Daring Bakers - For the Love of Chocolate

"Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, 

because love covers a multitude of sins." 

1 Peter 4:8

Today, shortly after taking an apple pie out of the oven, I remembered that it was the day for posting my Daring Bakers project - which I hadn't yet done.  It was about 5 o'clock.  We have the grandchildren for the weekend, and I wasn't sure I had the energy.  But at about 7 o'clock Riley encouraged me to get it made, so up I got and went to the kitchen. Emily had fallen asleep, which greatly aided my progress.

I used to have a very similar recipe, but I've looked for it for years without success. So I am glad to have found something at least similar. I could only locate an 8 ounce bar so chocolate, so I decided that I would do 3/5ths of the recipe. My baking pans are in a room of the basement that has a broken light, so with flash light in hand the best I could come up with was a 7" loose bottom pan. I put the chopped chocolate into a glass dish, topped it with the butter, and put it into the microwave for 60 seconds. It worked perfectly.



The picture on the left is before going into the oven, and the one on the right is after baking in the oven for 20 minutes.

Then, after watching an episode of The Lawrenceville Stories with Riley and Christian, while Emily still slept, though now on my lap, I set the "boys" off to the store for some good vanilla ice cream. While they were gone, Emily (who finally woke up) and I went into the kitchen to get the cake onto a cake plate.



The guys soon returned with Hagen Daz vanilla, and we served up the cake, and at this point I vaguely remembered that I was supposed to have berries or something with the cake. Peaches was all I could come up with, but then I really like peaches with chocolate cake, and I don't really like strawberries as much with it.

We all enjoyed the cake. It had a very light feel to it, as if you hadn't ingested that many calories, and that's a good thing. I might like to add some vanilla or brandy next time.


The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

"Education is what remains after one has forgotten 

everything he learned in school." 

Albert Einstein

Tuesday with Dorie and a Birthday with Corey -Devil's Food White-Out Cake

"Submit yourselves, then, to God. 

Resist the devil, 

and he will flee from you." 

James 4:7

I had a lot of trouble getting logged on and staying logged on, so this post is a little late. But for once I was ahead of the game, as I made the dessert for the day for daughter #3's birthday in September. Mine's a four layer cake, as I didn't have the heart to crumble up a whole cake layer - and also, I wanted the cake to look as grand as possible.



She had two or three parties that day. In the afternoon she had tea in the garden with her sisters and a friend. It was a lovely afternoon for a tea.


I'm not sure where all the food for the tea came from, but one item was l'opera from Sarah's birthday two day earlier.


There were lots of presents, and many goodies to eat.


Before tea was done, I was on to making the cake. And soon after the the girls cleared off the tea, they were decorating for the party.


It was to be a Hawaiian themed party, and all of Corey's co-workers were invited to the evening party.


It was a great scurry for me to get the cake made in time for everyone to have some, but I made it.

We had the cake on the upper deck, as there was more room.


Corey blew out the candles and I cut the cake.


Everyone really enjoyed the cake.


Peter especially enjoyed his piece, to Corey's delight. (Corey really likes Peter)

"The devil's most devilish when respectable." 

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Valentine's Weekend with Riley

Man's steps are ordained by the LORD,


How then can man understand his way?

Proverbs 20:24

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I babysit the kids most days, and usually when I get a day off I only find out about it the night before. But this time it was arranged for me well in advance. It was assumed by many that Riley and I would go away for this three day weekend. It was a three day weekend because of Presidents Day, which Riley had off because he works for the city.

Well we thought and thought about where we might go. The first idea was to take the train somewhere. Well it turns out that living in Oregon makes it quite difficult to go somewhere on the train. It's a long ways to anywhere, or the train simply doesn't go there any way. And then when you get there you have to pay for a hotel, which is most likely rather hard to get to anyway.

So next we thought about going to Sunriver, a most pleasant place if you're in a good place to stay. Well it turns out that any place we liked was rather expensive - as in about $225-250 per night, and deals only for four nights. The only reasonable options were little condos or darkish little houses. Why travel 170 miles to stay in an unpleasant place?


So in the end we decided that we'd really just like to be in our own house, acting like we're on vacation. The bed is the best, and all our things are here, and best of all, at the end of the last day there's no driving for 3 1/2 hours to get home. Now the long drive is okay in the summer, when the sun stays up late and shines all day. But in the winter you drive home in the dark, and possibly the rain or snow. So home it was.


Now unfortunately the start of this weekend was Friday the 13th, and it was true to its reputation. I won't go into it, but we had a fairly major family crisis and it was good that we were going to be staying around. This did give me lots of angst, but I know that God is in charge, and He loves us and has our best interest at the center of what happens to us. So with some prayer and deep breathing, we got on with things. Everyone in the family stepped in to aid in the crisis.


I did have trouble sleeping on Friday night, but by mid morning I was finally relaxing very nicely. I sat up in bed and red all kinds of interesting things that are next to my side of the bed, like CÔTÉ PARIS. Then Riley brought me a beautiful bouquet of pink and white tulips. We decided we would go out for breakfast, and took our time thinking of where we would go.

