Kouign Aman

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I am happy. Kalypso went, and liked it. See here Modus Dec 2006 , post #68

Thank you for blogging. It promises to be a fun read. I only know this recipe for dulce de leche, have you a different one? Poke hole in can of sweetened condensed milk (scm) Bake at 200F for 24 hours. I've never tried to make it before, but bought the ingredient yesterday with that in mind, so was delighted to see your mention of making it. I've noticed some brands scm are thicker than others, and I'd think thicker would be an advantage. Anyone know for sure?

So beatiful. That poached pear is absolutely lovely. It looks almost as if it belongs in a fruit bowl. The mousse w candy 'pear' is also begging for a spoon! Tea jelly intrigues.

Wow, white food! Was it co-incidental or did you plan it? I think an entire meal of white food is excellently seasonal for 12/1, fwiw.

I just had a tea-flavored piece of belgian chocolate yesterday. Very nice. No idea what kind of tea tho. You know those over-done 'candy' apples, with the dip and the chocolate ribbons etc etc? Saw one of those and thought of this thread. Half pear on place, cut side down. (dried thoroughly... that might require a blowdryer, given the softness of pears), covered in a thin tea 'aspic', then drizzled with the colors of chocolate as if it were a xmas tree ornament to be hung up.

lamb salad? with potato "croutons"? "Melkor"? Melkor = He who shows his power. Melkor was the greatest and the first Ainur in Eru Iluvatar`s mind. He was also brother to Manwë. But while all other Ainur were singing to the grace of Eru, Melkor tried to take over the theme of the song. Melkors song twisted and turned the nearby Ainur song and it was growing. Eru then raised his hand in a friendly manner and tried to drag Melkor into the theme again. Melkor, however, resisted. Eru raised his hand again and tried to push Melkor back in, but still Melkor kept on his unharmonious theme, raising it higher and higher. The third time Eru raised both hands and in one accord higher than the sky and deeper than the abyss, he stopped the song and said: "The Ainurs are mighty and amongst them Melkor is the mightiest, but he and all of Ainur will know that I am Iluvatar, and I will show you all what you have done. And for you Melkor, you shall know that there will be no sound which does not come from me, neither can nobody change the song against my will, and he who tries will be my tool in a even more magnificent piece which he will not understand". Melkor was ashamed of himself. It is from this episode that came his secret anger though not yet realized by him. In the beginning he thought he was working for the creation of Arda, but he truly wanted to be master and rule the world"

Excellent point and excellent solution! Also a generous & kind solution. I think I need one of these myself. Thanks for putting into words that amorphous need thats been trying to communicate itself to me. Good luck to you both. I hope you keep us up-dated with plans, activities, and results.

After learning that your avatar reflects your interior voice, the Tenor wants to know why you chose the name of the first of the fallen Ainur for your user name.

Use it as the binder in croquetas. You can use other strongly flavored ingredients to compliment the cauliflower flavor. (Curry sounds good, or a strong cheese).

Much as many others have suggested: what do they like? What is easy to prep? Easy to clean? Makes useful leftovers? Can be converted next day to something different enough to be interesting (bless fried rice, casseroles, etc)? Can be turned into a delicious lunch for the working partner? Can be frozen as-is for a meal next week? Perhaps set up a meal 'rotation' / menu planning - I've found the biggest challenge is thinking of what to cook on any given day. I can get nearly anything done, if I've decided earlier in teh week what its going to be. But faced with the small fry etc, I will default to scrambled eggs most nights if I havent done any menu planning. A 'rotation', especially if its a 2-week one, allows a new cook to stick with comfortable, familiar and well received meals most days, and to add a "new recipe day" to each rotation, so that the rotation isnt a life-time of unchanged menus. Mom of small fry, not used to cooking - definitely follow the KISS rule. She'll be washing veg, then waiting an hour before she can chop, then 3 hours later she can start to cook..... in which case dinner is likely to become cereal and milk. Anything that can be cooked in excess and stored is a blessing. In a couple years, when she's a dab hand in the kitchen and the kids are self-entertaining, she can cook grains and pasta each time she wants them. For now, cookign a 2x or 3x batch and storing the extra in meal sized portions in the freezer can be a very good thing. Finally, things that can be made ahead and held til dinner. Its great to cook while baby/smallfry naps, but no good if the food isnt edible at dinner time. And somehow, naps and the hour before dinner dont align as often as one would hope. A tiny thought: angelhair cooks up much faster than spaghetti. Scrambled eggs make a great dinner. Braise or crockpot - cheap cut of meat, a few veggies. Vary by serving with egg noodles, rice, quinoa, potatoes, etc on different occasions.

