Vicky Learns to Cook

 Well here we are, Turkey day week.  As per usual, 2020 brought its issues with the biggest cooking day of the year.  I tried Paul Hollywood's Pear Pastries and it was a semi-disaster. Like, he would admonish me on the GBBO and then maybe even kick me out of the tent. The texture of the pastry is all wrong.  The pear pastries were too wet after poaching, I didnt drain them enough and thus the puff pastry wrapped around it slid off, and looked undone in places. Still tasted pretty good. But couldve been so great if i did it right.  I ended up tossing out the pastry and just eating the poached pears.  Disaster struck again with the cranberries. The cranberry sauce was left unattended and burned itself to the pan. I scrubbed forever to get that pan clean. Luckily we were able to get our hands on another bag and this batch turned out fine.  The deviled eggs didnt come out of their shells without brute force, stuck in there really well, causing them to be a...

 I think its probably fair to say I'm done with field trips to grocery stores for at least the next 3 weeks, or longer, if the Michigan "Pause" gets extended.  For those not in Michigan, our Governor has mandated a pause. And although it does not extend to grocery stores, in the spirit of the pause, I'm being extra safe and staying home.  The numbers are high and more and more family and friends are getting exposed, or worse actually catching the Corona virus. They spread it unknowingly and find out later. I can't imagine going to the little shop and accidently getting that little Nona that I saw in the store sick.  Meanwhile I'll do my shopping online, if I need anything for a recipe.  It is truly a time of hibernation now! I assure you I will still be reading and watching videos as I learn about Italy. If I find any really good ones, I'll share.  As always, stay safe and sane my friends.  Vicky

 With less sunshine came less motivation.  I'm knee deep in "fall cleaning" so I spent a good chunk of the morning rearranging the dining room counters.  So then I had less energy and motivation. But knowing I wanted to continue on my other quest - perfecting making breads - I had to get some rice flour.  So I first went to Gordons and looked around. They had the rice flour, albeit a smallish bag from Bobs Red Mill. Not even a big bag that I expected. So I took it and was thankful to get it to be honest.  I did check and found duck - $3.69 a pound, so a bit cheaper than Ninos. I' m going to have to bite the bullet and pay about $20 regardless for duck, which I'm nervous I'm gonna mess up. Someday Later.  I was amused to find giant hunks of turkey deli meat not yet sliced, and cheese, etc. I just wrinkled my nose and pronounced it gross, quietly, and moved on, chuckling to myself. I mean it looked like the shape of a turkey but ....wrong.  After that I ...

 So now that the year is coming to a close, I'm finding myself with a lot of vacation days left to burn. I took every Friday off from October 9 to the end of the year.  For the first 5 weeks, I took an Artisan Breads class. This put me half way to my goal of getting a Baking and Pastry certificate from OCC - Farmington Hills, MI.  (If you want to do something like this I highly recommend it. It's totally exhausting but at the same time worth it.) The next 8 Fridays plus today being Veterans Day, gave me some time to do something that makes me happy. Food, in general makes me happy. But I needed to be more specific. After introspection, I found myself lacking in knowledge of History, Geography, and Social studies. These are subjects I didnt love in school. And I didnt want to start doing them now.  But being a foodie, I wanted to study food. Not just the food, but in each region who eats what, and why. For example, why is Italy known for their pasta? (Durum wheat is a...

 In case you are wondering where I've been lately, here is a picture of the last week of Artisan Breads class.  Across the top: Rustic Rye clockwise: Sourdough round, semolina batard, pretzel bread, Sourdough rye, New York Rye, Another sourdough round, multigrain. It's been great learning so much in such a short time. But it does cut into my blogging time. Think of it as me becoming more interesting while you wait.  If you are lucky enough to see me Saturdays, you get some free bread. Because this stuff lasts about a day.  It would go stale, not mold, because they are not enriched breads (little fat if any) Hope you are doing something fun, yourself.  Think of me as I approach my Practical and Written final exams A week from today.  --Vicky

 Before you freak out, hear me out.  I don't mind some things about Fall and Winter. Leaves changing color is a sight to behold. I love it, watching them sparkle from my window, seated in my warm home.  I love pies baking in the oven and plans to see family.  It's the personal assault to my body that has me dreading these two seasons.  Starting with Fall, the first indication is that my nose stuffs up. I 've deduced that I am probably allergic to mold of some kind. As soon as I start to reach for my coat,  I also fill the pockets with Kleenex. And put a small packet of them in my purse.  I have a skin allergy, too, that creates these little itchy spots. Caused by mold? No idea. I have stuff for that but its prescription and I'm allergic to cortisone - so no cheap easy OTC remedy for me.  Then the weather turns cold and the furnace kicks on. Dry skin. Also allergic to fragrance, here, so I have to start putting stock in Fragrance free lotion, which...

 For some reason it occurred to me to figure out the percentages. If this doesnt interest you, skip to the end where I give you my new and improved plan. :) I started with a goal weight and weighed myself this morning. The "loseit.com" site will tell you how many calories you can have per day to lose x amount per week to get to that goal.  The longer you do this, you can see your pattern. Yep that is generally going up slowly. Not the way I wanted it to go.  So then knowing the amount of calories I Need, what should I be eating? Like how much fruit? This will be up for debate depending on what diet plan you follow, but I got to the Choosemyplate.gov and generally followed those percentages.  What made sense to me comparing this to a higher protein content and lower fruit (in keeping with both the Less Carb idea and More Protein idea) I was able to come up with this: (See the percent of calories for each food group is multiplied by the number of calories allowed for t...