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Paper Chef #16: Ingredient Nominations

Feb 28, 2006 Noticias

Don’t forget to head over to Tomatilla and put in a suggestion for this Friday’s Paper Chef - you’ve got to be quick, there’s only two days left.

Dowjones breakdown the 11000 support level

Feb 28, 2006 Noticias

Chart courtesy of stockcharts

U.S. stocks closed sharply lower today after Bad News from Google and a mixed economic data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 104.14 points at 10,993.41, the S&P 500 dropped 13.49 points to 1,280.63 and the Nasdaq Composite ended down 25.79 points at 2,280.98.
Google fell 7% to $362.62 after it warned investors its revenue growth rates would slow, CFO Reyes told an investor conference that Google’s growth will depend on further audience gains or moves into new markets instead of relying on improvements in its mainstay Web search advertising business, which drives over 97 percent of sales.
The 11000 level was insufficient to stop the selling pressure, so keep attention for the next support level in the Dowjones at 10960.

That’s All. Have a great evening.

AC

With Two You Get Blog Rolls

Feb 28, 2006 Noticias

Responding to Sean Sirrine’s Blawg Review #46 at De Novo, our favorite curmudgeon David Giacalone thinks lawyers, law professors, and law students have he has better things to do with their his time than everyone creating and maintaining similar blogrolls on their law blogs.

Hopefully, David and Sean both will like this new collaborative law blogroll, myHq blawgs. It’s a work in progress—a labor of link love—and will be developed with features and new categories suggested by law bloggers, from time to time. This blogroll will be updated and maintained by the tireless team of editors at Blawg Review.

If you think this is useful, we’d appreciate if you’d add a link or mention myHq blawgs on your own law blog to help your readers discover this new resource. It’s wikid.

Update: Kevin, Esq., at Tech Law Advisor says, “I definitely believe that this is a great project - to collect all the legal blogs on one page, but still feel strongly that permanent links, or an email or a comment (at least for bloggers just starting out) are great so that others know who’s reading them.”

I agree with Kevin. This collaborative myHq blawgs web page is designed to be something different—to add a lot more good blawgs with a single additional link to a more selective blogroll that reflects the interests of each law blogger. This project is not intended to be as comprehensive as other blawg directories, either, but is just another way for law bloggers to gain exposure. Those who appreciate the value of the “blawg” tag, will notice that this new project already ranks highly on Google for “blawgs” and appears on every linked blog’s Technorati search page. - Ed.

Update: Ian Best at 3L Epiphany is working on a taxonomy of legal blogs. So far, he’s compiled a list of over 600 legal blogs, and he’s still looking for readers to suggest law blogs he’s not yet listed. Ian emailed your Editor this nice note about our collaborative blawgroll:

You have a lot of great lists there. You are more inclusive than my project will be (i.e. law students, politics, etc). I realize that our lists will overlap, and you can feel free to include whatever blogs from my own list that you like. Thanks for including 3L Epiphany. I’m also glad that you’re keeping track of all the Blawg Review hosts, because those reviews are a great service.

Update: Kurt Hunt at Clever WoT has posted an extensive list of law student blogs, a Law Student Blogger Directory organized by law schools, many of which are incorporated into myHq blawgs.

Update: Thanks to David Giacalone for providing editorial oversight of this post and correcting my mistatement of his opinion, and for having the good judgment to add a link to myHq blawgs to the sidebar of his f/k/a weblog even though he finds it irresistible to mess up the name of that link due to his obsessive compulsive blawg disorder. Be well, my friend.

Shrove Tuesday….mmmmm…. Pancake Day!

Feb 28, 2006 Noticias

Shrove Tuesday, the perfect excuse to indulge in pancakes - and for the first time in a little while I’ve managed to make them on the Tuesday.

Sift the plain flour with the baking powder.

Place the ricotta and egg yolks into a bowl and mix, then add the milk and sifted flour and baking powder.

Stir in a third of the whipped egg whites, and then fold in the remainder with a metal spoon.

You can use this mix straight away or let it sit, covered in the fridge.

I’ve teamed these up with some honeycomb butter**.

The only trouble to be had with these pancakes is in managing to get a photo before this happens

**To make Honeycomb butter is very simple: it’s roughly twice the amount of butter to honeycomb - I opted for a chocolate coated honeycomb bar, smashed it a little first with a rolling pin, then with a food processor, blended it with butter.

Scoop it out onto baking paper and roll into a sausage shape and put it back in the fridge to harden. This can also be frozen in portion-sized quantities.

