Brrr. I simply must try harder to check all the windows before going to bed.
It's 52F outside and 62F inside. I know that's warm by most USA locations right now, but it's uncomfortably cold for me without turning on the heat, and I don't want to do that when I was too foolish to close all the windows last night! This is at least the 2nd night in a row that I've thought I'd closed them all and discovered my mistake in the morning.
Incidentally, this is the view outside now. I don't like it. The neighbors are fine, I just prefer scenery that isn't loaded with buildings and pavement. (I do like my amaryllis, though! It was part of my sister's Christmas present to me.)
I have reasons for staying here at least a month, but I'll have to spend a lot of time going elsewhere or else ignoring the outside and taking care of business inside and around the trailer. Baking and cooking are part of it, of course.
Following up on some of yesterday's posts: @liuzhou and @C. sapidus commented on Guinness Stout and its various strengths. Yesterday I was rather fuddled by all that in the beer store. They did have a draught version, nitrogenated, at something like 6.9% alcohol. I wasn't sure I needed the extra alcohol, and I'm not sure I'll get the desired effect in baking from nitrogen instead of the usual (in bottles, at least) carbonation. So I went with this:
It's true, 5.6% isn't a very high alcohol content. Shouldn't matter much to me!
In reviewing yesterday's post, I noticed this fine print on one of the boxes I showed above:
They do, actually, still call it Neufchatel. I hadn't noticed yesterday. I still think all those gums are a good reason for trying the Tillamook, which doesn't have them. @Maison Rustique wondered how difficult it is to make one's own cream cheese. I hadn't thought of that! According to Mr. Google, there are lots of recipes out there for making it, all claiming that it's easy. Since I trust Bon Appetit, here's their story on it: Make Your Own Cream Cheese. Maybe I'll try it...but for right now, I'm glad to have the Tillamook to try.
I cooked quesadillas last night, using some of the tortillas I'd bought and a hodgepodge of stuff from the refrigerator: some of the shredded chicken I bought last week for the soup; some sliced turkey; slices of cheese; pesto from a Trader Joe's jar; even some lettuce. The cast iron pan mentioned up here when @SLB asked about it was perfect for them.
The quesadilla on the right looks greasy because I'd used all the oil cooking the flour-tortilla quesadilla at the left. I'd thought there was enough oil to cook the next one, using corn tortillas. I was wrong. I ended up pouring a little oil on the tortillas and then flipping them, but still didn't get them to brown the way I'd expected. Does anyone know whether corn tortillas need more oil, heat, or both than flour tortillas to brown? Or had I simply mismanaged the oil?