Well I'm Back!

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand,

that He may lift you up in due time.

Cast all your anxiety on Him

because he cares for you.

1 Peter 5:6-7

I don't know why I haven't post of late. I've even done my Tuesday With Dorie, and then not posted it. Maybe the Christmas Season was a bit much, and I just wanted to idle. One thing that has occupied me was my oldest daughter Heidi challenging me to the Geo Challenge on Facebook. I'd beat her, then she'd beat me. And I know her computer is faster than mine. But finally she had the definitive win, though in fact, it was her boyfriend Stephane who played on her site and beat me so that I hadn't a chance.

Then Heidi came along and challenged me to Who Has The Biggest Brain. Now here again I am a bit struggling. But there's something in me doesn't want to be beat. But I can only go so fast. I'm very good at some of the tests - like counting the blocks or putting the numbers in order or math or memorizing objects, but I'm not so good at the puzzle one or the flipping cards. I'm on average pretty good at most of it, but I excel in analyzing. That does make sense, as I was a programmer/analyst for many years, and I was quite good at it. I do like to analyze and get things in order. I even organize books at Powells when I find them out of order.

But now I need to get on with life, get things done, pay attention to other things. Ha! Watch, I'll be right back at trying to beat Heidi. Right now in Portland I think I'm 19th best for the week and Heidi is 17th best. Now that could change at any time, as others play. We're both Cyborgs. But really, on average, I'm just a Space Ace.
Okay - so I just don't want to be a stupid old lady.

Today the children have gone to Klamath Falls with their dad to visit their grandmother known as Lola. That's Filipino for Nana. I'm Nana, ..... Just in .... Tom is keeping them in Kalamath for another day. I sure hope I can manage to stop worrying about them. Tom wants Emily to have more time with her grandmother, who she hasn't seen very often. Of course "Who's fault is this!" He could have behaved himself, stayed married to the wife he did love, and have a normal life ,,, but oh no!

"We are all worms, but I do believe I am a glowworm." 

Winston Churchill

TWD - French Pear Tart - Yes!

"Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, 

to mind your own business 

and to work with your hands, 

just as we told you, 

so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders 

and so that you will not be dependent on anybody." 

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12

Well now I'm trying to get life back to normal, and that includes Tuesday with Dorie. Now that doesn't mean that it won't sometimes mean Thursday with Dorie, but that's normal, isn't it.

Today it's Pear Tart. I love pear tarts, and this one looks absolutely terrific. I'm also looking to make a Russian roast chicken, stuffed with a dressing of bread crumbs and raisins. But of coarse everything is on the slate, but not done yet.

I'll be back.


Well after Heidi picked up Emily and Christian, I sat about just a bit. But by six I was in the kitchen getting the dressing made for the roasted chicken. By six thirty I had the bird in the oven. The recipe for the chicken was Russian, so I decided to make a Russian peas and carrot dish. I didn't follow the complicated recipe, and I left out the chives, ham, and dill, but it tasted really good. The recipe called for julienning the carrots and then cooking them for 40 minutes. No way. You'd just get horrid mushy carrots. So here's how I did it.

Russian Peas and Carrots

8 oz carrots, in 2 inch long julienned strips
1 1/2 tablespoon butter
2 teaspoons sugar
water to barely cover the carrots
a pinch of salt

6 oz frozen peas in a microwavable dish
some water in the dish, not to cover

1 tbl flour
salt and pepper to taste

Put the carrots into a frying pan with a lid.
Add the next 4 ingredients and cover and cook on medium heat until the carrots are just au dent.
Meanwhile, put the peas in the microwave and heat about 2 minutes.
Strain the liquid off the carrots into a small saucepan.
Strain the liquid from the peas into a small dish to reserve and put the peas in with the carrots.
Heat the carrot liquid and stir in the flour, adding enough of the peas liquid to make a nice sauce.
Pour the sauce over the vegies, and keep warm until time to serve. Covering the pan will probably suffice.

Russian Roast Chicken Dressing

2 cups bread crumbs
2/3 cup raisins
1/2 cup half and half
2 tbls butter, melted
2 egg yolks
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/3 tsp nutmeg
salt to taste

Mix the crumbs and the half and half and let sit about 10 minutes.
Stir in everything else, and stuff into the bird without smashing the dressing.
When the bird is done, remove the dressing to a serving dish.



So once dinner was under control, I made the pear tart.  When I opened up my can of pear halves, I found out the the company was quite loose in their definition of "halves".  They looked more like quarters.  Upon further inspection I saw that they called them "pear slices".  So with that being my pears, I decided to apply the pears to the tart in thin slices, which is how I do it with my pear tart recipe.

I made Dorie's sweet pie dough recipe, but I divided it in half, and used a half for the tart, as I'm partial to a thin crust.  To make the dough I put the flour, sugar, and salt in the food processor and gave it a whirl. Then I cut up the butter and add it and whirled it until it looked like cornmeal. Then I added the egg yolk and mixed it until well mixed in, but all was still powdery looking. Then I dump it all out into a large bowl, and using my hand I smushed it until it all came together. I then weighed the dough, divided it into two parts, and wrapped each part into plastic wrap, forming tidy discs. These were placed in the refrigerator while I made the almond cream.

