Vic:  Is that a piece of work or what?
Clark:  What is this? “Rodolfo Lasparri”?
Vic:  Clark, I gotta tell you. The odds are pretty good we’re all gonna be on a plane to Palermo, Sicily tonight, at midnight, *if* we’re still walking.
Clark: I don’t want to go to Palermo, Sicily!
Vic: Have you ever been there?
Clark: No, of course not!
Vic: Then you really can’t make an informed judgment, can you, Rodolfo?

This movie quote from one of my all time favorite movies, The Freshman. Which brings me to my point…if you’ve never been somewhere, how do you know you don’t want to go? If you’ve never tried a food, how do you know you wont like it? AND if you have never curled before, how can you bag on it?

Yeah, you read that right…I’m going to dedicate my post to defending curling. I have done nothing but defend curling ever since the start of the Olympics, so why not here too.
I openly admit to any and all, that I curl. Sadly, I don’t do it currently as the division I qualify up here for plays on the same night that I play hockey. But I would if I could and have been on teams in the past. Like hockey, I lack skill at the sport, though I do throw a mean stone.

Now I think why so many people don’t like it is number one, you do actually have to think. Which most people do not like to have to use their brains now a days. It is a high strategy game. And once you learn the rules, you catch on to what they are doing and why. Trust me, after forcing my Southern husband to watch it, he likes it now. So much so that he actually tried it and wanted to join a league with me. Yeah, that’s right, I’m outing him.

The other is you look down right stupid doing it. I freely admit that as well. The sweeping…ummm. So not cool looking. But before you pass judgment on that, hold a mirror up to your face the next time you are going at it in the sack. You look like a moron. But hey, you’re having fun…if you’re doing it right. I mean, they don’t call it bumping uglies for nothing.

I would also quickly like to throw my support to the biathlon as well. Oh sure, I have no idea why this sport even came an Olympic event, but you have to admit, that shit is hard. Don’t believe me? Go run a couple miles and then try and shoot at targets. And then you have to keep shooting at them until you get them. Then run again. Ugh. No thank you.

So in food relatedness, huckleberries. When I was younger I refused to try them because they looked like blueberries, which I have an allergy to. I missed out on them for a of my life because of that. Because darn it all, I like huckleberries. Lang over at Fat of the Land tried to make a huckleberry buckle and it didn’t turn out to his liking. So he put out a challenge to make it better. Okay. I’ll try. First off, huckleberries aren’t easy to find, so he let us use blueberries as option B. I had to go with option B. We were also told to use frozen, that way people can make it year round. Okay.  He also wanted easy, since Lang is not a baker, more of a cooker. Okay.

So the next time you get the chance to try a huckleberry, do it. And the next time you go to make fun of curling…don’t knock it till you’ve tried it!!!!

Blueberry (because huckleberries are next to impossible to find) Sort of Buckle  But More Like Cake Concoction

9 oz frozen blueberries or huckleberries
5 oz self rising flour
zest of 1 medium lemon
¼  granulated sugar
¼ cup brown sugar, loosely packed
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 fl oz milk
3 ½ ounces (about 7 TBSP) unsalted butter, melted

For the topping:
1 oz all purpose flour
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
1 oz granulated sugar
2 TBSP unsalted butter, cubed

Preheat the oven to 350F.
Prepare a 8-inch diameter (or four, 4 ½ -inch) spring form pan with butter and parchment paper.

Sift the flour, lemon zest, and sugar together in a large bowl. Set aside.

Using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whisk the egg, milk, vanilla, and melted butter together. On low speed add the dry ingredients and combine.

Beat well until thick and smooth. Remove bowl and scrap down whisk attachment to get all the batter.

Spoon into prepared pan (or evenly through out the 4 mini ones) and spread evenly. This will seem like a small amount, but remember stuff is going on top.

Scatter blueberries over the mixture and gently  press them with the back of a fork (I used my hand).

To make the topping, place all the ingredients into a medium bowl. Using your hands or a pastry cutter, make a crumb like mixture. Scatter the topping over the blueberries.

Bake for 30-35 minutes (about 27 for the minis) or until the top is lightly golden and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Leave in spring form for about 10 minutes until cool enough to handle. Then run a knife around the edge and remove the cake from the pan. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Adapted from Bake by Rachel Allen

The month of love is upon us and so I thought it would be best to spread some of the wonderful knowledge obtained over the years in the locker room. Don’t panic men of the world, not spilling secrets, just helping you out on a few things (I promise).

Men are not into the details. They just don’t think this way.

If you ever watched the movie Legally Blonde there is a great scene where the lead character Elle is asking about her shoes. “Don’t stomp your little last season Prada shoes at me, honey” is what the gay guy says to her about her shoes. Turns to her straight ex and asks what kind of shoes am I wearing…he says “black”. Your husband or boyfriend may be trained by now, I mean even my husband can pick out a Coach bag (though he could not tell you if it was real or fake) but overall, men are just not paying attention.

