Countdown to Turkey Day

Last night I had the privilege of attending the Driscoll's Berries Cooking Event & Tasting Party hosted by Thanksgiving expert himself, Rick Rodgers. I've got to say, this was my first Twitter party, and I didn't exactly know what to expect. But it was a blast! Watching chef Rodgers whip up a beautiful, berry inspired Thangsgiving menu, tasting his creations, mingling with fellow foodies and bloggers, and tweeting all at once made for a pretty good time.

Among the fabulous menu items sampled was a beautiful holiday cocktail - a berry bellini. Warm brie with raspberries and pistachios was the perfect introduction to the rest of the decadent (and berry delicous) meal. The party didn't just leave me with a great taste in my mouth, but with loads of inspiration. I am SO gonna bring it this Thangsgiving!

Holiday Bellini

          Chef Rodgers explaining the fundamentals of a perfect bird

Eggnog Panna Cotta

Roasted Turkey with Roasted Acorn Squash with Raspberry
Drizzle and Wild Rice and Raspberry Dressing

 Get a few steps ahead on your Thanksgiving menu planning by checking out Rick Rodger's recipes: http://www.driscollsmoments.com/

Star Struck

One of my all-time favorite hobbies as of recently is shoving my husband's resemblance to Curtis Stone, my celebrity crush, in his face.
I know it's not very nice of me, but if I were him I would be flattered. I mean think about it, wouldn't you rather have your spouse fantasize about someone who is the spitting image of you over anyone else? I think things worked out pretty well for the both of us.

My wonderful hubby - he's not Australian, he's not a chef, but he does have dimples :)

                  What do you think?

What is a Chef to do without her Tastebuds??

I am currently in a very bad predicament. I cannot eat anything without experiencing a foul, bitter taste in my mouth afterwards. This has been going on for 2 days now, and I'm going insane!

Seconds away from scheduling an appointment with a gastroenterologist, I decided to google my problem. My findings - apparently, I'm not alone. People who have experienced such an occurance, and who like me don't suffer from medical conditions like diabetes or jaundis, all have one thing in common. That thing is pine nuts.

Guilty as charged; I had me a few handfuls of the delicious culprit the day before my tastebuds became intoxicated. But sources say it's not just any pine nut that causes "pine mouth"; it's those grown in China. Recently, my mom brought me a bag of pine nuts that she purchased from a local organic foods store. Naturally I threw a few into pretty much everything I made. The one thing that perplexes me, however, is the fact that my husband doesn't have this problem even though he ate all of the dishes I prepared. Well, come to think of it, I did sneak a few handfuls in without him.

Food glorious food, when will I reunite with your true flavors? I guess all I'm left to do at this point is wait. Just so you know, this is not my idea of fun.

Let Them Eat Cake

It seems as though, literally, everyone is due this year (and for some unknown reason, everyone’s having boys!). Though being pregnant did have its perks, I may be enjoying the pregnancies of my friends and family members a whole lot more than my own.

 My pregnancy enthusiasm has inspired me to voluntarily sign up for making the cake for my best friend’s baby shower. Yikes!

As far away from being a pastry chef as I am, on occasion I like to experiment or test my patience (cause we all know that pastry requires a lot of patience). A few weeks ago, I decided to use my son’s 6-month birthday as an excuse to experiment with fondant. Fondant is that smooth, play-dough like covering that professional cake makers typically use to give their cakes a flawless appearance. It also provides a nice, clean base for cake to be transformed into art.

Unfortunately, fondant is usually the only thing people leave behind on their plates because of its unappealing texture and overwhelming sweetness. Not to worry, I found a better tasting recipe for fondant made out of marshmallows instead of the usual straight sugar and glucose concoction. Well, to be honest, I initially chose this recipe because of its simplicity and short ingredient list, but later learned that its flavor was pretty good too.

So after making my first ever fondant covered cake (which proved to be quite satisfactory in terms of presentation and flavor, yay!), it is only natural for me to assume that I can go on to make the kind of cakes seen on Ace of Cakes. I’m like five seconds away from hitting up a cake supply store and buying everything in sight. Let’s see, if my son’s cake, which  was pretty small, (8 inches in diameter and 4 layers tall) took me like 6 hours to make, then this baby shower cake will take me 3872642356287 hours to complete. The shower ‘s in 3 weeks. If my calculations are correct, I should have started working on this cake last year. I can vividly picture the day before the baby shower – my kitchen covered in confectioners’ sugar and cake crumbs, my nights occupied with cake nightmares for the next several months.

 No, I’ll be fine…I think. The only thing I can do at this point is plan the most awesomist cake ever! Let the brainstorming begin. I'll keep you posted.

Preggers, again?

No, not me! Don't worry. I just gave birth 6 months ago. I know some people do it, but I am not a baby-making machine. Besides, I'm still recovering from labor. 

Actually, it's my sister whose pregnant, and it's a pretty convenient situation for the both of us. Why, you ask. In just a few months, I will partake in possibly the biggest spring cleaning ever, ridding my house of baby swings, bassinetts, bouncers and mounds of baby clothing. It's fantastic, I get so excited just thinking about it! As for my sis, she gets to soak up all the pregnancy nutrition info still so fresh in my head. On occasion, I'll even cook for her.

You see, I was an obsessive control freak when it came to my own pregnancy nutrition, steering clear of foods that had even the slightest risk of causing me or my baby harm. Making fun of my paranoia then, my sister, now in my shoes, relies on me as her personal pregnancy diet guru. She literally won't put anything in her mouth without calling me first. She also calls me to discuss the significance of her cravings.
So every now and then I'm assigned the task of satisfying her cravings for foods that she's not allowed to eat. It's not easy, but someones gotta do it.
This week's challenge - making pregnancy-safe homemade ice-cream and sushi.
If my sister could live off of one thing for the rest of her life it would be either ice-cream or sushi. Give her both, and she'd be one happy camper.
I know what you're thinking. Sushi restaurants offer plenty of cooked sushi rolls, right? So why bother making your own?
When I was pregnant, I avoided all sushi rolls (cooked or not) while eating out, for fear of cross-contamination. Call me crazy, but I wanted to be safe. And besides, it's funner to make your own (you can make your rolls extra large!)

Same goes for ice-cream. Store-bought ice-creams are, for the most part, pasteurized and safe for pregnant women. But sometimes you just want to have fun and test out that ice-cream machine that's been waiting patiently in its box since your wedding day.

So the game plan is to create a cooked (and preferably nutritious) sushi roll & a decadent home-made ice-cream that does not use the typical creme anglaise base (a custard made from egg yolks and cream or milk). This should be interesting...