Day 3

Quick note before I run off! We did a lot of work yesterday with a lot still to go but all in all a productive first day!! Don't have long as I slept in but I'll try to update tonight!!!!

Lex

First Full day!

So today is the first full day of our ownership! My GM and I didn't get much done yesterday due to the portuguese "water of life" that the former owner pressed onto us. It was moonshine, hence the reason I did not update lastnight. So today we actually get some work done!!! We have a lot of work ahead of us but I think we can do it. I'd really like Daddy Chef to come back from his trip and be amazed at how much we've done. Not sure how much I'll be able to update today as we don't have internet at the resto right now but hopefully I'll be able to do a quick one when I get home. Until then not much to update. Hopefully we'll start working on the bar today with the fantastic Breakable Woman so yay!!!

Update!!! So we just got home from wrecking day!!! We got a lot done, got all the decals and rails off the walls and stripped all the barstools. Doesn't sound like a lot but Daddy Chef will freak when he gets home!!! Tomorrow patching walls and stripping the bar!!!!!! Wish us Luck!!!!!

Until then here is a great Saturday recipe It taked forever but is quite possibly my favorite ratatouille recipe ever. Since it takes so long I reccomend making a double recipe so that you can freeze some of it. If vac sealed you can taste some fresh summer in the middle of winter!!! At least it's this summer. Is anyone else LOVING the veg this year? I made a peach pie ou of underipe peaches the other day and NO ONE NOTICED!!! Ok I'm off topic and I need to wrap this up. Enjoy this rat as everything seems to be perfectly sweet this year. I promise when the veg are gone the memory of this will get you through the winter!!!

http://www.justhungry.com/2006/09/ratatouille.html

Enjoy!!

Closing day!!!

So it's 10am here and I'm about to go get the papers signed. BD (or I think I may steal the nickname Daddy Chef from his crew) is still in line at the bank so we can go hand over the money! I'm hoping to be able to get in there later today but that may not happen. I'll post before pictures soon probably along with some wrecking pictures!!! Wish us luck!!!

Ity is now 12:32, we just got back from the lawyers office and will hopefully have the keys in a couple of hours!!!!! I can't wait to go in and start wrecking stuff!!!! Daddy Chef is off to one of his best friends bachelor parties for the weekend so it's up to me to get some work done this weeekend. Tonight shall be an evening of lists and bubbly, hopefully in that order, and starting a few renovations! Wish us luck!!!!!!

3:34 pm, just got the call that I can go pick up the keys! So just finished getting in my scrubbys, including my kitchen shoes that I haven't worn in a year and a half!!!! They are super stiff as anyone knows if they have workboots they haven't worn for a while. Just waiting for my future GM (nickname to be decided shortly) to show up so we can get over there! AARRRGGGHHH too many exclamation points!!! I don't know if you can tell but I'm really excited. Just wish Daddy Chef could be here with me!

-lex

World's Worst Blogger!!

So I suck.

There ya go I said it! The problem is that there hasn't been much I can write about. A lot of the things going on officially I can't really talk about and unofficial things have been so spaced out and insignificant that they didn't really come together until now. We've been basically lining up as much as we can so I can go in there on Friday get 'er done!!

Yesterday we went to order banquettes and tables and chairs. Stopped off at IKEA to look at lighting and silly little things like candle holders and vases and such. Also to get a cheap lunch! ($.49 Hot Dogs anyone?) We've also been looking at how to sell a bunch of the stuff that's getting left behind by the old owners. Anything worth anything we're selling to raise money to buy all the other things that we need!

We bought some lamps from an insanely talented glass artist that we know, I'll post pictures of them as soon as I can but they are melted bottles (beer and wine) that have been sandblasted to create a beautiful soft light. These will hang over the bar as pendant lamps and we think will add a very funky personal edge.

Well That's all for now. I actually will start writing more often now that things are actually happening. Sorry I don't have time for a recipe of my own right now but I will leave you with a link to one of my favorite recipes on one of my favorite sites!!! The Pioneer Woman is a genius and this recipe is a family fave!! Also don't feel like you have to stick with the meat portion of the recipe we usually make this with whatever leftovers we have in the fridge!!!

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/09/simple-perfect-enchiladas/

Click around her site you will NOT be disappointed!

Enjoy!

-Lex

A very dorky evening

In case you haven't figured it out yet I'm a geek. I am a food geek and pop culture nerd with a specialty in fantasy. Now if you haven't been living under a rock than you were probably watching True Blood lastnight. Whether you like Vampires or not there just isn't anything else on!!!! I had friends over we turned it into a party that had us sipping blood, eating raw flesh and being generally silly.

