miscellaneous goings-on

1) Sourdough bread is finally within reach after years of lazily wishing I could make it: I've captured wild yeast! This is my second go at Peter Reinhart's seed culture --> mother starter method for creating a sourdough starter, and unlike last time, it's going very well. I can't remember what happened with my attempt a year ago, except that nothing did: I didn't see much bubbling/activity at all, and so gave up after a few days. This time, however, things are looking bubbly and smelling pretty acidic, so I'll probably be moving to phase 3 of the seed culture tonight. I can't wait to try a rye loaf first.

2) Having grown up partly in Texas, I regard Mexican food with much fondness and would never turn it down, but I don't actually cook it much. Apart from a couple of good red and green enchilada recipes and the ability to make a decent salsa cruda, I don't actually know much about what goes into more complex Mexican dishes. I am very sorry that I did not "meet" Rick Bayless sooner. Several weeks ago I checked out one of his older cookbooks (RB's Mexican Kitchen), a very thorough treatment of all sorts of traditional Mexican everyday and "fiesta" food, and I still have it (renewed twice). Most recently I made the essential roasted tomatillo salsa with chipotle chiles (except I subbed arbol chiles per one of the variation ideas), and we liked it alright; it was sweeter than I expected, though I only added a pinch of sugar. For green salsas I prefer something more like the one in CI's enchiladas verdes, which roasts poblano peppers along with the tomatillos, and adds a fair bit of cilantro, too. But the smoky shredded pork tacos (tacos de picadillo oaxaqueño, on page 150) were out of this world. Exactly what I hoped for and then some. They were a "process" as far as taco fillings go, to be sure, but this was so much more than something to dump in a tortilla and slather with cheese and mediocre salsa. In fact, the meat with the picadillo (raisins and almonds) was so flavorful that all I served it with was a little cilantro. I'm very impressed and inspired by a lot of other recipes and techniques in this book.

3) In our household we have a special occasion coming up, and for it I'm considering flambéeing (steak Diane)... On the one hand, it could be really cool and help me overcome my pyrophobia, but on the other, it could, like, destroy M's birthday and our entire apartment building. :) Hm. Might be sticking with lamb chops instead.


4) On a whim I just baked some chocolate ice cream sandwiches (well, the sandwich part) from The Perfect Scoop, and they're cooling and making the house smell nice and waiting to be completed with the chocolate-peanut butter ice cream I made from the same book last week. I'll report on the outcome of those. Well, we already know the ice cream is good.