Chocolate Alert!

For all you chocolate lovers out there, Ghirardelli recently release a new dark chocolate called Cabernet Matinee. In addition to the hint of cabernet, it also has a blackberry flavor. It is amazing. That is all. 

Practical Advice on Basic Kitchen Equipment

This is a list of essential items that I learned about the hard way. Not all of them are absolutely essential as everything will highly depend on what your needs are, but most are highly useful for everyone, so you might want to consider them, and avoid the trap of turning your kitchen into a graveyard of useless appliances. Admittedly, some of the stuff is a tad pricey compared to the alternatives; however, when you consider how much you'll pay in inconvenience, frustration, and replacements, you'll be glad you paid for quality the first time around. I'll include links to the ones I have. They're by no means the only options, but they're what I've found to work.

1. Silicone Coated Mixing Spoons and Spatulas

The first thing I will say about this is that wooden mixing spoons are disgusting. I am not a psychotic clean freak, but the reality is particles of food do get embedded in the grain of the wood and the wood absorbs soap, which is why you're supposed to boil them to clean them. Not only is this form of cleaning highly inconvenient, but they have a tendency to split, break, get sort of chewed up, and burn. The silicone ones do not. I ignored the proper care myself for a long time, and one day I finally boiled the spoons...it was horrific. Also, it's a good idea to get the silicone spatulas as well, but the ones that are mostly one solid piece because the head will come off of the other ones eventually, which is both annoying, and will also trap water and food.

http://www.target.com/p/giada-de-laurentiis-for-target-silicone-spatula/-/A-11992664

http://www.target.com/p/giada-de-laurentiis-for-target-silicone-spoonula-with-stainless-steel-handle/-/A-11992665

2. Good Quality Knives

There's nothing that beaten a good set of knives. Generally, only really need a chef's knife, a paring knife, and maybe a bread knife. You do have to be careful with them because you don't want any nicks in the blade, and you will have to hone them on occasion, but a good set will practically cut through a tomato from just having the blade rest on it. Wusthof is a good choice for the less expensive, high quality knives.

http://www.wusthof.com//desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-74/52_view-99/categories-99

3. Fine Grater

If you happen to use freshly grated parmesan, cinnamon, or nutmeg on a somewhat regular basis, this little tool is a lifesaver. There is nothing worse than having to grate nutmeg on a cheese grater wondering whether you'll escape the kitchen without chunks missing for you knuckles...again.

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/microplane-spice-grater/?pkey=cslicers-graters-peelers

4. Silicone Muffin/Cake Pans

Just like with the spoons, they're easier to clean, and the contents is less likely to stick.

http://www.target.com/p/silicone-solutions-blue-bread-baking-set/-/A-567652

5. High Quality Apple Corer

I know it may sound kind of silly, but I eat a lot of apples, so this little gadget saves me a lot of time and effort. So far, I haven't found a good quality one other than the one I have linked below. Most of the ones you'll find are very thin and flimsy, causing the metal to twist and bend (and eventually break) as you twist it through the apple. So, if this is something that you would find useful, I wouldn't get anything else.

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/cuisipro-apple-corer/?pkey=cfruit-vegetable-tools

6. Food Processor.

A good food processor makes a world of difference in the kitchen. They can shred, chop, slice, puree, mince, etc., which means that you can actually make hummus that's not incredibly grainy, or whip together hash browns without having to shred potatoes for forever, and the list goes on. I had originally bought a mini Black and Decker food processor, and it was essentially useless beyond mincing garlic because it could hardly hold anything, and the engine wasn't powerful enough to the the job. The is one of those major purchases I talked about, but makes a world of difference.

http://www.cuisinart.com/products/food_processors/dlc-8s.html

7. Stand Mixer with a Dough Hook

This is a must if have heavy work to do and/or very little time. I make bread regularly, and I have yet to be able to get the dough to the best consistency by hand, while a mixer with a dough hook does it in about 2 minutes with relatively little effort on my part, and very little cleanup.

http://www.target.com/p/hamilton-beach-eclectrics-stand-mixer-red/-/A-10676966

A Lesson in Bread: Challah

Here is a bread recipe that has been consistently good if you do it the same way every time, and it makes awesome french toast. This one is done with a six strand braid, but it can also be done with three strands, or a round braid, which requires four strands. Keep in mind that if your yeast is old, it may not work. I buy the large packages of yeast and keep most of it in the freezer, while a few tablespoons are kept in a baby food jar in the fridge for my regular use. 

Ingredients

2 cup Flour
1 cup Milk
4 tbsp Unsalted Butter
1 tbsp Honey
2 Eggs
1 tsp Salt
1.5 tsp Yeast
1 tbsp Olive Oil
2 tbsp Water
Parchment Paper
Plastic Wrap
Tin Foil

Mix the flour and salt together in an electric mixer. Add 1 egg, the honey, and yeast to the bowl, but do not mix everything yet. You can add a few dashes of spices like cinnamon or cardamom if you like. Heat the milk and butter together until the butter is melted and the mixture is warm, but not hot because hot liquid will kill the yeast. Add the milk/butter mixture. Mix all of it on the 2nd lowest setting with a dough hook until everything comes together, and then adjust to the 4th setting until the dough is smooth (about 2 minutes).

