Sunday, December 11, 2011

It rained quite a bit Saturday night and most of Sunday. It's interesting to watch the rain come and go, sheets of rain coming down much heavier than we see in Nevada. I guess I am not bothered by all this rain because this is not a vacation, but a "working vacation". Or work in an exotic setting, if you will.

The Pumpkin Walnut Cranberry bread from yesterday came out a little flatter than I expected, but in all fairness, I think I let it over rise the second time. The flavor, however, was still good and it makes for good toast. It is not a sweet bread, but definitely a yeasty tasting bread flavored mainly by the pumpkin. The recipe for this bread can be found at www.thekitchn.com should anyone want to give it a try.

First breakfast was coffee and the Pumpkin Walnut

Crannberry bread toasted (I had a little jam on mine-Lavender Passion Fruit). Then more online work for me, trying to decide on appetizers for a cocktail party that would be elegant and festive. I did come up with two appetizer menus, one eclectic, the other Italian based appetizers. I emailed them off to Dr. Lynch and will wait to hear from him. I did call my sister to see if she would go shopping for me before I get back. She said she will. That will make my job easier and she is also willing to help me out the day of the cocktail party. That will also help tremendously!

Second breakfast or brunch, actually, was mini Ham Emmenthaler Tarts baked in the oven. We bought some puff pastry shells at Safeway and I pre-baked them and was going to fill them with the royal I had mixed up (classic royale is three eggs and 1 cup of milk, cream or half 'n' half, flavored with either a savory profile or a sweet profile-very versatile). I spooned ham and cheese in first, then added the royale and what to my wondering eyes did appear, but tasty Royale leaking out the bottom of the puff pastry!! Oh, no! So back into the bowl went what was left of the royale. I decided to partially cook the royale aster that so see if it would stay put. It did, so I scooped the partially cooked Royale back into the shells and finished baking them. Definitely a learning experience, lol! They were quite tasty. I used thyme, salt and pepper to flavor the royale.

We had Internet issues Sunday. The wireless router stopped working and there seemed to be no fixing it. I even had trouble getting my iPad and iPhone to get on the Internet. Don't know what that was all about!

There was time spent reading in the afternoon, then it was time to start dinner. I made Walu (a type of whitefish) with Lime Butter Sauce, rice, and zucchini sautéed in butter and garlic. Food does not have to be fancy to be good! The fish was from the local market and not bad. From what I understand, expensive cuts of fish are often imitated with lesser types of fish so this fish wasn't great but was flaky and moist and had a mild flavor. I made microwave chocolate cake for dessert. Impressive that you can bake a moist flavorful cake in a coffee mug, in the microwave, making just enough for one serving each! We decided it could have used some ice cream or frosting of some sort or Creme Anglaise on top, but it was tasty all the same, lol.