Before you go off saying that if he loved you or heck even liked you he would notice. Yeah, not so much. In some ways this is good and you should go with it (think back to all the times you have said “this old thing” and gotten away with it). First off, if your husband/boyfriend is bad about not noticing what outfit you wore on your first date that you had 7 years ago, you should just be happy that after 7 years have gone by you are still together. Nagging on him because he didn’t remember you were wearing the red Marc Jacobs dress with the small slit down the right leg with the T-strap nude heels really doesn’t get anywhere.
And if he does remember the outfit, it’s more likely just how your boobs looked in it, than the outfit itself. But really what are you gaining? Do you love him more because you remember he was wearing a black cashmere sweater, white button down J. Crew shirt (that no doubt some ex-girlfriend bought him), and jeans?

Some may find it unromantic but I have lists. Amazon.com. Anthropologie. Tiffany’s(a girl can hope). Nordstrom’s…they all have wish lists with my name on them. This takes stress away from my husband. He appreciates it greatly. I get what I want and am therefore happy. I am happy, therefore he is happy. He has lists too. I greatly appreciate it as well.

I recently forgot this rule. I forgot that men don’t take big giant, giant, in your face everyday for over two years hints.
Case in point. I have a small love of Louis Vuitton handbags. I own a couple. I always want more in my consumer driven life. So for over two years I had what I thought was a decent sized picture of the Louis Vuitton Damier Azur Hampstead PM hanging up on my cork board which hangs over my computer. In the computer room. That we both share. Clearly he would have caught on. As a woman I would think so. As a man, no. And I should have remembered that.
When we came into some bonus money I had made a comment/joke(though truth in humor) about how he should get me my purse now.
“What purse?” What purse I thought to myself, giving him the lovely WTF look.
“The purse in the picture above my computer.”

 He stared.

“How long has that been up there?”
“Over two years.” 
“Really?”
Needless to say, I own that purse now. The hints did not work. Hints never work. Stop hinting ladies.

Women, however are good at taking hints. So when my friend R started to reminisce about a bread pudding I had made for him and his friends a few months back I knew what he really meant was, please make us some bread pudding. So I did. Though I made it in a flavor I wanted. Brown sugar with apples and a nice toffee sauce.
We all know I love bread pudding and this one is no exception. I added a little Lyle’s Golden Syrup and it added a nice caramely flavor to it. Mmmm. So very good.

 Brown Sugar-Apple Crossiant Bread Pudding with Toffee Sauce

4 large croissants or 6 small ones
1 pint heavy cream
4 egg yolks
¼ cup Lyle’s Golden Syrup
½ cup dark brown sugar, packed
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup apples, diced (you could probably used dried as well)
1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350F

Tear the croissants into pieces. Place half of them onto bottom of a prepared baking dish (buttered 8-x-x8).

Sprinkle bread evenly with ½ cup raisins and ½ cup apples.

Mix the egg yolks, brown sugar, Lyle’s Golden Syrup, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a bowl. Then stir in the heavy cream. Whisk until thoroughly combined.

Pour ½  the custard over the bread. Press down the bread pieces until the bread is soaked with the custard.

Place remaining bread on top of the soaked bread. Then sprinkle with remaining apples and raisins. Pour the remaining custard over and again, press down on the bread pieces until they are soaked with the custard.

You will most likely have extra custard depending on how stale your crossiants are. Don’t feel like you have to use all the custard.

Place pan into another pan that will hold a water bath. Bake the bread pudding for 45 minutes until golden on top. Cool 10 minutes and serve warm.

Toffee Sauce

3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup whipping cream

Stir brown sugar and butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat until melted and smooth, about 2 minutes.

Add cream and bring to a simmer. Simmer for about 5 minutes. Serve over bread pudding warm.

First off, Happy Groundhog Day (go six more weeks of Winter)! If you are a loyal CCbP reader than you know today is my favorite holiday. For cute Groundhog Day cupcakes, go here.

Ebay, like Amazon.com is evil. Evil because you can find just about anything on that site. And I often do. The thing I seem to search for the most though is clothing. And not just clothing, Anthropologie clothing. For months I had been stalking a skirt that I wanted for years (yes, I wear skirts…dresses too, want proof…go here). It was never in my size at the store and when it finally was, I was flat broke. Sigh.

Finally, a few days ago, there it was. In my size and from a seller with good feedback. I jockey back and forth with someone who apparently wanted to skirt as much as I did, but in the end, I won (was there ever any doubt). And the brown skirt all covered in different colored bows will be mine!

And though a rare find on Ebay is nice, a rare find in a person is even better. In this case a goat. I know, a goat is not a person. It is to me. See, that is what I call the people I find who will eat pretty much anything I throw their way. And when you can find a true goat, one that eats ANYTHING you throw your way…that boys and girls is a rare find.

