Katablog

Daring Baker July Challenge: Milan and Mallow Cookies

2009-07-26T20:43:00.000-07:00

For me, cooking is social time. I love cooking ... especially when there is company. Cooking (and baking) is a party. And, what can be more fun than a cooking party with kids? My son, Wylie, and my new nine-year-old granddaughter, Caitlyn, were my party guests. Sadly, Shawna, Wylie's bride, was ill and could not join us.

We all piped Milan cookie dough, which resulted in a variety of sizes and shapes. In the photo, the 8 "straighter" sections are mine when I showed my guests how to use a piping bag.

While Caitlyn didn't do any of the handling of the hot syrup, she did get to lick the beaters, much to her delight, and mix food coloring into some of the marshmallow fluff for some dusty rose and turquoise colored marshmallow cookies. Wylie learned that the back end of the piping bag has to be held closed otherwise marshmallow fluff will ooze out ... everywhere! Needless to say, there were many giggles and gales of laughter coming from the kitchen.

There was one problem. The chocolate coating never set up or firmed up or hardened. It remained soft like a melted or warmed chocolate bar in a fresh made campfire s'mores. Even after sitting for three days, they were as soft as the first day. While the cookies were messy to eat, it did not stop anyone from eating them ... one after the other. The Milan cookies were the all time favorite, both in flavor and the fact that the ganache set up perfectly ... resulting in a perfect non-messy cookie.

Using the the two cookie bases, chocolate ganache filling, and marshmallow fluff from the challenge cookies I made a variety of cookies. With the shortbread-like dough I made one inch rounds and inch-and-a-half squares. With these I made the chocolate coated marshmallow cookie (challenge), moon pies (round, chocolate coated marshmallow sandwich), s'more bites (square, ganache and marshmallow filled sandwich), and chocolate bottom shortbread (with chocolate drizzle). With the left over Milan bases I made tuxedo cookies ... one end dipped into chocolate coating at an angle creating a "V". As added interest, some of the cookies were rolled in or sprinkled with chopped toffe bits.

Isn't it great when one or two recipes can turn out such a variety? Especially when the preparation is so easy and uses relatively few ingredients.

The Daring Baker July challenge as it was presented:

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.
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I'm a huge fan of Gale Gand, I have tried a lot of her recipes and they are such a huge success. For July's challenge though I wanted to try something different and I wanted to do Gand’s version on my favorite store bought cookies which are the Peppridge Farm Milano Cookies and the Mallows (Chocolate covered Cookies). I've been wanting to try this recipes but just haven't have the chance to do so or to be honest haven’t have the courage to tackle homemade marshmallow yet, until now.

Mallows(Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies)
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website

Prep Time: 10 min
Inactive Prep Time: 5 min
Cook Time: 10 min
Serves: about 2 dozen cookies

• 3 cups (375grams/13.23oz) all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (112.5grams/3.97oz) white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter
• 3 eggs, whisked together
• Homemade marshmallows, recipe follows
• Chocolate glaze, recipe follows

1. In a mixer with the paddle attachment, blend the dry ingredients.
2. On low speed, add the butter and mix until sandy.
3. Add the eggs and mix until combine.
4. Form the dough into a disk, wrap with clingfilm or parchment and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.
5. When ready to bake, grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper or a silicon mat.
6. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
7. Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness, on a lightly floured surface. Use a 1 to 1 1/2 inches cookie cutter to cut out small rounds of dough.
8. Transfer to the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool to room temperature.
9. Pipe a “kiss” of marshmallow onto each cookie. Let set at room temperature for 2 hours.
10. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or silicon mat.
11. One at a time, gently drop the marshmallow-topped cookies into the hot chocolate glaze.
12. Lift out with a fork and let excess chocolate drip back into the bowl.
13. Place on the prepared pan and let set at room temperature until the coating is firm, about 1 to 2 hours.

Note: if you don’t want to make your own marshmallows, you can cut a large marshmallow in half and place on the cookie base. Heat in a preheated 350-degree oven to slump the marshmallow slightly, it will expand and brown a little. Let cool, then proceed with the chocolate dipping.

Homemade marshmallows:
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 3/4 cup (168.76 grams/5.95oz) sugar
• 1 tablespoon powdered gelatin
• 2 tablespoons cold water
• 2 egg whites , room temperature
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. In a saucepan, combine the water, corn syrup, and sugar, bring to a boil until “soft-ball” stage, or 235 degrees on a candy thermometer.
2. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let dissolve.
3. Remove the syrup from the heat, add the gelatin, and mix.
4. Whip the whites until soft peaks form and pour the syrup into the whites.
5. Add the vanilla and continue whipping until stiff.
6. Transfer to a pastry bag.

