Adapted from Nibb’lous and About.com.

This calls for non-alcoholic elderflower cordial, such as Belvoir or Bottle Green. Do avoid alcoholic elderflower infusions like St.-Germain (tasty, though, as it is), because the alcohol will lower the freezing point of the custard, and prevent the proper firming up needed in ice cream.

Ingredients

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup crème fraîche
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 3/4 cup elderflower cordial (non-alcoholic)

Method

1. Put both creams, milk and sugar into a sauce pan. Bring to simmer over medium high heat, stirring occasionally. Turn off heat.
2. To temper the egg yolks, slowly pour in a ladle or two of the hot cream mixture, mixing quickly with a whisk.
3. Pour the egg mixture into the sauce pan. Turn on the heat to low. Whisk until it becomes a custard: Test by either temperature (170ºF to 175ºF degrees) or spoon method (coats spoon and a line drawn through doesn’t droop).
4. Remove from heat, pour the custard through a fine strainer into a large bowl (to remove any accidentally scrambled egg , then whisk in the elderflower cordial.
5. Chill covered in the fridge for at least 6 hours, or until the custard reaches at least 38ºF.
6. Prepare following the instructions for your ice cream maker. It usually takes 20 to 25 minutes to churn in an electric maker. Keep an eye on it near the end to avoid overbeating it, otherwise it’ll taste too much like butter and be granular and greasy.
7. Before serving, scoop the ice cream into a storage container, then put it in the freezer for an hour or two to firm up.

Before I crammed in two more lemons.

Suggestions for use: Minced and tossed into stews or sautés, sections placed inside the cavities of roasted poultry, puréed in dips like hummus, mashed into a marinade or dressing or sauce, etc.! I don’t know their shelf-life in the fridge, but I’ve been fine using a nearly 2-year-old jar of preserved lemons. (Although they do get somewhat mooshy in texture over time, but still useable and flavorful.)

This is enough for one 1-pint jar. I typically reuse a (cleaned!) glass jar and lid that had formerly stored 24 ounces (by weight) of honey.

Ingredients

• 4 to 6 (11 to 15 ounces) Meyer lemons
• plenty of fine sea salt, not flaked, preferably not iodized
• 1 bay leaf, cut into 2 or 3 pieces
• 1/2 teaspoon whole peppercorns, black or green
• 2 to 3 inches of cinnamon stick, broken into roughly 1 inch pieces
• 1 star anise, broken into its component arms; or, 1/2 to 1 teaspoon whole aniseed
• (optional) a few slices of ginger
• (optional) 1 black cardamom pod
• (optional) 1 to 2 cloves of garlic, quartered
• freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice

Method

1. Clean the Meyer lemons, and trim off any blemishes. I usually slice off a small bit from the stem and pointed ends of each lemon, too.
2. Cut four longitudinal slices into each lemon, almost but not quartering them. You want the center of the lemon to keep the fruit together, and the slices will maximize the surface area exposed to the salt, juice and spices.
3. Pour about a 1/8 inch of salt into the jar. Add a piece of bay leaf and a third of the spices. Cram in as many lemons to roughly fill a third of the jar.
4. Repeat until lemons fill nearly the top of the jar. Pour in another 1/4 inch or so of salt. Fill the jar with lemon juice until the fruits are covered with liquid. You might need to gently jiggle the jar every so often to get the juice (and salt) to fill it up; see the photo below for an example.
5. Cap off and store in the refrigerator. Allow to cure for at least 3 weeks, preferably at least 1 month, before using; shake about once a month to distribute, er, mix up the salt and spices. You can use the entire lemon —zest, pith and pulp— but be sure to remove any seeds or errant stems, and to thoroughly rinse away excess salt under running water. The preserved lemons will still remain quite salty, yet subtly flavored with whatever spices added; I typically wouldn’t need to add any more salt to a dish I’d use them in.

Five lemons crammed in, and topped with gobs of salt and lemon juice. I just managed to tighten the lid on afterwards.

• Some quick advice
• The good: Hearty recommendations
• The bad and the ugly: Avoid these companies

(*)As mentioned in earlier posts on the topic, work on a home is never truly finished. But projects do wrap up, and we’re sure glad to have an excellent modern kitchen, plus another bathroom, among other things!

First things first: some advice on remodeling

Three key things we learned:

1. Get as detailed a bid as possible.
2. Know what you want, to the highest detail as you can muster.
3. Keep track of stuff. Really. By calendar and email, at the least.

A detailed bid is the proposed contract. It becomes a legal document, but that does not mean it’s completely set in stone. Things do change; use the contract as a guideline, as its existence is to guide and help both you and the contractor. We found that contractors really appreciate it when you know what want and can clearly express it, e.g., “We’d prefer plywood in our cabinets if it’s within our budget. We also like Shaker-style woodwork.”

A detailed contract is important. It should look like a highly informative technical specification, which it is in a way, but with prices. A complex contract similar to our Grand Remodel should include information on dimensions (including any diagrams and/or blueprints to follow), tradework needed (plumbing, roofing, etc.), rooms affected, materials, and even make and model of appliances and fixtures, if you have an idea of what you want.

One item I’ll mention is specificity regarding site clean up at end of each work day. Our contract stated “sweep clean” which we found out literally meant sweeping with a broom. This sounds okay at first glance, but in hindsight we should have specified “vacuum clean,” as sweeping involved stirring up a lot of dust (bad if you have any allergy or breathing issues), as well as the mere sweeping small debris like wires and nails in between and down beneath the subfloor. That’s right, we now need to wear some armor when we want to go into the crawl space. It’s pretty much the contractor version of sweeping dust mice under the rug or bed.

Nevertheless, it is realistic that you won’t know precisely what you want in every situation, and that you could change your mind on some aspects of the project. Because of this, the contract should clearly explain the contractor’s change order policy. Change will happen, whether it’s a different oven model or relocation of a door. Not all change orders would or should incur penalties, such as swapping similarly priced tile or a different color of paint — but they might if your decision occurs at the last moment, or with the discovery of previously unknown house defects.

Do research where you can, as early as you can manage. Search the web, make use of your local library. Scour trade shops for ideas; e.g., see my fixture and vendor suggestions below. For example, here are several of the books I had suggested.

Knowing what you want will give you a more realistic budget in the contract. The less you know, the more likely a contractor will bid the cheapest possible materials, appliances or fixtures. Speaking of budgeting, use your favorite spreadsheet and break out costs for various sections of the contract, including trade, materials, appliances and fixtures. Keep track of them, too. We found that going 20% to 30% over an initial budget was within our comfort zone. And the cost will almost always end up higher, whether due to changes (“Oh, I want that tile instead”) or adaptations (“Looks like we need higher grade drywall in this room to satisfy state fire code and energy requirements”).

Of course, also do research on the recommendations you get from friends, family or colleagues. Compare what you see Angie’s List, or yes, even Yelp. Become suspicious if the recommendation comes from company-sponsored sites like Diamond Certified: double-check if such a company is well-rated elsewhere at more consumer-oriented sources like Angie’s List. Also, don’t wholeheartedly take in recommendations along the lines of “My sibling can do that work” or “My neighbor is a contractor who’ll do that.” Make sure their recommendations are actually for work completed, balanced with reviews from neutral parties. Besides, how comfortable would you feel living next to a neighbor who botched up a project on your time, home and money?

