the day i made pie!

greetings from astoria!
this weekend i went home to Marbletown, to spend time with a kitten, a pup and my parents. the macaroons were a huge hit, although i think i can credit the praise because i fed them to my mom, dad and little sister.
Sunday afternoon i woke up and made Blueberry Vegan Pancakes for brunch. Mom and Dan and I ate them while watching Shark Week. After a fairly long food coma, induced by said pancakes
i wanted desperately to go to a pool. I have not been submerged in chlorine for over a year now, and that just seems ludicrous and sad. I hopped into my bathing suit, Shmoops dug out some beach towels, and just as I was leafing through the stack of tabloids, choosing which ones were pool perfect, THUNDERBOOMDEATHCLOUDS.
well, we were rained out, to say the least. i fell asleep by the window, listening to the rain, reading a book of poetry i couldn't quite understand. after a dreamless sleep, i awoke to more rain. it had not stopped.
I grudgingly took off my bathing suit, and replaced it with a Jack Daniels t-shirt and orange sweatpants. (it looks just as bad as it sounds)
All mopey i walk downstairs, and flip on the Food Network. Mom tries to cheer me up by saying that the storm will pass, but by 330, i had submitted to the rainy Sunday ahead of me. This is when (and when the macaroons ran out) shmoops had a wonderful idea!
"why don't you spend the afternoon making something you have never made before. that requires counter space you normally don't have?"
that day, a peach pie was born.

I made the dough. I had never made pie/pizza/any sort of dough before. I was gentle and patient. The dough cracked a bit, (too much flour) but i worked it on a floured surfaced until i could mold it into an acceptable, work-able piece of dough.


see that crack?! it took me about 12 minutes to fix it.

and then i got it! well, i got it as much as someone who was making dough for the first time....right?

The general consensus was that...well dan loves pie, no matter what. Shmoops likes peach pie, and me? well i eat most everything. So peach pie it was! The filling was so simple. I skinned a quart of peaches (about 9-11 peaches. not too ripe, a bit firm), a handful of sugar (i forget specifics) and the rind and juice of one orange.



i love miller lite.
Peaches in the crust before streusel topping.
Now, the only change I would make, aside from an overall perfection of the pie crust (which is truly the test of an exceptional baker) i would not use nearly as much juice from the orange. I used a Valencia Orange, generally used specifically for juicing. As i was pouring the peach mixture into the crust, a considerable amount of orange juice was left.
Here was my moment of truth. To pour or not to pour. I took considerable liberties, blaming everything on my virgin pie skills. So i POURED! what of it? jealous?!

here is the end result:
with the struesel topping.

a bit hard to man-handle due to it's "juicy-ness"
needless to say, i was very pleased with it. there was a distinct combination of sweet and tart from the ripe peaches. and the crust was thin yet doughy on the bottom, and crisp on the edges. perhaps too crisp, next time i will be sure to put aluminum foil on the edges after a certain period of time.

I was glad! and not sunburnt, which would have been the result if my original sunday plan had been put in action.

bon appetit.

The Candy That Leaves Yummy Memories

why does the word yummy always make me cringe?
well today is all about restraint. you know who you are.

today is also about
- Vanilla Coconut Macaroons and drinking red wine with a nectarine in it for dinner.

Apparently i am "finding" myself, getting my head on straight, appreciating all i'm worth...or some bullshit. mostly i'm just bored and drinking alot. and i cannot and reFUSE to stop reading jezebel.
Last night I went to Marbletown to visit the new kitten (Bobby Flay the Cat) and made muffins for the family to eat this morning. I left the country side at 5:30 am, to get to work on Park Avenue at 7:59 (!).
Tonight i made a batch of Macaroons (a first!) and bought the cheapest wine i could find.
The Macaroons went as followed:

I had in my mind, for the past 3 days, the idea that i was making meringues. It wasn't until i realized that the pastry bag was unnecessarily, the oven was on too high of a temperature and i actually READ the fucking recipe did i realize what i was making. Fortunately I have a pretty open minded palate, and I could eat/bake anything. So i proceeded. It was super easy!
if you followed the link you know the measurements, but this is all that went down in my tiny Astoria kitchen.
Coconut!
Sugarsugarsugar!
(quick break to slice up a nectarine and drop the bits in my glass o wine)
vanilla
Egg whites!
half a pinch of a pinch of salt.

you know the drill, form into sugar clumps, plop down on parchment paper....and mop the floor while you wait. (oh wait. that's what i did, certainly not a requirement for delicious macaroons)

Well, i just had the finished product (as did my roommate, due to my irrational fear of odd numbers)...and the verdict is...
REALLY. REALLY. SWEET.

good with a cup of coffee and a reason to punch a wall.

i am making them for a family party tomorrow, and i am considering writing a post it note disclaimer on the amount of sugar and the very real worry of never blinking again.

but overall, i give this recipe a 78%.
perhaps my lack of effort effected the grade in some way. Not about Macaroons, I have been thinking about the recipe and carrying them in my purse for 4 days now.
I made up a word. i hope that it is self explanatory, because i can't pin it down. I just feel so "blarrghy" Not awful, not wunderbar....just blarrrgh. Hence my lackluster approach to my latest concotion.
I will now pack them away in a pretty box with pink ribbons and 6 foot hearts.

peace, love, and iggy pop,
michelle W.

i watched fear itself last night. it was about zombies. and a REALLY drunk girl.
it was all well and good but i didn't understand the end.

anywayyyyzzzzz.

downloading some music before i head out for the day...and for god's sake, go see batman today!!

i am.
sucker.

