Saturday, May 26, 2007

85 Recipe Road

Yes, it's time to post some recipes I'm considering for inclusion in le menu. So here goes a lemony recipe that has been empirically tested on unsuspecting guine... erm...coworkers and friends (I'm actually baking the lemon almond cookies as I type.. yumm. I don't remember where I got this recipe, so I'll randomly credit my mom, Adelaide Redondo in Edmonton, AB, who generously gave me most of my good recipes anyway (and who has to be the greatest cook in the western hemisphere... :)

Warning: these are not exactly part of a sensible health plan :)

Lemon Almond Cookies

3/4 Cup butter (softened)
1 Cup sugar
1 egg (large)

1 1/2 TB lemon zest (freshly grated)
6 TB finely ground almonds
1 1/2 Cup flour

Cream together the butter and sugar with electric mixer. After it's smooth, beat in the egg, zest and almonds. Beat in the flour a little at a time and beat dough until it is well combined. Chill it in the fridge for two hours, covered.

After chilling, form dough into walnut-size balls and place 2 inches apart on a lightly greased baking sheet. Dip bottom of a glass in some sugar and use it to flatten balls into about 2 in diam. cookies.

Bake in middle of pre-heated oven at 350 F for 10 to 12 minutes (no more or they'll be hard) until golden around the edges (not brown :)

Shoo gluttonous husband off ...oops, those are my notes.... :)



Oh, where's my head... what kind of blog would this be w/out the keywords for my oriental friends?? Chinese (cookie), Peking (duck), Mandarin (oranges)... ;)

Sunday, May 20, 2007

So COLD.....

I've been sadly neglectful of this blog. Although the china/food/dinner party is still happening (yes, in this lifetime), these days when I get home, all I want to do is curl up with a good book and complain about the weather. I need some sun! You know, yellow dwarf, planet revolves around it, irradiates all sort of wavelengths, especially in the infrared range? Let's see more of that! I'm getting sick and tired of "arctic air mass," "below seasonal averages," "northerly flow" and "wet and unstable."

Seriously! I have a banana tree at home that's starting to look like ragweed -- I actually (no lie) harvested some sort of alien yellow mushrooms off the soil in my hibiscus pot! Enough with the cold and the rain...If I hear "global warming" one more time...

And since I'm already ranting, what's with Ottawa's tulip festival? Yes, it's very nice, stunning views, great international pavillion, good food, but where are the tulips??? I expected endless vistas of undulating colours, awe-inspiring beds of different petal varieties, people traipsing through the... ok, perhaps not that last one :)

Alas, there were only a few beds, maybe four or five colours at best, and endless waves of.... grass! Yes, the trees were in flower, it was nice, but... Well, perhaps next year. I know they've had financial trouble lately, perhaps I'll send them a few bulbs for next spring.

Cat and I actually had a lot of fun when we went on Saturday. It was a beautiful day -- almost warm!