Chocolate glaze:
• 12 ounces semisweet chocolate
• 2 ounces cocoa butter or vegetable oil

1. Melt the 2 ingredients together in the top of a double boiler or a bowl set over barely simmering water.

Milan Cookies
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website

Prep Time: 20 min
Inactive Prep Time: 0 min
Cook Time: 1 hr 0 min
Serves: about 3 dozen cookies

• 12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups (312.5 grams/ 11.02 oz) powdered sugar
• 7/8 cup egg whites (from about 6 eggs)
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons lemon extract
• 1 1/2 cups (187.5grams/ 6.61 oz) all purpose flour
• Cookie filling, recipe follows

Cookie filling:
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 orange, zested

1. In a mixer with paddle attachment cream the butter and the sugar.
2. Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts.
3. Add the flour and mix until just well mixed.
4. With a small (1/4-inch) plain tip, pipe 1-inch sections of batter onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, spacing them 2 inches apart as they spread.
5. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.
6. While waiting for the cookies to cool, in a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream.
7. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl, whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well.
8. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools).
9. Spread a thin amount of the filling onto the flat side of a cookie while the filling is still soft and press the flat side of a second cookie on top.
10. Repeat with the remainder of the cookies.

* You can either do both recipes or just choose one.

Daring Cooks Challenge: Skate, traditional flavors powdered (slightly altered)

2009-07-14T00:01:00.000-07:00

This is my first challenge as part of the Daring Kitchen challenges. The July Daring Cook challenge was hosted by Sketchy. The title of the recipe seemed not to make sense: Skate, Traditional Flavors Powdered (slightly altered). At first reading I thought I might have gotten myself into a challenge too big for my britches. However, upon re-reading, I realized that the recipe was long, but the steps were fairly simple. This would be fun.

In summary, the recipe called for drying various herbs and fruits then pulverizing them into fine powders. The powders are then artfully arranged on each diners plate, into which the poached fish is dipped for a flavor burst. The poaching liquid is buerre monte ... hot, emulsified butter. The use of the powders is, as I understand, a new trend called Molecular Cuisine.

I am lucky in that I have my Mom's old food dehydtrator and it still works. This is almost a miracle since the apparatus is 30 years old ... or more. The hinges on the door are broken, but the door leans against the opening. The feet on one side are gone, so it needs a lift; I use a tile trivet. One of the trays is broken into two pieces, so the tray goes in first then the plastic screen (loaded) is slid in carefully. What was once a bright white plastic is now an aged yellowy plastic. But, the thing works and was a joy to use because it was if my Mom was helping me with this challenge.

I decided that because this was my first venture into Molecular Cuisine I would follow the recipe as given, with a few minor adjustments to fit my guests tastes. My guests were my husband, Dennis, my son, Wylie, and his wife, Shawna. Dennis and I are not fond of cilantro and I love sweet basil; you guessed it, I subbed basil for cilantro. Shawna is a vegetarian, so I chose to serve tofu for our 2 pm dinner on Sunday afternoon. I thought that it would be fun if each guest decorated their own plates with the powders.

Friday evening I washed and patted dry fresh flat leafed parsely and basil. After the stems were trimmed the herbs were layered onto the dehydrator trays. At 10 pm the trays were loaded and the dehydrator turned on. Next, I began preparing for Saturday's dehydrating session. The lemons were zested, poached and patted dry. The Onion was chopped and refrigerated. The capers were rinsed and rinsed and rinsed, again.

The next morning as I was unloading the trays of nicely dried parsely and basil I realized I forgot to blanch the parsley. Oh, well. The trays were layered with the candied lemon zest, the capers and onions. The dehydrater was back in full swing and the crushing of the parsley and basil began.

The first crushing involved a handful of dried leaves placed on a spatter screen over a bowl and rubbed across the screen. The second step was rubbing the now coarsely powdered leaves through a finer mesh ... in this case my tiny sieve. The resulting powder was finely grained.

Toasting the powdered milk took longer than the recipe stated. For me it took four rounds in the oven, tossing and mixing the milk each round. While the milk was toasting I pulverized the freeze dried banana chips in the coffee grinder to a texture that resembled the powdered milk. When the two were eventually blended together I was surprised at the lovely color and delicate taste.

In the evening it was time to turn the lemon peel (zest), onion, and capers into powder. They dried into hard little chunks that required pulverizing in the coffee grinder. Then, the course grind was sifted in the fine mesh strainer. The little chunks that remained after straining were crushed in the mortar and pestle. Originally I thought I might serve the powders unblended, however it became apparent that the sugar content of the onon and lemon powders caused them to clump. After blending them, however, they remained nicely powdery. I had a little "ah-oh" with the lemon powder and citric acid ... because my scale isn't accurate enough I ended up with too much citric acid creating a very ... VERY ... sour powder. Seems like a good excuse for a new and better scale to me ... for me!

