chocolate will begin to melt and you can very easily spread it around on top.
After the chocolate is evenly spread, sprinkle the almonds about liberally. Let the toffee sit for a few minutes to harden further, then put it in the fridge to cool completely.
It won't take long for the toffee to cool, but I gave it a good hour to be sure. Pull it out of the fridge and snap it into fun-sized pieces. All done.
So it's been a couple months. As usual.
I'm feeling lonely again.
This usually happens when I see something that is "relevant to my interests," as it were. I won't go into that too much, but needless to say I am sitting here, hoping people I know get on to talk to. I'm not holding out much hope, knowing it is the holidays and all. This is what happens when I have a bunch of time on my hands.
Is it me, or is Fresh Fanatic starting to not really be worth the trouble? Today I stopped in to pick up ingredients for some baking I'm doing this weekend. I hadn't been in a while, and though it seemed like I was getting less and less satisfied with the place every time I went, I figured it would be nice to stop in for some simple stuff on my way home.
The first thing on my list was chocolate chips. Check, no issues there!
The second item on my list was cocoa powder. Aaaaand we have a problem. All they seemed to carry are big containers of carob powder. When I asked an employee where I could find the cocoa powder, he pointed out the carob. That would work just fine if I wanted my cookies to taste like the ground. When I asked another employee, he reacted as if I was offending him for asking about something as esoteric as cocoa powder. So, no cocoa powder for me. I got fed up and left.
This seems to happen every time I go to Fresh Fanatic. Sure, they've got 93 different kinds of cheese, but they're always missing one or two of the basic things that I stopped in for, which means, no matter what, I end up having to go to another grocery store for at least some of what I want. At that point, why bother even going to Fresh Fanatic at all? I imagine a conversation with the staff there will eventually go something like this:
Me: "Hi, where are your apples? I'm here to buy an apple."
Fresh Fanatic: "An apple? What are you, an asshole? We don't carry apples. Here, try one of our locally-grown tofuples from Amish country! They're only $8 a piece and taste mostly like apples!"
Me: "But all I want is an apple."
Fresh Fanatic: "Sorry, we don't carry them. Try the Associated on Myrtle."
Stopped at No. 7 again for brunch yesterday before hunkering down to cook dinner. The food was predictably awesome, but I won'tgo through everyone, since you've all seen it here before. I did try something new, though, and I wanted to mention it. The Tilapia sliders were something I hadn't seen on the menu before, and so I have them a shot.
You get two sliders, each with seasoned tilapia, sprouts, and an onion ring on a perfectly greasy little potato roll. Along side come a bowl of chips and two small bowls of hot sauce and tartar sauce.
The sliders themselves were spectacular, but I was less enthused with the bowl of potato chips. Maybe I was just salted out (the seasoning on the fish was pretty salty), but I couldn't muster up much enthusiasm for them, even if they were good. I would have preferred some roasted potatoes or even simple mixed greens. Still, the sliders are well worth ordering.
We also had three mugs of their bourbon cider, which will knock you on your ass if you're not careful. It was great.