Finally, keep a detailed calendar of the project. Enter in projected dates and lengths of time for completion — then add or edit what actually occurred, as you would with the budgetary spreadsheet. It’s good not just for comparison, but gives you and the contractor a better idea as to scheduling. Google Calendar works, and is handy if the contractor is willing to use it. Otherwise, keep a local calendar of goings on. Most importantly, keep track of communications. We used email, and it not only helped us keep track of things for ourselves, but also kept contractors in the loop and, in some cases, honest.

Yay, recommendations!

We loved our cabinet maker and solar panel installer. They were thorough, knowledgable, easy to work with and friendly.

• California Casework (408.979.9091) for cabinetry. Owner Cliff Scott is great to work with, as are his employees at the shop and onsite. Coordinated well with the general contractor. Great advice, and awesome, thorough and timely work. Advice addendum: We learned from both Cliff and some friends (thanks again, Anita!) that instead of installing rollout drawers inside of undercounter cabinets, just install pot drawers there instead. Much more stable, easier to use, and more space efficient!
• Cobalt Power Systems (650.938.9574) for photovoltaic roof system. Owner Mark Byington originally trained as an engineer, and was great at patiently explaining, documenting and projecting our solar electric needs. We got a beautiful SunPower system, and his office handled all the rebate/utility paperwork, with minimal effort on our part. Also coordinated very well the general contractor and roofers. His employees, licensed electricians, did the installation. Advice we learned: Be wary of solar installers who subcontract out their work; a friend of ours learned the hard way how such people can become unaccountable when bad things occur, like defective panels causing fires (ouch!).
• C&S Carpet and Flooring. They did a great job installing Marmoleum Click in the kitchen. They were friendly and patient when the general contractor failed to properly level the subfloor, and in the end successfully installed the flooring we wanted. Unfortunately, it’s unclear if they’re still in business as their website appears down.
• Tile & Grout King (408.930.8453). They didn’t do the original installation of the tile work, but they sealed the new tile and restored (i.e., cleaned out and replaced) the moldy grout from a previous installation. We’ve had them back again earlier this year, to replace failing caulk in the shower stall and apply caulk-grout between the kitchen’s tile backsplash and quartzite counter.

Give them your business, if you need similar projects done. In addition, here are some vendors of fixtures and appliances we recommend:

• University Electric, Santa Clara (800.675.7569) carry mid- and high-range appliances. With the exception of our refrigerator, we got all our new appliances from them. Note: They’ll deliver large items, but they won’t install them, so you’ll need a contractor or handyperson, or be willing to DIY.
• The Tile Shop, San José (408.436.8877) and other locations. Excellent source of tiles, nice showrooms with helpful people, and they can offer free samples of some of their materials.
• Build.com family of stores including FaucetDirect.com and LightingDirect.com. Great online resource for fixtures of all sorts (plumbing, lighting, ventilation, ceiling fans, handle sets, cabinetry hardware, etc.) at good prices.
• Saratoga Plumbing Supply. Bathroom, sink and faucet fixtures galore! Very helpful people, too. They’ll deliver, but not sure if they do installation.
• Cornelia’s, like Saratoga Plumbing Supply, has many bathroom and water-oriented fixtures to look at. They also have some handle set and cabinetry hardware to look at. Not sure if they offer delivery or installation.
• MyKnobs.com, for sheer variety of cabinetry hardware choices.
• For cabinet door designs, there are many choices available from two California-based companies, CalDoor (a.k.a. California Door Corporation) and Dutchman Doors.
• For choices in moldings, so you can escape the default Colonial trim overused in the last couple decades, check out the catalog at Kelleher.
• Looking for a new or matching exterior or interior door? Check out catalogs at TrūStile, T.M. Cobb, Jeld-Wen, or Simpson.

Avoid these companies, really.

It’s sad to say, but sometimes one needs to go through a bad experience to avoid it again. But first, when it comes to issues and disputes with other people, I encourage you to be as civil and concise as possible with whom you work. Try to stick to facts and events, rather than gossip or hearsay. Things went badly at times, but I believe that keeping a level head when dealing with difficult situations really helped get things done, however slowly or aggravating.

In spite of impressing us (a great design, within our budget, friendly first impressions) and getting the contract, we would NEVER recommend the general contractor we had, Critchfield Construction; they also have a sister company Los Gatos Remodeler.

Why? The short list:

1. They created a Google calendar, which was great, and kept it up to date — until the last few months when things really slowed down. Then they stopped updating the calendar, stopped responding to our emails in a timely fashion, and then suddenly deleted the calendar. Then they moved to an in-house calendar system which held the data on their sister site, including messages, rather than previously allowing us direct email.
2. Their designer, Nickolas Sosa, while helpful as an interior designer, was a dreadful project manager. For example, there were times he requested for payments that either we had originally bargained down (tracked in email), or for work not performed or completed. When we pointed these out to him (e.g., including previous emails, citing details in the contract), the response was “Sorry, this is not negotiable.” Excuse me? A sign of very poor business integrity, indeed.
3. The contract had a penalty clause whereby they’d pay us for additional time they took to complete our project. They requested a change order to extend the period to avoid the penalty, despite the fact that most of the delays were their fault, and threatened to stop work if we didn’t sign to agree to such a change order. Er, breach of contract?
4. Messy demolition resulting in broken bits of glass that we’ll continue to pick out of the yard over the course of our lives here. We’ve had windows replaced in the past, so we know that windows can be removed without shattering them into many bits throughout our property.
5. Very slow to haul away large piles of debris.
6. Example A of avoidable mistakes: Installed the shower pan incorrectly. This confused so many subcontractors (the plumber, drywall installers, shower installers as well as the tile installer), that it caused yet more delays.
7. Example B of avoidable mistakes: Not leveling the kitchen subfloor, a requirement for the material we chose, even after several inquiries. The flooring installer showed up with the materials he had ordered for us, but had to leave because the subfloor had NOT BEEN FIXED. He was frustrated to the point where he asked us whether or not he was supposed to do the work. (We told him yes, and once again repeated the cycle of requesting the subfloor work from Critchfield and rescheduling the floor subcontractor.)
8. Bad-mouthing other contractors. We asked about going with a different roofer, and they “advised” us not to use them because of apparent issues with not having a valid license, and supposedly being in and out of business. We checked the records at the Contractors State Licensing Board, and found that the roofer had valid licenses and bonding. In addition, we had excellent references from both Angie’s List and friends who worked with them — contrary to what the people at Critchfield claimed. Spreading rumors and lies is downright unprofessional.
9. The owner Ricky Critchfield never visited our site — until we needed to resolve points (2) and (3). Then he came over, and we negotiated: he honored what was agreed upon over email, didn’t delay construction any further, and gave us some credit for the time-over-projected-schedule. But wow, to have to wait that long (the project was 85% to 90% done at that point) to actually show up at our house merely exhibited where his priorities were not.

The delays, the lack of communication, and avoidable errors not only upset us, but also upset some of the subcontractors. Poor communication is poor business, for all businesses and clients involved.

Not all the subcontractors Critchfield hired were bad, but some were particularly horrid. To these companies we also say, avoid like the plague:

• Thomas Electrical, Morgan Hill. Our electrical plans were detailed, but their work was shoddy, and we lost count of the times we had to email or call to see when they’d return to finish a task. They were also very sloppy, often leaving a mess (wires, drywall bits, etc.) wherever they worked.
• Drywall Art, San José. Horribly, sloppy work. We wanted to match the crows’ feet texture of our wall. One worker showed me an early example in the bathroom, and I said, “This is perfect; that’s what we want on the rest of the walls.” I thought that would suffice. Instead, large sections of the hallway, entryway and back room look like Cthulhu had a seizure and vomited. Even though drywall work is messy work, they were particularly bad, neglecting to place dropcloths, and trodding drywall dust and mud over the new floors.
• The stucco work by men hired by Critchfield failed to match the existing stucco style. They also dumped excess concrete into holes in our garden, rather than hauling it off.
• The handymen Critchfield hired utterly failed to install the oven. Simon ended up doing that himself.

