Is Mars in retrograde?

I've heard that description before... maybe it has to do with baking woes.   Or is there some other wonky planet alignment?  Maybe my Biodex is in a downward swing.  Whatever's happening.... the kitchen disasters..or near-disasters have continued throughout the past few days.  Maybe I'm just losing it...or... well, who knows....

Actually, I (and Mr. BumbleVee too) "eated" a lot of cookies.   He always rubs his hands in glee... and has a big grin... cuz he knows it means more for him.  Cheeky!   There I was ...baking second batches. Because they were not quite right.  The edges of some biscotti refused to cut nicely.  There was some breakage..or there was crumbling.  And...I want perfect when I send them, darn it!

This is definitely not the norm.  I bake.  A lot.  And... not much goes wrong ...usually.  Well, sure there is the odd thing that happens, but not like this.  Read that in a very whiny voice.... .

This week, I have had nothing but "blog fodder"...   I could get miles of written word out of my "happenings"  in the kitchen.. ....sigh...
everything from trying to use butter that was too firm and whacking myself out trying to whisk the lumpiness into something smooth.... to not being able to get white chocolate to drizzle...hmmmm..... all of which, of course, I've done previously.  Many times.

Oh, well, suffice to say... finally, today, I am finished with my planned baking that I am sending to my sister.  It's become a tradition.  She doesn't like to bake very much and still has a bit of trouble with staying focused as far as wordy recipes are concerned.  Most of you that are regulars know that she fell years ago... about 9 years now I think....on an icy parking lot.  Knocked herself out cold; sustained a terrible concussion. There was and still is some residual brain damage.  If you meet her you would never know because she has clawed back most of her former self.......almost single handedly I might add.  Nobody in or outside of her family helped much at all. But, there are some things that still elude her or make her feel nauseous ... and baking from recipes is one of them...  plus she wanders away from the kitchen and things happen then for sure.  There have been a lot of ruined pans and things burned to a crisp on her stove in the past few years... and a lot of fire alarms and worried cats.  She has decided it is safer not to bake... or cook much at all as a matter of fact.

The past week... she is definitely not in her kitchen.  She is stuck on the couch or wandering around in pain and frustration.  She fell and broke her wrist and finally after a week of waiting... they have placed a cast on it.  They had just cleared their steep driveway with the tractor...the blade left glare ice...and two steps onto the ice ... down she went.  Well, of course, after all the agony of the first few years after her concussion... all she could think of was.."don't hit my head!!" .. and out flew both hands to prevent that from happening.  She said as quick as it happened...that was still her first thought.  She also knew that the second she threw out her hands... she was going to be in big trouble. She was; it broke straight across the second it hit the ground.  Damn!!

So...I love to bake...always have and love to send her some.  I'll be off to the Greyhound soon to get her package away.  The Speedy Doggie as Mum used to call Greyhound... her favourite mode of transport in the day.

Update:::  Aaacckkk!!  I knew it GP!  Something is definitely not quite right.  

hahah...of course, I don't know much about any of it...although I do find it interesting if I read up on some aspect of it.  Once I even had my horoscope chart done... many moons ago... 

..and look at this... an excerpt from the info regarding the retrograde phase of Mercury.

"Mercury is all about mental clarity and the power of the mind, so when Mercury is retrograde these intellectual characteristics tend to be less acute than usual, as the critical faculties are dimmed. Make sure you pay attention to the small print!"

There we have it..... is it even worse if I'm a Capricorn?...cuz...I am..... 

Nuts!!

Literally... and figuratively .....

When a recipe says roast nuts in a 350F oven for 15 minutes...and alarm bells go off??.... listen to your alarms!

This is where the first batch ended up...

If it looks like a garbage can... that's because it is.
Walnut halves are like gold.  A big bag was $14.99....on sale.  Oooooooooohhh.... that burns me almost as much as it did the darn nuts.

I was going along so well too.... this is how amazing they were just after I added a splash of my real Quebec Maple Syrup from a friend of a relative.... just brought all the way across the country.  Wasted Maple Syrup is an absolute crime!!  Anybody who has ever had the real thing will tell you that. Then...a generous grinding of lovely black pepper.  These are spicy glazed nuts. Mmmm... well, they would have been mmmm...

