Soft, Chewy and Fluffy Sugar cookies EXPERIMENT 1

Today I baked up some
snicker-doodles and white
chocolate chip + cranberry
sugar cookies. Pepperidge
farm has these really soft
snicker doodle cookies.
So I thought I would try
out my own version.











I chose the following recipe to Modify:

OLD FASHIONED SOFT SUGAR COOKIES

from Cooks.com

Sift together in large bowl:


3 1/4 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Add:
1/2 cup soft butter1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla or nutmeg extract
Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes.

Add:
1/2 cup thick sour cream to he sifted flour mixture.
Preheat oven to 375-400F degrees. Beat at low speed until well blended (1 1/2 minutes). Roll out lightly on floured board to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut and sprinkle with sugar. Put on prepared cookie sheet. Dot a raisin in the middle and bake about 12 minutes at 375-400 degrees.

We didn't have any sour cream so I used vanilla flavored yogurt instead. (I would stick to the sour cream though. The yogurt added a strange flavor to the cookies.) I also added 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder.

To make the cookies snickerdoodles:

Follow the recipie for sugar cookies above. Roll out the cookie dough into a log. Cut the log in half and set one of the halves aside. Cut out the cookies into 1 inch thick rounds. Flatten them out with your hands. Don't over do it though, you may flatten out the air bubbles in the dough. Butter or cook spray a generously a sheet of parchment paper. Next, sift an even layer of powered sugar on the sheet. Neatly lay out your flattened raw cookies on the sheet.

In a bowl I combine 1 cup of sugar and 2 tablespoons of cinnamon. With a sifter, sift an even layer of the cinnamon sugar mixture over the raw cookies. Next, grease your cookie sheet for baking. Neatly lay out the cookies one inch apart on your baking cookie sheet. Next in a circular motion with your finger, lightly press down the cinnamon sugar mixture on the raw cookies. Lastly, sift a light sprinkle of cinnamon over the batch. Bake according to directions. The cookes will be done when the cookies have cracked and are fluffy. For my oven, it took about 12 to 15 mins to bake. With the 1st batch in the oven, I cleaned my cooking area off.

Fluffy White chocolate & cranberry cookies

Follow the recipie for sugar cookies above.Knead in 1/2 cup of white chocolate, pinch of orange zest and 1/2 cup of dried cranberries to the other half of cookie dough you set aside earlier. Follow the directions above for baking.

Here's a suggestion:Sprinkle some granulated sugar on top before
baking for a mouth watering shimmery look.

For an adult treat, have some white chocolate milk liqueur with the cookies. See below for recipe.

Le's white chocolate milk liqueur

Chill tall glass in the freezer for at least 30mins.

When the glass has chilled:
Fill a shaker half way with ice.
Next, add in 1 cup of milk
1 shot of Godiva White Chocolate liqueur
Splash of heavy whipping cream
Shake over your shoulder.
Pour contents into chilled glass.

(optional) Garnish drink with whipped cream and sprinkle cinnamon over the top.

Enjoy*

Valentine's Day

Happy valentine's day to you all! This is a rather late post on the matter but better late than never as they say! For v-day, I like to call it, I made Adym some home made cards. The Chinese letters on the heart mean double happiness. For the letters I used iron on letters. It's actually a simple process. You print you letters out on a laser printer. Buy some special foil and follow the directions. The supplies are available at
http://www.paperdirect.com/. Just click here to see the full process.


Just below are three images of sugar cookie gifts I gave to my parents. If it wasn't for Martha Stewart,I would never have known to use parchment paper and ribbon as gift wrap.

I got the recipe from Martha, click here. You can also view a video of her making a batch of sugar cookies on her show.

To the left is an image of the most perfect tart ever! If you would like the recipe click here.

Recently I went to the restaurant supply store chain called ACE MART and got a french tart/torte pan. It was so much more inexpensive than purchasing it at a retail store.

I made this for my family to munch on. It was very hard for me to not take a bite!

In the morning I left a card for him on the dining table. It was a simple but elegant home made card for him. I cut a rectangular piece of scrapbook paper. Got a larger red piece of paper and folded it into thirds. With the red paper, I taped ribbon around it. I used double stick tape to adhere it all together. Lastly, I used paper foil to write the message: for my husband. When I was finished, I taped that to the front.
Then on the inside I used bright white paper on top. It neatly hided the green ribbon and made a nice backdrop for my love letter.

For dinner we had asparagus,
red lobster, fillet minion, salad
with an avocado. For dessert
we ate the truffles he gave me
for Valentines. The image here
displays the card and valentines
day box.

