Upstairs Kitchen?
Check.
Alleluia.
Downstairs Kitchen?
Oh Help.
(Update! We close on the sale of our house in two weeks and then the next round of renovations begin!)
Archive for March, 2010
Pistachio Gelato
In Food, Justin on March 25, 2010 at 9:14 pmToday I made pistachio gelato in my new favorite toy. I’m becoming really good at cranking out ice cream although my sorbet skills have yet to develop. Today’s output was definitely in the upper tier of what I have made so far, up with the butter pecan. This was the first recipe I wanted to make when I originally got the machine, but sadly we can’t find anywhere in Stevens Point that sells unshelled, unsalted pistachios. They all at least have salt, and most still have the shells. Julie ended up ordering some for me from the internet and they came today. Cue many inappropriate nut jokes!
I did get a kick out of the fact that the giant bag full of nuts (ha!) had a big warning on the back about them being produced in a factory that also handled nuts. Seems kind of obvious to me.
Silly warning
The overall output was awesome. The recipe didn’t make quite as much as I would have liked, but it was super creamy and had the greatest, fresh pistachio flavor of any pistachio gelato we’ve had. This was always one of our favorite treats in Seattle. Every time we ordered pizza we would tack on a pint of pistachio gelato, and this new stuff I made is even slightly better than what we used to get, which I didn’t think was possible. The only thing I left out of the recipe was the green food coloring. It just didn’t feel right to artificially color the gelato, even if it did kind of come out light soupy green.
The end result
Turkey (NOT) in the Straw
In Julie, Miscellaneous on March 25, 2010 at 10:40 amI heard a bit of commotion outside this morning as our new fridge was being delivered. “There’s a Turkey outside!” And so there was! Somehow a turkey managed to find herself walking through downtown Stevens Point.
What in the world brought her here? Maybe meeting a friend for tea at Cafe 27? For pad thai noodles (with tofu, of course) at Green Tea? Grabbing a slice at Polito’s? Or showing her (actual) wild side with some color from Monkey Wrench Tattoo?
I hope she has enjoyed her visit into town, and finds her way safely back out again!
Fentiman’s
In Food, Justin, Taste Test on March 22, 2010 at 7:14 pmWhen we were in Houston, I scored some specialty sodas at a supermarket in The Woodlands. My favorite was Fentiman’s Curiosity Cola. Lo and behold, when we were at World Market a couple of weeks ago, they had a whole display of the stuff, including a bunch of flavors that weren’t available in Houston. World Market is one of those stores that I think has a direct tap into my brain and buys things directly for me. It can get dangerous.
They had 4 flavors – Ginger Beer, Shandy, Dandelion and Burdock, and the Curiosity Cola.
Fentiman's sodas
The first one I tried was the Shandy, which was just essentially a non-alcoholic beer. I’m not much of a beer drinker, so this one wasn’t my favorite. The next one I tried was the Dandelion and Burdock flavor. This one was actually not too bad, although it took a little getting used to. It had kind of a black licorice / fennel flavor that I really liked and was not overly sweet. The ginger beer tasted like GINGER. That was all it had going on. I honestly couldn’t finish it, which was disappointing since I had high hopes for that one. I fondly remembered having quite a bit of ginger beer when I was on the church trip to Bermuda in high school, but either I have a bad memory or this was much, much different. The Curiosity Cola definitely wins out as one of my favorite colas, and I would recommend staying far away from the Shandy and Ginger Beer flavor, but give the Dandelion one a try if you want something a little different.
Fidgeting kids make me laugh.
In Activities, Friends, Julie on March 20, 2010 at 11:00 pmJustin and I went to our church’s children’s musical this evening, and it was a hoot. The kids did a great job – all the lines and music were great – they obviously put a lot of time and energy into doing their best. One of the things I most enjoy about these musicals is catching the kids that might not be paying the most attention to what is actually going on. This year for my birthday Justin got me a new zoom lens, and this was the perfect opportunity to catch some of these hilarious moments. In no way do I mean to make fun of the kids – I know they worked hard and all deserve a round of applause. But some of these shots make me laugh so hard my sides hurt!
Oh. My. Goodness. These three had me in stiches!
Rockin' the Hope.
Seriously adorable - and exceptionally photogenic!
King Madie King, overseeing her minions.
Maureen, playin' games and teachin' lessons.
