Spice Dish

Here We Go On

Today is SpiceDish's blogiversary. I'm celebrating with a little spiffing up. What do you think?

EB

Inspired Again

  

Alcatraz and the Palace of Fine Arts

As SpiceDish's blogiversary approaches I have had to have a little talk with myself... I started SpiceDish because I hated my job and was floundering. It gave me something positive to focus on and, as it's 3rd year of existence comes into being, I have to face several realities. One-- I've gotten very busy career-wise and due to that, lazy and tired when I get home. Two-- I haven't been, not necessarily uninspired, but most definitely overwhelmed by life and underwhelmed with my ability to go gangbusters on it. Three-- I still love cooking, I want to be better and better at it every day. Four-- I don't NEED SpiceDish the way I did when it was created (and that took some major coming to terms with). Five-- SpiceDish is something I can do now, not have to do. And that is a very good place to be.

I'll be posting more regularly, redesigning and generally showing SpiceDish the love it deserves. So stay tuned!

EB

Summer Fling!

Okay. Yes I’m a teacher. When people find out they invariably say “ooh you’re so lucky to have summers off!” Yeah. No. I don’t get summers off. I’m a newbie on the professorial circuit and I’m still paying my crappy schedule-summer session-not getting paid dues. However, I do get a day or two off a week during the summer. Which yes, is awesome (although a paycheck would be awesomer!) I am going to take full advantage of these few precious days. I plan to not only catch up in the blogging world but to also to make the most of the summer by doing all those things I've yearned about all winter like:

Photo by pedrosimoes7
1. Go to PARIS!

2. Go to a ball game or two.

3. Catch up on This American Life at the gym.

4. Go organic in the garden.

5. Improve my Spanish.

6. Explore my city with Mundane Journeys.

7.Read. For fun. Honestly. Just one book!

8. Drink beer and go for the brass ring.

9. Cook from my sorely neglected, ever growing collection of vintage cookbooks.

10. Go to the park. Manshelf?

What will you be doing with your summer?

EB

 

Creamy Snail Mail.... Mmmmm

Mail is a good thing right? I mean, when it's not a bill? Like when it's a postcard from someone nice? Someone nice who really likes ice cream? Would you like some nice, not bill-related, but ice cream offering mail? The real kind? In your actual, attached to your house mailbox kind? Yes, I thought you would.... 

Join the Ice Cream Recipe Postcard Swap from Scoopalicious!

Have Fun (and send me mail :)

EB

School Girl Crush

 

www.travelchannel.com

Each and every day as I arrive to campus I am confronted by a large billboard sized, Lite Brite style, events board that proclaims in all its shimmering glory "Anthony Bourdain Coming in May!"

Do I want to go? Hells yeah!? Will I be going. Um no. See I teach. This is not a "cash cow" type of gig. This is an "I don't know how not to do it" type of gig. Why do I bring this up? The cheap seats. The very far away, high up, bad acoustics seats? 50 clams. Each.

Is he a star? Yes. Am I begrudging his production the cash? Nope. I will just be absent on that day Mr. Bourdain. Guess I'll have to turn in some extra credit?

You may be excused-

EB

Fifty Two Fridays

San Francisco

I know I've been a little MIA lately but I am around I swear. Just ask Victoria! You can find the both of us over at Fifty-Two Fridays. What goes on over there? Well, you can check out the adventures of two ladies who live 2,913 miles apart (exactly). Every Friday we each post a pic of what's going on on our side of the country.

Manhattan

Come visit us!

EB
 

The Only Bread Pudding Recipe You'll Ever Need

Everyone seems to have bread pudding on the brain these days. I think it may be that winter is winding down and it’s a last-ditch effort to get in as many comfort foods as possible before the sun comes out. Whatever the reason… I love it.