***

LOBSTER FOR DINNER

Steamed red lobster is not an easy thing for first timers such as myself. I did some research on it and asked both my mom and dad for some cooking suggestions. I bought my lobsters at my local Hong Kong Supermarket.
You can keep lobster in your fridge up to 24 hours prior to cooking. But I was nervous about keeping my lobsters captive that long. Thus, I bought it right before cooking time. Why was I nervous?? I have never cooked anything that was alive before. My dad makes the best lobster in the world. So I have had my fair share of watching some one make it. But I had never helped prepared it. This would be the first time I have ever attempted to cook lobster.

When I arrived at Hong Kong supermarket, I head straight to the lobster tank. I flag a fish monger to help with my order. Communicating which one I wanted was a bit difficult since the fish mongers were not well versed in the English language. The very nice men behind the counter are Chinese and Mexican. At this juncture think to myself: I should have paid more attention when my parents sent me to Chinese school! Also,I wish was fluent in Spanish!

Finally, my monger gestures how he can help me. I point to the lobster tank and fresh fish in the display cases. Now I feel like I wasted time reading tips online from professional chefs about choosing the right lobster in the tank. My confidence of cooking a fresh one goes right out the window. At this point I try to point to the one I want. My fish monger tries to help me the best way he can. It is hard to see over the large tank. My fish monger struggles and randomly grabs any two lobsters from the tank. He neatly pack wraps them up and I am out the door.

During the drive home, I can hear the lobsters wrestle for life. I can hear them wrestle in the paper and plastic bags as they try to reach for air. Perhaps they can sense that they will be DINNER tonight. I start to have second thoughts because I am about to kill two innocent lobsters just for dinner. These lobsters are just two live innocent creatures trying to make it in the world. The only thing that makes it seem a little right is that I paid for it. When I get home, I put them in the sink. I put a wet towel over them. Boil hot water, add a stick of butter and a pinch of salt. I face my fear and grab one and cook it. The lobsters climb on top and jerk about. It looks as if fighting they are fighting for their own lives. I squeal before picking the first one up. I got so nervous, I had to mentally prepare myself. I think: OK, this is going to be, "OKAY." When the first lobster is bright red (about 7mins.) I take it out. Check the internal temperature with my digital thermometer.

Next lobster. I forgot to put the towel back on it. Here I am looking at the lobster. The lobster looks across the counter at his steaming dead friend. I reach for lobster number two. He tries to climb away. I squeal and laugh. Adym is in another room. He yells, “Are you ok?. He walks in the kitchen and asks me if I need help. Defensive and flustered, I answer with a loud, "NO!" I try to grab the lobster again. I can't pick up the lobster because his smaller back claws are holding onto the sink drain. He's holding on for dear life. I feel so nervous. I let him go. He scrambles away from me in the sink. All this noise sounds like someone throwing a big metal spoon into the sink. Then I think I can't do this. This is crazy. I am a lobster murderer. But I love to eat lobster meat. Anyway, there is NO way I could become a vegetarian!

I walk away from the sink and shake myself out of it. I grab a black kitchen towel and put it over his head. I lower him in the pot with my tongs. At the same time, I take the towel off with my other hand like a magician. He fights me the whole way so I have to hold him down with my tongs in the boiling water.
Maybe this is why lobster is so expensive. When the lobsters are done, I cut the tail with kitchen shears. I plate the lobsters. We sit down for our romantic dinner. I open my lobster. Dip my first bite lemon basil butter. My angst meliorated.

Girls Night Out Tea Party

Sometime ago, I tore a page out of Martha Stewart's Wedding book. There was this really lovely picture of blue themed Asian lantern table setting. I have kept that picture for years hoping to do my own version. Well, finally I had the chance to throw a Tea party for my wonderful group of friends. We have a girls night out in which we meet once a month.

I have volunteered to host for February's GNO. This event was a success.


The lanterns in the image to the left were purchased at Asian Ideas. And my favorite idea is the paper. I bought a large pack of scrapbooking paper (two large reams!) at Costco when I was in Kansas city.

I also made the table arrangements to save on expensive decorative candles:

1) Wrapping pretty paper around a cup

2) Use double stick tape to hold it together

3) Tie a pretty bow around it

4) Place your tea lights where you want them on your table arrangement.

5) Carefully place the paper "lanterns" you made over the tea lights.


And what have you got? Elegant and inexpensive candles!
You can even spruce up your design with some flowers. I wanted to try to host inexpensively so I bought a dozen roses at the grocery store on clearance for 5 dollars. When I was arranging them in a vase, it broke. The rose was so pretty, I didn't want to throw it away. So I put the rose in a shot glass. What a surprise! The rose in the shot glass looked so pretty, I ended up using it in the design of my table spread.

