The Parting Gift

When Craig and I lived in New York we had the opportunity to go to several four-star restaurants.  One detail– aside from champagne while you waited for the rest of your party to arrive, a purse bench,  having your tea leaves snipped right off the plant table side before it was brewed, and a confections cart at the end of the meal– was the small parting gift that was given on your way out of the restaurant. 

This past weekend, Craig created a five-course tasting menu for some friends, and I was inspired to make a parting gift that they could take home with them after the meal.  At first I planned to make canelé, but it was Sunday and you can't buy liquor on Sundays in NC. Unfortunately, we didn't have the rum we needed for the recipe. I opted to make chocolate macaron with a chocolate ganache filling instead. A number of years ago, when we still lived in NYC, I made rose-water macarons with my friend Samantha. That was the one and only time I successfully made macarons– this time I was determined to make it work.

On Sunday afternoon, I went to Craig's catering kitchen and made them all by myself with a little over-the-shoulder supervision and pointers from Craig– and only one tiff about the definition of "test batch".   I'm embarrassed to say that it took me four hours to make a recipe that says it should take 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 hours. In my defense, though, I was taking special care to make sure I was doing every step perfectly. Also, it took some time to make sure the oven was staying at the correct temperature. In the end, the macarons came out pretty well. Although the foot of the macarons did not look completely perfect the overall color and shape turned out great! Most importantly, though, was that they tasted great!

I think the only down side was that for all my hard work the recipe only yielded about 20 macarons. I would have known that had I not skimmed that part of the recipe before jumping into the bulk of the recipe.  I also skipped over the part that indicated that the difficulty level for the recipe was all the way over on the, "hard," side of the scale. Oops!   

Now, I am inspired to try making other flavors.  I think the next flavor I will try is a berry flavor with a cream-cheese butter-cream filling. 

Photo Journal: Flat Stanley

Last week my sister-in-law included me in a request to help her friends child complete a school project. The children had read a book called Flat Stanley. In the book the character Stanley gets flattened when a bulletin board falls on him. He realizes that there are many things that he can do if he is flat including being mailed to friends. Part of the assignment was to mail Flat Stanley to friends and family and have them take pictures of his adventures while visiting them. Above is my photo of Flat Stanley attending a Carolina Hurricane's pre-season game. This photo was taken during the pre-skate.  Unfortunately the Hurricane's lost this game. . .

Back in the Swing of Things

Just when I was about to post an entry about having my 1 year anniversary of doing Pilates I took a 10 week break! However, yesterday I went back to class and feel great about it!

Besides going back to Pilates class I have gotten back on the bandwagon with my diet and exercise routine. I've been walking about a mile and a half during my lunch break nearly every day and I actually stepped back into the gym without self combusting!

My next step is to get to the gym before work at least 3 days a week.  I'd actually like to build that up to 5 days a week but I figure I should start slow and build myself up so that I have less chance of failing.

Wish me luck!

I'll let you know how it goes. . .

Photo Journal: Subway Shenanigans

Looking through some photos from my digital camera, I came across this photo from July. These hooligans were at the 34th street station upstairs near the F train. 

EAT Goodies!

Craig's catering company, Edible Accolades, will be one and a half years old in July.  Even though he is still building his clientele base I am already dreaming up new side projects I could manage for the business.

One side project that I am excited about is EAT: Edible Accolades Treats.  This will be an online side business where people can order gourmet treats  that will be mailed to them or picked up at the kitchen.  I want to keep it simple and start off with three or four types of cookies. I'm thinking chocolate chip, double chocolate chip, white chocolate with cranberry,  and white chocolate macadamia nut cookies.   Then, if things go well I can expand and incorporate other items such as brownies, chocolates, and pies that might ship well. Perhaps some of those other items could be seasonal specials.

Other news on the horizon to look out for is the launch of the Edible Accolades website. I think this should be happening by the end of the month. I saw some proofs of the website and I think they looked fabulous. I can't wait for the website to go live so I can share it with everyone!

Kentucky Ginger

When Craig and I were at The Campbell Apartment after Josephine and Vincent's wedding I ordered a Kentucky Ginger. This was no ordinary bourbon and ginger ale drink though, it was made with homemade ginger ale and it was garnished with fresh rosemary and a piece of candied ginger. It basically tasted awesome.  I have been wanting to have another one ever since Memorial Day weekend. Even though I have found a handful of pretty good cocktails here in Raleigh (like the time I had a really nice martini, at Zely & Ritz, that was made with pickles instead of olives) I know I'm not going to find anything like the Kentucky Ginger I had in NYC here on the home front.

Just when I thought I was going to have to accept that things were different here in Raleigh everything changed. This weekend Craig helped me to re-create the drink at home! First, he made a simple sugar syrup that he infused with fresh ginger. We mixed the simple syrup with some Makers Mark bourbon and club soda. We picked up some fresh rosemary to use as a garnish and  . . . wait for it . . . one of the nice things about having a chef for a husband is that we just happend to have candied ginger laying around!  I couldn't believe how easy it was and now it will be even easier since we have a pretty large stock pile of the simple syrup left over! 

Craig styled and photographed our homemade Kentucky Ginger (above).

You Art What You Eat Food Challenge

Last month I received an honorable mention at our Publication Department's Semi Annual Food Challenge.  The theme of the April Food Challenge was: You Art What You Eat.  For this culinary event we needed to create dishes that were inspired by works of art.

Since I moved to the NC office and the rest of the department is in NYC I was faced with the additional problem of shipping my entry up to NY! After much thought I decided to ship  chocolate & bourbon pecan pies up. Craig and I had made pies like this once to take to my Aunt's house on Thanksgiving a few years ago and I remember that everyone really liked them. This time, I made them alone with a little over the shoulder supervision from Craig.  I followed the recipe for pecan pie that was on the Karo Syrup label and added chocolate chips and some Maker's Mark Bourbon to my taste. We didn't actually have enough Karo Syrup in the pantry so there was a tad less in the pies than  the recipe actually called for.

I decided on the pies because I thought they would ship well, and I could use my favorite Paul Friedrich piece with Dr. Strangegutt contemplating evil or pie.  I stopped at the party supply store to buy boxes and tissue paper and other items that would help with the shipping.  For 24 hours I was really nervous that they would arrive as one big mess.

Actually, they shipped so well that one of my coworkers emailed me to let me know that they were still intact even after the box had been sitting on its side in the reception area! I was happy about that but then I became nervous that they were actually as hard as rocks! After the challenge was over I  received lots of emails letting me know how good the pies were and I was relieved that they were edible. My honorable mention certificate is tacked up on my cubicle wall now, below my employee of the month certificate and next to my 2nd place certificates for the "Hair of the Dog" and the "Picking & Grinning" food challenges.