Fire! Earthquake! Sickness!

What a week!  Or has it been longer?

Sickness!

As you, my millions of loyal fans, know, my cooking hiatus started out with my mother going to the hospital.  I have great news here: no cancer!  She's home now and doing well.  She just needs to rest and heal.

I cannot express how relieved I am that she will get better.  Honestly, my mom is great.  I'm not ready to lose her.

Fire!

To make this week extra special, while mom was in the hospital we had a small electrical fire in the dining room.  Our water cooler decided that it wanted us to repaint the walls, refinish a little furniture, and give it a permanent vacation.

Fortunately, nobody was hurt.  But, we've had workers in the dining room now for three days ... scraping, priming, painting.  Looks like it's going to be a few more days of that.  Then, every single dish has to be washed.  We have a lot of dishes.

Since our kitchen and pantry area are currently in pieces (I'm getting new cabinets, yay!) ... my workspace is (was) the dining room.  Oops.

Earthquake!

Two days ago, there was an earthquake centered a mere 45 kilometers from our house.  5.4 on the Richter scale.  I was actually good and went to bed at a reasonable hour the night before.  So, I was up when the earthquake hit at 6:43am local time.  There was an aftershock about 10 minutes later. 

So ... it's been quite a week here.  Again, I apologize for the lack of posts.  When I get cooking faciilities again, I'll be back in action!

Oh, by the way ... did I mention that I'm getting a faver and a sore throat? 

Recipes to Rival

Quick note ... I joined another group.  Recipes to Rival.  With everyone doing super-sweet, they've turned to the savory side.  I like that!

Got to go for now ...

Wednesdays With Dorie For Mom

I was visiting my mom after the operation today.  She is doing OK.  Is rather weak and is in the ICU.  The doctor said that it's almost definitely not cancer.  I was so happy to hear that.

Anyway, my mom asked me "What are you making this Tuesday?"

I couldn't believe my ears.  Here's my mom ... pale, tubes all over the place, recently sewn up ... and she's asking what I'm doing for Tuesdays with Dorie.

I mumbled "some chocolate cake with a lot of ginger."  I figured she was just curious.

"Oh, I love gingerbread!  Please make it."

What am I supposed to say?  No?  Hah!

I need to gather some ingredients today.  And, I need to deal with some other issues.  So, I'm going to be a day late.

Still, it's for mom. 

Medical Update

Well, my mother goes in for an operation tomorrow morning.  Eight hours from now.  Needless to say, I'm very nervous.  I haven't been able to concentrate all week.

I'm trying not to let it show when I visit her.  But, I know that she knows.

I'm hoping for the best ...

Cake Failure

Well, as I was sitting down to prepare for today's Tuesdays With Dorie, I received an e-mail from my mother.

"come help me" was all it said.  I figured she wanted help setting up some software or moving some heavy object in her room.

Nope, she wanted help getting to the emergency room at the local hospital.  She looked bad and felt worse.  All thoughts about Tuesdays with Dorie left my head. 

To make a long story short, she's going to be fine.  She's weak but in stable condition.  I'm exhausted from hours of stress and worry ...

TWD?  The cake?  Another day.  I'm going to sleep.

Sorry.

Resolutions At War

It's Saturday night and I have yet to post for both today and Thursday.  I'd written that I resolved to post three days a week.  That is true.  My posting resolution is in conflict with another resolution.  My resolution to take better care of myself.  I figure drinking too many soft drinks is bad for me.

See, I'm a hard-core caffeine addict.  At least, I used to be.  I'm trying to quit.  I stopped drinking Coke Zero on Wednesday.  The headaches ... oh, my, the headaches.  They are insane.  I think it'd be less painful to get hit by a bus.

OK, so I exaggerate.  A little.

Needless to say, my motivation has taken a dive.  I'm setting new lows in thins-getting-done.  I've cooked once since I decided to do this.  Enchiladas.  I got pictures making the corn tortillas.  I'll post them in a bit.  Forgot to get the rest.  Just have this one.

Oh, very cool, I just received a text message as I type this ... the Parmesan cheeses I ordered from Cebu are waiting for me.  You know what that means: Parmesan Cheese Showdown!

Coming soon.  But, for now ... more Ibuprofen!  That way I can do my third (and last) resolution ... play more golf.

TWD - Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins

It's Tuesday!  That means it's time for Tuesdays with Dorie!  This week, we've got Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins chosen by Rebecca of Ezra Pound Cake.

I love cornbread.  Yes, you loyal fans know that I love many foods.  Cornbread is another favorite of mine.  I remember my mom making tamale pie as a child.  I loved that (still do).  Without cornbread, tamale pie is just ... well ... not the same.

And, I love sweet cornbread with honey and butter.  Oh, I could get sick eating too much of that.  Actually, I have.  I think I'll avoid the getting sick part and eat almost too much.

I liked this recipe.  It was quick, easy, and went together well.  I liked that Dorie advised us to not stir the batter too much.  Far too many people stir quick bread batters until they're smooth.  That results in not-so-delicious output.

I modified this recipe a little.  Around here, we can't normally get red bell peppers.  What we can get are related, but bitter with a nasty skin.  Again, not-so-delicious.  I wasn't going to put those into the delicious batter made with corn meal expensively imported from the US.

Also, buttermilk ... another non-starter here.  I just used regular milk instead.  Couldn't get buttermilk here if I wanted to.

Lastly, the sugar.  I know my family.  They'd want this to be a little sweeter.  I increased the sugar by a tablespoon.

Anyway ... here's what I did ...


Procedure

Mixed the wet ingredients together well.  Used one of my favorite tools ... a whisk.

Whisked together the dry ingredients, too.  Then, whisked in the wet.  Finally, whisked in the corn.

Sensing a pattern here?  I like my whisks.

I spooned the batter evenly into one of my silicon muffin pans.  Some rats ate at one of the holes when we shipped it over here.  Very annoying!

I baked the batter for 20 minutes.  A nice golden color, toothpick comes out clean ... done!

Recipe made one dozen (minus one) muffins.  Evil rats!

Test Results

Primary Test Group:  Yummy, kuya!  Is that all?

Potential Improvements

I would prefer them slightly sweeter.  I like a sweet cornbread.  Yes, I know hard-core purists will say "that's not real cornbread".  I say that hard-core purists take the fun out of life and should take up some kind of useful habit ... like drinking.  Perhaps that will let them relax.

Potential Variations

So many.  I'm not sure I'd modify this much.  The tooth was good, it was nice having the whole corn.  I might consider replacing some of the all-purpose flour with masa harina (corn flour).

Conclusions

Winner.  Definitely would make again to go with some BBQ.