i like cake!

Today is a hard day at work.  But my guy knows how to make it better! =)

Ok, so those of you from the TWD group are probably saying, “Wait, Peach Tart?  What?”  I kind of broke the rules a little this week.  I needed to make a dessert for my office’s barbeque that would feed a bunch of people, and the little Parisian Apple Tarts just didn’t seem like they were going to work too well for the occasion.  So I picked my own recipe.  I know–shame. =(

Anyway though, I baked something from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking, from My Home to Yours, and it’s Tuesday, so I figured I would post about it anyway!  The recipe is technically called something like “creamy and crunchy peach tart” but I don’t have the book in front of me, so I’m not sure of the exact title.  I do know that it is good though!

I made the crust the night before and partially baked it.  Then, probably the longest part of the prep time, I peeled and sliced up all these peaches and artfully laid them out in the shell.  I was very proud of my artistry here.  And good thing I took a picture, because you couldn’t see the peaches at all after the tart was done–they just became a layer of yummy squishy peach stuff at the bottom of the tart.

The peaches are topped with a layer of custard, and then when the tart is mostly baked, a layer of struesel topping.  I think I still need to work on my struesel topping, because isn’t it supposed to stay more, like, chunky than that?

My biggest worry in baking the tart was whether the custard was properly set.  I ended up leaving it in the oven for a bit longer than was called for.  And up until the point I cut into it, I was scared that it was going to be a hot gooey mess.

No worries though, it came out perfectly, and everyone loved it!  It went super fast.

I really enjoy these fruit and custard recipes from Dorie’s cookbook–the other one I’ve made is the summer fruit galette, which I’ve already made twice, and plan to make again this week because it’s just so incredibly yummy.  I highly recommend them!

In knitting news, I recently finished some socks out of my handspun yarn.  Aren’t they pretty?  I love them, but unfortunately I made the tops too big and they keep falling down.  I’m either going to re-knit the ribbing with twisted stitches, or sew in some elastic thread.  Possibly both.  Must save them though, because I love them!  I’m still wearing them at night anyway, just hitching them up every now and then as needed.

In between all the gift knitting I’ve been doing, I decided to cast on another sweater for myself.  I’ve been working with tiny-ass lace and fingering-weight yarn far too much lately, so it was nice to work on a worsted weight sweater!  The color is gorgeous, and the MadelineTosh worsted is so nice and soft to work with.  Very excited about this one!

And on a slightly related note, it has now been a week and several days since I last bought any yarn or roving.  I am making a serious attempt to exercise some self control.  It’s really hard though!

How can it not be a happy morning when I get surprise flowers from my guy?  He’s the best! =D

Ah, it’s Summertime!  The days are sunny and warm, and I’ve started smelling the neighbors grilling out every weekend.  Tired of grill envy, I decided to invest in my own.  Of course, I don’t do enough grilling to merit a proper grill.  So I bought one of the little mini charcoal grills along with probably more charcoal than I’ll use in a year (they only had one size of bag).

I was a bit nervous about grilling–I’ve never actually done it myself.  The men in my life always seem to think it’s Man Work, so I’ve never had occasion to try.  But bolstered by my cute little new grill, I decided to give it a shot.  On Rob’s suggestion, I picked up some pork chops, and some corn, and I did a little research on how long I should cook them for.

The grill, when I first started it up, freaked me out a little.  I put a minimal layer of charcoal in the bottom, and lit them up.  The fire it made was fairly huge, and the wind was blowing it all over the place.  Fortunately, I had placed it a little ways away from any of the plants or anything, so no worries.  The fire calmed down and the charcoals went grey–about a half hour after I lit the grill, I started the food.

I prepped the pork chop by coating it with olive oil then a dry rub from a company called “Rub with Love.”  I’ve used their fish rubs a bunch and they’re really tasty.  For the corn, I basted it with melted butter and sprinkled salt on it, then wrapped it in tin foil.

The grill was still pretty hot when I put the food on, but it worked out well–I cooked the pork in 2 minute increments on either side, twice, then did another two minutes on either side with the lid on, for a total of 6 minutes each side.  After that, I kind of prodded it with the tongs and it felt done, I thought, so I took it off and let it rest for about 4 minutes while the corn finished cooking.  The corn I cooked for 16 minutes, rotating it a quarter turn each 4 minutes.

Apparently my internet research served me well, because the pork came out just right!  So tasty!  And for once, I was the one with the tasty smelling grill going.  Take that, neighbors!

Sesame Street flashbacks anyone? =)

Haven’t been doing much baking lately, much to the chagrin of my officemates.  But I have been knitting!  Folks who are on Ravelry will no doubt have already seen these, as I’ve plastered them all over the relevant forums there.  But for the rest of you, look, I made clothes! =P

First up is a sweater I made for myself with a super soft merino/cashmere/nylon blend yarn.  I love how happy and sunny this color is–it’s totally not one I usually wear, but it’s absolutely perfect to usher in the summertime weather we’ve been having!

Also in the background there you can see one of the paintings I got from the Totoro Forest Project Auction at Pixar last year–home from its stint at the SF Cartoon Art Museum.  It was such a kick to go to a museum and see the little plaque “From the collection of Thayer Preece.”  I love this painting–it was totally worth the actual physical fight I had to win in order to get the winning bid.

Next up is the Swallowtail Shawl I made for Mom for her birthday.  One of the most complicated things I’ve knit thus far.  And I definitely won’t be making anything else with nupps for a while (nupps are the little round bumpy things in there–and a total pain in the butt).  Obviously it looks great on her though, so well worth the effort!

