Of pastry and other food-related items..

Could someone explain to me why everyone thinks pastry is hard? I mean, I mostly thought it was hard before 'cause I'd never /done/ it. But there's really nothing to it - you just add the ingredients together, turn them into dough, chill hell out of it then roll it out.
What's hard about this? I mean, I do biscuits - from scratch - and get huge poofy morsels of yumminess. The key to this, so I'm told, is not overhandling it. You can't overhandle biscuits anyway - if you leave it too long they won't rise. At least, they won't if you use baking soda as a leavener - once you get it wet, you've only got so long to throw it in the oven. Or, as has been done on every camping trip Mom's been a part of since we started camping on and off, in the castiron pan... I did this too. It was good. ^^

So what's hard about pie crust? The only differences are no baking soda, and you keep it cold. This is hard? I don't get it...

Making pie, I had more trouble with the filling than the crust - no, I had the right apples. The apples weren't the problem. The problem was that I either didn't add enough sugar (I used raw sugar, although I doubt that made any real difference except /maybe/ very slightly in flavour) or not enough cinnamon (The Andi's take.) Me, I think next time I will use different apples, and if that doesn't work, I'll add more sugar. A dessert apple tossed in with the cooking apples should fix the balance of tart to sweet very nicely. And damnit, WHY can't you get a selection in your damned apples!?
No problem finding braeburn, granny smith, jonagold. Not seen pippin of /any/ kind (And no, I ain't talking about idiot halflings), nor gravenstein, nor orin... no shortage of dessert apples, though. Everything from pink lady (I want to try this) to honeysweet, fuji and gala apples you can find if you know where to look... but cooking apples? You'll be lucky to find two, let alone three or four to pick.. (and that's assuming I didn't mix something up there. /I/ refuse to eat green or yellow apples because I don't like the flavour. Some people, however, like 'em....)

Store-bought frozen pies, have nasty, grainy crusts. I can only assume this is because they are made with shortening. Yiiiaaghh. Lard or butter or not at all, /thank/ you. Shortening. Ugh.
I know this because we tested it. Marie Callendar pies are pretty good, but I can't stand the crusts (this is probably why I don't much like pot-pies - and those are the same brand. The /filling/ is quite good - sweet or savory - but I can't stand the crusts. Yuck). I'm thinking to try making my own pot-pie at some point.. I found a recipe to use as a starting point....

What can I say? I like to cook. And bake. And I found another useful thing to do with leftover lamb. Saute your cooked lamb (cut it into sand-wich managable chunks first) in olive oil with a dose of garlic and Rogan Josh, and roll it into a warmed pita round with tzaziki and shredded lettuce. If you can get into the pockets, you could just put the meat, tzaziki and lettuce in the pita and do it that way, but I couldn't convince the damn things to open. :/
Was still good, though. My experience is, if you use the best ingredients you can afford, you will rarely turn out something inedible - even if you /are/ making whatever it is up out of whole cloth. ^^

I might not make much sense, but when I start on food, apparently, you can't shut me up.. O.o

Of dead fish, snow and cold feet....

I swear by all that's holy, I am getting silk longjohns before the end of the year. We went out for aquarium gear this afternoon and I nearly froze my ass off waiting for the bus on the ride home. The Andi swears he saw snow in my hair (something was coming down alright, but I figured it for rain, albeit /cold/ rain) while I was leaning on him for warmth. I hope not. /IF/ is snows, I really hope it will wait until Yule....

I'm not entirely sure what got the betta, but he's been poorly for a while and I've been wondering when he'd finally kick the bait-bucket. After I fished him out I dealt with treating water and filling the tank again and noticed, to my annoyance, that I need to change the filters again. Could I find those filters at Petco? Nope. *Sigh* May have to get new tops for the undergravel filters and fake it. Can you even /do/ that? Eh. Worth a shot, if I can't find a source for the right filters.

This is why I prefer to have options - if I've got more than one place I can go for stuff, I've a better chance of finding what I actually need! And one of the reasons I don't like Petco. :/

Not a hell of a lot else going on. Mock Shepard's pie tonight (corned beef mashed with potatoes and baked til the top is crunchy, probably served with green beans..) and I've got to start on that and also get those plants sorted out...

Of holidays, giving thanks and the season...

For those of you who celebrate it - Happy Thanksgiving!

For those of you who do not - well, Happy Thanksgiving anyway. Like me, you probably have a lot to be thankful for. ^^

Me, I am thankful for a husband who loves me, a roof over my head, good food to fill our bellies and the purring of two cats who share residence with us... one of whom is currently sitting on my shoulder 'helping' me type this. ^^
I am thankful I live in a country where I am free to express my opinions, where I am allowed to vote and wear jeans instead of a skirt. I am thankful for the ability to choose where I go for an education and the ability to do what I will with that education once I have it.
I am thankful for all these things and a thousand more, because I know there are places in this world where people do not have the choices I do and the freedoms I have. I am thankful for these things because I know that people have sacrificed everything so that the choices they did not have might be offered to their children.
As flawed as it is, I am thankful to be living here, in the US. We're a country of assholes, idiots and brain-dead sheep - but we are also a country of free-thinkers, innovators and kind, generous people willing to give and sacrifice so that someone else can share in our freedom, if only for a little while.

Who says I ain't a patriot?

Now I am free to gripe about the holiday season. *sings* "Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat - please to put your pennies in the corporation's hat..."
*grump* We've had Christmas going 'round since Halloween! ARGH!
At least I've so far avoided all the giant animatronic santas/trees/teddybears that seem to lurk in malls, ready to jump out and serenade you with a dubious rendition of 'jingle bells', 'santa claus is coming' or 'up on the rooftops' that you've already heard three million times by now..

And people wonder why I turn into a grinch two weeks before Christmas. I'm already Christmass'd out and have been since November 1st!
I need to start building a gift list...

Of stuff and things...

I figure I'm doing good to post /somewhere/ once a week when my schedule gets all funky.
Turkey day coming up and ... we're having ham. Hee, hee, hee...
What? I don't much like turkey and there's no such thing as a turkey (or much of anything else, really) small enough for two people. And I get /sick/ of left-over turkey. Turkey, turkey, turkey. Bleh. Much rather have leftover ham.
And I scored some brussels sprouts. Yum!
Will probably do my infamous potatoes with butter and spices (basically, scrub tuber, chop into chunks, shake spices on, scatter slices of butter and/or drizzles of olive oil and roast for about an hour. Numnumnum..) with it and I'm not sure what else... I'd like to have rolls, but lord knows I don't have the space - or for that matter, the ovens! (too damn much juggling. Heh.)

Finals coming up. Meep! On the other hand, from the look, I've only really got one actual exam to worry about - the art classes are 'well, let us have a look at your work' and writing is 'write this essay and do a presentation' - which is plenty nerve-wracking enough. I don't much like standing up and talking in front of people, and every indication I've had suggests this will be a 'stand up and talk in front of people' thing...

All that means that I haven't had time to think about updating the Lair, much less the Alcove and very little that isn't homework or housework has gotten done anywhere.