Beef Wellington

So for Christmas (this is a great way to start a spring blog post), my Dad and I attempted Gordon Ramsay's Beef Wellington. Why post now? I said I would. Also, this would be delish at Easter.
Ramsay's Christmas dinner special is captivating. The dish seems complicated because there are a lot of steps. I suppose it is sort of complex, but not hard if you take one step at a time and keep your head about you in the face of pastry. You don't even have to make the pastry, just roll it.

Prior to pastry here's how it's laid out.

Undone

Inside you have your braised beef, which is then covered in mustard. Around that is the mushroom-spice mixture. The mushrooms are spread out over a blanket of prosciutto.

 

Tucked In

This is all prepared on a sheet of plastic wrap so it can be tightly wrapped and left to rest.

Piggy in a Blanket

After it's rested, remove the plastic. Roll out the pastry and wrap it up. Watch the Gordon Ramsay video 10 times to master his technique for scoring the top. Give up. Score it however and put it in the oven.
Meanwhile you can open presents. I mean, hunt for eggs.

Good Idea

 The most challenging part would be knowing when it was done. This wasn't my job so I have no helpful advice.

Pretty in Pink

I'm not sure if you can tell but it tastes really good. We served it with Indian style brussel sprouts, which are pictured here in all their neon glory.

If you add enough ingredients you can't even tell they're brussel sprouts!

Happy Easter Everyone!

Head-bored

After years of living in my rented apartment like a squatter, I've finally decided to hang some things on the walls. Previously the only reason I hung pictures on the wall was because they didn't fit in the closet. It is not that we don't like where we live, or think that we will be leaving shortly. I have never decorated it because it's not the sort of place you would want to decorate.
One day, probably a  Friday, I decided to Make an Effort. I wanted a headboard, I wanted a project and I didn't want it to cost a lot.
We went to the home reusable store and bought some ceiling tiles. Not just any ceiling tiles. These were from Jasper block, a 100 year old building. A piece of local history!

Covered

I had to get the paint off and enlisted unsuspecting relatives to make the job easier. I used a gel paint remover and a plastic spatula.

Naked

The colour underneath is beautiful. I would love to hang these against a red wall. Unfortunately my walls are white. I spray painted the tiles copper. The original plan was to wipe them with a dark brown, over top of the copper to give them more depth. Then I just wanted them up and was too impatient to follow through.

Oooh

Links
http://www.homereusables.com/dev/

Tea Party

In the last year my friend and I have had a growing fascination with tea parties. A great love of tea and miniature foods can only lead down one path. We began this fascination with High Tea at the Hotel MacDonald in the spring. We then sampled similar delights at the Rutherford House before deciding we really must host our own high tea.
For our guests we busted out three kinds of tea- David's Tea Black and Gold, a rose tea from Fouchon, and a Chinese green tea from Teavana.
We started with scones served with clotted cream and our homemade jam. This was our biggest mistakes. The scones were the most memorable part of the tea for our guests. We opened with the fireworks. In fairness, how could we have possible predicted that simple scones would steal the show. I can't find the recipe online but it was from Donna Hay and had about 3 ingredient. Dead simple.
Next up was sandwiches complete with cut crusts when necessary

Salmon and Avocado on the Left, Egg Salad on the Right

Ham and Cheese

After consuming this many carbs no one feels dainty. That's how you now it's time to bring on the desserts.

Tower Graciously Brought by a Friend

Yep that's brownies, cookies, tarts, and cakes. The creme brulee is not pictured. We can't take credit for the cakes though, those came with the stand.

Ready for their Close Up

The shortbread cookies deserve honourable mention. Flavoured with a lavender tea, they were melt in your mouth perfect.
A fantastic day to go without a proper supper.

The way Nonna did it.

Homemade pasta! I don't have a Nonna though, so my dad just asked the Nonna at the Italian grocery store how to make it. I don't have the recipe but I will show you what I do know.
What I do know is that pasta is my favourite food. I don't love all pasta equally. Spaghetti and meat sauce is a terrible combination and always will be.
We made stuffed pasta and a meat sauce pasta.

Weapons of Choice

The stuffed pasta was a challenge, so I'm glad we tackled that one first. We added spinach to the dough and stuffed them with a cheese mixture. To roll out the dough we used an attachment for the KitchenAide mixer.

Note: Bored sister in the corner

This was the fun part. Adding the filling by hand was less fun.

Processing, Processing, Processing

The second pasta we made was a plain noodle served with a tasty meat sauce. It contained ground beef and spicy Italian sausage. Actually I just made that up. I'm a blogger which means I have a certain amount of Creative License. This was over a month ago. I have little memory of what was in this. I know it has sausage but beyond that is a mystery.

Meat Waiting to Be Sauced

Homemade pasta is a fantastic treat. If I had the gadgets I would definitely do it again. Pasta making does take some time, which is why the grand finale photo is a dim low-light photo.

Grand Finale

Happy Halloween!

