kitchenmage

Wordy Wednesday: Thoughts on a Failed Recipe...

Isn't that a lovely loaf of sweet bread?

I was experimenting one night and swapped a single ingredient around in a quick bread recipe that I use regularly with great success. It wasn't even a big switch, damned near the equivalent of changing beer brands in beer bread, but it was apparently the exact wrong thing.

An overwhelming yeasty one-note 'aroma' gave way to a crumb that was somehow both gummy and dry and a profoundly bitter taste. There was no yeast and nearly a cup of sugar in one loaf, and the gummy/dry thing is just baffling. I literally took one bite and threw the rest away.

A blogger friend saw the photo and said, "You know, some people would just post the recipe...I mean it looks good." I got another note moments later saying "JUST KIDDING! Please don't tell anyone I said that." so I am not naming names.  glares at @redacted

This got me thinking about the less deliberate recipe failures that hit print and what heck is the bar for publishing recipes (and other things) anyway and what happens when the inevitable screwups happen. And they will...

Wordy Wednesday: Corn and the White House Garden

It's been a sadly drizzly spring here and I'm dreaming of summer. Lare summer. Corn and tomatoes and barbeques by the pond.                    sigh

A wee bit closer to reality, here's a thing to make you think. If the White House garden was planted in crops at the same percentages as taxpayers subsidize them, the single largest crop would be corn, at about 35%. Add in wheat (20%), soy (15%), and cotton (20%) and 90% of the garden is planted. Beyond that, less than 1% is in the sort of stuff most people plant in their gardens: lettuce, peppers, squash, and the thousand other bits of dinner that tastes best fresh from the garden.

This is all a bit esoteric to hold in your head so Kitchen Gardeners International made this sweet little graphic of "America's Subsidy Garden" that shows you what it would look like.

If the weather ever clears up, the first thing I am planting is tomatoes. Little tiny pop in my mouth heirloom tomatoes. The kind we eat like candy in August.

What's in your garden? Your dreams?

Wordy Wednesday: Kitchen organization

One of my 2011 goals is finishing up the organizational sweep of the house that started last year. (Last decade? Hmmm. There was that whole 2000 v 2001 debate, can we do that every ten years? Watching the brain melt was fun...) I thought about being less tangential as a goal for 2011 but who the hell am I kidding here? It it wasn't for tangents, I'd have no 'gents at all.

Anyway... Do you need more space for dishes? Don't we all? Well, I have two words for you: shoe racks. These babies hold an amazing array of stuff, even most of my faux Le Crueset. Inexpensive and stackable, you can find a shelf style that matches your decor, just make sure they have FLAT shelves, not the slanty ones.

I have more of these in the studio for the scads of dishes and photo props that accumulate while I sleep. Actually, I have different ones in here now, and have a total of 16 of them in the house. Yes, you read that right: sixteen. I need more. (Dear Costco, please keep the cute bamboo shelves in stock for another week.)

What's that I hear? "But kitchenMage, what about small stuff? Can you help with that?"

Why yes, yes I can...