Not wanting to serve the tofu in the usual cubes, nor wanting to serve a plank of tofu, I cut and shaped the tofu into a somewhat fish fillet shape. When I slid them into the buerre monte, I realized I ended up with one end rather blunt ... oh well, next time will be better.

While the beans were cooking and the tofu was poaching we began decorating our plates with the powders. I decorated my plate first showing the basic method of spooning, leveling (a shake of the plate) and twirling the powders.

I laid out various tools: spoon, forks, and knife. Everyone had fun decorating their plates with powders. I was quite pleased that they all wanted to play and experiment, not wanting to copy anyone.

I was surprised at how easy and quickly the buerre monte came together. It's as easy as making mayonaise ... keeping in mind until emulsion is apparent that the butter should be added slowly. After that, the cooking went quickly. While the green beans were cooking, it seemed as if the cooking liquid would never evaporate, but they did. The beans stayed bright green. In the photo you can see the buerre monte kept warm on the back burner with a heat tempering plate. Next. the tofu was poached. I wasn't sure about poaching the tofu fillets, but nothing ventured nothing gained. They turned out beautiful, however, I think they could have been trimmed smaller. They were large "fillets".

Sooooo .... how did everyone like their dinner? The onion/caper powder was a big hit, as was the brown butter powder. Everyone thought the lemon powder was so sour it over powered all the others. The basil/parsley powder was delicate, which surprised us all. Wyie was the winner of the powders because he used all of his, including the lemon powder. You might think that he put less lemon powder on his plate, but that is not the case. We all used a teaspoon of each powder. Dennis, who does not favor tofu ("sponge") commented, "well, yup, it's tofu .... but, I DID each it all" I guess it wasn't so bad for him, in the end. But, next time, I think he'd prefer the fish.

There was enough left over powder to share; Wylie and Shawna were eager to go home a use them .... especially the brown butter powder. The unused buerre monte was pored into a container an refrigerated. I use it whenever I need butter for cooking.

The Challenge as it was given:

The Challenge: Skate, traditional flavors powdered (slightly altered)
Reveal Date: July 14th

This is a dish from Grant Achatz, found in the Alinea cookbook - page 230. I picked a recipe that could be completed without having to order a bunch of specialized chemicals or powders. Just a little work and you can make this, the techniques are not very hard and only require a few tools.

Onto the recipe:

Skate, Traditional Flavors Powdered - with changes

4 skate wings
* Beurre monte
* 300g fresh green beans
sea salt/kosher salt
1 banana
454g butter - 4 sticks
300g lemons
5g citric acid/vitamin c tablet
150g cilantro
150g parsley
100g dried banana chips
300g spray dried cream powder (or powdered milk)
100g cup minced red onion
200g capers (brined, not oil)

* For green beans, slice each beans into very thin rounds (2 mm)
* Beurre Monte - 454g butter (4 sticks, 1 pound) cubed and cold, 60g water. In a small saucepan, bring the water to a boil, remove from heat and whisk in the butter 1 cube at a time. This should from an emulsion. Keep this heated, but under 195 degrees. The emulsion will not break - this is your poaching liquid.

Powders - prepare ahead of time
caper / onion
lemon powder
cilantro/parsley powder
'brown butter' powder

Powders
once dried, all powders should be pulsed in a coffee grinder/spice mill/morter and pestle then passed through a chinois or fine mesh strainer.

citrus powder
300g lemons
1000g simple syrup
5g citric acid/vitamin c tablet

zest 300g of lemons (10.6 oz), remove the pith from the zest and poach in the simple syrup three times. dry with paper towels and move to a dehydrating tray. 130 for 12 hours. pulse the zest in a coffee grinder, pass through chinois, and mix with citric acid/vitamin C powder.

If you do not have a dehydrator, place in microwave for 8 to 10 minutes at medium powder. Once dried, follow the other instructions.

cilantro/parsley powder
150g cilantro
150g parsley

blanch the parsley in boiling saltwater for 1 second, submerge the leaves in ice water for 3 minutes. Dry on paper towels and place on dehydrator tray. 130 for 12 hours. grind and pass through chinois.

