A rainy weekend.

So. Close. So. Unbelievably. Close.

I'm proof reading my thesis, for hopefully the last time. I'm slightly concerned with the amount of spelling and repetition errors I've been finding. And that I've been finding them. I'm too cheap for an editor, so I'm just reading mine out loud. This works surprisingly well.

It's been a bit wet this past weekend, so I've been trying to fill the time with some cooking and home projects that have been on the back burner for a very, very long time.

First off was some pie! It's getting towards the end of the peach season around here, so I've been making peach pies to celebrate/mourn. Same old recipe, same awesome results. It was way to humid for me to be making pastry though, so the top became a patch work design since I couldn't get it off the counter if my life depended on it.

 THAT'S what real pastry is made of. LARD.

One of the two main things I took on while the rain came down was to replant most of the window garden into larger pots. Apparently I waited a little too long for some of them, I had to dig the Aloe out of the pot since it had virtually grown into it. The rosemary really like this idea, it's done well and deserved more space.

The second thing has been working on a few things to beautify our entrance way in the apartment. It's pretty ugly, and now that the gerbils have been moved, it's empty and ugly. I've been thinking of adding a basket or box to catch the junkmail, a print or poster to brighten it up a bit and a rack to hold extra keys and other important stuff. Since it was raining this Sunday, I decided to work on the rack and give it a coat of paint.

This is totally one of the racks from an old Ikea shoe rack that I found at the side of road on the walk home one day. Yep.

Tape that bitch.

First coat of the orange.

And ze gold. Hawt.

 

Let's see how this turns out. I have some hooks and clothespins to stick onto this thing when it's painted.

A new year is upon us.

In other news, Happy Birthday Mark Lamarr!

 

(Picture lovingly stolen from The Guardian.)

...want...

 Portrait by Trevor Leighton, donated by the artist to the National Portrait Gallery. This is a double whammy of interest for me since it's dead sexy and a bromide print. I am such a dork.

I stole this from somebody's tumblr... and I genuinely don't remember which, and I can't find it via google. My bad.

Moving on. Food.

I decided to celebrate the New Year by making a pie. I also had a 1/2 pound of lard in the fridge, so I figured I might as well used it for pie. I used the same recipe for the peach pie I made back in the fall here, but using apples instead. I think it turned out quite well.

While I was home for Christmas, my mom was clearing out her old Canadian Living magazines. She held on to them so I could rip out any recipes I wanted before she actually recycled then. Thanks mom! One of the recipes I got was for Chicken with noodles, shiitake mushrooms and snow peas, and it looked pretty easy. It became one of my first lunches that I took back to work in the New Year. I'll definitely be making it again, it was really easy, super fast and really delicious.

Chicken with Noodles, Shiitake Mushrooms and Snow Peas
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 lb (454 g) boneless skinless chicken thighs, thinly sliced
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 2 tsp minced fresh ginger
• 2 cups stemmed shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp sambal oelek or hot sauce (I actually forgot to put this fine, but it tasted fine without it!)
• 4 pkg (7 oz/200 g each) fresh Udon noodles
• 1 cup snow peas, thinly sliced lengthwise
• 1 tsp sesame oil

Preparation

In wok or large skillet, heat vegetable oil over medium-high heat; stir-fry chicken, garlic and ginger until chicken is lightly browned, about 5 minutes.

Add mushrooms; stir-fry until beginning to soften, about 2 minutes. Stir in water, hoisin sauce, oyster sauce and sambal oelek; bring to simmer.

Add noodles and toss to combine; simmer until sauce is thickened, 2 to 3 minutes. Add snow peas and sesame oil; cook for 1 minute.

Pie before Class

I started class today, and to celebrate (dash put off the thought over the weekend), I made some peach pie on Saturday! I have always had issues which pastry, and have had some major pie disasters over the years, so prior to starting I called my mom and got a few extra tips on her recipe that I've been trying to use. I think my chief improvement was to put the dough in the fridge while I was working on the fruit since my kitchen is hot and humid at the best of times. Also, much to most people's taking issue with, I use real lard, not Crisco. Hate the stuff, real lard is the only way to go.

Fruit Pies

Pastry

2 cups of all purpose flour
1 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp of sugar
1 tsp of salt

-Combine all these dry ingredients in large bowl and mix well.
-Add 1/2 pound of lard (half of the box), and cut it in with two butter knives. Flake with hands until crumbly.
-Mix 1 egg with 1/2 cup of cold water, and dribble small portions onto dough until it starts to stick and can be formed into a ball.
-Place dough unto saran wrap, cover and place in fridge for the meantime.


Filling

4 cups of fresh fruit, sliced/cut
1/4 flour (less)
1/2 - 3/4 cup of sugar

Combine the above ingredients in another bowl and toss to combine.

Some assembly required

-Remove dough from fridge and divide in half.
-On floured surface with floured rolling pin, flatten and roll dough to an even, less than 1/2 a cm thick area big enough to cover the pie plate (I use a wonderful pyrex pie, casserole dish, screw aluminum). I've been able to take a floured butter knife and slide it under part of the dough to loosen it from the counter, at which point I can stick it to the rolling pin a bit and roll it around the rolling pin. It sometimes makes it easier to transport the dough to the pie plate 4 inches away. For the first time ever I was able to get both the bottom and top pieces of the pie unto the damned plate in one piece.
-Once the bottom layer of the dough is in the plate, add the fruit filling, spreading to create an even layer.
-Add top layer of dough. Pinch the edge to seal. Cut vent holes throughout the top layer in a desired design. In my case, a squirrel. I happened to have a squirrel cooking cutter lying around in my kitchen drawers, and figured it would help bring in the fall.

-Bake in a 425 degree oven for 10-15 minutes. At the 10-15 minute mark, turn the pie around and reduce temperature to 375, cook for another 20-35 minutes.
*Pies can bubble over and leave filling all over the oven that burns and smells awful. To avoid this, have a pizza pan or cookie try in the oven while the oven is preheating, and place the pie plate on this. The preheat will allow the heat to distribute evenly and protect your oven's floor from burning peaches.
-Keep half an eye on it has it bakes; it will be done as the upper crust turns a light shade of brown around the edges and the exposed filling in the vent holes bubbles.
-Remove from oven, allow to cool for at least 15 minutes prior to cutting and eating. The first few pieces will disintegrate entirely when being removed from the pie plate, but that's just a sign of a pie well done. When fully cooled, slices come out in one piece, ish.