As seen in the picture below, leftovers of this soup freeze and defrost just fine.

Because the vegetables get whizzed up in the end, you don’t need to be terribly accurate with their preparation. The following are just guidelines so that the pieces aren’t so thick they end up taking too long to cook, or cook unevenly.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds onions, chopped roughly into 1 inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 pounds carrots, peeled and chopped into 1/4-inch thick discs
• 1/2 pound sweet potato (about 1 medium tuber), peeled and chopped into roughly 3/4 inch pieces
• 6 cloves garlic, roughly sliced and lightly crushed
• salt, as needed; I used Maldon smoked flakes
• 1 heaping tablespoon ground cumin
• 2 heaping teaspoons ground coriander seed
• 1 quart rich chicken stock, preferably unsalted
• 1 pint or more of hot water, as needed
• freshly ground pepper
• (optional) crème fraîche, or heavy cream

Method

1. Caramelize onions in the butter and olive oil over medium heat, with a generous pinch of salt, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, macerate the garlic with another pinch of salt.
2. Stir in the cumin and coriander. When the spices become fragrant, stir in the carrots, sweet potato and garlic.
3. Add the chicken stock, and about 1 pint of water, enough so that the veg are covered. Simmer gently, covered, over low heat until the carrots and sweet potatoes are tender, about 30 to 45 minutes. Skim off any large amounts of foamy scum that may form on the surface of the soup during this time.
4. Purée the soup with an immersion blender, or similar tool. Adjust seasonings (salt and pepper) and water.
5. Add cream to garnish each serving, if desired.

As an aside, my friend Lisa M. has said that quick-pickling cauliflower (raw, no additional cooking, either!) works out nicely. I should try that. Maybe I’ll work myself up to cabbage one of these days. But for now, here’s what I did with the red onions.

Quick pickle for red onions

Follow a recipe similar to this one, except:

• Have 2 one-pint jars clean, dry and ready. I tend to reuse 1 1/2 pound honey jars for this.
• Vinegar mix I used last time; I zapped the ingredients in the microwave until the solids dissolved and liquids started to simmer:
  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1/4 cup distilled vinegar
  • 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon smoked Maldon salt
• 2 8-ounce (1/2 pound each) red onions: I cut them into 1/4-inch wide quarter strips, which might be visible in the photo of the jars above.
• Spice combo of Your Choice. Last time I had used the following, halving the amount between the two jars:
  • 1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
  • 10 whole allspice
  • 10 whole cloves
  • 3-4 inches of cinnamon stick
  • 2 dried guajillo chiles, stem and seeds removed
  • 1 1/2 inches of ginger root, peeled and cut into 1/8-inch thick slices; they’re the yellowish chunks near the bottom of the jars in the photo above.
• During curing period, periodically push the onions down with a big spoon so they “remain” submerged. Easier said than done, perhaps, but it’ll help cure the onion pieces at the top of the jar.
• Cure at least overnight for winter onions, which are pretty sharp. Best to wait a couple days, I feel, before tucking in; sweeter onions might not need as long. Not sure about longevity, because the two of us ate two jars’ worth in about three or so weeks. I imagine they could last longer, but really…?
• Haven’t tried with yellow or white onions, yet. The red ones give such a nice pink-maroon shade!

Yes, I reused a jar from a commercial brand of pickles.

Ingredients

• a bunch of mild radishes, tops removed, scrubbed and sliced into thin discs; start with 1/2 a pound and go from there
• 1 1/2 cups boiling water
• 1/2 cup vinegar: try apple cider, rice, or even a mix of plain distilled with sherry vinegar
• 2 to 4 tablespoons sugar, brown or white
• 1 to 2 teaspoons sea salt
• optional spices: some slices of ginger, star anise, cinnamon stick, peppercorns, cloves, allspice, garlic, etc.

Method

1. Clean and dry a 1-pint jar and lid.
2. Stuff as many radish slices into the jar as you could manage, but leave about 1 inch of space at the top. If using, add the spices randomly within the radish slices.
3. Mix together the boiling water, vinegar, sugar and salt until the solids have dissolved.
4. Pour as much of the vinegar solution into the radish jar as can fit.
5. Lightly cap and allow to cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.
6. Tighten the lid and pop into the fridge, if not consuming immediately. Gently shake about once a day for a few days, to mix the flavors. Even though the pickles are edible after making them, their flavor will improve over time. Eat within 2 to 4 weeks.

• Use a heavy-gauge Pullman measuring 4 by 4 by 9 inches, but without the lid, to encourage height. I like the USA Pan brand made of aluminized steel, coated with Americoat.
• Use only about 2 pounds of the dough for the Pullman loaf. The rest I freeze for 1 pizza. I do this subdivision after the overnight rising, so that the Pullman can get that final rise of about 2 to 3 hours.
• Bake at 400ºF degrees for 35 to 45 minutes, rotating midway. The internal temperature should be 200º to 210ºF degrees when done.

As for a more rustic, I-don’t-need-a-pan loaf, I just plop a recipe’s worth of the multigrain dough onto a pan lined with parchment paper or a silicone liner, then bake at 400ºF degrees for 40ish minutes, turning the pan midway. Again, the internal temperature should read 200º to 210ºF degrees when done.

For pizza, I subdivide the multigrain recipe into 3 or 4 pieces after the overnight rising, depending on how thick I want it. Each pizza is roughly 12 inches in diameter. The uncooked dough freezes nicely, too.

In addition, you could make a multigrain focaccia by prodding the dough into jelly roll pan lined with parchment paper or a silicone liner. Sometimes I feel round and make two loaves in two non-stick 8 inch (or 9 inch) circular cake pans, without liners.

The Good Stuff

The surprise goodies for me were the Hunger Games trilogy and Santa Olivia. My brain usually turns off at anything hyper-popularized by the media. Nor is boxing exactly a topic I’d care to hear much about. But these, whoa. Go read them! And, well, any of the other fiction I’ve denoted with the bulb icon.

As for cookbooks, if you like Mexican food, get your hands on The Essential Cuisines of Mexico. If you like Mediterranean food, check out Ottolenghi: The Cookbook. Both are inspiring, yet approachable, and offer weight measurements, whee! If you want the book on chocolate cookery, obtain Bittersweet — by the woman who introduced the concept of truffles to the United States. Finally, if you share my obsession with food pairing and substitution reference tomes, you’ll see that I’ve discovered, uh, more.

…And The Bad

I endured really horrible erotica written by Autumn Dawn and Tina Folsom. Although some of the erotic bits weren’t bad, it was the anti-feminist theme of the women protagonists getting married and knocked up — because no matter how independent or assertive they were to begin with, that’s what they truly wanted and needed in order to become fulfilled. What… the… fuck? (As it were? Haha.) Forgivable for some individuals, I guess, but for hot fiction written in the 21st century? Eegad, give me some anthologies edited by Mary Anne Mohanraj or Susie Bright, please, to clean out my poor neurons. Moreover, if I wanted werewolves or vampires thrown into the mix, I’d happily recommend books by Maggie Stiefvater and Robin McKinley as far superior. Anyhow, my lesson is to be more wary of stuff from Smashwords. But, hey, if they have high quality publications, do let me know.

