Slayer cake!

Posting about my dad's girlfriend's cake reminded me of another fondant cake that I bought! My boyfriend is a huge Slayer fan so I decided to get him a Slayer cake for his birthday! The cake was a very simple design but I still think it turned out pretty good! I found someone off Kijiji to make the cake that had lots of pictures of cakes she had made in the past posted. I was very happy with how the cake turned out.

The inside of the cake was marble cake with fudge filling. The cake was fairly moist for a fondant cake. The girl I bought the cake from just made the cakes out of her house and I think she did a good job considering that. I am kind of interested in trying to make my own simple fondant cake now. Has anyone else ever made a fondant cake? What method do you use? Has anyone ever used pre-made fondant? Thanks for any input!

Sweet and Sour Chips!?!

I'm about to divulge some pretty serious information today. My kryptonite is chips. I have to try new flavours whenever they come out, no matter how questionable they may seem (anyone ever try those hamburger Doritoes? those had questionable written all over them). Well Old Dutch came out with some sweet and sour chips a while ago but I just never got around to trying them, that is until today. So here goes the first bite.

They taste like All Dressed.

okay maybe a little sweeter (or maybe it's a little more sour) but they punch you on the tongue with flavour in the same kind of aggressive manner that All Dressed seem to assault your taste buds. I approve. They're not amazing but they also aren't terrible. I've asked my dog Oreo for her opinion as well... I think she also approves.

SEASONAL BEERS

So I'm a bit of a beer nerd. Where most people drink their Keith's or their Coor's, I drink my Rogues and my Dieu Du Ciels. For those of you just starting to venture off into the wonderful world of fancy beers, a fun place to start is with seasonal beers. They come out for a limited time and are usually full of uncommon flavours. Right now you can find a lot of Oktoberfest beers and pumpkin beers.

One problem with seasonal beers is that breweries tend to overdue the funky flavours, and neglect to create a balanced beer with a fuller profile than just pumpkin or nutmeg. You need your hops and malts to work with the flavour, not just be overwhelmed by it. One brewery that did a really good job of creating balance was St Ambroise in The Great St-Ambroise Pumpkin Ale. At 5% this is the perfect easy drinking beer on a brisk fall day. It's also not overly hopped, which makes it ideal for those just starting to get into beer. It's really great to cook with as well. We threw some in our home-made cauliflower soup the other day instead of adding nutmeg. It gave the soup a rich flavour and paired really well with the mushrooms that where stewing in there as well. Definitely worth trying before they're gone.

Insider Grocery Shopping Tips: Things you might not know (but probably should)

1. If it says "5 for 10 dollars" you don't have to buy all five to get the discount.
   
2. If it says "buy one get one" you do have to buy two and you have to scan both of them.
3. Sometimes when items are extremely on sale, there will also be a limit on how many you can buy. This happens a lot with meat. So always read the whole sign. You don't want to buy 5 turkey's only to find out you spent 12 bucks on one and 30 each for the rest.
4. The signs in the produce department all show the prices in terms of pounds in a large font, but they also show it in terms of kilogram in a smaller font near the bottom. When you ring things through it will ALWAYS show it in $/kg. I know that doesn't really make sense, and just causes a lot of confusing for customers but that way it looks like our produce is cheaper than it is.
5. If the store is REALLY busy, and you have one or two items that don't need to be weighed, you can take them to customer service or the Starbucks counter and they can ring you through there.
6. The first Tuesday of the month is 10% Tuesday, but you have to spend 35 dollars for it to work.
7. If they is a "spend 100$ get 100 air miles" coupon, don't assume your cashier will automatically give it to you. They're technically not supposed to unless you ask, so always ask if they're any coupons available. And the "spend a 100$" part doesn't include GST or deposit fees, so a lot of the time you have to spend more than 100$.

A classic, chocolate chip cookies!

Grab the milk and some of these delicious cookies! Who doesn’t love chocolate chip cookies? They are a classic. One thing that we could always count on as kids was chocolate chip cookies when we were having a bad day… or a good one. These cookies are definitely one thing that I could not live without. You’d be amazed how many problems can be solved with a good heart to heart over chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk. What’s one childhood recipe you wouldn't replace?

Chocolate chip cookies

2-¼ cups all-purpose flour

1-teaspoon baking soda

1-teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, softened

¾ cup sugar

¾ cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

heat oven to 375°F. in a small mixing bowl combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine butter, sugars and vanilla. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs. Add flour mixture. Beat at low speed until soft dough forms. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop dough by heaping teaspoons 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, or until edges are golden brown. Cool completely before storing (or eating)

Homemade Favorites

This one is an absolute Favorite for my family. It’s a must have at all big family dinner. Grandma’s home buns! One draw back to these buns is that there are very time consuming. They are actually called “overnight buns” but you can make them in ne day, if you get up early in the morning. If you’re making them for the first time I would definitely suggest making them with a buddy.

