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Ibex Shak Gloves Review

Between Christmas and New Year's I biked into the office for three days, in bitter cold and blustery winds. My regular fleece gloves were not doing the trick and my thumbs got froze and painful by the end of the 2 mile trip.

I ordered a pair of Ibex Shak Gloves, which have leather on the palm and a double layer of wool on top, and didn't think that they would be terribly warm or windblocking for the bike ride, but this morning it was 25 degrees and my hands felt fine on the ride in. The fit is a little long in the fingers and that helps to trap air, but doesn't seem to interfere too much with dexterity.

A couple other pairs of gloves are on their way for review and testing, and I will keep you posted.

Ingenue

From Kima

Double Blink Picture Fail!

From J&H Photos General

New Year's Eve Dinner

Fergus Henderson's Duck Legs and Carrots. Lessons learned:

"Add chicken stock until duck legs are showing like alligators in a swamp" is not the same as 1 3/4 cups of stock.

From Food

From Food

This is too much. I unbasted most of the liquid about an hour through the 90 minute cooktime, but then we got to make it into soup with the leftover carrots the next day, so no harm no foul.

So you end up with this:

From Food

Bitman's Chicken Liver Pate ( a little blurry) - so cheap, so easy, so delish.

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Duck, bread, and roasted teeny brussels sprouts. Happy 2010!

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Oh yes and don't forget dessert - Molten Chocolate Lightning Cake.

From Food

Really, it takes ten minutes. I stole this from Hedonic Monica when looking for a chocolate dessert I could make in a ramekin. I used 54% Bakers semisweet chocolate.

1/2 c butter
4 oz dark chocolate (I use 62% Scharffen Berger)
1/4 c sugar (I use brown or white interchangebly)
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
2 tsp flour
pinch salt

berries, coulis, mint, chocolate sauce, fresh vanilla cream, or powdered sugar (for decor)


Butter and flour four ramekins. Preheat oven to 450. Using a double boiler, melt chocolate and butter. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, yolk, sugar, and salt. Whisk in hot chocolate-butter mixture, slowly and carefully so not to create a chocolate omlette. Divide amongst ramekins. Either bake for 10-12 min (depending on how molten you prefer your center), or refrigerate until ready to use. After baking, run a knife around cake edge and turn carefully upside down onto a plate. Allow to set for 1 minute before pulling off ramekin. Decorate and serve warm.

carbonara

Bacon/guanciale saute until crisp, add cream

4 yolks + 2 eggs. .6 lbs pancetta, 3/4 c cream.

butter 6 tbl soft butter. beat that till soft and fluffy.

3 whole and two yolks or vice versa, beat that with 3/4 c parm.

butter first, toss.
then hot bacon/cream
then eggs/cheese

MORE FOOD

Der te der, what's this? Leftover wild mushroom risotto? Dearie me, I seem to be forming it into golf ball sized forms, and stuffing it with a little piece of mozzarella, oh my goodness.

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Nooo, the dreaded flour-egg-Panko triple threat!

From Food

It spares no fingers!

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Phew, at least someone is making sure we are eating green leafies around here.

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and their steamy stems, too!

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Deep Fried Risotto Alert! At 370 degree F, these turned golden in .6 seconds, but didn't burn like I thought they would, even after about a minute. Probably I just need to fry more things, right? Right??

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Ah yes, our complete tapas meal, "Tuscan" bread from Whole Foods, white-bean/rosemary/garlic spread (thanks Jamie Oliver), Swiss Chard, and a few delectable arancini (the technical term for 'fried leftover risotto balls'). We have blurred the photo to protect the innocent.

From Food

Food photos courtesy of new schnazzy camera!