For easier list jumping:

• Comics
• Longer fiction
• Shorter fiction: Warning, it’s a very long list!
• Art monographs
• Non-fiction
• Unfinished books

Comics

Thanks to friends and the interwebz, I’ve added some ongoing webcomics to my reading list in the past year:

• Gunnerkrigg Court
• The Meek
• Oglaf. Warning: Lots of NSFW content. As in explicit sex. As in hilarious sexual content. I am not kidding.
• Wondermark. Max Ernst-like collages meets 21st century wackiness. I’ve actually been reading Wondermark for the past couple years, but have forgotten to mention it until now.
• The Wormworld Saga

Brogsol, Vera. Anya’s Ghost.

Hagio, Moto. A Drunken Dream and Other Stories.

Hernandez, Gilbert. Sloth.

Hernandez, Gilbert. Speak of the Devil.

Korea: As Viewed by 12 Creators.

Urasawa, Naoki. Monster, volume 1.

Urasawa, Naoki. Pluto, a manga series of 8 volumes.

Long Fiction

Including a few anthologies. I read and listened to gobs of individual short stories, and decided that they deserved special mention in a separate section.

Barnes, John. A Million Open Doors.

Barnes, John. Orbital Resonance.

Bell, Alden. The Reapers Are the Angels.

Beukes, Lauren. Zoo City.

Buckell, Tobias S. Tides of the New Worlds.

Caine, Rachel. Undone: Outcast series book 1.

Carey, Jacqueline. Kushiel’s Dart and Kushiel’s Chosen.

Carey, Jacqueline. Santa Olivia.

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay.

Dawn, Autumn. The Charmer and Scent of Danger.

Folsom, Tina. Samson’s Lovely Mortal.

Hopkinson, Nalo. Brown Girl In the Ring.

Hopkinson, Nalo. Midnight Robber.

Hunt, Stephen. Court of the Air.

Jemisin, N.K. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and The Broken Kingdoms.

Lafferty, Mur. Heaven, Hell, Earth, Wasteland and War.

Link, Kelly. Stranger Things Happen.

Lo, Malinda. Ash.

Malki!, David, editor. Machine of Death.

Marr, Melissa. Graveminder.

McKinley, Robin. The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword.

McKinley, Robin. Pegasus.

McKinley, Robin. Sunshine

Miéville, China. The City and the City.

Mohanraj, Mary Anne (editor). Wet: Aqua Erotica.

Pratt, Tim. The Nex.

Pratt, Tim. The Strange Adventures of Ranger Girl.

Riordan, Rick. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief.

Robson, Justina. Keeping It Real, Selling Out, and Going Under.

Stiefvater, Maggie. Shiver: The Wolves of Mercy Falls, book 1.

Stross, Charles. The Atrocity Archives.

Stross, Charles. The Family Trade, The Hidden Family, The Clan Corporate, The Merchants’ War, The Revolution Business, The Trade of Queens.

Tanner, Lian. Museum of Thieves.

Taylor, Laini. Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Book 1 in a series.

Taylor, Margaret. Grizelda.

Valente, Catherynne M. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In a Ship of Her Own Making.

Vernon, Ursula. Nurk: The Strange, Surprising Adventures of a (Somewhat) Brave Shrew.

Vinge, Vernor. A Fire Upon the Deep.

Short Fiction

Due to sheer volume, I’ve limited myself to my favorite shorts of 2011. Many of these are free to read, or listen to, from these sources:

• Escape Pod
• PodCastle
• Podiobooks.com
• Clarkesworld Magazine
• Lightspeed Magazine and Fantasy Magazine
• Tor.com

Arkenberg, Megan. “Lessons from a Clockwork Queen.”

Baker, Kathryn. “Celadon” and “Herding Vegetable Sheep.”

Bear, Elizabeth. “Tideline.”

Bernobich, Beth. “River of Souls.”

Brin, David. “Bubbles.”

Burgis, Stephanie. “Some Girls Can.”

Burke, Sue. “Aliens Love Oranges” and “Poet For Hire.”

Butler, Pete. “Squonk the Dragon.”

Card, Orson Scott. “Elephants of Poznan.”

Castro, Adam-Troy. “Her Husband’s Hands.”

Chance, Karen. “The Queen’s Witch.”

Clare, Gwendolyn. “Perfect Lies.”

Coates, Deborah. “Magic In a Certain Slant of Light.”

Cooper, Brenda. “My Father’s Singularity.”

Cooper, Constance. “The Kings Tail” and “The Team-Mate Reference Problem In Final Stage Demon Confrontation.”

de Lint, Charles. “The Invisibles.”

DeRego, Jeffrey R. “Union Dues: Off White Lies.”

di Filippo, Paul. “Shadowboxer.”

Doctorow, Cory. “The Things that Make Me Weak and Strange Get Engineered Away.”

Falksen, G.D. “Mr. Salad Monday.”

Farland, David. “Against Eternity.”

Foster, Eugie. “My Friend Is a Lesbian Zombie.”

Frost, Gregory. “The Girlfriends of Dorian Gray.”

Howard, Cat. “Sweet Sixteen.”

Jasper, Michael. “Natural Order.”

Jemisin. N.K. “L’Alchimista.”

Kress, Nancy. “Ej-Es.”

Lafferty, Mur. “I Look Forward to Remembering You.”

Lee, Yoon Ha. “Blue Ink” and “Eating Hearts.”

Le Guin, Ursula K. “The Silence of the Asonu.”

Marsh. Ed W. “Head of State.”

Martens, Paul E. “Connie, Maybe.”

McIntosh, Will. “Bridesicle.”

Monette, Sarah. “The Devil In Gaylord’s Creek” and “White Charles.”

Morrow, Bradford. “Fall of the Birds.”

Morton, Lisa Noeahlani. “How Maartje and Uppinder Terraformed Mars.”

Murphy, Hilary Moon. “Run of the Fiery Horse.”

Myers, Kitty. “Stuck In an Elevator With Mandy Patinkin.”

Nazarian, Vera. “Mount Dragon.”

Okorafor, Nnedi. “From the Lost Diary of TreeFrog7.”

Parks, Richard. “Four Horsemen, at Their Leisure.”

Pelland, Jennifer. “Burning Bush.”

Pratt, Tim. “Lacrymose and the Golden Egg,” “Life In Stone” and “Silver Linings.”

Prineas, Sarah. “Seamstress.”

Rambo, Cat. “Worm Within” and “Long Enough and Just So Long.”

Reed, Robert. “The Next Invasion.”

Resnick, Mike. “Down Memory Lane.”

Resnick, Mike and Robin, Leslie. “Idle Roomer.”

Rogers, Bruce Holland. “Don Ysidro.”

Ronald, Margaret. “When the Gentlemen Go By.”

Sanderson, Brandon. “Firstborn.”

Scholes, Ken. “A Weeping Czar Beholds the Fallen Moon.”

Snyder, Lucy A. “Your Corporate Network and the Forces of Darkness.”

Swanwick, Michael and Gunn, Eileen. “The Trains that Climb the Winter Tree.”

Tallerman, David. “Jenny’s Sick.”

Valente, Catherynne M. “How to Become a Mars Overlord” and “Thirteen Ways of Looking at Space/Time. “

Vaughn, Carrie. “For Fear of Dragons.”

