On this thrilling show, Jeff has found something he read in the paper that he wants to share with you. Willy goes On The Road to Durty Nellies to check out Uriah Heep and we send our roving reporter to the Chicago River to find American Bald Eagles. It's a laugh a minute with Sunday Morning Coffee with Jeff!
Paris Mushroom Soup - French Fridays with Dorie
Paris Mushroom Soup
This week's recipe selection for French Fridays with Dorie is Paris Mushroom Soup. Doesn't that just sound 100 times better than Plain Mushroom Soup or Las Vegas Mushroom Soup?! We are cooking and baking our way through Dorie Greenspan's new book: Around my French Table
I used olive oil instead of butter, shallots instead of onion, skipped the garlic (because I forgot), passed on the wine and parsley. I also completely missed the salad portion because I didn't have the herbs. But if I make it again, I will definitely get all the herbs. Or maybe grow a herb garden. Yeah, right. After a quick whiz in the food processor, I placed a little dollop of sour cream top.
Check out what other French Fridays with Dorie members made here! Yes, this is called French Fridays and I'm posting on Saturday. But at least I got one in!
Blog Makeover!
Thanks Ana Degenaar of Live and Enliven for my blog makeover! When I saw Damaris of Kitchen Corner's blog makeover, I knew who I wanted to hire.
Ana's work is done, but I still have to fill in the recipe index and a few more things. I hope to tackle them while watching episodes of The Closer, Glee, and Law and Order: UK (have you seen L&O: UK? It's awesome!)
Ana was great to work with...so patient, responsive and understanding! Ana works in Blogger format - check out her portfolio. FYI: I purchased the Blog Makeover Two.
I hope you like the new logo, colors, and layout!! Thanks again Ana for a great job and a wonderful interaction. - mary the food librarian
Excuse my dust...Remodeling...
Photo by Schnittke (creative commons license)
I'm going to be doing some remodeling of the blog this week. Excuse my dust! :)
Printa Café, Budapest
At the WBC in London back in June we met a young man from Budapest, Hungary. His name was Tibor Várady and he was looking for a coffee supplier for the coffee shop he was about to open. At first we were a little resistant about sending our coffee that far, but Tibor hadn't been able to find anything locally that he was really happy with. And when he said he was willing to travel to Denmark for training and to see our roastery and talk with us, we could tell he was very enthusiastic about the project.
So back in August Tibor came to Denmark for a week. We cupped a lot, had some great barista training and he got to hang out at the roastery and coffee shop and just talk coffee. We got to know him as a very friendly and passionate guy, who is really keen to learn more about coffee and share it with his guests in Budapest.
In September he opened his coffee shop. Inspired by WBC champ Gwilym Davies's coffee shop Prufrock inside Present, a clothing shop, Tibor had found a great location in the shop Printa. It meant that on his very limited budget he could invest in really good equipment (La Marzocco Linea and Mazzer Robur E) in stead of a huge down-payment on a location.
Tibor is serving Hario V60, Aeropress, Siphon, Filter and French Press depending on what people would like and what he feels up to with a given coffee. He's been great in giving us feedback on how the coffees are tasting on his equipment and water and we think the shop looks amazing.
Pictures by Anita Szeicz
See the full Flickr album here
reade more...
So back in August Tibor came to Denmark for a week. We cupped a lot, had some great barista training and he got to hang out at the roastery and coffee shop and just talk coffee. We got to know him as a very friendly and passionate guy, who is really keen to learn more about coffee and share it with his guests in Budapest.
In September he opened his coffee shop. Inspired by WBC champ Gwilym Davies's coffee shop Prufrock inside Present, a clothing shop, Tibor had found a great location in the shop Printa. It meant that on his very limited budget he could invest in really good equipment (La Marzocco Linea and Mazzer Robur E) in stead of a huge down-payment on a location.
Tibor is serving Hario V60, Aeropress, Siphon, Filter and French Press depending on what people would like and what he feels up to with a given coffee. He's been great in giving us feedback on how the coffees are tasting on his equipment and water and we think the shop looks amazing.
Pictures by Anita Szeicz
See the full Flickr album here
Midnight Crackle Cookies - Tuesdays with Dorie 3rd Anniversary
Midnight Crackle Cookies
It's Tuesdays with Dorie's 3rd Anniversary! Whoo hoo. Big, huge shout out to Laurie, founder of Tuesdays with Dorie. She wanted to go through the book, and more and more people joined her! Thank you Laurie and Julie for all you do in organizing this group.
For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Laurie of Slush and Jules of Someone’s In the Kitchen chose Midnight Crackles on page 74 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.
I made a half-batch of these Midnight Crackle Cookies. It's an easy dough to make...however, be sure to allow for a one-hour chilling time. They really need a glass of milk...they are really chocolaty and are perfect for dipping. Or, if you want to go all out, they would be great in an ice cream sandwich! ;)
Recipe:
This week's recipe is on the Tuesdays with Dorie blog! Be sure to read the notes from Laurie, founder of Tuesdays with Dorie, or on page 74 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours. I made half the batch and got 30 small cookies.
Homemade Mochi Filled with An Sweet Red Beans
Sweet Mochi with An or Sweetened Red (Azuki) Beans
Fresh Mochi.Soft.
Chewy.
Filled with An or Sweet Red Beans.
Delicious.
And now...made at home!
As you know, my family makes a boatload of "unsweetened" mochi for New Year's celebrations. However, I haven't made sweet mochi. This is the one you find in Japanese confectionery stores like Sakuraya (in Gardena...THE BEST), Fugetsu-do, and Mikawaya. It is filled with anko or an - sweetened red or azuki beans. You can get the beans "rough" or "smooth" - we used smooth or koshi an today.
1. Mochiko sweet rice flour from Koda Farms. They are the best makers of mochigome. I would never use anything else. The Japanese grocery store sells it for $1.10 - $1.60, and I've seen it for almost $4 at Vons. Crazy. It is gluten free.
2. Food coloring. Jenn used a couple drops of the gel food coloring. We made a batch of pink and purple mochi.
3. Potato starch. Before you ask, I don't know if there is a substitute. It is super duper soft stuff and doesn't really have a flavor...making it a perfect coating to the sticky mochi.
4. Sweetened Red Bean Paste (Smooth or Koshi) An. Jenn prefers the one in bag over the cans (she believes it is smoother).
5. Sugar. You'll need some sugar to make this sweetened mochi.
I think mochi making is definitely a team sport! For the "stir, stir, stir" part, it is helpful if you have someone hold the pot steady with a good grip and oven mitts. The other person takes a wooden spoon and stirs, stirs, stirs until the whole batch is smooth. Mochi is RICE and RICE is sticky...thus it is hard to stir. I had to stand on a step stool (curse of being short) to get good leverage and hold the wooden spoon with two hands to stir. Everything goes quick...so make sure everything is ready to go.
The hot mochi blob goes on a heavily covered potato starch board. Cover the mochi with more potato starch and you have a mochi baby. So soft, warm and cushy.
Jenn made a few filled with peanut butter, peanut butter and jelly and Nutella. I stuck with traditional an or sweetened red beans. I found it helpful to make little balls of an prior to making the mochi.
Perfectly soft and chewy mochi. Sweet.
Mochi is Rice. Mochi is Nice.
Recipe:Mochi is Rice. Mochi is Nice.
justJENN recipes has the full recipe for Sweet Mochi