Pete's House of Pancakes

I love cooking. I love trying new recipes and feeding people. But sometimes I just don’t want to. Usually those times occur on weekend mornings, when all I really want to do is sleep a little longer. Sunday was one of those days, which great because that was also the day Pete surprised me with tasty apple pancake goodness.

Studded with chunks of apple, sprinkled with powdered sugar, and drizzled with maple syrup, served alongside a mug of freshly brewed coffee, could there be a more perfect Sunday morning breakfast?

While we are on the topic of maple syrup, I need to speak for a moment of my sweet sweet love for the pure maple syrup. Maple syrup and I, we are besties, he is my secret pretend boyfriend and I just need to say that if you are still swilling that fake maple flavored crud and haven’t made the change to the amazingness that is pure maple syrup (preferably from Vermont, this place is my all time fave) then I may need to reevaluate our friendship.

This weekend was actually a Pete Cooking Extravaganza, I guess someone had to pick up the slack after Budino Bummer '08. Stay tuned for more tales of Pete channeling The Barefoot Contessa.

oh, by the way, did I tell you about how I went to pick up my camera, and it was still broken? yup, still rocking the old camera, and not liking it one bit.

butterscotch budino-go

I always have a hard time with failure in the kitchen. I take it very personally when something doesn't work, I am almost always convinced that it was something I did, or didn't do. I have gotten better lately, reminding myself that some recipes are just duds, destined to go into the trash before I even lift a spoon. But this one, oh I had high hopes for this one.

I had already half written this post before I even started the process of making this. I was going to wax poetic about the creamy pudding, the smooth caramel, the pop of sea salt and the fresh tang of the whipped creme fraiche topping. I was going to boldly proclaim that I should just hang up my Julia apron because this was the best thing I had ever made and I probably couldn't ever make anything better ever again.

and then I made it.

It's not that it wasn't good. I tasted every component of this dish as it was made and they were all totally delicious, but somehow when combined, well the whole was not greater than the sum of it's parts. It was just too much, way too rich, so much so that Pete could only take a few bites before backing away. It was partly my fault, the recipe said it served 10, and I only had 6 serving dishes. I figured that more is always better but in this case, I would definitely have made the serving sizes way smaller, maybe half the size.

It's probably better off though, because had I discovered that I could now make my favorite dessert at home, well, let's just say I'd need to go out and buy some new clothes with an elastic waistband. I guess some things are just better left to the professionals.

edited: after scraping off the sticky sweet caramel sauce and letting the custard chill out in the fridge overnight, I do have to say, that in small portions, this pudding is slammin', all by itself. at least it wasn't a total wash.

road trippin' part deux

The plan was to go camping. Then I found out that all the forests are on "fire watch", and to me camping just doesn’t feel right if it is lacking in a cold beer and a fire to roast some mallows. So, with those plans in le toilet, we decided to do something almost as fun, apple picking!

We went to Riley's Farms, and I read on their website that they are a "living history farm", which apparently means they dress up in colonial garb, and teach you all sorts of super important things like how to throw knives and tomahawks, skills I think everyone should have. But I already know how to wield a machete, so I passed. Besides, we were there to get us some delish apples.

 Do you know what Pete loves more than I love and old man and a banjo? apple picking. he isn't posing at all in this picture, it's completely natural.

apple-icious

Afterwards, we continued onto another farm and bought some totally amazing cidah and doughnuts. I also decided I need an alpaca and a peacock, which can chill out with the mini-pony I am going to house for Ali until she moves out here. As a side note, I had a conversation with a friend recently about how I don't like birds, except peacocks, emus, ostriches, and penguins and he pointed out that I only like birds that can't fly. Feel free to extrapolate what you want from that.

 

no animals were harmed in the making of this photo.

In a rare moment of spontaneity, we decided to drive up to Big Bear Lake and see what it was all about. While the drive up was amazing (seriously) the lake was a total letdown. I don't know about you but I like my lakes to be rustic and this was...not.

 

 

It's amazing what a little cropping can hide. What you can't see on the shore of this lake is the huge paved sidewalk that surrounds it.

Which brings us to Sunday night and me conquering one of my cooking fears. I have been weary of pie dough in the past (that pie disaster last christmas did nothing to assuage my fears), but on Sunday, feeling inspired by the huge bowl of apples sitting on the counter, I decided to go for it, and the cooking gods were smiling upon me because it came out pretty damn good. I used this recipe from Smitten Kitchen, following the dough recipe exactly (I like to do that sometimes, it makes it easier for me to blame the recipe later and not my own lack of skills) but like Emeril, kicked it up a notch with the spices. Next up on my cooking fears list: a soufflé. stay tuned...

in closing i leave you with this jewel. this is what happens when you hit traffic in LA.

if you want to see the rest of the pictures from our glorious adventure, click here.

cookin' with jules

I heart my Julia Child apron. Every time I put it on I hear Julia warbling in my head. She's definitely one of my all time faves and one day I'll make the pilgrimage to the Smithsonian where she donated the kitchen her husband Paul built especially for her (Jules was a tall gal and needed special counters made to accomadate her bodaciousness).

Purchased from Pretty Patti.

Under her mug it says "JULIA CHILD, AMERICAN GASTRONOME, BORN IN PASADENA, CALIFORNIA, AUGUST 15, 1912".

Love it. I busted it out last night when I made Pumpkin Bread for my coworkers from this recipe. I added some walnuts and used freshly grated nutmeg (which is my secret weapon - well, I guess not secret anymore - but if you want to add a little somethin' somethin' to your recipe, when it calls for nutmeg, always go for the fresh ground).

I had made the same recipe a few days earlier and when it came out of the oven, it wasn't that sweet. Then I realized I had left out almost all of the sugar. oops. But you know I still ate the crap out of it.

As Jules would say, Bon Appetit!!