Sunday morning breakfast inspration from facebook. Thank you Amy Page!

Woke up this morning, did the critter chores and sat down with a cup of coffee out of my favorite coffee cup of the month. Then decided to catch up on the news along with Facebook and Twitter. Easy peasy lemon squeezy kind of morning.

Then it happened.

On Facebook. A friend -thank you Amy Page- posted a picture perfect plate of breakfast. Eggs Benedict. The Hollandaise sauce looked expertly made. I've always been scared of making hollandaise sauce, as it seems just kind of crabby and touchy. Plus I don't want to kill anybody with undercooked egg yolks. I don't think it's ever killed anybody since people order runny eggs all the time. Still, I just didn't want to be responsible for killing by yolks. Or any killing, obviously.

But I decided to try this morning, thanks to the Page's. Wonderful people, by the way.

Now the picture posted on fb had a beautiful side of asparagus and a side of potatoes. I was just willing to go as as far as the main character. Eggs Benedict.

We didn't have Canadian Bacon but we did have ham that I was planning on making scalloped potatoes and ham with. Or just ham sandwiches. Either way, it's now in the crock-pot. Then it was time to get busy. Cranked up the music and put my fears aside of making hollandaise sauce.

Tried not to break the yolks but darn it-two didn't cooperate this morning.

I'm thinking my hollandaise sauce was looking pretty good!

Layering.

Finished Eggs Benedict with Hollandaise Sauce.

I was a little disappointed in the sauce, as I think it thickened up a bit too much.  But Harley Man told me it was perfect and thought it was delish. Must have been pretty good - and filling - because he is now taking a breakfast nap.  Thanks to the Page's for a little breakfast inspiration!

 Kind of makes a mess.

Whenever I think of Eggs Benedict it makes me think of Benedict Arnold. Weird, I know. So I decided to Google Eggs Benedict to see where the recipe originated. 

From Wikipedia:

"There are conflicting accounts as to the origin of eggs Benedict, including: In an interview recorded in the "Talk of the Town" column of The New Yorker in 1942, the year before his death,^[1] Lemuel Benedict, a retired Wall Street stock broker, claimed that he had wandered into the Waldorf Hotel in 1894 and, hoping to find a cure for his morning hangover, ordered "buttered toast, poached eggs, crisp bacon, and a hooker of Hollandaise." Oscar Tschirky, the famed maître d'hôtel, was so impressed with the dish that he put it on the breakfast and luncheon menus but substituted ham for the bacon and a toasted English muffin for the toast.

In refute to the Oscar Tschirky/Lemuel Benedict claim, prior to serving as Maitre d’hotel (1893 to 1943) at the Waldorf, Tschirky was "on the staff of the old and famous Delmonico’s,"^[3] along with the renowned Chef Charles Ranhofer. This reflects an earlier claim to eggs Benedict as evidenced in Chef Ranhofer's 1894 cookbook, The Epicurean^[4] which includes "a selection of interesting bills of fare of Delmonico's from 1862-1894", in particular a recipe for eggs Benedict (Eggs a' la—Benedick / Eufa a' la Benedick):

Cut some muffins in halves crosswise, toast them without allowing to brown, then place a round of cooked ham an eighth of an inch thick and of the same diameter as the muffins on each half. Heat in a moderate oven and put a poached egg on each toast. Cover the whole with Hollandaise sauce. 

During Chef Ranhofer's Delmonico years (1862-1899), Captain and Mrs. Le Grand Benedict (born 1843, Emma Frances Gardner) were frequent diners. Five generations of Benedict family history, including Mabel C. Butler (descended through Mrs. LeGrand Benedict's daughter Florence), author of a 1967 letter^[5] (more below) to the NY Times, and great-great-granddaughter Emily Benedict (born 1962, descended through Mrs. LeGrand Benedict's son Harold) independently cite similar stories from the late 1860s, that frequent patron Mrs. Benedict became uninterested in the usual Delmonico menu offerings and inquired for the Chef to create "something new". He replied asking if she had any ideas, to which she suggested what is now known as eggs Benedict (although her original version included a truffle on top.) Thereafter the creation made its way into Chef Ranhofer’s The Epicurean.  Oscar Tschirky quite possibly learned of eggs Benedict from Chef Ranhofer during their crossover Delmonico years together. While Lemuel Benedict may indeed have requested the egg concoction from Tschirky at the Waldorf in 1894 as a hangover cure, in that same year, the recipe was already printed in Chef Ranhofer's The Epicurean."


