More at my blog HERE

I found this recipe for royal icing on another community, and I need some clarification:

3 cups royal icing
1 1/2 -- 2 egg whites
1 1/2 t lemon juice

My question is, is the royal icing called for in this recipe for royal icing (this hurts my head a bit) just the usual powdered sugar and milk/water?  I was looking for a recipe that used egg whites and not meringue powder.  I promise to post pics later!  Thanks.

I've just started a sort of "30 day" thing in my own journal. I'm going to be posting a recipe every day from my mother/grandmother's recipe box. I'm starting backwards, with desserts first so I thought I'd share it with you all :)


( Texas Yum Yum Pie )

The gf and I are taking a road trip down the central coast of California (Hearst Castle, Cambria, Morro Bay, Paso Robles, and Solvang) in about a week and we'd like to hit some wineries down there.

Anybody have any good recommendations of wine/wineries?


I'm not picky about varietals (I like whatever is good), so the only requirements are:

a) Somewhere in the Paso Robles/Solvang area
b) Good wine
c) Not ridiculous tasting policies (like high fees that can't be applied towards a purchase. I don't mind paying $5 or even $10 that can be waived or includes a glass or something. But $10+ with no way to refund it or get anything with it is pretty lame. Many Napa wineries come to mind.)

More at my food blog HERE

Sadly, I was away sick from baking lab last Friday, which meant I had no pictures of the lovely Creme Brulees, the Panna cottas and the other beautiful treats we made. However, I did bake two Yule Logs earlier this week (one chocolate and one vanilla), which were received with great delight! ( Yummy Yummy this way... )

More pictures and recipe at my blog HERE

So, the next wine on my journey through Barefoot is their Pinot Noir.

Thanks to Sideways, there are a lot of cheap, crappy Pinot Noirs on the market today. Pinot Noir is a fussy diva of a grape, and frankly, unless you want to lay out at least $30, you're going to get an "eh" bottle of wine.

On the other hand, if you're going spend under $30 for a bottle of Pinot Noir, it might as well be Barefoot Pinot Noir.

Color: A darker, richer "wine" color than most other Pinots I've seen. (I wonder what the blending grape is.)

Sniff Test: Black Cherries and Toasty Vanilla, very pleasantly so.

First Impressions: Black Cherry up front, tannins on middle, some allspice on the finish.

Breathing room: Black Cherry up front, a bland, slightly less tannic middle, definite allspice on the end, and a pleasant vanilla aftertaste. Mouthfeel is light, as if this were a white wine.

Verdict: Like I said, if you're going to spring for an bottle of Pinot Noir in the $7-10 range, it might as well be this. The cherries up front and that lingering vanilla finish, make it pleasant as an everyday table wine, but the middle note is nothing but tannins and that's a serious shortcoming.

For the first time, I'm going to be giving away so many cookies for the holidays that I won't be able to bake them all in one day. So, my question: how do you keep your holiday cookies from going stale? Do you make the dough in advance and then freeze or refrigerate it, then defrost the dough to be baked on demand? Or do you prefer to make the cookies then freeze the finished products? (And if so, are there some cookies that freeze badly? I'm wondering about these thumbprint cookies that have jam on them....)

Anyway, your experiences and advice would be welcome. Anything I can do to spread out the baking while still having the cookies taste pretty good when I hand them out would make me much less stressed!

This actually is the best banana bread you will ever taste. I'm serious. Whichever minion of Martha's came up with it deserves a nice firm handshake and a cigar. Or something. Anyways, this is the moistest (moistest?) banana bread you will taste. It keeps really well, although I don't think you'll have to worry about that.


( Recipe and another pic )

See more at The Cast-Iron Darling!

More at my food blog HERE

I have a love-hate relationship with Pinot Grigio. I enjoy the citrusy flavors in this wine, but for some reason, it almost always gives me heartburn. (Pinot Grigio and Wild Turkey are two of the very few things that can do this, and I take 800mg of Ibuprofen on an empty stomach, no problem, all the time.)

