Living the Life

Dag 29: Fort Smith, AK - Memphis, TN

2010-10-02T04:32:00.003+02:00

Wederom een dag op de snelweg, weer omdat er eigenlijk geen alternatief is, of je moet twee maal zo lang over een stuk willen doen en dan nog is het niet leuk om te rijden. Maar we zitten nu wel weer in Memphis, Tennessee -staat nummer 18-! In Memphis zijn we al diverse malen geweest en de toeristische attracties hebben we hier allemaal wel gezien, waar we hier voor komen is het eten, Memphis Style BBQ.
@hettonzo vindt nog steeds de ribs van Rendezvous de lekkerste die ze tot nu toe heeft gegeten, dus stond die op de lijst om te bezoeken.
De ribs waren nog steeds fantastisch, evenals de de Mustard Coleslaw en de BBQ Beans.
Na het eten even door Beale Street gewandeld en wat gedronken, daarna op het gemak terug gewandeld naar het hotel.Vandaag: x km
Totaal: 10.794+x km
Aantal staten deze trip: 18

Dag 28: Dallas, TX - Fort Smith, AK

2010-10-02T03:56:00.004+02:00

Vandaag weer een dagje op de snelweg. Zelfs als je TomTom opdracht geeft om de snelweg te vermijden dan stuurt hij je nog uren over snelwegen, gewoon omdat er niet veel anders is.

We zijn eerst richting het noorden gereden omdat we naar Blocker, Oklahoma -staat nummer 16- wilden. Blocker, OK is niet meer dan een kruising met een kruidenier op de hoek, maar hier is Kay geboren en het leek ons wel leuk om even langs te rijden.
Vandaar door naar Fort Smith in Arkansas -en staat nummer 17 deze trip-, niet omdat er zoveel te beleven is maar omdat het op de helft van de route naar Memphis lag.
We hadden een hotel in het centrum en in Main Street zaten een paar leuke barretjes en een boven verwachting goed Thais Restaurant.

Vandaag: 436 km
Totaal: 10.794 km
Aantal staten deze trip: 17

Dag 27: Austin, TX - Dallas, TX

2010-09-30T04:26:00.003+02:00

Lang zal ik even ;-) Mijn verjaardag moest natuurlijk gevierd worden met een lekker etentje! Ten zuid-westen van Austin ligt Driftwood, TX. Een plaatsje zo klein dat het op de meeste kaarten niet te vinden is. Hier zit de Salt Lick, volgens veel barbecuelijsten het beste barbecue restaurant ter wereld. Dat moest natuurlijk getest worden!
We kwamen hier voor de lunch en we verlieten het terrein allemaal erg vrolijk, wat een tent zeg! En ja, ook voor ons staat de Salt Lick op nummer 1. Alles was fantastisch hier, de barbecue, de bijgerechten, het personeel, het toetje, werkelijk alles klopte!!

Na de lunch naar Dallas, TX, gereden. Als je op de kaart kijkt denk je dat je misschien wel door een soort prairie landschap rijdt. Niets is minder waar! Dit was een snelweg die net zo druk is als de gemiddelde snelweg in Nederland tegen de spits aan. Ook was er erg veel bebouwing zodat het idee van een groot leeg land hier niet echt op gaat. Maar ja we moesten wat kilometers maken en soms rij je dan minder leuke wegen.

Vandaag: 436 km
Totaal: 10.358 km
Aantal staten deze trip: 15

Dag 26: San Antonio, TX - Austin, TX

2010-09-30T03:57:00.006+02:00

Vandaag maar heel weinig gereden, dat komt doordat er heel veel goede barbecue restaurants in de buurt van Austin,TX zitten. Hier ligt het hart van de Texas BBQ en dat moest natuurlijk uitgebreid getest worden.

Ten zuidwesten van Austin ligt Lockhart, een plaats met 4 fantastische BBQ restaurants waarvan we er drie op het verlanglijstje hadden staan om te bezoeken. Nou kun je natuurlijk niet bij ieder restaurant een volle maaltijd nuttigen, dat is zelfs voor ons een beetje te veel van het goede, maar bij deze restaurants kun je gewoon wat af laten snijden en dat wordt dan gewogen en aan de hand daarvan reken je af.

Het eerste restaurant dat we bezochten was Smitty's en die was best goed. Daarna volgde onze winnaar van de dag Black's Barbecue. Kreuz Market was het laatste restaurant waar we iets aten en deze viel eigenlijk een beetje tegen vergeleken bij de anderen

Voor een uitgebreid verslag over wat we er aten en wat we er precies van vonden kun je terecht op mijn BBQ Blog.

Vandaag: 190 km
Totaal: 9924 km
Aantal staten deze trip: 15

Dag 25: San Antonio, TX

2010-09-28T04:57:00.006+02:00

Eén van de redenen waarom we zo graag terug wilden naar San Antonio was een restaurant / bakkerij bij de Mexicaanse Markt. Ja, het zal niet over eten gaan ;-)
Bij Mi Tierra hebben we tijdens een vorig bezoek aan San Antonio heerlijk gegeten en we wilden terug voor het ontbijt.
De hele tent was al ingericht voor kerst, hoe bizar, maar het eten was net als vorige keer fantastisch!
De atmosfeer ook. Er lopen Mariachi's rond die voor $6 een liedje spelen aan je tafel, de obers zijn super vriendelijk en het eten, wow!
Ik had chilaquilles, dat zijn de nacho's van de vorige dag met een rode saus (of een groene) en gesmolten kaas, verder refried beans en als extra draadjesvlees in een cascabel (een Mexicaanse pepersoort) saus. De chilaquilles waren perfect maar mijn draadjesvlees was het beste dat ik tot nu toe deze trip heb gegeten!Dit is voor ons even het meest Mexicaanse wat we kunnen doen zonder Mexico in te hoeven, hier over de grens heersen de drugscartels en is het zeer onveilig, dus dan maar even zo genieten!

's-Middags even bij de Alamo langs, het fort waar onder andere Davy Crockett en James Bowie (van de messen) om het leven kwamen tijdens een aanval van het Mexicaanse leger, Remember the Alamo!! ;-)En voor het diner gegeten in de tapasbar van ons hotel, natuurlijk onder het genot van een cocktail, een Margarita gemaakt met een gerijpte Tequila, yummie!

Dag 24: Pecos, TX - San Antonio, TX

2010-09-28T04:34:00.006+02:00

Weer een aardige afstand afgelegd maar het aantal uur op de weg viel mee, er zijn hier niet zo gek veel wegen dus een groot deel van onze reis zaten we op de Interstate, een weg met een maximum snelheid van 80 mijl per uur, zo'n 130 km per uur, niet slecht dus!
Ook zie je dat je in Texas zit, overal staan ja-knikkers de olie op te pompen, soms zijn de vooroordelen gewoon waar ;-)

In San Antonio hadden we Hotel Contessa geboekt, een erg luxe hotel aan de River Walk. Kijkje in de hal van het hotel.

Het zwembad op het dak.

Door San Antonio loopt een rivier en langs die rivier stonden vroeger allerlei pakhuizen e.d. Die zijn verbouwd tot restaurants en bars en je kunt er heerlijk langs het water lopen en zitten.

Wij kwamen bij de Iron Cactus terecht, één van de vele Mexicaanse restaurants / cocktailbars. Als je zo dicht bij Mexico zit vraagt dat een aanpassing in wat je drinkt natuurlijk, dus hier zijn we voor frozen margarita's gegaan. Erg lekker!! Nacho's met aan tafel gemaakte guacamole erbij maakte het helemaal af!
Daarna een rondje langs de River Walk gemaakt. Dit blijft toch één van de leukere Amerikaanse steden! San Antonio heeft zo'n eigen karakter en voelt veel meer Mexicaans dan Amerikaans aan.

Vandaag: 581 km
Totaal: 9734 km
Aantal staten deze trip: 15

Dag 23: Socorro, NM - Pecos, TX

2010-09-26T04:51:00.008+02:00

De eerste stop vandaag was Roswell, NM, daar waar in 1947 een UFO neer is gestort, maar dat wordt door de Amerikaanse overheid natuurlijk nog steeds hardnekkig ontkent. Vandaar dat er een speciaal museum is, een bibliotheek en een aantal souvenirwinkeltjes met allerlei zooi voor de liefhebbers. Helaas is alles van een dusdanig niveau, net als Roswell zelf, dat je hier eigenlijk alleen maar heel snel weer weg wilt!

We kwamen nog wel een BBQ Tent tegen maar ook die kwam niet echt uit de verf qua smaak.

Dus door naar Carlsbad, NM, hier hebben ze een gigantisch grottenstelsel op zo'n 250 meter diep. Je gaat met een lift naar beneden en kunt dan allerlei routes lopen door de grotten. Erg leuk en lekker koel, want buiten is het al gauw meer dan 30°C.

De cactussen doen het hier goed!

Door naar Pecos in Texas, onze 15de staat deze reis. Dit deel van de VS is heel erg arm en dat zie je aan alles, je komt door spookstadjes, de plaatsen die je tegenkomt zijn een zooitje, veel rotzooi op mensen hun erf, panden die dichtgetimmerd zijn etc. Pecos is net zoiets, er staan wel wat goede hotels, gelukkig, maar daar houdt het ook wel mee op. Het is dat San Antonio nog te ver weg is anders zouden we het liefst in één keer doorrijden!

Vandaag: 589 km
Totaal: 9153 km
Aantal staten deze trip: 15

Dag 22: Phoenix, AZ - Socorro, NM

2010-09-25T05:27:00.006+02:00

Vandaag weer een rit door het grote niets, via de 60. Als vrij snel na Phoenix was het landschap leeg. Nog wel steeds veel cactussen maar verder niet veel qua bebouwing e.d. Het landschap was wel anders dan ik verwacht had, ik dacht dat we voornamelijk door woestijn zouden rijden maar er zaten ook een paar flinke bergpassen bij met de daarbij behorende dennenbomen.
In Show Low, AZ hebben we geluncht bij een tentje met een hoop pickups voor de deur. De kaart was deels Mexicaans en deels BBQ. Ik nam een broodje Pulled Pork en de dames Mexicaanse schotels. Mijn Pulled Pork was heerlijk! Gerookt met Mesquite hout met een heerlijk BBQ saus. Vele malen beter dan bij ons vorige restaurant!
Na de lunch onze rit over de 60 weer vervolgt New Mexico in -staat nummer 14 deze trip-. Ook staken we de Continental Divide weer over, langzaam maar zeker verdwenen de cactussen uit het landschap, en werd het weer dor met een hoop struiken.
Vlak voor onze eindbestemming van vandaag kwamen we nog langs de Very Large Array, een groep aan elkaar geschakelde radio telescopen die al vanaf heel ver het landschap domineert.
Vandaag: 591 km
Totaal: 8564 km
Aantal staten deze trip: 14

Dag 21: Las Vegas, NV - Phoenix, AZ

2010-09-25T04:47:00.006+02:00

Sin City weer verlaten en via de Hoover Dam, Arizona binnengereden -onze dertiende staat deze reis-. Het landschap veranderde al vrij vlug en er waren meer en meer cactussen te zien. Ook voerde de reis door het Yoshua Tree National Park, je rijdt hier een hele tijd doorheen maar op onze route was eigenlijk geen gelegenheid om even te stoppen en rond te lopen, helaas.

Onze eindbestemming van de dag was Phoenix, AZ, eigenlijk Scottsdale, maar die steden zijn helemaal vergroeid. In Scottsdale zit een Trader Vic's en daar moesten we natuurlijk even een Mai Tai drinken en uitgebreid dineren.
Deze Trader Vic's is vrij modern qua inrichting, het eten en de cocktails waren van hetzelfde hoge niveau als in Londen en Chicago. Alles was fantastisch en het is ook prettig dat je een echte Mai Tai krijgt wanneer je er één bestelt en je je niet hoeft af te vragen wat er dit keer in zit.Vandaag: 499 km
Totaal: 7973 km
Aantal staten deze trip: 13

Dag 20: Las Vegas, NV

2010-09-23T06:13:00.007+02:00

Voor het ontbijt naar Caesar's Palace gereden en daar in één van de restaurantjes gegeten, niet echt bijzonder en nog hartstikke duur ook! Daarna even door de Forum Shops gelopen, een passage met allerlei dure winkels. We waren op zoek naar Mesa Grill, het restaurant van Bobby Flay. Het was de bedoeling om daar 's-avonds te gaan eten. Alles zag er prima uit, de gerechten waren niet goedkoop maar je zit dan ook in een goede tent. Maar toen we later nog even de reacties op Trip Advisor lazen hebben we onze plannen toch maar bijgesteld, de meeste mensen waren er niet over te spreken!

Vanaf Caesar's Palace naar Frankie's Tiki Room gereden, een cocktail bar die 24 uur per dag, zeven dagen in de week open is. En ja, ons bezoek was niet zolang na het ontbijt ;-) We hadden onze cocktails voor het middaguur!
Alle cocktails smaakten erg goed, ik had een Mai Tai en @hettonzo een Tiki Bandit.
Na de cocktails even terug naar het hotel om een beetje bij te komen. 's-Avonds naar het Hard Rock Hotel om bij Mr. Lucky's 24/7 te eten. We aten hier vroeger altijd als we in het HRH zaten en de prime rib was er altijd fantastisch. En nu nog steeds trouwens! We kregen gigantische porties, als ik het zo in moet schatten bijna een pond vlees per persoon. Toen we bijna klaar waren, we kregen het niet op, kwamen ze vragen of we meer wilden, want het was zoveel prime rib als je op kon! En dat voor maar $9,95 per persoon!!!
Daarna nog even over de strip heen en weer gewandeld en hier en daar door een casino gestruind.

Vandaag: 106 km
Totaal: 7474 km
Aantal staten deze trip: 12

Dag 19: Mammoth Lake, CA - Las Vegas, NV

2010-09-23T05:51:00.007+02:00

We zijn al een aantal keren via deze kant naar Las Vegas gereisd en elke keer gaan we dan door Death Valley. Deze keer wilden we iets anders en dus hebben we TomTom de snelste route vanuit Mammoth Lake laten uitzoeken.

We begonnen op een mooie vierbaansweg, maar vlak na Bishop, CA stuurde TomTom ons naar links, de 168 op. Aan het begin stonden allerlei waarschuwingen als, smalle, kronkelende weg. Of je nu via Death Valley rijdt of via deze weg, je moet toch weer wat bergen over. Maar deze weg was toch wel bijzonder mooi! Het begint met een stuk kronkelweg om de eerste bergkam over te steken, de weg is daarbij op sommige plaatsen maar enkelbaans!!! Dit ben ik hier nog nooit tegengekomen. Hier en daar leek het wel een achtbaanrit.
Na de eerste bergen een afdaling door een vallei en dan weer de tweede pas om over te steken. Het landschap en de weg waren beide erg mooi!

Na dit stuk weg kom je op de 95, die gaat naar Las Vegas, NV en hier kwamen we ook Nevada binnen, onze twaalfde staat deze reis. De 95 is het grootste deel kaarsrecht en loopt door het woestijnlandschap, er rolde zelfs nog een tumble weed over de weg om het nog meer op een western te laten lijken :-)
In Las Vegas snel ons hotel opgezocht, South Point, iets ten zuiden van de Strip. Een prima hotel met mooie ruime kamers en een gezellig casino. Voor het eten naar onze eerste echte barbecue tent van deze reis gegaan, Memphis Championship Barbecue, maar dat viel helaas tegen, een verslagje daarover vind je op mijn BBQ Blog.

Vandaag: 505 km
Totaal: 7368 km
Aantal staten deze trip: 12

Dag 18: San Carlos, CA - Mammoth Lakes, CA

2010-09-21T05:17:00.007+02:00

Na een paar drukke dagen in de stad vandaag de weg weer op. We zijn op weg naar Las Vegas, en alle routes daar naartoe hebben we al eens gereden, dus de mooiste dan maar voor deze reis uitgekozen, door Yosemite Park. Het is wel iets verder rijden maar de natuur is fantastisch!

El Capitan

En in plaats van er hard doorheen te rijden zijn we bij het Ahwahnee Hotel uitgebreid gaan lunchen. Het Ahwahnee Hotel is een grote Lodge opgetrokken uit steen en hout, een schitterend hotel met een vrij luxe restaurant.Ik had een NY Strip Steak met Chimichurri en patat van zoete aardappelen, erg goed! Ook de Pork Chop van @hettonzo en de Shrimp Louis van Kay waren ook heerlijk!De borden bij op het parkeerterrein van het hotel laten je wel beseffen dat je hier niet in een stadspark zit! Beren kunnen met gemak een auto open maken en er wordt dan ook geadviseerd om geen eten in je auto achter te laten!
Na het eten de Tioga Pass over gestoken, dit is een verschrikkelijk mooie pas om te rijden en is ruim 3000 meter hoog.
Na de afdaling verlaat je het park en kom je op voor mij één van de mooiste wegen ter wereld, het stuk tussen Mono Lake en Las Vegas, de weg wordt steeds rechter en het landschap veranderd langzaam in een woestijn. Vannacht overnachten we in Mammoth Lakes, CA, morgen Las Vegas.

De verslagen vanuit Vegas post ik wanneer we daar weer weg zijn. In Vegas willen ze dat je zo min mogelijk tijd op je kamer doorbrengt, bijvoorbeeld met internet, in ons hotel rekenen ze dus $16 per dag voor toegang tot het net en dat vind ik het niet waard ;-)

Vandaag: 472 km
Totaal: 6863 km
Aantal staten deze trip: 11

Dag 17: San Francisco, CA

2010-09-20T06:36:00.008+02:00

Om 10 uur hadden we afgesproken met Yenny, Iain en hun zoontje Aidan, vrienden van ons, bij King Wah, een Dim Sum restaurant in Daly City, een voorstad van San Francisco.
Het was erg gezellig om ze weer eens in levende lijven te zien, de laatste keer was negen jaar geleden toen ze nog in Salt Lake City woonden en we bij hun Thanksgivings Day hebben gevierd.
De Dim Sums hier waren erg goed maar dat mag ook wel met zoveel Chinezen die hier wonen.

Op weg naar onze volgende afspraak kreeg Kay een telefoontje van haar broer die maar twee blokken van ons af bleek te zijn. Dus even snel afgesproken om ergens wat te gaan drinken. Hij kwam samen Kay's neefjes en nichtje. We hadden Randy nog nooit ontmoet maar hij lijkt erg op Kay.

Na ons drankje pikten Pat en Bob ons op voor een bezoek aan de Jacht Club van de San Francisco Police. Bob is gepensioneerd motoragent en lid van deze jachtclub. Vanuit de Jacht Club kon je ook mooi het AT&T Park zien waar de SFGiants net een wedstrijd aan het spelen waren.
Met nog een snel bezoekje aan Aunt Teene, Kay's tante zaten alle sociale verplichtingen er weer op. Morgen richting Las Vegas!

