crafty_packrat

Tonight I made Magic in the Middle chocolate peanuts butter cookies, using a King Arthur Flour Company recipe.



Except I inadvertently made a double batch, because I'm so used to cookie recipes taking two sticks of butter that I had creamed the butter and was adding the sugar before I realized that was too much butter.

The recipe is a little fiddly with having to make the peanut filling and then carefully measuring to ensure enough dough to wrap around the filling. I did find out that the round measuring spoons from IKEA are pretty good substitutes for teaspoon and tablespoon cookies scoops, if you don't mind a little mess.

I'm not sure that rolling the cookies in sugar contributed anything, but flattening them is actually important to have them be flat cookies. This is the kind of recipe that would be fun to do as a group -- there's a lot of handwork involved, and a double or triple batch could easily be split between friends.

I pre-ordered from one booth today, so all I had to do was pick up my box:

• 1 Roasted Brussel Sprout & Brie handpie


• 2 Evermore Farm Pulled Pork handpies


• 1 Deep Dish Small Quiche Applewood Smoked Bacon & Cheddar


• 1 personal Carrot Cake


• 1 slice Buttermilk Cake


• 1 PBJ Squares


• 1 Chewy Ginger cookie stack

I did stop at another booth and get a bag of six small persian cucumbers, and three bunches of ramps.

I'm going to try Julia Child's braised cucumber recipe, once I find a bunch of scallions, or other onion substitute. Would 4 tbsp leek sprouts work? I have plenty of those from last week...

I stopped by the Safeway coming home tonight and picked up a pack of toilet paper, another box of kleenex, two cans of soup, bagels, cream cheese, skyr, and a couple of packs of ramen.

I don't think I've had cheap ramen since I was in collage, but I'm reasonably sure that I can dress it up into something acceptable by cracking an egg or two into it, and maybe adding a scoop of kimchi or half an onion. Basically, I bought some 'I have no energy to stand for five minutes and cook' food or 'I've been stuck in my apartment for three weeks due to quarantine and have almost nothing left' food; the canned soup can be donated if I don't use it, and the ramen will wind up in some experiment or other.

I also picked up 4 bag of mixed dried berries on clearance, and a bag of peppermints -- at the very least I'll have something to nibble on if I do get stuck in my apartment, and it's not like they'll go bad.

Now the only things left on my list are Dayquil, chocolate, and Brita water filters.

If you haven't been reading siderea's pandemic preparation series -- about taking reasonable and measured preparation for Covid-19, check it out. She also did a great series on the 1918-1919 Pandemic Flu in Boston.

Made apple-rutabaga soup again finally. It's a nice cold-weather soup, chock full of root vegetables, and can easily be made vegetarian by using vegetable stock instead of chicken stock.

Here's the recipe again.

( Ingredients )

( Directions )

I bought a cookbook for insta-pots last weekend, and today I made the 'Pork Vindaloo' recipe out of it.

Needs more salt, more chile peppers, and probably garlic. Could do with some more vegetables besides an onion, but it wasn't bad and it was pretty easy.

It went well. I didn't make the mushrooms, but frankly, I had so much food that it wasn't needed.

The guests were meri_oddities, treewishes, temve, ell, greenygal, and pleasance.

I made:

• bacon
  
• migas mini-quiche (with pepperjack)
  
• potato-spinach mini-quiche
  
• sujuk sausage rolls
  
• Liege sugar waffles
  

I bought:

• a vasilopita
  
• springerle cookies
  
• hot chocolate
  
• chocolate-covered pecans
  
• cinnamon-roasted pecans
  
• apple schitz
  

Friends brought:

• cheese
  
• winter fruit salad
  
• mimosas and orange juice
  

Then we sat around and ate and talked for several hours.

A great way to start the new year!

I just made enchiladas using the peach salsa I made, and half a batch of pollo deshebrado. I'm set for the week!

Dill and herb quark, garlic cheese curds, scratch cheese (for gougeres!), chocolate pudding, chocolate milk, peach & yogurt smoothie, donut peaches, sweet cherries, shiro plums, apricots, blueberries, regular peaches (peach salsa, oh nom nom nom!), asian eggplants, bell peppers (for making salsa morada), shishito peppers (need to pick up some Korean fish-cake), and an actual locally-grown buddha's hand, presented for sale in a box labeled 'lemons'!

2.5 quarts pie cherries, pint of apricots, pint of methley plums, pint of blueberries, pint of sweet cherries, 2 pints red raspberries, 2 pints black raspberries, a garlic braid (about 12 heads), garlic cheese curds, chicken empanada, tamale del elote, and boneless pork shoulder.

Also, another 'Lime Thyme' thyme plant, and an Italian oregano plant.

I'm going to can the pie cherries in syrup like I did last year, and the same with the raspberries. The garlic braid is destined to wind up as toum and roast garlic.

The pork shoulder is going to be Puerto Rican roast pork shoulder; this time I'll post the recipe.

Tiropita, hummus, chocolate olive oil cake, melomakarona, pink lady applies, garlic, dried apple slices, persimmon vinegar, eggs, oyster mushroom, and kkakdugi (first time it's been available in months!).

I'm making beef-and-barley stew right now, which will be lunch for the week.