Menu Item Numero Uno

If I ever open my own restaurant I think I found the first thing that will definitely be on the menu, especially during the winter. This Butternut Squash Soup will warm you up on even the chilliest of days. It's the perfect menu item, no matter what type of restaurant - little soup and sandwich bistro, specialty baked goods and treats, five star gourmet. I could see people coming back again and again just for this soup.

Butternut Squash Soup with a Kick

It would be a great appetizer as it wakens all your taste buds. At first you taste the sweet butternut squash and coconut milk, then you get a hint of thyme and sour cream before the heat of the jalapeno fills your mouth. Every bite is a journey for your mouth.

Quick & Dirty

Changes:

• I didn't remove ALL of the jalapeno seeds because I wanted to make sure it had enough "kick".  I left about half of them in, and it was just about perfect for my taste buds
• Sprinkled some dry thyme on top, didn't have any fresh
• Also ate it with whole wheat crackers mixed in, very very tasty

Yuminess:

• The mix of sweet and spicy is my favorite, and this is a new combo of the two for me
• Both the warmness and the spiciness of the soup is perfect for a cold winter day
• I ate it all too fast to try it, but this would probably freeze well if you made a huge batch of it

Sadness:

• I was selfish and ate it all myself, next time I'll try to make enough to share
• Butternut squash is kind of a pain to work with, otherwise I would make this all the time
• Making soup like this makes me want to get an immersion blender...just what I need, another kitchen gadget!

Eating an Identity Crisis

For about the last year and a half the project I've been working on is for a client out in Boston. We finally went out there a couple weeks ago to do on-site training and implementation. The clients were nice enough to provide muffins and other goodies throughout the day and in the morning I helped myself to what looked like a Boston Cream Pie muffin. They raved about how good these muffins are and how we wouldn't be able to get anything like them back in Minnesota. Well, I didn't think mine was that great. In fact, I didn't really like it at all and was glad I only took half. It had some weird flavoring that I wasn't expecting (orange flavored custard?). So after a long day of training and an awesome but not quite satisfying dinner, we went in search of dessert. On a dark, cold and rainy night we were lucky enough to wander into Quincy Market which was lined with various restaurants and bakeries. After walking up and down the aisle checking every place out, we finally picked out a couple creamy pies and sat down with forks at the ready. Only to be disappointed again. It was at least better than the muffin; the custard was pretty tasty. But there wasn't enough of it and the cake wasn't very flavorful. I guess that's what you get when you buy something that's probably been sitting out on a shelf all day.

I didn't get my craving satisfied while I was out in Boston, so I decided to satisfy it myself in my own kitchen. I've actually had this recipe for at least a year now, thinking I would make it when the project was over. Well, it's pretty close to being over now (crossing my fingers) so I thought it was finally time to celebrate. It took me almost all day on Sunday to make (scratch-made yellow cake, scratch-made chocolate cake, vanilla-rum custard, chocolate glaze, and assembly) and I was so worn out by the end of the day that I ended up having cold waffles for dinner (homemade buttermilk waffles that I had made the day before, don't worry they weren't frozen Eggos). It was all completely worth it though, especially getting to share it with everyone at work. I brought it in and everyone was so excited that I had made cake. But, I said, it's not a cake - it's a pie! Or is it a pie-cake? One thing is for sure, it was absolutely delicious!  And it's the least I could do to say a big Thank You for all the hard work everyone has put in.

Unfortunately I got this from a free preview issue of Cuisine at Home and they don't have the recipe online.  I'll have to type it up soon and post it so everyone can share in the goodness!

Spreading the second layer of custard

I thought it kinda looked like a hamburger at this point

Final chocolate glaze

Quick & Dirty

Changes:

• Will try to use real vanilla bean in the custard next time (I had a couple but I didn't realize they went bad!  The ones I had were stiff as boards and there was no way I could split them and get the goodness out of them)
• After making the cakes, I think I should've stored them in airtight containers instead of letting them sit out all day to cool.  I think they may have dried up a bit.
• I used 8x3 pans instead of 9x2 because that's what I had.  I think it made the cake taller but not a big deal.
  

Yumminess:

• The chocolate glaze was amazing
• Everything...even though this was quite a bit of work I could definitely see myself making it again.  I only got one little piece!
• The Vanilla-Rum Custard was pretty tasty, I could see making it for other things (maybe some custard filled donuts?)

Sadness:

• I think fresh vanilla bean really would've helped the custard pop even more
• Did I mention I only got one piece?!

WPF Ribbon Control officially released!

Word 2007

It's about time that I write a post about programming instead of cooking and what better way to start than a control I swore I would never use: the Ribbon Control. Those of you who have used the new Office 2007 or 2010 know what I'm referring to. Microsoft decided to switch up the normal menus across the top in 2007 and make us wonder why we could no longer go to File > Print and sent us searching for the Print button until we realized there was a big flashy round button that we were supposed to click on that held enormous power.