Vandaag: 219 km
Totaal: 6391 km
Aantal staten deze trip: 11

Dag 16: San Francisco, CA

2010-09-19T17:32:00.010+02:00

Onze dag in San Francisco begon met een bezoek aan de St. Francis Fountain, dit is zo'n beetje de oudste ijssalon van San Francisco en bevindt zich in een buurt waar je 's-avonds niet wil worden aangetroffen, maar het ijs en het eten zijn er heerlijk! Ook zagen we dat ze zich hebben aangepast aan deze tijd, er stonden opeens erg veel organische en vegan gerechten op het menu. En blijkbaar werkt dat goed voor ze want er was een aardige wachttijd om binnen te komen. Gelukkig, want dit is echt een mooie oude tent en het zou erg zonde zijn als hij dicht zou gaan.
Na een stevige brunch richting de Embarcadero om Cupids Span, een beeld van Claes Oldenburg en Coosje van Bruggen te bekijken. Dit is wel het grootste beeld van hun dat we tot nu toe hebben gezien!
Toen naar Chinatown om even rond te kijken. Dit is ons zesde bezoek aan San Francisco, Kay woonde hier vroeger, dus alle toeristische attracties hebben we hier wel gezien.
Ik had wat tikibars op mijn lijst staan die ik wilde bezoeken hier en vrienden van ons raden ons aan om ook een bezoekje te brengen aan Trad'r Sam. Deze tikibar zit hier al sinds de jaren '30 en is een echte buurtkroeg waar tropische cocktails worden geserveerd. Het publiek was heel divers, van bouwvakkers uit de buurt tot groepjes meiden die met z'n allen een tikibowl deelden.
Wij namen hier een Mai Tai, die kwam in een Hurricane glas met de nodige hoeveelheid ananassap er in. Een lekkere cocktail op zich, maar geen echte Mai Tai.

De volgende bar waar we naartoe gingen was van een heel ander kaliber, de Tonga Room, onderin het super de luxe Fairmont Hotel op Nob Hill. De Tonga Room staat op de nominatie om gesloten te worden, er worden acties gevoerd om hem open te houden omdat het zo'n mooie oude aparte tent is. Het interieur is geheel in tiki stijl, alsof je een Polynesisch dorp binnen loopt. In het midden zit een grote vijver en elk half uur valt er regen in de vijver en laten ze donder en bliksem effecten op je los.
De cocktails die we hier namen waren zombies, een klasse beter dan die bij de vorige tent en ze werden, geheel in stijl, in tiki bekers geserveerd. Hier hebben we ook maar wat te eten besteld want we begonnen de drank al een beetje te voelen.

Toen op naar de bar waar ik het meeste naar uit keek, The Smuggler's Cove. Deze bar is pas sinds kort open. Martin Cate is één van de mensen die de tiki en rum drankjes weer op de kaart heeft gezet en hier hebben ze een rumcollectie van meer dan 200 soorten, waaronder een aantal rums die alleen voor de Cove worden gemaakt. Het pand zit in een onbeduidende straat en aan de buitenkant zie je bijna niet eens dat er een bar zit. Binnen lijkt het op een grot, er zijn drie verdiepingen en 2 bars waar aan de lopende band verse cocktails worden gemaakt. Het was zo druk dat er het grootste deel van de avond en wachtrij is!
We hadden hier met Lisa, Kay's dochter, en Pat en Bob gemeenschappelijke vrienden afgesproken. Het menu hier was zo uitgebreid, ongelofelijk!! Mijn keuze viel op de Rum Barrel, de beker mocht je houden, een fantastische cocktail, je proeft hier echt dat het heel veel verschil maakt als er betere en verse ingrediënten gebruikt worden. Andere cocktails die werden geprobeerd waren o.a. Mai Tai's, Zombies en Kona Cocktails. Al die cocktails waren stuk voor stuk heerlijk!

Van alle drie de bars had ik de meeste verwachtingen van de Smuggler's Cove en dat heeft hij meer dan overtroffen zelfs! De Tonga Room was toch wel heel bijzonder maar de drankjes haalden het niet bij de Cove!

Dag 15: Eureka, CA - San Carlos, CA

2010-09-18T18:47:00.008+02:00

De dag begon met een alternatieve route van Highway 101, the Avenue of the Giants, een weg van 51 km die langs allerlei stukken met Redwoods loopt, fantastisch nog meer van deze gigantische bomen te zien.
Ook kwamen we de andere bomen tegen waar je met de auto doorheen kunt rijden, al waren deze niet zo krap als die van gisteren.

Daarna onze reis vervolgt langs Highway 1, een weg die langs de kust voert, schitterend maar erg vermoeiend om te rijden, zeker als je er in totaal zo'n 8 uur op zit! Je kunt in een hoop stukken niet harder dan 50 km per uur rijden en de bochten kun je niet harder nemen dan 20 km per uur.

Via Bolinas, en Stinson Beach de bergen weer overgestoken naar San Francisco, daar zitten we nu een paar dagen in een voorstad. Door een grote conferentie en vier grote spoertevenementen die hier worden gehouden waren de meeste hotels downtown vol of over de $300 per kamer.

Vandaag: 570 km
Totaal: 6172 km
Aantal staten deze trip: 11

Dag 14: Grants Pass, OR - Eureka, CA

2010-09-17T16:12:00.009+02:00

Vandaag van de snelweg afgegaan, gelukkig, en de 101 op, dit is de oude snelweg langs de kust en hier vind je net als langs Route 66 een hoop leuke dingen onderweg.
Al vrij snel verlieten er Oregon en reden we Californië binnen, staat nummer 11.
De 101 heet hier voor een deel Redwood Highway en voert door het Redwood Park. Redwoods vallen onder de grootste bomen ter wereld en als je door zo'n stuk rijdt met een hoop redwoods voel je je opeens heel klein, alsof je bent gekrompen!

Buiten de parken bevinden zich hier en daar bomen waar je met je auto doorheen kan rijden, dit is natuurlijk nog allemaal van voor de tijd dat de "treehuggers" ervoor hebben gezorgd dat dit niet meer kan, maar deze staat nog steeds en je mag dan tegen een kleine vergoeding, $5, je auto er door sturen. Met mijn eigen auto had het niet echt een probleem geweest, had ik waarschijnlijk er nog in kunnen keren ook, maar die van Kay is toch wel erg breed. Ik denk dat ik aan beide zijden van de spiegels nog een centimeter of vijf over had :-) En de spiegels kunnen niet worden in geklapt!
Iets verder kwamen we de grootste, met de kettingzaag gemaakte, beelden van Paul Bunyan en Babe the Blue Ox tegen. Ook weer erg mooie roadside kitsch!!
Hierna volgde een ander deel van het Redwood Park, in dit deel staan de grootste redwoods, en inderdaad de "Big Tree" was enorm, wat een imposant stukje natuur!

Inmiddels waren we al een paar keer langs de kust gereden en bij Patrick's Point State Park hebben we op één van de rotsen een uurtje gekeken of we migrerende walvissen konden zien. Maar het was alsof ik met @eeft aan het vissen was, als wij er zijn zie je natuurlijk niets;-)
Vandaag: 283 km
Totaal: 5602 km
Aantal staten deze trip: 11

Dag 13: Portland, OR - Grants Pass, OR

2010-09-16T16:26:00.006+02:00

In Portland vindt, behalve cocktails, nog een andere revolutie plaats die zich langzaam over de rest van de VS verspreid, Foodcarts.
Vroeger verkochten dit soort karretjes hotdogs, bagels en koffie, dat soort eten, maar hier en ook in LA verkopen steeds meer van de karretjes voedsel van een hoger niveau, ook dit weer door de alternatieve laag van de bevolking die minder junk food wil en organisch en vegetarisch eten.

Voor het ontbijt dus naar de Food Carts gereden op Mississippi Ave en Skidmore. Er is daar een parkeerterrein vrijgemaakt voor deze stalletjes en er is een overdekt stukje naar gezet waar je lekker kunt zitten.
Alleen een sapjes karretje was open samen met The Big Egg, de rest was druk bezig met voorbereidingen. The Big Egg doet uitsluitend ontbijt.
Ik had The Ultimate Sandwich, 2 dikke sneden brioche met nutella en daar dikke plakken bacon tussen. Een vreemde maar lekkere combinatie!

Toen op weg naar Grants Pass, OR. Via de I5, de grote snelweg, we hadden dit stuk via de 101 willen rijden langs de kust, maar we konden geen geschikt hotel vinden op die route. Nu zijn we wel lekker opgeschoten en kunnen we het volgende stuk wat rustiger aan doen.

Vandaag: 417 km
Totaal: 5319 km
Aantal staten deze trip: 10

Dag 12: Chahelis, WA - Portland, OR

2010-09-15T06:39:00.009+02:00

We hebben de nacht doorgebracht in Chahelis, WA omdat we dan dicht bij Mount St. Helens zaten. Mount St. Helens is een vulkaan die in 1980 tot uitbarsting kwam en voor een hoop ellende tot ver in de omgeving zorgde. Op we er naartoe hadden we er een hard hoofd in dat we iets zouden zien. Het observatorium ligt op 7 km van de krater en het eerste deel van de rit was het vrij mistig.
Maar naarmate we hoger de bergen in klommen klaarde het op en werd het mooi helder. Vanaf het observatorium heb je een uitzicht op de krater en het deel van de berg dat weg is geslagen. In dat hele stuk staat ook geen boom meer, die zijn allemaal opgepikt en door de klap weggeslingerd.
Pas verderop zie je afgeknapte bomen liggen en en de zone daarna staan dode bomen. De druk was niet meer sterk genoeg om ze af te breken, maar het was wel heet genoeg om ze te koken waarna ze afstierven.

Daarna op weg naar Portland in Orgegon, onze tiende staat deze trip en de eerste staat waar we nog nooit waren geweest, alleen nog Hawaii en Long Island en dan hebben we ze allemaal gehad!
In Portland hadden we een doel, the Teardrop Cocktail Lounge.
Cocktails zijn in de VS weer helemaal terug van weggeweest en deze bar draagt erg veel bij in het naar een hoger plan tillen ervan.
Het was Happy Hour toen we aankwamen dus meteen maar een aantal cocktails geprobeerd, alles was even lekker en verassend. Gewoon goed gebalanceerde drankjes, hoge kwaliteit ingrediënten, heerlijk!!

Toen we na twee drankjes langzaam weer richting hotel gingen kwamen we langs Jake's Grill, een typisch steakhouse. Dus nog een rondje cocktails en wat te eten besteld.
De Kobe (Wagyu) Beef Potstickers, waren ok, het had net zo goed gewoon rundvlees kunnen zijn. Maar de New York Steak was fantastisch! Hij was 340 gram, en 21 dagen gerijpt, heerlijk medium gebakken met een knapperig gebruinde buitenkant, perfect gewoon en hij ging er goed in na alle drank ;-)

Vandaag: 286 km
Totaal: 4902 km
Aantal staten deze trip: 10

Dag 11: Everett, WA - Chehalis, WA

2010-09-14T05:51:00.008+02:00

Onze bestemming van vandaag was Seattle, WA. Deze stad is in de loop der jaren uitgegroeid tot een paradijs voor foodies, deels doordat het aan de kust ligt en er een hoop verse vis e.d. wordt aangevoerd, maar ook doordat in Seattle heel veel mensen met een alternatieve leefwijze zijn neergestreken die graag alles organisch kopen.

Het kloppend hart van dit alles is de Pike Place Market. Een deel gewone markt, het andere deel zeer toeristisch, bij elkaar geeft dit een erg leuke gezellige mix.
De vis is schitterend hier en bij sommige kramen wordt de vis van handelaar naar handelaar gegooid, een kunstje waar deze markt ook bekend om is.

Aan de overkant van deze markt zit de allereerste Starbucks koffietent. Ongelofelijk dat uit dit ene tentje zo'n groot imperium is voort gekomen! Even een grote Latte gekocht, die natuurlijk gewoon net zo smaakt als bij alle ander Starbucks ;-)Na nog een tijdje rond te hebben gelopen weer op pad gegaan richting Olympia om Eastside Big Tom Drive Inn te bezoeken. Dit adres kwam weer uit mijn Hamburger America boek.
Ik had de Bacon Burger, die anders was dan de burgers tot nu toe, er zat een soort frietsaus op, zoals die van de McDonalds maar dan zelfgemaakt, en dat maakte hem wat "natter" dan een burger die je hier normaal krijgt. Wij vonden ze erg lekker, Kay vond hem wat minder.

Vandaag: 188 km
Totaal: 4616 km
Aantal staten deze trip: 9

Dag 10: Spokane, WA - Everett, WA

2010-09-13T05:38:00.005+02:00

Omdat het eten bij Frank's Diner gisteren zo heerlijk was en er een tweede, nieuwere vestiging, dichtbij ons hotel zat hebben we besloten om het ontbijt in ons hotel, dat toch al niet zo fantastisch was, over te slaan en ons ontbijt daar te nuttigen.
Ik ben blij dat we niet zo'n tent in de buurt hebben want dan zat ik er elke dag! Alles was weer even goed. Ik had Eggs Benedict met Hollandaise Sauce en Hashbrowns met kaas.

Dit was het halve portie!

Na het ontbijt voor de laatste keer deze trip Route 2 op, het landschap was eerst voornamelijk graanvelden.
Na de middag veranderde het landschap langzaam in bergen. Aan het begin van de bergen kwamen we in Leavensworth, WA, een faux Beiers dorp. Superfout, maar wel in alles doorgevoerd, tot aan de McDonalds aan toe :-)

Na de laatste pas kwamen we in Everett, WA, hier eindigt Route 2. Vanaf hier gaan we richting het zuiden. Het voelt toch een beetje of we een deel van de reis hebben afgesloten Route 2 was een erg leuke weg om te rijden, weg van de gebaande paden, mooie natuur, erg afwisselend landschap en de wegen waren boven verwachting goed!

Vandaag: 472 km
Totaal: 4428 km
Aantal staten deze trip: 9

Dag 9: Libby, MT - Spokane, WA

2010-09-12T16:22:00.004+02:00

Vanuit Libby, MT van Route 2 afgegaan en naar Heron, MT gereden. Normaal zou je hier nooit komen maar hier wonen Dillion en Geri, een neef van Kay met zijn vrouw, waar we waren uitgenodigd. En bij hun op visite was Marietta met een vriendin. Marietta kennen we heel goed, we zijn met haar door Griekenland en China gereisd en hebben ook bij haar thuis in Sacramento gelogeerd op één van onze reizen. Het is altijd erg leuk om bij mensen thuis uitgenodigd te worden en erg interessant om te zien hoe mensen leven in zo'n afgelegen gedeelte van het land.

Na een hoop bijpraten en een heerlijke lunch hebben we weer afscheid genomen en zijn we via Idaho -staat nummer 8- doorgereden naar Spokane in Washington, staat nummer 9. Het bergachtige begint er een beetje vanaf te gaan, de bossen blijven echter nog steeds.
Spokane, WA is de eerste grotere stad die we sinds dagen zijn tegengekomen en hier staat Frank's Diner, een oude, tot restaurant omgebouwde treinwagon, die hier sinds 1931 al staat.

Het interieur was, net als het eten fantastisch!
Ik had een Meatloaf Sandwich op Texas Toast met Brown Gravy en Aardappelpuree.
Daarna nog even het centrum van Spokane bekeken, er lopen hier watervallen door de stad.
Vandaag: 309 km
Totaal: 3956 km
Aantal staten deze trip: 9

Dag 8: Cut Bank, MT - Libby, MT

2010-09-11T02:18:00.010+02:00

Na een stop bij de Espresso Tipi, in Browning, MT, voor een heerlijk bakkie koffie, begonnen langzaam voor ons de Rocky Mountains op te doemen.
Ze zijn hier niet zo hoog als de passen die we verder naar het zuiden hebben overgestoken, maar het blijft een indrukwekkend gebergte! Vlak voor de Rockies zijn we van de 2 afgegaan en naar het noorden gereden. Bij St. Mary zijn we het Glacier National Park ingereden om de 50 mijl lange Going to the Sun Road te rijden. Het eerste stuk hadden we nog zon, maar al snel zaten we in de wolken. Ondanks dat een fantastische route met schitterende vergezichten.

De Gletsjer.

Helaas konden we door wegwerkzaamheden het bord met het hoogste punt van de Logan Pass (2025 m) en het bord van de Continental Divide niet fotograferen. De Continental Divide is een lijn die van noord naar zuid door de VS loopt, regen die ten oosten van die lijn valt eindigt in de Grote Oceaan, regen die ten westen van de lijn valt eindigt Atlantische Oceaan.
Na een lunch in de Lodge van het park, Route 2 weer opgepakt en doorgereden naar Libby, MT waar we de nacht doorbrengen.

Vandaag: 380 km
Totaal: 3647 km
Aantal staten deze trip: 7

Dag 7: Glasgow, MT - Cut Banks, MT

2010-09-10T04:49:00.007+02:00

Bij ons hotel van gisteren zat geen ontbijt inbegrepen, dus op zoek naar een een restaurant dat ontbijt serveerde. In Malta, MT vonden we het Hitchin' Post Cafe. Ik had inmiddels wel trek gekregen dus een wat groter ontbijt genomen, Biscuits & Gravy, sausage en hashbrowns. Het was zoveel dat het op twee borden kwam!
De sausage was heerlijk, lekker pittig, en hier kan een worstje als worstje, maar ook in de vorm van een burger komen. De gravy op de biscuits was ook goed met lekker veel stukjes sausage er in.

Na zo'n ontbijt kun je er wel even tegen en dat was maar goed ook. Na de lange rit van gisteren wilden we het vandaag iets rustiger aan doen. Maar doordat het hier vrij dun bevolkt is en er dan ook nog eens weinig goede hotels zijn moesten we verder rijden dan in eerste instantie de bedoeling was. Het landschap is nog steeds schitterend, jammer dat het de hele rit regende. Uiteindelijk zijn we in Cut Banks, MT terecht gekomen de koudste plek van de VS, en dan moet je daar natuurlijk wel meteen een beeld voor neerzetten.
Op zich is het geen probleem dat we hier terecht zijn gekomen, we zitten nu vlak bij het Glacier National Park en kunnen daardoor morgen een mooie rit door het park maken. Nu maar hopen dat het dan droog is.

Vandaag: 455 km
Totaal: 3267 km
Aantal staten deze trip: 7

Dag 6: Grand Forks, ND - Glasgow, MT

2010-09-09T00:57:00.005+02:00

Vandaag wilden we eigenlijk naar Williston, ND rijden, maar we hadden al gezien dat alle hotels daar vol zaten omdat er deze week een speedway wordt gehouden.En omdat er verder eigenlijk niets aan behoorlijke hotels te vinden was hadden we vandaag een lange rit voor de boeg. Dus vroeg uit de veren en op pad. Helaas kwamen we daardoor veel te vroeg aan bij de Keg's Drive In. Jammer want dit is een authentieke drive in diner die hier al sinds 1935 staat en recentelijk is opgeknapt. Ik had er graag een Sloppy Joe gegeten, maar het mocht niet zo zijn.
Dus door naar Rugby, ND, wat het geografische middelpunt van Noord-Amerika is. Ze hebben er een leuke obelisk voor neergezet maar voor de rest stelt dit plaatsje net zoals de vele anderen gehuchten die we onderweg zijn tegengekomen vandaag eigenlijk helemaal niet voor.
Wat wel steeds mooier wordt is het landschap. In North Dakota was het nog heel veel landbouwgrond maar toen we Montana -onze zevende staat deze reis- indoken veranderde het in een heuvelachtig prairie landschap met schitterende vergezichten, dit deel van het land heet niet voor niets Big Sky Country!
De nacht brengen we door in Glasgow, MT. Hier is ook niet veel te doen, wel zit er bij ons hotel een restaurant en een casino! Glasgow, MT ligt in het midden van een groot Indianen reservaat, het Peck reservaat, één van de stammen waar dit van is zijn de Sioux. Nu hebben de Indianen in hun reservaten andere regels dan in de rest van de VS en daardoor vind je daar veel casino's. Op die manier hebben ze een hoop inkomsten waar weer andere dingen mee worden gesponsord.
Dus straks maar even kijken of we de reis terug kunnen verdienen ;-)

Vandaag: 769 km
Totaal: 2812 km
Aantal staten deze trip: 7

Dag 5: Proctor, MN - Grand Forks, ND

2010-09-08T03:00:00.004+02:00

De dag ging druilerig van start, een staartje van een tropische storm die hier over land verder raasde. Maar tegen de tijd dat we in Bemidji, MN aankwamen was het weer droog geworden.
In Bemidji staat een betonnen versie van Paul Bunyan & Babe the Blue Ox.
We hebben deze beelden een paar jaar geleden al gezien en toen was Babe een beetje in verval geraakt en zat en een grote scheur in het beton. Maar tot onze grote vreugde is hij in 2007 onder handen genomen en helemaal gerestaureerd. Beide beelden stonden er als nieuw bij en dat terwijl ze uit 1937 zijn. Leuk om te zien dat de mensen hier hun eigen klassiekers beginnen te waarderen!

