weaktwos

Drum lessons were quite good. Now if only I would practice more regularly. But, I am getting better.

I made some Baklava for a gathering I'm going to this afternoon. I am pleased with it. I cut down on the sugar a bit, I used 3 parts unsalted butter to one part salted butter, and the nuts are a mixture of walnuts, almonds and pistachios (4:2:1 ratio of nuts respectively). I have packed the baklava and it is ready for transport. Done and done! I used clover honey. And I think I prefer using ground cinnamon in the syrup instead of just cinnamon sticks. I may have to try the ol' stick method again later to compare.

I fetched my alcohol and distilled water and mixed 'em up. Yes, that works great as an eye glass cleaner. I have made a bottle up to take to work for when I smudge my glasses there, and soon I'll refill the original bottle of cleaner I got from the optometrist when I purchased my last pair of specs. QED.

Now to go take care of some other things before I head out for the forseeable future.

I hope everyone is having a grand Saturday!

Today's plan features goofing around with the drums and making crab cakes.

In particular, I will be making coconut crab cakes.

( Crab Cake Recipe from Food Network )

But I also wanted to try a sweet/spicy sauce to go with these crab cakes as an alternative to the Coconut Basil Mayonnaise. I surfed the net and couldn't quite find a recipe that spoke to me, so I winged this part entirely. We'll see how they go with the cakes later.

Here's what the experimental sauce consists of:
1 cup of water
1 cup of sugar
1 mango, pureed
1 jalapeno pepper, pureed
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon shredded coconut

So, I pureed the pepper and mango together, then mixed all the other incredients together with the puree in a saucepan and boiled it for about 15-20 minutes until the sauce was thickened. When I tasted it, I had the desired sweet 'n heat combo I was looking for. The spice isn't overpowering, in my opinion.

I'll actually make the crab cakes later on. If the band gets together tonight, I'm bringing that. If we don't, guess who has a lot of crab cakes at her house?

I managed to get some sorting out of my study. I got rid of a trash baggy of stuff I no longer need to keep. I need to do more, but it's a start. I also measured out the area I want to reorganize.

( Rambling on study reorganization )

In other news, I made Cook's Illustrated's Potsticker recipe. They were quite good. I need to perfect the amount of water required for steaming however...that or work on the temperature during steaming. I also became a little more proficient on my stuff 'n wrap dexterity. Their dipping sauce is tasty, too, though I didn't put in the sesame oil, since I forgot to buy some. Still, it was nummy. I froze some uncooked potstickers for another time.

After my Potsticker hijinx, I watched North Country. It was like Erin Brockovich with the accents from Fargo. Charlize was good, but I think Reese still deserved the Oscar she won for Best Actress. Reese was destined for an Oscar since Freeway.

I don't think I commented on Battlestar Galactica's season Finale. I loved it. Especially all the bad hair. We didn't see what happened to the bitter "They killed my baby!" Sharon, yet, But Hilo was still around. And yet Number 6 and New Sharon are now on New Caprica. I shall speculate some things I think will occur:
( Read more... )

Well, I gotta go get ready for work, so enough of my yackin'.

When I need to use a recipe that requires milk, and all I have or want to use is soy:

Use to Replace Milk

* soy milk
* nut milk (made from almonds)
* rice milk (sweeter than soy milk) in baked goods, curries, and lighter cream soups and sauces
* oat milk or mixed-grain milk in baked goods, curries, and lighter cream soups and sauces

Use to Replace Buttermilk

* 1 cup plain non-dairy milk (soy, nut, rice, oat, or mixed grain milk) + 2 tsp lemon juice or vinegar
* 1/4 cup silken tofu + 3/4 cup water + 1 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar + pinch of salt (blended together)

Use to Replace Cheese

* soy cheese
* soft tofu + a dash of lemon juice instead of cottage or ricotta cheese in dips, sauces, smoothies, and pies
* smoked tofu instead of provolone and mozzarella
* oil-cured black olives instead of Parmesan or Romano cheese
* nutritional yeast flakes

Use to Replace Butter (in recipes)

* soy margarine
* 7/8 cup canola or corn oil = 1 cup butter

Acquired from here.