Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Coming home from Christmas away, I’ve been looking forward to the start of a new year, with new habits and new things to strive for. This past year has been a craze of wedding planning, school, and life. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that 2010 will be much more low-keyed, allowing me to take more time for the things I want and enjoy doing.

What are your goals for 2010?

In the Kitchen

I have high hopes that 2010 will allow me more time in the kitchen, experimenting with new recipes and ingredients. I want to experiment with new fruits and vegetables. I’m dying to try cooking duck, to test my hand at cooking with yeast (so intimidating!), and to actually make a caramel that I don’t burn.

I’d also like to make a greater effort to cook healthier (so you might see some nutritional information cropping up with my recipes). This will be a challenge, but I think that as long as I plan my week’s menu in advance (and have some healthy and easy fall-backs), that I’ll be ok. In spring, I hope to join a CSA for the first time which will also help us eat better, get to know new foods, and most importantly, will support our local farmers.

Off the Bookshelf

While I’m super-excited about the arrival of my Nook (thanks Mom, Dad & Hubby!), I’d really like to make a dent in my growing bookshelves, which are filled with lots of mystery novels (thanks Mom & Grandma!).

There are also many non-mystery books that I’d like to read, but somehow keep making it to the bottom of the TBR pile. So, for the coming year, I’d like to tackle some of these books and series (sorry James Patterson, you’ll have to take a backseat for a while). On my 2010 TBR list are:

  • All of Jane Austen’s works (6  books, 1 short fiction, and 2 unfinished fiction)
  • Gone with the Wind, a book that has always intimidated me a little bit in its length
  • The Lord of the Rings series. I love the movies, I just need to start the books!

And my final goal for the year… I’d like to continue with my little blog here and improving my photography.

What are your cooking or reading goals for 2010?

Red Velvet Snowball Cake: Fail!

Operation Red Velvet Snowball Cake: Fail

I don’t normally post recipes for things that did not turn out well, but my mom and I really liked the idea behind the Red Velvet Snowball Cake and thought someone might use it for inspiration.

The original idea and recipe for this cake came from Redbook Magazine. The cake was supposed to be 4 layers of red velvet cake, with a cream cheese frosting, and coconut sprinkled on top and on the sides. Never having made red velvet anything before, we began by making Redbook’s cake, but the result was a very dense and flavorless cake.

Convinced it must have been a flawed recipe, we set out to try the cake again, this time using Paula Deen’s Red Velvet Cake recipe. However, Paula’s cake was also quite dense. Again, we weren’t sure where we went wrong.

Interestingly enough, Paula also has a similar Red Velvet Cupcake recipe, that my parents had both tasted before and loved. It was light and airy, what a cake is supposed to be. Her two recipes had some pretty significant differences, including the use of cake flour v. all-purpose flour and the use of butter v. oil. Perhaps these really made the difference in a light and fluffy cake?

Anyway, Operation Red Velvet Snowball Cake was deemed a failure. If someone has a tried-and-true red velvet recipe, please leave me a comment… I’d love to have another recipe in case I embark on this mission again next Christmas.

Fennel & Rosemary Crusted Beef

This beef tenderloin was perfectly cooked and incredibly easy to make. We served the beef with a Creamy Mustard Sauce from the original recipe, as well as a homemade Horseradish Sauce. I was not all that impressed with the mustard sauce but loved the kick that the horseradish sauce gave to the meat.

Because of a picky sibling, only half the tenderloin was seasoned like this (the other half was salt, pepper, and garlic) so if I were to make it again, I’d probably double the rosemary-fennel mixture for some extra flavor.

Fennel & Rosemary Crusted Beef

Adapted from: Fine Cooking No. 89

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/3 – 3 lb. beef tenderloin roast, with excess fat removed
  • 1 Tbs. olive oil
  • 1 Tbs. fresh rosemary, finely chopped
  • 1 1/2 tsp. ground fennel seed
  • 1 tsp. kosher salt
  • 1/2 tsp. black pepper

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Make sure a rack is positioned in the center of the oven. Place a rack in a shallow roasting pan.

Pat beef dry and set aside.

Combine all ingredients (except beef tenderloin) in a small bowl, stirring into a paste.

Rub paste all over the meat and place on rack.

Roast 35-50 minutes, or until a thermometer inserted into the center reads 120°F for rare, 125° to 130°F for medium rare, or 135°F for medium.

When ready, transfer roast to a cutting board and let rest, uncovered, or 10-15 minutes before carving into 1/3 – 1/2 inch thick slices.

Serve with a Horseradish Sauce or a Creamy Mustard Sauce.

Book Review: Life As We Knew It

Book Review:

Life As We Knew It

By Susan Beth Pfeffer

Life As We Knew It was the latest book for our little book club. A young adult book, once I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down.

This book was about the life of a 16-year old girl and her family living in Pennsylvania after a meteor hits the moon and knocks it out of orbit. This spurs off a series of natural disasters – tsunamis, storms, droughts, blizzards, effecting the lives of everyone. Ordinary life shifts rapidly to a life with spotty or no electricity, little to no news about the present circumstances or predictions for the future, and limited food supplies (whatever you have stocked up on). The family struggles to cope with these challenges and prepare for an uncertain future, sacrificing so much for each other.

This book really makes you realize just how quickly things can change, and how we should remind ourselves how lucky we are. There are so many things most people today take for granted – a never-ending supply of food and gas; electricity; heat and air conditioning; telephones; etc. Life As We Knew It takes away all of these things, and reminds us of what is important – family.

I found Life As We Knew It to be a quick read but highly recommended.

If you liked this book… there is one other in the “series.” The Dead and the Gone has a similar storyline but is written from the perspective of a cityboy, and of what life is like in a city at this time. I have not read it, but have been told that it is a bit more graphic and darker than Life As We Knew It.

A third related book, This World We Life In, is also expected to be published on March 31, 2010.

Pfeffer’s Blog