I made Cherry Srbet and made some very boozy cocktails out of it. They were tasty but unless you want to drink blood you may just want to eat it straight! I got the recipe from the Cosmic Cowgirl She has some really great recipes I highly recomend checking her out!!!

Now for the blood muhahahahahaha!!

This is my friend Sarahle. Isn`t she purdy!!!


You will need
2 lbs Cherries
1 cup water
3é4 cups plus two tablespoons sugar
juice of half a lemon
1/8 tsp kirsch or almond extract (I used almond extract as I had already made 2 trips to the liquor store!)

Pit your cherries. I reccomend doing this in front of the tv with a sheet pan. It takes a while 2 lbs is a lot of cherries!! It also doesn't help when you have Miss Pants and B.D. eating them!!!











Now throw everything, except your extract or kirsch, into a pot and bring to a simmer on medium heat. You want it to simmer the cherries for 10-15 minutes. I waz busy and it simmered longer but that just helped the flavours I think. I also at the last minute decided to throw some chocolate mint in there. If you are doing something like this you want the stems in there. There is a lot more flavour in the stem than in the leaves. Just remember to take them out before blending!!!




Now I`m out of pictures other than the blood. Sorry.

Blend your syrup and cherries with whatever blending tools you have at your disposal. I used an immersion blender cause it`s easy to clean ;) but you can use a blender or food processor or really anything that has a couple blades and moves fast! Now chill the syrup for 8-10 hours. After that follow your ice cream maker instructions!! I use a kitchen aid attachment that I think is a good first icecream maker. I just keep the bowl in the freezer and make ice cream whenever I want!!

If you want to try the blood cocktail I made blend all your sorbet with a bottle of light white wine and about a cup of vodka. Blend and pour into glasses or nifty tru blood bottles!! If anyone is interested in how I made those I`ll give instructions but they were pretty easy!



And now for something completely different!

A romantic meal for one

So the last few days have been really hectic! We've found a location for our restaurant and put in an offer. Been on the phone all day with our realtor and lawyer, not to mention trying to get a hold of a health inspector (a near impossible feat apparently!) So tonight all that is left is to wait. The deadline is 6pm tomorrow and we'll find out then.

Needless to say I've been a little nuts. Little Miss Pants has luckily been very patient (for the most part) considering how crazy Mommy and Daddy are! So tonight it's raining and my B.D. is at work and I thought "Why not do a little something for me???" I need to calm so that I can get through these next (eep) 22 1/2 hours, but hey who's counting? So I looked in my fridge and sighed. A dish that even sounds like a sigh came into my mind and that dish was souffle. Sometimes you just need to treat yourself a little. So chill that wine, and get ready for at least an hour of pure me time. After it's in the oven you do absolutely nothing. In fact the less you do the better it will be!

So come on and sigh with me souffle.....

Here's the recipe!
2 eggs, separated (I actually only used one and it did not work that well so use 2!!!)
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup cheese
1/4 cup ham
salt and pepper to taste



First things first! Set your oven to 350f and prepare your souffle dish. You prepare your dish by greasing it and dusting it with flour. You also "collar" the dish by tying parchment paper around it like so.
My souffle didn't really need it since I only used one egg but if you are using two you will definitely want to! it keeps the puff of your souffle from collapsing which means less time cleaning your oven and more time staring at your beautiful souffle!!!









After that is done you want to separate your eggs and grate your cheese etc. Souffle despite seeming fancy is made really, really quickly (if you have an electric mixer of some kind, if not also whip your egg whites here.)

If you do have an electric mixer throw your egg whites into it and turn on to medium high. I use an 8 on my Kitchen Aid.

Next throw your butter into a small sauce pot and turn the heat to high. Throw your milk in a microwave safe dish and nuke for 1 min 30 sec. Once your milk is in the microwave throw your flour into the butter and whisk like crazy!! Well no not really just make sure that it's all combined. When the microwave beeps pour 2/3 of the milk into your roux (the butter and flour mixture and throw in your cheese. It will be very thick so don't freak out!

Now whisk your egg yolk with the remaining milk. This is called Tempering and will prevent your egg yolk from cooking unevenly. Take the cheese mixture off the heat and add your egg and milk mixture. Add your ham or whatever extras you may be throwing in there. I'll point out quickly right now that souffle is awesome for leftovers!!!







By now your egg whites should look like this,

use a 1/4 to a 1/3 of this to lighten up you egg yolk mixture. Just whisk it in. After that you are going to want to very carefully fold in the rest of your egg whites. They should be just incorporated with the mixture.










My mixture usually looks like this.







