Posted by the Misanthropic Hostess.
Feb
14
Posted by the Misanthropic Hostess.
I recently learned that TD is a fan of german chocolate cake. That got the wheels turning. And, in true pink-peppercorn style I thought; ‘he says he likes german chocolate cake, how about if I make deconstructed german chocolate brownies.’ In my defense, I discovered his affinity because he chose german chocolate cake ice cream at Baskin Robbins. So…I learned about one thing from another thing and then made something else entirely. Sounds about normal.
It wasn’t until I was …
Feb
6
Posted by the Misanthropic Hostess.
During the holidays I was somehow lucky enough to receive not one but two Bouchon Bakery cookbooks as gifts. Alas, you’ll have to wait for a report on my adventures with Bouchon for another day. Today we’re visiting what I traded the second Bouchon cookbook for: Jerusalem. I’ve had my eye on this beautifully photographed and narrated cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi since it popped onto the scene last October. I’ve long been intrigued by cuisines that cross …
Jan
31
Posted by the Misanthropic Hostess.
The first time I ever had a black and white cookie was at a Superbowl party in West Hollywood. The West Hollywood part of the experience was important for two reasons. First, given the location of the party, I’m fairly certain those giant disks of delightfulness came from Canters Deli. Canters is a Westside institution. Think Jewish Grandmother meets Swingers (the movie). Open 24 hours, it’s also one of the few places in Los Angeles where you can get a …
Jan
24
Posted by the Misanthropic Hostess.
Right after finishing college but before starting graduate school, I lived with two friends in the heart of the Fairfax District. It was a very well rounded neighborhood complete with orthodox Jewish families, a transvestite with fantastic legs and, of course, lots and lots of “actors.” Years after the three of us left the neighborhood, a plane crashed into the apartment building across the street.
Being young, nubile, recent college graduates, the three of us entertained quite a bit. At one such …
Jan
17
Posted by the Misanthropic Hostess.
It wouldn’t be January in the Misanthropic kitchen without a grapefruit recipe. In fact, I started thinking about what to make way back in November (I am convinced there is a relationship between losing the light as the year grows old and craving the brightness of vitamin C-packed fruit). This year there were two front-runners. However, as it is my enduring goal to have my cake and eat it too, I decided to use one with a different kind of …
Jan
9
Posted by the Misanthropic Hostess.
Ever since I was left with three-quarters of container of toasted black sesame seeds they’ve been calling to me from the “S” section of the spice rack in our pantry. So I thought, what if I replaced some of the almond flour in my french macaron recipe with black sesame flour?
My base recipe calls for 120 grams of almond flour. I swapped-out 50 grams of almond meal for 50 grams of ground black sesame seeds. Now, generally, the taste of …
Jan
3
Posted by the Misanthropic Hostess.
Happy New Year to you all! I hope your holidays were delightful. As you can see, TD and I survived our trip to Montana and escaped the zombie apocalypse.
I was assigned to make biscuits for our family’s Christmas breakfast. So, on Christmas Eve, while this was going on outside (yes, that is fahrenheit):
Which helped to make this happen:
I got down to biscuit business.
Biscuits from scratch are just as easy as biscuits from Bisquick if you keep one think in …
Dec
19
Posted by the Misanthropic Hostess.
Why yes, it is Wednesday. As you read this, TD and I are on a teeny tiny plane headed to Montana. If his predictions are correct, at some point we will get snowed-in. To hear TD explain it, this will trigger the zombie apocalypse whereupon only the strongest (or least best tasting) will survive to see spring. Yeah, I don’t really understand either. But, just in case, here is this week’s post.
Depsite my agonizingly detailed planning, about 2/3 of the …
Dec
13
Posted by the Misanthropic Hostess.
I knew that I wanted to include my take on the famous Altoid Brownie in this year’s batch of goodies. However, it wasn’t until I encountered these festive beauties that inspiration hit on how to make them holiday worthy.
Don’t get me wrong, the original recipe is lovely. I just happen to prefer my own brownie recipe…with baby chunks of chocolate added.
After cutting the truffle-like treats into roughly 1X1 inch squares, I dropped each into a mixture of peppermint sprinkles and …
Dec
10
Posted by the Misanthropic Hostess.
I’ve made my fear of pate brise no secret. I blame certain family members who suckled me on the crust of incredibly flakey and light pie crusts during my formative years. As a result, I will generally do anything I can to avoid making pie crust. This has included, using passable proxies like shortbread or graham cracker to just baking a cake instead.
But.
TD asked for an apple pie to go with the Gobbla’ Cobbla.’ And since I knew they he …