From the oven to my belly

7 of the 19 windows currently open are on the smittenkitchen.com domain, those being:

Earlier today, I baked the corn pudding recipe for the first time. But that page is no longer open so it isn’t in the list above though it was the gateway to a number of these other sweet, baked things. The estimated cook and prep time was 40 minutes but between bathroom assistance and reading two books, it was closer to two hours before that was finished. It took about two hours for all of the dish to be gone, too.

As the list above reveals, I like to bake. And I like chocolate. And I keep coming back to SK and Deb Perelman because the simplicity and the reductions in how to prepare is a relief and the food when finished is devoured.

Deb Perelman’s website is up there with Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food cookbook as a few of the constants that I return again and again. I only began to use Perelman after a friend’s recommendation of World Peace Cookies in December 2016 whereas I’ve had Bittman’s cookbook since 2002.

I frequent the site for Saveur and Food52 as well but not with the frequency of the others.

Simple french pressin’

I need my frech press back. No need for the plug-me-in cuisinart coffee maker that grinds beans loudly before dripping water over them. It took me 20 minutes this morning to figure out what the damn beep-beep-beep sound was for. By that time, I had foregone coffee while making eggs and quesadillas for breakfast. Midway through my second (mini-) tortilla, i noticed a part of the contraption sitting next to the sink that was causing the electric feedback. Once that was in, coffee making, the electric kind, was back on track.

I look forward to the days of grinding beans by hand, boiling water (either stovetop, or I’m ready for an electric kettle), and the satisfaction of pouring near boiling water over the ground beans.

As wikipedia states, “A French press … is a simple coffee brewing device.”
Yes, bring back the simplicity of this delectable morning routine.