After finishing up my last report of the month, putting the finishing touches on the company pitch-in today, and working on a blog template for something I'll talk about later, I left work about 3:30. I opted not to go to the gym yesterday, and frankly,
in retrospect, I am glad I didn't. If I had, my entire schedule would have been pushed back quite a bit, and I might still be cooking right now. Instead, I walked down to the liquor store to get the Irish Cream for the cakes and the shots (yes, Caroline's...I love you guys, but trying to hold costs down here). Then I came home and watched a bit of Dr. Phil, who was doing a story akin to the Sally Field movie, Not Without My Daughter. (God, that movie was terrible) During the Oprah with hoarders who had 75 tons of junk in their 3000 square foot home (oddly, reminds me of my mother in some aspects...though not nearly as bad), I took a nap until about 5:30. Then the baking commenced.5:45- Since the cakes take 60 minutes apiece to bake, I decided that the best option was to get those out of the way first, because a lot of prep for the rest of what I needed to do didn't involve the oven. So, I grabbed the ingredients for the first Spiced Pumpkin Cake, and I realized that I forgot to purchase the vanilla pudding that is a pretty key ingredient to the cake. Luckily, I had bought one packet for one of the jello shots, and I went ahead and filched it for this recipe. The basis of this new recipe is a Irish Cream Bundt Cake, which is incredibly easy to make and super moist. For a Thanksgiving twist, I am putting half a can of pumpkin pie filling into it. As with any major modification with a recipe (especially baking), adding 15oz of anything is pretty crazy, especially on a time line, and while I am pretty cavalier with recipes, I'm also a perfectionist that will throw something out and start over again. So, it is a risk.
6:00 - The cake goes into the oven (with the left over batter going into another cake pan), and I decide to run to ghetto Kroger to pick up some more vanilla pudding and an energy drink (que evil music). I only go to ghetto Kroger when I absolutely need something quickly, and when I have an unattended oven at home, this had to be quick. The thing about ghetto Kroger is that there is ALWAYS a line. Athena refers to it as Soviet Kroger because they never have what you want, and then you have to wait in a long line for the privilege.
6:20 - I get home from ghetto Kroger, and I start work on the pie filling. This is a savory mushroom pie for Thanksgiving dinner, which my family is having on Sunday. I almost get through cutting the onions without getting the urge to cry - almost! I honestly don't see how chefs do it. There must be some secret skill. It is about this time I crack open the Arizona Green Tea Energy, and my eyes pop wide open like some meth addict. While the onions were sauteeing and the mushrooms were reducing:
7:10 - The first cake comes out of the oven. I let it cool for 10 minutes before taking it out of the pan, and I set the mushroom and onion mixture, now with cream cheese, to the side to cool and set up. I see that the cake is falling fast, which sets of my perfectionist meter, but I was able to get it out of the pan before it looked too ruined. This one is for work anyway. I wasn't too concerned. As soon as the cake came out of the pan, I started to make the second one, which is for the family on Sunday. Wash, rinse, repeat from the previous, without the trip to ghetto Kroger.
7:45 - The second cake goes into the oven. Now is the part I am dreading: making the pie crust. Pie crust making is an art form, and I really only think Alton Brown and crazy old grandma's have mastered it. You have to have everything JUST right or it won't come out at all, which is part of the reason I rarely make pies. Yes, I know I could go out and get a roll of Pillsbury and no one would know the difference, but I'm a baking purist. I am that big of a dork. Luckily, the recipe that accompanies this is super simple. Plus, since it uses sour cream, it is very tasty. After chopping up the frozen butter in the flour with my food processor, I knead it together with the sour cream in a bowl. Then I start rolling out 2/3 of it for the pan. I am not a master roller, either. I tend to avoid anything that makes me do this, but I am getting better. The dough, thankfully, goes into the pan well, and I get the majority of the filling in with a bit of left over. Now the decorative hard part....the lattice top. I roll out the rest of the dough, and this comes together pretty well.
8:45 - The second cake comes out of the oven. I have quite a bit of dough left over from the pie. So, I decide to roll it out and bake it with the leftover filling. I am doing it "rustic" style as Ina Garten from the Food Network calls it. To me, rustic just means that you either don't have another pie pan or you just don't feel like making it into anything. That is me on both counts. The lattice topped pie for Sunday goes into the freezer, and the "rustic" pie goes into the oven to be taken into work on Friday.
9:00 - The next thing to make is the Marshmallows. I realize you're saying to yourself, "Why the hell does he make these when you can get a bag for .99 at ghetto Kroger?" Well, I would answer A) I like the challenge and B) Once you have a fresh marshmallow, the store bought, preservative riddled ones are just not the same. The challenging part of it is working with molten, boiling sugar and corn syrup. While the unflavored gelatin is soaking in water and vanilla, you bring the sugar, corn syrup, water, and salt to a boil of 234 degrees without stirring it. You then pour the molten mixture into the mixer while it is whisking the bloomed gelatin. Then it whips in the mixer for 10 minutes, and viola, marshmallow! While this is happening, I log into work to run updates on the server and restart it. Woooo...multitasking!
9:30 - Instead of making one giant hunk of marshmallows this time, I am separating them into three pans. The first pan is just going to be plain vanilla. For the second pan, I am putting chocolate chips into a middle layer and on the top, and the third pan, which is not really completely full, I added maraschino cherry juice. I am not sure how that one is going to turn out. We'll see. They have to sit out in the open for 10 hours, and I am not going to cut them until I get home from work today.
9:45 - By this time, I realize I hadn't eaten any dinner. So, I eat a pack of teriyaki tuna, and I decide to go ahead and make the brownies for tailgating, even though I was told we had enough food. This is one of my downfalls. I never know when to stop. Luckily, the chocolate peanut butter brownies come together really easy, though I have to finish them tonight.
Body Count: 2.5 cakes, 1.5 pies, 3 flavors of marshmallows, and brownies
After all of this, I had to clean the kitchen and my apartment because Romeo, Blanche, HR, and Mom are coming over tonight to help with jello shot creation and play the Wii. I'm still running on energy drink, and I get most of this done by 11:00. I then sit down to play some Super Mario Galaxy! The night is complete...
...except for the fact that I couldn't get to sleep until 3:30 because of that freaking energy drink!
Obviously, this weekend is going to be busy.
1. Jello shot and vodka infusing (for my party a week from Saturday) tonight
2. Tailgating on Saturday
3. Family Thanksgiving
lord....
1 comment:
LOL you obviously didn't read my post about drinking the Rock Stars before going on the radio at 100A this past Sunday. It was awful trying to fall asleep and when I did I could only sleep for 2.5 hours. I walked around the rest of the day feeling like I had jet lag. All of that food talk has now made me hungry.
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