RWood

Day late because of stuff, but this is my birthday cake this year. I dug out my Cocolat cookbook because I was thinking Marjolaine. Which this is pretty much except I added a chocolate crème fraiche cake layer. Along with hazelnut and almond meringue, praline and chocolate buttercreams and caramelized hazelnuts. Really good 😋.

Charred Brussels sprout salad. Blood orange vinaigrette & segments, feta, shallots and pecans. Not bad, but needs some livening up.

All in one. I don’t particularly like apricot or white chocolate that much, but this combination is pretty good.

Mini scones. Bacon, cheddar and scallions and white chocolate, apricot and pecan.

Pizza night. Pepperoni, Olive, red onion and a little Gouda. After all the tornado watches and warnings yesterday, it was bright and sunny today. Crazy Georgia weather.

Still on the chocolate chip cookie kick. David Leite’s Ultimate. Couldn’t find my Valrhona Manjari, so used El Rey’s Mijao discos, with a sprinkle of Maldon. Added walnuts cuz I have to have nuts in my cookie.

Linguine with Gorgonzola and walnuts.

Craving a burger. Schweid & Sons makes a brisket/Chuck burger that is great. We watch for Kroger to mark then down then stock up the freezer. $3.99/4 patties is much better than $10.99 👍🏻. Brioche bun, provolone, herb aioli, lettuce and caramelized onions.

I know, I was surprised that Walmart had such nice ones. I never go there so was just lucky I found them. They were tasty too. It was 80F here today, so wanted to fire up the grill.

Meze night. I found some really nice artichokes at Walmart of all places. Steamed then grilled with an herb aioli. Olives, feta, hummus and sourdough.

Had a chocolate chip cookie craving. Used some Valrhona mini chips I had, walnuts and Heilala vanilla bean paste. Excellent ☺️.

Thanks, I’ve never cooked them before. I was really surprised that I found them in Atlanta.

King Oyster Mushroom “pulled pork” sandwich, slaw and brioche bun. Wasn’t bad, texture was a little on the slimy side like mushrooms are. Tried it since my mother is not into meat as much. Could use a little liquid smoke maybe.

Some quick Valentine’s cookies. Had big plans to airbrush, etc, but didn’t happen. So went the easy way with sprinkles.

Two dozen organic brown eggs at Costco was still $7.59 yesterday. I haven't seen any egg issues here, and I've wondered if it's because there's a lot of chicken houses in Georgia. Kroger is sometimes low, but all the other stores are stocked.

Baby blooming onions. Cute, but a lot of prep. I needed to use up cippolini onions, along with some homemade ranch.

I tend to stick to my Kindle for the majority of books. I'm not into having to find a place to put books anymore, especially after that move. My newest are these:

I’ve always wanted to go, but never could make it happen. Biggest problem is finding someone to feed the cats. When more plans are put together, I’m gonna see if I can do it.

I made this for a gathering, and everyone loved it. Roasted Sweet Potato Salad

Exactly! I can't stand trying to measure something gooey in a cup 😤

What I’ve always done is if I have a recipe that I want to try and it’s in cups, I measure by the recipe. But, I weigh it in grams as I go. Rewrite the recipe, and if it’s a keeper, it’s ready to go. When I was baking a lot of wedding cakes and working on my recipes, it was the easiest way. And they’ve all worked perfectly well using this method. I’m trying to get everything changed over to weight, because I hate measuring cups! So much less to wash and much faster.

Was a little chilly but it was sunny so got the Ooni out. Calabrese salami, castelvetrano olives and red onion Fresh mozzarella, artichoke hearts, Sun dried tomatoes, red onion and pesto from the freezer

I was really surprised when I saw the weekly ad for Ingles (all over the South). They have cage free eggs for $2.58/dz. I think I need to head to one. Kroger near me is always low on eggs, and minimum $4.99. We don't shop at Wally World anymore, their prices are more than Kroger and Food City, which are overpriced to begin with.

It’s actually a white cake with almond extract. If you want an almond layer cake, the golden almond in The Cake Bible is pretty good.

Quick birthday cake for my Aunt's 81st. They all love just white almond cake, so that's what they got. It was supposed to be multicolored, but I think some of my coloring has gone bad. So, just fuschia (what the bottle said) 🤷‍♀️