I’ve made it one of my goals in life to be able to make them just like my grandma does, without looking at the recipe book! What’s one thing you wish you could memorize?

Overnight Buns

Put 1 pkg. yeast (1 tbsp yeast) in ¼ cup warm water and let stand 20 min.

In one mixing bowl put

2 well-beaten eggs

½ cup sugar

2 tbsp salt

½ cup vegetable oil

the yeast

add 2 cups water (at room temp.)

and 2 cups flour and again beat well (with mixer)

add 6 cups flour (8 in all)

mix and knead. Put in a greased dish and let rise 3-4 hours, punch down

let rise another hour or so in warm spot, then roll into little balls and place in pans

Cover with a tea towel and then some plastic and let rise for an hour or two. ( it depends on the temperature of the room.) Cook in 350 oven for approx. 15 min.

Food For a Rainy Day

Alright, so If it’s rainy and miserable outside what’s better than homemade soup? So, curl up with a good book and a bowl (or two) of this great hamburger soup. It’s one of my Family’s favorites. The best thing about this soup is that it’s easy to make, you don’t have to strictly adhere to the recipe, just throw in whatever you feel like having. You can freeze the soup too, so on those days you just don’t feel like cooking all you have to do is pull it out of the freeze and thaw it. What do you like to curl up with on a cold rainy day?

Hamburger soup:

1 ½ lbs. hamburger

1 medium onion, chopped

1 28 oz. can tomatoes

3 10 oz. cans consommé soup

1 10 oz can tomatoes soup

2 cups water

4 carrots, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

1 bay leaf

½ tsp. thyme

4 tbsp. barley

parsley

Fry hamburger and onion. Drain off fat, and add remaining ingredients. Simmer for 2 hours or more.

It’s about time I introduced myself! Hi there! My names Bryn and I’m a first year Student at Mount Royal. I’ve always loved cooking, I love old family recipes. I don’t know about you but nothing makes me feel more at home than familiar recipes and tastes.

I come from a pretty traditional family, every Sunday my parents insist that my brothers and I are home for dinner. We try to sit down for dinner every night, but with school and hectic work schedules that doesn’t always happen; but Sundays are the time when we all must absolutely be home to eat around the dinner table.

Home cooking is definitely my inspiration for wanting to write this blog. It’s definitely something that I’m comfortable with. Hopefully you’ll want to share some of your family’s recipes with me!

Insider Grocery Shopping Tips: Don't Get Mad at Your Cashier

There has been a lot of buzz on this blog over fancy looking cakes and gourmet looking meals. I'm not a very good cook, plus I lack a sweet tooth, so I am going to take my posts in another direction. I'm a cashier at Safeway, so I thought I'd share with you some advice that is related to the grocery store experience.

Don't Get Mad at Your Cashier.

There are numerous thing people complain about to the cashiers, and only one or two of those things are valid. I'll break it down for you right now.

Long line ups

When lines start to build up the first thing that happens is people from other departments will be called up to cash as well. If the lines are still too long then that means there are no more people with cash experience available. If there's only two tills open that means someone thought it would be a slow night and didn't put enough people on shift that day, or someone got sick and they couldn't find a replacement. Either way its the higher ups fault not the poor seventeen year old trying to make some money during high school. Believe it or not but the cashier is just as annoyed as you are, maybe more, because they have to deal with the high levels of stress that comes with working short handed. IT'S NOT THE CASHIER'S FAULT.

An item is out of stock

So chances are, at the beginning of your order the cashier is going to ask you if you found everything you wanted. More specifically they're asking you if there were any items you couldn't find. However, some people take this opportunity to complain about items being out of stock. Now that's fine if you're being nice about it, or want them to get someone to check in the back, but if you go on a rant about how we're always out of stock of a certain item, then you're wasting your breath.

CASHIERS DON'T ORDER THINGS!

They have no power. They aren't even allowed to dispense change, so why on earth do you think they can suddenly make bags of brown sugar appear in the baking isle next time you're in. Go to customer service if you have a real complaint. They will call up a manger, the guys who really can make a difference. It's NOT THE CASHIER'S FAULT.

The price is wrong

So this is a tricky one. Sometimes it happens. The item isn't entered into the system properly and you don't get your discount. A price check will happen and if you're right, we'll fix it. No big deal right? WRONG. It doesn't always work out that way. What's more likely to happen is the customer reads the wrong sign, or just plain misreads it, and then we do a price check and then tell them they're mistake. Instead of graciously admitting they messed up, a lot of people will still put the blame on the store, saying it's our fault the signs aren't more clear or our fault for putting two similar items beside each other. Either way it's NOT THE CASHIER'S FAULT so stop projecting your discontent onto them.

They don't ring through your coupons

So this is the only thing that is THE CASHIER'S FAULT. Sometimes they just don't see them and sometimes they just forget. They're human. The important thing to remember is to not freak out. The nicer you are about it, the nicer the person fixing the problem will be. And it's always really easy to fix.

