Wishful thinking

It's still 90-something degrees. Ahh, fall in Texas. I miss New England right now... Went running and was run-over by the humidity. Bah! Looks like I'll be running the Half Marathon instead of the Full in November.

Tonight's Meatless Monday Experience was a modified version of a recipe by Rachel Ray:

Spaghetti Squash Caprese

• 1 (4 pound) spaghetti squash
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbs crushed red pepper flakes
• salt and lots of coarsely ground black pepper
• 1 cup of mozzarella and cherry tomatoes, marinated in olive oil and herbs to taste

Directions

To microwave squash, cut in half and seed. Place 1/4-inch water in a microwave safe dish. Place squash in dish, cut sides down -- sides will overlap. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave on high power 13 minutes. Shred squash and add the "spaghetti" to bowl with liquid.

To boil squash: cut in half and scrape out seeds. Boil squash until tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Place 1/2 cup cooking water into a bowl, then drain and shred the squash.

Toss squash with extra-virgin olive oil, red pepper, salt to taste, and lots of black pepper. (I tried to get it to crisp, but...no.) Add tomatoes and mozzarella and turn off heat. Serve.

Major and I tore it up, Boy did not seem interested as he ate his noodles and veggies. And kosher dog. I'd like to try to make squash-cakes with added zucchini, panko, romano and maybe an egg. Hmmm...

Also yesterday, churned out scones, raspberry macarons, and lemon sponge cake.

For the scones, I used Joe's recipe with less ginger. We slathered them with the lemon curd and each had two. Will be making more in the future. Mmm.

Hot dog! 75% of these are usable, 15% are near perfect! New pans worked like a dream. And I think I have the air-to-meringue timing down - I just tried to think of what it looked like when Madrina Marta would make it for cakes and POOF, gloss!

The sponge cake tasted great but looked awful. The oven decided to drop in temperature mid bake, likely in protest for being in use all morning.

If only I could do this every day...and get paid. :-)

Lemons

I need to use the lemons I bought at work. Yes, at work. The cafe is featuring local produce here and there and I was swept up in the awesomeness that is The Lemon. (Need I mention that I scarfed down Lemon-Blueberry Angelfood Cake that day?)

The easiest way for me to express my lemon love is with curd. Yummy scented, thick and sweet lemon curd. Now, which version to use... I have six egg yolks itching to be used. So...

From Tartlette:

For the lemon curd:               zest of 2 lemons               1/2 cup (125ml) lemon juice               1/4 cup sucanat (or sugar)               1 egg + 1 egg yolk               4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room For the buttercream:                 6 egg yolks                 1 cup sugar                 1/2 cup water                 3 sticks unsalted butter, at room                  1/2 vanilla bean

From Joe Pastry (Whom I have a blog-crush on):

4 egg yolks 5 ounces sugar 3.25 ounces (by weight) lemon juice 2 ounces softened butter pinch salt 2 teaspoons lemon zest

 From Epicurious (Where every time I see something, I want to make it)

For lemon curd 2 1/3 cups sugar 2 teaspoons cornstarch 1 cup fresh lemon juice 4 large eggs 4 large egg yolks 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Decisions, decisions.  Since I can't run for one more day, one of these will be made tonight... I have a hankering for a lemon bar and lemon macarons.

I love you, man!

I had another moment of clarity while I was a work, staring at my cubicle walls. In trying to asses and create development plans for each member of my team, the usually sleeping voice in my head shouted "THEY WON'T CARE AND YOU ARE STRESSING OVER THIS FOR NOTHING!" OK, so that's way over dramatic, but you get the point. I minimized all my windows and realized that I was spending too much time seeing the trees and not the forest. I'm in a great place now to spend more time and heart on my love of pastries.

This is my desktop wallpaper:

While I love all things pastry, and dream of having a bakery, I find myself getting in my own way. I make excuses to *not* bake. Ah, fear. So now I've challenged myself to learn and create addicts of my treas, starting with the French Macaron:




This was my first attempt. They were delicious and odd shaped, but the aesthetics will improve with time. I also made some green tea with black sesame, but I didn't like the color.

I will reign supreme in this kitchen and will work on a new treat twice a month until the wedding in November, then it's on like Donkey Kong.