Road Trip

Road trips can be a lot of fun with the windows down and the music blaring.  Or they can be a pain with the snow coming down like crazy across the high country.  I probably should have taken the longer south route down through New Mexico and Arizona, but the weather.com assured me I could expect 0% chance of precipitation on the I-70 and I-15 stretches on Saturday. 

But there were some pretty breathtaking sites...and we stopped at many of them for puppy breaks. 

Starting in Colorado...Glenwood Canyon is always a favorite.

Utah started off not too shabby either...

But then it became this for the remainder of the state....

But then off in the distance there's a bit of blue sky, right about where Arizona began. It was as if Arizona just refuses to acknowledge snow.

And finally we made it to the sunny blue skies of Vegas....to see a little Chipmunk. 

Fast and Easy Vietnamese-- Vietnamese Salad Rolls with Salmon

I have to admit that it's kind of fun cleaning out the pantry and freezer and using up ingredients.  Between cleaning and packing, I'm also making quite a dent in the kitchen stock.  Using on items on hand instead of shopping requires a bit of creativity.  I feel like Laura Ingalls.

A lot of salmon in the freezer, some rice vermicelli and rice paper, and it was a given that I needed to make Vietnamese summer rolls.  Or fresh spring rolls.  Or salad rolls.  Whatever you feel like calling them--they are one and the same. And for a salmon recipe I turned straight to one of my absolute favorite cookbooks: Salmon by Diane Morgan.  I'm definitely a fish eater and salmon is right up at the top of the favorite list.  An entire cookbook dedicated to just this, makes cooking salmon on the spur of the moment so easy.  I don't think there's a recipe in this cookbook I haven't loved.

Fresh spring rolls/salad rolls are about as easy as it comes.  While usually served as an appetizer, I think they make a perfect light dinner.  Like the pad thai from last week, they may require a trip to the asian grocer--not sure I've ever seen rice paper anywhere else.  They come packaged dry and require a quick 5-10 second soak in warm water before they are pliable enough to roll.  The elephant on the cover is just a bonus.

Rice vermicelli or bean thread noodles, require a slightly longer soak (20 mins).  They come in these 2 oz mini-packs all bundled together in packs of 8.  When I was a kid, I always begged my mom for the pink mesh bag they came in.  I don't know why except pink mesh is way cool.

Start off by getting these guys soaking in hot tap water.

 Make hoisin-peanut dipping sauce.

These can really be filled with any variety of veggies--just cut them long and narrow.  I used carrots and spinach because I need to put spinach in everything.  I personally think the cilantro sprigs make these rolls, but it is of course optional. That's the beauty of these.  The softened rice paper is almost invisible on the white plate--sorry should have used a colored one.  But it's there underneath the filling.  I promise.

Then you just roll them up spring roll style.  Or burrito style. (Roll one full roll over filling creating cylinder shape, fold sides in tight and continue rolling cylinder)  Ta-da.  That easy.

Vietnamese Salad Rolls with Salmon

adapted from Salmon by Diane Morgan

Salmon and marinade

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

2 tsp fresh grated ginger

12 oz salmon

Hoisin-Peanut Dipping Sauce

2 tbsp chunky natural peanut butter, slightly warmed to soften

1/4 c. hoisin sauce

1/2 c. water (the recipe calls for 1/4 but I found the sauce too thick)

1 tbsp fish sauce (this is probably optional)

1 tsp fresh grated ginger

1 tsp red pepper flakes (or to taste)

Rolls

1 two oz package of rice vermicelli

8 round rice paper wrappers

1 carrot thinly sliced lengthwise

1 cup spinach cut into long slices

16 sprigs of cilantro

Directions:

Soak rice vermicelli in hot tap water (not boiling) for 20 mins.  Drain in colander

Combine marinade ingredients.  Place salmon in shallow dish and pour marinade over the top.  Turn several times and set aside for 20 minutes

Combine all of sauce ingredients, stir until well combined.  Set aside until ready to use

Set and oven rack about 4 inches from broiler and preheat broiler.  Remove salmon from marinade and broil until bronzed, about three minutes.  Turn over and cook 3-4 minutes on other side.  Cool

Slice salmon into long strips

To assemble rolls, have a large bowl of warm water and clean, dry linen towel ready. 

