Rainy day noodles

Rainy day noodles, originally uploaded by nee-cole.

Rainy day noodles

Afternoon nap positioning

Afternoon nap positioning, originally uploaded by nee-cole.

glorious mid day nap

My faithful enemy

My faithful enemy, originally uploaded by nee-cole.

My faithful enemy

Sun slicing

Sun slicing, originally uploaded by nee-cole.

Sun slicing

Burger style

Burger style, originally uploaded by nee-cole.

new Burger style: I now prefer a no lettuce, no tomato. Meat, cheese, sauce and bun. OK OK, onions too.

Burger night

Burger night, originally uploaded by nee-cole.

one of the reasons I love our apt. is the flat top! its a rarity in l.a.

Celebratory engagement cheeses

Celebratory engagement cheeses, originally uploaded by nee-cole.

Celebratory engagement cheeses

Something on my finger...

Something on my finger..., originally uploaded by nee-cole.

Something on my finger... best Halloween ever/ not a costume.

Good morning

Good morning, originally uploaded by nee-cole.

Good morning

THE TRUTH

THE TRUTH, originally uploaded by nee-cole.

FIFO

His cuteness distracts me from this weeks episode of boardwalk empire

His cuteness distracts me from this weeks episode of boardwalk empire, originally uploaded by nee-cole.

His cuteness distracts me from this weeks episode of boardwalk empire.

Russian Grandmother's Apple Pie Cake

Russian Grandmother's Apple Pie Cake, originally uploaded by nee-cole.

Russian Grandmother's Apple Pie Cake, our newest fall dessert.

Biscuit Gator

Biscuit Gator, originally uploaded by nee-cole.

I meet the Biscuit Gator every Friday and Saturday morning when I do the baking at Gjelina Take Away. He is a welcome sight at 6am.

Is this thing on?

Is this thing on?, originally uploaded by nee-cole.

been away so long, opening a new restaurant is a task! I hole you will forgive me for the silence.... perhaps if I make you scones? Oat Bran Blackcurrant scones with butter?

Craving Heat

Life feels bland sometimes.

Grey. Tasteless.

So many "jalapenos", with so little heat that they literally made me cry from boredom. We needed to do something to shake me from this drab heatless life.

So we canned, we pickled in fact. Spicy pickles, carrots and onions. The house smelled like cider vinegar (These days I use so many apple byproducts one would think I run an orchard. I don't. But I would if you asked me to.) and chiles for hours. I fell hopeful that the result in one month will be a mouth smacking sour heat that causes tears to purge from my eyes and snot to run from my nose.

Here is what I HOPE they taste like - in full color:

Here is the most adorable pair of pickle partners a lady could ask for:

SUMMER... I SUMMON YOU HERE MY LOVE

Damn Fine Donuts

I may or may not have been seduced by donuts. I may or may not be working on a secret donut project.


Rumors aside - I have made several batches of delicious old timey donuts since my birthday. I fry up as many as I can and then literally force them on people to get them OUT of my house. No leftover donuts for me, no donut snacking. 


The fried dough above is a cider donut, its made with a reduction of apple cider (alcoholic), molasses and apple sauce. Its lightly sweet and oh so tender and tasty. The caramel on the top is an apple cider caramel and it has a touch of fruitiness. The handsome chaps are my birthday donut testers, and my dog. 


More donuts have been devised, all of them eaten, none of them photographed. The truth is, I need a photographer to come around and hang out with me while I make these things, I cannot safely handle a camera while frying donuts, its just not right.


These go great with this:

things and days

Sorry for the absence. If I were to detail all the things distracting me from sharing a new baking experiment with you, you may forgive me. At the very least you'd probably understand. Short list: Life, Work etc. etc.


We have had a lot of grey days in Los Angeles, those of you in town know what that does to Angelenos. I felt urges to bake things every day it rained. I almost succeeded in doing so, with very little proof to show for it. We were not taking pictures of everything we ate, we were just eating. There was a lot of this:

Which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I do no have the talent to write the next part eloquently or without tears, so  I will just say it. Shortly after this photo of our snuggle day, we had to lay our beloved Lady Jumbo/ Meeshee the cat to rest. It was tearful, sobbing, snot filled morning. It was the right decision to make, and I am sure she was comfortable. None of this comforts me at all though, because all I can think about is how weirdly empty it feels in here. She was not an active, rambunctious kitten... she was more of a behind the scenes cat prone to late night snuggling and the occasional sun bathing session.  But, after 13 years, you get to know someone or something and you feel close to it. I am sad. I miss her. Etc. Etc. Etc.

I did manage to make an extremely successful batch of peanut butter cookies. Those who were given samples came back with raves. It really tried to work on the recipe and change the things I did not enjoy about previous pb cookies. Some of these new modifications included: turbinado sugar for a toffee like flavor, milk and dark chocolate chunks, a little bit of molasses for texture and the scrapings of a whole vanilla bean pod. They were pretty damn good, if I do say so...


Anyone familiar with the LCD Soundsystem song "Someone Great"? I can't help but think of the line "The coffee isn't even bitter..." when I think about what has been going on this week. For some reason it is on repeat in my head. I guess life resumes, right?

Lindsay Lohan Ruined My Day

Lindsay moves to Venice.
Lindsay pisses off jewelry store owners.
Media circus descends upon Abbot Kinney.