Wowsa! This lens rocks my face off! Don't laugh, Maureen!
Exhault the Word! (and fall over laughing at the kid in the corner!)
Family Festivities – Days Three & Four
In Uncategorized on March 17, 2010 at 8:18 amTo round out our “family fun days,” we drove down to Wisconsin Dells with Justin’s parents, John and Sarah, where we met up with his brother Luke and Luke’s girlfriend Cheyanne on Monday. Justin’s parents booked a suite at The Wilderness Resort where there are two indoor water parks and a wave pool, connected by hallways and skywalks. After meeting at Damon’s for dinner (so John and Justin could get their trivia fix) we drove back to the Lodge for the evening. John, Justin, Luke and Cheyanne decided to check out the water parks while Sarah and I drove over to a nearby outlet mall to walk around.
Splash it up!
On Tuesday morning we were up and ready to go when the parks opened. Justin and I spent the morning in the “Wild Water Dome” where the large wave pool was located. The dome was also really nice, as the roof was all glass, letting plenty of sunlight in. As John, Sarah, Luke and Cheyanne joined us, we all decided to explore the other water parks, which included quite a hike to the other end of the resort. A few tube rides and the lazy river were enjoyed, including some additional time in the wave pool, and by early afternoon we were hungry and tired (and it started to get more and more crowded with Spring Breaking families). We changed, had a relaxed lunch at Uno’s Chicago Grill, and then headed home. While we had a great time playing and swimming and sharing the time with family, we all agreed that the Kalahari in the Dells was the better of the two resorts, as the water park is larger and all in one place, and a bit easier to get around.
Thanks, John and Sarah, for this fun get-away!
Family Festivities – Day Two.
In Family, Julie on March 17, 2010 at 7:57 amOn Sunday my Dad planned a surprise birthday/retirement party for my stepmom, CJ, and asked us to join them and make the cake. CJ has Celiac disease, which means she is gluten-intolerant. Rather than making a typical cake for the party that she would not be able to even have a piece of, I had been playing with several gluten-free cake recipes and products. I ended with a marble cake with dark chocolate cream cheese frosting, which was entirely gluten-free.
While it is a bit denser and heavier than a cake made with all-purpose flour, it still turned out pretty well and was almost entirely consumed at the party.
Note to self: Take Birthday photo BEFORE cake is cut!
Happy Birthday and Retirement, CJ!
Family Festivities – Day One.
In Family, Julie on March 16, 2010 at 10:07 pmOn Saturday we celebrated Mom and Paul’s retirement with a party at Sam’s Pizza in Wausau. While they set the time and place and made the reservation, I conspired with my stepsister Maria and aunt Ruth to put together some surprises for them. Maria drove home (from New Hampshire!) without telling them, and it was a complete and happy shock when they first walked in and saw her at the party.
It's great to see your smile, Maria (in the bottom left hand corner!)
We also worked at making some of their favorite treats – in addition to the chocolate mint and cherry almond cupcakes, Ruth made “Gooshy” or “Andrew” bars, which Mom has been making a pan of every few weeks for many years now, and Phyllis made a small batch of cut out sugar cookies, decorated simply with white frosting and a cinnamon dot, one of Paul’s favorite cookies.
Yum. Yum. Yum. Yum.
Lastly, everyone invited generously gave toward a fun retirement gift for when they travel out to Utah, including some hiking and survival “gear” and several gift certificates to use during their trip. Ruth wrote the gifts into a fun story that she read as Shelley handed the gifts to Mom and Paul.
"Your Trail (mix) has led you to St. George, Utah!"
The party was very relaxed and a lot of fun, with lots of talking and laughing.
A Reason to NOT go to IKEA.
In Julie, Miscellaneous on March 16, 2010 at 4:59 pmWe had a very busy weekend, and another post or two will be coming along shortly detailing the weekend’s family-orientated festivities, but we both had to laugh at the package that arrived on our doorstep shortly have we came home.
This is the set of drawers from IKEA that was consistently out of stock when we were at the store. We finally ordered it online and agreed to pay the $20+ shipping charges (since gas would cost that much anyway to go back!). This is by far the craziest packed box we’ve ever received. If we had known receiving packages from IKEA was going to be so entertaining, we would have stopped going ages ago!
The Kitchen, and what’s coming out of it.
