merideath

When I was a kid, the Italian bakery in my neighborhood had all the usual types of fancy butter cookies and pignoli and tricolor cookies etc. but they also had a selection of less fancy cookies - like sesame cookies and S cookies and anginetti etc., and what we used to call chocolate sprinkle cookies, which may have started out similarly to butter cookies but were sturdier/crumblier, piped in a swirl, and covered with chocolate sprinkles. That bakery closed a long, long time ago (though you can still get frozen pasta with their name on it at the supermarket), and I have been trying ever since to recreate those cookies, with little success.

Today I baked the butter cookies from the Dolci cookbook (pic), though I didn't bother with sandwiching them with jam, and instead added chocolate sprinkles, and 1/2 tsp almond extract in order to try to recreate the taste of those old cookies. They are pretty close! They might need to be slightly less sweet, and probably cook a couple of more minutes, but they're the closest I've come so far. Also, I had the correct piping tip AND you don't chill the dough until after you pipe the cookies so it's a much easier proposition all around.

I also made the King Arthur small batch focaccia, but it never rises as much as they say it should during proofing. Still rises nicely in the oven and tastes great though.

The timing all worked out really well, even though I didn't plan ahead. Sometimes I get lucky since timing is generally the hardest part of cooking for me.

Ha! The announcer was like, "low event hockey, with only 5 shots" and now the Blue Jackets are getting a penalty shot! Igor stopped it though.

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So I'm back on my HGTV bullshit again, and I just watched an episode where Egypt and Mike designed "the ultimate bachelor pad" for a dude who plans to entertain his friends and family for cards and football games, and who has two enormous dogs, and they put a WHITE COUCH in his living room. Who DOES that?

Otherwise, it was a nice reno - the three-seasons deck especially. But a white couch just seems like a terrible idea for 99% of people, let alone a guy with 2 huge dogs.

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My sister texted me yesterday to let me know she's sick so I shouldn't go over there today, so I did not. So today, instead of making pie, I made Chinese pork buns (pic). I made the pork yesterday and used the leftovers today - I used boneless country ribs because they are fairly cheap and I don't like dealing with bones. I can't seem to get a good boneless pork shoulder these days - last time I ordered a bone-in one, it was supposedly 3 lbs, but it was 2 lbs of bone and 1 of meat, which is not the best ratio for the money - so I go with the boneless country ribs instead (the ones from Costco are especially good).

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I shouldn't have been so enthusiastic the other day about how much better I've been sleeping, because of course, on Friday night, I had a terrible night's sleep, tossing and turning and just unable to stay asleep after several hours of trying to fall asleep. Last night was much better. *hands* Sometimes, it just be like that.

While I was lying awake, I was thinking about Dungeon Crawler Carl, as I have been wont to do lately, and trying to figure out his relationship with Bea, because I find it kind of baffling. ( spoilers through book 7 )

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Alas, despite me getting up early this morning, the cleaning ladies did not come! They did say last time that my regular appointment might need to be moved going forward, but then I got the confirmation email for today and figured maybe that wasn't happening. But they did not show up so I emailed the company and they were very apologetic, and now they are coming on Saturday at 9 am.

on Sunday, I'm going to my sister's to make the apple pies for Thanksgiving, since my brother-in-law, who does all the holiday cooking wants to simplify* what needs doing on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, which has traditionally been the day we make pie.

*"Simplify" should be in quotes, because for Christmas, at least, we keep telling him we're good with an apps and dessert style menu (personally, I keep advocating for pajama!Christmas) to no avail. He gets about 90% of the way there and then is like, but what if someone wants ziti? or ham? so idk. He also won't cut back on the antipasto, which is what everyone ends up filling up on, so then no one wants the big meal that follows.

On Thanksgiving, I personally would prefer a roast chicken to turkey, but truly, as long as my brother brings the stuffing and there's pie, I don't really care about anything else. The fancy cranberry relish is nice, and I won't say no to a dollop of mashed potatoes, but overall, I really do only want the stuffing.

Anyway! I took Monday off since we are off Tuesday for Veterans Day, so my plan is to make char siu again on Saturday and then finally try to make pork buns on Monday. We'll see how that goes.

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