After making tarte au chocolat, I had two discs of pâte sucrée left over and, oh look, new fluted cookie cutters and four colors of sanding sugar from Williams-Sonoma! It must be a sign. So, on Saturday, with nothing else to fill the afternoon, I pulled out my rolling pin (and camera!) to pass the time. Lesson of the day: I really, really want...dare I say?... need...a macro lens.

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Real gold fears no fire.

Gone Fishing

I've been having many wonderful menu ideas this week. Where were they all when I was planning for this week? Due to my muse taking a vacation, all we're having this week is nasty American food. Okay, okay, it's not nasty. It's tasty (Yeah, tasty...that 'n' must have been a typo.), hearty, reliable, fool-proof, unimaginative...you get the picture. I mean, they're all good things, meatloaf, chicken pot pie, fajitas, hamburgers, ham...but...p- leaze, all in one week? I suppose everyone is satisfied with good food in their stomachs but, every time I look at the menu, I cringe. The one breath of fresh air was a last-minute substitution today at lunch. Instead of tuna wraps, I pulled a recipe out of a library cookbook for ginger-lime chicken salad wraps. That was a brilliant epiphany from God. I was just flipping through one of my eight cookbooks that I checked out, trying to finish the menu for the marriage conference in two weeks and just happened to pause on this recipe and noticed that we just happened to have all the ingredients, even, would you believe it, jicama, *goofy, John Ratzenberger voice* oh, I just always keep jicama in the fridge(!?!), and an already open jar of Major Grey's. So I'm excited about getting out of the midwest next week and back to world-traveling. Where will I go? France, home to the Northwest, India, Italy, Asia, and Central America. Hey, that's almost all the continents. Hmm, now what could I serve from Antarctica?

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Crazy Week

I screamed almost every day this week. It was not a bad week, just insanely crazy and unbelievable. Jars melting, waiting forever for the dishwasher to fill while, all the time, it was actually emptying, almost forgetting to place an order, both ovens going out, the new Sysco delivery driver telling me to stay pretty and not become a nun, and pieces of the rusty washing machine lid falling in all combined to make this a week wherein I question my sanity. Meanwhile, I've had to go back to classic stand-by meals because I've just been drawing a blank when it comes to menus. Desserts, however, are another story. I was so excited about desserts that I didn't bother trying to decided which one to make. I just made them all!
Whole lemon tart made with pâte sucrée was a new recipe I had to try to see if I could do it...you know...for my education. The pâte sucrée was amazing! Buttery, crumbly, and sweet (but not too sweet), I ate probably half a tart's worth before it even made it to the oven. The filling was super simple but, I thought, too much. Imagine, if you will, a dear little shortbread cookie with a dollop of lemon curd...yeah, that would have been the perfect balance. Speaking of cookies, that's probably what will happen to the pâte sucrée I will have left from making tarte au chocolat this week, that is, assuming I don't eat it all raw.
I had been craving peach blackberry pie with homemade vanilla ice cream all summer until I finally went of the deep end and decided to have it the same day we were making about twenty dozen cookies, the same week I made two chocolate cakes because, here's the best frosting I've ever had that I've been eating with a spoon, and how much trouble would it be to just make some cake to celebrate Rachel's visa and Luc's acceptance to Verity. Back to the pie. Peach blackberry was what I wanted, but how could I resist throwing in some plums and strawberries I just happened to have on hand? I couldn't. I borrowed the crust from my apple pie and 'winged it' for the filling. No lattice crusts on these babies, not that I'd been planning to, but I couldn't have even if I wanted because, just as I was filling the third and final pie, I realized I had yet to put my order in, didn't even have a list, did I even have a menu, it's due in an hour, and it usually takes me an hour or more. I passed the top crust baton to someone else (they turned out beautifully) and, after running around like a chicken with my head cut off, finished my order in twenty-five minutes. The pie was as perfect as I imagined it could be. Tender summer fruit hid beneath a sugar-sprinkled crust that stayed crisp even under a lopsided pillow of half-melted ice cream that dripped down the edges to mingle with the sweet juices. Wow. How's that for summer?

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Pure Inspiration

 I've been a bit stuck lately, having almost no new ideas for what goes on the menu.  But, a week and a half ago, I did have a lunch that was, I tell you, truly inspired.  During breakfast clean-up, Claudia pulls me aside and hurriedly informs me that the CI team is going to be here for lunch and she is so sorry she hadn't let me know ahead of time, but they don't communicate their schedule to her.  Well my brain started scrambling.  What do I have to feed twice as many people as I planned for?  Scanning the fridge, I came up with sliced ham, some turkey, pepperoni, salami...hmm...that looks like some sort of Italian sandwich to me.  But on what?  There isn't any bread.  Then I'll make bread.  Do I have time?  Just barely, I see, as I pull out the recipe.  Between mixing, rising, shaping, and second rising, the girls and I pulled together the rest of the fixings for an amazing sub sandwich on fresh baguette.  A baked pasta dish from the freezer assured that everyone had plenty to eat.  In the end, no one even realized that, before breakfast, I could not have even told them what was for lunch.  Miracles do happen.

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