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eG Foodblog: FabulousFoodBabe - Brand New Kitchen, Same Old Husband


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I actually wanted to name our first male Elvis, but was vetoed by my husband, hence the Mickey name. And Baxter just didn't look like an Elvis.....so maybe we need to get another one, too. 
Bassets are like potato chips, don't you think?. :wink:
Where in California? Your husband musta been born on the coast somewhere, in light of his dad's being in the Navy at the time. Where? And where in Central California did you live
San Diego is his birthplace. We lived in Modesto -- when Mr. FB worked for the Gallo Winery. Good people, good place.
As a resident of Grand Rapids, MI, home of Wolverine World Wide (well, almost -- they're in Rockford, a suburb), maker of Hush Puppies, I offer a piece of trivia. The basset hound who appeared in all those famous Hush Puppies ads in the late 80s was named Jason, full name Jasonian of Westchester (!).

Is that Kismet or Karma or Fate? LOL -- (I still have purple suede Hush Puppies from when they were cool.)

Request: you have many animals? Do you buy pet food for all of them, or do you make any? If you make pet food, could that find space in yr blog?
Let's see: Johnny (kitty -- hey, two syllables is right! :biggrin: ) is battling Feline Obesity, so he's on diet cat food. Jean-Luc has a very sensitive stomach; we learned the hard way to keep him on the Eukanuba :blink: The skink, land crab, and fish are all on live food. I do need to make some dog biscuits this week for Jean-Luc's best friends in the neighborhood (two whippets and a greyhound, all in one family). If I find the time, I'll show that.

Marya, therese -- yeah, French! Gerard is very good. And thank you, therese, for not doing as I asked you a year or so ago: to smack me upside the head if I ever talk about getting a new puppy again. :wub:

racheld -- what the heck are you talking about? :cool:

Back to human food.

"Oh, tuna. Tuna, tuna, tuna." -Andy Bernard, The Office
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Today, we all slept late (5:30). The backup alarm clock didn't go off -- apparently, by taking it to the golf course yesterday and letting it chase geese off lead for a couple of hours, it was too exhausted to do the usual 4:30 a.m. wake-up. :smile:

Since breakfast has always been the meal we have together, I like to do requests for the boys. My son wanted pancakes and bacon, with a hot chocolate (no espresso shot). We didn't have much time so I wasn't able to get a good photo of that. He can't have a car at school yet, so he drives in the morning; I ride along and really cherish that 20 minutes of alone-time where we either listen to his music, or he tells me his latest thoughts on politics, Scientology, and marine life.

When I got back to the house and the first cappuccino of the day, in my very cool Miele Coffee Center. It has a little panel that tells you what to do

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First, the milk froth

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And then you're prompted to move your cup under the espresso dispenser

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With a slice of honey-wheat bread that I made yesterday, and some strawberry preserves, we have breakfast.

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For the first time in a long time, no workmen are scheduled! Immediately after the renovation completed and the punchlist was done, we had the housepainters do the rest of the interior. (I guess this is what you do when you live in the same place for more than 24 months? :raz: ) They're finally done, and we finally have our garage back.

"Oh, tuna. Tuna, tuna, tuna." -Andy Bernard, The Office
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If you're serious about asking, Riker is Jean Luc's second-in-command.

Of course, there's always Data, but unless your pup has yellow eyes, that won't fly.

And Geordi, of course, of the COOL eye-gear.

Oh! Like Jean-Luc Picard! Gotcha. Wow. This is making sense out of a lot of things people have said to us over the years we've had J-L. :laugh: Gawd, I'm a dork.

"Oh, tuna. Tuna, tuna, tuna." -Andy Bernard, The Office
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Cheers to you & Mr. Foodbabe!

I as well turn 50 but two weeks from Thursday.

Apparently, I have been denied favorites like oysters and foie gras, to be replaced with All Bran and cheeseburger helper... maybe we should switch places?? :rolleyes:

Nice Sea urchin you got there. I suppose I could eat that...