Hangover cure. Who knew?!

Oh, by the way, I used Tyler Florence's recipe:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/hollandaise-sauce-recipe.html


Grandma Becker's entry for March 30, 1990:
Alberta's Birthday "49".  Cloudy but no rain. 38, washed load of sheets and put clean ones on the bed-dusting and watering plants. Talked to Ruth-she came home from Texas yesterday. Gerald did all the wood work in utility and kitchen-sure looks nice. I waited on him etc and now we're both tired".

Today is my Mom's birthday and wishing her a wonderful day. 

It's a great day to be alive~make it a great day!

xoxo
Melody 

Double Trouble. Chocolate & Peanut Butter.

Since it is such a beautiful, sunny Saturday with highs in the low 60's I decided to spend time in the kitchen baking. 

Something is wrong with my thought process. Except I decided to make Double Trouble Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies. And that's what's right in the world. Chocolate. Peanut butter. Chocolate chips. Peanut butter chips. 

Anybody up for cookies and milk? I'm going to pass on the milk and have a glass of Cabernet. 

Double Trouble Chocolate & Peanut Butter

2 sticks butter, room temp

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

2 T milk

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 pkg. peanut butter chips

1 cup chocolate chips

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.  In a large bowl, beat together butter and both sugars with an electric mixer until creamy.  Add eggs, vanilla, creamy peanut butter and milk, and mix until just combined. Add dry ingredients and mix again until just combined.  Stir in peanut butter and chocolate chips.  Cover and chill for 1 hour. Place by rounded teaspoon on cookie sheet. 

Bake for 10 minutes at 350.

 Pretzel Potpie wasn't to excited about the baking process. If it was bacon, it would be a different story.

Oscar de la Renta needed to see what all of the fuss was about. By the way, the nice Dr. said that he has beautiful teeth. It was a very proud moment. 

Pippi Jackpot has been on Pippi Patrol pretty much all day. She has no time to be lazy like Pretzel. 

Now that the cookies are baked and dishes are done I think I'll take the critters for a walk. 

It's a great day to be alive~make it a great day!

xoxo
Melody

Feeling like a Shepherd, all I need is a crook. Plus sheep.

Everyone is completely over the snow and cold. Well, almost everyone. The one man at the Wisconsin Cheese Shop downtown loves the snow and wants at least one or two good, solid snowstorms. It says Spring on the calendar but yesterday we still woke up to a few inches of freshly fallen, wet snow. 

Which made me hungry for comfort food. I really, really want put "spring" into my baking but the weather made me think otherwise. 

So I came across a recipe for Shepard's Pie and decided it would be comforting enough to try while watching the NCAA games. Sad for Iowa State, by the way. I had them going all the way-ALL THE WAY-in my brackets. Busted. Crap. 

By the way, I found out that the term Shepard's Pie is named that since the type of meat used is lamb or mutton. And since shepherd's are associated with rearing sheep. It is also known as Cottage pie and it originated in 1791 in the UK.  I used ground beef though-not a fan of lamb. Or mutton. 

If only there was the capability of scratch 'n sniff on our computers. Wait. That could be kind of gross. But anyway, the carrots, celery, and onions smelled delish. Always do. 

 I love our 1950's stove. Harley Man named it Smiley since it does look like it's smiling. The covered pot had the potatoes simmering, ready to be mashed.  

 Added the ground beef, tomato paste, and a few other necessary ingredients. 

                                                                                    Just about ready to put in the oven.

Turned out delicious, and comforting as well. Especially comforting with the Cyclone loss.

 I need to mention that I normally don't like my mashers mixed in with other food. This was different, as it was used as a topping. Kind of like frosting.    

Leftovers are just as comforting. 

But now I want a couple of little lambs. Not for Shepherds Pie but because they're so cute.  

Grandma Becker's entry for March 29, 1990

"Light rain early morn. Air so damp and cold all day. Hair at 9:30. Gerald to Aplington. Charles sold 10 heifers $950 each. Gerald home at 6:10. Talked to Dorothy-still in hospital. Lucille Anderson called me".

It's a great day to be alive~make it a great day!

xoxo

Melody

Words

They are just words.

I've missed putting my thoughts into words and stories.  It was in November of 2013 since the last time I wrote any words down and it's high time.  Alot has changed in the last five months. Jobs, relationships, boobs,  life happens.  I don't want it to get away.

So I'm going to write down my words.

Again.

But first I'm going to frost a cake.