Dip one rice paper into warm water for 5-10 seconds, turning to wet both sides. Dry off excess water with linen towel and lay rice paper on plate (or linen towel)

Top with samll mound of noodles, spreading them horizontally

Place a piece of salmon, carrots, spinach and two cilantro sprigs on top of noodles.

Roll and then place onto platter and continue rolling remainder. 

Serve with dipping sauce

Looking 10 Years Younger

It started with a "group coupon" offer many months ago. Now usually, I don't jump at any of the beauty oriented ones, but this one spoke to a special place in my heart: laser hair removal. I admit to being slightly addicted.  I waivered a bit because I have a place in Ft. Collins that I adore and they never upsell their services.  That 75 minute drive is brutal though and this offer for a place a mere 5 minutes from my house was so appealing.  I knew deep down though there would be some hard selling, prepared myself for that, and hit "purchase."

As I sat down in the waiting room next to the wrapped up liposuction patient I realized I probably wasn't as prepared as I thought I was.  I was ushered into a room with an entire wall lined with brochures.  Seriously, one whole wall. The doctor walked in, studied me for a minute and walked over to the wall and carefully selected 4 brochures off the wall.  Apparently a quick glance at me is enough to determine my top four greatest needs: Botox, Restylane, lip collagen and coolsculpting.  Fast forward to today's followup appt,  should I be glad that I was only offered two brochures?

There it is again--Botox.  Have to say, not a fan of the word "toxin" right there on the cover.  And if she thought I looked old today, well, she should have seen me this weekend. 

As it turns out, this week I already discovered a phenomenal plan for looking 10 years younger.  I think it's pretty foolproof, and best of all, it's completely free.  I don't have a brochure for it yet, but will share with you the high level plan.  While you can probably take a bit of a shortcut, the plan really requires a full week to get the highest impact results.

Days 1-6

1. After showering, pull wet hair back into bun. Pull a few strands out to fly about crazily. 

2.  If you have naturally lovely and smooth straight hair, grab a small curling iron and create tight ringlets that stand straight up from your head, paying special attention to the little short flyaways around your face. If your hair is naturally curly and frizzy like mine, well, we are already good on this one.

3. Refuse to put any makeup on. Mascara is cheating.

4. Dress in anything with the word "addidas" or "old navy performance fleece" on it.  Mountain Hardwear is too much effort.

5.  Walk by mirror periodically and wonder who that really old person in the mirror is. This will come naturally by the 3rd day. 

Day 7

1. After showering, coax hair into brilliant smoothness with hair dryer and large brush.

2.  Apply makeup

3.  Dress up and put on stilettos 

4. Walk by mirror and wonder where the 85 year old woman went

5.  Walk by mirror again and wonder when you became so young. 

It requires a bit of time, but all brilliant plans do.  I'm telling you this plan is genius if I do say so myself. I can't tell you how many times I sighed with relief that I absolutely looked 10 years younger than I had just a few days ago.  Go ahead, give it a try--no anabotulinumtoxin required here.

Chocolate Ganache Cake

Is chocolate cake for Valentine's Day cliche or expected?  I maintain it's necessary.

I am a big fan of chocolate cake, the super rich, ultra chocolatey kind.  In fact, when visiting Cheesecake factory, where dessert is pretty much mandatory for everyone, I always take home a slice of their gazillion layer chocolate cake.  What I especially love about their cake is that the layers are filled with a rich chocolate ganache type filling.  I think ganache may be an unrecognized relation of crack.  Just saying is all. 

My favorite at home chocolate cake starts with a cake mix.  No excuse really.  Although the cake mix is doctored up, it's not really about the cake in the end, it's about the ganache oozing from inside the cake that makes this wonderful.  Just don't think too hard about the ingredient list and the amounts of cream.  While there is coffee in the cake, I don't think this tastes like coffee.  It just makes the chocolate taste richer.

See, first you poke these holes all over the cake--kind of like the days of pudding cake.  But instead of pudding, we are going to poor the crack ganache, straight into those holes, while the ganache is super warm and oozy so that it soaks into the cake as well.