"I took the habit of asking Pierre to bring me whatever looks good today and he would bring out the most wonderful things," - bleudauvergne

foodblogs: Dining Downeast I - Dining Downeast II

Portland Food Map.com

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I just remembered that when I was a little girl, a favorite book was Bascombe the Flying Dog. Bascombe was a bassett hound who discovered that he could spread those enormous ears and soar with them. So you see, I do know a 2-syllable word that would be (more) appropriate (than "kitty") for a bassett's name. It isn't a very French-sounding name - I'd make it more English - but it will get a smile of recognition from a few who remember the book.

Visalia girl here, myself. There's at least one other Modestan in the audience, if he's tuned in yet.

It's nice to hear that you get good alone-time / talking-time with your son. I cherish the memories of my talks with Mom, to and from town, at about that age. It's a shame when kids don't have that with their parents. Good for you both, that you have it.

Nancy Smith, aka "Smithy"
HosteG Forumsnsmith@egstaff.org

Follow us on social media! Facebook; instagram.com/egulletx; twitter.com/egullet

"Every day should be filled with something delicious, because life is too short not to spoil yourself. " -- Ling (with permission)
"There comes a time in every project when you have to shoot the engineer and start production." -- author unknown

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Visalia girl here, myself.  There's at least one other Modestan in the audience, if he's tuned in yet.

It's nice to hear that you get good alone-time / talking-time with your son.  I cherish the memories of my talks with Mom, to and from town, at about that age.  It's a shame when kids don't have that with their parents.  Good for you both, that you have it.

I hope the person tunes in; I think I'm not supposed to say the name on the board. Visalia girl -- you still there?

Thanks for all the good wishes for Mr. FB -- he's the true babe in the family. Anyone else read that endpiece in Time Magazine a few months ago, where it discussed marrying out of your "hotness" class? that's us! :biggrin:

"Oh, tuna. Tuna, tuna, tuna." -Andy Bernard, The Office
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The Saga of the Pate Dough.

When I was a culinary student, it became my responsibility to make Pate dough for the Pate en croute. I felt pretty cool about it; I'd been cooking for a long time and it didn't seem too hard.

Chef Turgeon walked by my first (yes, first!) attempt and said, "something's not right with that." I said I had measured carefully. I said I had measured twice, dumped once. And that I couldn't think of what it could be. Of course he was right, so I did it over again. This time, I was even more careful, it got to the rolling stage when he said, "what did you do with this?" The dough was a mess. It seized. It behaved like something that had been overworked. It was cracking in some spots. It had to be patched into the mold and that pissed me off more than anything in the world. There was no time to redo it and Chef told me to relax. I couldn't. I hated that damned dough. I still do. To this day, I can't figure out what I did wrong.

My cooking team labeled it in the refrigerator, "Ducking Fough." It was soon shortened to "Fough." "Yo, Fabby -- got any of that fough left?" LOL (not).

So when I decided to make tartlet shells for the party this week, I thought it was time to revisit the Fough.

20 oz. bread flour

1 1/2 oz powdered milk

1/4 oz baking soda

1/2 oz salt

3 1/2 oz shortening

2 1/2 oz butter

2 eggs

1 T cider vinegar

8 oz milk (more or less)

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Mix the dry ingredients; cut fat into them (I used a paddle attachment on my KitchenAid). Add the vinegar and eggs, process a little longer. Switch to a dough hook, and add about 4 oz of the milk -- the rest if necessary. Finish on the bench, square, wrap tightly and let it rest for a half-hour.

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not bad, eh?

(No photos except for the end product -- I lost my camera for a while. Heh.)

It's easiest to roll this dough out on a pasta machine if you haven't just done a renovation and are still trying to find things. Luckily, I have a rolling pin or two:

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Roll the fough very thin and cut it into rounds. The rounds go into mini muffin pans if you don't have a zillion tartlet pans; tamp the bottoms with the end of a wooden spoon and bake at 350 for about 5-7 minutes, until they brown.

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The finished product:

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Take that, fough!

"Oh, tuna. Tuna, tuna, tuna." -Andy Bernard, The Office
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I love all the Basset talk! And I'm about to take mine out for our afternoon walk, but wanted to share a few other things.

First, when I did the design, I told the architect that I do not do cannisters on the counter and here's what they came up with:

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Two drawers, three 3-pans and three 6-pans in each, with covers. The 3pans hold about 7 or 8# of flour each. The 3-pans hold sugar, semolina, cornmeal, etc. I love it.