If you do not have a dehydrator, place in microwave for 30 seconds, turn over leaves and microwave for another thirty seconds. They should be dry by now, pulse in coffee grinder, pass through chinois and reserve.

onion powder
100g cup minced red onions

dehydrator - 130 for 12 hours
microwave at medium power for 20 minutes.

pulse in grinder, pass through chinois

Caper powder
200g capers (get the ones packed in brine/vinegar)

run the capers under cold water for two minutes to remove some of the brine.
dry on paper towels and dehydrate for 12 hours at 130 degrees.
microwave instructions are unclear. Dry them as much a possible with paper towels, the microwave on medium for 1 minute. Check the moisture content and stir them. repeat for 30 second intervals until they are dry. If you use this method, pleas post the time needed to dry the capers.

Once dry, pulse and sift the powder. Mix it with the onion powder.

Brown Butter powder

100g Dried banana chips (unsweetened if possible - many are coated in honey - the freeze dried ones would be brilliant)
300g spray dried cream powder

If you cannot find the cream powder, you can substitute Bob's red mill non fat dry milk powder, or even carnation instant milk powder. The substitutions will alter the flavor a little, but you will still get the general idea.

preheat the oven to 350 degrees, sift the cream powder into a fine layer on a silpat or on parchment. bake for 4 minutes, then remove for heat. If it bakes for too long, it will burn. Be very cautious with all powders in the oven. They all go from browned to burnt in a few seconds.

grind the banana chips in a coffee grinder and mix with the toasted cream powder. Pass this through a chinois and reserve.

Skate
Prepare the skate - 50G v shaped cuts are recommended
Bring 100g water, 100g beurre monte, and green bean rounds to a boil over high heat. Cook until the water has evaporated (about 3 minutes), when the pan is almost dry, remove it from heat and season with 3g salt

bring 300g water and 300g beurre monte to simmer over medium heat, add skate wings and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove the pan from heat and flip the wing over and let rest in pan for two more minutes. Transfer to warming tray lined with parchment and season with 5 grams of fine sea salt.

Plating

Take the tip of a small spoon and make a small mound of the citrus powder, the onion-caper powder, and the cilantro parsley-powder. Swirl these around in a hurricane type pattern. I found that it is easier, and you get finer lines if you lightly shake the plate to flatten out the mounds, then swirl the spoon through it to get the pattern.

peel the remaining banana into very think slices (3mm) fan three slices on the plate, place green beans on top and place skate wing portion on top. On the tall edge, sprinkle the brown butter powder.

Substitutions
The Skate can be replaced with flounder or cod.
If you can get skate that is not 'prepared' IE - Skinned- get the fish monger to prepare it for you.

The powdered cream can be omitted completely, just replace it with more banana powder, or pineapple powder. Possibly non dairy creamer, but I have NO idea what would happen if you tried to brown it.

The poaching liquid is pretty much butter - it could be replaced with other poaching methods. Water, wine, bay leaf, garlic clove, pepper, etc. Try to go easy on the salt in the liquid if you use a replacement.

Disclaimer - the sample dish was made with cod because Skate was not available at the time in Richmond. Whole Foods usually carries it. Check your fish markets before you head out to buy some.

Frogs On My Window

2009-07-12T16:00:00.000-07:00

Why do I like living out in the country ... ok, maybe it's not so much out in the county, but two acres five miles from the town of Clovis ... what's so grand? The wild life that lives here, too. Granted, there is a lot of wild life in town, but out here they are more abundant ... and it's quiet. AND, at night, it's dark, except for the bright moon and sparkling stars.

At night, out come the night critters, including the cute, little California frog. If you have ever watched a movie that takes place in a swamp or jungle and there is a racket of chirping frogs ... that's the California frog, even tho there are no such frogs in the swamp. They sound good in the movies, tho ... a loud, abundance or constant ribbeting.

We have a large room we call the Compass Room (story for nuther day) that has a window to the north. Next to the window is a torchiere lamp. We turn the lamp on nightly for soft illumination in the room. That soft illumination attracts little moths and other flying insects to the window (on the outside). These critters attract frogs. Usually, the frogs sit on the sidelines of the window's edge, lingering in the shadows. But, when it's time to eat, out they come onto the window.

The window is smudged and dirty with moth wing dust and frog foot prints. I hestitate to wash the window for fear that it might dissuade the moths and frogs from coming back. Yes, the light is an attractant, but perhaps there is a smell that lingers on their smudges.

I admit, clean windows are wonderful ... next winter.

What to do with the Ricotta?

2009-06-18T13:54:00.000-07:00

Make Gnocchi !

Ingredients are assembled: 1 cup ricotta, 1 egg lightly beaten, 1/2 TBS melted butter (unsalted), 1/8 cup grated Parmesan cheese, generous pinch of salt.

Altho the ricotta I made was very creamy and fine grained, I pressed it thru a sieve "just to make sure" all lumps were broken. I used a spatter screen placed over my mixing bowl and mashed the ricotta with the back of a spoon.