Now put the batter into your prepared dish. I used a really weird sized ramekin from DollaRama. If I had used the 2 eggs it probably would've been the right size. If you have regular sized ramekins give it a whirl! You want that tall luscious souffle because your worth it!!!! Now here is the Me part, put your souffle in the oven and LEAVE IT ALONE!!!!!! Seriously go watch TV, meditate do whatever you think you deserve!! I personally drank wine smoked cigarettes and read Douglas Coupland for about 33 minutes. You don't want to open the door so leave the light on and when it's golden brown (30-35 minutes) it'll be done!!

As you can see mine didn't rise as much as I would've liked but it still tasted AMAZING!! I enjoyed it with a warm spinach salad and some Fat Bastard Chardonnay!!

And you know why because I'm worth it!!!!!!









(I know this can seem a little intimidating but it literally takes about 8 minutes from start to finish. Plus you can feel like you earned your gluttony!!!)

As always Enjoy!!!
-lexi

Apologies to all!

So I have been the worlds worst blogger lately! I have an excuse. All I've been cooking lately have been recipes for the restaurant. While I will post ssome teasers and small recipes before we open I can't really do that yet. I do have good news on that front, we have been looking at a few places and may be putting in an offer on the place we looked at yesterday!!! If that is the case we will be able to open in August!!! So I'm sorry I haven't been around and I promise I'll think of something to post soon. As soon as this heatwave is over and I'm eating more than salad.
until then here is an oldie but a goodie. I don't have instructional pics but it's pretty easy to put together.

This is a poached pear tart. It is devine! I got this recipe from one of my all time favorite cookbooks The Seven Sins Of Chocolate.

This book is stunning and the recipes are to DIE for. Who could not love a book all about chocolate? Some of the recipes are a bit advanced for the average home cook but many are so simple (spiced hot chocolate anyone?) I highly reccomend it. I just love looking at it on a rainy afternoon the photos are stunning. I wish I had a better pic of this but trust me no one will believe you made this. It takes 2 days (you want to let your pears sit over night) but is really simple if you don't let all the steps scare you!!!
Lets start with the pears shall we? You want to do this the night before!




Poached Pears
3 firm pears
1 3/4 cups light red wine
3/4 cup sugar
1 cinnamon Stick
1 vanilla bean split open (you can use a tsp of extract in a pinch but it really is so much better with the bean!!)
1 Star Anise (available in most asian markets)

Peel and Core your pears and slice in half add everything but pears into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Once your sugar dissolves turn down the heat to a simmer and add your pears. Cook for about 15-20 minutes or until tender when peirced with a knife. Wrap and refridgerate overnight.

Sweet Pastry
3/4 cup AP flour
2 tbsp almond flour (If you don't have it just throw some raw almonds into a coffee grinder)
2 tbsp confectioners sugar
pinch of salt
6 tbsp butter chilled
1 large egg yolk mixed with 2 tbsp ice water.

Now I'm going to tell you a secret of making perfect pastry at home! Are you ready it will be here in a few moments in preperation for it stick your butter in the freezer! Now gather and mix all your dry ingredients you want your butter to be in the freezer for about 15 minutes. Now grab your cheese grater and grate that frozen butter rub it all together until it makes a course meal. I love this method beccause it makes that happen a lot faster with less handling. Which means less melting which in pastry is good! Now add your egg yolk water mixture and stir until it just comes together. If it's not add a little bit more water until it does!

Now wrap it and Stick it in the fridge for at least 2 hours but up to 12. Now beat the crap outta it with a rolling pin until you can roll it out. Roll it out to an 1/8 of an inch thick. roll it onto your rolling pin to transfer to your tart pan. Lay it in the tart pan and use your rolling pin to trim the edges. Just roll it over the top. Wrap it and freeze it for 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 375f place the tart pan onto a baking sheet. Dock the dough with a fork and fill with parchment paper. Weigh the paper down with beans. This is called Blind baking. Bake like this for 10-12 minutes until the dough is set. Then remove the weights and parchment and bake for anothe 10 minutes until golden brown.

You may want to do this step the night before as well or at the latest in the morning. It needs to chill completely before you pour in the ganache!

Chocolate Red Wine Ganache
5 oz bittersweet chocolate chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 tbsp unsalted butter cut into small peices
3 tbsp light red wine (use the same as the pears. I even used the poaching liquid to be honest with you! I think I drank the rest of the wine with a girlfriend the night before.

Place the chocolate in a heat proof bowl. bring the cream to a boil and pour over the chocolate. Wisk until smooth and then add the butter a peice at a time. Wisking this whole time add the wine and wisk until smooth.

Assemble
Pour still warm ganache into your pie shell. tap it a few times so that the ganache is smooth. Drain and pat dry your pears and slice them very thinly. place in a circular design around the chocolate. Dust the edges with sugar and ta-da! It's done!!!

I know this looks like a lot of work but it's not really. Same as baking a pie. Try it and you won't be dissapointed!! It's so pretty and always looks proffesional.

Enjoy!!!