Vanaf Bemidji was het niet zo ver naar Lake Itasca en het begin van de Mississippi rivier. Het is bijna niet voor te stellen dat het kleine stroompje dat hier uit het meer ontspringt één van de grote rivieren wordt. Het gebied er omheen is schitterend, een mooi National Park, de paden naar de bron erg mooi bijgehouden en een erg mooi welkomstcentrum met erg veel informatie over de Mississippi.
Na het bezoek aan Lake Itasca was het inmiddels tijd voor de lunch geworden. Voor het vinden van een goed restaurantje hebben we zo onze eigen methode ontwikkeld. We proberen zo veel mogelijk ketens te vermijden en echt lokale restaurantjes te vinden. Maar hoe weet je of die goed zijn?!? Wanneer het buiten de grote steden is kijken we naar het aantal pick-up trucks dat voor de deur staat. Hoe meer pick-ups, hoe beter het restaurant.
Zo ook ons restaurantje van vanmiddag. D&R Restaurant 2 had een aantal pick-ups voor de deur, altijd een goed teken. Toen we binnen kwamen werden we echt bekeken, een teken dat hier alleen maar lokale komen. Het laminaat van de vloeren was doorgesleten, zo oud was het er. Maar het eten was heerlijk! Ik had een Fried Chicken Burger met Pueblo Soup voor $5.50 De burger was goed, maar de soep was echt fantastisch! Een Mexicaanse stijl soep, een verre verwant van chili, pittig en goed gevuld.
Na de lunch door naar de World Largest Oxcart on Crookston, MN, ik heb een hoop rare dingen hier gezien, maar deze komt toch hoog op de lijst van bizarre beelden :-) Het landschap is inmiddels veranderd van naaldbossen naar agrarisch.
Na de ossenwagen door naar Grand Forks in North Dakota. Dit keer geen bord van de Staat tegengekomen, maar North Dakota is de zesde staat van deze reis.

Vandaag: 505 km
Totaal: 2043 km
Aantal staten deze trip: 6

Dag 4: Iron Mountain, MI - Proctor, MN

2010-09-07T00:46:00.005+02:00

Waar we gisteren nog door bossen met loofbomen reden waren het vandaag voornamelijk naaldbomen. En aan het aantal skigebieden te zien waren we ongemerkt een aardig stuk geklommen.
Al vrij snel doken we Wisconsin in -onze vierde staat deze trip- en ook even snel waren we er weer uit en terug in Michigan. Dat staatje wisselen gebeurde nog een paar keer omdat Route 2 min of meer langs de grens van deze twee staten loopt.
Tegen het middaguur kwamen we aan in Ironwood, MI, hier staat Hiawatha, de grootste Indiaan, een mooi stukje Americana kitsch. Dit beeld uit 1965 is bijna 16 meter hoog en is helemaal uit fiberglas gemaakt.
Als je je afvraagt hoe we aan al dit soort gekke dingen komen, op roadsideamerica.com kun je per staat kunt vinden wat voor dingen er staan. Verder heb ik ook nog wat boeken met dit soort kitsch. Het zou toch jammer zijn als je er later achterkomt dat je zo'n mooi stukje geschiedenis hebt gemist ;-)

Vanaf Ironwood op het gemak langs Lake Superior, Minnesota in gereden en daarmee onze vijfde staat van deze trip bereikt. Voor de nacht zitten we in Proctor, MN

Vandaag: 412 km
Totaal: 1538 km
Aantal staten deze trip: 5

Dag 3: Petoskey, MI - Iron Mountain, MI

2010-09-06T02:00:00.006+02:00

Vanuit Petoskey naar het noorden gereden om Mackinac Bridge over te rijden. De reden waarom we meteen zijn gaan rijden toen we in Chicago aankwamen was omdat morgen, de laatste dag van het Labour Day weekend de brug wordt afgesloten en er duizenden mensen te voet de oversteek gaan maken. Op zich een leuke traditie, maar niet als je met de auto naar de overkant van het meer wil ;-)
Na de oversteek over deze enorme hangbrug, op twee na de grootste van de wereld, kwamen we bij het begin van de weg waar we de komende week op zullen rijden, Route 2!
Ook kwamen we hier ons eerste stuk Americana Kitsch tegen in de vorm van een standbeeld van Paul Banyun.
Mensen die ons goed kennen weten dat we een voorliefde hebben voor dit soort oude kitsch die je ook langs Route 66 steeds tegenkomt. En Paul Bunyan heeft nog een extra speciaal plekje door de film Fargo! Paul Bunyan is een mythologische figuur, een reus, een houthakker met als trouwe metgezel een blauwe os, die naar de naam Babe luistert. En de grote meren hier in het noorden van de VS zouden door Paul Bunyan zijn gemaakt om drinkplaatsen voor Babe te creëren.

Al met al was het een erg mooie rit langs de noordkant van Lake Michigan, door een mooi bosrijk gebied. Goede wegen en lekker weer.

Vandaag: 383 km
Totaal: 1126 km
Aantal staten deze trip: 3

Dag 2: Grand Rapids - Petoskey

2010-09-05T12:42:00.008+02:00

We waren op onze vorige trip ook in Grand Rapids en wel om het Frederik Meijer Garden and Sculpture Park te bezoeken. Helaas werd het toen zulk slecht weer en viel er zoveel sneeuw dat het bijna onmogelijk werd om door het park te wandelen en we toen dus hebben besloten om daar nog een keer voor terug te komen.
Eén van de dingen die we hier graag wilden zien was Plantoir van Claes Oldenburg en Koosje van Bruggen. Een typisch Pop Art beeld van een tuinschepje, maar dan meer dan zeven meter hoog.
Ook vond ik het leuk om Mad Mom van Ton Otterness te zien zonder sneeuw er op. En mocht je denken, dit komt me bekend voor, er staat (stond?!?) een hele grote groep van zijn beelden op de boulevard van Scheveningen.
En één van de meest indrukwekkende beelden hier is American Horse. Een ontwerp van Leonardo DaVinci, maar vanwege een oorlog kon het niet gemaakt worden omdat al het metaal nodig was voor wapens, is er iets veranderd in al die jaren?!? In 1999 is het toch nog gemaakt en wat een fantastisch beeld is het geworden!

Na onze dosis kunst op weg naar Petoskey, MI en één van de weinige hotels die we nog konden vinden hier in de buurt. Dit alles nog steeds vanwege Labour Day. We hadden dit hotel van te voren gereserveerd omdat we wisten dat het moeilijk zou worden in deze periode. Waarom hier?!? Dit is het gebied waar vis gegrild op een plank vandaan komt en hier in de buurt zit één van de betere restaurants om dat te gaan eten! Dus tegen de avond richting Stafford's Pier Restaurant, in Harbor Springs.
Als starter had ik Blackened Scallops, St. Jacobs schelpen, met een donkere gegrilde cajun kruidenkorst.
Hettonzo had grote garnalen in bacon, beide gerechten waren erg smakelijk.
Maar we waren hier natuurlijk voor de vis op een plank. We hadden White Fish op een eiken plank met aardappelpuree met Parmezaanse kaas, sperziebonen en spaghetti squash.
Erg lekker! Je proefde het eikenhout goed terug in vis en ook de bijgerechten waren goed verzorgd.
Vooraf cocktails en een puntje Key Lime Pie toe, het leven is goed ;-)

Vandaag gereden: 343 km

Vandaag: 343 km
Totaal: 743 km
Aantal staten deze trip: 3

Dag 1: Chicago - Grand Rapids

2010-09-05T12:09:00.009+02:00

Met een vertraging van een kleine twee uur kwamen we aan op Chicago O'Hare. Kay stond daar al klaar om ons op te pikken. Normaal gaan we altijd naar Kay's huis maar we hadden besloten om dit keer meteen op pad te gaan omdat we niet weten hoe we uit komen met de tijd. We hebben dan wel vijf weken, maar het is een lange tocht die we, min of meer, hebben uitgestippeld.

Dus de auto in, en TomTom ingesteld op de Redamak's Tavern in New Buffalo, MI. Dit restaurant komt uit mijn Hamburger America boek, een reisboek langs een aantal van de beste hamburger restaurants van de VS. De autorit er naar toe had nog al wat voeten in de aarde. Het was namelijk het begin van Labour Day weekend, het laatste weekend voor dat alle scholen hier weer beginnen en iedereen het er voor de laatste keer nog even van neemt.
Rond Chicago stond dus een onwijze file waar wij ook niet aan konden ontsnappen de rit duurde dus anderhalf uur langer dan gepland.

Maar alle ellende was het meer dan waard! Wat een goed burgertje zeg! Lekker knapperig aan de buitenkant, sappig aan de binnenkant, perfect gewoon. Ik had een double cheeseburger met bacon en jalapeño's. Het leuke hier is dat je je eigen burger kunt samenstellen en kunt kiezen uit allerlei toppings. Al met al een goed begin van de vakantie en leuk als een adresje uit één van je boeken ook echt de moeite waard blijkt.

Na het eten door naar Rapid Springs, MI onze eindbestemming van die dag.

In totaal 400 km gereden en via Illinois, door Indiana in Michigan terecht gekomen.
Vandaag: 400 km
Totaal: 400 km
Aantal staten deze trip: 3

Route 2 & Back

2010-09-04T15:09:00.010+02:00

We zijn begonnen aan onze grote rondreis door de VS. We hebben al bijna alle staten hier gezien en bekende snelwegen als Route 66 gereden, bij het uitstippelen van deze route hebben we ons voor een deel laten inspireren door reisboeken, culinaire reisboeken en weblogs.

Eén van die reisboeken is Blue Highways, waarin de auteur een o.a. een tocht beschrijft over Route 2, de meest noordelijke snelweg van de VS. Route 2 volgt min of meer de Canadese grens en dat zal dan ook het eerste deel van de reis zijn. Aan het einde van Route 2 zakken we af naar San Francisco, Kay heeft daar de meeste tijd van haar leven gewoond, dus daar ontmoeten we een hoop oude bekenden van ons. Dan richting Las Vegas, gewoon omdat het een onwijs leuke stad blijft. Vanuit Vegas via Roswell (UFO's anyone?!?) naar San Antonio omdat we alle drie dat één van de leukste Amerikaanse steden vinden.
Vanaf San Antiono gaan we langzaam weer naar het noorden langs enkele van de beste barbecue restaurants in Texas, we duiken Oklahoma in en vanaf daar zien we wel hoe we terug gaan. Het ligt er ook een beetje aan hoeveel tijd we dan nog over hebben. Memphis is één van de opties omdat daar nog enkele barbecue restaurants zitten die we graag zouden bezoeken.
Ach, we zien wel waar we uitkomen! En als je er benieuwd naar bent dan kun je het uiteindelijk hier lezen ;-)

Nougatientjes

2009-02-16T14:48:00.009+01:00

I haven't been blogging for a while, but I'm back!
I've baked a lot of American recipes in the last year and a half and started to miss our own local baked goods. For christmas I received a book called Koekje, which translates to English as Cookie. It contains 100 Dutch cookie recipes, 50 are classics and 50 are more contemperary.

One of the recipes I made from this book is Nougatientjes or Amsterdamse Koggetjes. I have always known them as nougatientjes.

The recipe dates from 1935 when the Dutch Pastry Bakers Association held a contest to come up with a new cookie, it was probably mister Dorssen who won with the Amsterdamse Koggetjes.
The catholic and christian bakers were members of different associations and couldn't use the name Amsterdamse Koggetjes, so they baked them as Nougatientjes. Both names are still in use.

Ingredients:
For the Nougat:
75 grams caster sugar
25 grams water

For the Dough:
160 grams white soft sugar
200 grams soft unsalted butter
2 tablespoons milk
2 grams salt
15 grams vanilla sugar
200 grams soft flour*

Start with making the caramel (nougat).
Bring the water and sugar to a boil and let it caramelize until deep golden brown. Be careful, this stuff is hot!! Also while it's boiling don't stir the pan.
Pour the caramel in a thin layer on a piece of parchment paper and let it cool down.
Preheat your oven to 160 C (320 F).
Cream the butter with the soft white sugar, when creamy add the milk, salt and vanilla sugar, beat until smooth, add the sifted flour and stir until it's incorperated.
Roll over the caramel with a rolling pin to break it up in small pieces and stir the pieces through the dough.

The recipe from the book says that you can pipe the cookies, I just use 2 teaspoons and put little heaps of dough on a lighty buttered baking sheet, about 3/4 of a teaspoon of dough at the time, keep some space in between them, they will spread.
Bake the cookies about 15 minutes. They will have a light brown edge. (In my oven it takes about 17 minutes.)
Let them cool down a few minutes on the sheet, than take them off and let them cool further on a wire rack. This recipe makes about 50 cookies. They will stay fresh for about a week if you keep them in an airtight cookie jar.

*) Here in Holland we have a special flour that is called in Dutch "Zeeuwse Bloem", in English that would translate in to flour from Zeeland (a Dutch province).

What makes this flour special? The ground in Zeeland is mostly clay, the climate is a moderate sea climate. These two factors give a totaly different wheat than the wheat grown inland. The kernel has way less starch, is moister and doesn't bind as well as AP flour.

AP flour comes from inland, is dryer, has more starch, so more gluten which gives it a higher binding power.

I buy my flour at the windmill in Vlaardingen, hey this is Holland! You might try these recipes with cake flour or another low protein flour. It'll make all the difference in the end result!

No more TWD for me.

2009-01-05T22:11:00.004+01:00

I've decided to quit Tuesdays with Dorie. There are a lot of other things that I want to bake and it is starting to feel like a chore instead of fun.
Another reason is that I (we) are dissapointed with a lot of the recipes. Must be our European tastebuds.

I will keep track of my favorite blogs to see what they make every week and if I see something coming up that sounds fabulous I will bake that too.

Thank you all for the weekly visits, you will find other baking and cooking recipes here from now on, so drop by every once in a while!

TWD: Buttery Jam Cookies

2008-12-16T20:12:00.003+01:00

This weeks recipe was picked by Heather of Randomodity and the Girl. The recipe can be found on her blog or in Dorie Greenspans Baking book.

I was looking forward to another round of cookies, these were drop cookies so pretty simple to do, no rolling, no cutting, just spoon them on the baking sheet and that's it.
They sounded great, butter, jam, what's not to like? Well they were very, very bland, they lacked taste. It wasn't crunchy, but also not really soft, it tried to be a lot of things, but didn't shine. We all agreed here that this was the recipe we liked least so far.

Oh well, there is always butterscotch pudding next week, butter, booze, what's not to like ;-)

TWD: Grandma's All-Occasion Sugar Cookies

2008-12-09T21:55:00.004+01:00

This weeks TWD recipe was picked by Ulrike from Küchenlatein, if you want to make it yourself you can find the recipe in Dorie Greenspan's: Baking, From My House To Yours or on Ulrike's Blog.

The cookies were very simple to make, I didn't do anything fancy with them, just wanted to see how they would taste without any additions.
I went the slice and bake way, but I think I cut them a little too thick. The taste was still great, but next time I will do them a little thinner, probably roll them out and use cookie cutters.

Thanks for picking this one Ulrike! We all loved them.

Linzer Sablés

2008-12-02T00:01:00.007+01:00

Made it back safely after a fabulous cruise! Our luggage decided to stay away a day longer but apart from that everything was great.

This week's Tuesday With Dorie recipe was picked by me! The first guy who joined the group finally got his pick :-)

I choose the Linzer Sablés, so far I've enjoyed the European style recipes more than the American, maybe because I'm European and my tastebuds are more used to those treats? Anyway, I love the way they look with the jam peeking out of the little hole.

I made mine with raspberry jam which I passed through a sieve, after heating it up, to get rid of the seeds.
They were very easy to make and the taste of the cookies comes close to "speculaas", must be the cloves.

I'm pleased with my choice, it's not my favorite recipe but I would make it again.

Here is the recipe:

When I was a kid, the main street in our neighborhood boasted a bakery every two blocks. We always had freshly made bread from the baker closest to our house and almost as often a box of butter cookies from the baker farthest away. My mother would always ask for an assortment, which meant we ended up with too many of those pink-and-green marzipan cookies and not enough of the linzers, buttery, lightly spiced sandwich cookies filled with raspberry jam that peeked through a little cutout on the top. These were the ones I liked best.
This recipe is not a duplicate of the cookie of my childhood, but it is inspired by it and it brings hack childhood memories. I've made these cookies a bit spicier than the originals- I like that extra zing-and I make the peekaboo cutouts only when I'm in the mood to fuss a hit. The rolling out, which is a cinch, can be done just as soon as the malleable dough is made.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups finely ground almonds, hazelnuts or walnuts
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
Scant 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 large egg
2 teaspoons water
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup raspberry jam or strained apricot jam plus 1 teaspoon water (optional)
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Whisk together the ground nuts, flour, cinnamon, salt and cloves. Using a fork, stir the egg and water together in a small bowl.
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together at medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl as needed. Add the egg mixture and beat for 1 minute more. Reduce the speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear into the dough. Don't work the dough much once the flour is incorporated. If the dough comes together but some dry crumbs remain in the bottom of the bowl, stop the mixer and finish blending the ingredients with a rubber spatula or your hands.
Divide the dough in half. Working ,,~th one half at a time, put the dough between two large sheets of wax paper or plastic wrap. Using your hands, flatten the dough into a disk, then grab a rolling pin and roll out the dough, turning it over frequently so that the paper doesn't cut into it, until it is about 1/4 inch thick. Leave the dough in the paper and repeat with the second piece of dough. Transfer the wrapped dough to a baking sheet or cutting board (to keep it flat) and refrigerate or freeze it until it is very firm, about 2 hours in the refrigerator or about 45 minutes in the freezer. The rolled-out dough can be wrapped airtight and stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months. Just thaw the dough enough to cut out the cookies and go on from there.
Getting ready to bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.
Peel off the top sheet of wax paper from one piece of dough and, using a 2-inch round cookie cutter-a scalloped cutter is nice for these-cut out as many cookies as you can. If you want to have a peekaboo cutout, use the end of a piping tip to cut out a very small circle from the centers of half the cookies. Transfer the rounds to the baking sheets, leaving a little space between the cookies. Set the scraps aside-you can combine them with the scraps from the second disk and roll and cut more cookies.
Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 11 to 13 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly golden, dry and just firm to the touch. Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool to room temperature.
Repeat with the second disk of dough, making sure to cool the baking sheets between batches. Gather the scraps of dough together, press them into a disk, roll them between sheets of wax paper or plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, then cut and bake.

If you'd like to make sandwich cookies, place the jam in a small saucepan or in a microwaveable bowl and stir in the 1 teaspoon water. Bring to a boil over low heat or in the microwave. Let the jam cool slightly, then turn half of the cookies flat side up and place about '/2 teaspoon of the jam in the center of each cookie; sandwich with the remaining cookies.
Just before serving, dust the cookies lightly with confectioners' sugar.

If you want to see how all the other TWD bakers did, hop over to the TWD site and check out the blog roll!

