A Taste Of France

Good evening everyone! Welcome back to Out Of The Culinary. Tonight was my night in the kitchen - and tonight I decided to get bold. Last week, for my birthday, Maggie gave me The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook This (not so) little cookbook holds over 600 recipes and features every dish they have made during the first 10 years of the PBS television show. For those not familiar with America's Test Kitchen, they test recipes dozens of times, until the find the perfect combination of flavors, cooking time and ingredients. They don't publish a recipe in their magazine (Cook's Illustrated) unless it's perfect and they don't feature a recipe on TV unless it's absolutely perfect.

So, needless to say, I found a few recipes that I want to try in this cookbook. The first of those recipes is one that I had never even heard of until I discovered it in the cookbook, (but further research has shown it's actually a well traveled recipe). My recipe tonight is a French recipe - called 'Coq Au Vin' which, while it sounds fancy is really only - 'Chicken With Wine'. It sounds more eloquent in French, which is why I imagine the name has stuck around so long.

I wasn't content on ONE French recipe tonight, however. I decided to tackle two. My second recipe takes inspiration from a French culinary school technique called gastrique (a reduction of acidic liquid with sugar that accompanies dishes made with fruit). Once again, don't let the French naming convince you this recipe is overly fancy - in plain English - 'Fruit salad covered with a vinegar and wine reduction'.

Tonight's recipes are some of the most complicated that we've tried on the blog yet. However, they are not impossible. There are a lot of steps, and a few more ingredients than usual, but hang with us and you'll figure it all out, just like we did.

The Recipe: Coq Au Vin
Original Recipe Found In:  The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook

What You'll Need:

6 Oz. Thick Cut Bacon (Chopped)
2 Lbs Bone In, Skin On Chicken Pieces (Your choice, breast, thighs or drumsticks - we chose thighs)
8 Oz. Frozen Pearl Onions
10 Oz. White Mushrooms
2 Garlic Cloves (Minced)
1 Tbs. Tomato Paste
3 Tbs. All Purpose Flour
1 Bottle Red Wine (Cheap one!)
2 1/2 Cups Low Sodium Chicken Broth
1/4 Tsp. Dried Thyme
2 Bay Leaves
2 Tbs. Unsalted Butter
2 Tbs. Fresh Parsley (1/2 tsp. dried)
-Serve with egg noodles.

The Recipe: Strawberries and Grapes with Balsamic and Red Wine Reduction
Original Recipe Found In: The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook

What You'll Need:

3/4 Cup Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 Cup Dry Red Wine
1/4 Cup Sugar
1 Tbs. Lemon Zest
1 Tbs. Lemon Juice
1/4 Tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 Quart Strawberries
9 Oz. Red Grapes (about 2 cups)

It's easiest to begin with the fruit salad side dish, since you can keep in the the refrigerator for up to 4 hours.

Begin by simmering the vinegar, wine, sugar and a pinch of salt in a small sauce pan over high heat until the mixture becomes syrupy. This takes around 15 minutes. Next, remove the pan from the heat and add the lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla extract and steep (AKA, allow to rest) for about 1 minute. This allows all the flavors to blend together nicely. Next, strain the sauce to remove any large impurities.

After you add the sugar, the powerful smell diminishes 

Now, don't allow the smell to throw you off here - and this will smell (at first) the combination of 3/4 cup vinegar and red wine makes for one potent - cough inducing - smelly pot. Once the lemon juice and vanilla are added, the smell fades - I promise.

This recipe also called for two whole cloves, which are dried flower buds of an Indonesian tree, and a fairly common spice around the world. Except in Des Moines, apparently, where we couldn't track any down. I'm sure Penzey's in Clive (a Des Moines suburb) carried the fragrant ingredient, but our early research showed that this particular item commanded saffron like prices. (Yikes!) We opted to simply skip the cloves in this recipe. If you do feel adventurous, or already have some cloves - add them with the lemon zest and lemon juice and allow them to steep for a full minute. Then strain them out.

Hull and halve your strawberries, and combine them in a medium bowl with the grapes. Pour your warm sauce over the fruit and toss until everything is well coated. You can serve this fruit salad at room temperature or you can cover it with plastic wrap and store it for up to 4 hours in the refrigerator before serving. Since we have another multi-step recipe to make tonight, I opted to make this first and store it away for later.

Halve your strawberries 

And pluck off the grapes 

Now, it's time to turn your attention to the main dish.

Begin by cutting up five slices of thick cut bacon into smaller sections (approximately 1/2 inch pieces) Place your chopped up bacon into a dutch oven or if you lack a dutch oven (as we do) simply use a large pot. Allow the bacon to crisp up for about 5 to 7 minutes. When the pieces are nice and crispy, transfer them to a paper towel lined plate. (Leave the grease in the pan!)

Next, lightly season your chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Place them into the pot and allow the skin to get nice in crispy. Cooking for about 5 minutes per side achieves this nicely. As all of your chicken is cooking (you may have to cook the chicken in shifts, if you do, simply set the cooked chicken aside while you add the uncooked chicken) chop up your onions and mince your garlic. If you have whole mushrooms, halve those as well.