Disney up on acquisition speculation

Feb 27, 2006 Noticias

Chart courtesy of stockcharts

History of the day ” Apple could buy Disney ”

According to a report from Barron’s on Saturday, Apple Computer could make a bid to buy Walt disney, See the full report here. Another news that could make some different for tomorrow trading, is that Microsoft could launch a new portable gadget that will compete with Apple Computer Inc.’s wildly popular iPod line, so keep attention in AAPLE stock.

Macro economic news

Sales of new homes in the United States fell 5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.233 million in January, the lowest in a year, the Commerce Department said Monday.

That’s All. Have a great evening and an excellent Carnival Night.

AC

Justice Rothstein Materials Released by Slaw

Feb 27, 2006 Noticias

Slaw has released an in-depth information package regarding Supreme Court of Canada nominee Justice Marshall Rothstein.

Check out:
http://www.slaw.ca/marshall-rothstein-pages

Slaw has assembled a comprehensive set of links to key news, commentary, government websites, and extensive court decisions by Mr. Justice Rothstein. The materials also include a list of ten qualities the nominee brings to the Supreme Court and a break-down of how some of his decisions at the Federal Court level fared later at the Supreme Court level, whether upheld or overturned.

A lot of work was put into this project by the members of Slaw, with Simon Fodden and Simon Chester leading the way. Yet another tribute to the collaborative power of this group.

Italian Walnut and Marmalade Bread

Feb 26, 2006 Noticias

I’m delving into my Italian bag of tricks to present this very easy to make bread.

Sift the flour and the yeast, then add the nuts, eggs, milk, butter and marmalade. Mix together by hand or with a mixer equipped with a dough hook.

Lightly knead the mix until it’s fully incorporated and forms a nice homogeneous dough.

Form into a sausage shape and place in a well buttered and floured loaf tin.

Leave it in a warm place at least 20 minutes then place in a warm oven (180°C/350°F) until nicely browned and cook through (about 30 minutes).

When done let it cool on a wire rack - I like to lightly coat the top with a orange icing (a simple mix of icing sugar and orange juice)

Delicious served warm with lashing of butter and marmalade.

Blancmanger

Feb 25, 2006 Noticias

A most interesting IMBB this month - Cucina Testa Rossa would like us to cook a French regional dish and match it with a French wine. This was more of a case of what wouldn’t you like to cook - way too many choices.

After wading through the bookcase I finally settled on two books in particular for inspiration, Anthony Bourdain’s “Les Halles Cookbook” and a new release by Australia’s Damien Pignolet, “French.”

Eventually I opted for the local choice and in particular a dish that I’ve never made before but always held an interest.

The dish in question is “Blancmanger” or “Milk Jelly” - it’s the food that seems to be associated with English boarding schools but according to Damien its an “ancient recipe from the French region of Provence consisting of sweetened almond milk bound with gelatine and lightened with softly whipped cream”. Now, I ask you, who could resist that description?

Doing some more research I’ve discovered that it does have quite an interesting if not confused, history - Larousse claims it’s a dish from the Languedoc region; it has Italian connections with the area of Valle D’Aosta as a kind of regional panna cotta; Wikipedia believes it was introduced by the Arabs into Spain and Sicily, the medieval version was a savoury dish, and finally, Escoffier pronounced it to be “one of the best sweets served.”

So, for this exercise I will trust Damien on Blancmangers history and now it’s time to move onto the best part, the dish!

Lightly whip the cream until it forms soft peaks - refrigerate until needed.

In a small pan, dissolve sugar in 150ml water without boiling. Soak gelatine in a small bowl of cold water until it softens. Remove the leaves, squeeze gently, then add to hot sugar syrup, stir and the gelatine will dissolve immediately

Using a blender/food processor, purée almonds with milk and water until mixture is slightly granular but smooth. Wet a length of muslin and squeeze, removing any excess water. Lay the cloth over a strainer and pour the almond mix onto it. Gather the ends of the cloth to form a bag and begin to squeeze to release the almond milk. You want to get 250ml of liquid, if you find there is less, then top it up with plain milk.

In a large bowl add iced water. Stir the sugar syrup into the almond milk and place this over the iced water. This speeds up the setting process. Stir the almond milk mixture until it begins to thicken.

Remove the cream from the fridge and beat it a little more to form soft peaks that hold their shape. Beat a quarter of the cream into the almond milk mixture and then using a large metal spoon, fold this into the remaining cream.