Next week: Grandma’s All-Occasion Sugar Cookies on pages 146-147

Rome

2008-10-28T21:35:00.005+01:00

No TWD for me this week and the next few weeks, I'm traveling. Our trip started last Friday when we left for Rome. For us (H. and I) it was the our first visit, K. had been here before. We have visited a lot of the city's high lights, like Galleria Boghese, Sistene Chapel, Pantheon Colosseum, Trevi Fountian, the Spanish Steps etc. But also left a few for a future visit.
For H. and me both the Galleria Boghese was the most beautiful thing we visited, loved the statues by Bernini there!

Trevi Fountain

And than there was the food of course, great pastas, pizzas and desserts, wow, we really have to come back.

Tomorrow we will leave by train to Civitaveccchia, where we will board the Carnival Splendor for our 16 day Rome to Ft. Lauderdale cruise.

On the way we will visit Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Malaga, Funchal (Madeira) and St. Maarten. If I have access to the internet I'll keep you up to date!

TWD: Lenox Almond Biscotti

2008-10-14T00:05:00.005+02:00

Gretchen of Canela & Comino picked this weeks Tuesday with Dorie recipe, she picked Lenox Almond Biscuits which made me very exited.
I know biscotti from my visits to Starbucks when on vacation in the US. I love them and always wanted to give them a try.

They weren't hard to make, although I had to double the time for the first bake. I expected that the logs would spread quite a bit, my sheet pan isn't very wide so I bought an extra one. Glad I did because I could never had fit 2 logs on the one sheet pan I have.
On one sheet pan I put the biscotti's cut side down, on the other I stood them up as Dorie suggested, it didn't make much of a difference taste wise.
I used polenta instead of cornmeal, cornmeal isn't very common on this side of the pond. I'll try to get some next time I make this recipe again. It left a bit of gritty texture. Apart from that I think this is my favorite Dorie recipe so far. Great flavor, nice and crisp, love the almond flavor! Next time I'll try some pistachios or macadamias, or a mix. Also I will do the second bake on 300 F and for a little longer, the ones on the dark sheet pan went a little too fast.

Want to see how the other bakers did? Look at the TWD site. Want to join us? Hurry up this is the last month you can!

TWD: Caramel Peanut Topped Brownie Cake

2008-10-07T21:24:00.003+02:00

Tammy of Wee Treats By Tammy was the lucky one this week and could choose a recipe from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My House To Yours. She picked the Caramel Peanut Topped Brownie Cake. The recipe can be found in on Tammy's blog and of course in the book.

The cake was easy to make, I don't have a 8" spring form so I used a 9" one.
The caramel with cream was a first but wasn't too hard in the end, it did take way more time though than Dorie stated in the recipe.
What did we think of the cake, most of the trusty tasters liked it, but we all agreed it was a little on the dry side. Maybe because I used the larger springform? I don't know, but a layer of jam or cream would have lifted it a lot. It wasn't gooey like a brownie that's for sure.

Want to know how the other Tuesdays With Dorie bakers did? Go and visit the TWD site. Want to join us? Hurry up, there is only until the end of this month left to do so!

TWD: Creme Brulee

2008-09-30T12:37:00.005+02:00

Finally a new Tuesdays with Dorie, this time picked by Mevrouw Cupcake (I'm probably one of the few in the group that can pronounce that correctly :-)) and what a great pick it was. She choose Creme Brulee, one of my all time favorite desserts. You can find the full recipe in Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My House To Yours, or Mari's blog.

I halved the recipe since there are only three people here at the moment. The custard was easy to make and I 'm getting much more comfortable with making those after making a few different ice cream recipes, flan and my own creme brulee recipe a couple of times.

When I make my own recipe I use a vanilla bean that I steep in the warmed up cream and milk, Dorie's recipe uses vanila extract.
I used the vanilla extract that I brought home from Mexico last April, this is the reason my custard is so dark!

(egg yolks, sugar and vanilla extract)

Since I have the new oven, I still discover new things, one of those tings was that the lowest temperature I get in it (with the door closed) is 230 F, the recipe called for 200 F. I didn't want to end up with ramekins filled with scrambled eggs, so I decided to go the water bath route.
I cranked the oven up to 300 F, put my ramekins in an oven dish, filled the dish with hot water (halfway up the ramekins) and baked them for 35 minutes.
The end result was tasty! Very different from my own recipe, these were not as rich, if I make mine you just want to hang out on the couch for a few hours and not think about food for a while. These were lighter and are a nice alternative if you still have plans after dinner :-)

Thanks a lot Mari for picking one of my favorites!

Next week: Caramel-Peanut-Topped Brownie Cake

I'm Back :-)

2008-09-29T14:37:00.003+02:00

It's been quiet a while since I posted here on my blog, I didn't fell of the face of the planet, but thanks to all who asked about my where abouts!

The reason I didn't post anything was that I was remoddelling the kitchen together with my brother. It was some thing that needed to be done for a long time, the old one was probably from the 60's, the stove at least 25 years old. We started a little sooner than expected so I didn't have the time nor energy to post during the process. We took everything out, did new electricity, drains, tiles, ceiling etc. The washing machine was moved to the summer kitchen to free up space for our new 3 foot wide stove. The counter is 9 foot. We put in a dishwasher. Apart from the gas, it was all done by us. And the roof of the summer kitchen and the warm water/central heating unit is replaced too.

But I'm back in business, just in time for tomorrow's Tuesdays With Dorie, picked by Mevrouw Cupcake who lives here in the Netherlands too, didn't want to miss you pick, Mari!!!

What remaines are the before and after pictures, here you go:

before

after

Next project, the summer kitchen....

TWD: Black and White Banana Loaf

2008-08-05T22:02:00.003+02:00

This weeks recipe was picked by Ashlee of A Year In The Kitchen, you can find the recipe in Dorie's Baking and on Ashlee's blog.

To be honest I wasn't impressed with this one, nor were my taste testers. We found it to dense it had too little banana and chocolate taste.

Oh well there is always next week's ice cream to make!

No TWD this week.

2008-07-29T10:00:00.000+02:00

No Tuesday with Dorie entry for me this week, I'm out of town, but I will be back for next weeks recipe.
In the mean time have a look at what all the other TWD bakers made this week at the TWD blogroll.

TWD: Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler

2008-07-22T12:50:00.005+02:00

Another cobbler this week for Tuesdays with Dorie, this time a Cherry Rhubarb one, picked by Amanda from Like Sprinkles on a Cupcake. The recipe for this cobbler can be found in Dorie's Baking or on Amanda's blog.

I had never worked with rhubarb before although we have it in abundance at the moment. Cherries is a different story, we all love them! I pitted them with a chopstick, a trick I read about in the Question and Problem section on the TWD site. It worked great so no need to buy a cherry pitter for this cobbler.

The top differs from the mixed berry cobler, which has a rolled top, this one has little biscuits floating around in the fruit mixture.
How did we like this one? Well to be short we didn't, the biscuit was the best part, the fruit we didn't care for, the rhubarb was overpowering and the taste of the cherries was lost. I think we just stick to fresh cherries next time.
I might try this one with different fruit in the future, apples could be nice.

TWD: Chocolate Pudding

2008-07-15T22:30:00.004+02:00

This weeks Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was picked by Melissa from It's Melissa's Kitchen and was right up my alley! Here is Holland we eat pudding after dinner, most of the time a more runny variation we call "vla", we have it in vanilla, chocolate, coffee (Hopjes, after the coffee candies from The Hague), lemon, raspberry, banana etc. Then there are thicker variaties, bavarois and all kinds of yoghurts. Pies and such we eat when we serve coffee later in the evening, or during daytime coffee, not like in the States right after dinner.

This pudding was more work than a boxed version, but it was really, really worth it. It was nice and smooth and the taste, WOW! Like a deflated chocolate mousse! I think I'll make smaller portions next time since it was very rich and not everybody was able to finish a portion.
The recipe can be found in Dorie's Baking: From My House To Yoursor on Melissa's blog.

TWD: Double Crusted Blueberry Pie

2008-07-08T11:21:00.006+02:00

Last week I wasn't able to do my Dorie bake but this week I made the Double Crusted Blueberry Pie picked by Amy from South in Your Mouth, You can find the recipe for this pie in Dorie's fabulous Baking: From My House To Yoursor at Amy's site.

With the prices of blueberries here being 2.99 euro for 125 grams, I figured out I needed about $20 in blueberries for this pie, now I like to stick to the recipe, but that was a little too much for me. So I used some more of the frozen berries that I also used for the mixed berry cobbler we baked 2 weeks ago.
Shortening is also a thing that is hard to come by on this side of the pond so I used the cheapest hardest margarine I could find as a substitute, which worked out fine.

I used my food processor to mix all the ingredients which made life so much easier. The pie came together very easy. The only thing I forgot was to sprinkle it with sugar but I don't think that that made a lot of difference.
The taste was great, the crust nice and flaky as a pie should be, the berries sweet yet tart, all together a great recipe. Now if only the price of the blueberries came down so I could make it the way it was supposed to be....

With over 200 Dorie members I find it harder and harder to leave comments on everyones blog, so I've decided to just leave comments on a random number of blogs, hope you gal/guys understand!

TWD: Mixed Berry Cobbler

2008-06-24T21:04:00.005+02:00

Time really flies at the moment, it's Tuesday again and I still had to make the Tuesday With Dorie bake for this week so I made it tonight for dessert, just in time to post it while it's still Tuesday. This weeks recipe was picked by Beth of Our Sweet Life, she picked the Mixed Berry Cobbler, you can find the recipe in Baking: From My House To Yours and on Beth's Blog.

One thing I learned from last week's bake is to check the Problem and Question section on the TWD site. A lot of bakers that made the recipe complaint that the dough was a bit bland, so I exchanged the sugar for turbinado sugar, added a bit of cinnamon and some vanilla extract.
I also halved the recipe since it was a little too big for just the four of us.
The whole thing was pretty easy to make, I used frozen berries from the supermarket, which contained rasberries, blueberries, blackberries, some strawberries and cranberries. The cranberries were very tart so the next time I make this (yes, there will be a next time) I'll add a little bit more sugar to the filling.
The pastry top came together very easy, first time ever I used cream in a dough. I brushed the top with cream and sprinkled some more turbinado sugar on top.
Served it with whipped cream that was sweetened with vanilla sugar.

The verdict on this one: we all loved it! The cranberries made it a little tart sometimes, but apart from that no complaints. We all loved the pastry top, E. asked if I could just make that and serve it with strawberries, so I think the adjustments worked out fine.
I will make this one again for sure, probably serve it with a nice scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream!

Next week we will be making Apple Cheddar Scones, a recipe picked by Katrina of The Floured Apron.

TWD: Peppermint Cream Puff Ring

2008-06-17T19:11:00.005+02:00

This weeks recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie was picked by Caroline of A Consuming Passion, she picked a recipe with choux pastry. I always wanted to try that and I have a couple of recipes laying around but never got to it.

Instead of reading the Problems and Question section on the TWD site, or looking at some of my other recipes, I just made it straight from the book, big mistake!
I had hardly any puff in my pastry, there were some small air pockets but not the big fluffy ones you normally see in puff pastry. I just have to try this another time with the lessons learned from this bake.
Which lessons did I learn,? Well, don't add the eggs to the dough straight from the fire, let it cool down a bit first. Another lesson, after the pastry comes out of the oven (this is for puffs) make a small incision with a paring knife, to release steam, and put them back in the turned of oven so they can dry out a bit more.
Despite the dense structure it still tasted like puff pastry, I filled it with pastry cream instead of the peppermint cream. We are not that big on peppermint in our dessert here.
My pastry cream might look a little dark, that is from the new bottle of Mexican vanilla that I brought back from me recent trip. Beautiful flavor but very dark!

The recipe for this week can be found on Caroline's site since she was the one who picked it.

Next week we will be making the Mixed Berry Cobbler, picked by Beth of Our Sweet Life.

TWD: La Palette’s Strawberry Tart

2008-06-10T00:01:00.005+02:00

Marie from A Year From Oak Cottage choose this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe: La Palette's Strawberry Tart.

I don't care much for strawberries on their own, but when they are ingredients in cakes, tarts, pies etc. I love them, add to that the fact that our local strawberries are in season and widely available in the shops and you'll get a tart that I looked forward to making!

I didn't want to make the whole tart because there aren't enough people around at the moment to finish it right away, so I ended up making four 4.5" tarts.

The dough was very easy to make, one of the things that can ruin a dough like this is using too warm butter, so I put the butter in the freezer a couple of hours before I needed it.
The recipe calls for freezing the dough when you've put it in the tart tin, an unusual step but it worked great.

I filled the baked tart shells with a store bought jam, since I ran out of my homemade jam. I think it would be even better with my own jam since I always add a little Stroh 80 rum before I can it, which just gives it something special.

I added a little splash kirsch and some cracked black pepper to the strawberries and topped the tarts with whipped cream.

The first bite I took, took me back to Konditorei, Dahinden in Weggis, Switzerland, when we were there on vacation we always drank coffee there with a slice of their fabulous strawberry pie. This pie is totally different, but now I know what made their pie stand out from others.... the kirsch! The kirsch gives the strawberries something special. The cracked pepper sounds odd but complements the tart nicely.
So what do we think of this tart? It's fabulous! We all loved it, I'll probably make it again and again, maybe exchange the jam for pastry cream, use different fruit, but this recipe is a keeper!

Dorie asked if we didn't put the recipes in our posts, so if you want to see the recipe buy Baking: From My House To Yours or enter in the give-away at the TWD site, which is also the pace where you can find the blog roll with all the other bakers.

Next week we will be making Peppermint Crem Puff Rings, chosen by Caroline of A Consuming Passion.

Oreo Truffles

2008-06-04T12:02:00.004+02:00

One of the blogs that I enjoy a lot is Bakerella, I discovered her site a long time ago when I was looking into red velvet cake, she had a recipe on her blog for Red Velvet Cake Balls which looked so different that I added her to my rss reader and follow her posts all the time.
One of those posts was a recipe for Oreo Truffles, which uses ingredients that are a little more over the counter here in Holland. except for the white chocolate bark that my friend in the US sent to me, thanks K.!!!

I made only half a recipe, with all the TWD recipes and good food aound here, 36 Oreo Truffles isn't a thing I want to have in the fridge, calling my name every time I open the door :-)

The recipe is fairly easy, the tricky thing is to get a nice coating of bark on the balls, which I got the hang of in the end.

The truffles are very rich, I might make them smaller next time, I would also experiment a bit with them, like adding a splash of Cointreau orange liquor to the oreo/creamcheese mixture.

Thanks Bakerella for the great ideas on your blog and for this great recipe!

Oreo Truffles
1 package oreo cookies (divided… use cookie including the cream center)
1 8oz. package cream cheese (softened)
white chocolate bark

1. Finely crush 7 cookies in a food processor or place them in a ziploc bag and crush into a fine consistency. Reserve for later.
2. Crush remaining cookies and stir in softened cream cheese. Use the back of a large spoon to help mash the two together.
3. Roll the mixture into 1" balls and place on wax paper covered cookie sheet.
4. Melt chocolate as directed on the package and then dip balls into chocolate, tap off extra and set aside on wax paper covered cookie sheet to dry. You can sprinkle the tops with the 7 crushed cookies for decoration.
5. Once dry, refrigerate and enjoy!

TWD: French Chocolate Brownies

2008-06-03T00:02:00.005+02:00

This week in Tuesdays with Dorie, French Chocolate Brownies, a recipe picked by Di of Di's Kitchen Notebook.

Up till now I have only made one other brownie recipe, Sacher Brownies, but I did ate them a few times when I was in the States and I really like them. This recipe is great! Great taste, nice consistency, the occasional rum raisin, the odd top, just great!!

Nothing much was new in this recipe, the flambeeing I did already for the raisin snails, all the other stuff was pretty straight forward. The only scary moment was when I wanted to check if the cake was done and I inserted a small knife, part of the top collapsed, later when I checked the Problem and Question section at the TWD site I found out that happened to all of the other bakers too.
My trusty tasters loved this one too, H. thinks this is the best Dorie recipe so far!

Next week's recipe will be La Palette's Strawberry Tart, choosen by Marie of A Year From Oak Cottage.

French Chocolate Brownies
- makes 16 brownies -
Adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1/3 cup raisins, dark or golden
1 1/2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 tablespoons dark rum
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons; 6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into 12 pieces
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup sugar

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 300°F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with foil, butter the foil, place the pan on a baking sheet, and set aside.

Whisk together the flour, salt and cinnamon, if you're using it.

Put the raisins in a small saucepan with the water, bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until the water almost evaporates. Add the rum, let it warm for about 30 seconds, turn off the heat, stand back and ignite the rum. Allow the flames to die down, and set the raisins aside until needed.

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Slowly and gently melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and add the butter, stirring so that it melts. It's important that the chocolate and butter not get very hot. However, if the butter is not melting, you can put the bowl back over the still-hot water for a minute. If you've got a couple of little bits of unmelted butter, leave them—it's better to have a few bits than to overheat the whole. Set the chocolate aside for the moment.

Earl Grey Madeleines

2008-05-31T18:57:00.005+02:00

Last week's recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie were the Traditional Madeleines, but the next recipe in the book is Earl Grey Madeleines.
I love Earl Grey tea and not the artificial stuff but the higher quality loose tea leaves. I normally steep it for three minutes and add a splash of milk, how English :-)

So I made Dorie's recipe to see if they would be a nice match with my tea. For me they didn't disappoint, my trusty taster liked the traditional ones better, but she's not to crazy about the tea either. I really liked the subtle flavor of the tea coming through, I will definitely make these again!!

Earl Grey Madeleines (from Baking: From My House To Yours):

Ingredients:
5 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp Earl Grey tea leaves
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1/3 cup sugar
grated zest of 1/2 lemon
2 large eggs,
2 tbsp honey
2 tsp vanilla extract
powder sugar for dusting

Preparation:
Melt the butter and add the tea leaves. Stir to combine and allow the tea to infuse into the butter for 15 minutes. Strain the tea leaves from the butter using a strainer lined with cheesecloth.

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.

Mix together the sugar and lemon zest with your fingers.

Whisk together the eggs, sugar, and zest until thickened (2-3 mins). Add the honey and vanilla extract and whisk for another minute.

Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture very gently with a spatula. Gently mix in the strained butter (mine had hardened so I softened it a bit in the microwave). Cover with plastic wrap and chill at least 3 hours.

Preheat the oven to 400. Butter and flour a madeleine pan. Distribute the batter equally between the 12 molds.

Bake for 9 minutes and check. Bake until the tops are firm to the touch, up to 14 minutes. Remove from the molds by tapping the pan.

TWD: Pecan Honey Sticky Buns

2008-05-27T00:01:00.005+02:00

This weeks Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was picked by Madam Chow of Madam Chow's Kitchen. When I read the recipe and saw that it uses the same brioche dough as we made for the Brioche Raisin Snails I was thrilled and scared at the same time, the dough is fabulous, but if you don't have a Kitchen Aid but just a cheap hand mixer it's quite a challenge.
I decided to make the dough this time by hand because I think my mixer wouldn't survive another round with the brioche dough.
The dough came together by hand a lot easier than I expected, I had to use some elbow grease but I would do it again this way. You need only half of the brioche recipe, I used the other half for more Brioche Raisin Snails because my brother keeps asking me to bake some more.