And I'm having an amazing time with the BlueStar. Lookie mcLook:

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I'm having a weeeee bit of trouble with the griddle on the thing. Did the burn-in twice and it just takes for-freaking-ever to heat well and evenly. I've been using my All-Clad griddle for pancake mornings. Any advice on using the griddle is welcome!

Time to walk the doggie. I'll take the camera in case he eats anything interesting.

"Oh, tuna. Tuna, tuna, tuna." -Andy Bernard, The Office
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Maybe it's just griddles are like that? I'm having similar problems with my new griddle--yesterday it took 12 minutes to heat up (yes, I timed it) even though the instructions say it can take "up to 45 seconds." 45 seconds, my aunt fanny...

Can't wait to read more of the blog, especially to see the new digs in action.

Feast then thy heart, for what the heart has had, the hand of no heir shall ever hold.
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Catching up ... ready for the fabulousness to begin. :smile:

Having just turned 51 this past December, I've been trying to decide whether I agree with the "50 is the new 40" bit ... or the more timeless sentiment that "hey, this is what 50 looks like." :laugh:

Any chance you might sneak across the Tappan Zee to my old hometown of Nyack? :biggrin:

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This is cool.

In re new arrival: They sure are nice and squishy when they're little, aren't they? Riffing logically on Rachel's idea, William comes to mind. But first I thought French, hypenated, to coordinate with J-L.

I know how you feel: Ivan passed that b.d. milestone in 2007, and was actually carded buying beer in the last year.

And I treasure the driving talking with my 16-year-old, too.

Blog on!

Priscilla

Writer, cook, & c. ●  Twitter

 

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Hi Fabby,

Can't wait to see what turns up in this blog. Happy 50th to Mr. FB. I roomed with a Modestan when I lived in SF (she grew up with the Gallo family).

I love the "ducking fough"!!! :laugh: , I've had my share of experiences like that!

Please, continue cooking...I'm anticipating all the food for the party!

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I'm having a weeeee bit of trouble with the griddle on the thing.  Did the burn-in twice and it just takes for-freaking-ever to heat well and evenly.  I've been using my All-Clad griddle for pancake mornings.  Any advice on using the griddle is welcome.

It takes a good 12-15 minutes to preheat mine, if I follow the instructions to start off at a low setting. I have to admit that it's a pain to get up to temp, and it does have hot spots. I tend to use it as a flat top to keep sauces warm and prepared dishes at temp. The grill is a different story. It's used often and does a great job with anything I throw on it.

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I'm following along with Blue Star envy. I chose the cooktop and wall oven route 10 years ago and am hesitant to give up the storeage under the cooktop. But I surely love the range idea! It is just beautiful. Functionality is important, however! :biggrin:

I had a friend with a basset named Sherman. I suppose Monsieur Sherman would be more apropopriate in your case!

Thanks for blogging!!

Marsha

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Well, now the fough looks easy, thanks to your instructions and photos! I suppposed that's one of its pitfalls, though.

I *had not* thought of storage bins in the drawers. That could be sooooo much nicer than canisters inside the cupboards which is my current setup. We're considering redoing our kitchen, and we're on the lookout for what works and what doesn't. How easy is it to remove those drawer pans and get them back in again? With regard to your kitchen reno: I'm all ears (well, eyes) as the week goes on, if you care to comment on what has worked fabulously, what has worked not as well as you'd expected, and what you think you'd do differently if you had to do it again.

Feh. Y'all are just kids, going on about turning 50. :raz: And somehow, I'm betting the "hotness" class is about even.

Nancy Smith, aka "Smithy"
HosteG Forumsnsmith@egstaff.org

Follow us on social media! Facebook; instagram.com/egulletx; twitter.com/egullet

"Every day should be filled with something delicious, because life is too short not to spoil yourself. " -- Ling (with permission)
"There comes a time in every project when you have to shoot the engineer and start production." -- author unknown

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How nice to see all that fabulousness and gorgeousness in action! Oh, and the kitchen too! :wink:

How about Clouseau for the new guy?

(He does look a lot like a Barnard tho, with those delightful spots/freckles.)

