RWood

Just bad tasting, wasn’t deodorized. I’ll be getting some from Cocoa Barry for the next round. I think I got this from Olive Nation.

It’s been a busy month, but I got a few chocolates done. Late to the party, I finally made the Dubai bar and a few smaller. Pretty good, I think when I added a little tahini I liked it better. Flavors: peppermint patty, s’mores, raspberry caramel, pecan, Aperol, Dubai. I finally experimented on my toasted marshmallow, and I like how it came out. But the crust is still in progress. I tried @Rajala crust, but my cocoa butter was awful. Tasted terrible, so I made one with just browned butter. I made the Aperol for my step sister. She had the Aperol Spritz for her wedding cocktail. I could not find a blood orange within 20 miles of me (couldn’t get to Atlanta) so I made a Cara Cara gelee layer, and white chocolate Aperol ganache. Better than I thought, kinda marmalade-y.

Had my mom’s cousins over last night since we won’t see them for Christmas. Made a charcuterie board, marinated olives, potato and Gruyère tart and mini mushroom tartlets.

Yes it is 😋. My mother gets violent if you say add sugar to cornbread 🤣. I sneak in about a tablespoon or so just to balance it. I don’t like it sweet either, and most Southerners cringe at the mention of adding sugar.

Pizza, pizza. Pepperoni, castelvetrano olives, Vidalia onion and a Margherita.

Kenji’s Chile Verde, Trader Joe’s Spanish rice and slaw. I had made the base from my Hatch Chiles and froze it, along with a pork butt, So it was a much faster process than from scratch. Tasty as usual.

Yeah. I never knew of them until we moved to California. The house we lived in had three trees. Both my mom and her cousin planted them when they bought houses. I was on a mission to get a couple of trees when we got back to Georgia. I’ve been surprised they have done well. They will be put back in the garage once it gets colder.

Pizza-Pepperoni, Vidalia onion and castlevetrano olives, and Mortadella (on half), red onion, Parm, fontina, pistachios and garlic. I used Ooni's poolish dough this time. It was surprisingly easy to work with even though it said it was 100% hydration. Nice and chewy too.

My meyer lemon trees did pretty good this year. Looks like we'll have a dozen or so lemons from both of them. It's been warm so far with only one cold spell. I think they should be ripe before the next one.

Found some Lion’s Mane mushrooms at Dekalb Farmer’s Market. Seared with a pan sauce, sous vide polenta and broccolini. Looked like pork loin when I was slicing them.

Vegetarian "crab" cakes. Used shredded hearts of palm. Good sub for crab, they were tasty. Hard to get dungeness in Georgia, and not a big fan of other types. Served with a lemony aioli.

Rose, White Chocolate and Pistachio shortbread for my cousins wedding.

Fish tacos are one of my favorite things. Made these with cod, and used Kenji’s Serious Eats recipe for the batter. Really good. Made a spicy slaw and chipotle lime mayo. My mom had regular beef tacos since no fish for her . And Trader Joe’s Mexican rice on the side.

Had way too many Campari tomatoes. Made a roasted tomato pesto with bucatini. Added a spoon of ricotta and some sautéed zucchini.

Detroit style pizza. Pepperoni, red onion, pesto.

Yeah, no heat though

Was craving Greek spaghetti. Cleaned out some cherry tomatoes, with kalamata, capers, garlic, feta and parsley.

Thanks ! Yeah, it took several hours to get them all on there.

Combo August birthday party today. My cousin (the prime Donna 😑) ordered a mermaid theme since it’s her granddaughter’s 1st birthday. So I went with a tail and a 4” smash cake for the baby. All white cake and vanilla buttercream.

Spaghetti with home made marinara, Trader Joe’s burrata filling and basil from the garden.

These are some tasty little crackers, but the box is waaay to small 😏

Pistachio Lemon Tart. Crust is graham/pistachio, mascarpone lemon filling. Trying to recreate a tart we used to get in SF at a place called Tart to Tart on Irving St. They got new owners and it was never the same. This filling might need more lemon.

Tomato galette with herb dough, pesto and cheese. Pretty tasty. Served with an arugula salad.

My mom bought a spaghetti squash for some reason, so I used some of it for fritters. Just ok, even though I loaded them with herbs and such. Also a marinated tomato and Vidalia onion salad.

Well, I think the thing that makes a difference is the amount of liquid. I didn't put as much this time. Some of our old Greek cookbooks, put a lot of stock, and it doesn't all cook out. This batch had juice of half a large lemon, maybe 1/3 cup stock, 1/4 cup olive oil, then garlic, s&p, dried oregano. I cooked at 400F for about 40 mins. The liquid was mostly gone except the oil. I cooked them another 15 or so. My oven sucks and it doesn't brown like I want, so I wanted them to crisp more, but the stuff in the pan was good. I have cooked them before with more stock and covered them with foil, but sometimes they overcook and there is still liquid with no browning. This was a small batch though.