I made seven buns, the rest I froze for a later date. We all thought that these buns were nice but way too sweet for our taste. When I make the remaining ones I won't use the pecan honey glaze but drizzle over the glaze that goes on the raisin snails.
Pecan Honey Sticky Buns
Makes 15 buns

For the Glaze:
1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1/4 cup honey
1-1/2 cups pecans (whole or pieces)

For the Filling:
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons (packed) light brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

For the Buns:
1/2 recipe dough for Golden Brioche loaves (see below), chilled and ready to shape (make the full recipe and cut the dough in half after refrigerating it overnight)

Generously butter a 9-x-13-inch baking pan (a Pyrex pan is perfect for this).
To make the glaze: In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring the brown sugar, butter, and honey to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring frequently to dissolve the sugar. Pour the glaze into the buttered pan, evening it out as best you can by tilting the pan or spreading the glaze with a heatproof spatula. Sprinkle over the pecans.
To make the filling: Mix the sugars and cinnamon together in a bowl. If necessary, in another bowl, work the butter with a spatula until it is soft, smooth and spreadable.
To shape the buns: On a flour-dusted work surface, roll the chilled dough into a 16-inch square. Using your fingers or a pastry brush, spread the softened butter over the dough. Sprinkle the dough with the cinnamon sugar, leaving a 1-inch strip bare on the side farthest from you. Starting with the side nearest you, roll the dough into a cylinder, keeping the roll as tight as you can. (At this point, you can wrap the dough airtight and freeze it for up to 2 months . . . . Or, if you want to make just part of the recipe now, you can use as much of the dough as you'd like and freeze the remainder. Reduce the glace recipe accordingly).
With a chef's knife, using a gentle sawing motion, trim just a tiny bit from the ends of the roll if they're very ragged or not well filled, then cut the log into 1-inch thick buns. (Because you trim the ragged ends of the dough, and you may have lost a little length in the rolling, you will get 15 buns, not 16.) Fit the buns into the pan cut side down, leaving some space between them.
Lightly cover the pan with a piece of wax paper and set the pan in a warm place until the buns have doubled in volume, about 1 hour and 45 minutes. The buns are properly risen when they are puffy, soft, doubled and, in all likelihood, touching one another.
Getting ready to bake: When the buns have almost fully risen , center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Remove the sheet of wax paper and put the pan on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat. Bake the sticky buns for about 30 minutes, or until they are puffed and gorgeously golden; the glaze will be bubbling away merrily. Pull the pan from the oven.
The sticky buns must be unmolded minutes after they come out of the oven. If you do not have a rimmed platter large enough to hold them, use a baking sheet lined with a silicone mate or buttered foil. Be careful - the glaze is super-hot and super-sticky.

Brioche Dough:
What You'll Need for the Golden Brioche Dough (this recipe makes enough for two brioche loaves. If you divide the dough in half, you would use half for the sticky buns, and you can freeze the other half for a later date, or make a brioche loaf out of it!):
2 packets active dry yeast (each packet of yeast contains approx. 2 1/4 teaspoons)
1/3 cup just-warm-to-the-touch water
1/3 cup just-warm-to-the-touch whole milk
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature but still slightly firm

What You'll Need for the Glaze (you would brush this on brioche loaves, but not on the sticky buns):
1 large egg
1 tablespoon water

To Make The Brioche: Put the yeast, water and milk in the bowl of a stand mixer and, using a wooden spoon, stir until the yeast is dissolved. Add the flour and salt, and fit into the mixer with the dough hook, if you have one. Toss a kitchen towel over the mixer, covering the bowl as completely as you can-- this will help keep you, the counter and your kitchen floor from being showered in flour. Turn the mixer on and off a few short pulses, just to dampen the flour (yes, you can peek to see how you're doing), then remove the towel, increase the mixer speed to medium-low and mix for a minute or two, just until the flour is moistened. At this point, you'll have a fairly dry, shaggy mess.
Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula, set the mixer to low and add the eggs, followed by the sugar. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for about 3 minutes, until the dough forms a ball. Reduce the speed to low and add the butter in 2-tablespoon-size chunks, beating until each piece is almost incorporated before adding the next. You'll have a dough that is very soft, almost like batter. Increase the speed to medium-high and continue to beat until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 10 minutes.
Transfer the dough to a clean bowl (or wash out the mixer bowl and use it), cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature until nearly doubled in size, 40 to 60 minutes, depending upon the warmth of your room.
Deflate the dough by lifting it up around the edges and letting it fall with a slap to the bowl. Cover the bowl with the plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator. Slap the dough down in the bowl every 30 minutes until it stops rising, about 2 hours, then leave the uncovered dough in the refrigerator to chill overnight. (After this, you can proceed with the recipe to make the brioche loaves, or make the sticky buns instead, or freeze all or part of the dough for later use.)
The next day, butter and flour two 8 1/2-x-4 1/2-inch pans.
Pull the dough from the fridge and divide it into 2 equal pieces. Cut each piece of the dough into 4 equal pieces and roll each piece into a log about 3 1/2 inches long. Arrange 4 logs crosswise in the bottom of each pan. Put the pans on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat, cover the pans lightly with wax paper and leave the loaves at room temperature until the dough almost fills the pans, 1 to 2 hours. (Again, rising time with depend on how warm the room is.)
Getting Ready To Bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
To Make the Glaze: Beat the egg with the water. Using a pastry brush, gently brush the tops of the loaves with the glaze.
Bake the loaves until they are well risen and deeply golden, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer the pans to racks to cool for 15 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the pans and turn the loaves out onto the racks. Invert again and cool for at least 1 hour.

Di of Di's Kitchen Notebook picked next week's recipe: French Chocolate Brownies.

WSM Smoke Day IV

2008-05-24T20:16:00.007+02:00

Today is WSM Smoke Day IV, it's an event, hosted by the virtual weber bullet, where over 400 Weber Smokey Mountain owners worldwide make real barbecue.
I lit my coals at noon, when the WSM was at the right temperature I put in 6 racks of ribs. Two hours before the ribs were done I added some brats and BBQ beans.
After five hours the ribs were done, I used a new sauce I made from the Jack Daniels Barbecue book. It was ok for me, the others liked it a lot. For me it lacked depth so I'll have to make a batch of my regular sauce before the next barbecue.
I served rosemary garlic potato wedges on the side.

TWD: Traditional Madeleines

2008-05-20T13:34:00.007+02:00

Another Tuesday, another Tuesdays with Dorie, this weeks recipe, Traditional Madeleines, was picked by Tara of Smells Like Home.

When I got Baking, this was one of the recipes I put high on my list, but since I didn't have a Madeleine tin I never got to it. So when Tara picked it for this week I had an excuse to get the tin for these classics little cakes.

I made the batter a day in advance and let it rest in the fridge. When I baked them I got a nice hump on all of them, I also buttered and floured the tin well and had no problem with the Madeleines sticking to the tin.
The verdict on these cakes? I love them, they are moist and lemony. Now that I have the tin I will try some of the others in the book too, the Earl Grey Madeleine just moved up a couple of spots on my "to bake" list.
Ingredients:
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt ½ cup sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¾ stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Preparation:
Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Working in a mixer bowl, or in a large bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the eggs to the bowl. Working with the whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat the eggs and sugar together on medium-high speed until pale, thick and light, 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla. With a rubber spatula, very gently fold in the dry ingredients, followed by the melted butter. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the batter and refrigerate it for at least 3 hours, or for up to 2 days. This long chill period will help the batter form the hump that is characteristic of madeleines. (For convenience, you can spoon the batter into the madeleine molds, cover and refrigerate, then bake the cookies directly from the fridge; see below for instructions on prepping the pans.)

GETTING READY TO BAKE: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter 12 full-size madeleine molds, or up to 36 mini madeleine molds, dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess. Or, if you have a nonstick pan (or pans), give it a light coating of vegetable cooking spray. If you have a silicone pan, no prep is needed. Place the pan(s) on a baking sheet.

Spoon the batter into the molds, filling each one almost to the top. Don't worry about spreading the batter evenly, the oven's heat will take care of that. Bake large madeleines for 11 to 13 minutes, and minis for 8 to 10 minutes, or until they are golden and the tops spring back when touched. Remove the pan(s) from the oven and release the madeleines from the molds by rapping the edge of the pan against the counter. Gently pry any recalcitrant madeleines from the pan using your fingers or a butter knife. Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool to just warm or to room temperature.

If you are making minis and have more batter, bake the next batch(es), making certain that you cool, then properly prepare the pan(s) before baking.

Just before serving, dust the madeleines with confectioners' sugar.

makes 12 large or 36 mini cookies

serving: Serve the cookies when they are only slightly warm or when they reach room temperature, with tea or espresso.

storing: Although the batter can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, the madeleines should be eaten soon after they are made. You can keep them overnight in a sealed container, but they really are better on day 1. If you must store them, wrap them airtight and freeze them; they'll keep for up to 2 months.

Next week's recipe are the Pecan Honey Sticky Buns, choosen by Madam Chow's Kitchen.

TWD: Florida Pie

2008-05-13T16:05:00.007+02:00

Florida Pie was this weeks recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie and was picked by Dianne of Dianne's Dishes, thanks for picking one of my favorite American desserts!

I've been to Florida quite a few times, the first time was about 25 years ago and that was when I first ate Key lime Pie. Whenever I see it on the menu I have to try it and I made it a few times here at home too. I never did the meringue on top though, so that was the new thing for me. I left the coconut out because I couldn't find any sweetened coconut flakes here in the village and didn't feel like driving 10 miles for just the one ingredient.

The pie was very easy to make, I used digestive biscuits instead of graham crackers which aren't for sale in this part of the world but taste almost the same as a base for the pie.
Dorie uses more crumbs for the base than my old recipe but it was way better, so this one is a keeper. The filling is pretty straight forward too.
For the meringue I made sure there was absolutely no fat in the bowl, on the wisk etc. and it came together great, nice and fluffy. I used my blowtorch to get the top nice and brown.

The pie was served as dessert for a barbecue I held yesterday, it's 77 F here for two weeks already, and the people who ate it really liked it, most of them never had Key Lime Pie before.
I loved it and this recipe will replace my old one. When I run into the right coconut flakes for this recipe I'll give it a try with the coconut cream layer.

Ingredients:
1 9-inch graham cracker crust (page 235), fully baked and cooled, or a store-bought crust
1 1/3 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups shredded sweetened coconut
4 large eggs, seperated
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup fresh Key (or regular) lime juice (from about 5 regular limes)
1/4 cup of sugar

Preparation:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put the pie plate on a baking sheet lined with parchment of a silicone mat.

Put the cream and 1 cup of the coconut in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring almost constantly. Continue to cook and stir until the cream is reduced by half and the mixture is slightly thickened. Scrape the coconut cream into a bowl and set it aside while you prepare the lime filling.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl beat the egg yolks at high speed until thick and pale. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the condensed milk. Still on low, add half of the lime juice. When it is incorporated, add the reaming juice, again mixing until it is blended. Spread the coconut cream in the bottom of the graham cracker crust, and pour over the lime filling.

Bake the pie for 12 minutes. Transfer the pie to a cooling rack and cool for 15 minutes, then freeze the pie for at least 1 hour.

To Finish the Pie with Meringue:

Put the 4 egg whites and the sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan and heat over medium-low heat, whisking all the while, until the whites are hot to the touch. Transfer the whites to a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, or use a hand mixer in a large bowl, and beat the whites at high speed until they reach room temperature and hold firm peaks. Using a rubber spatula, fold the remaining 1/2 cup coconut into the meringue.

Spread the meringue over the top of the pie, and run the pie under the broiler until the top of the meringue is golden brown. (Or, if you've got a blowtorch, you can use it to brown the meringue.) Return the pie to the freezer for another 30 minutes or for up to 3 hours before serving.

Next weeks recipe is Traditional Madelines (page 166-168) chosen by Tara of Smells Like Home. To see what the other bakers did this week have a look at the blogroll at TWD.

TWD: Peanut Butter Torte

2008-05-06T01:17:00.004+02:00

This weeks recipe, peanut butter torte, was picked by Elizabeth of Ugg Smell Food. Here in the Netherlands we really like peanut butter, we don't put jelly on it, but just put it on a slice of bread with some butter. The major brand is Calve which is made less than 20 km from my home, they have been making peanut butter for almost 125 years now. This is the stuff I grew up on! So instead of buying a jar of Jif at the import section of the supermarket I used my favorite local brand, which tastes better also of course ;-)

I didn't have enough oreo crumbs to get up the full 2 inch, but the result was that you get a nice layering if you see it from the side.

It was my niece's 12th birthday last week so I made this torte to go with the coffee. Everybody liked it, but we all thought that it was very rich, which makes a lot of sense if you look at the ingredients.

(I cut a slice of torte for the picture when the chocolate ganache wasn't fully set, that's why it isn't picture perfect, sorry!)

Ingredients:
1 ¼ c. finely chopped salted peanuts (for the filling, crunch and topping)
2 teaspoons sugar
½ teaspoon instant espresso powder (or finely ground instant coffee)
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
½ c. mini chocolate chips (or finely chopped semi sweet chocolate)
24 Oreo cookies, finely crumbed or ground in a food processor or blender
½ stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Small pinch of salt
2 ½ c. heavy cream
1 ¼ c confectioners’ sugar, sifted
12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 ½ c salted peanut butter – crunchy or smooth (not natural; I use Skippy)
2 tablespoons whole milk
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate finely chopped

Preparation:
Getting ready: center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-inch Springform pan and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.
Toss ½ cup of the chopped peanuts, the sugar, espresso powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and chocolate chops together in a small bowl. Set aside.
Put the Oreo crumbs, melted butter and salt in another small bowl and stir with a fork just until crumbs are moistened. Press the crumbs evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the spring form pan (they should go up about 2 inches on the sides). Freeze the crust for 10 minutes.

Bake the crust for 10 minutes, then transfer it to a rack and let it cool completely before filling.
Working with a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, whip 2 cups of the cream until it holds medium peaks. Beat in ¼ cup of the confectioners’ sugar and whip until the cream holds medium-firm peaks. Scrape the cream into a bowl and refrigerate until needed.
Wipe out (do not wash) the bowl, fit the stand mixer with the paddle attachment if you have one, or continue with the hand mixer, and beat the cream cheese with the remaining 1 cup confectioners’ sugar on medium speed until the cream cheese is satiny smooth. Beat in the peanut butter, ¼ cup of the chopped peanuts and the milk.

Using a large rubber spatula, gently stir in about one quarter of the whipped cream, just to lighten the mousse. Still working with the spatula, stir in the crunchy peanut mixture, then gingerly fold in the remaining whipped cream.

Scrape the mousse into the crust, mounding and smoothing the top. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight; cover with plastic wrap as soon as the mousse firms.

To Finish The Torte: put the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Leave the bowl over the water just until the chocolate softens and starts to melt, about 3 minutes; remove the bowl from the saucepan.
Bring the remaining ½ cup cream to a full boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate and , working with a a rubber spatula, very gently stir together until the ganache is completely blended and glossy.
Pour the ganache over the torte, smoothing it with a metal icing spatula. Scatter the remaining ½ cup peanuts over the top and chill to set the topping, about 20 minutes.
When the ganache is firm, remove the sides of the Springform pan; it’s easiest to warm the pan with a hairdryer, and then remove the sides, but you can also wrap a kitchen towel damped with hot water around the pan and leave it there for 10 seconds. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Frozen Strawberry Margarita

2008-05-03T19:00:00.006+02:00

So you are back from a great trip through Mexico and it's starting to look like summer, what do you make to make you stay in the garden a little more pleasurable than it already is?
A frozen strawberry margarita!

Ingredients:
1 shotglass Tequilla Silver
1/2 shotglass Cointreau
1 shotglass Rose's Lime Cordial/Juice
1 shotglass lime juice
9-10 frozen strawberries
enough ice to fill your margarita glass three quarters
sugar to coat the rim of the glass

Preparation:
Put your sugar on a plate, moisten the rim of your glass with lime and put the rim in the sugar.
In a blender or food processor blend the remaining ingredients until a you get a thick slush.
Pour into your glass and serve.

TWD: not this week

2008-04-29T13:37:00.004+02:00

When I read the recipe I really wanted to make this cake. But with the 4 days and 1 hour delay on the way back home from Mexico and the things that come with that I just didn't have the time.

I will be back next week though with the Peanut Butter Torte (page 282-283) picked by Elizabeth of Ugg Smell Food.

You can find out what the other bakers made of this week's recipe by checking out the blogroll on Tuesday with Dorie.

Mexico City - round 2

2008-04-25T16:37:00.007+02:00

After a six hour bus trip over the Sierra Madre mountains we were back in Mexico City again. We had three days to look around some more before we would fly home, at least that's what we thought....
When we tried to check in, which we can do 30 hours in advance with KLM, there was no sign of our reservation, when I checked further, our flights were moved up a day. We called Amsterdam and were told that our group of three was split up, one had to fly via Paris to Amsterdam on the original date, the other two a day later on the direct flight.
That was of course not acceptable for us and it took a few more phone calls, one more than 45 minutes to set things straight, now we are flying back on Saturday, FOUR days later than planned!
Reason? Boeing is doing a maintenance check on their 747's and flights get cancelled all over the world, our flight was one of those.
I'm so glad that I brought my laptop on this trip and that I have skype up and running to make all those calls, otherwise we would have stranded at the airport instead of being in our nice comfy hotel!

What did we do so far in MC? We went to so the crowds at Chapultec park on Sunday, it's hard to believe that people come here to relax, it's so busy with stands selling all the usual stuff, noisy clowns, loud music etc.
On Monday we visted the biggest market I've ever been to in my life, La Merced. This is one of the main fruit and vegetable markets in Mexico City, and moves an avarage 24.000 tons of it per day!

Limes at Merced Market

After that a visit to the Basilica de Guadalupe to watch the portret of the Virgin of Guadelupe. For dinner we went to Don Chon hoping to try the stewed armadillo, but unfortunately they were out of the little fellows so we had to settle with the more "regular" stuff. I had very nice stewed goat in a chile sauce that was delicious. they also had pulque, an alcoholic drink made from the fermented juice of the agave. It tasted like a distant cousin of hard cider, but it looked more like light chocolate milk and was more slimy, but still quite refreshing!

Tuesday we spent trying to arrange things for our flight back, Wednesday I spend sick in bed, Montezuma's revenge got me. We are trained travelers and know the basic food rules in countries like this but there is always the chance that you end up eating something not totally up to standards, this was one of these times....

Thursday I felt good enough to get out again, though not 100% and we went to the Anthropological Museum to see among others the Aztec calendar.
Today we did a little shopping and tried to reserve our seats for our flight tomorrow, but when it rains it pours, so one of us has a seat and the others have to see if we can sit together tomorrow at the airport, dispite two more hours in phone calls to KLM and NWA, sigh.

Papantla

2008-04-22T03:31:00.005+02:00

The main attraction in Papantla are the El Tajin ruins but for a foodie this area is also interesting because this is where vanilla was used for the first time and from here it was spread by the Spaniards over the globe.
You can find lots of places here where they sell vanilla pods, liquor, extract but also vanilla art, like scorpions, crucifixes, rosaries made out of vanilla beans. I stocked up on half a liter of extract and 20 fat juicy beans.

Vanilla Art

The next day we visited El Tajin, it was a nice gray day, not to hot and it was very quiet at the ruins which gave it a special atmosphere. Last year it was almost to hot to walk around. J. loved it and due to the weather we were able to enjoy it a lot more! Of all the sites I've visited so far in Mexico this is one of my favorite.

Costa Esmeralda

2008-04-21T20:10:00.007+02:00

We spend our time in Costa Esmeralda relaxing, J. and I tried line fishing which was harder than it looked, I did manage to catch a crab though. Omid, the owner of Tobago, our hotel here, was nice enough to take me to the local fishing store. I bought 2 rods and some lures which made fishing easier. Not that we caught anything... The first thing my brother said that that was justice, since he couldn't join us :-)
We also couldn't stand to long out in the water without the risk of getting serious sun burns, but at least we tried.

