Taking a little time out

It's been a great holiday around here. Mild temperatures and plenty of opportunitites to go outside and take a few pictures. I've been cooking like mad but haven't documented much. Kevin's birthday is two days away so it's planning time for what to have that evening with cake and ice cream.

Bob bought me a Canon zoom EF-S 55-250 mm lens for Christmas which brought me to tears. I've been taking pictures of buzzards, geese flying, and neighbor's cars but nothing of great excitement to post. I went on a little field trip before Christmas Day to a great little town called Wye Mills and took a few pictures there.

Grinding stones from the mill.

Lazy stream leading to the mill.

Window to.......

The best cafe in the world

Here's Mr. Construction Worker and Laura waiting for our breakfast in New York City at the Essex World Cafe. Without any exterior fanfare it's the coolest cafe I've ever been to. It's located on a street that faces the huge hole that was the World Trade Center. Construction workers that are busy at work on the WTC site seem to frequent this place as, I'm sure, the many people who used to work at the Twin Towers did seven years ago. Once inside the cafe you slowly realize where you are. In a place of humble history.


The Essex World cafe became known by another name on September 12th 2001 as the "Liberty Treatment Site". After the Towers came down it became a medical center and I can only use the best of my mental powers to try to imagine the activity that may have happened inside it's doors.

This is a picture of a picture inside the cafe during the time it was a medical station.

The walls have memorials and pictures from September 11th. It was quite sobering but more-so, healing. The construction workers that arrive and leave in a steady flow seem representative of a sense of pride in the anticipation of newness for the area. The cafe continued on and stayed open. It adapted to the situation and has morphed into a symbol of the continuity of life with a reverance for the past. It's the best breakfast Bob, Kevin, and I have had in a long time.

A little farting around: (GARLIC-CHEESE KNOTS)

I'm not really a full fledged home baker but I try to pretend with my bread machine that I've had for billions of years now. I love that machine. It even churns butter but I haven't used that feature in years too. Shame on me! Anyway, I tweaked a recipe for Garlic Parmesan Bread and turned the bread into knotted rolls, instead, through the dough cycle. No mystery and no great challenge there I know. But, I've always loved a local pizza joint's garlic knots and thought I would try to recreate some for home. Those garlic knots were HORRIBLE for you as they were covered, no DRIPPING, with melted butter and garlic and they were DELICIOUS. Bob, Kevin, and I would wolf a few down while waiting for our pizza. Real easy to polish off about five or so if you're not careful. But, I haven't had them in years and the memory is still there. I thought I would pay homage to Colosseum Pizza's yummy garlic knots as best I could.

Garlic-cheese knots:

Ingredients:

1 cup water
2 1/2 tbs. butter
1 tbs. honey
2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
3/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 tsp. yeast

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 1/2 tbs. finely chopped garlic
3 tbs. butter

Directions:

1. Layer the above ingredients, starting with the water and ending with the yeast, into the pan of your bread machine.

2. Press the dough cycle and allow to process for the alloted time (mine's 90 minutes). Be watchful of the dough during the first few minutes to see if the dough incorporates well. Add water or flour as needed.

3. In a medium pan melt 3 tbs. butter and keep warm. Combine the parmesan cheese and garlic in a small bowl and set aside.

4. After the cycle is finished on your machine pull the dough out onto a lightly floured board. It should feel silky soft and not too sticky. Cut the dough into about 18 pieces and roll into small logs. Twist the dough log into a single small knot and place on a large greased baking pan in a single layer.

5. Dip each knot into the melted butter and then in the garlic cheese mixture. Place back on the baking sheet.

6. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and allow to rise 30 minutes in a draft-free warm area (this sounds crazy but I use my dryer for this step...preheat the dryer on high for 15 minutes, install the dryer rack, and place the tray inside).

7. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. I place my baking stone in the middle of the oven and allow room at the bottom of the oven for a large aluminum pan to be filled with hot water during baking.

