My long absence

I've been away for 11 days. Since I've been away, I've knitted a lot, eaten a lot, and cooked nothing. I don't have any photos, but some restaurant recommendations if you're in the Washington, DC area.
Gadsby's Tavern in Alexandria, VA. Their big thing is "George Washington ate here". Which he did. The food's really great, basic American fare (the pork chop is to diiiie for, although everything came with sauerkraut, which seemed weird and was new since we ate there in June 2007). They often have someone playing a dead white guy: James Madison or Benjamin Franklin have been the common ones.

Indigo Landing in Alexandria. This is at a yacht club, and is quite nice. I recommend getting the appetizer sampler (deep-fried dungeness crab, shrimp skewers and hummus with garlic naan) to split between two people, and the lump crab sliders. The chopped salad is also good- one of those half-a-head of iceburg with blue cheese dressing things, but lovely and fresh, and the dressing was up there with the best blue cheese dressings. Don't bother with the ahi tuna, it has no flavor. They say it has a sesame ginger marinade, but they're lying.

Old Ebbit's Grill on 15th Ave NW (I think) in DC. Get the crab cakes. Go back a second time and get more crab cakes. Also the cherry cobbler is delish- they use fresh cherries, something I don't see often (not that I dislike canned cherries, but I feel that's a tad lazy if the restaurant is a pricey, linen napkin type of restaurant).

Cartler's Riverside Inn in Annapolis, MD. THE best crab cake. This is a sit-on-picnic-tables-covered-with-paper kind of restaurant. Plastic cups, plastic baskets lined with waxed paper, you get the idea. People sit and smash whole crabs and pick at them to eat. But the crab cakes are seriously the best I'd had, and enormous- I saved half of mine for the next day's dinner. Also, get the crab dip, it's creamy and cheesey and warm and perfect.

We didn't go there this time, and it's a chain, but the Melting Pot is quite good, if you like fondue. Bf misunderstood fondue, so perhaps others do: fondue is not just melted cheese. Fondue is also boiling broth that you dip raw meat into and cook. It's also chocolate. Don't not go to the Melting Pot simply because you don't like cheese fondue.

The Corner Bakery for a casual boxed lunch. Yum. I used them for a catered lunch I put together for a tour another woman organized, and while the delivery guy was a pain in the #&* (he called me and said, I'm on the corner of 18th and C. So I ran out there and said, ok I'm here, but I don't see you. He says, oh I see you. And hangs up. So I wait about 5 minutes for my 70 sandwiches to come to me, and nothing. So I call him back and say, I don't see you, where are you? Him: 18th and C. I see you. *click*. ?!?!? I want my food!!! I called him back again and said, BRING ME MY SANDWICHES!!!. Well, he was on 18th and D. Which is actually where we needed to be to enter the building near the elevator to get the sandwiches downstairs. Ugh. I gave him a $6 tip for delivering 70 lunches. Idiot). Anyway, the lunches were great. Check out the website, but do it after you have lunch, or you'll start drooling all over the keyboard.

Finally, for lovely breakfasts we choose La Madeleine. A french-inspired counter-service small chain in the DC area. They have the best croissants in the US (in my opinion). They also have decent coffee, good breakfasts (eggs, egg sandwiches, quiches, fresh fruit) and good lunch/dinner sandwiches and salads. Also a nice selection of pretty pastries.

Now, knitting. I worked on the muscari socks from knitty.com and finished them once I returned (yay! great socks, and great yarn- happy feet by plymouth yarns). Also: a cat bed for my cat, which still needs to be stuffed, using Lion Brand homespun with fun fur accents on the side, and the Lelah Top everyone's working on, which I have finished according to their directions, but I want to sit down and figure out how to best convert it to a sleeveless top. I used Knitpicks shine sport weight, which was nice to work with (except for all the fuzz it left on my hands and lap).

Cupcakes in two parts

1. from Cupcakes Take the Cake: the question of pairing cupcakes with champagne.

cupcakes and champagne?