Pour the mixture into 6 individual moulds, each approximately 180ml capacity, tap down and seal well with cling wrap. Chill for at least 4 hours before unmoulding.

*A note on leaf gelatine:

The amount of gelatine required is dependent on it’s grade. If you are using “titanium” gelatine than the rule is that 1 sheet will be able to set 250ml of liquid. If you use a lower level of gelatine, it might be labelled “gold” then 3 sheets will be needed to set 250ml of liquid.
For this recipe, I would recommend using 4 leaves of “titanium” gelatine.

A similar problem exists with using powdered gelatine as it’s available by weight or in sachets. Following the guidelines, 2 teaspoons will set 250ml of liquid so for this recipe use 8 teaspoons.

If you wanted something a little different you could use Agar-Agar - it’s also available in two forms, in strands or powdered.

The general rule is that 10g of strands = 7g of powder and will set one litre of liquid, which would provide more than enough setting power for this dessert.

Paper Chef #15: The Results

Feb 25, 2006 Noticias

Magic Tofu and his fearless companion Fufu, over at Slurp and Burp have just announced the results for Paper Chef #15.

Congratulations on everyone that took part - all the dishes were amazing and certainly showed what can be done with simple ingredients and some imagination.

And congratulations to the category winners:
Tankeduptaco (Super Saver Award)
Noodle Cook (Picasso Award)
Alanna and Surfindaave (Home Cook Award)

Blow me down with a feather, I’m still going wow, but I managed to snag the Indiana Jones and Grand Winner award. Thank you once again, it certainly came as a surprise.

This is such a fun event and I can’t recommend it highly enough, and in the words of Molly Meldrum, do yourself a favour and check out Tomatilla on Friday 3rd March for the start of Paper Chef #16.

Easy Peasy Pie

Feb 24, 2006 Noticias

Savoury pies are another of those great winter comfort foods - crisp pastry encasing a steaming, oozing mix of your favourite meats and vegetables. Sounds lovely but what if I can’t be bothered making and rolling the pastry and as for forming it into little pies - ugh there are other things to do with my time.

For these days I like to make this…

…the Easy Peasy Pie.

There’s nothing wrong with taking short cuts every now and again (or more often depending on the situation). This pie is created using two sheets of ready rolled puff pastry - I like to use the butter puff, but that’s just a personal preference.

Lay one sheet down on a baking tray and brush around it’s edge with milk (if you want to use an egg wash you can, but there’s no need). Spoon your filling on top of this sheet but leave an edge about 1cm wide on all four sides. Continue placing the filling until it’s about an inch (2.5cm) high. Carefully place the second sheet on top, lining it up along the edges. Begin pinching the edges together, pulling slightly to get them resting on the tray surface. Take a fork and press the tines along the edge, to ensure the seal.

Cut a little cross into the centre of the pie - you must make an air hole or the build up of steam inside the pastry case will cause the pie to explode along the edges.

Finish it off with the milk wash and a sprinkling of sesame seeds (poppy seeds are equally nice). Cook in a preheated oven 180°C/350°F for 45 minutes or until it’s nicely golden.

As for fillings, well, what have you got in the fridge? These no secret recipe here. I usually start with onions and carrots and get them going until they are beginning to caramelise. Then I add the “softer” ingredients, mushrooms, squash, zucchini, so I can release their moisture and sweat them down a little. Next would come the meat, a rough dice or coarse mince of beef (or chicken, pork etc). This is when I’d keep stirring and tossing it through, I want the meat to brown. Finally I add small cubes of potato (or pumpkin, sweet potato - the starchy ingredients). Toss through the mix before adding stock until it almost covers the top of the ingredients. You let this simmer away for a hour or so, checking on the liquid level. Just before it’s done, prepare a mix of corn-flour and water and stir this in - this gives that gooeyness that savoury pies must have. Cook for a few more minutes and then put it aside to cool. And there you have the pie filling, ready to use.

Flavourings, likewise are personal choices. I like to make curry pies and find a good Hot Madras Curry powder added with the onions creates a lovely aroma throughout the house and a nicely spiced pie to boot. If I wanted something more Mediterranean, I would use lots of fresh herbs like rosemary, sage, parsley, garlic, perhaps some fresh chili for an extra kick - a slug of wine along with the stock would also be a good match. For Thai influenced pies, use garlic, chili, fresh ginger, lemongrass, coriander and coconut milk as your thickening agent. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination.