My Go To Beef Daube - FFwD

I shared this with a friend and it was definitely good. Since I didn't have a Syrah I used the Cab I had on hand. I'll have to try it again with the Syrah. With the Cab its not a 'go to' for me....good but not a keeper. After the holidays I'll try again.

French Friday Problem

I can't sign onto the French Friday website anymore! I've tried getting a new password and still can't sign on. So disappointed and hope I'll be able to get on soon.

FFwD Cookie Break - Speculoos

I don't know about you but I'm having a panic attack.......Christmas is coming........soon......I'm not ready....not even close! Good time to bake cookies, dontyathink?

I was sceptical about this recipe. Rolled cookies are not my favorite and I was certainly not looking forward to working with a soft dough, especially for a plain little, crunchy, brown cookie! The only thing this recipe had going for it was the flexibility of making the dough one day and baking the cookies the next.

The spicy smell of cinnamon filled the house as they baked. Even the dogs wanted a cookie. We loved them! But more importantly Dorie taught me a great way to roll out cookie dough.......between sheets of waxed paper! Seems like I would have run across this little tip sooner! Maybe I won't mind making rolled cookies quite as much in the future. I'm going to try rolling the dough and freezing it. Then I could have fresh baked cookies at a moments notice!

My cookie cutter is about an inch bigger than Dorie's so the cookies took about 4 minutes longer to bake. I'm going to look for a smaller cutter for next time, just because the little cookies are so cute. Before baking I lightly sprinkled the cut out cookies with demerara sugar. It gave them a soft sheen.

To find out more about French Fridays with Dorie visit the website. Its really a lot of fun. You should join us! http://www.frenchfridayswithdorie.com/

Home Made Pasta

Yeah for early Christmas presents!!! Mine was a pasta maker for my Kitchen-aid. I have lots to learn about making pasta but with Marcella Hazan by my side I'm confident I'll improve:) Oh one more thing....I'm figuring out food photography and how to get the picture on my blog. Many thanks and appreciation to those bloggers sharing their experiences. Happy, happy.....small successes make my day and make me more confident.

I made a light sauce of onion, garlic and fresh tomatoes in a mixture of olive oil and butter. Topped with freshly grated parmesan and lots of pepper it was delicious. With our pasta we had chicken prepared like veal scaloppine with lemon. Served with a yummy pinot everything was fabulous! I'd add a picture of the whole meal but haven't figured that out yet............hopefully soon I'll be able to add additional photos AND put them where I want them to be!

Sweet Spicy Nuts

Ca va, mon amie?

My Mother was a great adaptor of recipes! To her a recipe was a guide or an inspiration but nothing to be revered or adhered to too closely. She and my sister had a running disagreement about this. My Mother would be excited about a new recipe and would immediately start talking about what she would do with it, what spices she would change, how she would roast instead of boil, and on and on. 'Why do you need the recipe?' my sister would ask her. 'Shouldn't you try it the first time as written? You can always make changes after you've tried it.' The thing about my Mother was that she didn't have to actually taste a food to know what it would taste like. My Mother could taste the dish after just reading the recipe!

I don't have my Mother's skill so in honor of my sister I made Dorie's Sweet Spicy Nuts as written....at least the first time. They are pretty tasty and we love them and will be making more for neighbor gifts....and I'll try different spice combinations.

After reading posts from other French Friday cooks I added another 1/2 cup of nuts. It made it much easier to get them out of the egg white with no fuss. After baking as they started to dry I stirred them like I do Caramel Corn. Some of them needed a little tidying up for the final step but they turned out great and keep well.

Bon appetite!

French Friday Leek and Potato Soup

My relationship with Dorie is off to a fabulous start! I can't say the same for my food blogging experience. Getting pictures onto my blog is wearing me out and I surrender!!! Anyhow, back to the soup......... I made Leek and Potato Soup for dinner last night and my husband and I loved it. Easy and delicious, the best cooking combination I know.

No fresh thyme....no problem. No white pepper.....no problem. I used an immersion blender just long enough to smooth out the chunks but not make a puree. I will definitely make this again.

Now if I can figure out how to upload photos or rather delete all the photos I've uploaded that were the wrong picture or in the wrong place........arghhhh. Cooking is so much easier and much more fun!