I normally don't take shortcuts, but I picked up a used breadmachine for $5, and thought it would be fun to play with. I'm not the biggest fan of the weirdly square shape of the loaf, but I haven't managed to pull the loaf out of the machine before the bake cycle to put it in a different pan and bake it in the oven. Because isn't the whole point of the bread machine the convenience?? ;)
I turned 41 on Sunday. Which isn't a big deal, I'm not afraid of aging or any of that, nor am I a huge birthday celebrator. But I think the occassion warrants a little spoiling, usually in the form of a gluttonous meal. And since I normally eat pretty gluttonous-y anyhow, that means usually heading toward the high carb end of the food spectrum. Or, in this case, pasta. ;) So, I broke out the pasta machine. I really wanted to make cheese tortellini, but that has a higher pasta to filling ratio, and I didn't want to go super overboard. (Famous last words!) So I opted instead to make raviolis.
Crab legs were on sale at the store, and so I picked a package up, but then couldn't decide what to do with them. I made crab cakes recently, so those were out. Crab stuffed shrimp is fun, but not quite what I was in the mood for. I wanted to make something different with them, and also wanted an excuse to heat up the fryer. Finally, I stumpled across a recipe for crab tater tots, which immediately made my mouth water. The original recipe was made with pate a choux dough, however, and wasn't quite what I was looking for.
I love working with clay, it's such a fun and forgiving medium, and the possibilities are endless. If you have creativity. Which I don't always. :) I ordered a handful of how-to books from Maureen Carlson, who is a polymer clay goddess. It is AMAZING how much detail and personality she puts into her figurines. I had always thought the polymer clays were for people who weren't serious about creating art, and Maureen has, through her work, set me straight.
I love when friends post interesting food ideas to my facebook wall. It's almost always something I haven't come across before, or is something I just needed a bit of a push to finally try. In this case, a recipe for zucchini ricotta fritters was posted. I had seen other zucchini fritter recipes, some without flour, some in the same manner as a latke, but none with ricotta cheese. I immediately wanted to try them. Luckily, I was on my way to the market that afternoon, and picked up the things I needed.
