Sunday, December 2, 2007

Pictures at Eleven .....

So I promised pictures of the cheesecake, which btw was yummy. It probably could have stayed in the oven a little longer. It was really fine, I'm just being picky. Everybody seemed to love it.

Sorry about the quality of the pictures, (alcohol may have been a factor.....)
You may click for full size





More pictures from the weekend ..........



There was food





Sam is desperately hoping someone drops some turkey




There was fishing




There were flowers



Let us not forget naps in the hammock




It doesn't suck to be Clinton




Brave Sir Robin is very thankful for his friends, his family, and for those of you who care enough to stop by here and read my musings.

Thanks for stopping by. I am working on a long post to tell the whole Rene' story once and for all. It may be serialized, after all better bloggers than me have done it.

19 comments:

GourmetGoddess said...

I did my thanksgiving today, too. It was just me and the cats. My gravy was bad so was my stuffing. I am having an off day :) But I watched weird Russian sci fi, so that was cool...

Brave Sir Robin said...

Sorry about the stuffing and gravy..

But I watched weird Russian sci fi, so that was cool...

What was it?

GourmetGoddess said...

Night Watch and Day Watch. Totally wacked battle between good and evil but with lots of red tape involved. I really need to read more Russian mythology so I can really get it...

Brave Sir Robin said...

Night Watch and Day Watch

I've heard good things about that.

I gather it is (in book form) a series?

Anne said...

Holy FSM that cheesecake looks good. *drool* I'll be making this one soon!

The Suitor and I couldn't make it through Night Watch. I don't know why he didn't like it--he's very much into all things sci-fi/fantasy--but neither of us could get more than halfway through it. Maybe we, too, need to read more Russian mythology.

FWIW, this recipe makes a phenomenal gravy. It was on the thin side, but it tasted amazing.

GourmetGoddess said...

It is hard to watch them. I have a friend who has a PhD in Russian Literature and we were talking about Night Watch, and her comment was that is is very Russian but that it was difficult to explain exactly why. For me, they are hard because you get the big mythological backstory (good and evil battling, destroying the world, a truce is made, balance through the centuries blah blah blah) but you don't get the more recent history and backstory. It's like you step into the middle of something and go, wait, did I miss a chapter? And the whole supernatural beauracracy? Ok then...

Anne said...

It's like you step into the middle of something and go, wait, did I miss a chapter?

I think that more or less nails it for me.

Brave Sir Robin said...

Could you just add more flour to the recipe?

Anne said...

ps: I also sort of felt that way for the first half of No Country for Old Men, but for some reason I was more able to get over it. Highly recommended, that one, by the way.

Anne said...

Re: adding more flour, next time, yes; in the middle of the recipe, not so much. I would want to start with more roux, rather than adding flour after having added the gravy base and drippings. Alternatively, I could just add less of the gravy base.

Brave Sir Robin said...

I would want to start with more roux, rather than adding flour after having added the gravy base and drippings

absolutely!!

I haven't seen No Country For Old Men yet, but I read it last year and I loved it!!!!!

I plan on seeing it as soon as I can. (which may be a week or two....)

joshhill1021 said...

I too am drooling over the cheesecake. I can't really add to the whole Russian mythology thing as I know nothing about it, but now I have more films to add to my netflix queue.

GourmetGoddess said...

Evil looking cheesecake, by which, yummy.

I develop experimental cookies for a friend who is a baker. This summer, she branched into pies. Well, I don't really bake much other than cookies, but she wanted me to think about pies. So I was in the Indian market the other day, and I saw some rose jelly. Which got me thinking (always dangerous), and I am going to try and create a cardomum creme pie with rose jelly. Or a cardomum cheesecake with rose jelly. I will post on my website as soon as I actually get around to making it.

Anne said...

Cardamom cheesecake (and/or pie) sounds amazing. I love cardamom. I wanted to make cardamom ice cream this summer, but never got around to it. Now that we're heading toward winter holidays, I have cardamom truffles in mind.

All of which to say, big thumbs up from me. :)

GourmetGoddess said...

Anne -

There's a great recipe I often use for family gatherings when I am trying to get folks to eat less pie (haha). But anyway, take a dozen or so cardamom pods and put them in a coffee filter, wrap tightly and tie with a twisty. Bang gently with a hammer, just enough to crack the pods. Then take a can of lite coconut milk and put it in a sauce pan, add the cardomom, and bring to a rolling simmer. Simmer for about ten minutes and then turn off the heat, letting it steep for at least an hour. Remove the pods and stir about a cup of vanilla yogurt into the coconut milk. It makes a thick, delicious sauce that I serve over thinly sliced crisp apples... it is amazing!

Brave Sir Robin said...

That sounds amazingly good, but I don't think I can buy whole pods around here......

:(

How many seeds would it take? And do I need to crush them?

GourmetGoddess said...

When you buy cardomom, they normally come either ground or as green pods (although there is also white, which is used in northern European baking, or black, which is very smokey and must be stored in the frig). Hidden inside the green pods are these little black seeds. The green pod is what you crack with the hammer.. then the liquid can get in and play nice with the little black seeds.

I get all my spices from Penzys. They also do mail order. I adore them and wish one was closer so I could work there on weekends....

Anne said...

Another vote for Penzey's! I didn't even know they had stores--I just thought they were mail/internet-order. Sadly (or maybe best for my budget) there isn't a store near me.

I am filing that apple/coconut/yogurt recipe away for future use! Actually, maybe for very near future use. I happen to have all those ingredients on hand for imminent Thai and Indian cooking, so maybe I'll make it sometime this week. Does it keep in the fridge, or is it one of those things that's best finished off immediately?

GourmetGoddess said...

I never have any leftovers, so I can't say! *laughs* I imagine it would keep as long as opened yoghurt would keep.....