Valentine, Genevieve. “The Sandal-Bride.”

van Eekhout, Greg. “Last Son of Tomorrow,” “The Osteomancer’s Son” and “Virus.”

Walton, David. “Anyone Can Whistle.”

Wilson, Daniel H. “The Nostalgist.”

Art monographs

Goldsworthy, Andy. Enclosure.

Goldsworthy, Andy. Passage.

Jackson, Julie. Glamourpuss: The Enchanting World of Kitty Wigs.

Purcell, Hall, Corado and Heinrich. Egg and Nest.

Uelsmann, Jerry. Photo Synthesis.

Non-fiction

Ahern, Shauna James. Gluten-free Girl.

Andoh, Elizabeth. Kansha: Celebrating Japan’s Vegan and Vegetarian Traditions.

Beranbaum, Rose Levy. The Cake Bible.

Beranbaum, Rose Levy. Rose’s Heavenly Cakes.

Bix, Cynthia Overbeck. Ideas For Great Backyard Cottages.

Black and Decker Corporation. The Complete Guide to Garages.

Corriher, Shirley O. Bakewise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking with Over 200 Magnificent Recipes.

Culinary Institute of America. The Professional Chef, 9th edition. After I bought the book, I found out there was an iPad app available: Same content, plus videos and search ability. [Insert soft noises of buyer's remorse.]

Creasy, Rosalind. Edible Landscaping, 2nd edition.

Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel and Dimed.

Goldacre, Ben. Bad Science: Quacks, Hacks, and Big Pharma Flacks.

Hildebrand, Caz and Kennedy, Jacob. The Geometry of Pasta.

Hom, Ken. The Taste of China.

Huber, Jeanne. The Ultimate Garage.

Joachim, David. The Food Substitutions Bible: More Than 6,500 Substitutions For Ingredients, Equipment and Techniques.

Kennedy, Diana. The Art of Mexican Cooking: Traditional Mexican Cooking For Aficionados.

Kennedy, Diana. The Essential Cuisines of Mexico.

Kennedy, Diana. My Mexico: a Culinary Odyssey With More Than 300 Recipes.

Kennedy, Diana. Oaxaca al Gusto: An Infinite Gastronomy.

Krause, Robert and Molly. The Cook’s Book of Intense Flavors: 101 Surprising Flavor Combinations and Extraordinary Recipes that Excite Your Palate and Pleasure Your Senses.

Lipanovich, Marianne and Wilhite, Tom. Big Book of Garden Designs.

Medrich, Alice. Bittersweet: Recipes and Tales from a Life In Chocolate.

Medrich, Alice. Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies.

Medrich, Alice. Cocolat: Extraordinary Chocolate Desserts.

Medrich, Alice. Pure Dessert.

Miller, Gloria Blye. A Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook.

Nagyszalanczy, Sandor. New Built-ins Idea Book.

Nguyen, Andrea. Asian Dumplings: Mastering Gyoza, Spring Rolls, Samosas, and More.

Ottolenghi, Yotam and Tamimi, Sami. Ottolenghi: The Cookbook.

Ottolenghi, Yotam. Plenty: Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London’s Ottolenghi.

Pant, Pushpesh. India: Cookbook.

Petrowski, Elaine Martin. Design Ideas For Home Storage.

Platt, Stacey. What’s a Disorganized Person to Do?

Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore’s Dilemma.

Potter, Jeff. Cooking For Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks, and Good Food.

Provey, Joseph. Easy Closets: Affordable Storage Solutions For Everyone.

Prueitt, Elisabeth. Tartine.

Rae, Andy. Workshop Idea Book.

Roach, Mary. Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex.

Russell, Natalie Ermann. New Backyard Idea Book.

Segnit, Niki. The Flavour Thesaurus: A Compendium of Pairings, Recipes, and Ideas For the Creative Cook (UK edition).

Stewart, Amy. Flower Confidential.

Stewart, Amy. Wicked Bugs: The Louse that Conquered Napoleon’s Army and Other Diabolical Insects.

Stewart, Amy. Wicked Plants: The Weed that Killed Lincoln’s Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities.

Strong, Roy. A Small Garden Designer’s Handbook.

Swanson, Heidi. Super Natural Cooking: Five Ways to Incorporate Whole and Natural Ingredients Into Your Cooking.

The Silver Spoon (2005).

Wilska, Emily. Knack Organizing Your Home: Decluttering Solutions and Storage Ideas.

Did not finish

Carey, Jacqueline. Kushiel’s Avatar.

Carney, Scott. The Red Market: On the Trail of the World’s Organ Brokers, Bone Thieves, Blood Farmers, and Child Traffickers.

Faber, Adele and Mazlish, Elaine. How to Talk So Kids Will Listen, and Listen So Kids Will Talk.

Le Guin, Ursula K. Gifts.

Lowry, Judith Larner. Gardening With a Wild Heart: Restoring California’s Native Landscapes at Home.

McKinley, Robin. Dragonhaven.

Monette, Sarah. Mélusine.

Mukherjee, Siddhartha. The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer.

Park, Paul. The Hidden World.

Robson, Justina. Chasing the Dragon.

Swanson, Heidi. Super Natural Every Day: Well-loved Recipes from My Natural Foods Kitchen.

Vinge, Vernor. Rainbows End.

I’ve been intimidated at the supposed labor and tricky technique involved with making crusty bread. But Jenifer’s recipe makes the process approachable, as it involves a heavy cast iron pot and lots of patient (but easy!) oven preheating. Don’t need a special oven or well-timed water spritzing, either.

I call this recipe “Miranda’s bread,” named after Morrisa and nj’s daughter who enjoyed some I recently baked. That loaf didn’t contain buckwheat flour, so I’ve denoted it as optional.

The key ingredient for this bread is stone ground, California grown Sonoran whole wheat distributed by Sustainable Grains. It’s one of the flour strains used in the original California sourdough breads from the 1800s. They offer that flour, amongst other grains farmed in California, at various Bay Area farmers’ markets.

Note #1: Because this uses a starter instead of dried packaged yeast, this recipe takes a couple days to complete. If you can take the time, it is oh so worth it.

Note #2: If you have a non-sourdough starter, this recipe still works!

This yields a 2 1/2ish pound loaf. To save for later, wait until the bread is completely cool, slice if desired, then either (1) wrap in foil, pop into a zippy bag and store in the freezer, or (2) place in cloth or paper bag, pop into a zippy bag and store in the fridge.

Ingredients

• 4 to 5 ounces sourdough starter
• 8 ounces Sonoran whole wheat flour
• 3 ounces dark (whole grain) rye flour
• 1 ounce barley flour
• (optional) 1 ounce buckwheat flour
• 1 ounce vital wheat gluten powder
• 1 3/4 to 2 cups warm water, at about 105º to 120ºF degrees
• 1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses
• 2 to 2 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for greasing the proofing bowl
• 11 to 13 ounces unbleached bread flour

Method

1. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the starter, Sonoran wheat flour, rye and barley flours, buckwheat flour (if using), and the gluten powder.
2. Add to the water the molasses, salt and sugar, and stir until dissolved. Stir this into the flour mixture. Cover and let sit for about an hour, so that the whole grains can absorb some of the water.
3. Stir in the olive oil, and plop in the bread flour. Using a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment, stir until combined, then knead on low speed for about 5 minutes. You’ll want a moist enough dough that will not stick to the sides of the bowl while kneading.
4. Oil another bowl, and place the dough in it. Cover and allow to rise until doubled in volume — at least 8 to 12 hours, such as overnight.
5. Place a 5 to 6 quart Dutch oven, or covered cast iron pot of similar size in the oven. Preheat oven to 450ºF degrees; I use the “convection baking” setting.
6. In the meantime, punch down the dough and shape it into a nice loaf ball. Get a length of parchment paper, and line the bowl with it. This will act as a sling for the dough when it bakes. Plop the dough back in the bowl, and cover. Again, let it rise until doubled; this time it should take about 2 to 4 hours, depending on how warm your kitchen is.
7. After the oven has reached 450ºF, keep the pot in there covered and empty for at least another 30 minutes, since you want it as hot as possible for the dough.
8. After the dough has finished its second and final rise, slash its top a few times with a sharp knife.
9. Carry the dough in its sling and place them both in the pot. Cover, lower the temperature to 400ºF degrees, and bake for about 25 minutes.
10. Remove the Dutch oven’s top, rotate the pot about 180º degrees, and bake for another 20 to 25 minutes.
11. Remove pot from oven, then remove the loaf using its handy sling. The bread is done if its internal temperature is around 200º to 210ºF.
12. Cool at least a couple hours before serving. I actually prefer the bread the following day, as its texture is more even after a time.

A note about the yogurt: I use lowfat yogurt that’s smooth in the Australian/European style, e.g., Wallaby Yogurt. It doesn’t contain any thickeners like pectin or gelatin.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 3/4 cup plain yogurt
• 2 to 3 tablespoons sugar

Method

1. Put all the ingredients in a jar or jug.
2. Stir, but do not whip, until the sugar has dissolved.
3. Serve, or refrigerate until needed.

What follows below isn’t so much a recipe as Rather Vague Guidelines, mind you. My first and current batch are curing, so I’ll need to update this post as to how the preserved satsumas actually turned out. But it’s a start.

Update, 8 January 2012: These go nicely stuffed inside a roasted chicken, as well minced and cooked with roasted vegetables. Also provides nice seasoning in stews like vegetable tagine.

I used jars that were previously used for 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of peanut butter and honey. WARNING: I don’t process these, I just keep them in the refrigerator. My preserved lemons that are over a year and half old are still fine, but y’know, YMWV.

Got any favorite uses for preserved citrus? Please do share! I tend to use preserved lemons in savory applications, like stews and inside poultry cavities. It’d be great to expand their cooking horizons.

Ingredients

• A bunch of green (underripe) satsumas, or similar mandarins
• Lots of fine-grained salt
• ginger, sliced
• green & black peppercorns
• cinnamon stick, broken into 1-inch pieces
• star anise, broken into single “arms”

Method

1. Wash the satsumas and discard any attached leaves or stems. Make sure your jars and caps are clean, too.
2. Make four longitudinal cuts in each fruit, without completely cutting through. That is, the four “slices” should remain attached at the center “spindle” of the fruit.
3. Sprinkle a tablespoon or two of salt in a jar.
4. Stuff in as many fruit into a single layer — two to four, or more, depending on the jar and fruit size.
5. Toss in one or two slices of ginger, one or two cinnamon pieces, one or two star anise arms, and/or three to five peppercorns. How much (or little) spice you add is completely up to you! (Although I’d imagine you might wish to add a bit less for satsumas than for lemons, as their flavor is more delicate.) Add another tablespoon or two of salt.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you reach the top of the jar. Cap off and store in the fridge overnight.
7. The following day, you might be able to cram in some more fruit. If yes, do so and top off with another tablespoon or two of salt. Cap off again, store in the fridge, and wait (mostly).
8. Turn the jars, right-side up, upside-down and vice versa, about once or twice a week for the first three weeks. The satsumas should be cured enough to use after about three to six weeks, but the flavors improve upon further aging.

To use

1. Remove any seeds.
2. Rinse as much of the salt away as possible, without losing any (where possible) rind, pith or pulp.
3. Chop or mince, according to your use needs.

This particular batch yielded eight 12-ounce jars from just under eight pounds of plums, with very tart fruit. YMMV.

Ingredients

• 8 pounds plums, washed
• 2 inches ginger, peeled and sliced
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 2 1/4 pounds sugar
• 1 pound brown sugar

Method

1. Slice plums into 3/4 to 1 inch pieces. Remove the pits if you can, but if they cling fiercely to the flesh, don’t worry about it: just toss them all into a large stock pot. Same goes with the skins: both they and the seeds will be removed when run through the mill later.
2. Toss in the ginger slices and cinnamon stick. Over medium heat, bring the plums to an energetic simmer. Once the fruit has become pulpy (30 minutes or more, depending on the fruit and its ripeness), remove from the heat.
3. Run the pulp through a food mill to remove any pits, large bits of skin, and the spice chunks. We used the mill screen with the largest holes. Pour pulp back into the stock pot.
4. Pour in sugars, bring to a simmer, again, and reduce until desired thickness is achieved. For us it took about 30 to 45 minutes.
5. Make sure you have clean jars and caps (i.e., rings and dome/lids) handy. Ladle the hot jam into the jars, quickly cap them off, then process appropriately. E.g., the jars simmered in the canner for 20 minutes.
6. Store in a cool location like a larder or closet. Refrigerate after opening.

Adapted from two recipes, Orange Cornmeal Cake at Simply Recipes, and le Gâteau Piège at Chocolate & Zucchini.

Ingredients

• 7 ounces whole wheat pastry flour
• 3 ounces (about 1/2 cup) quick hominy grits
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup melted unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• grated zest of 1 large or 2 medium oranges (about 1 to 2 tablespoons)
• 2 eggs
• 7/8 cup sugar, containing 3 tablespoons vanilla sugar, plus 2 to 3 tablespoons for sprinkling
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1/3 cup yogurt
• 1/4 cup pine nuts

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF degrees; I used the convection baking setting.
2. Butter and coat with sugar a 9-inch round springform pan, or a 7-inch square pan with parchment sling.
3. Sift the flour, grits, salt, and baking powder into a bowl and set aside.
4. Melt the butter, and mix with the olive oil and orange zest; also set aside.
5. Using the whisk attachment for the mixer, whip the eggs and 7/8 cup plus 3 tablespoons of sugars until foamy and pale, about 5 to 7 minutes.
6. Fold into the egg mixture the flour followed by the yogurt, orange juice, then butter mixture.
7. Pour batter into prepared pan, then sprinkle with pine nuts and the 2 to 3 tablespoons sugar.
8. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes; done when sides pull away and a knife comes out clean.

Which podcasts do I listen to?

• Escape Pod
• PodCastle
• Podiobooks.com
• Clarkesworld Magazine
• Lightspeed Magazine
• Tor.com

I also started reading e-books last year, thanks to iBooks (iTunes link) on the iPad, which has enough screen real estate for comfort, and the iPhone 4′s Retina Display, which has enough resolution for that can even read without script correction. And both have backlighting, something that really allows me to read on an electric device.

Note: I haven’t provided comments for every item I read or listened to, as just the list of short stories would take too long to write up! But if there’s a particular book or story for which you want to know more, let me know — I might get around (not to be snarky; more due to time constraints!) to summarizing my thoughts. Once again, the denotes my recommendations.

Comics

Clamp. Legal Drug, volumes 1 through 3 (a.k.a., Legal Drugstore).

Kim, Dong Hwa. Color of Heaven.

