Long Lazy Weekend

I'm so lazy even posting this seems like work! Oh well, it is Monday morning now, and that always has a depressing effect. Guess I'd better get it together, because today I have to finish all the little things I put off all weekend. Like cleaning and bulb planting. The cleaning never needs an excuse to put off, but all I have is ONE bag of narcissus bulbs to bury in a hole in the ground. That's all. Not a big deal. Despite the nice weather, I found ways to procrastinate that all weekend. I have until the ground freezes, but gee, it is November now, so time is running out.

Friday was spent completely in the kitchen handling controlled substances (those would be heavy cream, chocolate, butter and sugar. Hey, they're narcotics to me!). Early November brings the Ladies' Guild church bazaar, and one of the very few ways I get involved in our church is by baking cookies and sweets for this. A quick overview of the pantry sadly revealed I was not as well-stocked for a day of baking as I should have been, so an early morning trip to the grocery 3 miles down the road was in order. Don't ask me why I thought of making fudge, but that just sounded good. So I used a recipe on a postcard from Mackinac Island. I also made something out of a favorite battered cookbook. 'Naomi's Revel bars' go together quickly, and are rich and tasty. Then I used the caramel roll recipe, but altered the filling. No cinnamon but instead walnuts, chocolate chips, brown sugar and Port Caramel sauce. Is it breakfast or dessert?? They could go either way.

Tim requested a batch of chocolate chip cookies to take to his Beer Advocate gathering at
Kuhnhenn Brewery Saturday, so I made a giant pan version. The claim is that chocolate chip cookies make a good foil for many beers, including stouts and porters. It sounded like a good idea to me, and memories of many beer and brownie breaks taken by my parents and their friends on long road trips up north seem to bear out that theory.

I managed to more or less keep up with the dishes all day so that the place didn't quite look like a bomb had hit by late that night. But I was recovering from a major chocolate hangover. Well, I had to keep testing the chocolate chips and milk chocolate pieces to make sure the quality control had passed, didn't I?

Saturday was more laziness. I didn't feel like joining Tim at Cheryl's Place, popular local Brighton breakfast restaurant that morning, so I dropped him off, and he met his Beer Advocate buddies there, and I spent the afternoon lounging in front of the TV. And making homemade pizza. The weather was really too nice to totally waste, so I got off my butt and went for a walk. That was my only exercise all weekend, sad to say. The plan was for me to drive to Warren and join Tim at Kuhnhenn and pick him up that evening. So I finally got ready and hit the road at 530. A roundabout route took me past church to set up coffee pots for the morning coffee hour, and then down I-75 for a few stops. I hadn't left myself much time for leisurely shopping, but I did manage to get to Costco before they closed, and Oakland mall to get a couple new pairs of jeans, and do a little vacuum cleaner shopping.

First of all, let me say what I probably say every year, and that is some variation of 'a pox on radio stations and businesses for starting Christmas before we've barely passed Halloween.' One Detroit radio was playing all Christmas music. Nothing but Christmas music. I did a quick panicky mental check of the date, and yes indeed, it was still November 6th. And chose a different station. Passing the Great Lakes Crossing metropolis of shops in Auburn Hills made me wonder again if time had somehow looped on itself or I had missed a month somewhere. I calmly reminded myself that it was Saturday night, this is a very popular mall, and my hours usually prevent me from having to deal with frighteningly large masses of shoppers. This was probably just the normal Saturday night scene. The exit ramp onto Joslyn road probably backs up ALL the time...

It was the glowing Christmas wreaths and trees covered with lights at Oakland mall that finally convinced me that it's business as usual. *Sigh*

No luck with the vacuum cleaner shopping. The sales associate just confused me with even more helpful information. By then I was so thirsty for a beer, I blew out of there to find Kuhnhenn and left the poor lady without any sales commission. Our hated bagless upright's days are still numbered, though. Oh, yes.

There was quite a crowd at Kuhnhenn, about 20 Beer Advocate members. Including two I had never hoped to set eyes on again. The two brothers that were our houseguests in July. I won't rehash all the bitching and ranting and raving I did after they finally left, but I'll just state they were terrible guests. And Tim will concur with that opinion. They had driven all the way up from Pittsburgh for this gathering, but luckily were staying in a motel this time. They were polite enough, but they both appeared completely trashed. The elder of the two is incomprehensible even when sober! I kept my distance, and spent my time sampling the Russian Imperial Stout (very nice, as long as you waited a half hour for it to warm up to the proper drinking temperature...the flavor changes are amazing Review ), the Raspberry Eisbock (Review), and conversing with people with normal social skills.

BTW, Tim and a group of beer buddies are using Kuhnhenn's facilities to brew an American Imperial Stout. This should be ready in January. As soon as I got there, I was ushered to the back room and excitedly shown the 15 or so gallons simmering away in the kettle in the grain steeping process. I'm told this is going to be a HUGE beer. Over 50 pounds of malt went into this. Yes, that's 50 pounds. I heard the other ingredient measurements were rounded up slightly as well. Proof that following a recipe while drinking may not be such a bad thing. We'll find out in January!

