Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Burglars and Brownies

Folks, it's been a week around here.  Forgive me for not posting but I got distracted.  Really, REALLY distracted.

The endless drapery project.  And I didn't even
mention the kitchen windows...

Remember that burglar I told you about?  Turns out he hit a house several doors down from us at 9:30 IN THE MORNING last week.  This was the morning after we had a neighborhood meeting with the police and detectives assigned to the case.  Suffice it to say it freaked me out, partially because the back of our house is largely windows and we had never felt the need to cover them with drapery fabric.  Long story short, I hit Bed Bath and Beyond quicker than you could say "burglars not welcome here" and got those windows covered up in no time.  I wielded that drill and hemmed those panels like a pro.  Who knew?  Maybe I have a second career as a decorator.  (On second thought, "nah."  I could never be as good as my friend Holli).

In addition, I hid all the valuables, took stuff to the safe deposit box and managed to get burglar bars installed on the basement windows.  Paranoid, anyone?  All in the space of three days.  No wonder I didn't blog!

Then there was the snowstorm and the ice on the road leading to our neighborhood (we live on a cul-de-sac, high up on a hill).  When the snow fell on Thursday, ice formed and no one could get their cars up the hill.  It was a virtual parking lot down there!  We had plans to go to Miller Union for dinner on Friday but that didn't happen!  Nor did we make it out on Saturday night.  We did manage to walk on Sunday, but after two very chilly hours we said "screw this" and went to Taco Mac for beer, fries and the football game.  Best part of the weekend.....and I don't like football!

And today we moved my mom to a new apartment community. 

Okay, I'm done bitching now.  The good news is the burglar is now behind bars as of this morning so I can breathe again.  (Couldn't this have happened before I spent all of that money for window coverings and burglar bars?)  That's okay, I'm not complaining.  I'm grateful we didn't get hit.

One-pot brownies.  The cure for everything!

So it's back to baking and blogging.  And brownies.  I wasn't going to post this recipe because it is so ridiculously easy.  I've posted a couple of brownie recipes here before (see Thomas Keller's Brownies from Ad Hoc on 10/27 or Marbled Cream Cheese Brownies on 10/5) but this is my tried-and-true recipe that I have used for years.  After a long day (and a LONG week), I needed to make them tonight to take to one of "my guys" at the VA hospital tomorrow.  I'm almost embarrassed to post this because it's such a no-brainer.  It requires only a saucepan and you can whip them up in an instant.  The hardest part is waiting for them to chill before you can cut them.

LIZ'S CHOCOLATE CHIP BROWNIES

1 cup unsalted butter
2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs (I use extra-large)
1/2 cup cocoa powder (preferably Droste)
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup all-purpose, unbleached flfour
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 oz. (1 bag) semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350-degrees.  Line a 13x9-inch baking pan with heavy duty foil.  Allow foil to overhang edges and grease well with butter or cooking spray.

Melt the butter in a medium-large saucepan.  Remove from heat and add rest of ingredients.  Stir well with a wooden spoon to blend.  Do not use an electric mixer.

Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes until just set (middle will still look slightly underdone).  It is crucial not to overbake these.  Let cool then place in refrigerator to chill for at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight.  Turn out onto a large cutting board, remove foil and cut into fingers or squares as desired.  Store covered in refrigerator for up to one week.  Remove from refrigerator at least 15 minutes before serving.

Serves 10-12 (or one hungry person - just kidding)

Hungry yet?  These are SO worth blowing off
all of those New Year's resolutions!

These are very dense, rich and "chocolate-y."  They are not for the calorie conscious or faint-of-heart.  If you like cakey brownies, do not make this recipe!

However, if you do not make this (seriously easy) recipe, you have missed one of life's great pleasures!

ironic kitsch for the masses

January 13

Rock of Ages is not a good show. You might enjoy it, especially if you like those songs from the mid-1980s that currently are most popular in karaoke bars, but it’s not a quality production. A paper-thin plot ties together a medley of songs performed with medium gusto, often choreographed by someone who didn’t seem to be listening to the lyrics (an ensemble performance of Whitesnake’s “Here I Go Again” — “Here I go again on my own/Goin’ down the only road I've ever known/ Like a drifter I was born to walk alone” — excuse me?), ending, lest there be any doubt that the soundtrack was thrown together to strike a chord with the lowest common denominator in pop culture, with Journey's "Don't Stop Believin',” which is enjoying new popularity, as you probably know, because it was the last thing heard in the final episode of The Sopranos.

Still, it’s a fun show. You spend a couple of hours watching attractive, talented people sing and dance on stage, and I had a good time watching it with Johnny Rockets’ new president and chief executive, John Fuller.

John loves Rock of Ages. This was his second time seeing it. “It’s like Broadway for Dummies,” he says.

He has a point. It’s not like the performers are taking themselves seriously, and to emulate a stadium concert from the 1980s they hand out tiny flashlight-like things that light up when you push a button, simulating in a Broadway sort of way the lighters that people would use at those shows.

And they sell beer — Corona Light or Coors Light — so through the course of the performance I had four Coors Lights.

It’s sort of ironic kitsch for the masses.

John, who was just promoted from chief financial officer to CEO, is the opposite of pretentious. He’s 6'6" but he usually flies economy class to help control costs, and he says his biggest personal thrill since getting his promotion was the reaction of his daughters, 12-year-old Bryanna and 10-year-old McKenna, when he told them. They were tremendously excited and told him how proud they were.

After the show, John, two of his colleagues and I went next door to the Glass House Tavern, and so did much of the cast, so John had his picture taken with some of them, and got to hang out with his favorite performer, Mitchell Jarvis, who plays Lonny, the show's narrator, and who John referred to astutely as “that Jack Black guy.”