One day we took a boat tour through the mangroves which was very interesting, our guide, a local fisherman, caught one of the red mangrove crabs to show us, picked local waterflowers, pointed out the different birds and other wildlife. At the end of the tour he took us to the end of the river and almost in to the Gulf of Mexico.
After the tour we went to the reason we stopped here this time, barbecue restaurants. Along this stretch of beach are little places with barbecues build from old oil drums. We picked one that had three barbecues in front and ordered chicken, which came with rice, salad, tortillas and 2 salsa's. It was delicious!
Our stay at Taboga was very pleasant, the owners went more than out of their way to help us have a pleasant stay!

Oaxaca, Xalapa and Costa Esmeralda

2008-04-16T03:30:00.008+02:00

While in Oaxaca we rented a chauffeur and visited El Tule, the world's oldest tree being over 2000 years old. The church behind it in the picture is a full size church!

After El Tule we visited Teotitlan, a village were rugs are made in the traditional way with all natural dyes. We got a demonstration on how the process works, very interesting to see how the colors are made with fermented leaves, a parasite that grows on the cactus, herbs, pomegranite seeds (which produce green!) etc.

From there on to the Benava distillery to see how mezcal is brewed. I have been to wiskey distilleries in Scotland so I know how the process works, but it was interesting to hear that they put the agave cores into a hole in the ground with smoldering wood for three days, that's where the smokey flavor comes from.

Yes, you do eat the worm!

Than some last minute shopping at the Oaxaca markets and took the bus for an eight hour ride to Xalapa, home of the Jalapeño pepper. Not that we'll do any chili related stuff here, we there for the museum that houses the largest selection of Olmec heads. Well contrary to what our lonely planet and the museum website say, the museum is NOT open on Monday, we already made arrangements to travel further, so J. missed this beautiful museum, which is in our opinion one of the nicest in Mexico. Nothing much else to do in Xalapa but to wonder around the city center and drink some fabulous coffee.

Today we arrived at Costa Esmeralda along the Mexican Gulf coast. When we drove by this place last year we decided that if we were in the neighborhood again we would stop here.
A long stretch of beach that is not spoiled by high rise hotels and resorts.
From the bus station, well a sign in front of a Hostel, we caught a ride to one of the hotels that had a good review on the tripadvisor site, the Best Western Noray. Nice place, nice pool at the beach what more do you want.
Well we went for a walk along the coastline and ended up for a drink and a bite to eat at Taboga, run by and English/Mexican couple and open since a few months, they showed us around and it was fabulous! For only 100 pesos more per night we'll get a room with an ocean view, great restaurant and we'll go fishing on the beach with Omid, the owner :-)

What to do in between meals?

2008-04-11T19:09:00.012+02:00

What do you do when you are Oaxaca? Well there are fabulous restaurants here, so it's more like how do we fill the time in between meals...
So far we discovered two great new restaurants.

Marco Polo, a seafood restaurant, that has wood fired brick ovens in a garden setting. Your food goes in these ovens and when done straight to your table. Relaxed atmosphere, high quality, great cocktails and very friendly staff.

Casa Oaxaca, a little more upscale, but again great food! We went for some of the local specialties and it was superb. I loved their tamales, I had a combo, one in corn husk with lamb and the other in banana leaf with venison, very tasty!
They also had a fabulous salad, the dressing was a with flor de jamaica (hibiscus flowers) and a touch of chile, a beautiful combination that I'll try to recreate at home.

Nice selection of chiles at the market.

And of course we went to the markets here. I bought a nice bag of chipotles (got some for you too Mevrouw Cupcake), some cascabel chiles, chapulines (grasshoppers) and chocolate.
We got 2 kilos of mayordomo chocolate and 1 kilo from a local vendor that had his own mixtures that was great, we went for the not so sweet one, he also had one with almonds and another with cinnamon.

Different kinds of chocolate and moles at the market.

Yesterday we visited the the former Zapotec capital Monte Alban. The site is totally different from Teotihuacan but very impressive too. Way more people than our last visit, it's good to see that the tourists have found this part of the world again after the trouble in 2006.

It's located on top of a mountain overlooking two valleys, I am still amazed at what moves people to build places like this at these impossible locations.

The day before yesterday we visited the museum which houses the gold found at Monte Alban. Nice building, nice collection. J. isn't too much into museums and we saw it before so it was a quick visit.

And than there is always food in between. Mezcal ice cream at the Zocalo, hot chocolate with a sweet bread for dunking at the market, fabulous coffee (iced or hot), fresh potato chips near the Zocalo and the list goes on, too much food for the short period we are here. Oh well we can always come back!

Oaxaca

2008-04-09T04:08:00.004+02:00

Last year when we stayed in Oaxaca, Jon the owner of Ollin, the B&B we stay in, told us that the food at a restaurant just 2 blocks away was great, but their strawberry margarita's were even better.
Well, we had to test that of course and they have been haunting us ever since! When it is hot weather or when we eat Mexican food, the memory of this fabulous drink always surfaces.
So after checking in to Ollin our first stop was La Biznaga, to order a strawberry margarita, we weren't disappointed, they were still as tasty as we remembered. Nice strawberry taste, good kick from the tequilla, not to sweet, just perfect!

The Perfect Strawberry Margarita.

And the food was still very good too. A few adjustments in the menu but our favorites of last year were still on there.

Garlic shrimp over rice with a tamarind sauce.

We did eat way too much though, so we are in/on bed and in the hammock outside too full to walk, hoping we have space again for the fabulous breakfast Sophie will prepare for us tomorrow morning.

Teotihuacan and on the road again

2008-04-08T13:45:00.004+02:00

First thing we did yesterday was arranging tickets to our next destination, Oaxaca, which went pretty smooth. Public transport is very well organized here in Mexico and even if you don't speak the language it's not hard to get around.
With that hurdle taken it was on to our destination of the day. We decided to take the bus to Teotihuacan, we had been there before but with a tour, which takes you to a lot of other things too, we just wanted to see the ancient city and could care less about the tourist traps.
The bus leaves from the North autobus terminal and the counter for tickets to the site is on the left side, I give this info for fellow Europeans with a Lonely Planet Mexico guide book out there. The lonely Planet says go to the North side of the terminal, well we Europeans don't do North and South very well :-) It's about an hour to the site.

Teotihuacan is were the Sun and the Moon pyramid can be found. The sun pyramid is the third largest pyramid in th world and you can climb it! J. did, it is his first time in Mexico and he's still young :-) We'd been there, done that so stayed below. I can really feel I'm not totally adjusted to the height here.

Sun Pyramid

The site was still as impressive to us as the first time I were here, J. loved it!

The Moon Pyramid seen from the top of the Sun Pyramid.

Foodwise nothing spectacular yesterday, although the hamburguesa at the little restaurant near gate 4 of the site was very good!

Now off to get some breakfast, grab a taxi to TAPO, the eastern bus terminal and than by bus to Oaxaca, the foodies mecca of Mexico.

Angels and Insects

2008-04-06T22:21:00.005+02:00

From our hotel it's a nice walk through the Zona Rosa to "el Angel" on top of the Monumento a la Indepencia, one of Mexico City's most recognizable icons.
The colomn with the angel is found on Paseo de la Reforma, which was shut down for cars today, they have been doing this for a while now on Sundays, to give the city back to the people, a lot of people were walking, rollerskating or cycling down this 12 km long, broad boulevard.

We strolled along Reforma for quite a while and visited the Palacio de Belle Artes (the Palace of Fine Arts), we had never been inside before and the interior is beautiful Art Deco with Pre-Hispanic details and more murals by Diego Rivera.

Man, controller of the universe, by Diego Rivera.

After a drink on Plaza Garibaldi, where the Mariachi bands hang out, we went to Los Girasoles for lunch. This is one of the places in Mexico City where you can eat Aztec style food.
I had the blue corn quesadillas as a starter, which were filled with squash flower and Oaxacan cheese which were very nice but not what we came for. The thing to eat here are insects, my main course was the Aztec Mosaic, which is like a sampler plate of worms, grasshoppers and ant eggs, served with guacamole and green taquitos (small tortillas).

Worms, Grasshoppers and Ant Eggs.

The worms are maquey worms who live in the agave plant and can also be found in bottles of mezcal, these tasted very nice! The grasshoppers we ate before in Oaxaca and these weren't as nice, way to salty for my taste. The big surprise were the ant eggs, fried in butter, a very delicate taste, a great new discovery!
I also realized that I didn't even think about this food as being odd, it's like I pulled a switch when I ate insects the first time in China, it was scary the first time, but after that it's just food.
For dessert I had a cajeta gelatin with rompope sauce (gelatin made of the Mexican version of Dulce de Leche with an alcoholic eggnog sauce) which was fabulous.

After buying some fruit at the produce market near the hotel, we went back to the room for a little rest.

Dinner was down the block from our hotel, tacos al Pastor and tacos with cheese and nopales, part of the prickly pear cactus.

Temple Mayor, Cakes and Churros

2008-04-06T00:30:00.008+02:00

It was eight AM when we left the hotel and had breakfast, after that we went to the Zocalo, the main square in the historical center of Mexico City. It's our fourth visit to the city but we never went to the Temple Mayor, which lays just behind the Zocalo.

The Temple Mayor ruins, the Cathedral and the Zocalo in the background.

The Temple Mayor is the excavated ruin of the double pyramid temple that the Aztecs built on the spot that they considered the center of the universe. Legend has that their god told them to build their capital where an eagle stood on a cactus with a snake in it's beak, the icon you can still find on the Mexican flag. That is where they built Tenochtitlan, the Temple Mayor.
It was discovered in 1978 by workers who were working on the metro.

For me it's so impressive that you have this enormous city here and you can visit the ruins of the place where it all once started! No idea why we never visited it before.

There is a nice museum which has some of the excavated treasures from the site including the great stone disc Coyolxauhqui.
After the temple mayor a quick visit to the presidential palace to have a look at the Diego Rivera murals. There is a renovation of the stairs going on so you couldn't get a clear view of the murals in the staircase, in my opinion the most beautiful ones.

By that time we were getting a bit hungry, so we went to Pasteleria Ideal (1927) a cake store / bakery that I saw on the net and knew I wanted to visit. This is where kitsch meets cake. Enormous cakes some more than three meters high with kitsch decorations, so bad that it's fun again.

Kitsch Meets Cake

On the ground floor they have trays and trays of every kind of Mexican pastry you can imagine and gelatinas, beautiful jelly cakes.

Gelatin Chicks

After buying some pastries to take with us, we went to another Mexico City institute, Churreria el Moro, this restaurant has been here since 1935 and serves churros and chocolate. Churros are star shaped dough sticks that are deep fried and covered with cinnamon and sugar. You dip them in the hot chocolate.

The baker making the churros.

I can be short on these, they were the best I ever had, crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and not greasy at all!
Four kinds of hot chocolate to choose from, Especial, the one with the least sugar; Espanol, the sweetest; Frances, the most basic and Mexicana the milkiest of the lot. We took the Mexicana, which ended up fabulously sweet after dunking your churros in it!

Seven hours later we are back at the hotel, a little tired and a little shorter from all the walking, tonight dinner in the neighborhood of the hotel.

Weekly Cupcake Collection

2008-04-05T12:04:00.004+02:00

After a nice and comfortable eleven hour flight we arrived in Mexico City yesterday. We were here last year too and nothing changed much in the neighborhood were we are staying again, the Roma district.
Had nice chicken fajitas across the street and forgot to take pictures of the food, what a food blogger I am... Or maybe the reason was that it was already 5 AM at home and had been up all day and night.

When I checked my email at the hotel I saw that my Red Velvet Cupcakes were picked for the Weekly Cupcake Collection on All Things Cupcakes! I'm so thrilled, first time I ever made cupcakes :-)

If the time on my posts look odd, the reason is that if I change the timezone on blogger to Mexico City time, it will change the time on all my previous posts too! So odd times it is for the duration of the trip.

It's after 4 AM local time when I blog this, I guess we will be outside early today, oh well that is one of the benefits of jet lag.

Mexico here we come!!

2008-04-03T21:58:00.002+02:00

Tomorrow we'll leave for two and a half weeks to Mexico. That means that I won't participate in Tuesdays With Dorie during that period. Also I won't be posting any recipes.

But I'll be posting while on the road, I'll show some of the sites we'll visit and of course food related items.

So my next post will be from Mexico City, first stop on our trip!

TWD: Gooey Chocolate Cakes

2008-04-01T00:01:00.009+02:00

Another Tuesday another recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie, this week selected by Leigh of Lemon Tartlet. She choose the Gooey Chocolate Cakes and what a good choice it was, we all loved them here!
They were very simple to make, I also made the creme anglaise to go with it. The cakes and the creme anglaise complement each other nicely, as Dorie says, these cakes aren't meant to be served alone.

As a lot of other members of the TWD group, I didn't have any chocolate oozing out, but it was close, they were very , very gooey.
Ingredients:
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, 4 ounces coarsely chopped, 1 ounce very finely chopped
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
6 tablespoons sugar

Preparations:
Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter (or spray - it's easier) 6 cups of a regular-size muffin pan, preferably a disposable aluminum foil pan, dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess. Put the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

Sift the flour, cocoa and salt together.

Set a heat proof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water, put the coarsely chopped chocolate and the butter in the bowl and stir occasionally over the simmering water just until they are melted - you don't want them to get so hot that the butter separates. Remove the bowl from the pan of water.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and yolk until homogenous. Add the sugar and whisk until well blended, about 2 minutes. Add the dry ingredients and, still using the whisk, stir (don't beat) them into the eggs. Little by little, and using a light hand, stir in the melted chocolate and butter. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle the finely chopped chocolate over the batter.

Bake the cakes for 13 minutes. Transfer them, still on the baking sheet, to a rack to cool for 3 minutes. (There is no way to test that these cakes are properly baked, because the inside remains liquid.)

Line a cutting board with a silicone baking mat or parchment or wax paper, and, after the 3-minute rest, unmold the cakes onto the board. Use a wide metal spatual to lift the cakes onto dessert plates.

It didn't last long..

Next week recipe is The Most Extraordinary Lemon Cream Tart (page 331-333) choosen by Mary of Starting From Scratch.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

2008-03-30T13:05:00.006+02:00

People who know me or follow my blog know that I have a big interest in the food from the Southern part of the US. I love to travel around there and I love the food!
I've spend there quite a lot of time but never ran into Red Velvet cake which is a Southern classic. The first time I heard of it was from our friend in Chicago, she made it and told me about it, I was intrigued, cake colored red with food die... and it has cocoa, very weird.
I wanted to bake it but as it is with some recipes it just didn't happen.

Over the last few months I ran into various blog postings were people made Red Velvet cake or cupcakes. I bookmarked some recipes, Joy the Baker has a nice one, Paula Deen also has one but I used a recipe I found on Elise's blog Simply Recipes. I choose this one because it looks very authentic, it has vinegar which makes the red even redder and it has butter which I like better than the vegetable oil Paula Deen's recipe calls for.

So yesterday I made and tasted my first Red Velvet cake in the form of cupcakes topped with a cream cheese frosting. My first reaction was, why did I never ate or made this before? It was moist sweet with a hint of chocolate in the cake, the frosting was sweet and complements the cake nicely, I LOVE it :-)
My red could have been brighter I think, but there were a couple of shades of red food coloring that I could choose from at the wholesale and it's hard to pick if you have to judge it by the bottle.

I halved the original recipe, the recipe below makes one dozen cupcakes.

Ingredients:
3/4 cups of sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) of butter, room temperature
1 egg, room temperature
1 1/6 cups of cake flour (I used 1 cup flour and 1/6 cup cornstarch)
1 tablespoons of Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of buttermilk*
3/4 tablespoons of red food coloring
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon of distilled white vinegar

For the Frosting
1/4 cup of butter (1/2 stick), room temperature
4 oz of Philly cream cheese (1/2 package), room temperature
1 - 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

*You can make your own buttermilk by adding half a tablespoon of distilled white vinegar to milk and letting it stand for about 10 minutes.

Preparation:
The cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Beat the butter and sugar in an electric mixer for 3 minutes on medium speed until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until each is fully incorporated. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure even mixing.

In a large bowl, sift together the cake flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl whisk together the buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla extract, and red food coloring.

Add a fourth of the dry ingredients and mix, then add a third of the wet. Continue adding in a dry, wet, dry pattern, ending with the dry ingredients.

Scoop into cupcake papers, about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Rotate the pan after the first 15 minutes of baking to ensure even baking.

Allow to cool for one minute in the pan then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

The Frosting
Cream the butter and cream cheese together, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure even mixing.
Add the vanilla extract and mix.
Add the powdered sugar, continually taste to get to desired sweetness. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

Cedar Plank Salmon

2008-03-29T19:25:00.008+01:00

Today, for the first time in a week or two, the weather was nice enough to light my weber kettle grill. There was a little wind, but that has never stopped me from grilling something. Every once in a while we eat fish, not as often as we should, but we do our best.

During summer my supermarket sells cedar planks to use on the barbecue and I always stock up on them. Barbecue is not as hot here in Europe as it is in the US so when ever I see something like that, I get a lot of them because you never know when it's sold out and if they will restock them.

The cedar plank gives a nice flavor to the fish, protects it from the heat and you'll have no fish sticking to the grate.

My recipe for cedar plank salmon is Mediterranean inspired but a cajun style would work fine too.

Ingredients:
salmon fillet (enough for 4 people)
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon thyme

1 food grade cedar plank

Preparation:
Soak the cedar plank for at least 2 hours.
Mix the olive oil, lemon or lime juice. oregano and thyme and put together with the salmon in a ziplock freezer bag.
Let the fillets marinade no longer than 30 minutes, otherwise the acid from the citrus will cook your salmon too much.
In the mean time light your barbecue. You might need to do this before you marinade the salmon depending on the kind of barbecue you have.
Put your salmon on the plank and drizzle the marinade over it, put the plank over the burning coals. Put the lid on your barbecue. You'll hear a lot of sizzling and see a lot of smoke, don't worry this is all part of the process.
Depending on the thickness of your salmon it takes about 16-18 minutes before they are done.

I serve the salmon with garlic mashed potatoes and a salad with tomatoes, walnuts and a raspberry vinaigrette.

Banana Muffins

2008-03-28T11:52:00.004+01:00

Yesterday when I was making tiramisu, my brother walked in with a bunch of banana's that were a little too ripe for regular consumption. He brings them so I can make the roasted banana ice cream that he loves and with that I can make a mean banana milkshake that he loves even better! But since I was already working on a dessert I decided to make Banana Muffins, so I jumped on the net and ran into this recipe, later I realized that I made 2 recipes on the same day from Michelle's Sugar & Spice blog! I'm not a shareholder, it's all a coincidence :-)

I ended up with 20 muffins, I have only one muffin tin (hey, muffins aren't that big on this side of the pond) so I had to gamble on how much to put in each liner.
The smell while they are in the oven is fantastic, and they turned out nice and moist, great banana flavor! Next time I'll add some walnut or pecans to a few for a nice banana-nut muffin.

Banana Muffins
Adapted from: Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 ripe bananas, peeled and coarsely mashed

Directions:
Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl to blend. Beat the sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl to blend. Stir in the banana. Add the dry ingredients and stir just until blended.

Divide the batter among the prepared muffin cups. Bake the muffins on the middle rack until the tops are golden brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out with no crumbs attached, about 25 minutes. Transfer the muffins to a rack and cool slightly. The muffins may be eaten warm or cooled completely.

Tiramisu

2008-03-27T19:14:00.008+01:00

I made chocolate mousse last week and flan for Tuesdays with Dorie, so why not go on with making famous desserts? I had this one in my "recipes I want to make" folder for a few weeks, tiramisu is a dessert we all love here, but I've never made before myself.