To be fair, I attended a Halloween party in November, so this post was already going to be delayed. Also I went on holiday for one week. Somehow this means the past three weeks have passed in the blink of an eye, causing me to have a minor panic attack today over the proximity of December.
Anyway, I'll work through that grand issue on my own time. Now I will show you the joys of making Candy Apples. I followed a recipe from a vlog (linked below). It was nice and straight forward. We did about 12 apples but spread them out over three batches. I knew I couldn't work fast enough without all of the candy crystallizing or growing too cold.

Waiting for their Bath

This was sort of fun. I'm not a huge fan of making candy because it's finicky and dangerous like a grandma off her meds. We coloured it green because it was Halloweenish. Oh wait, if you read the blog in March, you know we coloured it green because I have A LOT of green food colouring. Nothing gets past you.
For the record they are supposed to be irregular. We drizzled the hardening candy over the top for a spooky effect. In hindsight this was a brilliant idea. If you are going to make candy apples for the first time, do it for Halloween. Any defects are easily disguised!

The highlight was when Mike tried to argue with me over how the molten candy in the bowl would not be hot. After deciding that I was wrong he reached in to pull out the cinnamon stick. I didn't really have to defend my point. The low light was when some candy dripped off the apple on to my hand. Now I have a pretty pink scar.

Links

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0-j8peCBY4

Pastry Can Smell Fear

Yes, just like Chef John, of Food Wishes, warns Hollindaise can smell fear, so too can pastry. This is the only explanation for so many failed attempts concocting a simple dough. With each failure brings a new level of anxiety for the next time. I really hate making pastry.
It should be such an easy thing. Not only are the ingredients uncomplicated but I have a biological advantage. My hands run about 10 degrees colder than the rest of my body. The butter or shortening truly cannot melt due to my body heat. 
My first memory of making pastry is at the age of ten. I was at Grandma's house for a sleepover and she was teaching me how to make buttertarts. After measuring out all the ingredients I then got two knives to cut the shortening into the flour. At intervals she would tell me to gather it with my hands. I thought she was torturing me. Didn't she know that it felt slimy and disgusting? This isn't a Halloween party! I asked if it was okay to just watch.
So I may have a psychological disadvantage. I don't like getting my hands dirty. Never have.
Last month I gave myself 48 hours to take on pastry. I had time and inspiration. The great pumpkin. Maybe not great as in large, but I received a pumpkin in the week's food box. It was the perfect opportunity.
Pumpkin puree was really easy. I looked up a few different methods online. You cook it exactly like you would bake any other squash. Once it's baked through, you can just peel the skin off. Put the flesh in a food processor and volia - pumpkin puree. You know you're on the right track when it looks and tastes like something you would feed a baby (Why do we punish the young?). Then take a break because after all that hard work you should wait until the next day to tackle pastry. 

Alright Pumpkin, Let's Tango

The next day, I took on pastry. I gave myself a pep talk and dove in. Since pastry is gross, my hands were gross. When I tried to add the liquid, the cup slipped and I added too much. I threw a bit more flour on it, wrapped it in plastic wrap and chucked it in the fridge. I was sick of pastry already and it was only in ball form. The rolling had yet to begin.

Look green but was acually a rosy colour!

 I needed a pumpkin pie recipe that called for homemade puree. Since Martha is good at doing things the hard way, I knew she would have one. At least I didn't have to raise a calf to get the milk. With the pumpkin goop assembled there was no turning back.
Here's the weird part- it actually went okay. Rolling it wasn't nearly as challenging as I thought. Plus I got to wear my apron. The filling was extremely simple. It fluffed up perfectly in the oven. The pie came out amazing!

Ta-Dah!

 With each bite I kept repeating "I can't believe I made this!". Michael went to sit in the next room two bites in.
*Well this blog is over a month old and has been sitting in draft form. Oops.* 

Links
Food Wishes
http://foodwishes.blogspot.ca/

Martha Stewart Pumpkin Pie
http://www.marthastewart.com/259353/pumpkin-pie

Bag O' Veggies

We started our second food box at the end of August. This one is just veggies by Riverbend Gardens, a farm within Edmonton City Limits. Mike picks up our bundle every Thursday at the Acme Meat Market. The variety has been pretty good. Unlike the Organic Food Box, you can't swap or add veggies. Riverbend Gardens puts together the bag of their freshest and you pick it up. The price is much nicer than the organic box. This one works out to $25 a week. Of course we still have to go out and get fruit.

The Cabbage is Hiding in the Back. It knows it's a Disapointment.

This is what Week 2 looked like.  There are a few constants in the bag. You will always get a few onions (red and white), a bag of carrots and a bag of potatoes (this time they were purple!). From what I can remember (and see) of week 2, we also got 4 ears of corn, broccoli and cabbage.

Really, a Pumpkin.

This was week 4 all nicely laid out. You can see we got the usual onions, carrots and potatoes. In addition we had some beets, a purple cauliflower and a pumpkin!
The down side to this box is that our fridge is bursting with onions and carrots. We just don't eat them fast enough. An upside would be that Mike and I have willingly eaten cauliflower for the first time in our adult lives. How can you say no to cauliflower when it's so pretty!

This food 'box' only runs for 6 weeks. Next Thursday is the end! I look forward to it next year though. I think this is one Mike and I will be signing up for again.

Links
Riverbend Gardens
http://riverbendgardens.ca/