Excuse me for a second while I fill you in on the my latest happenings and not-so-adventurous adventures, then we’ll get to the real stuff.
It’s been a while since I’ve had the chance to sit and down and work on The Cooking Dish, which is unfortunate because I have some delicious foods I’ve been wanting to post. Unexpectedly, however, I now have 4 to 5 days to work on it, if I’m up to it. For the past two weeks I’ve been fighting off a cough and intermittent fevers, and I finally thought I was getting better… BUT I woke up last night at 2:00 a.m. with a sever chest pain which kept me up for the rest of the night. Straight away this morning I contacted the family doctor and after a visit to the office left with a note saying, “stay home from work, you’ve got bronchitis and other junk” and some prescriptions to fill. Oh joy. I’m personally not a fan of involuntarily taking time off from work, but I don’t want to infect my co-workers either (you guys can thank me later–when I get back to the office).
So, without going into many more details, I’m stuck here at home and at the same time, trying to keep my distance from my overly-cute kids so they don’t get sick. That’s nearly impossible.
Well, thanks for listening to the rant… on with the show.
As of last year (2008), we started a new tradition in my department at work: The Annual QA CCP (Quality Assurance Christmas Candy Party). Although next year, we’re thinking of taking on a P at the beginning so it’ll be the QA PCCP (Pajama Christmas Candy Party).
Since my mom has been teaching my siblings and I how to make Christmas candy since we were only little squirts (just tall enough to burn our fingers on the stove top), and my brother and I work in the same department, there’s twice the trouble-making at the CCP. These CCPs have usually lasted an exhausting 6+ hours, but they’re always loads of fun.
On this year’s CCP menu we had
and also a nice dinner provided by Hawaiian Josh and our Indian friends, who’s Indian food is mouth-watering. The cookies were all baked before-hand so we could use the stove for dinner and the holiday squares. Some of the candies were also made before hand so we wouldn’t have so much to make at the party. I think next year we’ll scale it down even more and maybe have some time to play games or something. Guess we’ll see.
In the meantime, I’ve put together an artsy fartsy youtube video slideshow so you can see what we were up to.
P.S. I apologize to my German friends and readers who can’t view this video. Because of the accompanying music track (licensed by Sony music), my slideshow has been blocked to all German IP addresses… 🙁 Who knew that Harry Connick, Jr. would be banned. Sorry about that!
Sorry about not posting any of these candy recipes. I promise I’ll post them in time. The CCP wasn’t the best of places to be taking recipe photography.
I’m sorry you’re feeling so crappy. Sounds like your body was telling you to slow down and take the holidays off!
I made some perfect honey taffy and turtles in California, by the way. I decided to try the caramel using sweetened condensed milk and it was delicious, nice and chewy like you want it to be for chocolates.
Hey-
I’m way impressed with your website. Have you always loved cooking or has this just occured gradually. I have read some great books lately on becoming a better cook/baker. Check out bread books by Peter Reinheart. Great way to improve your pizza or whole grain bread making techniques. Also for pie crust of biscuits (way cool idea), you can freeze your butter and then grate it in the flour, strring occasionally so it doesn’t re-lump for an excellent flaky crust. Tried it and it came out beautifully. The dough stays nice and cold with is needed for a flaky crust. Also if your looking for more flavor check out Eat this Book by Tyler Florence. He tells you how to become a better cheif by using fresh flavor. And you can get a small coffee grinder and grind your own spices. Very impressed with your site. Keep up the good work.