Um... YES. duh! Commenters suggested it for weddings or engagements parties. (files away that idea...)500 Cupcakes, and frosted them with the Magnolia Bakery Vanilla Buttercream frosting (my favorite), and stuffed them with nutella. I'm uncertain about the number of flavors here, but I do think the buttercream is a lovely pairing for the chai cupcakes. I hope they go over well. I think the "chai powder" I used was not what was called for, but I'm not really sure what chai powder is. I ended up using the powdered instant chai that's the same as all those sweet instant coffees I was so fond on in college (roommate F's fault). Also, I'm uncertain about the recipe itself, and I may just add chai powder to my usual vanilla cupcake recipe.

Recipe issues:
it called for 2 cups of self-rising flour (for a dozen cupcakes- really 16). I consulted King Arthur to see how to make my own self-rising flour, since I just buy all-purpose. It said 1.5teaspoons of baking powder (and some amount of salt that I can't remember- the saltiness was fine) per1 cup of flour. So, 1T powder with 2cups flour. I tried very very hard not to overbeat, which is important when working with baking powder, but the cupcakes came out extremely dense... fine for a fibrous, healthy muffin, but not so much for a sweet and delicate cupcake. I feel that there was simply way too much powder, even with the assumption that I over beat. I've been trying to look around at other flour-to-powder ratios, but it seems normal. And now I can't remember which vanilla cupcake recipe I prefer! Oy.

I also frosted a few cupcakes with chocolate icing, to accomodate the tastes of the ladies who'll be eating them- I think the two specials (birthday girl and recent graduate girl) prefer chocolate to vanilla. I think technically I might be a special too (I'll explain later), but I got to lick the bowl after making the vanilla frosting :)

Meme, unrelated to cooking or knitting.

Most people who read this know me, or else have access to some profile or other that I've set up elsewhere. But I'm procrastinating, as I am wont to do, so....

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?

I'd graduated from high school, and I was "studying" to be a tour guide at the Hillstead Museum in Farmington, CT. I was also sleeping a lot, and packing for college, getting ready to take some trips, and...... not all that much. Exactly 10 years ago, I was probably at the beach.

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?

1. Go to the gym
2. Bake cupcakes for Denise's craft night
3. Go to every single women's clothing store in Hanover in search of a white formal gown.
4. Have lunch with Mei
5. Finishing editing the results section of the darn paper.

(I've done 3 (which was unsuccessful) and 4, and a very small amount of 5. 1 and 2 will be done after I leave lab, so there's hope!)

3) Snacks I enjoy:

um, everything? There's a reason going to the gym is #1 on my to-do. I love cookies and nearly all jelly candies, I have a serious sweet tooth. Also, fruit. Any fruit, just put it near me and it'll be gone.

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire (in no particular order):

Pay off my car (but not my condo, I get good tax breaks from a mortgage, apparently). Buy a vacation home on the CT shore. Buy some really expensive shoes. Throw an awesome wedding with all the bells and whistles anyone could ever want. Be completely frivolous, and then donate a ton of money to melanoma research.

5) Places I have lived:

West Hartford, Connecticut
Wellesley, Massachusetts
Lebanon, New Hampshire
and soon.... somewhere near Worcester, Massachusetts

6) Jobs I have had:

Lowly lab rat, Dr Barbarese's lab at UCONN Health Center
Lowly lab rat, CT State Health Department
Lowly lab rat, another lab at the CT State Health Department
Lowly lab rat and refrigerator defroster (because I was the female summer intern- no, I'm not still bitter- but I actually enjoy defrosting refrigerators), Metropolitcan District Commission (they're in charge of drinking water in the Hartford area)
Tour guide, Hillstead Museum in Farmington
Carillon teacher
Semi-important lab rat with real responsibilities, Dr Tanzer's lab at UCONN Health Center
Grad student and fashion adviser, Dr Barlowe's lab at Dartmouth

Yarn swap!

I meant to mention this earlier, but I think I forgot- I'm not surprised, June has been a busy and eventful month.