The Science Of Sugar and Isomalt

Ever wondered how pastry chefs on the food network made elaborate pieces of art out of sugar? It is a science that can make or break the sugar piece, adding too much or too little sugar, water, or anything in the recipe for that matter can alter the appearance of the final product.

When it comes down to it, you can choose between using berry sugar, (a finer white sugar) or isomalt. Most people use isomalt as it doesn't crystallize and tends to last longer as a final product then berry sugar does. Isomalt is a crystal form sugar substitute that can also be used as a sugar substitute.

When it comes to cooking sugar and isomalt, it is relatively the same in cooking times. Once it comes to a boil, you want to add your acid (cream of tartar) as well as any colour that you desire. Then bring it to a temperature of 160 degrees Celsius. The closer it is to this temperature, the stronger the final product will be. If you are a beginner, it is said to go towards 155 degrees Celsius as it is easier to handle and you will get a feel of how the sugar works.

As long as you follow these main steps, everything should work out just fine :)

1. Use white granulated sugar or isomalt. (Isomalt is more forgiving)
2. Place sugar and water in a clean pot. Put on heat and mix until the sugar is dissolved.
3. When sugar is dissolved, raise the heat and clean the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush. DO NOT STIR FROM NOW ON :)
4. use an accurate sugar thermometer to read the temperature of the sugar.
5. Add color at 125 degrees Celsius and the acid at 135 degrees Celsius. (best colour should be in a paste and have no acid properties)
6. once its reached 155 - 160 degrees Celsius, take off heat and shock it in a bowl of ice. Once it is slightly thickened and calmed down, then you can do what ever you like with your sugar.*

Some different techniques include poured, blowing, spinning, and pulling. Here is a video of Susan Notter making a swan. She makes it look so easy, when I did this in school it took me three days to put it together and she did hers in three minutes. This goes to show that experience and lots of practice pays off. Susan Notter sugar swan video This gives you a taster of some different techniques when it comes to sugar art.

Sugar Swan sitting in a lake, hanging out with a bird. The bird was quite chilly. In this final piece I used blown, pulled, and poured sugar techniques.

In this final piece I used techniques that included pulled, poured, and blown sugar. I also made pastillage, another sugar art technique and suspended it in poured sugar. Its end result is a cross between an icing and marble. pastillage rolled out like a piece of dough is a perfect canvas for painting, but it breaks very easily. It sounds like fine bone china hitting a stone floor.

So what do you think when it comes to sugar art and its science? It is not as hard as it looks and putting even a little sugar decoration on top of a plated dessert will guarantee positive feedback.

Sweet Dreams,

Tyla

*Information was gathered from my textbook. Gisslen, W. (2005). Proffesional Baking Fourth Edition. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, inc

Why cooking is better

Anything that is processed can be something that is altered from its natural state. If something has been frozen, refrigerated and dehydrated to delay the spoilage of the food. These types of processing aren’t necessarily bad as long as something else isn’t added to the packaged food. A bag of frozen vegetables or dry fruits were just frozen and dehydrated. These types of foods would be considered on the healthy side of processing foods.

On the other side, there are ingredients put into foods like precooked frozen meals that have a lot more added to the food then can be seen on the picture on the box. These are the ingredients you can’t even pronounce much less know what they are. Most of the time all these additives are not to preserve the shelf life of the food but to have them taste like they hadn’t been frozen for a year and just recently “cooked” in the microwave. No precooked food manufacturer would make any profit if they cooked the food without any additives and froze it because it wouldn’t taste any good and no one would eat it.

Everyone has less time to cook so they end up eating these types of foods. But recently concerns over what types of health effects the additives can have on us in the long term has had some people reconsider what they eat. If you want to find out if what you are eating is on the good side of processed foods just have a look at the ingredients and if there are more ingredients you don’t know then you do know look for something else.

The magic of Turmeric powder

Turmeric powder, also known as haldi, comes from a root plant related to ginger and comes in powder form. It’s used as a spice in India and many other south Asian countries because it grows in these areas. I have up with this spice because it is used in almost all types of Punjabi cooking that isn’t sweet. In Indian weddings, it is mixed with oil to make a paste that is used on the bride and groom’s skin to bring out the “glow.” Well that’s what my family tells me. It is also widely used topically on wounds and given to the hurt person mixed in with warm milk to prevent infections and speed up healing.

There are many other uses for turmeric in prevention and treatment of diseases that are backed by research. It is also used on skin, hair and good for digestion.

• Protection against Alzheimer disease, Arthritis, Diabetes and heart disease

• Anti Cancer – Helps to prevent and shrink many different types of cancers and tumours

There are some bad sides to it as well. Since it is used in almost all Indian dishes, it can stain you teeth, clothes (be very carefully not to drop anything on yourself) and the tupperware.