Julia Child's pain de mie

On Jan 11, I took out my Mom's Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking cookbook again, and made the recipe for Julia's pain de mie.
It took a lot of kneading and waiting, hoping that that yeast would react and work its magic.
It did not disappoint!

One loaf went to some friends as a belated holiday gift, and I divvied up the other one.  Some of the best toast - spread with real butter - ever!!!

Apple pie

So it was kind of cold last weekend; a rarity these past weeks, so I thought, in an idea stolen from my sister, who was over in Bayside whipping up just this dish, it would be cozy to do an apple pie!!!!
The crusts, admittedly, are from Trader Joe's; I find these frozen crusts, that you defrost and roll out slightly, to be a little bit sweeter and clingier (is that a word) than the Pillsbury that I usually use.
Gala and Granny Smith apples to that; with cinnamon and sugar, and my Mom's secret weapon: butter.  Little specks of it, carefully positioned througout the pyramid stack of apples.

With french vanilla ice cream.

Special guest dish: Hubby hamburgers

Last Saturday - we had a special guest chef in the kitchen - my husband!!! He loves making his famous hamburgers - they have even been featured in a special kitchen down south in Alabama!

Homemade cinnamon rolls

These were made from frozen dough I'd made in January from the magazine "Taste of the South"; they didn't rise so high as last time, I surmise because they had been frozen.

Stuffed chicken in Bayside

This little guy was deeelicious!!!  My Mom made her secret recipe stuffing!

The epic fail brownies - Mon Feb. 6

These brownies supposedly won the Cooking Light's best chocolate recipe; yes, they are very chocolatey but I underbaked them.  You can't see that in the photos, but they were very batterlike; I will have to make again.

Irish lamb stew in Bayside

This is what was cooking during the superbowl, over in Bayside; Irish stew.

Sunday brunch: red pepper omelette with fried potatoes, and fruit salad

So after a delicious brunch in Manhattan that involved sushi, Bloody Mary, churros and ice cream, my husband suffered some uncomfortable repercussions; and so for today, we decided to have homemade omelettes and potatoes at home.
The idea was to use some ingredients we got at the Greenmarket in Union Square and at Whole Foods; onion rye bread, red cherry peppers from California, and aged Gouda cheese.
So after some discussion, the plan this morning was to fry the cherry peppers until soft and somewhat blackened; fry up the mushrooms, fry the potatoes until crispy, and then to put these ingredients minus the potatoes into an omelette, sprinkled with the cheese; the potatoes would be served on the side.
As I got my ingredients together and warmed up the frying pan, my loving husband came into the kitchen with a new set of enormous headphones; he had tuned them into an opera station (I love opera), and wanted me to enjoy the music while I cooked.
I got to cooking; the headphones provided me with a soundtrack to cook to; but I found as I fried the peppers, they emitted a smokey scent; my eyes filled up; I found it difficult to balance the headset while trying not to sneeze, and stir the peppers.  I managed though; I developed a rhythm after a while.

(Please forgive the ratty hair; focus was on the food at hand)
The peppers finished; I moved them out of the pan and moved the mushrooms (baby portabella and white) in; they cooked quickly; I poured more olive oil in and fried the potatoes.  I turned the oven on to 200 degrees and stashed the potatoes in there on a glass pan to keep them warm.
Then I got to my omelette; into the pan went the eggs, then sprinkled on top, the peppers, mushrooms and a sprinkling of cheese.  That cooked for about 10 minutes on a low flame; meanwhile I prepared the fruit salad - washed off strawberries, grapes and peeled an apple and banana; chop/slice, they all went into a bowl together.

Then the omelette was ready!

Omelette slid onto plate, potatoes whipped out of the oven and placed next to the omelette right before serving.

Voila!!!!
The toasted rye bread was on the side, but I didn't take a pic of it. 

Today's dish: Milchrahmstrudel = Milk Cream Strudel

Today's adventure was my annual Milchrahmstrudel; involving phyllo dough and copious amounts of butter, this is like a not so sweet cheesecake!

The two strudels, rolled and ready for the oven...

My sous-chien, checking on my work...

With vanilla cream sauce on it - I use Bird's Custard.

Mom's plate.

Today's dish: Chestnut Cake

My twin sister and I like to take on obscure and unusual recipes; we bake and cook them in our Rego Park kitchens.  Today's recipe is: Chestnut Cake!  My sister made it!  I was passing by her apartment on my way in from Queens Blvd, and she told me to stop in, she had something for me.  Lo and behold, it was this cake!  I hadn't even known she was making it (we usually divulge our baking plans to each other in advance).  Happy surprise!

The above two pics show the orange container my sister gave me the cake in...

This is the cake, plated (minus a few bites).

Just delightful - the icing tastes like real whipped cream, with a slight chestnut aftertaste.  The cake is light and fluffy.