The remianing ingredients were dumped into the bowl then mixed into a "dough". No flour or potatoes in this mixture. Mix and mix and beat until the dough is thoroughly blended ... no steaks or variations of color

Using a teaspoon, scoop up about 2 tsp of dough then, with your finger, push the dough off the side of the spoon into a pan of flour.
Pushing off the side of the spoon lets the dough form into oval shapes. Gently roll the the ovals in flour, which will keep them from sticking together or to the pan.

Take an oval into you hand and rock and roll it back and forth to further shape them. I would give them a little flip with my fingers in the process. The shapes will not be perfect ... all those little wrinkles, nooks and crannies will help hold the sauce to the gnocchi dumpling. Also, the rocking, rolling and flipping help knock off excess flour.

So that I would have even more creases I pressed fork tines across each dumpling

The gnocchi dumplings were dropped into salted boiling water. I let them continue cooking another minute or so after they rose to the surface being careful not to over cook them. Overcooked gnocchi can get mushy ... and I freely admit, some of mine DID! But they tasted fine, all the same.

I sauced the gnocchi with olive oil & browned butter, fresh basil and nutmeg. They accompanied roated chicken and sauted summer squash.

These gnocchi are delicate, airy pillows ... perfect for summer!

Making Ricotta Cheese

2009-06-17T11:13:00.000-07:00

My daughter, Luna, belongs to an online cooking group called Daring Cook. Each month they are given a cooking challenge, which they try, test, and post. Last month, May 2009, their challenge was making ricotta gnocchi. While they could use store bought ricotta (the challenge was making the gnocchi) they were encouraged to make their owm ricotta since the process is so easy. It sounded like fun and I thought I'd give it a try.

To be honest, I didn't make true ricotta. Ricotta translates as re-cooked. True Italian ricotta is cheese made from the whey after making Mozzarella cheese; the left-over whey is cooked (hence the re-cook) with more acid resulting in the last of any protein remaining in the whey is clotted into ricotta. My ricotta is made from fresh milk and cream. Well, as fresh as one can get from the dairy case at the grocery store (READ: pasturized). I followed the links on Luna's blog plus a little more research finally coming up with my proportion and procedure. Like so many recipes, there are as many variations as there are cooks and cheese makers. But, all-in-all, the procedure is much the same, the variations are what acids are used and when to add them.

This is how I made my ricotta:

Into a stainless steel pot I poured a half gallon (minus one cup) of whole milk plus one cup of heavy cream. This will give me a creamier ricotta.

Over medium flame I heated the milk to 180 degrees F, stirring occasionally so it wouldn't scortch on the bottom.

As the temperature nears 180 degrees F, I measure 3 TBS vinegar and less than 1/4 tsp salt into my measuring cup.

As soon as I stir in the vinegar & salt solution the milk seperates into curds and whey. Success!

Once the curds formed up I turned off the heat. I was also careful not to stir up the curd, which would break them up into pieces so tiny they might drain away with the whey in the next step.

The curd is soft and delicate. The whey is a clear liquid that is slightly yellow-green in color.

The curds and whey are poured into a sieve which I lined with layers of cheese cloth.

After most of the whey drained I gathered up the corners of the cheese cloth into a bag, of sorts. You can see more whey draining. I also gave the bag a gentle squeeze firming up the ball of ricotta.

I tied the bag onto the faucet so that it could finish draining for approximately 30 minutes. Once the whey is drained and any remaining liquid dripping is milky in color, the ricotta can be put in a container.

I prefer drier ricotta; so,I hung it in the refrigerator overnight.

The results was a one pound ball of fresh ricotta. The texture is creamy and smooth. Not as smooth as cream cheese, but much smoother and finer than store bought, which always reminds me of sand. The flavor is delicate.

This morning we (The Mister and I) had some on toast. The process is so easy that I can see myself making this regularly ... varying the recipe each time until I settle upon my favorite(s)

Home Again Safely

2009-06-13T22:05:00.000-07:00

It occurred to me yesterday morning that I had not taken a single picture of a train, track, or station on our three day train trip. I have rectified this omission.

An interesting note about the Reno station is that the track has been reconstructed to a lower level so that the trains do not block streets and traffic above. The cross-over streets have guard fences as do all over-passes. The fences are bright blue with yellow and orange flames or trees at the corner. The concrete support wall from train platform up to street level have holes in it, probably needed during construction or installation.. Sparrows have made the holes their home. Watching the birds fly in and out of the holes was good enterrtainment while waiting for our train. That, and watching kids run up and down the platform.

