Showing posts with label Michele. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Michele. Show all posts

Monday, July 2, 2012

life: eastern market cake & sausages

Scott and Michele stopped by Saturday morning with a cake in hand. Apparently it's a Chinese tradition to bring your friends and family cakes as a thank-you for helping out after your baby is born. This is my new favorite tradition. I am on board with any tradition that involves cake.  


It's a strawberry cake from the bakery at Eastern Market, and it was quite tasty. I've never had anything bad from that bakery. My brother-in-law Ian, who lives in London with my sister was visiting for a long weekend, and the three of us managed to put a good dent in it. 

Before Ian came, I was making the grocery list for the week, and I called my mom to ask what kind of dinners she makes for Ian when he's at her house. Without hesitation, she said sausages. Any kind of sausages. Hot dogs. Bratwurst. Kielbasa. The man likes his sausages. So we had sausages Friday night. Tony and Ian picked out some whiskey-fennel-onion sausages from Eastern Market, and both gave them high marks. They said the whiskey added a sweet flavor. (Meanwhile, yours truly, the vegetarian, chowed down on a veggie sausage.) Here's Tony's sausage, topped with onions and hot banana peppers from the garden:  

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

recipe: brigadeiros

I impressed myself with these little chocolate candies. They definitely taste amazing, but they also look so darn good. It's not very often that what I make looks just as good as the picture in the cookbook.


Brigadeiros are a Brazilian chocolate candy, named after a World War II brigadier who popularized the bite-sized treats, and now they're served at birthday parties.  

It was too hot to turn on the oven in our house last week, and the recipe, which I adapted from America's Test Kitchen, cooks on the stovetop, so I gave it a try. 

Brigadeiros
  • 14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • sprinkles (about 2 ounces) 
In a saucepan, mix the three ingredients. Cook on low heat, stirring frequently with a spatula, for 20-25 minutes. 

Cool chocolate in a greased 8-by-8 dish in the refrigerator for at least a half hour. 

Roll the chocolate into balls, using about 1 tablespoon of chocolate per ball. 

Pour sprinkles into a small bowl. Roll each ball into the sprinkles to coat completely. Makes 32 candies. Store in the refrigerator.

<3

This batch of brigadeiros turned out to be a threefer. I put out part of the batch when Ben and Mandy came over for cocktails Friday. I put some more out for brunch Sunday for Camille and Matt. And the rest I packaged up to bring to Scott and Michele when we met their new baby, who is absolutely adorable. Don't you agree? Introducing ... Baby O!