Here's some of the items that was served and a few of the recipes following the pictures:

Cucumber Sandwiches

Mini Kieshes

Cherry Tomato Basil brochettes

Croissants stuffed with honey ham and American cheese
(I just used pre-made croissant dough)

White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Lemon Squares

Salad Cranberry and Walnut with balsamic vinegar dressing (no image)

Duncan Hines rich and moist chocolate cake mix(no image)

Vegetable/ fruit tray (no image)

Fruit Tart with Grand Marnier Glaze (image below)

I barely had any leftovers! :)

Some of the menu recipes:

Super Lemony Lemon Squares (recipe modified)

Recipie from food network courtesy Emeril Lagasse, 2004
Show: The Essence of Emeril
Episode: Picnic Planner Show

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks), plus 1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter
1 3/4 cups plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2/3 cup confectioners' sugar, plus more for garnish
1/4 cup cornstarch
3/4 teaspoon salt plus a pinch
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest

2/3 cup fresh lemon juice, strained (I only used 1 tsp of lemon zest)
1/4 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons limoncello, or other lemon-flavored liqueur, optional (I did not use limoncello)

Lightly butter a 9 by 13-inch baking dish with 2 teaspoons of the butter and line with 1 sheet of parchment or waxed paper. Butter the top of this sheet of paper with 1 teaspoon of the remaining butter and then lay a second sheet of parchment or waxed paper crosswise over the first sheet. The parchment should be cut large enough so that the sides are even with the top of the baking dish; this extra paper will function as handles to help you remove the lemon squares from the pan later. Set pan aside.

In a large bowl combine 1 3/4 cups of the flour, 2/3 cup of the confectioners' sugar, the cornstarch, and 3/4 teaspoon of the salt and mix thoroughly. Cut the remaining 12 tablespoons of butter into small pieces and add to the flour mixture. Using your hands, 2 forks, or a pastry blender, work the butter into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Transfer the butter-flour mixture to the prepared baking dish and press into an even 1/4-inch layer along the bottom and partly up the sides of the pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

While the crust is chilling, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the crust until golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes. While the crust is baking, assemble the filling by combining the eggs, granulated sugar, flour, and lemon zest in a medium bowl and whisking until smooth. Stir in lemon juice, milk, limoncello, and remaining pinch of salt and mix well.

When the crust is golden brown, remove it from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F. Stir the lemon mixture again, then pour onto the warm crust. Bake until the filling is set, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Grasp the waxed paper that lines the 2 longest sides of the baking dish and remove the bars from the pan by pulling up gently. The entire dessert should easily dislodge and come away from the pan. Transfer to a cutting board and, using a clean knife, cut into squares, wiping knife after each cut. Place a small amount of confectioners' sugar into a small sieve, and sprinkle the bars with the sugar. Serve immediately, or refrigerate, wrapped with plastic wrap, up to 2 days, until ready to serve.

Fruit Torte with Cookie Crust (recipe modified)
From Chef Lee Leeds

2 tablespoons of apricot of peach preserves for fruit
1 container strawberries and 1 container of blueberries for garnish
Ready made sugar cookie dough for crust (for time sake)
Torte pan (you can also just you a cake pan about nine inches)

for the filling:

12 ounces of milk
1/2 cup of sugar
2 eggs
4 tablespoons of cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
1/4 teaspoon of Grand Marnier

Generously butter the pan through out. Line the bottom of pan with Roll out the cookie dough to a 1/4 inch thick. Life up you sheet of dough and quickly place it on top of the pan. Press it down on the bottom for the crust. Use the bottom of a measuring cup and press it into the crust to help smooth out the finger print dents. Follow the directions for the cookie dough bake time accordingly.

pastry cream filling:

While your crust is in the oven, heat the milk in a medium pot over medium high heat. Add about half the sugar. Stirring with a whisk frequently. When the milk has come to a boil, add in the corn starch and remaining sugar. Whisk until smooth. Take off the heat.

Lightly whisk the eggs. Add in a splash of the milk mixture. Whisk together. Now put your pot back on the heat. Pour in the egg/milk mixture into the pot. (check on your cookie dough in the oven)

Whisk slowly. While you are whisking, add in vanilla extract and lemon juice. As the egg cooks in your pot,the mixture will start to thicken. When this happens, you will need to start whisking rather quickly until smooth (or you will have scrambled eggs). It will have a texture very similar to warm vanilla pudding. Pour into a heat proof container. Once it has cooled to the touch (about 7mins), cover with plastic wrap. Let it chill for about 30mins in the fridge or 10 mins in the icebox.

