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Almond Butter

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Almond Butter

When I made my Chinese Chicken Salad, I had to find a substitute for the peanut butter – the result of a peanut allergy.  The substitution was hardly a problem; Whole Foods carried freshly ground cashew butter and almond butter in its bulk section.  After sampling each, I decided to go with the almond butter.  The rest of the recipe went according to plan.

After sampling the chicken salad, Caitlin suggested that I should make my own almond butter.  I was skeptical.  Just a few weeks earlier, I had made Almond-Stuffed Baked Apples, and after several seconds of grinding almonds, no such butter had appeared.

Almond Butter Collage

But sure enough, …

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Homemade Bread Crumbs

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Seasoned Bread Crumbs: Awaiting Processing

Bread crumbs are one of those indispensable ingredients.   They give gratins and casseroles their attractive topping, they give meatloaf its consistent texture, and they give fried chicken its trademark crunch.  To accommodate these various roles, bread crumbs come in two styles: fresh (soft) or dried.

As the name implies, fresh, or soft, bread crumbs are fluffier and softer than their dried counterparts.  Because of their consistency, they are frequently used as a binder in meatloaf and dumplings, or as a topping for gratins and casseroles.  Dried bread crumbs, on the other hand, are finer and crisper than the fresh variety.  Their crisp texture makes them perfect for breading meat and seafood.  With the addition of herbs and spices, each variety can be transformed into seasoned bread crumbs.

Any good bread can serve as the raw material …

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The Grim Peeper

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grim-peeper-panorama

For the past three years, the Washington Post has invited its readers to participate in its Peeps Diorama Contest.  The rules for the contest are simple – create a scene, concept, or event, in which the characters in the diorama are played by Peeps, “those marshmallowy chicks and rabbits plaguing checkout lines in every convenience store this season.”  Throw a clever pun into the mix, and the Post promises the possibility of extra-credit.

Our first thought was an ode to Obama – “The Peeple’s Choice” – in which a throng of marshmallow figures crowded the Washington Mall in witness of an historic Inauguration.  But, we worried, the Obama idea would hardly be original.  Indeed, even the paper warned that it was “tired of the campaigns.”

collage-top-level

The other major theme of this year, of course, has been the economic crises.  And the more we thought about it –  industries collapsing, banks failing, unemployment rising, stocks plummeting, and savings disappearing – we knew that some larger force had to be lurking behind the nation’s financial calamities.  Our diorama, submitted last night, reveals …

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Homemade Vanilla Extract

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The expression “plain vanilla” strikes me as a bit of a misnomer.

The vanilla bean is the fruit of an orchid, and not just any orchid.  Of the hundred or so species of vanilla-producing orchids, only two species produce a vanilla suitable for cooking.  One species, vanilla planifolia, produces Bourbon vanilla, while the other species, vanilla tahitensis, produces Tahitian vanilla.

Bourbon vanilla and Tahitian vanilla are as exotic as they sound.  That is, the  varieties derive their  names from their respective locales.  Bourbon vanilla is produced from planifolia orchids grown on islands in the Indian Ocean, namely Madagascar, Comoros, and Réunion.  Some three hundred years ago, Réunion was named Bourbon Island (Île Bourbon), in honor of the French royal family.  Tahitian vanilla  is produced from tahitensis orchids in French Polynesia (which includes Tahiti).

The different climates of each locale …

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