Genkinaonna

Pumpkin tempura is my favorite...and I'll second the "pumpkin stuffed with everything good" from Around My French Table. I think the recipe is on epicurious if you search for it.

Mmm...sausage...and that jerky looks amazing. My husband (who frequently looks over my shoulder to see what I'm doing on the computer) is envious of your meat-drying skills, which I sadly lack.

I got a King Arthur flour gift card for xmas, and I've been waiting all week to try out my silicone molds...here's molten chocolate cake with chocolate ice cream, salted caramel sauce and roasted pecans. Pretty yummy, although I think I baked the cakes about a minute too long, since they were more fudgy than molten.

How about the Mozart cake in Desserts by Pierre Herme? I've not tried it but all of his desserts are pretty tasty, and this one looks like no exception...

ChrisTaylor- I will follow your blog and enjoy said recipes vicariously!

Well I haven't done it yet, but tomorrow morning is going to be brioche toast from the loaf I baked today with dulce de leche I've had calling to me from the fridge. Is it morning yet?

I swear I did this last year, but I can't find my post in the "resolutions for 2010 thread..." This year: I will eat more vegetables, and come up with more interesting ways to use them. Also healthier in general, although I'm NOT giving up butter or beef like my husband (and he can't make me!). I will make the rest of the recipes in "Baking From My Home to Yours." Started in June of last year, am about halfway through. I will learn to make a decent loaf of bread, that's not under- or over-proofed, that has a decent crust, and that I can duplicate reliably, not just as a one-time fluke. I will read as much as I can, per usual. But I should probably start with the cookbooks I have at home, since I think buying any more would cause marital discord

I'm envious of your pull-out pantry shelves...I always end up with random cans of stuff languishing in the back, forgotten and alone... I also loved the Little House books, I haven't thought about the green pumpkin pie for probably 25 years, but the first time it was mentioned here, I remembered reading that like it was yesterday. Can't wait to see what you cook up over the next week! Have fun and I'll be checking back eagerly!

Thanks Chris! I really enjoyed following along with your culinary adventures! Any time you're out Portland way you're welcome at our house for dinner!

You might want to go with lime with the cranberry, it plays nicely with citrus but the resulting flavor won't be like cranberry sauce which usually has orange peel. With the orange, you could even try some cocoa nibs, that would be a great flavor combo. Not sure about the cinnamon, and I'll have to think about the pomegranate. If you're looking for ideas for flavor combos, I'd recommend getting the book "In the sweet kitchen" by Reagan Daley. It's got a great chart for flavor pairings for lots of sweets and spices. Hope that helps!

Could you use the dulse to make seaweed sables (Around My French Table)? It's one of the recipes I've been wanting to try. And if you want to send some my way... : ) And lobster poutine sounds incredible!

Pasta with pesto...my three year old and four year old's favorite meal. In the words of my daughter, "it's cheesariffic!" Unlike my photography skills...

Someone on here has to have "Venison Fingers" as their screen name...if not, I'm officially changing mine!

Thanks for taking us along on your culinary ride, Chris! I've been reading your posts in between cooking and dodging children...you've affirmed my deep desire for both a vacuum sealer and sous vide machine...now if I could just find an extra thirty or so square feet to put all the extra stuff... Merry Belated Christmas!

Scotty-Your tart is beautiful! For some reason, I can never get the rows to line up correctly... I'm in the process of making Struffoli right now, but I've never made it before so I'm not sure how successful it will be.

I made the chocolate mousse for dessert after our seven fishes dinner last night...topped it with cara cara orange slices and salted caramel sauce. So good, and really easy, although it seemed like it took a lot longer for the egg whites to whip (I used the pasteurized in shell eggs) than it usually does. I used ghirardelli chocolate, I can see where using higher quality chocolate wold really make a difference here, since there's no cream, the nuances (of which my chocolate was sorely lacking) really come through in this recipe.