Rivkah. Steady Beat. Ooops, I nearly forgot that I had read this back in 2008! Well, the first two volumes, that is. ABC. The final volume 3 remains in limbo due to Tokyopop’s publication snafu’s, afaict, but here’s a link from Rivkah’s blog with some excerpts and information.

Yang, Gene & Derek Kirk Kim. The Eternal Smile.

Fiction

Abu-Jaber, Diana. Cresent.

Adams, C.T. “Olga.”

Buckell, Tobias. Crystal Rain, Ragamuffin, and Sly Mongoose. I read this series because Buckell’s short stories via Escape Pod were so much fun to listen to.

Desai, Kiran. Hullaballoo in the Guava Orchard.

DiTerlizzi, Tony. The Search for WondLa. I think I’ve found an excellent young adult (YA) series to follow (even exceed) Harry Potter.

Kowal, Mary Robinette. “First Flight.”

Malki!, David (editor). Machine of Death.

Gaiman, Neil. The Graveyard Book.

Gibson, William. Zero History.

Lafferty, Mur. Playing for Keeps (audiobook).

Larsson, Stieg. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I found the first part of the book where character histories were being built up more intriguing than the rest of the book. Not bad, but somewhat exceeded my boundaries for horrific violence.

Lee, Yun Ha.

Murakami, Haruki. After the Quake.

Resnick, Mike.

Stross, Charles. “Overtime.”

Swanwick, Michael.

Taylor, Margaret. Grizelda (audiobook).

Wada, Carolyn. “Roci and the Skycat.”

Non-fiction

Bayless, Rick et al. Mexico: One Plate at a Time and Authentic Mexican: Regional Cooking from the Heart of Mexico. The ideas behind the recipes sound good, but I really dislike the utter gushiness in Bayless’s writing style (for that matter, his TV presentation as well). Time to look at Diana Kennedy books…

Ben-Barak, Idan. The Invisible Kingdom.

Berley, Peter and Singer, Zoë. The Flexitarian Table.

Chung, Taekyung and Samuels, Debra. The Korean Table: From Barbecue to Bibimbap, 100 Easy-to-Prepare Recipes.

Delamare & Guineau. Colors: The Story of Dyes and Pigments.

Ehrenreich, Barbara. Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America.

Graedon, Joe and Teresa. Best Choices from the People’s Pharmacy: What You Need to Know Before Your Next Visit to the Doctor or Drugstore.

Greenspan, Dorie. Around My French Table: More than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours. This cookbook would’ve been a lot helpful for me if it didn’t cop out and provide only the American, volume-oriented measurements. Moreover, the name-dropping (“my friend [insert celebrity's name]…”) became unnerving. What a disappointment — perhaps to due to a publisher’s fear of scaring the audience. Hunh, not if you provide both kinds of recipe formats.

Greenspan, Dorie. Paris Sweets: Great Desserts from the City’s Best Pastry Shops. However, this one provided the more helpful weight-oriented measurements. My guess is that this book had a smaller audience and a more reasonable publisher to allow such recipe presentation.

Herbst, Sharon and Ron. The Deluxe Food Lover’s Companion.

Jaffrey, Madhur. Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India.

Kean, Sean. The Disappearing Spoon and Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of Elements.

Kennedy, Diana. The Cuisines of Mexico (1st edition). Fascinating enough that I want to read the later edition and her other books!

Keith, Jeremy. HTML5 for Web Designers.

Lee, Cecilia Hae-Jin. Eating Korean: From Barbecue to Kimchi, Recipes from My Home and Quick and Easy Korean Cooking: More than 70 Everyday Recipes.

Mesfin, D.J. Exotic Ethiopian Cooking: Society, Culture, Hospitality & Traditions, revised edition: 178 tested recipes with food composition tables.

Narayan, Shoba. Monsoon Diary: A Memoir with Recipes.

Nicey & Wifey. A Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down.

Page, Karen and ABC. The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America’s Most Imaginative Chefs.

Park, Allisa (editor). Discovering Korean Cuisine: Recipes from the Best Korean Restaurants in Los Angeles.

Rathbun, A.J. and Holt, Jeremy. Double Take: One Fabulous Recipe, Two Finished Dishes, Feeding Vegetarians and Omnivores Together.

Ruhlman, Michael. Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking.

Schnetz, Thomas and ABC. Doña Tomás: Discovering Authentic Mexican Cooking.

Theroux, Paul. Ghost Train to the Eastern Star.

Walden, Hilaire. Korean Cooking: Explore One of the Orient’s Greatest Culiary Secrets.

Not finished

Bacigalupi, Paolo. Windup Girl.

Spinrad, Norman. Child of Fortune. Rather than feeling immersed in the protagonist’s culture, with her patois of French, German and Japanese mixed with English, I ended up feeling this was just too pretentious to continue reading.

You can find elderflower cordial online, or at stores specializing in British or European foods; Belvoir is a good brand. If you want some alcoholic zing to the syrup, feel free to substitute part of the cordial with St.-Germain liqueur.

Adapted from The Kitchn.

Sponge ingredients

• 4 eggs at room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar, 3 tablespoons consisting of vanilla sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 8 ounces whole wheat pastry flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
• zest of 2 limes or lemons

Syrup ingredients

• 1/2 cup elderflower cordial, or a bit more, depending on your sweetness preference.
• 3 tablespoons lime or lemon juice

Garnishes

• Powdered sugar
• Whipped cream, sweetened with sugar, cordial, liqueur (e.g., St-Germain), or a mix thereof.

Method

1. Line the base of a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper, then coat the pan’s base and sides with butter and sugar. Preheat oven to 350ºF degrees; I used the “convection bake” setting on mine.
2. Using a whisk attachment, beat the eggs, sugar and salt until pale yellow, tripled in volume and very soft peaks form.
3. Mix butter and lemon zest in a medium jug or bowl.
4. Fold in the flour+baking powder. Scoop out a cup or so of the batter and plop into the butter mixture; whisk that until smooth. Fold the butter mixture into the main batter.
5. Pour batter into pan. Bake for 25 to 35 to minutes.
6. While the cake bakes, mix the elderflower cordial and lemon juice.
7. After taking the cake out of the oven, poke holes throughout it with a thin skewer while it’s still warm in the pan. Evenly pour elderflower+lemon syrup over the cake.
8. Allow the cake to cool and thoroughly absorb syrup before removing it from the pan.
9. To serve, dust with a bit of powdered sugar, along with a dollop of flavored cream, if desired.

Adapted from Epicurious, but more fruity. Yields a scant quart of ice cream.

Ingredients

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar; my version includes 1/3 cup vanilla sugar.
• a pinch of salt
• 2 egg yolks, whisked
• 1 cup unsweetened puréed passion fruit pulp; I used Goya‘s frozen purée, mostly defrosted.

Method

1. Bring the heavy cream, sugar (and vanilla sugar, if using) and salt to a simmer in a medium sauce pan.
2. Temper the egg yolks with 1/2 to 1 cups of the hot cream, the latter added to eggs a couple tablespoons at a time while whisking.
3. Pour the egg mixture into the sauce pan. With the heat on medium low, whisk until it becomes thick, reaching 170º to 175ºF degrees.
4. Remove custard from the heat, and stir in the passion fruit pulp. Pour the custard through a fine strainer (to remove any fibers or curdled bits) into a glass bowl or jug. Chill at least 8 hours, preferably overnight.
5. Prepare following the instructions for your ice cream maker. Scoop into another container for freezer storage. Consume at your leisure.

