I'm still bemoaning the fact that it's the last day of Christmas...still Jingle-Belling inside my head - but I have good reason...my latest Christmas gift, which did come late but was such a wonderful gift that I barely noticed has been a treat for the senses! I was the lucky recipient of The Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg ...If I was Oprah I would buy one for each of you this very minute...but since I'm not, you'll have to buy your own copy or hope and pray you get one as a gift! And what a great gift it makes!!! I drooled through this book - anxious to give everything in it a try - I KNOW this is going to be my Kitchen Bible from tonight's meal to the very last one I ever make...seriously. Page and Dornenburg have written several cookbooks and the award winning, What to Drink with What you Eat, but this book is different...it's not a recipe book...it's "the essential guide to culinary creativity..." how cool is that?!? It's a "flavor-matcher" for anyone who has ever wanted to eat something more than boiled chicken and mashed potatoes...the mister is not going to know what hit him! Let me give you an example...say you want to use orange zest with pork...but what else could you use along with it to, as Emeril would say, kick it up a notch? How about maple or star anise or soy sauce or cream or all of the above?!? Yeah babeeee...things are going to be different now! Flavor is going to OOZE out of every pore, I mean plate...this book is easy to understand - so easy that I "got it" the first go round!
The tree killers showed up again yesterday - with the Maniacal Mister pointing out every branch that was to be axed into oblivion...I dare say I shall see the sun o'er head if this keeps up! Just take a look at this madman in the tree - some 25 feet up from the ground - standing on a branch that is about 2 inches in diameter...and get this - they call themselves "tree surgeons."
No ropes - no safety harnesses...one little slip and that "tree surgeon" could own the manse and everything in it! Fortunately this tree was saved from total damnation...only it's lower branches were removed...apparently the mister took pity on it. Oh, good news ..the mister went in for his annual physical and apparently he's in great shape - his doctor said his heart is just like new! (I could have told him that and saved us the $200...his heart's like new 'cause it's never been used!) The mister is the picture of health and will outlive us all...I shall say nothing on the grounds that it could incriminate me.
I have a friend who is celebrating her birthday soon...and she likes candy...I mean, she really likes candy. She has a candy drawer at her house - an entire drawer!!! I'd never even think of that! So for her birthday I made her a cake...a candy cake!
With a little help from a can of roasted peanuts, as the base, and some hot glue, this candy cake is three layers...wide that is...with every kind of candy bar you can think of...and a mini-Tootsie-Roll topping! I included some candles with the cake but they were too tall to be on the cake with the lid!
I do hope she likes it...and if she's dieting, like the rest of the world, then I figure she can eat one half a candy bar per day plus do an extra 7.5 minutes on the treadmill...and if she's not dieting then it's all good! Happy Birthday Joyce! (I'm thinking that I may have made a candy cake for you before...or someone who looks like you...or someone who wants to be you...I can't remember...but there is this fleeting thought that maybe I might have...in which case you are to pretend that you have not ever received a candy cake from me and I'll speak to my doctor about upping my meds!)
