HAPPY SLICE - The Hockey Puck

I love getting my tax return. It feels like free money although it most definintely is not. Sort of like a gift from a stingy relative or a lottery winning. Even when it's not a huge amount but just enough to do something, I get excited. My plans for the money vary widely. Sometimes I save, sometimes I spend, sometimes a little bit of both. This time I decided to save most of it since I'm not currently employed and to spend just a little bit.

This is my new toy. Isn't it grand?

My first project was a cookie recipe called "The Ultimate Ginger Cookie". From the beginning things didn't go too well. Chopping up the dried ginger took forever. Boring. Then the dry to wet ingredients ratio was way off. Way off. And it said I was to cream the oil with the sugar for 5 minutes which seems way too long. They were hockey pucks. Actually they aspired to be hockey pucks. The dough was so dry and crumbly it took a lot of elbow grease to get them into the hockey puck format. It was a disappointment frankly. But I am not discouraged. No, not me. Stay tuned for my next installment.

HAPPY SLICE

We all love food. Good food. And although we may disagree on what constitutes good food, most of us enjoy pictures of food. I have always liked cooking and baking but now that I have a bit more time on my hands and I'm well rested, I have done more than ever. Want to see some pictures?

Here are some of the successes.

This was my first attempt at homemade cheesecake complete with the spring form collar and all. It was delicious. I gave some away to friends and I froze some. I'm always experimenting with freezing things. It still tasted good a few weeks later. This recipe came from my Ghiradelli Chocolate Cookbook.

Also from my Ghiradelli Chocolate Cookbook, simple but well loved Chocolate Chip cookies. These were for eating now.

I froze these for baking later. Smart eh?

An attempt to recreate a salad I had in the south of France. Shrimp salad.

Egg, Bacon and Blue Cheese sandwich from my favorite cooking website: www.smittenkitchen.com. It sounds a bit strange doesn't it? The lettuce was tossed lightly with a bit of balsamic vinegar, warm bacon and blue cheese. Then you put the fried egg on top. It was delicious.

One evening I decided to take one of my favorite snacks, mashed avocado with salt & pepper on an english muffin, to a new level. But what to add? What would take this over the top and turn up the volume? The answer is obvious - BACON. I added bacon and a bit of blue cheese. Ambrosia.