My version is somewhere between the classic and cream scone recipes from The Joy of Cooking, wherein I use cream, eggs and butter. This yields a very tender and very rich scone, as one could imagine.

This recipe can be halved.

Note that these are more like British scones, which have the barest hint of sweetness, unlike many American ones which are often sweet, nearly cake-like or muffin-like. No frosting on these puppies. However, the fun is in the spreads that can be applied: lashings of clotted cream, or even butter, (try marscapone, anyone?), jams, jellies, lemon curd, etc.! All to be washed down with a good drink, especially tea (chai, perhaps?) or coffee.

Ingredients

• 1 pound pastry flour; I’ve used a 50/50 and roughly 65/35 mix of wholewheat to white pastry flour mix, too.
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 8 ounces (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 tablespoon chunks
• zest of 1 lemon or orange
• (optional) 1/2 cup raisins
• (optional) 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier, or a good sherry or brandy
• 2 cold eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup chilled heavy cream

Glaze

• 1/4 cup cream, half & half, or whole milk
• 2 teaspoons sugar

Method

1. If using raisins, prepare them at least an hour beforehand. Put them in a microwave-proof bowl, add the Grand Marnier, and heat until the liquid is hot. Cover and set aside so they can plump up.
2. Mix the eggs and cream in a jug and keep in the fridge until step 5.
3. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl.
4. Working in two batches (not necessary if recipe is halved), process the dry ingredients with the butter, until the mixture has butter lumps ranging from cornmeal to pea-sized. Place in a large bowl and stir in the zest. If using raisins, drain them, and add to the dough.
5. Quickly and using as few movements as possible, fold in the egg-cream mixture into the dough until the dry bits just stick together. Try to avoid warming the dough, or making it too wet. If the dough does get a bit squishy, toss in some flour.
6. Form the dough into two thick, flatten discs or squares (one if halved) and wrap them in plastic film. Place in the fridge for at least an hour to rest and firm up, or 30 minutes in the freezer.
7. In the meantime, prepare the glaze. Warm the cream until near scalding, and stir in the sugar to dissolve. Set aside to cool.
8. Preheat oven to 400ºF degrees; I used the convection baking setting.
9. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone liner.
10. Pat out the circle or square directly on the sheet until it’s about 1/2 inch high. Then use a butter knife or scraper to divide the dough into 8 sections. Brush each scone with the glaze.
11. Bake until risen twice in height —a poker should come out clean— and lightly golden on top, about 13 to 17 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.
12. Serve warm or at room temperature. With cream, jams, curds, and tea…

A couple things helped me along. First, I found a couple encouraging recipes that — THANK THE ALMIGHTY FSM — included weight measurements for flour. Second, I discovered the balloon whisk.

Oh, I still need practice using the balloon whisk, like learning to judge when to stop with the folding motions and not deflate all of those lovely egg and sugar bubbles (i.e., do the bare minimum, don’t obsess over batter appearance thoroughness). And I still cheat (with not much guilt) a bit by adding some baking powder. Yet I still love the realization that I can make a nearly meringue-like structure with whole eggs and sugar.

As influenced by Michael Ruhlman’s sponge cake from Ratio, and Rose Levy Beranbaum’s Gold Passion Génoise (minus the passionfruit and frostings) from Rose’s Heavenly Cakes.

Ingredients

• 5 eggs, at room temperature
• 6 ounces sugar (just over 3/4 cup), total; 3 tablespoons vanilla sugar comprised part of this. If you don’t have vanilla sugar, use 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, at room temp or slightly warmer
• 3 ounces pastry flour; I used unbleached white.
• 1 1/2 ounces rice flour; I used white medium grain, not mochi..
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Method

1. Preheat oven to 325ºF degrees; I use the “convection baking” setting on the oven. Cover the base of a 9-inch non-stick circular pan — a springform pan would be ideal &mdash with a circle of parchment paper. Butter and flour the base and sides of the pan.
2. Sift the pastry flour, rice flour and baking powder in a bowl; set aside.
3. Combine eggs, sugars, vanilla if using, and salt in a mixing bowl. Set the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, and whisk until the temperature is about 90 to 100ºF degrees. The idea is not to sterilize or even gently cook the eggs like a custard; it’s to warm and dissolve the ingredients so that they’ll maximize in volume during the next step.
4. Using the whisk attachment on your mixer, beat the egg-sugar mixture until it has tripled, or even quadrupled in volume. It’ll become pale yellow, and its texture in between a ribbon and very soft, droopy-drippy peaks. It’s this foamy mixture that will aid in leavening the cake.
5. Sift (again) the flour mix into the egg-sugar mixture. Using a balloon whisk, fold the flour in as few movements as possible. If flour gets on the side, tip the bowl to gloop it with the egg-sugar batter. If flour congregates near the bottom, make a large spinning motion with the whisk to remove and disperse it. Keep in mind, though, that some small pockets of flour is okay, since you still to need to mix in the butter.
6. Add about a cup of the batter — I shake a glop from the balloon whisk — into the melted butter. Using a piano whisk (a narrower whisk good for blending, rather than folding), mix this up well. Pour back into the main batter bowl, and fold with the balloon whisk. Again, it doesn’t have to be perfectly, smoothly incorporated.
7. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Pop it into the oven.
8. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes; the cake should be done when it pulls away from the sides of the pan. Immediately remove it from pan and place on a rack to cool.
9. After cooling, apply your favorite filling, garnishing and flavoring techniques. Génoise lends itself well to being soaked, er, coated with sweetened alcoholic liquids, such as a simple syrup flavored with Grand Marnier. Buttercream, ganache, jams, whipped cream, or even simply powdered sugar work nicely, too.

On the left is the failed first attempt: too little rise, too dense. On the right is the more successful second attempt. Here are the likely culprits:

• Oven too hot; I had it at 350ºF degrees the first time.
• Not greasing and flouring both the base and sides of the pan.
• Too much flour: too heavy.
• Neglecting to mix in some of the batter into the melted butter. Pouring the butter straight needed more folding and movement.
• Over-baking! As soon as the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan, remove it from the oven.
• …And, of course, over-beating the batter…

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In this recipe I ended up braising the cauliflower: first lightly frying it in olive oil, then cooking it in wine. I didn’t need to add more salt because the anchovies (packed in salt and oil) were already quite salty.

Ingredients

• 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 head of cauliflower, about 1 1/2 to 2 pounds, cut into 3/4 to 1 inch florets
• 4 cloves of black garlic, minced or smushed
• 2 to 4 filets of anchovies, minced or smushed
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 2 tablespoons water
• (optional) pepper, to taste

Method

1. In a Dutch oven or large pot, heat the olive oil until shimmering. Stir in the cauliflower until the florets are coated in the oil.
2. Cover and cook on medium high for about 9 to 11 minutes. Stir the cauliflower every 2 to 3 minutes, so that the vegetable doesn’t burn, but still allows a nice fond to develop.
3. Add the black garlic and anchovies, and stir for about 1 to 2 minutes.
4. Add the wine and water, bring the liquid to a boil. Cover and cook until tender, about 7 to 9 minutes. There shouldn’t be much liquid left by the end; if the cauliflower cook more quickly than expected, remove the lid to boil off any excess to avoid mushiness.
5. Add some freshly ground pepper, if you want. Serve as a side, which I did with some broiled fish and rice. Alternatively, serve over pasta — in which case if there’s excess liquid, don’t boil it off, just add it to the pasta, or add pasta water and/or a bit of cream if the water boiled off already.