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thewayneIt's just under 90 minutes before midnight here, and I plan on being in bed and possibly asleep before midnight: I'll be up at 4:15am on Tuesday and need to get back in cycle. I got back a bit ago from the observatory, the spouse is working tonight and tomorrow. We celebrated Chile's New Years 2.5 hours ago via Skype: the other telescope at the observatory, the Sloan 2.5 meter, has a twin down there and we had some fun with them.
I made three types of tacos: standard ground beef, ground pork with toasted slivered almonds and diced raisins, and shredded chicken chipotle cilantro. I arrived at about 5:30, when I left about 4 hours later there was nothing left of the beef, maybe 2-3 servings of the chicken, and the pork was almost untouched! I was surprised, I expected the chicken to be cleaned out. I brought the pork home, we have no problem finishing that ourselves and it'll give us dinner for most of the week!
The beef tacos are a straight forward spice mix, the pork tacos are a bit different with their spice base focused on cinnamon and cloves. The chicken is bonkers: there's the chipotle for heat and the cilantro for its flavor, but the chicken is cooked in orange juice! It gives it a sweetness, and with the sauce being reduced, there's a concentration with the spices and cilantro that doesn't make the orange juice obvious.
I also made the chocolate eggnog cookies and got the recipe dialed-in. The ideal cooking time for my oven is 325 degrees for 23 minutes: 11 minutes, rotate the trays, 12 minutes. Rest for 10, remove from tray. They're still soft when they come from the oven, but they firm up well during the cool-down but remain a little toothy. This is the third time that I've made them. The first time that I made them I did it correctly, but I had some procedural flaws due to a poorly written recipe. The second time that I made them for Christmas, I accidentally used only one stick of butter instead of two, and I tried 2.5 tbs of cocoa powder instead of just 2. The cookies tasted fine, but they didn't spread because of the lack of butter. So now I know what to watch out for!
So good food all around.
For New Year's Day, I hope to make madelines, and I have a laptop to back up. And then it's back to work Tuesday. Whee. ;-)
Have a happy one, all y'all!
I made three types of tacos: standard ground beef, ground pork with toasted slivered almonds and diced raisins, and shredded chicken chipotle cilantro. I arrived at about 5:30, when I left about 4 hours later there was nothing left of the beef, maybe 2-3 servings of the chicken, and the pork was almost untouched! I was surprised, I expected the chicken to be cleaned out. I brought the pork home, we have no problem finishing that ourselves and it'll give us dinner for most of the week!
The beef tacos are a straight forward spice mix, the pork tacos are a bit different with their spice base focused on cinnamon and cloves. The chicken is bonkers: there's the chipotle for heat and the cilantro for its flavor, but the chicken is cooked in orange juice! It gives it a sweetness, and with the sauce being reduced, there's a concentration with the spices and cilantro that doesn't make the orange juice obvious.
I also made the chocolate eggnog cookies and got the recipe dialed-in. The ideal cooking time for my oven is 325 degrees for 23 minutes: 11 minutes, rotate the trays, 12 minutes. Rest for 10, remove from tray. They're still soft when they come from the oven, but they firm up well during the cool-down but remain a little toothy. This is the third time that I've made them. The first time that I made them I did it correctly, but I had some procedural flaws due to a poorly written recipe. The second time that I made them for Christmas, I accidentally used only one stick of butter instead of two, and I tried 2.5 tbs of cocoa powder instead of just 2. The cookies tasted fine, but they didn't spread because of the lack of butter. So now I know what to watch out for!
So good food all around.
For New Year's Day, I hope to make madelines, and I have a laptop to back up. And then it's back to work Tuesday. Whee. ;-)
Have a happy one, all y'all!
