California Toffee Rush

Click on over to Sugar Savvy for my latest entry into The Chocolate Box -- California Brittle. Featuring chocolate, hard toffee and almonds, it is a treat that can't be beat.

I'm Home and Back in the Kitchen

I arrived home safe, sound and with only a minor leg cramp from the long trip back from Iberia. I am catching up on home and work. More soon. I promise. Honest. Really. For sure.

I Forgot to Mention ...

I wrote two posts on tasting See´s Candies chocolates before I left on vacation. You can check them out in The Chocolate Box at Sugar Savvy.

Hi From Breezy Madrid

Just a quick note to say I have not forgotten my poor blog. I have lots of things to share from Lisbon, Seville and Madrid. Look for more when I return next week.

Hi From Sunny Lisbon

I am writing this from Lisbon. Please forgive any typos since I am writing from an internet cafe with less than superior equipment and a Portguese keyboard.

I will not be posting very regularly during my trip, but I will try to check in.

Here is my first report:

This was written in my little travel notebook on the first leg of my trip to Lisbon and Spain. (Newark, here I come.)

The plane is pretty full, the seats are cramped and a baby is not so much crying but getting set off like a car alarm, sounding off for a period of time, resetting , and then setting off with the next stimulus.

I was actually served a hot mail on this flight, a rarity on transcontential flights these day. I meant to take a photo, but I realized too late the camera was in the overhead and I was trapped by the meal tray.

So imagine if you will a square plastic tray offering a samll white dish of fruit (2 red grapes, 3 oragne sections, 1 chunk of pineapple), a tiny, tiny muffin on indiscernable flavor, a cup of non-objectional raspberry yogurt and a steaming, clear plastic bag containing the mystery entree.

From a distance I couldn't make out what the flight attendents were plopping down to the pasengers in front of me. Needless to say, the entree looked better the further away it was from me.

About five rows away, I couldn't see, only smell.

"Something with eggs," I thought.

By three rows away I could make out the clear bag wrapping and make out a basic shape. A torte, a slice of quiche?

One row away, I could see it was scrambled eggs in pita bread. A sandwich. Okay, I thought. There's a lot of good things you could do with that.

Then it was my turn. I pulled apart the wrapping to discover rubbery pita and scrambled eggs. Nothing else. Just eggs and bread. No cheese, no veggies, no seasoning, no sauce to put on it, no nothing.

What I do? It was a long flight. I was hungry. In the tradition of generations of travelers before me, I just ate it, after liberally sprinkling it with the little packet of pepper that came on the tray. Oh, and think of how I would have made the same dish. I would have sauted some onions and veggies and scrambled the eggs with them as well as some cheese, seasoning (maybe cumin, maybe paprika, may French provencal dried herbs), and fresh herbs. And served some fresh salsa or similar on the side.

Eggstactly.

No Time for Purim

Tonight is a celebration of Purim. Purim is a celebration of Queen Esther and her cousin Mordecai and how they triumphed over Hamman and his oppression of the Jews. One way to celebrate is to send food baskets to friends and family. (The Blog Appetit household will be sending a check to our local food bank instead.)

These Purim baskets often contain cookies named after Hamman, an ambitious king's advisor who wanted to punish the Jews. Middle Eastern Jews often make a puff pastry cookie shaped somewhat like a palm cookie. Eastern European Jews make hammantaschen, a yeast or cookie dough triangle filled with poppy seeds or prune, apricot or other jam or spread. The cookie is said to look like Hamman's hat.

Because of my schedule this year, I didn't bake any, but I received plenty from friends and neighbors. Here's a plateful from my friend Stacy.

Is That Spud a Dud?

My latest piece for Sugar Savvy is posted. Click on over to see if I roast See's Candies' St. Patrick's Day Potato candy or if I think it is one sweet potato.

Look for the candy's cinnamon-cocoa powder topping to inspire a future recipe here at Blog Appetit.

(After I wrote this I started thinking how the candy potato could work for other holidays if they just changed the box. Potato pancakes are a symbol of Chanukah, so how about a Chanukah Spud? Or potato salad is traditional for the Fourth of July, so maybe a Firecracker Potato with extra cinnamon? For Thanksgiving, maybe they could tint the inside orange and just call it a Sweet Potato? Or maybe not.)