I joined a yarn swap! This is the Starbucks and Yarn Swap that I discovered on ravelry. I've never done a yarn swap before, so hopefully I won't commit any terrible faux pases (arg how to you pluralify French words? And what's the verb for "plural"?) in this swap. I think basically we're knitting something for our assigned swap buddy and buying them some Starbucks treasures, and mailing them in August. Yay! We'll see if I can start knitting before I go to DC this weekend, my dad's driving so I'll have lots of knitting time. As for Starbucks goodies... I'll have to specify coffee, since I don't actually have a proper Starbucks within an hour from me- gift cards would be pretty useless.

Yeah. So. I'm supposed to fill out a questionnaire either on ravelry or my blog, but I'm not sure I'll do it on my blog, unless I leave out the personal info.

Yay!

Also, tonight I'm making cupcakes: chai cupcakes from 500 Cupcakes filled with nutella and frosted with Magnolia's vanilla buttercream frosting (which you can find somewhere on marthastewart.com). I'm hoping to find some small hazelnut candies for decoration. And, I hope to use my brand-new cupcake carrier! (courtesy of my mom, as a birthday present).

Cupcakes, take two.

And by "take two," I mean take two and eat them. nom nom nom.

Several things in this post: I have some follow-up photos on the cupcakes from a couple weeks ago, showing you how I stuffed them. I also made marshmallows that night, and people marvel at homemade marshmallows, and usually for two reasons: they are delicious and make you want to never eat a Jet-Puff marshmallow again (although I still like those), and they are easy and incredibly fun to make.

Cupcakes:
We all saw the pretty cupcakey goodness from the last post. Note pink filling: again, this was Martha Stewart's Strawberry meringue buttercream filling, only with cherry instead of strawberry preserves. Also note: I made half the recipe, and ended up using it for nearly 70 cupcakes (two batches of the Wellesley Fudge Cake), with a bit left over (which I promptly devoured).
Ok, we start with baked and cooled cupcakes.
Next, we fill a pastry bag fitted with a medium or large-ish tip (I have a small selection, since my box of cake decorating goodness lives with my parents, so I just used the largest one I had) and fill it up with the filling.Now, insert the tip into the cupcake. You see I stick it fairly far in, so that the tip is almost buried- but not quite.
Squeeze. I'm not sure the volume of filling I inserted, but I went by trial and error. If the bottom of the cupcake bursts and you see filling, you've done too much. If it spills out at the top, simply scrape off the excess before frosting the cupcake.
That's all there is to it. There's another method that involves cutting a cone out of the top, putting a dollop of filling in, and replacing that cone, but I find this way pretty easy.

Ok, marshmallows.
I like Martha's recipe.
Ok, first combine 3 cups of sugar, 1.25cups light corn syrup, 3/4cup water and a dash of salt in a medium saucepan. Turn on the heat to high and stir until the sugar dissolves.
Get out your handy-dandy candy thermometer (this is important, and is the only reason I can make candy- forget the soft ball/hard ball tests in water, just get the thermometer). Now, once the sugar starts boiling, stop stirring, and let it get to 238 F.
While this is boiling (it takes 10-15 minutes or so, keep an eye on the thermometer), put 3/4cup cold water into the bowl of your stand mixer (you need the stand mixer for this) and sprinkle 4 envelops of unflavored gelatin over that, and let it soften for at least 5 minutes.Once the sugar's ready, pour it in a steady stream into the bowl, with the whisk attachment and on low speed. Wear oven mitts or something for this, the sugar's really hot (238 F!). (I couldn't get a picture of this- too hot). Now, mix. Slowly increase the speed to high. Mix for about 12 minutes.
After a minute or two:

After about 6 minutes:
After 12 minutes:
Now add in whatever flavoring and coloring you want (I did 4 drops of lime oil, a teaspoon of vanilla, and some green liquid food coloring), mix until it's combined (less than a minute), and pour into a greased, lined with parchment paper, and greased again 9x13 pan.
This is very gooey, and eating what's stuck to the bowl and whisk is lovely, but incredibly messy. Luckily, warm marshmallow goo is highly water-soluble, so easy to clean up.

Let this set overnight, then dust heavily with powdered sugar, cut into squares (or whatever) with a greased knife, and coat everything in powdered sugar- to prevent the marshmallows from sticking together. Bring to your next party, and wow all your friends.

Cupcake frenzy!