I found this recipe on Michelle's Sugar and Spice blog and was intrigued right away, did it mention Kahlua??? Yes, it did! We love Kahlua a lot here! On our last trip to Mexico we brought back Kahlua Especial, which is a little less sweet and has a little higher alcohol percentage. Beautiful to use in a great dessert like this.

It was very simple to put this recipe together, it's not so simple to stop eating from the mascarpone mixture while constructing it :-) Not that it would matter since it can feed an army!! Next time I really have to scale it down to maybe one third, that would still be very ok for 5 or 6 people.

Everybody raved about it! The smallest of the trusty tasters wanted seconds, no idea how she could finish that! It's nice and rich and way more tasty than the store bought stuff, hardly surprising. The Kahlua isn't overpowering, you just get a hint of it.

Tiramisu
Adapted from: Cook’s Illustrated November & December 2007 issue

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups strong brewed coffee, room temperature
1 1/2 Tablespoons instant espresso granules
4 1/2 tablespoons Kahlua
6 large egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 1/2 pounds mascarpone
3/4 cup cold heavy cream
14 ounces (42 to 60, depending on size) dried ladyfingers (savoiardi)
3 1/2 Tablespoons cocoa, preferably Dutch-processed

Preparations:
Stir coffee, espresso, and 2 1/2 tablespoons Kahlua in a wide bowl or baking dish until espresso dissolves; set aside.

In bowl of standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat yolks at low speed until just combined. Add sugar and salt and beat at medium-high speed until pale yellow, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, scraping down bowl with rubber spatula once or twice. Add remaining 2 tablespoons Kahlua and beat at medium speed until just combined, 20 to 30 seconds; scrape bowl. Add mascarpone and beat at medium speed until no lumps remain, 30 to 45 seconds, scraping down bowl once or twice. Transfer mixture to large bowl and set aside.

In now-empty mixer bowl (no need to clean bowl), beat cream at medium speed until frothy, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Increase speed to high and continue to beat until cream holds stiff peaks, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes longer. Using rubber spatula, fold one-third of whipped cream into mascarpone mixture to lighten, then gently fold in remaining whipped cream until no white streaks remain. Set mascarpone mixture aside.

Working one at a time, drop half of ladyfingers into coffee mixture, roll, remove and transfer to 13 by 9-inch glass or ceramic baking dish. (Do not submerge ladyfingers in coffee mixture; entire process should take no longer than 2 to 3 seconds for each cookie.) Arrange soaked cookies in single layer in baking dish, breaking or trimming ladyfingers as needed to fit neatly into dish.

Spread half of mascarpone mixture over ladyfingers; use rubber spatula to spread mixture to sides and into corners of dish and smooth surface.

Place 2 tablespoons cocoa in fine-mesh strainer and dust cocoa over mascarpone.

Repeat dipping and arrangement of ladyfingers; spread remaining mascarpone mixture over ladyfingers and dust with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa. Wipe edges of dish with dry paper towel. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 6 to 24 hours.

TWD: Caramel Topped Flan

2008-03-25T00:03:00.006+01:00

I was very pleased with Steph's (of A Whisk and a Spoon) choice for this weeks Tuesdays With Dorie.

I love flan and made it before. This one went pretty smooth too. I only used the wrong knife to cut the flan loose from the mold which resulted in "debris" on top of my flan.

The looks didn't interfere with the taste! Which was fabulous, just like the ones I ate in Spain and Mexico.

I got mixed reviews from my trusty tasters, but that wasn't the flan's fault. One thought it was eggy, but it was the first time he ate it and trust me, it tasted like it should. Others didn't care to much for it, but they had the same reaction with my other flans :-)

Ingredients:
For the Caramel
1/3 cup sugar
3 tbsp water
squirt of fresh lemon juice

For the Flan
1-1/2 cups heavy cream
1-1/4 cups whole milk
3 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preparation:
Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a roasting pan or a 9-x-13-inch baking pan with a double thickness of paper towels. Fill a teakettle with water and put it on to boil; when the water boils, turn off the heat.

Put a metal 8-x-2-inch round cake pan-not a nonstick one-in the oven to heat while you prepare the caramel.

To Make the Caramel: Stir the sugar, water and lemon juice together in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan. Put the pan over medium-high heat and cook until the sugar becomes an amber-colored caramel, about 5 minutes-remove the pan from the heat at the first whiff of smoke.

Remove the cake pan from the oven and, working with oven mitts, pour the caramel into the pan and immediately tilt the pan to spread the caramel evenly over the bottom; set the pan aside.

To Make the Flan: Bring the cream and milk just to a boil.

Meanwhile, in a 2-quart glass measuring cup or in a bowl, whisk together the eggs, yolks and sugar. Whisk vigorously for a minute or two, and then stir in the vanilla. Still whisking, drizzle in about one quarter of the hot liquid-this will temper, or warm, the eggs so they won't curdle. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remainder of the hot cream and milk. Using a large spoon, skim off the bubbles and foam that you worked up.

Put the caramel-lined cake pan in the roasting pan. Pour the custard into the cake pan and slide the setup into the oven. Very carefully pour enough hot water from the kettle into the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the cake pan. (Don't worry if this sets the cake pan afloat.) Bake the flan for about 35 minutes, or until the top puffs a bit and is golden here and there. A knife inserted into the center of the flan should come out clean.

Remove the roasting pan from the oven, transfer the cake pan to a cooking rack and run a knife between the flan and the sides of the pan to loosen it. Let the flan cool to room temperature on the rack, then loosely cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

When ready to serve, once more, run a knife between the flan and the pan. Choose a rimmed serving platter, place the platter over the cake pan, quickly flip the platter and pan over and remove the cake pan-the flan will shimmy out and the caramel sauce will coat the custard.

Yield: 6 to 8 Servings

Next week's recipe is Gooey Chocolate Cakes (pages 261-261) selected by Mary of Starting From Scratch.

Buttermilk Biscuits

2008-03-24T13:46:00.005+01:00

Second Easter day, yes, here in Holland we celebrate this holiday for two days, so I decided to do an American style breakfast for the family. I love the breakfasts they serve in the South so I made sausage patties, bacon, scrambled eggs and biscuits. I also tried to make gravy, to go with the biscuits, but failed completely on that one :-).

Since most of the things I made from Dorie Greenspan's, Baking, from my house to yours turned out very well I used her Basic Biscuit recipe, in the book she gives little pointers on variations, for this one it's Buttermilk Biscuits which you get by replacing the milk by buttermilk and the addition of 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda.

I used my food processor for this recipe, since I didn't want to overwork the dough and a food processor does a great job here.

The biscuits turned out fabulous, high and flaky, just like the ones we got in those little mom 'n' pop places in the South!

Basic Biscuits

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour (or 1 3/4 cps all-purpose flour and 1/3 cup cake flour)
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces
3/4 cup whole milk

Preparation:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Get out a sharp 2-inch diameter biscuit cutter, and line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.

Whisk the flour(s), baking powder, sugar and salt together in a bowl. Drop in the butter and, using your fingers, toss to coat the pieces of butter with flour. Quickly, working with your fingertips (my favorite method) or a pastry blender, cut and rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly. You’ll have pea-size pieces, pieces the size of oatmeal flakes, and pieces the size of everything in between, and that’s just right.

Pour the milk over the dry ingredients, grab a fork and toss and gently turn the ingredients until you’ve got a nice soft dough. Now reach into the bowl with your hands and give the dough a quick, gentle kneading-3 or 4 turns should be just enough to bring everything together.

Lightly dust a work surface with flour and turn out the dough. Dust the top of the dough very lightly with flour and pat the dough out with your hands or roll it with a pin until it is about 1/2 inch high. Don’t worry if the dough isn’t completely even-a quick, light touch is more important than accuracy.

Use the biscuit cutter to cut out as many biscuits as you can. Try to cut the biscuits close to one another so you get the most you can out of this first round. By hand or with a small spatula, transfer the biscuits to the baking sheet. Gather together the scraps, working them as little as possible, pat out to a 1/2 inch thickness and cut as many additional biscuits as you can; transfer these to the sheet. (The biscuits can be made to this point and frozen on the baking sheet, then wrapped airtight and kept for up to 2 months. Bake without defrosting-just add a couple more minutes to the oven time.)

Bake the biscuits for 14 to 18 minutes, or until they are puffed and golden brown. Transfer them to a serving basket.

Advocaat Parfait

2008-03-23T19:40:00.005+01:00

Parfaits are a kind of mousse ice cream that don't need churning, so you can make it without an ice cream maker.
This one is made with advocaat, a liqueur made with eggs, sugar and brandy. Advocaat here in Holland is very thick compared to the version sold in a lot of other countries, some brands you can get hardly out of the bottle.
Advocaat has a kind of old fashioned image here, as it's drank, or rather eaten with a spoon, by old ladies, served in a wine glass, topped with whipped cream.

My taste team liked the parfait a lot, it's light, not to heavy on the alcohol and very smooth, great dessert for the first day of Easter!

Ingredients:
250 ml whipping cream
50 grams caster sugar
1 sachet vanilla sugar
1 egg yolk
100 ml advocaat

Preparation:
Beat the whipping cream with the vanilla sugar to stiff peaks
In an other bowl beat the egg yolk, caster sugar and advocaat until frothy.
Fold the whipping cream through the advocaat mixture, don't overwork it, you want to leave it as light as possible.
Put the mixture in a 10x10 cm freezer box and freeze for at least 3 hours.

Serve:
Submerge the bottom of the freezer box in hot water for a few seconds so the parfait will release easily. Turn the box over on a cutting board and lift it of the parfait, cut the parfait into 6 slices and put on serving plates.

You could decorate the parfait with chocolate shavings.

Ipod Touch Give-Away

2008-03-22T16:48:00.003+01:00

Jerry from Cooking, by the Seat of my Pants is giving away an Ipod Touch! You don't have to do much to enter in the draw! Just mention this action on your blog and let him know you did it!

You can read all about this action on his blog ofcourse, or better don't, so I have a better chance of winning the most beautiful MP3/video player on earth :-)

Hot Chocolate, The Oaxacan Way

2008-03-21T16:56:00.009+01:00

The newspaper said that it will be the coldest Easter in 40 years and when I looked out of my window this afternoon, I saw snow!
So no spring dish this time, but hot chocolate and not your regular one! Oh no, one made from scratch!

Last year on our trip through Mexico I picked up a bag of cocoa beans in Oaxaca, so I could show my niece what chocolate is made of. But what do you with it after that? So they ended up in the back of the pantry. Then last week I ran across a post on the Last Crumb blog where Rose made a chocolate bar from cocoa beans.

I knew right away what to do with my cocoa beans! Make hot chocolate with them just like I had at the 20 de Noviembre market in Oaxaca. At that market you can buy bars of chocolate that are used to make the famous Mexican hot chocolate, but there are also places where you can have them grind up your own favorite blend of cocoa, canela (real cinnamon), sugar etc.
A lot of the vendors inside the market sell their own blend, and it doesn't come as a bar but more like a coarse paste. You can also sit down and have them brew up a nice mug for you, with water or milk!

So today I took my bag of beans out of the pantry together with some real Mexican cinnamon and sugar and made this fabulous chocolate that took me right back to the market in Oaxaca!

Ingredients:
200 grams cocoa beans
20 grams canela (Mexican cinnamon)
40 grams sugar

milk (to make chocolate con leche)

Preparation:
The paste:
Heat up a cast iron skillet and toast the cinnamon sticks until fragrant, let them cool down and grind to a fine powder in a spice or coffee grinder.
In the same skillet toast the cocoa beans, when they turn brown and start to crack they are done, let them cool down and take the shells of.

I weighed the beans and had 170 grams left, I decided to add 40 grams of sugar (around 20%).
Combine the beans, sugar and a tablespoon of canela in a foodprocessor and blend until you get a shiny paste, this takes quite a while and takes a lot of scraping down the sides and bottom.

Chocolate con Leche:
Take enough milk to fill your mug, put that in a pan, add 1 1/2 tablespoon of the chocolate paste and bring the milk to a boil while constantly whisking. I strained my chocolate milk through a sieve to catch any bigger pieces of cocoa bean that might be left in the paste.

In Mexico they don't use a whisk but molinillo to froth up the hot chocolate.

Chili Con Carne

2008-03-19T00:12:00.005+01:00

I've been making this chili for a few years now, it started out as Jamie Oliver's chili con carne recipe from the Naked Chef series but I've changed some ingredients so it's more to our liking. I also added Dutch processed cocoa powder, which might seem odd but it adds a nice deep flavor to the dish! I prepare this dish in a large Le Creuset Dutch oven.

Ingredients:
2 medium onions
2 cloves of garlic
olive oil
2 heaped teaspoons chili powder
1 heaped teaspoon ground cumin
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound (455 grams) lean minced beef
7 ounces (200 grams) sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil
2 chipotles in adobo sauce
2 (14 ounce) cans chopped tomatoes (400 grams)
1 stick cinnamon
2 teaspoons Dutch processed cocoa powder
2 (14 ounce) cans red kidney beans, drained (400 grams)

Serve with:
corn chips
grated cheese
sour cream

Preparation:
Chop up the onions and garlic in the food processor and fry in some olive oil until softened. Add the chili powder and cumin and a little seasoning.

Add the meat to the pan, cooking it until slightly browned.
Place the sun-dried tomatoes with the oil and chipotles in the processor and blend to form a paste. Add this to the beef with the tomatoes and cinnamon stick. Season a little more, if needed.

Bring to the boil, cover with greaseproof paper and a lid, then turn the heat down to simmer for 1 1/2 hours.
Add the red kidney beans and remove the cinnamon stick 30 minutes before the end of cooking time.

Serve the chili with grated cheese and a dollop of sour cream on top and serve corn chips at the side.

TWD: Brioche Raisin Snails

2008-03-18T00:04:00.007+01:00

This weeks recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie, the group has grown to over 80 bakers, was picked by Peabody of Culinairy Concoctions by Peabody, thanks!!

Brioche is something I always wanted to try and this recipe had some nice additions, like flambeing and making pastry cream.
The first day I made the dough and I can tell you without a stand mixer that is quite a task! I have a lot of respect for all my fellow bakers who did this one without a Kitchen Aid! So with a lot of elbow grease and some work done by my hand mixer the dough came together nicely.

After that I tackled the raisins, well the flambeing wasn't the hard part, no that was which dark rum to use from our liquor cabinet, Captain Morgan Spiced Dark Rum, Bacardi Spice or Bacardi 8 after a long thought I decided on the Captain Morgan.
The flambeing went smooth and the alcohol in the rum burned of in beautiful red flames.

The pastry cream came together very easy too and I had to restrain myself from eating too much of it!

Next day I rolled out the half the dough, spread half the pastry cream on top and started adding the raisins, I thought that the cup of raisins would be too much so I only did about half. Big mistake!! After tasting them I realised they are so good in this and the cup is perfect!

The verdict, all my trusty tasters raved about them! They went fast! Fortunately I made another batch from the left over dough and pastry cream and put those in the freezer. They will make a nice addition to our Easter breakfast table!

Ingredients:
1 cup moist, plump raisins
3 tablespoons dark rum
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
Scant 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 recipe for Golden Brioche Loaves(can be found below), chilled and ready to shape (make the full recipe and cut the dough in half after refrigerating overnight)
1/2 recipe Pastry Cream (can be found below)

For The Optional Glaze
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
About 1 teaspoon water
Drop of pure vanilla extract

Directions: Getting Ready: Line one large or two smaller baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.
Put the raisins in a small saucepan, cover them with hot water and let them steep for about 4 minutes, until they are plumped. Drain the raisins, return them to the saucepan and, stirring constantly, warm them over low heat. When the raisins are very hot, pull the pan from the heat and pour over the rum. Standing back, ignite the rum. Stair until the flames go out, then cover and set aside. (The raisins and rum an be kept in a covered jar for up to 1 day.)

Mix the sugar and cinnamon together.

On a flour dusted surface, roll the dough into a rectangle about 12 inches wide and 16 inches long, with a short end toward you. Spread the pastry cream across the dough, leaving 1-inch strip bare on the side farthest from you. Scatter the raisins over the pastry cream and sprinkle the raisins and cream with the cinnamon sugar. Starting wit the side nearest you, roll the dough into a cylinder, keeping the roll as tight as you can. (At this point, you can wrap the dough airtight and freeze it up to 2 months; see Storing for further instructions. Or, if you do not want to make the full recipe, use as much of the dough as you'd like and freeze the remainder.)
With a chef's knife, using a gentle sawing motion, trim just a tiny bit from the ends if they're ragged or not well filled, then cut the log into rounds a scant 1 inch thick. Put the snails on the lined baking sheet(s), leaving some puff space between them.

Lightly cover the snails with wax paper and set the baking sheet(s) in a warm place until the snails have doubles in volume--they'll be puffy and soft--about 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Getting Ready To Bake: When the snails have almost fully risen, preheat the oven: depending on the number of baking sheets you have, either center a rack in the oven or position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Remove the wax paper, and bake the snails for about 25 minutes (rotate the sheets if you're using two, from top to bottom and front to back after 15 minutes), or until they are puffed and richly browned. Using a metal spatula, transfer the snails onto a cooling rack.

If You Want To Glaze The Snails: Put a piece of wax paper under the rack of warm rolls to act as a drip catcher. Put the confectioners' sugar into a small bowl, and stir in a teaspoon of water. Keep adding water drop by drop until you have an icing that falls from the tip of a spoon. Add the vanilla extract, then drizzle the icing over the hot snails.

Golden Brioche Loaves

Ingredients:
2 packets active dry yeast
1/3 cup just-warm-to-the-touch water
1/3 cup just-warm-to-the-touch whole milk
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature but still slightly firm

For The Glaze
1 large egg
1 tablespoon water

Directions:
To Make The Brioche: Put the yeast, water and milk in the bowl of a stand mixer and, using a wooden spoon, stir until the yeast is dissolved. Add the flour and salt, and fit into the mixer with the dough hook, if you have one. Toss a kitchen towel over the mixer, covering the bowl as completely as you can-- this will help keep you, the counter and your kitchen floor from being showered in flour. Turn the mixer on and off a few short pulses, just to dampen the flour (yes, you can peek to see how you're doing), then remove the towel, increase the mixer speed to medium-low and mix for a minute or two, just until the flour is moistened. At this point, you'll have a fairly dry, shaggy mess.

Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula, set the mixer to low and add the eggs, followed by the sugar. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for about 3 minutes, until the dough forms a ball. Reduce the speed to low and add the butter in 2-tablespoon-size chunks, beating until each piece is almost incorporated before adding the next. You'll have a dough that is very soft, almost like batter. Increase the speed to medium-high and continue to beat until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 10 minutes.

Transfer the dough to a clean bowl (or wash out the mixer bowl and use it), cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature until nearly doubled in size, 40 to 60 minutes, depending upon the warmth of your room.

Deflate the dough by lifting it up around the edges and letting it fall with a slap to the bowl. Cover the bowl with the plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator. Slap the dough down in the bowl every 30 minutes until it stops rising, about 2 hours, then leave the uncovered dough in the refrigerator to chill overnight.

The next day, butter and flour two 8 1/2-x-4 1/2-inch pans.

Pull the dough from the fridge and divide it into 2 equal pieces. Cut each piece of the dough into 4 equal pieces and roll each piece into a log about 3 1/2 inches long. Arrange 4 logs crosswise in the bottom of each pan. Put the pans on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat, cover the pans lightly with wax paper and leave the loaves at room temperature until the dough almost fills the pans, 1 to 2 hours. (Again, rising time with depend on how warm the room is.)