The return trip was in two steps beginning with a ride westward on the California Zephyr to Sacramento, then changing to the San Joaquin traveling southward to Fresno. The Sacramento station was busy with three Amtrak trains (California Corridor, The San Joaquin, and the California Zephyr) and freight trains. Actually, all the stations had freight trains pass thru since the tracks are shared by both the freight line and Amtrak.

It was a fun three days with the bulk of the time spent riding the train. We put on many miles. I remember road trips where at the end of an 8 hour (or more) day of driving I was jittery and had trouble sleeping. At the end of each day on this adventure I felt raring to go for a wonderful evening and a good night's sleep. All that being said, I was glad to be home and in my own bed. I was tired at the end of the three days, but not exhausted.

I am thinking the next train trip should be overnight ON the train ... !

From The Bay Area to Reno on the California Zephyr

2009-06-11T07:38:00.000-07:00

Woke up this morning to high fog ... except right over The City (across the bay) where the sun was shining brightly. Looking out our hotel window I felt s if I was looking at OZ all aglow ... albeit, a greenless version, but none-the-less, just as bright.

On such a perfect day for travel, and since I didn't have to drive, I started my morning with a cuppa joe san soucci. Ahhhhh ... life is grande! Then, off to the train station where we discovered that The Mister has left his boarding passes back at the hotel. A quick cab ride back to the hotel (thankfully we were early to the station and the hotel was near by) to retrieve them. I put them with my passes in my purse since we all know that ladies rarely forget their purses.

After we secured our seats and tix were collected by the conductor we made our way up to the lounge car (aka dome car) so that we would have a maximum view. And, a spendid view indeed. Once we made it past Sacto we began our climb into the foothills, then the trek over the Sierra thru DonnerPass. The Mister, who loves playing the navigator with maps, used our GPS. Actually, two GPS sources: Garmin and Blackberry. Occassional clearings revealed glances of canyons and vistas of mountains. We had fabulous views of the sky with big, grey, rainy-looking clouds, to the streams, rivers, and forests below.

Also in the lounge car was the Loud Family vacation ... the adult children and their spouses traveling all the way to Chicago (a two day trip). They were so loud that we could not hear the "tour guide" tell about the sights of the trip. But, considering his voice was lack luster and rather sing song-like, sounding as if he were reading a script for the first time, I don't think we missed much. When the Loud brothers and sisters went to the diner car for lunch we could hear the docent quite well ... yup, we didn't miss too much.

The evening's events included a fine dinner (I had swordfish cooked to perfection and The Mister had prime rib) at the JA Nugget Casino and a Los Lonely Boys concert. The food was excellent and the performance was better. The Boys travel with an enterauge of family and friends. Before the show they went around the room handing out souvenir bookmarks and swag ... 100's of dollars in swag!

Tomorrow ... we head back home ... a second trip over Donne Pass. Now, for a good night's sleep

San Joaquin Amtrak to Emeryville

2009-06-10T21:44:00.000-07:00

It's thrilling. Thrilling like a child eagerly waiting for Santa Claus. I'm waiting for the train. I'm traveling with The Mister, my dear husband, Dennis. Our destination is Reno. I have desired a train trip over thee Sierra for several years, now, and we are finally taking it. If we were willing to ride the Amtrak bus part way (Stockton to Sacramento) we could have made it to Reno in one day. But, we did not want a bus ride ... train all the way. This means a two day trip: first leg of our trip is from Fresno, California to Emeryville, California.

Wylie picked us up at home and took us to the old Santa Fe Depot (recently refurbished by the city and declared a landmark) that is now the home of the Amtrak station. The weather was perfect, sunny yet cool. We sat outside near the tracks while waiting for our train. Hearing the train whistle off in the distance started that exciting anticipation. As the train pulled into the station I could feel the power of the engine in my chest ... a mighty powerful engine indeed, and loud.

a friendly volunteer at the old Santa Fe Depot in Fresno chats while we wait for our train

We boarded the train, headed straight up the stairs to the upper domed level. We found seats at a table, sharing the space with another passenger. The view was stellar. I have traveled up and down the Big Valley many times by car where the groves and orcchards of trees are above my head .... a bit like not seeing the forest for the trees. This time I am seeing the groves, orchards and vineyards from a birds eye view: the valley is indeed furtile and fruitful.

We were "entertained" by a gentleman two rows back who talked on his cell phone three hours straight. And, I mean straight. The young man on the other end (I deduced it was a young man from hearing this side of the talking) didn't say much because our side of the phone conversation was a loud, long running monologue. Cell yell at it's best. At least he had a pleasant voice, not some shrill scream-sounding voice. We were amused. He should have been a philosopher or a political pundit ... or a banker or broker ... but, he was being an advisor to a recently graduated young relative.

