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Level 10 vegan
Dec. 21st, 2020 08:39 pmI'm spamming this everywhere but oh well. I'm just really proud of it.
Challah, bacon, and eggs, all of it vegan.
The challah—home made—is water challah with maple syrup, bacon is the King's fake bacon that I used to eat before I found out it wasn't vegan, but they changed the recipe and it is now, and the eggs are ackee. And it is unreasonably tasty. I was starting to worry that I was too depressed to cook or enjoy food, but I had a bit of a baking spree today and what I made tasted good.
Challah, bacon, and eggs, all of it vegan.
The challah—home made—is water challah with maple syrup, bacon is the King's fake bacon that I used to eat before I found out it wasn't vegan, but they changed the recipe and it is now, and the eggs are ackee. And it is unreasonably tasty. I was starting to worry that I was too depressed to cook or enjoy food, but I had a bit of a baking spree today and what I made tasted good.
Don't mind me. I know there are more important things to blog about, but smarter people than I can do that. I am marking and phoning kids and baking bread. I've gotten quite good at bread.
You can't just sit around all day eating bread for many reasons, chief among them being that flour is not available in unlimited quantities and also I can only bake two loaves at a time. This said, all I want to be doing right now is eating bread.
Also, if you're wondering how my kitchen smells, the answer is that it smells amazing.
You can't just sit around all day eating bread for many reasons, chief among them being that flour is not available in unlimited quantities and also I can only bake two loaves at a time. This said, all I want to be doing right now is eating bread.
Also, if you're wondering how my kitchen smells, the answer is that it smells amazing.
Behold my pandemic baking
May. 1st, 2020 07:08 pmYeah yeah yeah everyone is sick of sourdough pictures but look, Peter Kropotkin stepped it up a notch and I got my best baking result yet and I'm going to brag about it.
Just look at these buns! They are perfect. They are light and fluffy inside and crusty on the outside and taste like heaven!
Tonight's dinner was a veritable masterpiece of pandemic cooking: barbecue tofu sandwich with maple mustard on the bun I made today with sautéed garlic and lemon kale.
IT TASTES SO GOOD YOU GUYS. SO GOOD.
Just look at these buns! They are perfect. They are light and fluffy inside and crusty on the outside and taste like heaven!
Tonight's dinner was a veritable masterpiece of pandemic cooking: barbecue tofu sandwich with maple mustard on the bun I made today with sautéed garlic and lemon kale.
IT TASTES SO GOOD YOU GUYS. SO GOOD.
The conquest of bread
Apr. 14th, 2020 04:55 pmLook I realize everyone is making sourdough these days but bread has always been the Final Boss Fight for me (well, that and the perfect macaron) and my first attempt turned out splooty and not good. My second attempt? Tastes like actual bread, except better because I made it myself.
It's a no-knead recipe and it's kind of flat because I don't actually own a proper loaf pan, so I had to use a giant casserole dish but whatever! It has the taste and texture of bread. It has a crust. It absorbs olive oil. I made it myself with the sourdough starter my friend mailed me. I can continue to make more and better breads! I can have toast and jam with my coffee tomorrow.
I am exceedingly excited about this.
It's a no-knead recipe and it's kind of flat because I don't actually own a proper loaf pan, so I had to use a giant casserole dish but whatever! It has the taste and texture of bread. It has a crust. It absorbs olive oil. I made it myself with the sourdough starter my friend mailed me. I can continue to make more and better breads! I can have toast and jam with my coffee tomorrow.
I am exceedingly excited about this.
YOU GUYS I FINALLY DID IT!
I have been attempting macarons for a month now and while I managed tasty right away, I did not manage aesthetic until now. But after much trial and error and seeking advice from the aquafaba masters, I have achieved success!
The shells are vanilla (and quite saturated; the middle picture is the most accurate in terms of colour) and the filling is chocolate mint ganache. They are very tasty, if a little sweet for my palate.
I have been attempting macarons for a month now and while I managed tasty right away, I did not manage aesthetic until now. But after much trial and error and seeking advice from the aquafaba masters, I have achieved success!
The shells are vanilla (and quite saturated; the middle picture is the most accurate in terms of colour) and the filling is chocolate mint ganache. They are very tasty, if a little sweet for my palate.
Reading Wednesday + cake
Oct. 30th, 2019 08:48 pmI'm still reading Umberto Eco's On Literature. I'm halfway through and it's really good, but it's essays and I'm averaging about five hours of sleep a night, so I tend to pass out after one.
*
In more exciting news, I baked a cake.
To answer the questions:
1. Yes, the eyeballs are edible. They're made out of fondant.
2. It's vegan.
3. It does actually taste good (other than the fondant, which tastes like fondant). It's vanilla and pumpkin-spice flavoured.
*
In more exciting news, I baked a cake.
To answer the questions:
1. Yes, the eyeballs are edible. They're made out of fondant.
2. It's vegan.
3. It does actually taste good (other than the fondant, which tastes like fondant). It's vanilla and pumpkin-spice flavoured.
Inktober Week 4 + misc. arts
Oct. 27th, 2019 09:03 amI can't believe I've made it this far. I am rather stubborn, aren't I? I actually ended up doing a fair bit of art this week.
( inktober )
I didn't hit life drawing this week (alas! It will probably be awhile) but I did get some other arts done!
( other arts )
( inktober )
I didn't hit life drawing this week (alas! It will probably be awhile) but I did get some other arts done!
( other arts )
Mermaid cake
Apr. 24th, 2019 08:05 pmThere's a longer story to this, which deserves a locked post, but the short version is that we're having a school event and one of my kids is really into mermaids and asked me if I could make a mermaid cake.
