 More Fun
Since discovering audio books, I enjoy chores. I love the excuse to keep reading 🙂 we don’t have a dishwasher, which i love because id rather wash by hand than have to go through the hassle of loading and unloading. I think the only chore I’m not a big fan of is cooking – mainly because I’m not very good. I have to really concentrate and I can’t listen to an audiobook. I’d rather clean for someone while they cook (which I often do). I do want to try out some of your recipes though. I also think I’m lazy about cooking because I live with two excellent cooks – my BF and my mom – so what’s the point? Lol! Great post Lola!
Berls @ Fantasy is More Fun recently posted…Winter 2014-2015 #COYER Update |Twitter Party Today!
Lola
I really want to try out audio books once for when I am cleaning the rat cage. I can imagine how being able to listen to a story makes the chores seem not so bad.
Cooking really takes a lot of concentration at first, I still notice that when I am trying out a new recipe I cook very different then when I am making an old favourite. When I make a recipe I made lots of times it almost goes automatic, I know what to do and don’t have to think too much.
I guess that if you live with great cooks, there isn’t much motivation to cook yourself. Back in our old house we had my mom and my sister who cooked, so I didn’t really have to. Now we moved out and my sister has an internship and get’s home late, so I started cooking and I am so glad I did! Maybe you can claim one day in the week that you cook? That really worked for me.
Jess @My Reading Dress
I LOVE GROCERY SHOPPING! And while my cooking is mediocre, I love doing that as well. Laundry, however, is something that I DETEST! Oh goodness, it bores me so much hahahaha. On the other hand, I don’t mind vacuuming. Probably because I don’t do it properly LOL
Jess @My Reading Dress recently posted…The Mime Order Blog Tour: Juicy Excerpt and Special AUS Competition
Lola
I guess the laundry is a bit boring, but it usually doesn’t take too much time and I love the smell of fresh laundry. I like cooking and grocery shopping, they are just fun to do, althoguh they do take some time.
I am just so clumpsy when I am vaccum cleanign I bump into everything or the vaccum cleaner bumps into everything or the cord get’s stuck somewhere. It’s just so frustrating. And I can’t stand the noise the vaccum cleaner makes.
Sharon @ Sharon's Book Nook!
I don’t mind doing the floors, laundry and dishwasher. I dislike grocery shopping as the shopping carts/trolleys have a mind of their own and I hate cleaning the oven and stove.
Love this post, it’s nice to ramble occasionally. 🙂
Sharon @ Sharon’s Book Nook! recently posted…Untouched by Lauren Hawkeye – Review
Lola
OH I hate those shopping carts with a mind of their own. Although I usually just put down my cart somewhere and walk to get products and then place it a bit further in the supermarket and continue.
My sister cleaned the stove today, which makes me happy 😀Doran Brooks went to culinary school in Australia, learned how to make udon and soba in the Japanese countryside, and has worked as the pastry chef for Pixar Animation Studios in California.
Chef Doran Brooks has lived — and cooked — all over the world, from Japan and Australia to the Bay Area and New York City, where he first experimented with French-influenced Japanese pastries at the famed Morimoto.
Or so he thought. But after visiting the city, Brooks, 36, who lives in Pontiac’s Seminole Hills neighborhood, was intrigued by Detroit’s resilience and strength as well as the chance to bring something creative to the local food scene. “There are these beautiful restaurants that have opened in the last few years that have completely blown [expectations] out of the water of what can be done in this community,” he says.
Wanting to be part of the area’s culinary revitalization, Brooks picked up and moved across the country. Last September, he launched White Wolf Japanese Patisserie (an Americanized spelling of the French version), a sophisticated, elegant bakery that melds Japanese and French techniques and ingredients through desserts such as crepe cakes (layers of French crepes and silky mousse in flavors like strawberry and matcha) as well as traditional Japanese milk breads with savory twists like bacon and Gruyere and garlic butter. Brooks explains that in Japanese culture, a white animal is a spirit animal, and the pack follows the spirit animal. “We are trying to create something new and inspiring in this industry. So White Wolf was fitting,” he says.
White Wolf opened last September to much fanfare. “We sold out of everything and had to close for a day to catch up,” recalls chef Doran Brooks of the bakery’s early days.
Blending different cuisines comes naturally to Brooks, who has an Italian mother and Australian father. As a kid, he’d help his mom cook dinner, assisting with Italian classics such as pasta and roasted-beef dishes. “Growing up, we would cook all the time at home,” he says. “My family had a tradition where no one was allowed to eat dinner until everyone was sitting at the table.” When he was 17, the family moved to Australia’s Yarra Valley (a food-and-wine-centric region located about an hour outside of Melbourne) to be closer to Brooks’ dad’s side of the family.
His love of cooking led him to culinary school and, eventually, New York. In 2007, he landed a job at Morimoto, the namesake restaurant of Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto; three months after starting Brooks became production manager of the pastry department. “[Working at Morimoto] solidified my love for the pastry world,” he says. It was also where he began working with Japanese pastries influenced by French technique, foreshadowing the work he would do at White Wolf.
Post-Morimoto, Brooks continued to build his resume, working in Japan, Maine, and the Bay Area in fine dining and resorts for the better part of a decade. He was the executive pastry chef at Quisisana Resort in Maine when True World Group, the New Jersey-based operator of sushi staples One World Market in Novi and Noble Fish in Clawson, approached him about opening a bakery in Michigan.
Like many restaurants and food businesses, the pandemic dealt White Wolf a huge blow, but Brooks says he quickly took action. His priority was to figure out how to keep the staff working, so he built an online store (from scratch, overnight) to sell staples such as eggs, flour and other in-demand items directly to customers. Sales dropped 50% the week the stay-at-home order was announced, so the online store was key to the bakery’s survival, he says.
Combine flour, sugar and salt. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, combine melted butter, milk and vanilla.
Add eggs to milk and butter mixture. Using hand blender or table-top blender, blend until well combined.
Slowly add flour mixture while blending. After all is added, blend for 3 minutes.
Strain through fine mesh strainer.
Heat a non-stick fry pan to medium-high heat.
Add a little oil to pan and spread evenly.
Add 3 ounces of batter to pan and cook until light golden, flip over and cook for 1 minute, remove.
Cook all crepes the same way. Use wax paper or parchment paper to separate crepes or they will stick to each other.
Combine sugar and water in small saucepan or pot. Heat until sugar is dissolved.
Combine sugar, matcha and salt. Mix well to disperse matcha and salt throughout sugar.
Add heavy cream and mix very well. Let rest for 5 minutes, then mix again to disperse matcha evenly.
Bloom gelatin in ice water for 10 minutes.
Heat light simple syrup until it starts to boil. Add bloomed gelatin (DO NOT ADD WATER FROM GELATIN).
Add gelatin mixture to cream mixture. Mix very well.
Mix on medium speed in an electric mixer until mousse reaches medium stiffness.
Lay 1 crepe down on cake base or plate.
Scoop about 5 ounces (3/4 cup) of mousse onto crepe. Spread very evenly.
Lay another crepe on top.
Repeat steps 1-3 until all mousse is used.
Let set in cooler for at least 3 hours, or overnight.
The Xherdan Shaqiri era in Chicago is upon us.
Shaqiri, MLS's new superstar, was unveiled by Fire FC on Monday in his new city, addressing media for the first time since his $7.5 million transfer from Lyon went official nearly two weeks ago.
The 30-year-old Swiss international is the crown jewel of Chicago's rebuild, which they hope is fast-tracked thanks to his electric attacking talent. Shaqiri also immediately gives fans across the country, as well as those abroad, another reason to pay attention to and seek out the Fire.