Browning up nicely

Onions and mushrooms, chopped and ready to go

Once your chicken has finished cooking, evaluate the grease in the bottom of the pot. You want a light layer of grease and oils. If you are starting to accumulate a lot of excess fat, skim off the extra until you have just a thin layer of oil on the bottom of the pan. Alternatively, if you have next to nothing in the bottom of your pot - add a tablespoon of vegetable oil.

Next, add you onions and mushrooms. Allow these to get nice and golden brown (about 10 minutes) before adding your garlic and tomato paste. Stir in the garlic and tomato paste until everything is mixed well. Allow them to simmer until they are fragrant - and you will know when that happens. This wonderful aroma of tomatoes and garlic will rise up from the pot - it's almost intoxicating. For those of you who are more time oriented, less 'scent' oriented, cookers - this should take about 30 seconds.

Now, stir in your flour - mixing well until everything is blended. Allow this mixture to simmer for another minute. Add your chicken broth, wine (yes - the WHOLE bottle) along with your thyme, rosemary and bay leaves. Mix everything together and bring it up to a simmer.

Add the flour

And the broth

Next, the wine

Finally, all the spices

Finally, nestle in your cuts of chicken. Space them out evenly throughout the pot if you have the room. Cover the pan and reduce the heat to medium low. Allow them to simmer for about 40 minutes. This all depends on the pieces of chicken you are using. If you are using chicken breasts, it should take around 20 to 30 minutes. If you are using thighs or drumsticks, increase the cooking time to about 40 minutes to one hour. The best indicator, however, is temperature. Chicken breasts are done at 160 degrees while thighs and drumsticks are done at 170 to 175 degrees.

During this cooking time, you will want to start another pot of water boiling for your egg noodles. Check the bag for cooking instructions and start cooking your noodles when there is roughly that much time remaining on your chicken.

Once your chicken has reached the right temperature, remove them from the pot and set in your serving dish. Tent the dish with aluminum foil. You chicken should have an amazing purple or deep red color to it. (It peels off when you remove the skin - no worries if you don't want to eat purple food!)

Return the pot to medium heat and allow the remaining sauce to thicken. This should take another 20 minutes or so. After this time, remove the pot from heat - remove the bay leaves and whisk in the butter. I poured my sauce through a strainer to skin off some of the fat -(I simply added the vegetables back to the sauce after straining!) You should end up with about 2 cups of liquid after everything is said and done. Finally, simply pour the finished sauce over your chicken, sprinkle the bacon pieces on top and serve atop egg noodles!

The Results:

In a word...

WOW

In a lot of words - Oh my goodness! The flavors in tonight's recipes are unparalleled. The chicken packs a deep, rich flavor that is almost hard to describe. The first flavor that hits your tongue is a rush of chicken. Not just plain old 'regular' chicken though - amazing, deep POWERFUL chicken flavor. Next, you tongue is graced with the rich flavor combination of red wine, onion and mushrooms. All of these flavors blend into a fantastic symphony for your tongue. There might be something to this whole "French cuisine is the finest in the world" thing.

The fruit salad was no slouch either. While it started of very smelly, it ended up being slightly sweet and extremely delicious. The sauce complimented the natural flavors of the strawberries and grapes and acted as a great 'bridge' between the two. It's light enough that it doesn't overpower the fruit, but it's presence is certainly tasted in the dish.

In the end, both recipes have entered our top five recipes from this blog. That's right TWO top five recipes in one night. I know this blog is going up late (you can see now why it is - these are fairly intensive recipes - plus when you don't get home from work until 6:30...) but it was absolutely worth the wait.

If you're brave enough, this recipe is certainly worth taking a shot at. I'm even more excited now to try my NEXT French recipe (coming on Thursday).

That's all we have for you tonight. Maggie takes over the kitchen tomorrow, and the blog should be up earlier as well. Be sure to check in tomorrow evening to see what Maggie is up to - until then,

~Cheers

This Week's Ingredients

Good morning everyone! Sadly, it's Monday again - meaning the end to a long, enjoyable three day weekend for Maggie and I. It was one of those weekends that you only get once in a long while. Nothing that you have to do - but three days to do what you want to do. It was fantastic. We needed a recharge and it helped put some things into perspective (for me at least). Anyway - enough rambling about that, let's get to the real reason why you're here...

It's Monday! That means we disclose the list of ingredients for this week's recipes. Here they are:

4 X Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
2 Lbs Skin On, Bone In Chicken (Breasts & Thighs)
1 X Leek
White Mushrooms
Celery
Sunflower Oil
Plain Yogurt
Thick Cut Bacon
Tomato Paste
Red Wine
Bay Leaves
Egg Noodles
Buttermilk
Cooking Twine
1 X Lemon
Red Grapes

Also included on this list are the things we grabbed at the downtown farmer's market:

2 Lbs Yukon Gold Potatoes
2 Lbs Pearl Onions
2 Lbs Strawberries

Quite the list this week isn't it? I'm getting a little ambitious this week - both of my recipes are French recipes. I'm also making a side dish with both recipes. We're back to the usual schedule. I'm taking Tuesday and Thursday, Maggie has Wednesday. Sadly, I'm back to the late shift this week, which will probably push the blog back to the 8:00 to 8:45 time slot. Adjust your evening internet plans accordingly.