<3

tgiTH

morning!
before i head off to work, i wanted to quickly recap all you can eat crab night.
the event was held at Indigo resaturant and bar in Astoria, Queens. Accompanying me was Kristen and Anthony, my most reliable date night duo.
The evening began with a basket of bread, of which we were diligent on not filling up on (some more so than others...)
First course: Anthony got a delicious New England Clam Chowder and kristen and I got a pathetic mixed green salad. but there was no harm done, we weren't there for the salad.
Second course: Penne a la Vodka for anthony and I, tardy french fries for Kristen. The penne was delicious!
Third course:
All-U-Can Eat Crab legs!!
we made it through 3 rounds of perfect, messy, salty crab legs, drenched in butter. juiced splattered on glasses, t-shirts in a flurry of cracking legs and sucking the meat. a little much, you say?
you say wrong, it was WONDERFUL!
so we wobbled home, and i fell promtly asleep, with little words uttered to my roommates.

Today I am going to put all the songs with the word white on my shuffle. clearly i'm in need of music.

have a wonderful and delicious thursday xoxo

CHALLENGE!

alright. this is how it went down.
sitting at work today i came across a recipe for Avocado Cucumber soup. it sounded like the perfect summer soup; chilled, creamy, vegetable soup; guiltlessly fatty, a comforting texture and a fantastic shade of green!!
so, after work i bought my ingredients. i needed 2 tomatillos (i have never worked with these) a jalapeño, and an avocado. ( i had the rest, which included a cucumber, an onion, spices, etc.) but...rats! the avocado was nowhere close to ripe. i'm not terribly picky, mind you (there are stories floating around involving me putting grape jelly on fried chicken...(i thought it was ketchup! anyway) however, i was willing to wait a few days or so for avocado to ripene. it's also hot as balls and the first stop i made was the wine bottle, so that didn't help.
anywho!
so, i set aside my summer dinner plans for one. i settled for a full wine glass and a bag of popcorn.
which brings me to my challenge!

i, fairly notoriously, have an awful diet. i love veggies and fruits and fresh food alike, but i am also dreadfully lazy and tend to find dinner in a glass.
recently i think my lack of a balanced diet has been affecting my health. i am plagued by endless fatigue, pathetically tearful mood swings, and stomach pains that wake me up in the dark hours of the morning. when i went shopping last week i bought fresh fruits and yogurt and vegetables and whole grain bread. this is how i will justify my experiment.
get to the point! you yell!

i know.
i am.
taking my terrible eating habits to the next level, tomorrow July 10th, 2008, i will eat nothing but sour patch kids and diet coke.

on the hour i will take notes. if i make it til 8pm with only said nourishment, i will reward myself with a gin and tonic, a big salad, and maybe i'll work on that blasted soup.

much luck to ME!

i fear

that this is my future.

sugar level

it's spa day in astoria. still house sitting for jeremy and missy, i've opened all the blinds so that the plants and i can feel the sun from outside.  after wasting 5 hours eating pop tarts, drinking diet coke and watching Arrested Development, i hopped in a shower, clipped my nails and am now ready to "start" the day.  (p.s. it's 5 pm. sounds about right)  the pup has kept me company in the bed with me, keeping my feet warm and bringing unexpected smiles to my face.

feeling lost as usual.  

and am thankful i have stopped drinking whiskey. that option is too obvious and too damn pathetic.

Fortunately i got alot of cooking accomplished. Unfortunately I broke my camera (i can't have nice things) so my devoted 3 readers will not be able to see them.

But i'll try my damndest to try to recreate it in your head.

-Pasta with asparagus, artichokes, tomatoes and pine nuts. 

I was not thrilled with this dish, fortunately kristen taught me the valuable lesson that cheese and balsamic vinagrette can salvage almost ANY dish.

-Creme Puffs

I have wanted to try these for a very long time, but was always very intimidated by the process and the delicacy of the actual "puff".  As I was preparing the batter the consistency looked HORRIBLY wrong, so i had already called the whole thing off....but i put them in the oven just to humor my recipe. To my great surprise they came out quite good! Aesthetically they were almost cookbook picture perfect, and had i not forgotten my pastry bag in my apartment they would have been filled to the brim with creme....not just stuffed in with the back end of a wooden spoon...heh.  And next time i would like to make the creme sweeter, but I can happily say that was a rather successful encounter with Creme Puffs.

I bought a steak for friends and I to enjoy, and then plum forgot about it. (the beer garden creeps in and is an inescapable force.) but i could NOT let a steak for 4 go to waste....so i made it for myself...MWWWAHAHAH!

I marinated it in orange juice, teryaki sauce, garlic, pepper and salt. super easy. I marinated it for about 8 hours, then put it in the broiler. and then i ATE IT.

what of it.

tomorrow i will be making chocolate orange cupcakes to celebrate then end of my vacay.

i'll keep you "posted" GET IT?>!