... but, then... the recipe called for putting them in the oven.  So.. I set my timer for 12 minutes..not even the required 15... but... too late..... they were already past tasting burned when I grabbed for the baking sheet.  There were some "french words" as somebody used to say..... who was that now?  I forget.  Anyway.....it was disheartening to say the least because it was just the beginning of my plan for an amazing salad for supper.

Onward.... second batch.  Never quit when you are behind.

You can bet your bottom hard earned dollar that I was watching like a hawk this time around..... my eyes were glued to that oven.  Don't even walk out of the kitchen.... cuz you know how fast nuts can be ruined!

Ahhhhhh.... that's more like it.  I had the oven at just over 300F this time...and it only took about 6 to 8 minutes really.... ....

Then....I poached my lovely pear.  In wine and cinnamon infused syrup....

It was a thing of beauty.... well....to my eyes at least it was.  It stayed firm... soaked up the wonderful flavours...and was absolutely the nicest pear I have ever seen or eaten.  Including the creation by the chef at the restaurant where I first had this salad... and now... I've copied it to the best of my recollection.

Pear and Goat Cheese Salad with Glazed Walnuts......

I used some peppered goat cheese and instead of just crumbling on the bits...I wanted to figure out a way to cut the soft cheese into rounds.  Looked on Google...and found a few suggestions.  Love Google.

Dental floss.  Yep.  You can saw it across it if you like...as in the video I saw... but, if you just lay it under the roll of cheese...then draw up each side of the floss and cross them over each other...it slices straight through the cheese as easy as can be.   Even very thin slices come away so cleanly it is amazing. I did put the cheese roll in the freezer for just a few minutes (watch that too... you don't want to ruin a lovely little log of cheese) .. so that I could cut away the packaging without damaging the roll.  Why can't they make it easier to get the roll of cheese neatly out of the packaging material?

A vinaigrette with a few tablespoons of the poaching syrup finished it off. YUM....

Take that Chef Kevin....

Murphy's Law...

Or, perhaps it's Mrs. Murphy's Law.  I bet she had lots of kitchen disasters... and, after all, it did occur in the kitchen.  Let's face it... mostly the k-room is the domain of women. Okay... I'm not saying my mister didn't come to my rescue for the past month.... and, he did an amazing job of showing me up totally.  But, you know...usually.... (although, I do have to qualify that too I guess ... because it seems like cooking is quickly becoming a thing of the past with some and being reprised by others in special blogs and writings...  .. another of those "lost arts" I guess .... )  Actually, come to think on it.... I only know one woman in my real life circle who likes to cook or bake anymore. (it's only my blog buddies right now who love creating in their kitchens)   I can't believe how many women lately have stated right out loud that they don't and won't cook.  Shocking to me.  I love my own cooking.  I prefer knowing exactly what goes into MY food, thank you very much.  I've spent some time in restaurant kitchens....ick... no wonder I cook.

Ennyway........ back to the story....
Before I had the surgery on my wrist.... I did a lot of baking so I could freeze a few things because I knew I wouldn't be able to bake for several weeks.

The prune plums...or Italian plums as they are sometimes called.... were just arriving at the stores.  Darn it.  Obviously I wasn't thinking clearly ... why didn't I just buy a box of them and cut and freeze them?  Darn it again.  Now...they are long gone ... and......

I only managed to make up one batch. But, since the recipe was large enough for two loaves, I decided to use my bread baking pans.  Bad idea.  It's not that they are bad pans... they are great for bread......but, just that for these particular loaves...they didn't do the job.  Even buttered and floured....this is what happened!  I have no idea why.












I was ticked.  Mr. BV on the other hand, was overjoyed.  With a wicked grin he said.... "Well, I guess this means they're all ours!" ....   Me, with a totally disappointed look.... "Absolutely". ...

We scraped out the bottom chunks and put them into dessert dishes and had them with frozen yogurt while they were still warm.  I have to say they were very yummy.  It is a great recipe.... it just didn't look very wonderful on this particular day.

I expect perfect bottoms....every single time!   Like this Eggnog Loaf I made the other day.... yes....it's already in the stores...... look....a perfect bottom.  Glass loaf pan.

I've baked for years...and rarely does something like this happen!

Oooooooo!!!


Note to self::::::::      next time.... use trusty glass loaf pans.

got any cooking disasters to share? .....