Like all Barefoot wines, this is Non Vintage and is a blend of grapes from all over California.

Color: A lot of Pinot Grigio is almost greenish in color, but this is a very pale lemon-straw color.

Sniff Test: Green Apples, Citrus, and even a slight floral note.

First Impression: This is the sweetest Pinot Grigio I've yet tasted. Don't get me wrong, it's not a sweet wine, but it's off-dry, whereas all other Pinot Grigios I've had have been bone dry. Very fruity upfront, with Granny Smith Apple becoming Grapefruit on the mid-palate and the longer than expected finish is tart and lemony. And, oh yeah, it's acidic.

Oh, and it was actually a skoosh fizzy in the glass just after I poured it. I've only had this happen with Gewurztraminers before.

Breathing Room: I know that white wines don't need to "breathe" like reds do, but it will be warmer by the end of the meal/course, and that can change the taste of some wines, and not for the better. All of the same flavors are present, but more intense, and but it's still crisp because the wine is so acid.

Verdict: This is a very pleasant tasting wine, and, I think an excellent value for the $5-10 you'll pay for it. (If it didn't give me heartburn, it would be the "go to" white in my fridge.) It would make pleasant White Sangria come Summertime, sips fine all by itself, and would certainly go well with white meats, or a salad with some mozzarella or feta cheese.

Title: What Welcomes Me Still
Author: hungrytiger11
Notes: Written as a gift!fic for inner_poise_yo. Hope you like it! Cross-posted to chuunin and hyugacest
Summary:. Funny. He's never had to kill before. Nejihina.

Picked this one up at a random drive-by stop-in at Laurel Ridge Winery, an Oregon winery located in Willamette Valley but selling mostly Walla Walla Valley (Washington) wines.

We bought this and a bottle of their red table blend (which was very good for the price -- $20/bottle may seem like a lot for a table wine, but "David's Tableau" is far better than your average table red)

Cracked it open this morning for a brunch of Trader Joe's organic sirloin roast, mashed potatoes, and green beans/mushrooms sauteed in bacon fat.


Very nice! It tastes better than I remember. Very "typical" tempranillo flavors, but with a high-quality feel to it. Lots of berry (tastes a bit like grape jelly -- nothing wrong with that!) with hints of earth, smoke, and a tiny, tiny bit of pepper (black pepper or white pepper, I can't tell)

Great accompaniment to the steak, which brings its sweet berry flavor out even more.

Not cheap but not expensive either; very tasty at $28 per bottle. If you're looking for a good example of Tempranillo done well (as a single-varietal), I would recommend this.

After being open since August 31st, dickeys has reached the 28 member mark. But our journey doesn't stop just yet. Oh no. We vow to take over the world with our escort talents. And we can always use more soldiers in the fight.

We still have many characters available, including but not limited to; Sai, Kankurou, Temari, Gaara, Tenten, Ino, Chouji, Iruka, Kakashi, Ibiki, Anko, and we are in dire need of Akatsuki members! Our Deidara and Itachi are getting quite lonely without the rest of their posse.

( MORE INFO )

Title: Neji's Sun
Author: darklight1601
Paring(s): Neji/Hinata
Rating: T for language
Summary: Neji can't help but be angry with her. He can't stop being mean. So why does she keep coming back?- some angry!Neji, brooding, and lots of fluff

Neji's Sun

Title: Watching From A Distance
Author: kianaaaaa
Pairing: Neji/Hinata
Warnings: Incest and fluff.
Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, not me.
Summary: Hinata has always been watching from a distance. What happens when she decides to take a closer look?
Author's Note: An old oneshot of mine.

( Watching From A Distance )

i'm looking for a place to buy a wine making kit. i don't need all of the tools and whatnot, i need only the ingredients. i looked at a few on amazon, but it's not that large of a selection, and it's all really expensive.

any wine will do, but i think the person i'm buying for said he hates merlot? i can always ask him again later, but i need places to buy this stuff for now.

thanks!

