Merry Christmas!

The Hungry Panda has relocated...to Oklahoma City!  Don't worry, this is just temporary.  :) 

 I helped break in my mom's new oven with cinnamon rolls.

 White bread (an oldie but goodie)

 Chicken balsalmico leftovers from Johnny Carino's

 The Poor Man's Brioche, by Peter Reinhart (This tasted like challah more than anything.)

 La Baguette's German chocolate cake

 Lunch buffet at Gopuram (yummy)

 Fruit and sausage kolaches from Kolache Kitchen.  Mr. S. and I stopped by on a whim, just when they were closing.  The manager and delivery guy told me glumly that some lady had ordered 2 boxes and had never come by to pick them up, so they were giving them to me for free.  We tried to pay but were told insistently, "Merry Christmas."  So.....awesome!  We practically ran out of the store.  I don't care for the fruit ones (as the filling tastes artificial) but the sausage ones are excellent.

 My Aunt L's amazing spicy ginger cookies

 Mr. S. smoked a turkey and my mom made 3 ducks for Christmas dinner.  :)

Hmm, it's been a while!

I'm in a different state right now, breaking in a brand-new oven and working my way through Peter Reinhardt's book.  Yesterday, I made cinnamon rolls and white bread, and today I made poor man's brioche.  Pics are pending.  Happy holidays to everyone.  :) 

To the window, to the wall

I'd been feeling very uninspired lately.  The best thing I've made recently are Hungarian cookie bars that I didn't even photograph, because they were ugly and sticky...but everyone ate them all.
In fact, the most exciting things I've done in 2 weeks are finish The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series...and go canoeing/camping. 

Anyway, here's my (lack of) culinary life in pictures:

 Naked Pizza---$15.99 for a 12 inch pizza that is a 6/10 at best....meh.  (I can picture the objections of "But it's ORGANIC!" Crust, sauce=lackluster.  Toppings were okay; my favorite part was the strong mozzarella.)

  

Happy Hour at BD's Mongolian Grill.  "I may not always drink beer, but when I do...I drink Dos Equis." (The wings sucked though.)

 Can you broil tofu and eliminate oil?  Yes, but then you get a LOT of burnt parchment paper.  And one warped pan.

 Sushi at Sapporo Grill---mediocre at best, but for half off, not bad!

 Sliders at Hamburger Hinkel's in Madison, IN---I've decided that I don't like sliders, but these were a hell of a lot better than White Castle.

 My upstairs neighbor made us flan, which I do not like.  This was kind of flavorless. :\  And yes, my husband is responsible for the left side of this picture. 

 We finally bought a cast iron pan.  This is Mr. S.'s deep dish pizza.  Yum.

And his Grandma's biscuits.

 Our dear neighbor J's potato kuku!  (Nope, couldn't stop Mr. S. from taking a piece of this either...)

 Mr. S. made these for some people at work (as opposed to asking me to make them for a change).  ;)

 

Alton Brown's steak.  Too salty and peppery for us, and more rare than medium rare, but it's not bad. 

Mr. S's grandma's chili with saltines.  My camera died that night, so I don't have pics of the eggs and bacon we had the next morning (not that you can't imagine what those look like...)

 

Our pizza box last night from Papa Johns; it made me laugh. 

Future posts someday:

-Semolina pasta

-More bread

-Review for Lilly's (yet another ritzy Louisville restaurant) 

-Hungarian cookie bars (because they're worth it)

Speak softly and carry a large spatula.

A couple of weeks ago, I made Peter Reinhart's Portuguese sweet bread.  The bread came out all right, but I didn't like it.  The flavor consisted entirely of artificial orange extract.  :(  

This week, I really wanted foccacia.  So much so that I made an extra trip to Wal-Mart just for a bottle of olive oil.  I will post the recipe soon, but here are some pics.  :)

 Before refrigeration and proofing

 After proofing (end product was 12" x 16")

 

Too oily, but very tasty.  :) 

Here's what I've been doing instead of studying....

Eating this from Nord's Bakery (like a Ho-Ho, but much better):

 And making these:

 Pumpkin chocolate chip muffins (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pumpkin-Chocolate-Chip-Muffins/Detail.aspx)  I used the spice modifications in the first comment.  Also, this yields 42 mini muffins!

 Cake pops for a candy maker (I feel intimidated...unfortunately a couple of these decided to crack. Ugh.)

Homemade sugar cookies + frosting + Wilton's Master 56 Piece Tip Set = me making a bunch of smiley faces.  :P Making frosting is exhausting, mostly because the butter is greasy and hard to wash off. 

Recipes here: (Sugar Cookie Frosting Recipe--with the following modifications: I halved the recipe, and used 1/2 c butter, 1.5 c sugar, and 1 tsp vanilla)  The cookie recipe is: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/The-Best-Rolled-Sugar-Cookies/Detail.aspx

I like soft cookies and Mr. S. likes hard ones, so take your pick on the baking times...As I have an electric oven, I always set it at approx. 25 degrees lower than the stated time in the recipe.

Round-up of random pics (yep, today is double post day)

 Mikato's Steak and Sushi---one of your generic places where the food is a little more American than Japanese.  But nevertheless still tasty.

 Mocha espresso at Derby City Espresso, with my delightful book club.

 Beautiful sugar cookies at Doll's Market

 Sombrero pasta, also at Doll's

Doll's Market mini cakes

 Above: lemon berry bar; below: Oreo dream bar (from Doll's and delicious)

 

 I've become attached to several bakeries in this area.  Cake Flour is my absolute favorite for scones and muffins (I'm eating a pumpkin chocolate chip scone now as I type, actually).  Nord's is for doughnuts, Heitzman's makes awesome butter kuchen, and Plehn's Bakery makes some of the most beautiful cakes I've ever seen.  They also sell cookies, brownies, doughnuts, bread, kuchen, and Amish noodles.  PLUS they have a soda fountain counter where you can get drinks and sandwiches.