I called our hotel, the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge Hilton Garden Inn, as we approached the station. They sent a courtesy van to the station and we were soon checked into our room. After cocktails and dinner we have retired for the night to the Mirra chair (where I sit, now) and The Mister cozied into the "Garden Sleep System" bed ("a patented, self-adjusting technology to conform to your body" ... I am quoting, here). Soon, I will give it a try.

The Mister relaxes before we head downstairs to the lounge for cocktails and dinner

Tomorrow ... heading eastward to our state capitol, Sacramento, then up over the Sierra, and onto Reno. No, we're not gamblers or gamers ... we're going to a concert.

Testing my Netbook

2009-06-09T01:25:00.001-07:00

I've had very painful back issues for a year, now. Recently I've had two steroid injections in my back. The first one was good for a few days (moderate pain). The second injection seems to be having a positive effect. Pain is dramatically reduced. I am thrilled!

But, what does this have to do with my new netbook? Travel, that's what. I don't have nearly as much travel planned for this year as I had last year. Much of my back issues were probably due to the intensity of my travels last year. But, I DO have a few trips planned for this summer ... and if all goes well, I will add a trip or two for the Fall. My laptop is somewhat large, fast, and for some one with a bad back, it's heavy ... probably over 8 pounds or so. By the time it's in a bag with the AC adapter it get's heavier than I should be lifting or carting around.

Several months ago I read an article about netbooks. It sounded like the answer to my prayers ... 2-3 pounds and little. Yes, it's slower and the smaller screen means more scrolling, but when I'm traveling most of my needs are keeping up with email and social networking.I did my research comparing the various machines out there and settled on the 2.2 pound ASUS Eee Netbook 901. It arrived today.

As you can see, my netbook is much smaller than my laptop. When it comes to travel convenience, it will be a dream.

I will test it for travel very soon, too. Wednesday we train to Reno. Finally, the train trip over the Sierra is coming true!

Decissions .... Decissions

2009-05-27T10:48:00.000-07:00

I tend to stay up late ... really late ... into the wee hours of the morning. The Mister falls asleep around 8pm ... on the couch ... wandering up to bed around 9:30 or so. The Mister, like a good farmer and early-to-bed guy, awakens before sunrise. Once he is awake he cannot go back to sleep. I awaken around 7:30, just as The Mister is driving off to the theatre scene shop. While I can easily go right back to sleep, even after a shower (much to his demise), I get out of bed, grab a cuppa joe, sit in the sunny window and ponder my day. As the summer comes on, no sitting in a sunny window ... too hot! HA!

On the rare occasion I awake early enough to make breakfast while he showers. Today I awoke while he was dressing ... part of our conversation went something like this:

me: what the weather like today? (he watches The Weather Channel AND reads the daily newspaper every single day)
he: 99
me: I thought it seemed rather still outside (a sure sign of high temps this time of year)
he: very still... but, it's supposed to get down into the 80's next week
he: Friday is my last day
me: THIS Friday?
he: yeah ... I DID work all the Holidays
me: yes you DID ... !

I chuckled to myself because I have been asking when he was finished for the season. Typically it's the last day of school. Last week his answer was no different: June 12. This annoyed me because he worked hard thru all those times he was "supposed" to be off ... grrrr! Now, I am excited because our summer starts earlier than I had anticipated. I love having The Mister home.

As I list all of the things I'd like to do and the places I'd like to go I am reminded that my back is in a healing process. I must limit my activities and the extent to which, where and how I travel. The recent weekend road trip brought me home rather exhausted and aching. I must ... MUST ... allow the latest steroid epidural do it's job. This is a hard learning process for me since I have always ... had always ... been strong and capable and independent.

The Mister just called: The Lion King has a permanent installation in Vegas. I had checked into going to see Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood in concert at several venues including Vegas, but all that remain are nose bleed seats ... no thanks. So, I had written off a trip to Vegas. Since The Lion King is now a permanent installation I am wondering if I should pursue it for a summer event, or let it ride until later in the year. The Holidays? I wonder what next year's theatre season has in store? Will The Mister get the Holidays off or will he end up working them ... again ... sigh.

I DO know I will work on taking the train over the Sierra this summer. This is a trip I hae been talking about for a couple of summers, now. It's time to either DI IT or drop it from the list! The extent of the trip is what is up in the air. How far to go ... how long to stay where we go ... ??? Mid July we head to Tahoe for a short week (Wednesday to Monday) for Jon and Julie's wedding. Shortly after our Tahoe trip we fly with Woody and Kathie to Oshkosh for the AirVenture show. This year we are talking about flying into Canada for a few days.

