Archive for December, 2009
2nd Annual QA Christmas Candy Party
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Excuse me for a second while I fill you in on the my latest happenings and not-so-adventurous adventures, then we’ll get to the real stuff.
It’s been a while since I’ve had the chance to sit and down and work on The Cooking Dish, which is unfortunate because I have some delicious foods I’ve been wanting to post. Unexpectedly, however, I now have 4 to 5 days to work on it, if I’m up to it. For the past two weeks I’ve been fighting off a cough and intermittent fevers, and I finally thought I was getting better… BUT I woke up last night at 2:00 a.m. with a sever chest pain which kept me up for the rest of the night. Straight away this morning I contacted the family doctor and after a visit to the office left with a note saying, “stay home from work, you’ve got bronchitis and other junk” and some prescriptions to fill. Oh joy. I’m personally not a fan of involuntarily taking time off from work, but I don’t want to infect my co-workers either (you guys can thank me later–when I get back to the office).
So, without going into many more details, I’m stuck here at home and at the same time, trying to keep my distance from my overly-cute kids so they don’t get sick. That’s nearly impossible.
Well, thanks for listening to the rant… on with the show.
As of last year (2008), we started a new tradition in my department at work: The Annual QA CCP (Quality Assurance Christmas Candy Party). Although next year, we’re thinking of taking on a P at the beginning so it’ll be the QA PCCP (Pajama Christmas Candy Party).
Since my mom has been teaching my siblings and I how to make Christmas candy since we were only little squirts (just tall enough to burn our fingers on the stove top), and my brother and I work in the same department, there’s twice the trouble-making at the CCP. These CCPs have usually lasted an exhausting 6+ hours, but they’re always loads of fun.
Video: How to Make No-Knead Bread
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It’s snowing like crazy right now, which for some reason instantly put me in the mood to bake some great fresh bread. I love the aroma of fresh bread and biting through a crispy crust when it’s fresh out of the oven. Mmmmm. But alas, I’m still working on access to my old pictures (…click here if you must know…), and I’m at work on lunch break. So instead, I’ve been searching for an excellent bread-making video to post on The Cooking Dish (and to break this non-recipe dry spell). I came across this YouTube video posted by the New York Times featuring the Sullivan Street Bakery’s head baker, Jim Lahey, who apparently can make a mean loaf of bread. I’d love to spend a day in his bakery learning to bake.
Jim uses 5 basic ingredients to whip up a simple loaf of bread with amazing taste. He says, “[It's] a truly minimalist breadmaking technique that allows people to make excellent bread at home with very little effort. The method is surprisingly simple — I think a 4-year-old could master it — and the results are fantastic.”
Never Do What I Did…
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So, I consider myself to be a fairly tech savvy when it comes to computers and such. I’m not the world’s greatest genius, but I’m not a bumbling idiot either (although after this week, I’m going to have to reconsider on the latter). Here’s the scoop.
This week I decided it was finally time to do a clean install of Snow Leopard on my iMac, and so I did. My computer was running super slow, bogged down by all the extraneous programs and junk it’s collected over these past 4 years or so. It’s now running super fast and all spiffy and sleek. But I’ve now found two problems, which for some really aren’t problems, but for me they are:
Problem 1) Snow Leopard and Adobe CS2 are not compatible. Oops. Guess I should have looked into this one before doing a new install.
Problem 2) Aperture 1.5x isn’t compatible with Snow Leopard either.
December Cookie Cutter Giveaway Winner
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Congratulations to Sharla for winning this month’s giveaway: Fred’s ABC* Cookie Cutters
*Already Been Chewed
Her entry: “What Child is This”. But since I’m not sure what version you like best, I posted my favorite version.
Undergoing Some Changes…
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Hello everybody, I’m undergoing a few changes on this site to make it a little more user friendly and to help make a few things more accessible. I’m also redesigning it… Everything should still be functional during this time… but I apologize for any inconvenience and for any bizarre color schemes you may see during this transition period. During this time, you can subscribe to my RSS feed by clicking here. By subscribing to my feed, you’ll be the first to know of any new posts.
UPDATE: Please see this post: Never Do What I Did…
Making Biscuits & Country Gravy with Maggie
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One of the best parts of cooking is sharing the experience with someone else, and that’s especially enjoyable when it’s my little daughter, Maggie (who also goes by Maggalicious or Magzilla depending on her mood):
She really loves cooking with daddy and I enjoy cooking with her, even though it usually turns our kitchen into a disaster. But in the end it’s all worth it, and we both enjoy spending the time together. This past weekend Maggalicious and I decided to make biscuits and gravy. So for today’s post, I figured I’d her instruct you through how to make this easy biscuit recipe and country sausage gravy. The biscuit recipe I use is one from my mom, and I call them “Mom’s Increda-Biscuits.” Honestly, they’re down-right irresistible and so easy to make. This is actually two different recipes on one post (biscuits + country sausage gravy), so this time around there are two printable recipes available at the end of this post. Don’t forget to print them both out.