Like you can't just say, "[Sabs] can you make a mermaid cake?" and not have me auto-respond, "I HAVE BEEN WAITING MY ENTIRE EXISTENCE TO DO SO OMG" before I realize the logistics involved.
So I made a mermaid cake.
I think it actually looks better IRL and I'm pretty sure it's going to actually taste good, as the individual components all taste good. Maybe not Pinterest worthy but pretty respectable!
Like you can't just say, "[Sabs] can you make a mermaid cake?" and not have me auto-respond, "I HAVE BEEN WAITING MY ENTIRE EXISTENCE TO DO SO OMG" before I realize the logistics involved.
So I made a mermaid cake.
I think it actually looks better IRL and I'm pretty sure it's going to actually taste good, as the individual components all taste good. Maybe not Pinterest worthy but pretty respectable!
Miss Lynx is having a princess party because we're grownups and we can do things like that now, so I baked a ridonkulous cake. I want to post it to FB but I don't want her to see it yet, and while she has a DW, she never checks it, so I think I am safe posting it here.
It is not as structurally sound as I want it to be, on account of I thought I would use good jam that was tasty, rather than cheap-ass jam, but it turns out the cheap jam does a much better job of holding cake together. Oh well. Fondant covers a multitude of sins. I'd like to get a bit faster with sculpting so that I can get a better face without worrying that it will dry out, but not bad for a first attempt at a person-cake?
( oh and if you are misslynx, don't click this yet )
It is not as structurally sound as I want it to be, on account of I thought I would use good jam that was tasty, rather than cheap-ass jam, but it turns out the cheap jam does a much better job of holding cake together. Oh well. Fondant covers a multitude of sins. I'd like to get a bit faster with sculpting so that I can get a better face without worrying that it will dry out, but not bad for a first attempt at a person-cake?
( oh and if you are misslynx, don't click this yet )
This year's baking
Dec. 20th, 2018 06:23 pm
Regular vegan:
Chocolate chip cookies
Molasses ginger crinkle
White chocolate, walnut, and cranberry snowballs (these are my favourite)
Nanaimo bars
Experimental pumpkin squares
Experimental coconut cream sugar cookies
Gluten-free and vegan:
Chocolate chip cookies
Flourless pumpkin, chocolate, and cashew butter cookies
Double chocolate truffles (these were objectively the best things I made this year)
A smattering of people even thanked me for baking for them. :)
Skeleton War 2018 cake
Oct. 28th, 2018 10:48 amI'm no Christine McConnell, but this year's skull cake is a definite improvement over last year's! Among other things, I learned how to take a shaped cake out of the baking pan in one piece. And how to paint fondant.
Before you ask, there's a Dollarama tray ($4 and worth every penny) underneath the cake, and the teeth are from the image on it, not an actual part of the cake. The eyeballs, however, are edible.
( process pics )
Before you ask, there's a Dollarama tray ($4 and worth every penny) underneath the cake, and the teeth are from the image on it, not an actual part of the cake. The eyeballs, however, are edible.
( process pics )
Behold!
( More pics under the cut )
This one was a collaboration between me and cupric_acetate; I made the pie dough and she did the hard bit. Here is how to do a herringbone lattice pie. Here is how to make a vegan pie crust such that even I can't fuck it up.
This one managed to be beautiful and delicious. Well, the octopus cake did taste good, don't get me wrong, I will take pie over cake any day, and i just prefer baked goods that are less sweet. The filling is wild blueberry, from frozen, with some sugar, lemon juice, and corn starch. It came out perfectly and tasted like pure bliss.
( More pics under the cut )
This one was a collaboration between me and cupric_acetate; I made the pie dough and she did the hard bit. Here is how to do a herringbone lattice pie. Here is how to make a vegan pie crust such that even I can't fuck it up.
This one managed to be beautiful and delicious. Well, the octopus cake did taste good, don't get me wrong, I will take pie over cake any day, and i just prefer baked goods that are less sweet. The filling is wild blueberry, from frozen, with some sugar, lemon juice, and corn starch. It came out perfectly and tasted like pure bliss.
Octopus cake
May. 19th, 2018 03:41 pmI made myself a birthday cake for tonight.
( Click if u want to see a gazillion pictures of it )
But does it taste good, you ask? I'll let you know! I suspect the octopus part does not, unless you are an 8-year-old child who enjoys sugar. But the insides should taste good.
( Click if u want to see a gazillion pictures of it )
But does it taste good, you ask? I'll let you know! I suspect the octopus part does not, unless you are an 8-year-old child who enjoys sugar. But the insides should taste good.
EPIC CAKE OF AWESOMENESS
Apr. 25th, 2018 08:56 pmYou guys! I baked the most beautiful cake I have ever made.
I am so proud of myself you have no idea.
(And yes, it's vegan.)
I basically adapted this recipe. I figured out how to do the ombre technique from this one.
I am not a great judge of cake taste as anything with that much sugar is not my thing, but as far as I can judge, it tastes really good. But mainly it is a WORK OF ART that I made myself with my own two hands.
I am so proud of myself you have no idea.
(And yes, it's vegan.)
I basically adapted this recipe. I figured out how to do the ombre technique from this one.
I am not a great judge of cake taste as anything with that much sugar is not my thing, but as far as I can judge, it tastes really good. But mainly it is a WORK OF ART that I made myself with my own two hands.
Long weekend!
Mar. 31st, 2018 05:05 pmNo, YOU'RE dancing around your kitchen to Vienna Teng and baking mountains of chocolate chip cookies.*
* They're not for me. I don't even like baked goods that much. 50% for the booth I need to run at the Conference From Hell on Tuesday, half for the York strikers on Monday.
* They're not for me. I don't even like baked goods that much. 50% for the booth I need to run at the Conference From Hell on Tuesday, half for the York strikers on Monday.
