Sigh.  It’s week 5.  Week 4’s dishes were done last night at the time.  I had hoped to go for a gold star again this week, but I had to spend an hour an a half one the phone with Turbo Tax, trying to figure out why my tax information for last year had up and disappeared, since I’ve been using their online service since my 2001 taxes.  Yeah.  So no No-Pan Pear Pie, that actually has cake and blue berries in it.  Yeah – that’s a weird one.  Instead we had a meal, I’m going to call the Big Hot Mess.  Because really – nothing went right.

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With three hours to go, I managed to pull this week out.  We may have eaten at 8:30pm at night, but I did do it.  Today I wasn’t sure I’d get any cooking done.  Today we applied for Dan’s passport, almost ate lunch at IHOP, ate at Arby’s instead, introduced the Kid to the wonder that is the roast beef sandwitch, and Dan and I both had eye exams and picked out new glasses.  And then when we got home, we sat down to watch the documentary about MMOPRG players, which was very cool, but at that point, I wasn’t sure I’d get any cooking done.  It looked like it might be a Gamer Grub night.

But I’d had a plan and shopped while we were out, and the stuff I’d picked were actually pretty simple to make – nothing crazy.  These recipes came from my ‘alternate’ Alton Brown books:  Feasting on Asphalt, and Alton Brown’s Gear For Your Kitchen.  So this week didn’t use use the Grand Trio, but rather the supporting players.  And for the most part it was a success.

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It’s a day off from work for me, but I ended up doing more in the one day than I would if I would have been in the office.  Such is life of the working mother with only a day off every once in a while.  I did take advantage of the time to make some dishes for the Project.   Now there is a bit of a cheat, because the main dish actually include two recipes.  But I thought of it as a good way to knock out two recipes, especially since I needed a pie crust for the Pie.  No real snafus these dishes, thank goodness.  Because also today I stripped the bed, finished the laundry, and made dough for shortbread cookies.  Not to mention dropping off and picking up of the Kid to his day of service.  No new techniques either, just honing of old skills.  There was one FAIL – I forgot to take a picture of the Pie.  And it was a pretty pie.  Just imagine it, with cheese on the top, and the top with a nice, yummy brown crust.  Yum.

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I don’t have a better name for this – perhaps someone will come up with something brilliant.  But here it is – I’m going to be doing a year long cooking project.  The idea springs from the Julie/Julia project, but the core of it comes from my friend Bryan – who pinged me to tell me how much he loved my SIL’s family’s Irish Band, Ceann.  This man is the reason I first made soup last year.  We got to talking, and he mentioned Alton Brown’s book about baking (I’m Just Here for More Food) – that if you want to be a better baker, read this book.  This put together with the copy of Good Eats that I knew was under the tree, and I had an idea for a cooking project.

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It was a busy day. We had a dinner party last night and I baked two batches of Christmas cookies with multiple steps and drizzling.

So what did I make yesterday? An apple pie, Buckeye cookies, caramel macchiato cookies, a teriyaki beef fillet, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, peas – Julia style, and buttered rosemary rolls. Oh and I guess I shouldn’t forget the baked eggs in ramekins that I made for breakfast.  And really – that took all day.  So – a break down: Read the rest of this entry

I have an idea brewing for a project for the new year. I have goals for next year, and for one – I want to do a cooking project – similar to the Julie/Julia project, but something that won’t have Dan close to walking out the door, and something a little more timely. Not to disparage the J/J project – but Julie does mention that MTAOFC is out of date, using more cream and butter, and having recipes for aspic, which honestly – does anyone make any more.

Then I was chatting with a friend over Facebook, who hopefully you will be seeing featured here – he is the one who first got me to make soup. He told me that Alton Brown’s book on baking is essential if you want to become a better baker.

Which lead me to think – is Alton Brown the Julia for today? I need to think on this to expand on this concept, but I’m thinking for my 2010 project, that maybe I will dedicate myself to cooking the Alton Brown way. I know the Good Eats book will be under my Christmas tree, and I really want to pick up the book on baking. So the terms of the project will be developing over the next couple of week, but I’m starting to think.

The holiday weekend is drawing to a close.  It’s been pretty eventful – Thanksgiving dinner, cheesecake, and lots of WoW.   Thursday was Thanksgiving.  Friday was putting the up tree – and discovering the damage caused by a flood earlier this year.  It was also my first girl’s night out in ages – which resulted in the next morning writing about 1000 words.  Nothing to sneeze at.  And yesterday was a visit from some very dear friends, and cooking.  In WoW that is.  Taking advantage of the Pilgrim’s Bounty holiday event – I maxed out my cooking – after going into the session with a 4.  And today was a quiet day – I only went out to take Dan to the train station.  It’s today I want to talk about.

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