I've had an eventful past couple days, although I still haven't found any work. I hope that changes soon though. Anyway, I've just spent the last few hours resizing pictures on Photoshop because photobucket makes them too small -.- I really need to find a better way to do this. But back to the jobless thing, I've pretty much decided that blogging would be my job until I have one. Maybe I'll go back to working at the office...maybe...
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I know sometimes I don't post for a while, and I know about 3/4ths of you only come here to look at pictures like a childrens book, but I honestly enjoy doing this, and while I don't make any money because of it, who knows; maybe this might take me down the path of actual food critic. Probably not, but it's nice to dream sometimes /:
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So on yesterday I went to IKEA, intending to buy myself a new lamp, then I thought about getting a new dresser, and THEN I though about how the hell would I get them home...so I just bought three pillows and some pillowcases instead. Completely not what I went in there for, but it was surprisingly fun (mostly because I was laughing about Ashley almost passing out from the heat in there). I ended up eating at the little restuarant/cafeteria type thing there, and the food was actually pretty good.
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Just whatever you do, never order the princess cake.
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EVER.
Let me just start off by saying that this picture doesn't do the salmon justice at all. Here, it looks like something inside of a wet catfood can, but in real life it looked okay. While I still do have an iPhone to take pictures with, I seriously need a real camera. There is no flash on the iPhone, so dark pictures come out looking grainy like this, and atleast a point and shoot camera would really help.
I'm guessing the salmon was poached before it was plated with the dill sauce; the menu didn't really say how the fish was cooked. I was a little put off when I saw that it was (assumingly) poached, because I usually dislike poached fish (or even chicken), but this was actually okay. I have absolutely no idea what the filling was (the visibly green portion of the filet), but it tasted the same as the rest of the fish, so they really didn't have to put that inside anyway.
What I thought were crab cakes turned out to be potato cakes, but I wasn't upset about this at all, I just figured it would've went with the seafood theme. (I honeslty have no idea what was going through my mind. I should know better; IKEA does not sell crab -.- I'm an embarrasment). The also poached vegetables were nice too. I enjoyed the yellow carrots.
This might look like dessert, but it wasn't. It was Ashley's "Dollar Meatballs" that she hated so much, she spit one out on the table. Her excuse was "I thought they would be great, because they were only a dollar. How could I resist?", to which I replied "Seriously? Since when, dealing with food, is something that is advertised as 'ONLY ONE DOLLAR!!' going to be delicious?"
To my surprise, I thought they were great. They tasted sort of sweet, but not disgustingly so, almost like the sweetness of foods caramelized on a grill (if that's possible). They were served with a cream sauce, and lingonberries which I dragged them through before eating.
After such a filling meal, what better way to end it all then with an even more filling dessert. If only I hadn't gone down the terrible route of the princess cake...
This attrocity was described to me as looking like a dirty tennis ball, and I should've listened, but curiousity got the best of me and I just had to try it. First of all, the outside is the most tasteless marzipan ever. That "chocolate drizzle" on top wasn't chocolate at all; it was just more marzipan! The filling was whipped cream, which I hate on cake which, by the way, was the dryest white cake ever. In the middle they managed to smear a little bit of raspberry jam, but it was like giving a dehydrated person in the desert your last drop of water: Too little, too late.
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To spite them, I refused to clear my own tray like the sign says to do.
For all the Swedish prinesses out there who are forced to enjoy this, I shed a single tear.
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Today I made Cream Puffs!
(I had a whole photo montage thing of how I made them, but the resizing didn't work properly, and it's late and I don't feel like doing it again. So there.)
I didn't get the fondant right until the fourth time I tried to make it. I searched everywhere on the internet on a video showing me how to make fondant icing, not rolling fondant that you put on cakes, but I had absolutely no luck at all. I just needed to see a video to see what I was doing wrong. So I decided to blow the dust off of my BP232 book and read the fondant section; mind you this was all before I tried to make it the last three times.
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So apparantly I was supposed to heat the mixture to 225F, then add the cream of tartar, then continue heating until 240F, then take it off and pour it onto the slab, then work with it until it turned white. There were two problems with this; I don't have a scale, and EVERYTHING in that book is by weight, and I also couldn't find the conversion amount for cream of tartar.
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I was just a real badass today because I was flying blind with the temperatures too; all my thermometers stop at 220F. I was relieved that it only took me three tries to get it right.
Yes they're lumpy, and yes they look messy, but I like them. The top is apricot marmalade and coffee fondant (something else I stumbled upon in my 232 notebook), and inside is pastry cream. I would love to sit here for another 30 minutes and talk about them, but honestly it's late, and they're just cream puffs.
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:) Until then... which should probably be soon because I just got like 4lbs of butter from the store. (Maybe danishes!)
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