Then, when it seems the cake can't hold anymore ganache, we'll pour some more--into the remaining holes and over the top and sides.  And then just to be sure that we meet our chocolate recommended daily allowance, we'll shave an entire chocolate bar and sprinkle that over the top.  It is Valentine's Day after all.  And whatever your feelings may be on whether it's a valid or commercial holiday, any day that encourages chocolate eating can't be all bad. 

The beauty of this cake is that it actually gets better as it ages and the ganache continues to moisten the entire cake, so it's day after Valentine's cake as well. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Chocolate Ganache Cake

Ingredients for cake:
1 box chocolate cake mix
4 eggs at room temperature
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup cold strong coffee
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Ingredients for ganache:
12 oz dark or semisweet chocolate
2 cups cream

For Serving(Optional):
1 pint strawberries or raspberries
2 tbsp agave nectar or sugar
1/2 cup whipped cream

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Combine all cake ingredients and whisk for 2-3 minutes.
• Line bottom of 10 inch springform with parchment. Grease bottom and sides of pan.
• Bake cake for 40-50 minutes or until tester inserted comes out clean.
• Remove from oven and let cool for 20 minutes.
• Remove from pan and set on plate.  Poke holes in cake.
• Heat cream to almost boiling and add in chocolate.  Whisk until all of chocolate melts
• Pour half of the ganache onto cake, gently tapping cake on counter to fill holes.  Spread remaining ganache over cake letting ganache run down sides. 
• Let cool for 1 hour on counter. 
• Shave chocolate bar and pour shavings over top of cake.
• Refrigerate cake for 3-4 hours or until ganache fully cools.
• If desired, place berries and agave in food processor and process until smooth.   Whip cream.
• To serve, spread berries on bottom of serving plate, add a slice of cake and a dallop of whipped cream.

Thai Tea Creme Brulee

I found some thai tea in my pantry as I was cleaning and purging.  By "some" I mean about 5 lbs.  It's not that it was ever truly lost, it's just that I think I love the idea of thai tea more than I love making it.  I'll order it at Thai restaurants because it feels like a treat, but all that sugary sweetness in a beverage just seems a little out of place at home.  And if you've ever had thai tea, you know that it is indeed super duper sugary, shockingly sweet.  It's the sweetened condensed milk.  When I make it at home, I skip the sweetened condensed milk, add a bit of sugar to the hot tea, and then add a bit of half and half to the iced glass.  It's not traditional and it even looks a bit watery as you can see, but that way I can completely control the sugar.  Thinking about the ingredients in the iced tea though had me wondering how this would play out in a creme brulee.

The tea leaves can be purchased in (large) bags at the asian grocer.  My package said "Bot Tra Thai"  It looks like regular 'ole tea until it comes into contact with liquid. Then it becomes orange dye.  Take heed.

The recipe is like any basic creme brulee recipe; tons of cream, throw in some eggs, sugar, flavoring and bake in a water bath.  I always say that creme brulee is one of the easiest desserts out there and yet everyone thinks it's so schmance.  It's kind of sneaky like that. And thai tea creme brulee?  Tastes identical to thai tea.  If you ever had a nice big glass and wondered what the tea would be like in solid form, well this is it--pretty tasty.  I'd definitely make this again.  But now I'm wondering what green tea creme brulee would taste like....

  

The fun part......woohoo!(Why is it that animated gifs make me giggle with glee when videos do  the same thing only better?)

Thai Tea Creme Brulee

Ingredients 

2 1/2 cups light cream

8 tsps loose thai tea

6 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar plus more for tops of creme brulee

• Pour the cream into a saucepan and bring almost to a boil.
• Remove from head, stir in tea leaves and allow to sit for 15 minutes.
• Boil full teapot for water bath and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Strain creme through fine sieve or yogurt strainer (thai tea has some very fine leaves).
• Beat egg ylks and sugar in a bowl (or pyrex glass measuring cup--makes pouring into ramekins easy)
• Gradually add creme to eggs beating well
• Arrange 6 ramekins or ovenproof small dishes in roasting pan and pour custard into them.
• Place pan in oven and carefully pour water on outside of ramekins.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes until set.  Centers may jiggle slightly.
• Leave dishes to cool in water then refrigerate for 4-5 hours.
• Just before serving, sprinkle with 1-2 tsp of sugar and carmelize with torch.