I'll have a side order of angst ...

What have I been eating lately? Nothing too impressive. Leftovers (cheese, hummus, stuffed grape leaves) from a friend's memorial service I helped organize the food for. What have I been cooking lately? Nothing too impressive. What have I been writing lately? Nothing too impressive. I have lots of ideas but life keeps getting in my way!

Work has been busy. The high school freshman has batting and baseball practice and games and schlepping him around has severely disrupted dinner time unless you consider Panda Express and take out pizza gourmet. The high school senior is having his own version of "March madness" while we wait to hear from the universities he has applied to. In addition, I have donated my services to cater a wine tasting fundraiser a group I belong to is holding this coming Sunday.

I'd ask for your sympathy, but I really can't, since part of the pressure is getting the house, kids, husband and business ready for my absence. I leave next week for 12 days in Lisbon, Seville and Madrid. I look forward to riding the wonderous Lisbon public transit system (trolleys and funiculars), hearing fado music, seeing authentic flamenco, and much, much more, including of course food. Look for reports after I get back on what I saw and ate and experienced. If you have any recommendations for what to see, eat or do in these cities (or what to avoid), please leave a comment for me below.

I hope to post a whole bunch of stuff before I go away and to make a post or two from the road, so watch this space.

Custard French Toast

Click on over to White Trash BBQ to see my guest post for the most diet unfriendly breakfast treat ever -- Custard French Toast. You can see my write up and get the recipe here at White Trash BBQ or read the edited version of the post below.

Enjoy!


Custard French Toast.

A breakfast dish so sweet and delicious is should be legally only be allowed to be served for dessert. A recipe that is absolutely ruined if you try to make it healthy by cutting back on the eggs or substituting whole wheat or multigrain bread. And one my now sons still promise their friends I’ll make for them if they come over. Eggs, sugar, milk, butter and challah or white bread. What’s not to like? Serve it with love, it really needs little else, although a drizzle of maple syrup is okay, too.

Custard French Toast
Serves 4-8 depending on age, cholesterol level and appetite

Loaf of unsliced French, Italian or similar bread; challah, brioche or other egg bread, or thickly sliced white bread (sometimes called Texas toast). Do NOT use whole wheat or multigrain bread. Stale or day old bread works well. (I think challah or other egg breads work best, though.)

Four eggs, beaten

One 14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk. (It’s okay to use the fat-free kind of you want.) Tip: Open with a can opener and completely remove lid. Use a small spatula to get all the sticky contents out of the can.

24 ounces of milk (fat free okay)

1 tsp. of vanilla extract

Dash salt

Grating or two of nutmeg (or about 1/8 tsp if ground)

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Butter for frying

Cinnamon sugar (mix equal parts of ground cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl)

Powdered (confectioner’s) sugar, optional

Maple syrup, optional


Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

Slice bread about 3/4 to 1 inch thick. Lay sliced bread to dry out a bit. In a large bowl, combine eggs, milks, extract, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon. Mix well so all ingredients are well combined.In a large, flat pan (I use a glass lasagna pan), pour out about a quarter of the egg and milk mixture and swirl pan so it coats the bottom. Put down a layer of bread slices. Do not overlap. Top with rest of the mixture. If you have more slices then space, don’t use a second pan, just pour about half of your remaining egg and milk mixture over the first layer of slices, making sure you cover the tops of the bread. Put another layer of bread slices on top and pour the rest of the mixture to cover those slices. Allow to soak in the egg and milk mixture for five (for softer breads) to 10 minutes (for firmer ones), turning and rotating the slices to make sure the bread becomes really saturated with the custard mixture. Handle with care as the slices become very soft and soggy.

Preheat a large frying pan. Melt about 2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon of butter in the pan as needed and carefully add the bread. Do not crowd the pan. Fry on a medium to medium hot temperature until golden brown on one side. Flip. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on browned top of bread being careful not to get any in the frying pan (to avoid burning.) Cook until golden brown on other side. Remove finished slices and keep warm in a the oven while frying remaining slices, adding more butter to the pan as needed. Sprinkle with powered sugar and serve with maple syrup.

Is it Almond Joy?

Click on over to The Chocolate Box at Sugar Savvy to read my latest See's Candy taste drive. Honey marizpan gets its due here.