Monday, February 20, 2012

Tuesdays with Dorie

I've just started participating in a fun adventure.  It's called Tuesdays with Dorie and a group of people are going to be cooking their way through Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan.  The first week (which I didn't participate in) was making the White Bread Loaves.  I got the recipe from Jules' blog and got to baking, since I needed some bread anyway.  One of the rules of participating is you have to own the book, which I just ordered using a gift certificate that I got for my birthday.  It's a book that's been on my wish list anyway, so I'm glad I will now be able to use it.

This bread is so easy to make and is so good - tastes just like a good white bread should.  The one thing I didn't like is it kneads for 10 minutes in your mixer and I think it was taking a toll on my mixer by going that long.  But, all came out well and they were pretty AND tasty!

You can see step by step on Jules' blog.  I just have the finished results.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

The horse in the truck

This site is in Old Town Alexandria, about a block from where I work.  It makes me laugh and do a double take every time I go past it, especially if I'm driving by.  I'm not sure what it's used for, but that horse gets decorated seasonally.  It's usually parked in the same spot, but I have seen it in different places along King Street, so I don't know if it's used as a promotion for something.  When I decided on the picture thing, I knew that I would have to include this.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Brabo

Brabo is the restaurant that I'm working at for my internship.  Right now I'm doing prep cook work.  I do a lot of chopping, peeling and the like.  I also do make some of the sauces, stocks and soups, although usually the two other prep cooks do most of the cooking.  I am learning, and it is very hard work.  Most days I enjoy it, but there are days when I ask myself why I spent all that money in culinary school just to clean mushrooms and peel tomatoes.  It does build speed, though, and even though I'm still pretty slow, I'm catching on and speeding up.  Some tasks are just tedious and take awhile.

I'm hoping to move from prep cook into the butcher shop.  I've done a little bit of butchering, but would like to learn more - it's a good skill to have.

If you want to take a closer look at the restaurant, you can check them out at www.braborestaurant.com.  Be sure to check out all three restaurants - Brabo, Brabo Tasting Room and The Butcher Shop.  It's an interesting place.

Happy New Year 2012!

I thought a good way to chronicle 2012 was in pictures.  Since this will be a huge transition year, I thought I would take a picture a day to document the day to day, or maybe the new in this year.  Also, I want to improve my photography skills using my DSLR, so I thought this would be a good goal and a picture a day should help me to improve.

I thought of the idea on my walk yesterday, so I thought it was fitting to take a picture of my running shoes.  The shoes haven't seen much running lately, but I do get out to exercise a few times a week - hopefully more now that my schedule is a little more settled.

Anyway, here's the picture for January 1, 2012.  I'm a day late in posting.


As an aside, I made Buffalo Chicken Rice last night for dinner.  I was watching Sara Moulton on PBS yesterday and she made it - it's one of her 5 ingredient weeknight meals and I had all five ingredients!  I didn't take a picture (because it's pretty boring looking), but it was sure tasty.  Here's the recipe:

Buffalo Chicken Rice
8 ounces chicken breast, cubed
1 cup long-grain rice, uncooked
2 Tablespoons butter
4 ounces blue cheese
2 Tablespoons hot sauce (I added two, but wish I would have added more)

Cook rice according the directions on package.  Remember to add salt to your boiling water before adding the rice - trust me on this.

Season chicken with salt and pepper.  Melt butter in large skillet and add chicken and cook until brown and cooked through - this should only take a few minutes.  Add hot sauce to chicken and stir to coat.  Add hot rice to chicken and top with blue cheese.  Stir to combine and continue to stir until blue cheese is melted.