Real World

Well, today was a good day. Woke up late, decided there was nothing crucial happening first thing in the morning, so went back to bed for a while… when I finally got out of bed (noonish) Chris got up and made these FANTASTIC chocolate-chip banana muffins out of a new book I got at Whole Foods… nobody would guess they’re wheat-free. He and I have both enjoyed reading that book – most of the books have been the results of people learning to cook and working around this weird intolerance – this one is what happens when a classically trained French chef turns her considerable talents on the challenges of gluten-free baking. Lots of meringues and nut flours and heavy egg treatments – I’m looking forward to trying many of these recipes. I’ve always had an impression that there are different realms of cooking… one for ordinary folks, and one for professionals. I’ve seen this stuff happen on rare occasions – like when my friend Christina made this chocolate-raspberry Velvet. Before that, I was a mere acolyte in the religion of chocolate – I didn’t know of mysteries like Ganache and Chocolate Pate’. I think that at a certain point, chocolate has a matter-density effect sort of like extra-dense stars… and you find yourself looking up from the event horizon, wondering if you’ll ever escape, or want to. This book explains some of the really intensive stuff in a way that I can understand. This woman must live next to a dairy farm and a poultry farm, though… I’m glad she didn’t list anything so trivial as fat grams. Whole Cream and Egg Yolks and Melted Chocolate, Oh My! Look out Raspberry Genoise, here I come.

Then after I got showered and dressed, I went to the Indian grocery (where I get my flours – it’s a bit of a trip, but a LOT cheaper than getting them from Whole Foods or the like) and then to Sam’s (for forty pounds of baking soda, and another book on dessert baking, which is also really cool) and then back home – then Chris and I went out to Sur La Table, down in the Travis Walk area, which has every cooking tool you could possibly want to have. Of course, they’re pricey… but if you just have to have a mini-brioche pan, or a springerle cookie mold, it’s your store. It’s beautiful inside, too… and they do cooking classes there, so it smells wonderful all the time. Quite an experience. Then we went to Williams Sonoma, and basically wandered through long enough to conclude that it has nothing on Sur La Table as far as cool cookery… then dinner, then home. Just baked off a batch of chocolate chip cookies – nothing gourmet, but sure are yummy! Chris is still too full from dinner to try them. We had Mexican tonight, but had ribs last night… Tony Roma’s is one of the places on my Safe List, as long as I choose foods carefully – and they had an “endless slab” special. Yum. Chris is sure that he’s still full from then.

It’s fast approaching bedtime, so if I have to get the kitchen cleaned up and sorted out and my clothes ready for tomorrow. Chris has a second interview tomorrow, so I’m hoping that this time next week, he will be coming home tired but happy from a New Job.