Time to cook!

It's been a while since we've posted a recipe or a critique about food. I woke up today with a hankering for bread and doing something with the apples we have in the kitchen. It didn't take me long to locate a couple of recipes for white and french bread.

Combining all the wet ingredients for the white bread was easy. So was adding the flour. What was tough was mixing them all together by hand. We do have a mixer but I thought I'd get my hands dirty. I didn't do so well as the dough was in clumps and I really hesitated adding the last cup full of all purpose flour. Also, the the active dry yeast didn't proof as well as I thought. Truenorthgal mentioned that the water must have been lukewarm. We ended up throwing the entire thing into the mixer and adding enough water so it the dough looked like a proper dough.

The french bread dough was a little easier. All it required was all purpose flour, salt, active dry yeast and water! I used the mixer this time but truenorthgal ended up adding a little more water in the end. So by the time both batches were ready, I was already 2 hours into the new day. Here are a couple of pictures of the dough.

Rising dough

Almost done!


Final minutes...

Though the crust was golden, the insides were somewhat undercooked in some areas. One of the white loafs was properly done but the crust is hard. I ended up cutting up the french breads and spreading olive oil and dry herbs on them so I could salvage them. Here they are:

French Bread with olive oil and herbs

White Bread somewhat ok

I'll try them again after we finish this batch of bread. On a brighter note, I really liked how the apple cobbler came out. Here is the recipe I used:

4 - 5 small McIntosh apples
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup sugar (depends on your sweet tooth)
1 stick of butter (or about 8 tablespoons), cold and cut into bits
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
pinch of salt

1. Peel and slice your apples as thinly as you can. Mix some sugar with the slices and then layer them onto a greased baking pan.
2. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Using a food processor, mix the remaining ingredients until they come out somewhat crumbly.
3. Using a spoon, drop the mix on top of the apples.
4. Place the pan into the oven and cook until top is golden brown (may take between 20 to 30 minutes).

Serve with vanilla ice cream on the side. This recipe is good for about five to six people. Here are a couple of pictures of the results.

Close up of the thin apple slices

Dig in while it's warm!

Time for a break...

After five days of bone-chilling cold (where the high was around 20F/-6.67C), we finally got a break with the temp when Saturday came around and we were finally greeted with a high of 33F/0C! Trust me, that extra 13 degrees really helps specially when the sun is out in all it's glory. Ahhh, I miss the sun and it's warmth. Though I get that every night when I snuggle with truenorthgal.

Anyway, we woke up late. It was nice just to lay in bed soaking in all that goodness. I've suggested a wine tasting activity for Saturday. I thought truenorthgal wouldn't go for it as she doesn't like drinks with any alcohol content but she said yes. I was just glad we could get out of the house and I was excited by what we will taste and find.

We were headed to Alba Vineyard near the Delaware River. It wasn't that far off from where we lived. Here is an example of how bad it got. We actually had ice falls along the highway.




Here is a better shot:



It was interesting to see all that water freeze up after just a couple of days of cold weather. Though just remember, this happened over time. As water melted a bit, it refroze over the existing ice. The constant thaw/freeze cycle resulted in these icicles.

Eventually, after enjoying the company of the winding creek below, we got to our destination.


It was a wine and chocolate weekend, where various vineyards open their doors to the public so we could sample their wine and some food that really goes great with it. After paying a fee for me and truenorthgal, they handed us free glasses and a taste of their brut-sparkling wine. We excitedly checked on the different bottles on display. Eventually, we heard other guests in the next room and decided to join them.

It was a pretty simple setup. There were various people serving wine and food. They would recommend what type of cheese would go with what white wine or how you eat a piece of chocolate by using it like a straw to get to a nice red. In the end, we tried about seven or eight wines including two ice wines. They measured the amount of wine they poured using bottle pourers so you won't have to worry about getting too tipsy to drive on the road. They were nice enough that they didn't mind pouring a little bit more for you to get a real taste of the wine.

I was really excited with their rieslings and blueberry wine. I specially liked it when I found out they made an award winning gevurtztraminer in 1987 and they were making some from the grapes they planted in 2006! I will definitely come back to the vineyard in the fall and see where they are with it.

Here is a shot of their sign followed by a couple of shots of part of the 30 acres of vines they are preparing for the next season.




Here is one of their corks. I can't wait to pop this one out of the couple of bottles we took home. Thank you Lord!

Just a little bit more...

All I can say is that I can't wait for the weekend to start!