More at my blog HERE

Tis the Season to be Blogging: Wine Recommendations from the Social Network

It’s the holiday party season, a time to celebrate with family and friends sharing good food and drink while we take time to count our blessings and find ways to help those less fortunate.

Recently on the social networking site Twitter (www.twitter.com), I posted the following tweet:

“Would you take a bottle of Texas wine to a friend’s dinner party? If so which one? Pls tweet response-Blogging need input #TXWine #LocalWine”

Note: The ‘hashtags’ at the end of my tweet are used to tag tweets. This helps you finding comments on Twitter on topics that interest you - e.g. I use #TXWine for Texas Wine and #LocalWine for locally produced wines not from CA, OR, WA or NY.

The responses came back loud and clear….a resounding Yes! No regrets needed. Some of the tweets that I received are given below:

Ashley Rodgers (@ashrodg) a public relationship professional specializing in hospitality industry at Wagstaff Wordwide recommended a special wine, by saying “Yes, I would take a bttl of TX wine to a party. Viognier by McPherson Cellars in Lubbock. Great wine.”

Andrew Collins (@cyberjunkie21) from Round Rock, Texas showed a broad horizon on Texas wines and said, “anything from Haak Winery for sure. I also like Fall Creek’s Meritus”

More recommendations at: http://vintagetexas.com/blog/?p=1296

Gingernuts are probably my favourite biscuit, yet until today I'd never actually made them. I've made gingerbread many, many times before so I decided to have a bit of a change. It's not much of change because they are, essentially, crunchy and thin gingerbread but that's not the point. It's the crunchy-ness and the lack of decoration that makes them gingernuts! Anyway, they're pretty tasty and could easily be gingerbread too (in fact, it's the exact recipe I use for gingerbread..)

I also made chocolate earl grey tea shortbread. The texture of these is fantastic but I can't stand earl grey tea (don't ask why I made them, I don't know!) If you like earl grey tea, these biscuits are probably fantastic. I fully intend to make them again, next time without the tea

( pictures and recipes! )
(more pictures and recipes can be found on my blog)

Mmm.
Garnatxa

So my family and I decided that we all love this dee-lish wine from Italy. It's a Chianti Fiorentini, year 2006, from Fattoria di Lucignano. It went absolutely perfect with our pasta and marinara with meatballs. Rich, dry, refined and full-bodied, a perfect blend and not too bad a price at $13.99.

I wanted to share this in the community because I'm not a big wine connoisseur (and neither is the rest of my family), but we all have very different preferences in wine as far as taste is concerned, and yet all agreed on this one as the top pick. I picked it up in my neighborhood liquor store so hopefully it's available everywhere. Enjoy!

Also: This is what the label looks like, for possible future hunters:

Hi!
I am having a holiday party and would like to make a spiced wine. I know a dry red works best for this, and since its going to have a lot of spices in it I dont want to use something to expensive, but I dont way it to taste awful either.

Any suggestions for a cheepsih decent red to use? I live in Southern CA if that makes a difference (since it can be hard to find some wines in some places)

Thanks

For the "oh why the hell not" factor of it, I'm going to drink my way through Barefoot's offerings. Tonight I had the Chardonnay.

Color: light straw
Sniff Test: Lots of green apple notes and a hint of vanilla.
First Impressions: Very fruity green apples upfront, some peachy and pineapple notes on the middle that drops off suddenly and leads to some tartness with a bit of vanilla creaminess on the end. Mouthfeel is not thin nor is it particularly lush or creamy. I'm guessing that this is a blend of wines both oaked or unoaked, or that it's only lightly oaked.

Mid way through, as the wine got a little warmer, there was a tart, slightly metallic taste on the back end.*

It did pair pretty well with the chicken cordon blue-ish dish I made for dinner.

While this is not the worst Chardonnay I've had, I will say that it was clearly Chardonnay. I think it would be better if it were properly oaked or completely un-oaked. Right now this middle approach means it's got a bit of a split personality -- and the intense green apples up front don't really jybe with the vanilla on the end.

But for $6, it's a pretty decent everyday table wine.

---
* This is an issue I have with many dry whites, especially champagne.