March 13, 2007
For those of you who requested the recipe … from the JOC (pg. 34)
You can keep the chocolate concentrate in the fridge and measure out single portions when you want a cup of hot chocolate.
Chocolate concentrate:
1 cup light or heavy cream
8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
In a medium-size, heavy saucepan, bring the cream to a rolling boil. Immediately remove from the heat and whisk in the chocolate pieces until they melt completely.
Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve or tea strainer, pushing it through with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. The chocolate concentrate can be kept in the refrigerator up to 10 days.
Hot chocolate:
1/4 cup chocolate concentrate for each serving (1 1/2 cups total, if you are making hot chocolate for 6)
1/4 cup milk, water or coffee for each serving (1 1/2 cups total, if you are making hot chocolate for 6)
1/8 teaspoon vanilla, or 1/2 teaspoon Kahlua or Grand Marnier
Ground nutmeg or cinnamon for garnish (optional)
Whipped cream or marshmallows for garnish (optional)
Stir together the chocolate concentrate and the milk, water or coffee. Heat over low heat, or in a microwave on high for 45 to 60 seconds, until warm but not boiling. Stir in the vanilla or liqueur, pour into cups and top with desired garnish.
March 12, 2007
After diving head first into the coffee, tea and cocoa chapter of the JOC I came to one clear conclusion: I still love Starbucks. But, in keeping with my personal pledge I forged ahead …
Since St. Patty’s Day is a mere five days away I see Irish coffee (pg. 30) in our future and I was intrigued by Cafe Diablo (pg. 29), who wouldn’t be — you light it on fire! But, since we are in a new home in a brand new condo building I didn’t think lighting coffee on fire would be wise.
French Hot Chocolate (pg. 34 ) seemed like a good compromise — delicious, rich and appropriately sinful. The recipe was VERY easy. I whipped up a quick batch and brought it to a friend to satisfy her chocolate craving during a week of serious studying. Haven’t heard the verdict yet, but the base sauce was so good I think it would make an excellent sauce for ice cream.
March 12, 2007
Let me preface this by saying that I have never had a bad time at a wine festival. How could one have a bad time at a wine festival? Wine, cheese, friends … not a recipe for a horrible afternoon.
When we attended the D.C. Food and Wine Festival this weekend I had high hopes. Maybe we would get to see a cool cooking demonstration, or at least taste some excellent food from restaurants that are out of our dining price range. Or maybe we would find a wine that was so amazing we rushed out to the nearest Wegman’s to buy a case. None of this happened.
The event was extremely crowded. Saturday’s event lasted from 3-7 p.m. so every ticket holder (all 3,000-5,000 of them) showed up at the Reagan Center at exactly 3 p.m. People were pushing and shoving at the tasting tables … so much for a civilized wine event. And it was definitely misleading to call it a food and wine festival. Sure, there were some scattered, sliced baguettes and crackers — but the only memorable food booths were Vermont’s Cabot Cheese, Stacy’s Pita Chips and Hershey’s reserve chocolate. All worthy booths — who doesn’t love cheese, pita chips and chocolate? But three (overcrowded) booths does not a food festival make.
Two notable wines: for no other reason than it was very different than anything else we tasted we remember the Meadery from Long Island, N.Y., and we quite enjoyed our visit with the sparkling wines from Hungry. Unfortunately, they aren’t widely distributed in the U.S. (heck, they are only distributed at one store in NYC) so we would be hard pressed to find them any time soon.
All-in-all we much prefer the Virgina Wine festival. It’s outside, the wine growers and makers have time to tell you about what they are pouring — the entire atmosphere, while a maybe bit limiting (obviously they only serve Virginia wines), was far superior to the international festival.
March 7, 2007
Last night, while watching Gilmore Girls (um, what did Lane name her babies?!), I read the nutrition and entertaining chapters in the JOC.
These c
hapters were useful for a variety of reasons 1) I haven’t been in a health or nutrition class since freshman health in 1995; 2) I am completely dyslexic when it comes to setting a table and I always set it backward and 3) I learned — among other things — about saltcellars.
While the section about cholesterol was mildly engaging, I was much more intrigued by the entertaining sections. So many rules. Luckily, these chapters are particularly timely. I can use some of my new-found knowledge next week when we host our St. Patrick’s Day/Housewarming Open House.
My favorite instruction: “A good cocktail party begins with good liquors (and wines and beer if you like); ‘house’ brands reflect on the quality of the house” (pg. 9). ie. If you serve your friends Schlitz they will think you are cheap (and you probably are).
Along with this rule, I will also be employing the idea of the “modified buffet” (pg. 10). As far as I can tell this just means serving food with a nice centerpiece and without a waitstaff. Since I had to let all the servants go, I’ll just have to bear the brunt of the work myself.
I will, however, be breaking the “real glasses” (pg. 8-9) suggestion — get it ‘breaking’ — my Swiffer®, wonderful as it is, just can’t deal with glasses on the floor all day.
That’s about all. A good 10-15 pages of reading last night. I’ll definitely be coming back to the entertaining chapter often. At the very least, every time I try to set the table.
Fork on the right, knife on the left? Pause, looking it up. No. Darn.
March 5, 2007
Good news! The Foreword and Introduction to the Joy of Cooking – or JOC as I’m now going to refer to it — are not
actually intimidating. Quite the contrary, actually. While reading the first few pages of this mammoth book I felt, well, inspired.
The Rombauer/Becker family has passed the responsibility for this book through generations. The Joy of Cooking, much like many of our own family recipes, is a living family history. I like that — it gives historical reference to this otherwise odd (and 
potentially futile) attempt.
My first Friday in the kitchen didn’t actually tackle any JOC recipes, but I did need to look up a few topics for reference. Following my recent passion for the Cooking Light Best Recipes Vol. 8 magazine I attempted a Bacon, Potato, Gruyère Soufflé.
Since I don’t know anything about souffles (except that you make them in ramekins and I love ramekins) and I don’t know anything about leeks (it took me about 20 minutes to finally find them in the produce section) I needed to turn to my new BFF the JOC. Picture above. Seems I could have halved the recipe … we have souffles to feed 500 …
I was pleasantly surprised with the leeks. I think they are my new favorite member of the Alliaceae family.The sweetness added depth to the souffle and if properly shredded and breaded they would make killer onion rings.
My husband and I rated the entire experiment a 6/10. Edible, almost good — especially for a light recipe — but lacking something … couldn’t put my finger on it …
Tonight: the beginning of Chapter 1.
place might just give 