Nothing makes someone who bakes/cooks more happy than finding someone who will eat whatever you make. No, there’s nuts in there comments. No, I don’t really do coconut. No, I don’t like white chocolate. Just…thanks. Thanks for making me food. Ahhhh, so very, very nice and very, very rare.

This here cake is the result of me having a true goat again. You eat key lime. Sure. You eat raspberries. Sure. You want cream cheese frosting (though really, who says no to that). Sure. Sure is a good thing to tell a girl who wants to bake.

My raspberries were less than flavorful on this one, mostly because it isn’t the time of year. So I did throw in a little extra raspberry puree between each layer of cake to try and give it a little more flavor. Fairly straightforward cake. I used the Magnolia vanilla cupcake recipe and just took out the vanilla and replaced it for key lime juice. And before one more person asks, why I use self rising flour in the recipe…because that is what they used. Simple as that.

Graham Cracker Cream Cheese Frosting Covered Key Lime Cake with Raspberry Mascarpone Mousse Filling
Key Lime Cake

1 ½ cups self-rising flour
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk
4 TBSP key lime juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line 6 (4 ½ -inch diameter) spring form pans with parchment paper. And spray with baking spray (or grease and flour).

In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth.

Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and key lime juice.

With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended.

Equally distribute batter among pans, filling them about three-quarters full. Bake for 23-27 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean.

Cool the cakes in the pans for 15 minutes. Remove from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Adapted from More From Magnolia: Recipes from the World Famous Bakery and Allysa Torey’s Home Kitchen

Raspberry Mascarpone Mousse:

2 eggs, separated
4 TBSP sugar
4 oz mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
5 ounces heavy cream
2 tsp. powdered gelatin + 2 TBS water
1/3 cup raspberry puree (sees removed)

Sprinkle the gelatin over the water, stir and let sit to bloom.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the mascarpone with the sugar, add egg yolks and whisk until well incorporated.

Heat the gelatin for about 10 seconds in the microwave and quickly whisk it in the mascarpone batter.

Add the raspberry puree.

Whip the egg whites until stiff, fold into the mascarpone mixture. Whip the heavy cream to medium stiff peaks, and fold into the mascarpone.

Adapted from Tartlette

Key Lime Cream Cheese Frosting

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
3 TBSP unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup key lime juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
2-4 cups powdered sugar (depending on the consistency you are going for)

Beat together the cream cheese and butter, about 2 minutes. Add key lime juice and vanilla while mixer is on low until fully incorporated.
Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until you reach desired consistency.

To assemble: Cake, mousse, cake, mousse, cake. Frost the heck out of it. Cover with crushed graham cracker pieces if desired.

As many of you know, I get quite a bit of email from this blog. Some good. Some bad. Some way out there. Some highly amusing. But then I got this one. The one I am deeming better than the Refund Muffin letter. The one that could lead my blog into a whole other direction.

Dear Peabody,

I stumbled across your site while searching for porn. Your site came up under food porn. I thought it would be something else. I read part of your blog and I did like the picture of you in your wedding dress and want to encourage you to have real porn on your blog or you can just send me naked photos.

Looking forward to seeing you, all of you.

F

Dear F,

Umm. In my almost 5 years of running this blog this has been my first request to remove my clothing. Thanks???

That being said there are only a few fortunate souls who get to see me naked.
#1 Husband (position is filled)
#2 Hockey team in locker room. And this is only partial, really I think my swimsuit probably shows more.
#3 Women’s locker room at gym.
So looks like you are out of luck.

Staying clothed,
Peabody

As you guess it, this one threw me for a loop. It was however the highlight of the day, perhaps the week. But then the hard part set in (perhaps on F’s part…bad I know). What to make to represent this fine email? I had originally thought something with melons, so that I could title the post “nice melons”. But then I got to thinking, I don’t really want to make/eat anything with melon. It’s not really melon season and I am not a huge fan of melon desserts.

In the true sense that inspiration can come from anywhere, I was folding laundry. I have this t-shirt that I wear to bed from time to time. I originally bought it to wear to a tropical themed party…it has a coconut bra on it. And I immediately thought…coconuts. And thought, “I have a lovely bunch of coconuts”. And thus came about the coconut theme of the day.

The ice cream was chosen because it is quick and easy, just like F hopes I am. But just like ice cream F, I’m cold and frigid. This is simple with few ingredients. I added the dash of rum, because really, after a email like that, I could use a little hard alcohol in my life.

Lovely Bunch of Coconuts Ice Cream

Makes about 1 pint

2/3 cup heavy cream

1 cup coconut milk

¼ cup white or unrefined cane sugar

1 TBSP coconut flavored rum

In a medium-sized saucepan, bring all the ingredients to a boil.

Reduce the heat and simmer gently for ten minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, and chill the mixture thoroughly.

Once chilled, freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions.

Adapted from David Lebovitz.com who adapted it from Delicious Days by Nicole Stich