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Monday, January 11, 2010

success, failure, and la boof

I locked us out of our house at 10:30 on Friday night.


We were coming back from a dinner date, and heading out again to feed an out-of-town neighbor's dog... and there was a little confusion about who exactly had the keys. Turned out, it was neither of us! So, after trying several different routes of getting back into our house, Husband decided to try kicking in the door. It didn't work, but it did break the doorknob. Luckily, a window had been left open from the last time I burned something in the kitchen, so we got in that way.
Lesson learned: Check all the windows before knocking in the front door.


It's a good thing Husband is a builder. He reinstalled it in no time the next morning!
And, he even LAUGHED about it. Whew!
(Yes, the front door is purple. This is a rental house, so I'm enjoying having a purple front door while I can!)

These-- believe it or not-- are macaroons.



Major failure.



Husband dubbed them "Flying Squirrels" and tried to help by saying he bets many pastry chefs have tried to achieve a similar affect as a unique edible art form.

I'm looking for a good macaroon recipe if anybody has one :)

AND NOW,
Rule #1 for cooking from Julia Child's cookbook:


dress as comfortably as you possibly can.

I made her Boeuf Bourguignon this weekend. It took me almost all day on Sunday, but was absolutely worth it. We began affectionately calling it "La Boof" sometime around hour 2 or 3.








My favorite part was browning and simmering the pearl onions.


They were so pretty.


And they glistened and rolled around the pan,



just like pearls.

And the finished product was

definitely akin to a fine jewel.

I couldn't decide which photo to use of the completed dish:




We'll be having the leftovers tonight, which Julia says is when it's best.

Since that took my whole Sunday afternoon, I will be choosing a less intense Julia recipe to cook next weekend and (hopefully) do the sewing I planned to do this weekend,


and save

my poor, dying



Rosemary plant.
Any suggestions?
I have no idea how I'm killing it.




11 comments:

  1. Try these!
    2/3 cup all-purpose flour
    5 1/2 cups flaked coconut
    1/4 teaspoon salt
    1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
    2 teaspoons vanilla extract
    Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
    In a large bowl, stir together the flour, coconut and salt. Stir in the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla using your hands until well blended. Use an ice cream scoop to drop dough onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about golf ball size.
    Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until coconut is toasted.
    As for the 'La Boof,' it looks La Mazing! Yum.
    I locked us out last year, with oven on inside (!!!), and hubby got so upset that now I am traumatized into always double checking if I have the keys, if he has the keys, if there are keys still in the door...you get the point.
    Hope these macaroons worl out for you!
    xo

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  2. Ha! I locked us out on Saturday. He'd left the key on the door from the inside and I got mine and closed the door. "Honey, why can't I get my key in the hole? Is your key in?" I tried to convince him that these things happen and horrible things happen every day, we shouldn't get upset over silly things...

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  3. How ironic! TWO people already with recent lock-out stories!

    Thanks, Dawn, for the macaroon recipe. I will be trying it SOON.

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  4. I heard that almost everyone who starts using Julia's book does the beef first...and that is HARD. My niece Amy, who is a much better attorney than cook, spent an entire day too making the beef. When she and her Mom sat down to eat they took a spoonful and looked at each other. "STEW," Amy said, as they nodded their heads.

    Re: Rosemary, full sunny spot, trim back, but NOT all the way to the wood, spray off with warm water, then DON'" overwater it. It can look thirsty, but be dying from TOO MUCH water.

    Sharon Lovejoy Writes from Sunflower House and a Little Green Island

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  5. perhaps the lesson should be: keep a spare set of house keys in one of your vehicles?

    I am also duly impressed with your cooking skills.

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  6. We definitely decided to hide one outside after that incident!

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  7. Oh my GOODNESS!!! The pearl onions looked so yummy I could've just had a plate full of THOSE!! Yum! Thanks for the footage of your little adventure here, SL...What a treat!

    (Good luck with the Rosemary plant! Too much water maybe? Or getting too cold out? Maybe bring it inside? Je ne sais pas.... )

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  8. HA! I am reminded of the time you came home from college one day while we were not there planning to use the key we ALWAYS kept hanging on that certain pine tree, only.....that tree was no longer there. We returned home to a nice little note from you thanking us for never fixing anything....i.e. The back window with the broken lock:)

    LOvE your new look...For some reason I felt sort of "crowded" with all of the old books you had right before this...I love old books, but you know what they say..."too much of a good thing..."...This one is quite vintage-y and soothing...Makes me want to curl up with a good old classic book and a cup of hot tea:)....Lug, Mug

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  9. Too funny - about being locked out. Love your attitude about the purple door - but I actually like the purple door too! :) - & your dish looks delish!

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  10. I can't help you with the plant I'm afraid...but I can complement you on your divine looking beef bourguignon! It looks delicious...I want to make it now myself!

    Sorry to hear about your fiasco with the door - at least it ended happily! The eye through the hole is very reminiscient of the movie 'The Shining' here!

    Thanks for your sweet comment yesterday too - funny you say about your brother...I've always said whimsically that I'd like to marry an American so I can move to the US back to my former home! But yeah there is this big thing called the Atlantic that kind of gets in the way and I know people who have tried to conquer it and have failed... oh well! Hope we both find someone one day! :) xxx

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  11. Hey there! So sorry I forgot to tell you I'm in for Friday. I thought 'yes, let's do it' the minute I read about it last week and then forgot to let you know. Can you imagine posting the same 'letter'? :)

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