8. After the knots have risen, remove the plastic wrap (I know that you know that), and place the pan on the middle rack or on the baking stone. Place aluminum pan on the very bottom rack and fill with hot water. The idea is to create steam while baking.

9. Bake for approximately 30 minutes. Remove from oven and further slather some more melted butter on the knots.

The recipe for the dough is based on a "medium" size recipe for the bread machine. Approximately 18 rolls.

The rolls rose more than I would have preferred but still turned out pretty nice. I used them the next day with the left-over French Dip roast with au jus. Just sliced the knots up the middle and made small french dip sandwiches. Yummy indeed.

Isn't she lovely?

When Bob and I were looking around the antique store in Flint Hill I spotted this and immediately fell in love with it. I wanted to call her The Spirit(s) Faery but she's actually, I think, The Beer Faery. The poster is a copy of a lithograph advertising beer for The Globe Beer Company in Baltimore Maryland. I Googled Globe Beer Company and found informative but somewhat sporadic information about it. I did find out that there was a pub affliated with the beer company in Baltimore but it closed in 2004.

Anyway, she's going to hang on our kitchen wall after I get her properly framed. Right now she's lightly, uh-hum, taped on the back, to the wall. I know. Bob was a little horrified too. I have a bad habit of not being able to wait patiently for things.

Element

Tarragon dreams

Pointing the way

Another oddity that warmed my heart. I love things slightly askew and Mr. Tree seemed like he was pointing the way towards "something". I love that he still had a previous bloom of leaves on the end of his one viable limb.


I loved this gate. It had two gargoyle's on either side. Front Royal is truly beautiful.

Anniversary at home: (BEARNAISE SAUCE)

Kevin had Younglife this past Monday night so it was a "Score!" for an evening alone for an Anniversary dinner (our 18th). I had thought I would grill lobster tail but ended up substituting with grilled shelled shrimp that I had marinated in olive oil, Old bay, and Lemon Pepper for thirty minutes in the fridge. I was going to make homemade Bearnaise sauce from my antique store find cookbook, The Cordon Bleu Cookbook, for the Filet Mignon but had limited resources, namely, tarragon vinegar. I've saved a neat glass bottle, washed it in hot soapy water, and am making my own tarragon vinegar tomorrow from my own herb supply. The baked potatoes were twice baked and the filling was comprised of wasabi, chedder cheese, real bacon, and sour cream. The veggies were roasted in the oven at 375 degress until most of the juices sloshing around at the bottom of the pan were cooked off. An enjoyable and relatively easy dinner for two. There were ample leftovers and I was able to fix a plate for Kevin later. A few days later I diced up the remaining filet mignon (minus the bacon), 6 or so shrimp, the roasted veggies and tossed them together in a medium bowl. I found a recipe for spinach pancakes and thought that the mixture would be good served over them and covered in a parmesan-chedder sauce. It worked out great. Two meals out of one.

I'm anxious to make homemade bearnaise sauce so when the tarragon vinegar is ready I'm making it. Here's a version from The Cordon Bleu Cookbook (page 137):

Bearnaise Sauce:

Ingredients:

2 egg yolks

1 tablespoon tarragon vinegar

2 tablespoons cream

salt, to taste

cayenne pepper, to taste

4 tablespoons fat (butter)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs

1 tablespoon chopped fresh garlic (I'm subbing shallot instead which is more traditional)

Directions:

1. Put in a bowl egg yolks, vinegar, cream, salt, and cayenne pepper.

2. Put the bowl in a pan of hot water over a slow fire; beat until the sauce begins to thicken.

3. Add, bit by bit, the butter, herbs, and garlic. Whisk well to incorporate. Season to taste and serve warm.

I've researched different bearnaise recipes for the "chopped herbs" portion of the recipe. I'm assuming it would be some chopped fresh tarragon. It's going to be what I'll use. On the other hand I found some more different ways to prepare the sauce as well. I'll probably try this one too.