Sometime during this process, your cookie dough should be complete. While it is warm to the touch, press down the risen dough with a measuring cup. Gently take it out of the pan. Let it cool off on a cooling rack.
Take out your washed blueberries and strawberries. Cut the strawberries into thin slices. Set aside. Put the apricot or peach jam and grand marnier in a mug or ramekin. Mix together with a fork. Heath the ingredients in the microwave for about 15 to 20 seconds. Take out of microwave and stirr ingredients together. Take out a pastry brush for later use.

Take out pastry cream from fridge and strain with a whisk. The cookie dough should be cooled off and hardend. Fill the cookie dough crust with the strained pastry cream. Carefully place the blueberries and strawberries in a decorative pattern. With the pastry brush, dab the apricot or peach mixture. Proceed to 'paint' the tops of the blueberries and strawberries. When you have covered almost the whole torte, place in the fridge to cool for at least an hour. After the hour is through you can see that with the apricot mixture, you have created a shiny coat for your fruit. A very nice aesthetic effect for the fruit.

CUCUMBER SANDWICHES(modified)
recipe fom cooks.com

1 lg. cucumber, cleaned but not peeled
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
3 green onions, chopped
Mayonnaise as needed
Celery salt
Garlic powder
Paprika, if desired
White Sandwich bread, or other type of bread you would like

Thinly slice the cucumber into translucent pieces. As you slice, place the pieces on a paper towel .Mix the cream cheese and mayonnaise until smooth and spreadable. Stir in chopped onions and add garlic powder and celery salt as desired.

Cut your bread with a cookie cutter or kitchen shears into four even slices. Make sure you cut off all the crust. Spread the mixture thinly on to each square. Place a cucumber round on each bread square. Leave them as open faced sandwiches. Topped them off with paprika or other garnishes as you desire.

***

Thanks again so much for those of you who showed up! Your dresses were so cute! For those who missed out, hope to see you in March, we missed you! I am so thankful for such a wonderful group of girls to call friends.

Cheers!*

Kansas City

In January I visited my sister in Kansas City, MO for her birthday. It was a fun time
visiting my sister. As you may know it's warm here in Houston and I haven't seen
snow in a long time. So I have to admit that it was a shock to see snow on the way in.

As you may know, my family is about food! We are foodies! So when I am in my old age,
I would like to travel and be a food critic. To get a head start, I will also be criticizing
food when I travel to note worthy places. There are two places we went to that I found note worthy in Kansas City.

On her birthday we went to Le fou frog (means The Crazy Frog in French). The restaurant is not flashy on the outside and very easy to miss if you have never been there before. Once inside, you will find yourself in a romantic and whimsical French American restaurant. Appetizers can be purchased for up to twenty dollars a plate and an entree will cost you up to forty. Their prices change with the seasonal menu. I think for any restaurant of this stature, a seasonal menu is excellent choice to
ensure the freshest quality of local goods.

Le Fou Frog Ratings and Reviews:

Le fou frog – The crazy frogFoie Gras Frais Saute Seared Hudson Valley Foie Gras with a reduction sauce of cherries, port wine and aged balsamic vinegar Above is a generic image of foie gras. Unfortunately, the image I had of it was too dark to use.	Taste: For an appetizer I would say this is a rather heavy plate. However, I appreciated the large foie Gras size. It was a large serving accompanied with an excellent and sweet port wine. I have to admit this was the first piece of foie gras I had. Because of my upbringing, never dismiss a plate until you have it prepared the right way. The foie gras tasted like a large piece of pan seared steak beef fat. Very good and fatty, but not something you'd want to make a plate of. So this is why I am rating this dish out five stars. Plating: This dish was beautifully plated. The balsamic vinegar was delicious. The foie gras was put on a slice of bread. There were sticks of what I think to be fried spaghetti. I found the sticks to be unnecessary decorations. A chief once said, "everything on the plate must have a reason to compliment what you are serving," I have to agree with that. So this is why I am rating this dish design out five stars.
Limande farci saumon fume sauce artichaut, champagne, truffe et creamed Lemon sole rolled with smoked salmon, seared and served with a sauce made with artichoke hearts, mushrooms, truffles, fish stock, champagne and a touch of cream	Taste: The fish was moist in some places and dry in others. I was not impressed for I have had it prepared in a more consistent manner. There were too many flavors that did not bring out the flavor of the fish in my opinion. So this is why I am rating this dish out five stars. Plating: The vegetables on this plate went well together with the fish. the red tomatoes lifted the pinks. Of course you can never go wrong with green and red since they are complimentary colors. Lastly, the sauce is brown. It was not a good choice with this color palette. This makes the plate look a bit unappetizing. Overall, this plate is what I would expect to see in a wholesome home cooked meal. So this is why I am rating this dish design out five stars.
Rack of Lamb served with risotto-not sure of Le Fou Frog's name or description	Taste: This was my brother-in-law's dish. Of course I resist a taste when offered. I am glad I didn't turn down a few bites of this dish! Everything about this dish was excellent! The lamb was cooked to perfection with just the right amount of spices/glaze to not overpower the lamb itself. It was tender and moist. I had never had risotto until this day. I have had food experts tell me that risotto is a tricky thing to cook. Each morsel of the cheese flavored risotto was smooth and creamy. So this is why I am rating this dishout five stars. Plating: This plating was simple and elegant. Everything on the plate was purposefully placed. So this is why I am rating this dish design out five stars.
Crème Brulee-not sure of Le Fou Frog's name or description	Taste: I have eaten allot crème Brulee at several restaurants over my lifetime. It was just as I was expected. My spoon passed the sugar tap test as Alton Brown demonstrates on his show Good Eats.The texture with rich and creamy and made with real specs of vanilla. So this is why I am rating this dish out five stars. Plating: The mint and berries add color to the simply white plates. Less is more when it comes to plating. It is simple and sleek. So this is why I am rating this dish designout five stars.
Chocolate Mousse-not sure of Le Fou Frog's name or description	Taste: Mmmm, chocolate mousse. This was my sister's dessert. First bite you immediately taste rich and creamy. As your mouth warms the mousse., a burst of rich, dark and milk chocolate slathers itself and melts off your tongue. This dessert makes you remember why chocolate is your friend. So this is why I am rating this dishout five stars. Plating: This plate did taste very good. However, as you can see from this plating, it would have failed the ranks of Iron Chief america. There are so many beautiful ways to plate mousse. The raspberry was the only thing about this dish that makes sense with the mousse. This is not a scoop of ice cream. The dish should reflect simple decadence. This is why I am rating this dish design out five stars.
French Apple Torte-not sure of Le Fou Frog's name or description	Taste: This was a friend's dish. I think her name was amber. It was a great idea to pair this with a wonderful creamy vanilla. But this dish was fantastically tart. It was unappetizing. M sister's friend could not finish this. I myself have to say that I have never eaten a real french torte. One that is in essence similar to this. However, I can tell you that I do not recommend if you are looking for something sweet. But if you can stand to eat a mouthful of lemon peels, this dessert is for you.* This is why I am rating this dish out five stars. Plating: This dish is not fantastically plated. It is colorful and is appetizing. It is straight to the point and is meaningful. Thus, I give it out five plate design stars.

*Overall, I recommend this Le Fou Frog. They gave us excellent service and the food was delicious. They just need to work on the plating of their dishes.

The second place we visited was Oklahoma Joe's BBQ joint. I bought a bottle of my own. Their BBQ is up north vinegary compared to sweet Houston Area BBQ sauce. It's noteworthy because it's one of the best BBQ places in Kansas City, Mo. Get this, it's located in a GAS STATION! Yes, one of the best places to eat BBQ is in the gas station! If you come here there is a culture. They get are always busy I am told. So you will have to wait in line that is usually wraps around to the outside of the building. Chairs fill up quickly, so you will have to wait in line, then get a table. It's get up and go once you are done eating. Hungry customers may hassle you if you sit around for a while after you are done eating. However, the service is good. Don't be discouraged. It's just good BBQ.

Oklahoma Joe's Ratings and Reviews:

BBQ Rib Dinner (1/2 slab)

Taste: The meat was not as tender as I have had here in Texas. A side of cole slaw and toasted Texas bread. Absolutely delicious so no argument there. This one is rated out five stars. Plating: It is a simple. The ribs make a statement all on their own. I give it a out five plate design stars.

Z-man Sandwich

Taste: I love this sandwich. It is absolutely superb. The sandwich is built with a kaiser bun, slow cooked brisket, smoked provolone cheese, and topped with two mouth watering onion rings. You can not go wrong here with the quantity, price range and taste. After a bite of this, you will know why they are award winning. This one I must give a out five stars. Plating: No slim pickings here. A mouth watering and hearty sandwich that is dream worthy once you leave this place. out five plate design stars.

Do I recommend it? You betcha! You must eat here on any visit to KC, MO. Have a Z-man. You will thank me.

While you are here, you might want to check out the Miniature Museum.It is stacked pack full of miniature wonders. We weren't allowed to take pictures indoors. :(

Alas, my adventure comes to an end as I take my last picture of the sky before landing in Houston.