DZ Akins qualifies as cheap eats not because of the menu price, but because each plate makes at least two meals. Good seeded ryebread too.

Could it be baking powder? It can be made with a metal salt. But why would it be in a curd recipe? Do the lemons taste 'off' before being used? How are they being juiced?

You covered most of what I thought to say. Some other thoughts. 1) there are are some really neat corner cupboard options out there 2) do you want a vertical space for storing baking pans and serving trays? 3) if you know you will regularly use a stepladder, plan a place to store it, as part of your design. Its really annoying to stop mid-recipe to run to another room to get it. We keep ours folded and slid in next to the fridge, in the very few inches of room between cabinet side and fridge. 4) wider or more sliders to the deck? 5) can you create a pass-thru from kitchen to deck? Favorite 'party house' layout I;ve seen had a regular window in the kitchen that opened to a tiled counter outdoors. Made for very easy party throwing. Host was in communication with party goers even while restocking, and it immensely reduced the tendency of partygoers to congregate in teh kitchen as well. I didnt learn how awful over-the-stove microwaves were, til we replaced ours. Cant access it with anything steaming on the stove, too high for a child, makes the space over the stove too low, etc etc etc. Good luck, have fun!

Perhaps instead of or in addition to poaching the pears, coat them in a layer of tea jelly. My teeth like the idea of the texture change, biting thru the jelly into the gritty soft pear. And the side-by-side flavors appeal to me more than blending them. A simple way to use the chocolate (I shouldnt even go here, seeing your expertise) could be to make leaves for the pears. Or...a multicolored ever-so-thin shell over the jelly-coated pears? (for me, that would not be simple.) or make a pear juice/infusion "tea" in a demitasse, and serve a chocolate/tea item as the main dessrt, in a TFL sort of food joke deconstruction.

Amen!

I used to hate that sweet potato dish and could never understand why. I finally figured out its the canned yams. I made it with boiled yams instead one year and enjoyed it so much more. But our new tradition came from my SIL - pureed, made into a pudding with pecans on top. I enjoy it as a TD sidedish, but will mostly be serving it as dessert during the rest of the year. A vitamin rich pudding. An entire serving of an "intensely yellow or orange" vegetable, in dessert. Life is good. I've roasted the yams ala racheld. I end up eating them straight out of their jackets. I first saw them roasted in Beijing, where they served a dual purpose as tummy filler and hand warmer.

Bravo! I hear tooting horns and happy laughter celebrating this dessert.

A lovely blog, a lovely holiday. I'm over-full from looking, and so happy I got home in time to read it thru and add my thanks. I wish Chris much ease and no more stones. Nasty things, they. "preposterone" -brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Another tiny illustration of your excellence with words. The glass which holds the fruit - we found a single one of those in a thrift shop, and used it to hold the munchkin's first solid food meals of rice cereal. Fare well, and sweet dreams, and many fairies about you. You and Gracie give them a much more gracious reception than that recorded in Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book !

Saw this beauty on another thread: water caltrops

Buddha's hands are supposed to smell especially fragrant. Do they? I'm thinking of hunting down a tree and planting it if so.

sour spicy soup. It provides fluids, steam, "flow" stimulator (spicy), throat soother (sour). Plus the spicy can numb a raw throat after the agony of the first sip. I usually make a bastardized version of avgolemono, and add as much tobasco as I can stand.

That cat has amazing eyes. And fur like velveteen. Your bird is lovely. Does he let you or Chris preen him? Do you ever rub the feathers on the top of his head the wrong way, gently? Do you ever wonder if he'd be quieter in the soup pot?

Layer it on guava paste? The deep red would show thru. Perhaps put the guava first on a crispy pastry. You would lose that beautiful champagne color tho. Im thinking of the cuban turnovers with guava filling. I think they'd taste good with champagne. Sometimes they had cream cheese in the filling as well.

Beautifully elegant. Eggnog cream, eh? Yum. Fried fruitcake.... Dont think I'll be seeing that at the Country Fair!