Paris

Today I went out to a farm near Paris. Paris, TX that is. It's another farmer who raises 100% grass-fed, pastured beef. They also raise other pastured livestock. The name is Slanker's Grass-Fed Meats, you can find it on the web if you are interested.

Ted Slanker is a wealth of knowledge and he shares a lot of that knowledge on his website, www.texasgrassfedbeef.com. Of course, I didn't get to meet him, he was out tending to his animals, but I did get to meet his wife who was working in the office taking orders. They may have me come back out one of these days to cook for them, perhaps the week leading up to Thanksgiving since that's a busy week. How fun would that be!?!

Anyway, my freezer is well stocked again. Oooh. They had beef knuckle bones and marrow bones available. Of course I got some of each. Tomorrow, I roast the knuckle bones and make beef stock!

New Allergy Test

Well, I am holding the results of a new allergy test and, drum roll please, I'm no longer allergic to eggs!!! I have no food allergies, save a very mild allergy to oysters.

All of the medical professionals I've ever consulted about this have told me that there was no cure. This is nothing short of a miracle! It was an allergy that I had since a very young age, but didn't stop eating them until an allergy test in 1991 reported eggs in the severe level.

I received the new report from my doc today and this evening I ate my first egg, at least intentionally, in 16 years. I have to say, my expectations exceeded the taste, but I'm not disappointed. To eat an egg knowing that there would be no allergic reaction is cause for joy!

More Snow in Dallas

IMG_0499
Originally uploaded by mzones

Woohoo! It's snowing again. We started out the day with a nice rain, then mid-day it turned to snow mixed with rain. Now, it's all snow. Maybe "they" were correct to warn us in the 70's of another ice age. ;-)

White Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

White Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes 3
Originally uploaded by mzones

I made these cupcakes for a friend that I met on the set of The Imposter. She wanted to have some special desserts for a family gathering today and called me up yesterday. The cake part is white chocolate, and the frosting is white chocolate buttercream. I topped the cake with crushed raspberries, then piped on some buttercream and put a whole raspberry on the top of each little one. If I had a block of white chocolate, I'd make some chocolate curls to garnish, but alas I don't and so will just leave well enough alone.

She also wanted a Chocolate-Ancho Torte so I baked that off yesterday too and then poured chocolate-ancho ganache over it this morning. I made some Kahlua Creme Anglaise for her to serve with it.

Wonder which dessert will disappear the quickest.

Snowing in Dallas

Snow In Dallas 2
Originally uploaded by mzones

This is a picture taken from my apartment balcony. I knew you wouldn't believe me if I didn't have some evidence. ;-) I wouldn't believe me if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.

That's global warming for you.

Kung Pao Chicken

Kung Pao Chicken
Originally uploaded by mzones

This was my attempt at making Kung Pao Chicken. It was pretty good, it just needs a couple of minor adjustments to be better than good.

Chocolate Fudge Cookie

Chocolate Fudge Cookie
Originally uploaded by mzones

This is one of the goodies that I baked for the cast and crew on the set of The Imposter. I could not de-eggify this recipe as there are 4 eggs to 1/2 c. flour in the recipe. It's kind of like a brownie in cookie form. I snagged the recipe from www.joyofbaking.com, I did substitute Guittard Cappuccino Chips for white chocolate chips cause that's what I had hanging out in my cupboard. A double batch was gone in no time and for days after people were asking if there were any more of those cookies.

This recipe is a keeper!

That's a wrap

We wrapped the filming of The Imposter last night. Woohoo! Now Dan Millican, the Writer/Director, will begin editing. We have the wrap party tomorrow night. I'm busy making truffles because I just cannot go empty handed.

The Imposter

I've been volunteering on a movie set since January 17th. This is an independent film by Writer/Director Daniel Millican of Serendipitous Films (www.s-films.com). Given the low budget of the film, there are a lot of volunteers on this set. I am taking care of craft services (snacks and beverages) and meals.

I've been working on my business plan for a catering and personal chef business that I will start this Spring, so I had some time on my hands. When I found out about the filming of this movie and that they needed volunteers, I knew in my heart that I should go and help.

Eeek!!! A Mouse!

So, I woke up at 4 am today, went out to the kitchen to fire up the espresso machine and startled a mouse who was just hanging out on the counter. Eeek! I didn't find any signs of food break-ins, but they rarely stop in just to borrow a cup of sugar. Needless to say, I spent a good part of my day disinfecting my kitchen.

I was laughing at myself because my first inclination was to throw everything away...and I mean everything! It reminded me of the Seinfeld episode where Jerry accidentally drops his girlfriend's toothbrush into the toilet and then is too much of a weenie to tell her. He wouldn't kiss her after that and finally fessed up. So, she locks him out of his apartment then lets him back in and tells him, "there, now something of yours has been in the toilet." She won't tell him what it was, just says bye and leaves. So, he starts throwing everything away. She finally tells him, after his apartment is pretty much bare, that it was the toilet brush.

Anyway, back to the mouse. Once every square inch of my kitchen had been dissinfected and everything that could go through the dishwasher, made that trip, I went over to the hardware store and purchased a trap...just in case. Should the mouse return to this kitchen, hopefully s/he'll take gander in the trap to have a bite of peanut butter and that'll be the end of that rodent.