Infatuation

Friends I have become infatuated, and I am not embarrassed to admit it. I know that I focus on food on this blog but I am seriously enamored with music at the moment. Since hearing this band's video one morning I knew I had to hear more. And I have realized I am not the only one.

Band Name: Mumford & Sons

Style: Folk

Video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLJf9qJHR3E

OMG!!! You need to watch and I hope that you enjoy as much as I do. I am seriously infatuated. I am making a trip to Boston in November just to see them live and I am more excited than a kid on Christmas day. Please enjoy because they are amazing. I mean what is a better combination than scruffy English boys singing about "feelings"? ;)

No Knead Bread

Why do carbs have to be bad when they taste so glorious! Bread has been such an important part of the human diet throughout food history, and I just won't give it up. Atkins be damned, I love bread and I will have it! Especially when I make it myself.

My first adventure into bread making was pretty damn successful. I chose a no knead bread recipe, which I thought would be the perfect intro into this new baking experience. After reading about it multiple times in many blogs and books I just took it as a sign that this was where I would start.

The hardest part is waiting. Waiting for the dough to rise, waiting for it to rise again, and then waiting for it to cool so you can have a taste. But you will not be disappointed. A crunchy crust with a nice chewy center, which is perfect for dipping in oil and vinegar or making into a sandwich.

I did a little bit of both as I had to test the bread properly. :) For my next experiment with this recipe I will definitely try putting in some herbs or maybe dried fruit, the possibilities are really endless. Hopefully this will inspire you to give it a try as well.

So lazy...

I have been inexcusably lazy lately. June, that was the last time I posted and we are well into August now. My only reason is that life is happening. The 9-5, the restaurant blog I write, travelling, and general debauchery have kept cooking projects at bay. And yet I have been sitting on this blog post for awhile. Back in July, 4th of July weekend to be exact, I had bought an exorbitant amount of cherries because they are delicious and were on sale. You can't really beat that combination.

I am serious when I say that the amount of cherries in my fridge that weekend was beyond ridiculous for one person. A snack for the fireworks show is why I had bought them, and we definitely did some some damage, but there was still a lot of left overs. Knowing I could not destroy these cherries by straight snacking alone, I knew I had an opportunity to try some recipes out.

First up was Cherry Brown Butter Bars that Smitten Kitchen had tried out back in 2009 from a Bon Appetit recipe. The hardest part of this recipe was removing the pits manually as I am without a fancy pit remover device. My suggestion is to just turn on the tunes and just get your groove on while you do a bit of mundane work. But it is so worth the effort, because this recipe is delicious. It is also a relatively simple recipe to make. I could have browned the butter a bit more to bring a bit more nutty flavor into the bar, but I was so worried about burning it that I may have stopped just a minute short. No matter, because the results were amazing. I know that my co-workers agreed as I brought my baking efforts into work and they cleared the pan in no time flat.

With one baking success under my belt I decided to continue on this baking kick. This time I took a look at the member recipe site Tasty Kitchen that has been put together by Ree, The Pioneer Woman. This is a great site to find a multitude of different kind of recipes that are thought up by cooking enthusiasts. I also like that you can search the site by ingredient, so when I entered "Cherry" a multitude of ideas were presented to me. Wanting to pick something I could again bring to the office I decided another bar recipe would be ideal, and the Cherry & Crystallized Ginger Crumb Bar, by cookincanuk, immediately caught my eye.

Another clear success. The ginger in the title is no joke. Where a lot of ginger treats leave you with just subtle note, this is a very strong and prominent ginger flavor. This is definitely a recipe for ginger lovers. I ended up passing on the recipe to a few of my co-workers as they really loved it, and now I am spreading the word to you as well.

So for now that is it, but I do have a couple more posts in the works. A little synopsis of Montreal and a break down of my first bread making experience. Until then have a great weekend.