Working on another birthday gift right now for my Grandma (don’t think she reads the blog, so should be safe mentioning it).  And then after that, it’s back to selfish knitting for ME, yay! =D  I really want to crank out some more sweaters.  Now if only I had unlimited amounts of free time!

In work related news, I just got back from the INTA conference in Seattle.  Boy did that run the gamut of weather–sunny and 80’s when I got there, 50’s and rainy when I left, in the span of 3 days.  I was looking sharp (if I do say so myself) due to a personal shopping appointment with Melyssa before I went.  If anyone in the bay area is looking for some style advice, let me know and I will give you her contact info (she’s working as a personal shopper at Nordstrom).  She will make you look great!

The trip basically consisted of a bunch of meetings with foreign associates (who in many cases are also clients), and some receptions–lots of schmoozing, which I’m generally not that comfortable with.  It went pretty well though–I enjoyed the company of all the lawyers I was meeting with, so that was fun, and found fun and interesting people to hang out with at the receptions as well.  Can’t wait for next year! =)

Other random stuff–I was going through my screenshots folder in WoW and found a few things to post–first up, my baby murloc gladiator pet from doing the arena tournament!  So cute! =D

Next is text automatically generated by the Deadly Boss Mods addon during the Thorim fight in Ulduar.  I don’t know why, but it just cracked me up (yes, Teacake is me)–

Finally, from a while back, when first leveling a death knight when the class was just added, check out my ferocious steed…

(my character’s name is Keki–Japanese for cake.  Can you see a pattern here?)

I’m slowly progressing through the centuries by adding this new toy to my collection:

It’s an Ashford Traveler spinning wheel. Omg is it so much more pleasant to use than the drop spindle! And a hell of a lot faster as well!

I had to assemble this thing from a flat-packed box and that was definitely a challenge. This is by far the most complicated thing I’ve ever put together (and I’ve assembled my fair share of IKEA-type furniture). It has a lot of moving parts.

Once it was assembled though, I had to get started! So I started spinning some extra fine merino roving from Pigeonroof Studios. Here’s what it looks like during the spinning process:

After I had spun two bobbins full of singles, I then plied them together with the wheel, and voila, I had yarn!

In total, there’s about 200 yards or so. It’s a bit thick and thin, but I’d say it averages out to about DK weight. Trying to figure out now what to make with it! (especially with Summer right around the corner).

Here’s a picture of it in the skein. I’m really happy with how this came out, and can’t wait to start another!

I also had the thought as I was spinning, that if the apocalypse came, and we lost all our fancy modern machinery and had to subsist through primitive means once again, I could totally make my living now by spinning yarn from sheep wool and knitting clothes :)  Surely people will trade me food for that?

Yes, I know I’m weird =P

I’ve written up my latest sock pattern as a free PDF download.  It will be added to the sidebar soon, but for now, you can download it here.

Coming Together is a toe-up, gusset heel sock pattern, using fingering-weight yarn, and featuring cables that come together from the foot and heel of the sock to travel up the leg together.

As always, if you find any errata, or the pattern is hard to understand, please e-mail me, or send a PM via Ravelry (user ID ilikecake).

Er….so I appear to have gone back to posting a couple days late.  But I made it before Tuesday!

This week’s TWD recipe was the Blueberry Crumb Cake, chosen by Sihan of Befuddlement.  As always, the recipes come from Dorie Greenspan’s cookbook Baking, from My Home to Yours.

Blueberries and I have a tumultuous past–when I was younger, I did not like them at all.  Now, however, I think blueberry pie, muffins, cake, etc., are incredibly delicious, and I drink Naked Juice’s B-Machine juice every morning.  I have also heard that blueberries help the brain, so why take any chances?

The only adjustment I made to this recipe was to substitute pecans for the walnuts that were called for, just because I prefer pecans.  I think I may need to work on my streusel topping–it came out ok, but I feel like it should have had some bigger chunks.  I suspect I processed it a bit too much.  It tasted good though!

The cake was moist and flavorful, and I have no complaints!  It was well received by my coworkers, one of whom asked for the recipe.  One thing I thought was interesting was how it calls for you to squeeze together the lemon zest and sugar with your fingers before blending the other ingredients in.  I have no idea whether that makes the lemon more fragrant or what, but it was an interesting new technique to learn at any rate.

So yeah….cake!  Yum!

So this weekend I took this:

And turned it into this:

Using only this:

Mad props to my homegirls 1000 years ago who did this on a regular basis.  It’s not easy!

Technically, I think these should be called “Toffee Crunch Bars” because they use toffee, not caramel, but I didn’t write the recipe, so I guess I don’t get a say in the matter.

This week’s recipe was chosen by Whitney of What’s Left on the Table? The recipe can be found on her blog, or as always, in the cookbook Baking, from My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan.

These bars, despite looking complicated, were pretty simple.  And would have been even more so if the store I went to had actually carried the Heath toffee chips it calls for.  Instead, I had to make my own toffee.  Which wasn’t that hard, but I think I ruined the saucepan I did it in.

These are essentially a layer of chocolate chip cookie, coated in chocolate, then sprinkled with toffee chips.  Simple, yet tasty!  I haven’t gotten around to buying an offset spatula yet, so I used a pie server in lieu of one, and it worked just fine.  I took the advice of some of my fellow bakers and sprayed the back of it with PAM before spreading the chocolate to prevent as much chocolate sticking to it as possible.

I’ve been enjoying these for a few days, and just brought the extras in to work today.  The first review is in, and it was “Oh, these are fantastic!”  So I’m not the only one who thinks they’re tasty!