Daily Archives

December 8, 2007

foodthings I like

blendin’

I have a new best friend, it is my Kitchenaid Immersion Blender.
While I’m rarely one to encourage my readers to buy more stuff, I just have to share that this gizmo rocks. It can make shakes in a snap. Yesterday it whipped the batter for my Dutch Baby Pancakes so fast and so smooth! The day before that it pureed the veggies in our soup quite handily. And it’s WAY easier to clean than a traditional blender. And that is a huge plus at our house.

I bought mine at Target for under $50. The link above to amazon.com is a bit spendier. But if you’re wondering what to get for that person who likes to cook, this might just be a winner! :)

FYI, for those of you who’ve never tried the wonders of a Dutch Baby pancake:

Dutch Baby Pancake

(Makes 4 to 6 servings)

6 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon or nutmeg (or both!)
5 tablespoons butter
**Freshly squeezed lemon juice
**Powdered or confectioners sugar

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Place oven rack on the middle rack of your oven. Put a large, heavy ovenproof frying pan or a cast-iron skillet in the oven to preheat it, too.

In a large bowl, beat (with your immersion blender if you have one) the eggs until light and frothy; add milk, flour, vanilla extract, and cinnamon; beat for 5 minutes more.

Add the butter to skillet; tilting the pan to melt the butter and coat the bottom. Pour the prepared batter into the hot skillet, and immediately return the skillet to the oven.

Cook for approximately 25 minutes, or until the pancake is all puffed up and brown on the top.
Note: do not take out of the oven until you have the camera handy, because if you do this, then your husband will laugh at you as you race to get said camera as the pastry is slowly deflating…
**Cut into wedge-shaped pieces and serve the traditional way with lemon juice and powedered sugar. Or serve with fresh maple syrup (Yum!) or the way we ate them yesterday which was with chunky spiced applesauce on top. To die for!

December 8, 2007
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bookish
booksschool

bookish

H/T for photo above of Trinity Library

This past week I’ve spent a bunch of time at the Huntington Library. I’ll be back again next week (and the week after that and the week after that….)

If I’m lucky, I’ll be garnering a Fellowship so I can research there nearly full-time. But even without the Fellowship I’ll certainly be there on a regular basis.

I’ve learned a few things in the past week:
1) The library’s cataloging system is only so-so. Key words and search terms are often nonsensical/illogical.
2) The old paper card catalog has items not listed in the online catalog.
3) Many of the items don’t appear to be listed anywhere at all–not on the computers and not on the bitty little cards in the drawers (which drawers, I still don’t seem to be able to pull out of the cabinet properly, so doing the research is a bit painful as I contort myself to see the cards)
4) The trick to knowing what’s in the library is to talk to the curators. They know all.
5) The other trick is to ask lots of questions and request items that may not even exist (e.g. “A finding aid for that collection?…No, there doesn’t appear to be one…”)

Even with all of the confusions and run-arounds of this week’s work at the H, I’m just loving it. Really. I am so very lucky to be close enough to such a place for my research. And it is a beautiful space to spend one’s days….
(IOW, people, more flower pictures from the grounds will be forthcoming…I’m hoping to step foot outside of the inner-sanctum on at least one of my visits next week!)

December 8, 2007
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