In Baking, Building, Julie on March 10, 2010 at 8:16 amWe’re so close to having the kitchen finished! Just yesterday my Mom and I drove over to IKEA to pick up our ordered drawers, and Justin will work at installing those in the next day or two! So close!
Getting organized!
In the meantime, I found some glass jars to fit a lot of my baking ingredients which I have labeled and lined up on the wall shelves. I love what a functional, yet still pretty, kitchen we have!
Definitely not skimping on the toasted pecans!
We have also been making good use of the kitchen. Justin has now made three more types of ice cream, including Chocolate Marshmallow ripple, Mint and Mint Chocolate Chunk, and Butter Pecan. The Mint Chip and Butter Pecan have been my favorites so far.
Gone. 
Going through the last few pictures on the camera, I noticed a “sparkly” theme. I made sparkly snow cake pops for a birthday party last week, and this week made a double batch of sparkly ginger chewies.
Raw sugar makes for pretty pictures!
The only kind of snow I'm willing to accept right now!
It almost felt like baking for Christmas. Except that it is in the fantastic forties and fifties here. Bu-Bye Snow! I would prefer not to see you again until December!
Kitchen update
In Justin on March 3, 2010 at 8:38 pmHere is a picture of the mostly finished kitchen. Still to install – the range hood, a new fridge (at some point) and some drawers that were out of stock at Ikea. Hopefully by the end of the month the rest of the pieces will fall into place. Then we can start thinking about the downstairs kitchen….
Getting there...
Gaggia Gelatiera
In Food, Justin on March 2, 2010 at 11:01 pmMy new favorite toy came in the mail today. I had been stalking CraigsList for an ice cream maker that had an internal condenser. We have tried a couple of the “frozen bowl” ones, where you freeze the bowl in the freezer and attach the paddle to it, and have never been really impressed. The ones with the internal condenser have the freezer hardware built right in, so you don’t have to keep a giant bowl in the fridge, and it can freeze much more quickly, leading to creamier ice cream. The problem is that the internal condenser models are much more expensive and tend to be on the large side. After a few weeks of back and forth with someone from the Twin Cities, I snagged a Gaggia Gelatiera for about 1/4 of it’s original price. While still much more expensive than the “frozen bowl” kind, it was a great deal for what it can do.
The Beast
This thing is a beast. It’s huge and weighs about 30 pounds. It is Italian and definitely has the “Italian” design aesthetic to it. Luckily the instruction booklet was in fairly good English. It has a timer dial and two switches – one to turn on the freezer and the other to turn on the paddle. I wanted to try a Pistachio Gelato recipe from a book of recipes I picked up at Janke Bookstore this weekend, but we couldn’t find unsalted pistachios anywhere in Stevens Point (Julie is searching for an online place to order some). Instead we got what we needed for just regular old vanilla. Our shopping list included a bunch of heavy cream, whole milk, and lard for recipes from a new Amish cookbook Julie got for her birthday – I don’t think the checkout person was impressed, but I was.
When we got home, I got to work mixing up the cream, whole milk, and seeds scraped from a vanilla bean.
Whip it up!
The mixture was allowed to rest for awhile while we ran errands, and when we got back it was reheated and a bunch of sugar and a pinch of salt were added, along with 4 egg yolks. It was kept on the heat until it got to a “custard” stage, which Julie tried to explain to me but I didn’t really understand. I put the mixture in the fridge to cool for a few hours.
Straining out the "chunks" and the vanilla bean shell.
Getting the machine ready involved making a mixture of alcohol and water. This goes between the base of the freezer and the removable bowl to keep a good, air tight seal so the freezer works correctly. Luckily we had some rather old Tequila sitting around. At least it was in a glass bottle instead of a plastic one…
Pepe Lopez Tequila - can't get any more stereotypical than that...
I added the alcohol, put the bowl in and flipped on the freezer. The freezer fires up for 5 minutes to get nice and cool, and then the mixture is added.
Adding the mixture
After the mixture is added, the timer is started and we just sat back and waited for about 40 minutes while it whipped up the mixture and froze it quickly.
The final result
The end result was some of the best ice cream we have ever had. Really unbelievably creamy and super, super rich. It went great with some chocolate cake Julie had made earlier in the evening. I am super excited to try all sorts of different kinds now, and we have quite a bit left over sitting in the freezer for tomorrow!
