Enough is enough.

Dehydrated tomatoes.  :)

1.) No more pulled pork or cake ball pictures.  (Unless Mr. S. has a guest post about the Alton Brown smoker and its magic.)

2.) One loaf of bread every week in August---I promise.

3.) New banner to come (because the chef's hat blends in too well with the rice cooker).

Quite possibly the best doughnuts in the world.

I'm not much of a doughnut/donut person.  I don't drink coffee unless it's loaded up with a lot of flavored creamer, sugar, and milk, or unless it's free.  And you usually eat doughnuts when you drink coffee, right?  I usually don't go out of my way to get Krispy Kreme or Dunkin Donuts.  Don't get me wrong, they're good, just not worth visiting on an early morning.

But all that has changed.  

Close to me, there's a lovely place called Nord's Bakery that's family owned and very friendly.  They're also crowded on Sat. mornings, with people parking on the street just to partake in the goodies.  They sell sugar cookies (with beach themes now, like beachballs and little bears in bikinis), blueberry muffins, and some bread too, but the main attraction is the approx. 2 dozen varieties of doughnuts.  There's regular glazed, chocolate glazed, caramel glazed, nut adorned, honey buns, sweet buns, cinnamon rolls, several kinds of Danish....etc.  

So what, you might say.  Well, I think these are better than Krispy Kreme.  

Last Sat., I bought Mr. S. a lemon Danish and for myself, a cinnamon and pecan covered Long John.  He reported that his tasted more like a cinnamon roll in the base, but that it was good.  I was happy with my sweet (but not sickeningly so) confection.  Two doughnuts for $1.77---not bad.

Today, I bought myself a twisted, layered glazed doughnut (didn't catch the name unfortunately) and a bacon covered Long John for Mr. S. (easily the weirdest one in the case).

So how did this taste?  Lovely.  A lot of sugar fell off, which was okay.  I was most impressed with the layers.

This got cracked in transit.  :|  It smells like caramel, but we think that it's maple flavored.  The bacon is salty and contrasts strangely w/ the maple.  Mr. S. did not like it and so I ate the rest (after throwing away the bacon).

Total: $1.55.  Not bad.

Let me know if my photographs can be improved (besides using my brown table and brown countertop....the lack of pretty back-drops is a bit frustrating).  For the last 2 pictures, I used a piece of tissue paper to diffuse the light of the built-in flash, thus giving the pictures a softer look IMO.  :)

More pics of Pulled Pork Fest #539 to come.

Working for the weekend.

~Some Fisheye Pinot Grigio is waiting in the fridge.  I need it, after this week of people taking out their problems on me.  :P

~We're having dinner and games with T. & K. soon.  :)  I believe that I will make Smitten Kitchen's cookies again, but this time with Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips.  I bought some Vahlrona back in the day, which was good, but not amazing.  I am also very attached to Nestle Toll House.  So we'll see how this goes.

~Mr. S. made T.'s smoked pulled pork recipe the other evening, and I believe it was a success.  We also had French fries, steamed green & yellow beans, and zucchini bread.  Pictures to come. 

~Finally...after months of looking, we got a dehydrator.  :)  And it's humming away drying basil, oregano, mint, and sage as I type. 

Moo.

Homemade gazpacho!

Scrambled egg/tomato/pesto sandwich.  Delicious, but soggy.

Hot dog bun from DaLat Gateaux and Cafe.  No, I do not want to hear about how bad hot dogs are for me.  

Lunch at Lotsa Pasta---smoked turkey, smoked mozzarella, and veggies on foccacia.

I like my camera.  :D

Stone Soup meeting.  I helped with the gazpacho, and Mr. S. & I made the cucumber/tomato/zucchini/pepper/oil & balsamic vinegar salad.  We also prepared some yellow squash and onions, not pictured here.

What to do, what to do.....

A good way to get rid of monster-sized zucchini is to make bread...or muffins!  I need new bread pans, so the latter had to suffice.

Recipe here: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/zucchini_muffins/

I used cake flour instead of all-purpose, and 1/2 cup of butter instead of 2/3 cup (I really doubt there's much of a difference...).  Also, there are no walnuts, cranberries, or chocolate chips.

I'll let you know how they taste.  :D

*Edit:  They taste good.  I can only taste vanilla, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg though.  These might be a little too sweet, so I would omit 1/3 cup of sugar next time.

Food of the Fourth and other nom.

I quite like my red and blue blobs.

The time-honored chips and salsa.  A perfect excuse to play with the shutter speed on my camera.

Pulled pork goodness!!!

Lighting could have been better, but I still like this shot.

Maker's Mark bourbon balls.  :)

Mr. S. visited Mark's Feed Store, fell in love with their wings, and decided to re-create them for me, complete with honey glaze.  They did not survive long enough for picture taking.

DaLat Gateaux and Cafe makes the BEST coconut buns.  We also bought a pate choux and bacon & onion bun, but they did not survive the car trip home.

Happy Fourth of July!

A Persian dish, dizi.  Thanks J.!  This was tasty.  You dip the flatbread into the bean/meat/spices mixture.

These got a little toasty.   *sigh*  

Mr. S. bought me a spritz cookie press when we went thrifting (that had never been opened!).  Unfortunately, it and I did not get along.  These are the cookies that got baked before I threw it in the sink in frustration.

An example of the salads we've been eating lately--with homegrown cucumber, tomato, cilantro/dill, and store-bought spinach, croutons, and dressing.