A couple weeks ago (I know, this is very delayed- I have my reasons) a friend had a graduation bbq, and I decided to jump on some cupcake inspiration and make cupcakes. My inspiration was originally from neverbashfulwithbutter.com/food, but had a nudge from someone on ravelry's knit n' bake group.

So, cupcakes. Yum!I used the Wellesley Fudge Cake recipe, an old (well, for the past 6 years) favorite of mine. For some reason, I only ever make this cake at the beach for my family birthday party, so when I had cupcakes everywhere, it smelled like the beach. Strange.

Anyway, the recipe: fairly easy. Melt 4 oz of unsweetened chocolate in 1/2cup of water in a medium saucepan over medium heat, and once it's all melted, add in 1/2 cup sugar and stir (still over heat) for 2 minutes more. Let cool.

Now, cream one stick (1/2cup) of butter with 1-1/4 cups sugar. Add 3 eggs, beating after each egg. Slowly mix in flour mixture (1-2/3cups flour, 1t baking soda, 1t salt), alternating with 3/4cup milk- I like to go flour-milk-flour-milk-flour. Finally, mix in 1t vanilla and the cooled chocolate mixture.

cake batter, anyone?

Fill muffin tins (with cupcake wrapper liners) about 2/3 full with batter, bake about 22 minutes at 350. Let cool overnight.

The next morning, I made Martha's Strawberry Meringue Frosting, substituting cherry preserves for strawberry. This is my first experience with an egg-based frosting, and ooooh boy I'm going to repeat it!! I've always shied away from these because I was led to believe you're eating raw egg (and the meringue powders used as substitute taste weird to me). Oh frabjous day, calloo callay, you cook the egg whites first!

Cherry frosting:
Put your Kitchenaid Stand Mixer bowl over a pot of simmering water. Put 4 egg whites and 1-1/4 cup sugar in the bowl. Whisk until the sugar dissolves, the egg whites are frothy, and it's warm (about 160 degrees, but I just did a finger test). Put the bowl back into the stand mixer, and beat on high until the egg whites form stiff peaks. Beat about 6 minutes more until it's lovely and fluffy.

Now add in 3 sticks of butter (room temp and cut into tablespoon pieces), a couple T at a time, with the mixer on medium-low speed, and then fold in 3/4 cup of preserves (I found that 1/2 cup, which was all I had, was sufficient).

Be sure to lick the bowl.

I took this frosting and loaded it into a pastry bag with the biggest tip I had (which was not big enough- you might consider pureeing the jelly if you have large chunks of fruit and plan to use it for filling cupcakes). I took a cupcake, inserting the tip into the cupcake, going about halfway to the base of the cupcake, and squeezed. Don't do too much, or your cupcake will start to burst at the bottom- you'll see this and know when to stop on the next one. Don't be afraid to mess up, because you get to eat the less-than-perfect ones. :)

Next, the fudge frosting. This is the frosting that goes with the Wellesley Fudge Cake. Melt 4oz of chocolate with 2T butter in a small saucepan (or double boiler, whatever). In your mixer bowl, combine 4cups powdered sugar, 1/2 cup milk, 1t vanilla and a dash of salt. Beat. Then add the chocolate. Beat some more. This won't get fluffy, but instead has more of a thick ganache consistency that worked really nicely on these cupcakes.

Top with drained and patted dry maraschino cherries. Then eat, but try not to eat too many, it's important to share.

btw, I'm making these again tonight- they're that good. I'll try to photograph stuffing the cupcakes and add those in later.

Wow: a link.

I saw this on a fun blog, Cupcakes Take The Cake.

Meatloaf Cupcakes.

(go look, then come back- I hesitate to post someone else's photo without asking)

I'm not a huge meatloaf fan. I'll eat it, I'll even make it (yay leftovers!), but not often. But those of you who know me at all know that I do not eat mashed potatoes. The one exception is if a friend D has done magic with them in an Indian dish (she can make them good, I need to learn her secret). But regular mashed potatoes? ugh. I hate potatoes.

However, I would be willing to cook with mashed potatoes if they went into entree cupakes. I'm kind of in awe of this idea. I also wonder if there is some other savory creamy-ish thing I could use instead of potato.... any suggestions?