I decided to let my snobby side out and drank an Irish single malt whiskey I'd never heard of. John had Amstel Light.

Italian woodfired Pizza Base

3 cups terigu
1 cup air (hangat kuku)
1 sdm garam
1 sdm gula pasir
1 sdm yeast (Fermipan, etc)
2 sdm minyak (olive oil/canola/sunflower oil lebih bagus krn tidak terlalu berlemak)
extra minyak untuk mengoles mangkok
Baking paper

Cara membuat:

Terigu, gula pasir dan garam aduk rata. Masukkan air dan minyak, aduk rata and terakhir masukkan yeast. Ulen dengan tangan +/- 10-20 menit atau sampai adonan bisa mengembang kembali bila ditekan dengan jari dan permukaan adonan kelihatan halus. Pindahkan adonan ke dalam mangkok yang sudah diolesi minyak, tutup dengan clingwrap atau kain serbet bersih sampai ukurannya mengembang dua kali lipat. Jangan menaruh mangkok dekat kompor.

Setelah mengembang dua kali lipat, perlahan-lahan tekan adonannya supaya udaranya keluar. Bulatkan adonan seperti bola dan tutup kembali dengan clingwrap atau kain serbet. Diamkan selama 1 jam.

Setelah 1 jam, bagi adonan menjadi 3 bagian dan bulatkan. Keluarkan adonan satu persatu and giling adonan tersebut menjadi pizza base dengan ketinggian sesuai selera. Anda bisa memilih sesuai selera, pizza base apa yang anda suka, thick base, classic crust atau thin base. Supaya praktis, giling adonan ini di atas baking paper yang sudah dipotong seukuran pizza supaya mudah dipindah-pindah.

Adonan ini cukup untuk membuat 3 pizza ukuran besar (classic crust base).

Untuk isi, taruh bahan-bahan di bawah ini secara berurutan supaya isi pizza melekat dan tidak hancur. Tidak perlu disisakan jarak sedikit di ujungnya untuk mebuat pizza crust karena ujungnya akan mengembang dengan sendirinya.

1. Light Mozarella cheese atau Mozarella cheese saja boleh. Cheese yang lain tidak bisa dipakai karena lelehannya tidak sebagus dan sekuat mozarella untuk mengikat dan menutup isi pizza. Tabur secara merata sampai dasr pizza tertutup tapi jangan terlalu tebal.

2. Sayur-sayuran seperti irisan bawang bombai, capsicum, jagung manis, tomat, cabe, etc. Isi pizza tidak harus seperti yang dijual di toko. Isinya boleh apa saja yang anda suka.

3. Daging. Jangan pusing-pusing. Ada leftover masakan apa yang anda punya di kulkas?? Ayam goreng,daging sapi cincang, empal, etc. Boleh diisi ke dalam pizza.

4. Saus. Boleh saus tomat, barbeque sauce, chilli sauce.

5. Tabur sedikit garam dan lada hitam di atas bahan-bahan yang sudah diisi untuk menambah rasa.

6. Tabur lagi Mozarella cheese di atas bahan-bahan tersebut sampai tertutup rata. Tapi jangan terlalu tebal.

Panggang di dalam oven yang sudah dipanaskan dengan suhu 220C. Kalau bisa, lebih bagus pakai pizza stone (panggangan pizza yang terbuat dari batu atau terracota). Tapi kalau tidak ada, loyang aluminium juga boleh. Yang penting panasnya bisa merata ke semua bagian pizza ini. Panggang selama 10-18 menit (sesuai ketebalan pizza base). Setelah matang langsung dipotong menjadi delapan bagian dan hidangkan panas-panas.

Resep pizza ini adalah resep Italian woodfired pizza. Bukan seperti pizza HUT dan sejenisnya. Rasanya lebih gurih dan wangi apalagi jika dipanggang dengan woodfired oven.

on my own

"Sometimes she said that she loves him just because she doesnt want you to know that she is really really love you more than everything" ~Hardiyanti Danial Alisakti~

UST - College of Architecture and Fine Arts


I feel a bit sentimental today because I terribly miss college. After watching several episodes of the famous Australian Mockumentary "Summer Heights High" I suddenly miss going to school.

Early this morning I was tagged in Facebook in one of our college photos. I suddenly remember who I was before. I was this skinny long hair girl full of dreams and fought blood and tears just to enter her dream university with her dream degree. I miss my Fine Arts days. Things were simpler back then. All I need to think about was to finish my plates to be submitted on deadline and have it passed then that's it! Life is different now. More responsibilities and complications.

I do love my course. I supposed to take up HRM - Major in Food Nutrition but I decided not. I find Fine Arts more interesting and filled with tons of adventures. And besides I can always do cooking whenever I want. True enough the day I decided I also want to be in the heat of the kitchen, I never stopped cooking sumptuous dishes since then.

Despite the temptations during college, I remained to be a goody-two-shoes. I was quiet. I rarely talk. I don't have group of friends 'til the latter part of my college days when I found the company of Harbey & Warren. My two best dudes up to these days of my life. Our story is another story that I think is also monumental.

If I will check out the life of each of my classmates now, I think they went a long way the day we wore our toga and received our bachelor's degree. Most of them are married with kids, some look different the way they were in college and some remain the same. I do miss doing manual plates where in I sketch, I paint and all those hard work versus the technology of computerized plates these days. I can't imagine myself with any course. I am proud to wear my chocolate brown pants and polo shirt with vertical stripes! The coolest uniform in our university back then. But of course a lot of things have changed since the day we all left our Alma mater. How I miss my school.

I am MANALANG JOAN y MARCELO
Has a degree of BACHELOR OF FINE ARTS
Major in ADVERTISING ARTS
Graduated from UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS

I wish I could go back to college...

hugs,
joanie xxx