Take the dough out and fold the dough in a few times by hand, form into a ball and then transfer to an oiled bowl (preferably a metal one), cover (with a hand towel if you are in a humid area, and with plastic wrap if you are in a very dry area), and place bowl in a warm area. Let rise for 1 hour. Punch down. Let rise for 1 hour.

Cut into how many segments you require, fold each segment a few times, roll into 12 inch strands, and then braid, making sure that the ends stick to each other and that they are folded somewhat under the rest of the loaf so they don't come undone. Transfer to a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Whisk the other egg and 2 Tbsp of water together, and glaze the bread. Loosely cover bread with plastic wrap, and place a hand towel over the plastic wrap. Let rise for 45 minutes. Preheat over to 350 degrees. Carefully remove plastic wrap, glaze loaf again, add any toppings you might like such as poppy or sesame seeds, and then transfer to the oven for 20 minutes. Place foil “hat” (can be boxy or triangular) over bread and bake for another 20 minutes.Once it's done, turn the loaf over at tap it to see if it makes a hollow sound. If it doesn't, then the bread needs to cook longer.

Cuisine: Japanese Food Primer

As a supplement to my previous bento post, I thought I would cover the basics of Japanese food. Some of the more pleasant things I discovered about Japanese food is that it is typically very easy to make, only occasionally requires specialty equipment, and are usually rather inexpensive as well. Also, most of the ingredients that you would require are usually sold at your local grocery store, and if not, you can purchase them at an Asian market or online.

Like with most types of cuisine, Japanese food tends to use a lot of the same ingredients in most of its dishes: rice/noodles, vegetables, some form of protein, and and a sauce made of soy sauce, sugar, mirin, rice vinegar and/or rice wine. Here is a list of the most essential pantry items: www.justhungry.com/2006/08/back_to_japanes.html.

A typical Japanese breakfast includes an egg (boiled or made into tamago), miso soup with either some tofu or fish, and as much rice as you want. Lunch is often comprised of a light sort of noodle or rice bowl, while dinner is a fair amount larger than the other meals, and may includes things like an entire fish encrusted in salt, tempuras, teriyakies, donburis, and shabu-shabu.

Overall, the only things that might be slightly unfamiliar to the typical Westerner are some of the soy-based products, root vegetables, and seafood products, especially surimi. Surimi is a type of pressed fish cake, not unlike the imitation crab and lobster meet that is sold by Louis Kemp. Also, if you choose to make sushi, it is absolutely necessary that you use sushi grade fish. I'm sure there are a few other things that I'm forgetting, but they're probably not things that are called for regularly. On that note, I'll leave you a few of my favorite resources: Cooking With Dog (yes, you read that correctly) and Kumigar. Cooking With Dog usually presents more traditional, everyday stuff, while Kumigar likes to mix things up with a french pastry twist and Rilakkuma outfit. They're both highly informative, and will show you what options are available to you and how easy making Japanese food really is.

Cooking With Dog: www.youtube.com/user/cookingwithdog/videos

Kumigar: www.youtube.com/user/Kumigar/videos

Make My Sushi: www.makemysushi.com/?utm_expid=3001792-0

Obento: A Little Back to School Magic

One of my favorite things about the new semester starting is having an excuse to make bentos again. For those of you who might not know what bentos are, they are Japanese lunch boxes. What makes them so great, aside from being convenient, is that it's essentially food art. They don't necessarily have to be decorative or filled with solely Japanese food, but those are always fun options. This sort of thing is especially entertaining for children with the added bonus of making them more inclined to actually eat all of their food. Admittedly the fun stuff is primarily intended for children's bentos, but I don't care. I make them for myself anyway.

There are plenty of online sources for purchasing bentos and accessories, such as decorative dividers, eggs and rice molds, and shaped vegetable cutters. One of my favorite sources is www.justbento.com, which has a wealth of information on which bentos you should buy for your needs, recipes, food safety, and plenty of fun pictures of other people's work.

Here are a few more links that I've found useful:

www.allthingsforsale.com/
www.jbox.com/search/all/bento
www.japancentre.com/
www.lunchinabox.net/
www.laptoplunches.com/

 

About me...

Hello everyone!

My name is Amber, and I am the Domestic Goddess in Training. I'm a 27 year old college student, and after serving 6 years in the military I realized that I really put cooking and other household stuff on the back burner, which is unfortunate because I love to be creative, especially when it comes to food and holiday decorations. That being said, now that I have the time, I'm learning everything now and would like to share what I've learned with other people who might feel like an alien when it comes to the domestic arts. So I say: Don't write it off! It's a lot more fun and rewarding than it sounds. It was barely a year ago that I started, not knowing how to doing anything beyond the incredibly simple, and now I'm regularly baking bread, making Japanese food, and a wide array of other things while still having plenty of time to do my school work, having a life, and holding a part-time job. You won't regret it!