Normally I am not bothered by any of this, but I can't help but feel that the line to the street for 5 hours was a direct result of people trying to find Lindsay Lohan and rubberneck a mediocre jewelry store. I left work feeling ragged, and the only thing that would cure it was the two things above.


My Dad gave me this jug of wine for Christmas - we opened it on pizza night and have been trying to drink it since then. Its not a bad problem to have, though I do feel like I am competing against something or someone. The bread was made night before last, using the left over pizza dough  - which is actually bread dough being used for pizza dough. Anyways, I made a loaf of bread and it was really really good.

The cure for a bad day? A grilled cheese sandwich and a glass of red wine, and some quality time with those animals who were stalking my sandwich. I am pretty sure Lindsay Lohan is the way she is because she has not had a grilled cheese and a snuggle with some great animals in a long time - though the wine may be a problem :)


For those curious, I used Danish Fontina for the cheese component and leftover pizza sauce for dipping.

must eat everyday - chocolate toast

I know when you start a new blog, you are supposed to post every day, at least every week. I am sorry I have not been so attentive. I have a good excuse - a few actually. 

I went to New York for a little holiday, and I was planning to post from my hotel room about all the reservations we had made and all the bakeries I would trek through snow to try - instead I ended up in bed, with the real deal flu. I'll spare you details, but it involved my stomach, and every muscle and tissue in my neck and back ached. I was green most of three days, and blue inside at the thought of all the plans I was breaking. 

I got over it, but not quite 100%, by Monday. I gathered strength to do some shopping... I was determined that if I could not eat I could buy things to eat later.  With much wonderment we visited Mario Batali's Eataly. It was just as cavernous and circusy as I thought it would be. I got lost a few times in the aisles of tasty spreads, produce and meats. Cheeses, pastas, bad Italian espresso - they have everything. I was only interested in the candies and sweets though, and I picked up two jars of that delicious stuff up there - crema di nocciole. 

I need to eat it every day or I get sad. Other items were purchased, and I have many plans to tell you all about the wonderful things I saw at Mast Brothers Chocolate - but those are for another day.

On A Clear Day - A cookie

    

This kind of a day.

Quiet, a Monday. Perfectly clear and warm.

Buster and I spent the morning ambling about the neighborhood, sniffing at trash cans (him) and looking over fences (me).

I was thinking about how to drag moments out - how to make this Monday morning roll into forever.

Most people hate Mondays. For me its a day to sleep in, to spend the morning in bed long after Blaine has gone - and hold Buster until ten or so. We spend some time sunning ourselves on the porch and then we take an epic, slow, walk around the streets together.

I get to spend quality time on Mondays enjoying snacks and lunches with people I like, or alone - which I usually like just as much. I get to revel in a cookie made for a Monday:

I call this cookie THEO, after its main ingredient - theobromine. It's Monday perfect, consoling and rich at the same time. It's like a brownie, but in my opinion brownies are for Saturday nights - so it's not like a brownie. It's better, can't explain how you'd just have to trust me.

No, I did not eat all three of them. Not in one sitting at least.

THE Chocolate Chunk Cookie

    

There has been this cookie in my mind's eye. The one that is soft but only in the center - the edges don't quite give up that easily, they maintain some structure.

There must be chocolate involved. It has to be chunked, not chips. Chips are for, well... amateurs.

THE Chocolate Chunk cookie - it was a classic that needed a new look. It needed some updates, as it was starting to look like Peggy instead of Joan. She needed to show her best assets in order to get the respect she deserves.

After Christmas and New Years it was SO hard for me to get right back into baking so soon - because the last thing I want is all of ^ THAT hanging around in my kitchen. Last week THE Chocolate Chunk Cookie made it's appearance at breakfast more than once, sitting oh so cutely on the new plates my Dad got for me. It looks great next to the Porcelain Bialetti that Molly gifted me (she knows me so well...) and it's so photogenic don't you think?

I have happily decided to stop testing, and I think I have made it to the final draft of THE Chocolate Chunk Cookie. It's everything that I was thinking it would end up as - tender, sweet, buttery. This cookie has TWO kinds of chocolate so it's never boring you, as well as more brown sugar than white making it more complex - byzantine if you will. Salt for those with a "salt tooth", naked for the purists. 

If you ask me to make them for you I will, but I will draw up a contract stating that you take every damn one from my kitchen OR ELSE. I am like a Roger Sterling drawn to it's sweet, sweet curves - abandoning all appropriate behavior for a moment of bliss.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/greenbutton/

Tartine Bread

Tartine Bread, originally uploaded by nee-cole.

I have been caring for a starter since the beginning of December -it is something I have always wanted to do. As a baker, I have been mainly in the dessert and sweets realm, but what I really want is to be a boulanger. So I fed my starter everyday, and really cared about it. I bored the people at work with details of yeast culture development and gluten structure - it seems to have paid off.
My first loaves came out of the oven blistered and smelling sweet, they rose - which is a miracle in itself when you think of what this is - its just flour and water.
The structure was not where I want it to be, but I can see the points in the 24 hours rising time where I went wrong and maybe exhausted my leaven. I followed Chad's instructions dutifully, though I think the book is a little poorly organized - images for one step being on a different page than the actual step's text. Its a beautiful book and a beautiful start in my hopeful career as a boulanger.
Happy New Year Y'all