So, considering what is already in store for the summer, perhaps it would be best if I stayed ... laid ... low for most of June and early July. I can always continue with home decorating I have started ... and continue reducing my craft supplies by 80%. But, it's summer ... travel is in the air.

Such a dilemma!

Memorial Weekend ... easy does it

2009-05-26T11:54:00.000-07:00

Hyper-links ... today I will try making a hyperlink in this blog. In my first post I made reference to Luna's activity in two cooking groups. One is called The Daring Cook. Her first venture was ricotta gnocchi. She made her own ricotta. The whole process sounded like fun and resulted in a light, airy gnocchi. Yum!

Last Friday I had a second theraputic epidural (READ: steroid injected into the disk between L4 and L5). The first injection was 4 weeks earlier, but it's effectiveness was short lived. Supposedly, the second injection should be better. This weekend I made sure I planned nothing more active than sitting. I spent a good part of the weekend sorting and organizing beads. I barely made a dent in the project, but I did get it started. Starting is always the hardest part, isn't it?

On Sunday, The Mister and I met up with Wylie and Shawna at Campagnia for Jazz Brunch. We met Caitlyn, Shawna's daughter ... our new granddaughter. She is a keeper. I told her that I had been looking forward to meeting her and she said she had, too. That made me smile. She easily joined in conversation. We didn't get to talk very much since we were seated next to the Jazz ensemble so the music was a tad bit louder than our conversing level, but we chatted a little. At nine years of age, she is enthusiastic about doing arts and crafts ... how lucky is that for me? She will fit in perfectly to our family. I look forward to getting to know her more ... she's my granddaughter. I love being a grandma ... MeeMaw

On Monday, The Mister and I went to the movies. We saw Star Trek. It was a perfect start to the summer movies ... at least for us it was a perfect start. We are both science fiction fans and had followed Star Trek on TV and at the movies ... not to the point of being tagged Trekkies, by any means, but to the point of enjoying the concept and in many parts the scripts and acting. This film did not let us down. This script reflected some of the humor that was so much a part of the TV series and the actors captured much of the characteristics of the original characters.

After the movie we ventured over to BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse. While waiting for a table for dinner we sat at the bar, then decided to remain at the bar for dinner. We ordered two delicious appetizers, which for us is usually enough for dinner. The food was excellent: a thin crust pizza with fresh basil and sausage and chicken pot stickers ... yum! Unfortunately for me, the martinis (I had two) over powered me. The Martini was perfectly executed, which is why I had a second one. But, considering I had little to eat on Monday I became woozy ... motion sick. I went straight to bed when I got home and stayed there for over 12 hours. Remind me to limit myself to one drink!

Why THIS Blog?

2009-05-24T00:55:00.000-07:00

Here I sit in the middle of the night writing my first post. I have tried keeping diaries and journals in the past only to quit after a short term. While I write notes in my head, they never seem to make it to page. The irony is that I tend to forget what I wrote in my head. So, knowing that I have failed, miserably, at keeping diaries and journals in the past, why would I start a blog? Why now? The answer is fairly simple: my daughter.

My daughter, Luna, while visiting for the Chrismas Holidays (2008) told me about Project 365 ... or is it The 365 Project ... I'll have to look this up ... I digress ... back to Luna and the project: take a picture every day and post it. My son, Wylie, and his new bride, Shawna, gave me a new digital camera for Mother's Day. I think the idea of taking apicture everyday is marvelous. I have been admiring the variety of pictures Luna has taken. Many are as would be expected: pix of my darling grandkids (hey, they ARE darling and funny). And, there are pix of ordinary things: top of the dresser, for example. Yes, I could have created a page on my website and posted a picture a day there. True. yes.

Ok ... here's nuther Luna reason I started this blog: she recently joined ... was accepted to ... two cooking events (one baking and the other cooking). A recipe is given each month, each member prepares it and writes about it in their (or would that be on their) blog. Well, hey, I rather enjoy cooking. This would be fun ... I'd get to do two things I love. I'd be cooking AND spending time with my daughter, albeit, long distance. For a brief time (about a year or so) Luna and family moved back home while my dear son-in-law, Chris, finished up his bachelor's degree. During this time Luna and I cooked together. I loved our cooking sessions. Now, she is across country while Chris works on his Optometry degree. So, while we may not be cooking together in the same kitchen, at some point each month we wouldbe following the same recipe and on the same day post our results. That's sorta, kinda, like cooking together, isn't it? Well, ISN'T IT?

Finally, the third reason for creating this blog is me. I use the computer daily; why not post my ramblings occassionaly? And, that's what it will be ... my ramblings. No particular theme, subject or agenda.