Dessert at La Chiesa

This afternoon was the last class of the series at La Chiesa. Today, Jeremy tackled desserts. He made creme brulee, biscotti, a chocolate tart, and chocolate panna cotta with a coffee foam. They were all fabulous, and this was the lesson with which I was probably most comfortable. None of it was too terribly new for me except the foam thing. I've learned from this lesson, that I can tackle a creme brulee and plan on doing so sometime in the near future.

I was so happy when Jeremy said he's looking at doing another series this coming fall. I really hope he does, and if you are any kind of foodie, you must consider this great pleasure. And if you are just looking for some really good food that's not zapped or just thawed and warmed, check out La Chiesa, and tell Jeremy that I sent you. :) Oh, and the house wine is great!

Bitchy

I now know the true meaning of the word bitchy. Joey and I have started back in our routine of taking a walk early in the morning and when I come home from work. When I come home from work, she just gives me hell if I do anything other than taking her out for her walk immediately. Yesterday, after walking to and from school in the relative cold, she didn't even want to let me warm up for a few brief minutes.

However, I guess I shouldn't bitch about my little bitch. I probably wouldn't do much walking if I didn't have to consider her needs.

As I said, I have begun to walk to and from work, which is a little over a mile one direction. I was able to do it Tuesday and Wednesday. I wanted to walk today, but it was too cold out to wear a skirt out walking, and I didn't have any clean pants to wear. I suppose I could have worn my snow pants with the dress, but that seems a little overdressed for the weather we have, and I would have felt really stupid with snow pants on the walk home this afternoon.

It seems as if I'm ready for one extreme or the other, but not this mild stuff in between. Now that winter clothes are on sale, I bought myself some good, low, subzero boots, a face mask, a full-head stocking cap (can we call it that if it's not clearly knit?) and some thermal gloves. I'm set for next winter. If we have school, I should be able to walk regardless of the weather. Now, if it'll warm up a little more, I'd be walking to school EVERY day.

Damn Mandolin

It was two weeks ago Saturday that a lot of things began to play out. First of all, Mari and I were going to try a new dish. Her birthday was just two days prior so, we had a little birthday party. I was going to be making Lobster Risotto. The risotto itself turned out well, but the lobster was disappointingly tough. Later, I e-mailed my chef friend Jeremy Nepple and he said it was probably because I either cooked it too long, or the temperature was too high while it cooked. I give you the recipe down below, but there was so much more to this story.

That same day, I had bought Mari's gift, I found a mandolin slicer. Jeremy had recommended that we get one. He did, however, warn us to be careful. Well, Sunday, the next day, I decided to try out my new Mandolin. I decided I'd fry up some potato chips. At the beginning it was difficult to slice the potatoes using the protective guard. And, of course, I thought that my hand would be far enough away from the slicer itself, that I would be ok putting the potato through without the guard. WRONG! I sliced off a good hunk of my thumb. Oh my God, blood spurted and although I wrapped a towel around it tightly, I couldn't get it to stop bleeding enough to bandage it. So, I got in the car and drove to the emergency room. Since I was driving with one hand, I put pressure on my thumb with the same hand and by pushing it up against my chin. It was as I was driving along that I realized that the towel I was using was the same towel I had used while preparing the lobster. It had a distinctly fishy smell. When I was finally settled down and getting it bandaged, I told the nurse working on me about the towel and the smell. She listened politely...but then a few minutes later, she came around to my side and she said it was a good thing I had told her about the towel, otherwise, she wouldn't know what to think when she smelled that smell. We both enjoyed the joke. So obviously it wasn't so bad that I couldn't share some dirty insinuations.

My thumb is healing quite well now. You can still see that it took no only skin, but also a small piece of muscle as well. And I've faced my demon. I've since used the mandolin successfully. However, I will always give it the respect it deserves. My friend Dennis has called me Julia Child, which of course was a reference Dan Aykroyd's comedic portrayal of Julia Child. (You can watch Dan Aykroyd by clicking on the highlighted name.)

Things seem to have come full circle. I began this blog after watching the movie Julie and Julia, which was in part, about Julia Child.

Well, and here is the Lobster Risotto recipe. I got it from page 184of the Jan/Feb 2011 edition of Cooking Light.

Directions
Bring 4 cups broth and 1.5 cups water to a boil in a saucepan. Add 3 (5-ounce) lobster tails; cover and cook for 4 minutes. Remove lobster from pan; cool for 5 minutes. Remove meat from cooked lobster tails, reserving shells. Chop meat. Place shells in a large zip-top plastic bag. Coarsely crush shells using a meat mallet or heavy skillet. Return crushed shells to the broth mixture. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and cook for 20 minutes. Strain shell mixture through a sieve over a bowl, reserving broth; discard solids. Return broth mixture to saucepan; keep warm over low heat. Heat 1 tablespoon butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add 1 cup uncooked Arborio rice to pan; cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in 1 cup broth mixture, and cook for 5 minutes or until liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly until each portion is absorbed before adding the next (about 22 minutes total). Remove from heat, and stir in lobster, the reserved 2 tablespoons broth mixture, 2 tablespoons butter, and 3/4 cup frozen green peas. Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 cup)

Nutrition:
374 calories; 10.7 grams fat; 24.7 grams protein; 44.4 grams carbs; 4.1 grams fiber
Weight Watchers points plus value: 10