Getting Ready To Bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

To Make the Glaze: Beat the egg with the water. Using a pastry brush, gently brush the tops of the loaves with the glaze.
Bake the loaves until they are well risen and deeply golden, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer the pans to racks to cool for 15 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the pans and turn the loaves out onto the racks. Invert again and cool for at least 1 hour.

Pastry Cream

Ingredients:
2 cups whole milk
6 large egg yolks
1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into bits at room temperature

Directions:
Bring the milk to a boil in a small saucepan.
Meanwhile, in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk the egg yolks together with the sugar and cornstarch until thick and well blended. Still whisking, drizzle in about 1/4 cup of the hot milk-- this will temper, or warm, the yolks so they won't curdle. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remainder of the milk. Put the pan over medium heat and, whisking vigorously, constantly and thoroughly (making sure to get the edges of the pot), bring the mixture to a boil. Keep at a boil, still whisking, for 1 to 2 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat.

Whisk in the vanilla extract. Let sit for 5 minutes, then whisk in the bits of butter, stirring until they are full incorporated and the pastry cream is smooth and silky. Scrape the cream into a bowl. You can press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the cream to create an airtight seal and refrigerate the pastry cream until cold or, if you want to cool it quickly--as I always do--put the bowl into a larger bowl filled with ice cubes and cold water, and stir the pastry cream occasionally until it is thoroughly chilled, about 20 minutes.

Next weeks recipe is Caramel-Topped Flan (page 395-397) and is choosen by Steph from A Whisk And A Spoon.

Chocolate Mousse

2008-03-16T18:49:00.006+01:00

I love desserts and I have a couple of favourites, creme brulee, flan and chocolate mousse. When I'm in a restaurant it's always hard to make a choice if two or more are on the menu. I've made both creme brulee and flan before, but never chocolate mousse which is probably the easiest of the three.

Recently I bought a 2.5 kilo bag (over 5 lbs.) of good quality dark chocolate chips at the wholesale so I have plenty of chocolate to experiment with. That's why I decided to try a chocolate mousse recipe by Gretchen Siegchrist that I found on about.com a while ago.

This recipe produced a very nice mousse, not too light and fluffy. Might be nice with some grated orange peel and a dash of cointreau also, but that will be another time!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
5 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar

Preparation:
Pour 1/3 cup of cream into a small saucepan. Heat the cream over high heat until it just starts to boil.
Place the chopped chocolate in a small bowl and pour the heated cream over it. Whisk the chocolate and cream together until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth.
Now, set this aside and let it cool. When the cream chocolate mixture is cool, add the vanilla and salt, and whisk them in.

Pour the remaining cream into a large bowl and, using an electric mixer, beat it until it forms peaks. Add the sugar and beat that in.
Add the chocolate mixture to the cream, and beat it at a medium-low speed until everything is mixed together and smooth.

Let the mousse cool in the refrigerator. You can serve it in a bowl or cups garnished with fresh fruit.

I got tagged!

2008-03-14T10:15:00.009+01:00

If you read blogs, you must have run into posts about people being tagged and telling something about themself. Until now nobody tagged me! That changed yesterday I got tagged by Mari from Mevrouw Cupcake, thanks!!! So here is my Me, Me:

What were you cooking five years ago?
I was trying my mom's recipes, she was was very sick and I wanted to learn her recipes so they can live on.

What were you cooking 10 years ago?
I didn't cook that much 10 years ago, what I made was most of the time Asian, I bought a rice cooker when I was 17, still have the same one :-) When I was in high school I wanted to become a chef, unfortunately my French (which I needed to get into that school) wasn't good enough so I became something totally different but the love for food has always been there.

Five snacks you enjoy:
1. Chocolate
2. A nice piece of Dutch cheese
3. Stroopwafels
4. Peanutbutter, a nice big spoonful from the jar :-)
5. Licorice

Five recipes you know by heart:
1. My mom's macaroni dish
2. Poached pears (an old family recipe)
3. My own chipotle rub
4. Kung poa chicken
5. Thai green curry

Five culinary luxuries you would indulge in if you were a millionaire:
1. Dinner at El Bulli, Spain
2. Dinner at The Fat Duck, England
3. A new kitchen with a nice viking stove
4. A spicewine smoker
5. Make a nice food trip around the world

Five foods you love to cook:
1. Barbecue (real barbecue, not grilling!!)
2. Cakes, cookies
3. Curries
4. Creme brulee
5. Spicy dishes (Chinese, Indonesian, Mexican etc.)

Five foods you cannot/ will not eat:
1. Melon (all kinds)
2. Cilantro
3. Brussels sprouts
4. Beetroot
5. There is no five, I've tried it all, from scorpions and cat in China to grasshoppers in Mexico and will try anything new.

Five favourite culinary toys:
1. Global chef knife
2. Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker
3. Le Creuset Dutch oven
4. Vegetable peeler
5. Remote thermometer (great on cold days when barbecueing!)

I will pass this meme on, but not at the moment. Most of the blogs I've been reading for a long time have been tagged already and I am still working my way through the Tuesdays with Dorie members to find out which ones really grow on me :-) But I'll get back on this!

Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies

2008-03-13T16:49:00.003+01:00

My sister in law asked when I was making my chocolate chip cookies again. She really likes them and she's not the only one. I love the texture of these cookies, a little crunchy on the outside and nice and chewy in the middle. They are great with a nice glass of milk or a cup of coffee.

Ingredients:
1 2/3 cups of flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, roomtemperature
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups milk chocolate chips

Preparation:
Preheat your oven to 350 F.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Cream the butter with the brown and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract. Gradually mix in the sifted ingredients.
Sir in the chocolate chips.

Drop heaped tablespoons of batter on a sheet pan lined with parchment or a silicon baking mat, leave space around the heaps, they will flatten and get way bigger!
Bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes, Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes on the sheet pan before transferring them to a wire rack where you let them cool completely.

Makes about 3 dozen, depends on how heaped your tablespoons are.

Poffertjes

2008-03-12T19:37:00.007+01:00

This is a Dutch classic, poffertjes are mini pancakes baked in a special "poffertjespan". The first recipe on how to make these little fellows was published in 1746.
For us this is not breakfast food, we eat them for lunch or dinner, that's what we also do with pancakes by the way!

Poffertjespan

Ingredients:
125 grams flour
125 grams buckwheat flour*
300 ml lukewarm milk
1 egg
10 grams yeast
pinch of salt
75 grams melted butter

confectioners sugar
butter

Preparation:
Mix and sift the flour and buckwheat flour into a mixing bowl. Dissolve the yeast in a some milk.
Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and pour the milk with the yeast in it. Put the salt at the outside of the flour. Slowly stir the flour into the milk and slowly add the rest of the milk. When well combined add the lightly beaten egg.
Cover the bowl with cling film and let the batter rest at a warm place for 45 minutes.

Heat up the poffertjespan and brush a little of the melted butter in each hole, fill each hole halfway up with batter. When the poffertjes are dry at the edge and the bottom has a nice color turn them over until done. (When I turn them over part of the top is still liquid.)

After they are baked you dust them with confectioners sugar and put a nice piece of butter on top!

* If you can't get buckwheat flour you can use regular flour instead, but you will loose the characteristic flavor.

Kung Pao Chicken

2008-03-12T00:02:00.006+01:00

This version of Kung Pao Chicken is pretty close to the ones I ate in China with one difference, it's a lot spicier!! But don't let that put you off, you can cut on the chiles, take a less hot variety or leave out the sambal.

The chiles I used this time are ones I grew and dried myself, the seeds I took from a bag of dried chiles that I bought in Long Sheng, China. They are scipy but not too much. Another kind I use a lot are dried bird eye chiles, these tiny peppers pack a huge punch, be very careful with them!! When I use them I use only 5 or 6 of them.

Sambal is a condiment from Indonesia and a nice selection is available in every supermarket here in the Netherlands, that's because Indonesia was one of our colonies. I use sambal brandal, a spicy variety, but any other will do, I add it for extra heat and to give the dish a more complex flavor.

I always buy my ginger at a Chinese supermarket we have here, I buy a lot and freeze it. When I need it, I just take a piece from the freezer and grate it. It will last for months in the freezer and tastes the same as the day you bought it.

Ingredients:
Marinade
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons light soy sauce
2 teaspoons rice wine
1 small egg white

Main Dish
2 chicken breasts, cubed
10-12 Chinese chiles (or 5-6 dried bird eye chiles)
6 spring unions, cut into 1 inch pieces (keep white and green separate)
2-3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup unsalted peanuts
2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger

2 tablespoons peanut oil

Sauce
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons medium soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sambal brandal

Preparation:
Combine the marinade ingredients and add the chicken, put the chicken in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Mix the sauce ingredients and set aside.

Heat up the oil in a wok, add the chiles (I cut up large ones, the small ones I leave whole) and let them turn black.

WARNING!!!! This will produce a very irritating smoke, so open up your windows and doors!!!! I'm not kidding! Really I'm not kidding, it's like somebody emptied a can of pepperspray in your kitchen!!! I warned you!!!

When the chiles are black and you can breath again, add the chicken and stir-fry a couple of minutes, add the ginger, stir-fry half a minute, add the garlic, stir-fry half a minute, add the white parts of the spring unions, stir-fry a minute or 2.
Now add the sauce and stir so it will coats everything, it will thicken up a bit.
Add the peanuts and the green parts of the spring union.

Serve over rice, I use basmati.

TWD: Russian Grandmothers' Apple Pie-Cake

2008-03-11T00:08:00.009+01:00

My second Tuesdays With Dorie bake, this week's recipe was choosen by Natalie of Burned Bits and can be found on page 310-311 of Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My House To Yours.

When I read the recipe I thought that it would be pretty simple to make this one, well it wasn't! I had a lot of trouble with the dough, it was really sticky! When I finally rolled it to the right dimensions it wouldn't let go of the parchment, resulting in a very messy top layer. The bottom layer I could patch with bits and pieces but that didn't work for the top layer because of all the apple bits underneath.

When it came out of the oven after 65 minutes it didn't look ok, it was very dark around the sides, almost burned. In the middle it was ok.
My trusty tasters and I didn't care for it. One reason could be that I used goudreinetten as the apple, a very old Dutch apple breed that we use here for apple pie, applesauce etc. This a a very tart apple and I think the filling could have used way more sugar. We were also not to crazy about the crust, the structure was ok, but we didn't care for the flavor.

Ingredients:
For The Dough
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
juice of 1 lemon
3 1/4 - 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

For The Apples
10 medium apples, all one kind or a mix (I like to use Fuji, Golden Delicious and Ida Reds; my grandmother probably used dry baking apples like Cordland and Rome)
Squirt of fresh lemon juice
1 cup moist, plump raisins (dark or golden)
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Sugar, preferably decorating (coarse) sugar, for dusting

Preperation:
To Make The Dough: Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes more. Reduce the mixer speed to low, add the baking powder and salt and mix just to combine. Add the lemon juice - the dough will probably curdle, but don't worry about it. Still working on low speed, slowly but steadily add 3 1/4 cups of the flour, mixing to incorporate it and scraping down the bowl as needed. The dough is meant to be soft, but if you think it looks more like a batter than a dough at this point, add the extra 1/4 cup flour. (The dough usually needs the extra flour.) When properly combined, the dough should almost clean the sides of the bowl.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it into a ball and divide it in half. Shape each half into a rectangle. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or for up to 3 days. (The dough can be wrapped airtight and frozen for up to 2 months; defrost overnight in the refrigerator.)

To Make The Apples: Peel and core the apples and cut into slices about 1/4 inch thick; cut the slices in half crosswise if you want. Toss the slices in a bowl with a little lemon juice - even with the juice, the apples may turn brown, but that's fine - and add the raisins. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together, sprinkle over the apples and stir to coat evenly. Taste an apple and add more sugar, cinnamon, and/or lemon juice if you like.

Getting Ready to Bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Generously butter a 9x12-inch baking pan (Pyrex is good) and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.

Remove the dough from the fridge. If it is too hard to roll and it cracks, either let it sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes or give it a few bashes with your rolling pin to get it moving. Once it's a little more malleable, you've got a few choices. You can roll it on a well-floured work surface or roll it between sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper. You can even press or roll out pieces of the dough and patch them together in the pan - because of the baking powder in the dough, it will puff and self-heal under the oven's heat. Roll the dough out until it is just a little larger all around than your pan and about 1/4 inch thick - you don't want the dough to be too thin, because you really want to taste it. Transfer the dough to the pan. If the dough comes up the sides of the pan, that's fine; if it doesn't that's fine too.

Give the apples another toss in the bowl, then turn them into the pan and, using your hands, spread them evenly across the bottom.

Roll out the second piece of dough and position it over the apples. Cut the dough so you've got a 1/4 to 1/2 inch overhang and tuck the excess into the sides of the pan, as though you were making a bed. (If you don't have that much overhang, just press what you've got against the sides of the pan.)

Brush the top of the dough lightly with water and sprinkle sugar over the dough. Using a small sharp knife, cut 6 to 8 evenly spaced slits in the dough.

Bake for 65 to 80 minutes, or until the dough is a nice golden brown and the juices from the apples are bubbling up through the slits. Transfer the baking pan to a cooling rack and cool to just warm or to room temperature. You'll be tempted to taste it sooner, but I think the dough needs a little time to rest.

Sacherbrownies

2008-03-06T13:04:00.011+01:00

Looks like this is "Death by Chocolate" week here :-) Last Friday I made the snickery squares, this time it's Sacherbrownies, both heavy on the chocolate and very rich, but oh, so delicious!

I found this recipe while surfing the net on Jessica's Brownie or Die weblog. The moment I saw it I knew it could be a winner. I love Sacher-Torte, I've been to Sacher a couple of times for their speciality and I knew this would be the first thing to make when I got my 8x8 inch square brownie pan, which by the way isn't so easy on this side of the pond.

This was the first time ever I made brownies and they came together like a breeze!
My team of trusty tasters all liked it a lot! But all agreed, a little goes a long way!
I added half a jar of apricot preserves, maybe if I add more it will cut a bit more through the richness of the chocolate.

Ingredients:
Brownies:
2 oz. (56 grams) unsweetened chocolate, chopped
4 tbs. (57 grams) unsalted butter
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 c. flour
Filling:
1 c. apricot preserves

Glaze:
2 oz. (56 grams) unsweetened chocolate, chopped
4 oz. (112 grams) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips
3 tbs. (43 grams) butter

Preperations:
For Brownies: Preheat oven to 350 F. Line an 8 x 8-inch pan with foil and grease. Melt 2 oz.
unsweetened chocolate and 4 tbs. butter in a medium, heavy saucepan over very low heat, stirring constantly until smooth. Set aside to cool completely. Stir in sugar and vanilla, then eggs. Add flour until just combined. Spread batter in pan and bake for roughly 23 minutes. Allow brownies to cool completely before proceeding.

For Filling: Spread apricot preserves over brownies.

For Glaze: In a double boiler, melt unsweetened chocolate, bittersweet chocolate chips, and 3 tbs. butter in a double boiler. Smooth mixture over apricot preserves. Refrigerate until set (at least 1 hour).

Note: once glaze is set, it's best to let the brownies return to room temperature before serving. The glaze will not melt.

TWD: Snickery Squares

2008-03-04T00:16:00.012+01:00

This is my first Tuesday with Dorie bake. This weeks recipe, Snickery Squares, was choosen by Erin of Dinner & Dessert and can be found on page 120-122 of Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My House To Yours.

Ingredients
For the Crust
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 stick (113 grams) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled
1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten

For the filling
1/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons water
1 ½ cups salted peanuts
about 1 ½ cups store-bought dulce de leche (*)

For the topping
7 ounces (200 grams) bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
½ stick (57 grams) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces, at room temperature

Preparation
Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8-inch square pan and put it on a baking sheet.

To make the crust: Toss the flour, sugar, confectioners’ sugar and salt into a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Toss in the pieces of cold butter and pulse about 12 times, until the mixture looks like coarse meal. Pour the yolk over the ingredients and pulse until the dough forms clumps and curds - stop before the dough comes together in a ball.

Turn the dough into the buttered pan and gently press it evenly across the bottom of the pan. Prick the dough all over with a fork and slide the sheet into the oven.

Bake the crust for 15 to 20 minutes, or until it takes on just a little color around the edges. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool to room temperature before filling.

To make the filling: Have a parchment - or, better yet, a silicone mat-lined baking sheet at the ready, as well as a long-handled wooden spoon (you’ll be cooking sugar that will climb to over 300 degrees F, so you’ll want to keep as far away from it as possible) and a medium (about 2-quart) heavy-bottomed sauce pan.

Put the sugar and water in the saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Keeping the heat fairly high, continue to cook the sugar, without stirring, until it just starts to color. (If sugar splatters onto the sides of the saucepan, wash down the splatters with a pastry brush dipped in cold water.) Toss in the peanuts and immediately start stirring. Keep stirring, to coat the peanuts with the sugar. Within a few minutes, they will be covered with sugar and turn white - keep stirring until the sugar turns back into caramel. When the peanuts are coated with a nice deep amber caramel, remove the pan from the heat and turn the nuts out onto the baking sheet, using the wooden spoon to spread them out as best you can. Cool the nuts to room temperature.

When they are cool enough to handle, separate the nuts or break them into small pieces. Divide the nuts in half. Keep half of the nuts whole or in biggish pieces for the filling, and finely chop the other half for the topping.

Spread the dulce de leche over the shortbread base and sprinkle over the whole candied nuts or the big pieces.

To make the topping: Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water or in a microwave oven, using a low power setting. Remove the chocolate from the heat and gently stir in the butter, stirring until it is fully blended into the chocolate.

Pour the chocolate over the dulce de leche, smoothing it with a long metal icing spatula, then sprinkle over the finely chopped candied peanuts. Slide the pan into the refrigerator to set the topping, about 20 minutes; if you’d like to serve the squares cold, keep them refrigerated for at least 3 hours before cutting.

Cut into 16 bars, each roughly 2 ½ inches on a side.

(*) I can't buy Dulce de Leche in this part of the world, but if you take a can of sweet condensed milk, put that in a pan of water (make sure the can is covered all the time, otherwise it can explode!!) boil it for 4 hours, let it cool down (before you open it) and you'll have a can with very nice Dulce the Leche. You can do more cans at the time, and use it for other recipes too.

I don't have an eight inch square tin yet, so I made it in a round tin. Man, is this stuff rich but also very good :-) Loved the texture of the crust.

Next week we'll be baking Russian Grandmothers' Apple Pie-Cake (pages 310-311) which is choosen by Natalie of Burned Bits.

Barbecued chicken quesadillas

2008-03-03T14:13:00.008+01:00

I had some chicken that was left over from the barbecue and decided to make quesadillas with it.

A quesadilla is a toasted tortilla with melted cheese inside, but you can put a lot more inside, like chicken, jalapeno peppers, zucchini flowers, chorizo, mushrooms etc.
I went through the fridge and found besides the cheese and chicken, pickled jalapeno's and taco salsa.

Ingredients
flour tortillas
grated cheese
vegetable oil

Additional
chicken (cooked and shredded)
jalapeno slices (fresh or pickled)
mushrooms
zucchini flowers
etc.

Preperation
On medium high heat, heat up a cast iron skillet and put a tablepoon of vegetable oil in it.
When the oil is hot put your flour tortilla in the pan, flip it over every 10 seconds until it starts to puff up.
Add your grated cheese, I used a medium sharp Dutch cheese, and the rest of your ingredients.
Cover the skillet with a lid and turn the heat to low. There should be plenty of residual heat to melt your cheese and to brown your tortilla.

Give it a minute or 2 and check if your cheese is melted, if not turn the heat up a bit. If the cheese is melted fold the tortilla over, if it's not brown yet leave it in the pan a little longer and flip it over occasionally to get both side nice and colored.

Remove from the pan and cut into 3 wedges.