Cookies for the staff at work: Almond thumbprints (green frosting) Santa's Whiskers (pink ones) Clementine Shortbread (orange sprinkles) Mexican chocolate chip sandwiches w/chipotle ganache Chocolate Drops w/Andes mints (in the Middle of the plate) All were highly appreciated...I was planning on doing truffles but didn't have the mental bandwidth to temper chocolate, luckily my staff are all non-bakers so anything I make is impressive to them

Wow and here I was going to make a buche for Xmas...Dystopiandreamgirl you're giving me a complex! I made clementine shortbread cookies to go in the goody bags for my employees, once the rest of the cookies are done I'll post a pic.

Pork Schnitzel, spaetzle and wilted spinach, with mustard cream sauce...the nearest German restaurant is 45 in away and WAY overpriced. This was a satisfactory approximation...I'm pleased.

A Gel Pro mat for the kitchen floor. It's been on my list for a couple of years but it always gets bumped for something else. A giant box of half sheet sized parchment from Cash and Carry. A vacuum sealer (don't know what I'd do with it, but looks like fun to experiment!) and an immersion circulator. Someone to knock out the wall between the pantry and the downstairs bathroom, take out the toilet and sink, and make me a walk in pantry with lots of storage, but that's not going to happen...the ice cream maker and pasta extruder attachments for the kitchenaid, and and extra bowl and paddle. And a puppy, and a fire truck...oh wait those are from the kid's lists... : )

I've had good luck with the Ener-G brand substitute for eggs. As for the custard, I'd think soy milk should work, but I would think it would have a pretty strong flavor, you might want to use almond or rice milk instead, depending on what other flavorings you're going to add. Good Luck!

Don't feel bad Rico, I like to say Ganache too! And those cookies look pretty damn tasty. As E.T. says, it's gotta have chocolate to be ganache, but there's nothing wrong with adding other things to it, so if you made a butterscotch sauce and mixed it in, you'd have butterscotch ganache, and I myself have made peanut butter ganache (with white chocolate and natural crunchy peanut butter) and it was delish. On another topic, I made this: as a swap for two haircuts for my kiddos. It's alternating layers of chocolate buttermilk cake and vanilla butter cake with cream cheese filling and chocolate sour cream frosting. It was a birthday cake for a man who really likes bacon but whose wife is a vegetarian, so no real bacon allowed. Those strips are painted fondant. It did get me thinking though and I think maple cupcakes with maple bacon buttercream might be in my Kitchenaid's near future...

Spring-Love the colors on the cake! Transfer sheets are a wonderful thing! I made a cake for a three year old's birthday over the course of the last 4 days. The original request was "24 cupcakes...no big deal..." which rapidly morphed into,"well, there are going to be about 30 people there...and she wants a cake with a mermaid..." From now on I think I need to start charging more or learn to say no to baking after work! But it turned out okay, I don't know if the mermaid ended up getting eaten, you never know when there are three year olds involved...

#1-At least 3 nights a week, scrambled eggs and toast, with cold cooked green beans and "floppy" (canned) peaches #2-Lunchmeat, wheat bread, and cheese (all separate, of course) with misc fruit and veg, usually cold #3-Pasta with Pesto (they won't eat tomato sauce, go figure!) with fruit and veg, sometimes with chicken or shrimp if there's some in the fridge #4-Noodles with butter and parmesan, fruit, veg, #5-Hot dogs without buns, cut into coins and eaten with toothpicks, either dipped in ketchup (the four year old) or not (the three year old) veg, fruit, crackers They like things that are novel, ie "it's a no fork meal! You get to eat everything with your hands!" Also kind of random: My four year old loves mushrooms sauteed with garlic and butter...no one else in the house will touch them. And my three year old will eat a pound of feta if I let her. And I have to hide my pine nuts, or they'll eat about $50 worth of them in about 10 minutes!

I'm all over that...any dessert can be improved by the judicious addition of coconut. I'm going to use it next time I make a flourless chocolate cake as a topping. Thanks for the idea!