Word 2010

And then right away in 2010 decided this was a bad idea and gave us our File menu back.

Like most people, I hate change. If I have to go hunting for something as simple as Print or Save when I knew exactly where it was in the old version then it was a bad change. The thought of adding such a control to one of my own applications did not appeal to me at all. With the ribbon control, it felt like you were hiding functionality instead of giving more power right at your finger tips and making things more intuitive. I was also afraid of making an application that looked and felt exactly like Microsoft Office because this is the only place so far that the control is widely used.

Then one day a few weeks ago I was watching a demo of a competitor's new product that happened to use a ribbon at the top for it's main navigation.  And you know what?  It looked frickin' sexy.  They had a black theme going (similar to my 2010 screen shot above) and I fell in love.  About a week later I saw the announcement that the control had finally been released in all it's glory and I couldn't wait to get my hands on it.

So last weekend I finally got VS 2010 and Expression 4 installed on here and then downloaded the Ribbon Control and sample files.  As usual, my high levels of excitement led to quick disappointment.  I want everything to be easy to use right out of the box.  I started a new project in Blend and added a ribbon control and was overwhelmed by all the new controls and properties.  What's the difference between a RibbonGroup and a RibbonControlGroup?  What's the control in the upper left hand corner called and how do I add text to it instead of an icon?  Why are all the default colors so hideous and hard to change?  Oh yeah that's right, because Microsoft wants it to be difficult to style the ribbon and hopes we're all too lazy to figure it out.

After messing around with styles and colors for a while in Blend I decided it was going to be a lot of work to get my cool black theme going.  Next I thought I'd try to research some of these questions but this just led to more frustrations.  Of course there's only very basic documentation on MSDN:

"A RibbonGroup represents a logical group of controls as they appear on a RibbonTab."  Whereas "a RibbonControlGroup groups a set of ribbon controls into a visual and conceptual unit."

Well of course!  That clears it right up!  Some of the new controls actually have pictures which are very helpful, but it looks like very few do.  With such a visual control like the ribbon showing how a control will look and feel is kind of a necessity I think.  Then I remembered the guy's blog where I originally heard that it was released and read through that which was very helpful.  Yet I still didn't have any of my initial questions answered.  So I decided to check out the sample projects that I had downloaded earlier.  Surely they would lead me to the light of the ribbon. 

Sample Word App

Unfortunately I was quickly discouraged again because of the hideous UI in the sample apps.  The whole reason I wanted to use this control was because of how pretty I could make it.  I don't think their sample app really showcases those possibilities.  Really Microsoft?  You couldn't even include large icons that aren't extremely pixelated?

In the end I think I answered most of my own questions.  You can't easily put text instead of an icon on the application menu.  You have to override about 20 default colors to get rid of the blue/orange default theme.  I haven't given up yet though.  I've been working on my first ribbon app today and will be writing more later on some of my discoveries.

Gremo-what?? Gremolicious!

Even with all the cooking shows I watch on Food Network and the recipes I peruse online and in my magazines I don't remember much talk of gremolatas.  According to my friend Wikipedia it's a "chopped herb condiment typically made of garlic, parsley, and lemon zest" and used in veal and seafood dishes but tonight I tossed it with my farmer's market fresh summer squash and ended up with an amazing side dish to go with my tuna cakes.  

Roasted Summer Squashes with Caper Gremolata

I *have* however, heard of pattypan squash.  I watched a repeat this morning of Iron Chef America: Battle Butter and the challenger used it in one of her dishes.  Alton said pattypan so many times I just had to try it and was super excited to see someone offering it at the farmer's market this morning.  They are very cute and colorful little vegetables.  I got a mix of light green and bright yellow and even one that was half and half.  I also got little zucchinis which I used a few of in this dish but also hope to make some spicy pickles out of.  This dish was bright and citrusy and an easy new twist on summer squash.

Quick & Dirty

Changes:

• Accidentally bought regular parsley instead of flat parsley but I don't think that made much of a difference
• I did slice up my zucchini because I don't think they were as small as the recipe called for and I was afraid they wouldn't get soft and tender if I didn't chop them up into bite size pieces
• Cut the recipe in half...now I have to decide if I should make this recipe again to use up the rest of my pattypan or if I should venture out and try pattypan recipe #2!
  

Yumminess:

• The capers and lemon juice really make the veggies pop
• Pattypan has a pretty similar taste to other yellow summer squash, but the unique shape makes for a very pretty dish, and they're good for you too!
• Have I mentioned how super easy the whole dish is?  Just chop up the veggies and pop them in the oven and while they're roasting you can mix together the gremolata

Sadness:

• Nothing, really....this was a very sunshiny summery smiley side dish

Ssssssssspicy Shrimp Tacos

Last time I made a dish with salsa (the Avocado Salsa) I was very disappointed in the lack of heat. Most recipes tell you to remove the seeds and membranes from jalapenos because that's where most of the fire is and I've always followed that advice.  This time around I wanted the spice that the title of this recipe implies so I just sliced up the jalapeno before throwing the whole thing into the food pro (even though the recipe calls for a half of one with the seeds removed).

