cmcinnyc's Profile

OK, I made this. And I made a colossal mess. Did no one else experience chocolate EVERYWHERE from putting a hand held mixer into what is essentially a bowl of water? I used a BIG bowl, too, set on top of the ice water. Also, it took about 11 minutes of beating before the mousse changed (and changed suddenly) from liquid to mousse. It was delicious--but I had to take a shower and devote quite a bit of time to scrubbing the walls, etc. If I ever try this again, it will be with a whisk and a team of whisk-ers (because I think it would take a good 20 minutes of vigorous whisking to achieve).

Good tips! I would add: use the very biggest mixing bowl you have. If it's not very big, get one. My daughter's first and favorite task was/is whisking eggs. Even for 2 eggs I give her a massive bowl. Only big mishap so far: she touched my upper arm with the whirling beaters. No harm. I was quite frosted, though.

Another thing to keep in mind: they might not eat what they help make, but I think it's worth having them continue to wash spinach they won't eat because someday...one can hope.

I recently made the over-soft butter mistake, and instead of a sheet of cookies, I made a sheet of cookie. The whole thing just spread together. Ugh. The worst part is, YES I DO KNOW BETTER. I was in too much of a hurry to put the butter, or the dough, in the fridge for a while. And that's the essence of most of my mistakes: I wing it and pray to the Kitchen Gods, and their reply is always "Slow Down Willya?"

This is genius.

One of the great pleasures in life, for me, is getting to eat a nice meal and enjoy a good book UNINTERRUPTED. I liked this when I lived alone; I LOVE this now that I have a young child. Whether I'm home alone at lunch time on a Saturday because her dad took her to a birthday party, or I'm at a nice cafe in the evening because he's doing school pick up and I've got a free evening, I love love love to eat alone. And read. And all that precious focus-on-your-food, chew-56-times-minimum is just boring.

My kid's current faves are red lentil w/herbes de Provence (that surprised me, but she LOVES it) and butternut squash. Former faves, now mostly shunned, were minestrone and kale-white bean. I have pictures of her toddler face ringed with green where she picked up the bowl to drink the last of the kale-white bean, but her 1st grade self won't touch it. Oh well. Someday she'll be back to it.

AAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!

My brother would make this. Then again, he makes jalapeno lasagne.

I almost always use the white, but it is a great save for scallions that are getting dry or limp in the fridge.

I'll try just about anything but if I'm buying mayo or ketchup, yes, Hellman's or Heinz. When the deli only has packets of Hunts for my egg sandwich I kind of wrinkle my nose but I eat it. And DeCecco for dry pasta. When I was a kid there was a faux Oreo called Hydrox that were anathema. We told our parents we'd sooner have no cookies than endure the cheap imitation Oreo and we meant it.

Oh man...I just had a Full Day of Kitchen Fail. Haven't had a run of that in months. Awful. I was trying out some new-to-me Japanese recipes. The cabbage pancake (my veggie riff on okonomiyako) was pretty good, actually, but everything else? Ugh. Even the cupcakes were AWFUL! How often are cupcakes bad!?

Japanese food just makes me psycho. I would give up but my successes make the (1/2 Japanese) family very happy.