And to make the cream I put the nuts, flour and cornflour into the food processor and ground up the nuts.  Then in a mixing bowl (the one I used for the dough) I put the butter and sugar and mixed until it started to look a bit fluffy.  Then I added the egg and brandy (instead of rum), and mixed well.  Then I stirred in the nut mixture.  It was all nice and smooth.  Then I dredged a disc of dough in flour rolled out the crust and put it into a tart dish, smoothed on the almond cream, and then cut and placed the pears on top.  I then baked it for about 45 minutes (I think).  I thought it turned out great, but now I'm going to go and have a piece of it to see if it really did turn out all right.

Well everyone thought that this was a terrific pear tart. I believe "Wow!" was the most common expression used. My husband had two pieces. Oh, and I forgot to mention - this weeks recipe was chosen by none other than Dorie Greenspan herself. In looking at the pictures of the TWDers pear tarts I find that the all look fabulous and they are all really pleased with this recipe. It always amazes me how one recipe can turn out looking so many different ways.

"I never said most of the things I said."    Yogi Berra

An English New Year's Day family dinner with Family

"The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; 

he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God

—he and his whole family."   Acts 16:34

Our New Years Eve event had gone rather oddly the night before. Hard to explain. It wasn't until round eleven that we actually began to play games. We have a long standing tradition of playing games on New Year's Eve. We did have fun, but then it ended abruptly when Sarah and Zac said they needed to get home before mid-night. Then the rest of us just settled into whatever. I was on the computer, minding my own business, when it got really noisy outside. I simply wondered what all the noise was about, and it didn't occur to me until well after the noise stopped that it was the noise of mid-night. All the rest of us were the same - we just simply missed it.



But the next day, New Year's Day, I would need to be a bit more together than I had been the night before. I think being snowed in was starting to get to me. But now there was no snow at the moment. I know this, because Ken and Marilyn came to dinner, and there is absolutely NOTHING that could entice Ken Yeaton to drive in the snow. Not even the least bit of it.

One thing that I really like to have done before guests arrive is to have the table set. I had been trying all day to count the number of guests, and I was quite certain that it was 12, and the table was set accordingly. It looked really lovely. I can't remember who did it, but I think possible it was Corey. But I'm not sure. But to my great surprise, when we all went to sit down for dinner there simply were not enough places for everyone. It took me about a minute to catch on to this conundrum. To my great shock there was 15 of us counting Caleb. I absolutely don't know how I got it so wrong. I'm usually very good at counting.

The guest list: Riley, Molly, Sarah, Zac, Ken, Marilyn, Grandma, Grandpa, Caleb, Christian, Emily, Annie, Nancy, Clarice, Corey

But what I did have right was how much food to feed the group. I had purchased a great big pot roast at Costco, and I simply cooked the whole thing. It seemed the just the right thing for a proper English feast. I also made two desserts. The grateful pudding was made to fit the large pudding steamer, and I believe I made the apple pie in the 12 inch pie plate.


Pot Roast with gravy
roasted veggies
French bread
peas
Yorkshire pudding

Grateful Pudding with Lemon Sauce
Apple Pie



Emily was determined that we should have flowers on the table. For some reason Emily is excessively fond of flowers, which I think is wonderful. The other day she and I were at Trader Joes, and she was thrilled to discover the flower department, and she immediately grabbed up a bunch of daffodils and a bunch of red roses to place into the basket she was pushing around. I soon realized that the flowers would not survive if I were to manage to remove them from her grasp, so we went home with two lovely bunches of flowers.

Well dinner was actually ready in a timely fashion. I'm sure it was served later that I had originally estimated, but I think was actually sat down to eat at around 6:30 - which is a very early time for me to have a dinner ready. It didn't take like to sort out the seating. I think that Riley and I sat together at one end of the table, and Christian and Emily sat together at the other end of the table. It is our fantasy to one day have a table that can easily seat maybe 16 people. But so far the one we've found that would fill the bill costs about $4,500 - a bit much for now. Not to mention that maybe the dinning room isn't big enough - 14x17.

It was a lovely meal enjoyed by all - except maybe Corey, who can't eat beef. It doesn't seem to agree with her. My Dad especially appreciated the apple pie. I made a second smaller one just for him to take home. It was unbaked, so that was it would be perfect when he got around to eating it. Later, when he cooked it, he called me up to thank me again. He does love apple pie. I had made grateful pudding a couple weeks earlier, but the girls were upset that there wasn't enough. So that's why I made it on New Year's Day.

After dinner some Christmas presents were opened. This was in part because Sarah and Zac weren't around for Christmas. But I'm so bad about wrapping presents, that only Caleb got some presents.

“Continuous effort 

- not strength or intelligence 

- is the key to unlocking our potential” 

Winston Churchill