This particular recipe is one of those kinda looks complicated, but you finish it and you’re like “Really?” that’s it? kind of recipes. It really is so easy and so worth the little tiny bit of effort you put into it. I’ve used this same recipe for years sometimes using brioche, sometimes using sourdough but I really like it best with panettone. The dryness of the bread soaks in the custard and the dried fruits plump up and act like little flavor bombs.

The reason this recipe is special though is that it’s a banana bread cousin. I really, really, love banana bread and I’ve tweaked this recipe to have bread pudding texture with banana bread flavors!

Here’s how it goes:

Panettone Banana Bread Pudding

Pudding:

1 large panettone, crusts trimmed, cut into 1-inch cubes

6 large eggs

3 frozen and thawed bananas

1 fresh banana

3 cups ½ & ½

1 cup white sugar

½ cup + 2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbs brandy or amaretto

1 tbs cinnamon

 

Sauce:

1 cup ½ & ½

4 tbs brown sugar

¼ cup brandy or amaretto

3 tsp cornstarch

1 tsp cinnamon

For the pudding: In a large bowl mash the frozen bananas with ½ cup of the brown sugar and the liqueur. Whisk in the eggs, ½ & ½  and white sugar. Set aside. Lightly butter a casserole dish. Lay out one layers of bread cubes to fill the dish. Pour the banana-custard mixture over the cubes. Press down to submerge the cubes. Slice the fresh banana and arrange on top. Sprinkle with 2 tbsp brown sugar. Let stand for 15-30 mins. Preheat the oven to 350*

Bake for 45-55 minutes until the cubes start to pull away from the sides of the casserole. It will still be jiggly when right out of the oven. Let it sit for 20-30 minutes to set up.

For the sauce: Bring the ½ & ½, cinnamon and sugar to a boil in a heavy saucepan over med-high heat stirring frequently. In a small bowl, whisk the liqueur and cornstarch together. Pour into the saucepan and simmer over medium-low heat. Whisk often, until the sauce thickens.

Pour over pudding and enjoy!

EB

Perk Me Up

You know what will perk you up when you're having a crappy day? Coming home to a big box of goodies!

Food Maven and creator of Coconut & Lime, Rachel held a little reader giveaway in January and I won! It was a whole box of stuff from Progresso. My favorite item is this way too cute recipe card holder that looks exactly like my grandmother's rolling pin that I use with love.

Thanks Rachel and the Contest Gods!

EB

Scoopalicious

 
Do you know Scoopalicious? No? Shame on you!! For starters Bethany and Tina are the mavens of all things creamy and delicious and second, yours truly does a monthly guest-post over there called SpiceDish Second Saturdays. The second Saturday of every month I create a new ice cream recipe and they post it. This month it's all about Valentine's Day inspiration with my Cocoa-Sour Cream-Blackberry ice cream recipe. Check it (and Scoopalicious) out!

Enjoy!

EB

Thank You Ms. Molly

I don’t normally post about other blogger's recipes. Not that I don’t cook them… but I figure you’ve already red about it so why read something twice? Well… I have to break this little tradition of mine due to the amazing Molly, aka Orangette. Yes of course you know her.

Not only is her lovely blog an inspiration to many, but this super talented gal writes one of the best columns in Bon Appetit. In the November issue Molly shares an incredibly sweet story about her love of Paris and for Chocolate Croissants… and the pastry that changed it all…. Chaussons Aux Pommes (French Apple Turnovers). I won’t layout her recipe for you here but I’ll wait while you go grab your copy and head to page 118.

 

Again, just to reiterate… I’m not a baker. I am not a baker. However, for Thanksgiving, it was requested that I bring a pie. Again… I don’t bake. As I flipped through the issue looking for something, anything, that could make for a passable pie… I read Molly’s words with relish. Her glee at the mere thought of these pastries was enough to make me at least want to take a whack at them. You know what? They came out perfectly perfect. Warm, flaky, sweet (but not too), filled with fruit and utterly delicious. I too was smitten. 

                                                             And yes I made that little ice cream scoop... more on that later.

Enjoy!

Erin