"You dont know everything in the world! You just know how to read!" -an ah-hah! moment for 6-yr old Miss O.

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My neighbor had a sweet basset named Nigel. It just fit.

Looking forward to the rest of the blog. Oh, and the hotel pans for flours - consider that idea stolen!

Dang, I was going to suggest Nigel, too!

When we got our Basset (awful lot of Basset owners on this board), I wanted Nigel, or Fred (the Basset from "Smokey and the Bandit"), but they were vetoed, so we settled on Duke. Kind of fun to stand at the back door and yell "SADIE...DUUUUUKE!"

Looking forward to the 50th birthday coverage. I'm hoping when I hit that milestone I'm out of the country on an uncharted dessert island. (No, that wasn't a misspelling, I want an island full of desserts.)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“A favorite dish in Kansas is creamed corn on a stick.”

-Jeff Harms, actor, comedian.

>Enjoying every bite, because I don't know any better...

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Augh! I keep getting a database error when I try to upload photos from dinner. Believe me, though, you're not missing much. Mondays are wild around here: Kid has after-school stuff and didn't get in until nearly 6. He asked for pizza tonight (mine, not delivery! Aww ...) so I whipped one up for him. I had some dough in the freezer (Note: Pizza dough is DOUGH. Other dough is FOUGH.) The Miele speed oven we have has a great defrosting function that made quick work of that. I also keep some sauce around for just this reason.

Marinated a couple of chicken breasts in lemon juice, smooshed garlic and s/p and grilled em. Had mine as it is; Mr. FB will probably put his on a sandwich with cheese, mayo, and have a beer with it, and lose weight. Sigh.

Can't wait to see what turns up in this blog. Happy 50th to Mr. FB. I roomed with a Modestan when I lived in SF (she grew up with the Gallo family).
They were all over the place when I lived in California! Shoot, I was at a butts 'n' guts class and the person sweating next to me was one of the wives (not telling which one :wink: -- but she was terrific, always). After spending ten years in the P&G corporate structure, the thought of one of those types donning a leotard and sweating with the masses just did not compute. Yep, California was laid back and I loved it!
Looking forward to the rest of the blog. Oh, and the hotel pans for flours - consider that idea stolen!

Glad to be of service! :smile:

How easy is it to remove those drawer pans and get them back in again? With regard to your kitchen reno: I'm all ears (well, eyes) as the week goes on, if you care to comment on what has worked fabulously, what has worked not as well as you'd expected, and what you think you'd do differently if you had to do it again.
The pans in the back of the drawer aren't easy to put in or pull out as the setup is now; I had to change them to 3" depth (the others are 6"). The cabinetmaker made a frame that holds all the pans in place at the same height. When I remove the front pans, the rack pulls out and the rear ones can come out if I need to clean or remove them. I had an extremely detail-oriented designer working on this project. Wait till you see my recipe racks!

As I go through the week, I'll give some detail on all the different things we have. I'd say for each thing I had to give up (a lowboy, a trough sink), I got something amazing in return (a speed rack space, a huge kitchen island).

I'm following along with Blue Star envy. I chose the cooktop and wall oven route 10 years ago and am hesitant to give up the storeage under the cooktop. But I surely love the range idea! It is just beautiful. Functionality is important, however
Oooh -- wait till you see my pot storage! :biggrin:

And MizDucky ... you will love the theme of the party. It's this:

Fifty is the new Thirty. (That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!) (do note the Duke Blue color for the lettering!)

We're putting all your basset name ideas on a list with ours, and marking off the ones we can't do for one reason or another (like baby names!). Example: Carlos is great, but it's a friend's husband. So is Bernard, and Nigel. We all love Brian but (a) it's one of my husband's partners, and (b) we don't want to copy too much off Family Guy. :biggrin:

"Oh, tuna. Tuna, tuna, tuna." -Andy Bernard, The Office
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We're looking at a kitchen renovation this summer. I can't wait to see the rest of the details in your kitchen. I have very limited space, so I can use all the innovative storage ideas I can get.

We also have a new addition as of Friday. This is Quincy. We chose his name to fit with our other dogs, Milo and Kirby. The name also had to pass the yelling test, according to my husband.

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