Spicy Shrimp Tacos with Grilled Tomatillo Salsa

And wow did it work!  The salsa was pretty amazing and maybe just a tad too hot for my taste buds (which are pretty wussy).  I wanted to devour all of it with chips before I even put it on my tacos.  Now my mistake with this dish came when I coated the shrimp with their spices.  I only used half a pound of shrimp but did the full amounts of hot pepper sauce, ancho chipotle chili powder, and ground cumin.  Yowzers were these some spicy tacos.  I could barely make it through two.  Luckily I listened to Cooking Light and served them with sliced cantaloupe which did help a little.  I would like to try making these again, cutting back on the spices and using fresher shrimp (the frozen shrimp ended up super rubbery).

Quick & Dirty

Changes:

• One whole jalapeno with seeds in the salsa, I think with only a half and no seeds there wouldn't have been much heat at all
• Cooked and frozen little shrimpies, this one was not a good change, can you say rubber bands?
• Halved the amount of shrimp but covered them in the full recipe of spices, they were HOT!
• Used chipotle chili powder instead of ancho because that's what I had on hand

Yumminess:

• The tomatillo salsa was really good, it was my first time using the little green tomato-like fruit (although they are related to the gooseberry and not tomatoes) and I will definitely be making more salsa verde in the future
• Cantaloupe is a good side for these spicy wraps
• Ground chipotle chili powder is still my favorite spice of the summer

Sadness:

• Too hot to eat although I (wo)manned up and finished it all off
• Didn't make enough salsa!  Finished off what was left after eating the leftover shrimp taco stuff with yellow corn tortilla chips, yum
• I wanted to smother these in sour cream because that really balanced out the spice but I also knew that would just be piling on the calories so I tried to be careful and just toughed it out

Cinnamon Applesauce + Chocolate Cake = Nummy

I was in the mood for a dense chocolate cake that I could really sink my teeth into and satisfy my sweet tooth without adding a lot more pudginess around the waist so I hit up All Recipes in search of the perfect thing.  I came across this, which didn't sound real appetizing at first (oil cake?) but got pretty good reviews and starts out with a pretty low calorie count at about 200 a piece which isn't bad for a delicious decadent dessert.

Chocolate Oil Applesauce Cake

Then I read through the reviews and found an interesting an idea - substitute the vegetable oil for a cup of applesauce!  Crunching the numbers as I like to do, adding a cup of oil is almost 2,000 calories whereas a cup of applesauce is around 100.  Which means if the cake is cut up into 24 servings this would save almost 80 calories a piece!  Well, I had some cinnamon applesauce in the fridge so I thought what the heck, let's give it a go.  And the results were fairly amazing...

Quick & Dirty

Changes:

• Obviously as mentioned above, substituted the cup of vegetable oil for cinnamon applesauce
• Since we saved all those calories...I didn't feel as guilty breaking up the cake on top of some vanilla ice cream and drizzling caramel sauce on top.  This is definitely the recommended way of eating this cake.

Yumminess:

• This cake is very dense and has an almost fudgy brownie-like consistency which personally I love
• I'm sure this recipe would make great cupcakes and the addition of a light frosting would probably elevate it to a whole other level 
• Another thing to note is the cake is egg-free in case anyone has allergies out there

Sadness:

• I was greedy and kept this cake all to myself instead of sharing and sadly I didn't make it through the whole thing before it went bad...I definitely learned my lesson there!  
• I tried making a homemade caramel sauce to drizzle on top but ended up burning it...guess it's not as easy as they make it look on TV

Mom's Stroganoff

What's more appropriate for Mother's Day than a recipe that was passed down from my grandma to my mom to me?  My grandma could whip this together from memory so my mom made her write it down.  My mom made her own changes and this is the version she gave me last time I asked for it.  I've made it a couple times now, so maybe it's my turn to put a twist or two on it!  Although it's already a five star dish just the way it is.  Thanks Mom!

Beef Stroganoff

1 1/2 lbs round steak

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 cups beef broth

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 small can sliced mushrooms

1 can Cream of Mushroom soup

16 oz sour cream

3 tbsp cornstarch

Salt

Wide egg noodles

Brown steak and onion in vegetable oil

Once meat is browned add beef broth

Stir in mushrooms and Worcestershire sauce and dash of salt

Simmer for at least 2 hours

When meat is tender and ready to eat:

Cook and drain noodles

Stir in Cream of Mushroom soup and sour cream to beef mixture

Dissolve cornstarch in 1/4 cup cold water

When beef mixture starts to boil, add cornstarch water to thicken the liquid