Sunday after church was more movie-watching, and a very small amount of cleaning. Very small. I didn't want to strain myself too much. That night we dined on Alaskan wild-caught salmon (thank you again, Brooke!) garlic mashed potatoes, cole slaw, peas, and carrot cake. Accompanied by a 2001 Erbacher Marcobrunn Riesling. The carrot cake didn't really turn out, as I attempted to cut a boxed mix in 1/3, and then add some grated carrot and pineapple to it. Then drizzle a little walnut liqueur over it. Way too mushy and underbaked. More like carrot cake pudding. Oh, well! The salmon was quite impressive, though. Much leaner and more richly colored than the farm-raised stuff. A simple treatment of salt, pepper and lemon juice was all I deemed necessary this time, although the fact that it's so lean would invite sauces or glazes next time.

Recipes! How about some recipes?

Naomi's Revel Bars

From 'Chocolate Lover's Cookies & Brownies'

1 cup plus 2 tb butter or margarine, softened
2 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
3 cups uncooked rolled oats
1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 325 F. Lightly grease a 9X13 inch pan. Cream the 1 cup butter and the sugar in a large bowl. Add eggs; beat until light. Blend in vanilla.

Combine flour and baking soda, and stir into creamed mixture. Blend in oats. Spread 3/4 of the dough evenly in prepared pan. Combine chocolate chips, milk and the remaining 2 tb butter in a small heavy saucepan. Stir over low heat until chocolate is melted. Pour chocolate mixture evenly over dough in pan. Dot with remaining dough. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until edges are browned and center feels firm. Cool in pan on wire rack. Cut into 2X1 1/2 inch bars.
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'The Ultimate Gourmet' Mackinac Fudge

4 cups sugar
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup butter
25 marshmallows cut up, or 1 1/2 cup mini-marshmallows
12 ounces milk chocolate stars candy
12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 cup chopped nuts, if desired

Mix sugar, milk and vanilla in a saucepan. Add butter and bring mixture to a boil. Let boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and add marshmallows. Then add chocolates, a little at a time, stirring thoroughly after each addition. Make sure all marshmallows are dissolved. Add nuts and pour into a 9X13 inch pan. Chill and cut into squares.

Notes:

I've experimented with cutting back the sugar slightly and increasing the amount of unsweetened chocolate with sucess. It's still godawful sweet, but not quite as tooth-aching as it could be. Also I add more than one cup of nuts, and toast them first.
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Tracy's Pizza-Pan Cookies

from 'Chocolate Lover's Cookies & Brownies'

1 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 375 F. Lightly grease two 12-inch pizza pans. Cream butter, sugars, cream cheese and vanilla in large bowl. Add eggs; beat until light. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Add to creamed mixture; blend well. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Divide dough in half; press each half evenly in prepared pans. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly browned around edges. Cool completely in pans on wire racks. To serve, cut into wedges or break into pieces.

Notes: I don't have pizza pans that size, so I just use one standard large baking sheet with edges. And only 12 ounces of chocolate chips?? Come on. We can add a few more. This is just as good without the nuts, too.
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Mediterranean pizza

This is something I just made up one day, and now I make it all the time when a craving hits. It would probably make a good focaccia-like appetizer if cut into small triangles. For a super fast version, you could even use a pre-baked flatbread.

Use a prepackaged dough, or take your favorite pizza dough recipe, or even a plain bread dough recipe. I start with 2 1/2 or 3 cups of water, warmed to 110 or 115 F. I add a few teaspoons of yeast and let it sit until it's foamy. Dump it into a large bowl and add a few glugs of olive oil, a couple tablespoons of salt, and a spoonful of honey. About half a cup of cornmeal, about a cup of whole wheat flour, and stir. Now add cupfuls of white flour until the dough holds together. Probably about 6. Knead for 10 minutes on a floured surface, and then let it rest while you get your toppings ready.

Get some capers, some pine nuts, crumbled feta cheese, and some kind of olive spread or relish. I love Trader Joe's Muffaletta spread. Cracked black pepper, and whenever possible, lots of freshly chopped herbs: rosemary, oregano and basil. And tomato paste. And a few finely chopped green onions, white and green parts. If there is no feta cheese in the house, shredded mozzarella will work, too.

Spread the dough into two large baking sheets that have been oiled and sprinkled with corn meal. With a spatula, spread tomato paste evenly over dough. Take a big spoonful or two of the olive relish and smear it into the paste. Top with generous amounts of drained capers, pine nuts, crumbled feta, onions and herbs. Drizzle with a little more olive oil, and grind pepper over all. Let rise about 10 minutes while the oven is preheating to 450 F. Slide pans in and bake for about 25 minutes. Sit cross-legged in front of oven and watch hungrily to make sure they don't overbake. Let cool slightly, cut, and enjoy!