That's all we have for you today - I'm back tomorrow with the first of my French recipe experiments. It should be an interesting week. Until then,

~Cheers

Going Dutch For Breakfast

Good Sunday morning everyone! We're continuing our newly started tradition here on the blog - Sunday breakfast. Today, Maggie had a recipe that she was eager to tackle - one that she truly fell in love while on her trip to Europe a few years back. I'll turn the keyboard over to Maggie and let her tell the story:

The Recipe: Apple Cinnamon Pannekoken


What You'll Need:

2 X Red Apples
3 Tbs. Unsalted Butter
2 Tbs. Brown Sugar
1 Tsp. Cinnamon
1 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 Tsp. Sugar
1/2 Tsp. Baking Powder
1 Egg
1/2 Cup Milk


Actually, the story starts before my trip to Europe in 2007.  Since my mom visited the Netherlands in 1969, she picked up on a famous Dutch treat's recipe:  Pannekoken - a very thin variation of of the crepe or the American pancake.  Since I grew up with this treat, mostly as a Saturday lunch option, I am very familiar with the taste, texture, and all around goodness that is the Pannekoken.  When I went over to Europe three years ago, it was one of my goals to have an authentic Dutch pancake.  Within the first 5 days we were there, we visited a little touristy town that made Pannekoken for their visitors, and it wasn't just plain Pannekoken, you could have many different varieties of it.  I wanted the apple cinnamon Pannekoken...and it was heaven!  After 21 years of having my mom's version, I finally tasted what she tried to perfect all these years.  No doubt my mom's version is still pretty tasty, I was just so excited to finally try authentic Dutch Pannekoken.

Maggie's first encounter with authentic pannekoken - she was a little excited 

Flash forward three years to the present day.  I decided that for our Sunday breakfast/brunch blog to try that same recipe.  Granted, I had never made Pannekoken before, so obviously I had to get the recipe from my mom, who has ingrained it in her memory.  Then trying to find a recipe that incorporated cinnamon and apples was a little more tricky.  I found a website that showed how to caramelize apples with cinnamon - granted I didn't want to caramelize them, I just wanted a nice cinnamon flavor over them, so I ended up skipping half of the recipe to achieve my desired end product.


I began by melting my butter in a medium skillet.  Whilst this was going on, I cored and sliced my apples into medium thin slices so they would cook up nice.  After the butter was melted, I added my apples and stirred them around with a wooden spoon so they could be coated with butter.  After said apples were coated, I added my sugar and cinnamon and stirred them with the apples until they were nice and coated with my new combination.  Every 2 minutes or so, I would stir them around so that the bottom apples didn't get too soft and the top ones got to cook a little more.  After 10 minutes, I set them aside and covered with aluminum foil and towels to keep warm.

Now, the apples were pretty darn easy to make...the Pannekoken...well, a test of my patience was being conducted.  I combined the flour, sugar, baking powder, egg, and milk into a thin, runny batter - don't worry if you try this recipe, it's SUPPOSED to look like this.  Then, I melted about two tablespoons of butter in my skillet and poured a 1/3 of cup of my batter.  The butter and the batter congealed together, in some sort of liquidy mess.  I stared at it, thinking "this is not how it's supposed to look."  I dumped out the mixture, cleaned my pan, and started again.

Take 1: It shouldn't be doing this... 

I then remembered that I was supposed to take a stick of butter and rub the inside of the skillet.  I went ahead and did that and put the batter down in the skilling again.  The batter stuck to the pan and had no intention on getting flipped or even coming out.  I now got irritated that this wasn't supposed to look like this.  One problem is that we have stainless steel pans, not nonstick.  This would have been a helpful mention by my mom when she was describing the recipe to me.  Finally, after almost giving up, Tyler suggested that we use our non stick griddle - "granted it won't make the pancakes thin like they should, but it will at least be pancakes."

Let's try that again...

#$%@! It shouldn't be doing THAT either! 

I warmed up the griddle and poured my batter on and finally, after three tries, it looked similar to what Pannekoken I've had over the years.  It wasn't as flat and I'm used to, but it was a griddle and it was going to work.  After making six pancakes, I topped with the apple cinnamon mixture and served.

3rd time is the charm...right? 

There we go! Much better! 

The End Result:

In my mind, I had this wonderful picture of a large, warm Pannekoken, with a good heap of apples and cinnamon.  But what I ended up with a small tortilla-like pancake with apples overflowing out of the ends.  To say I was a little disappointed was an understatement.  I try really hard to recreate what I see, but sometimes, it doesn't end up that way.  I guess they were good, but my disappointment overtook my sense of appetite.  I guess I need to just take the recipe as is and until we get a nonstick skillet, Pannekoken won't be made like it should be.


Thanks Maggie. In my opinion, the pannekoken was just fine. It tasted very similar to a crepe and that is what I was expecting. I, however, have not had authentic Dutch pannekoken, so I have nothing to base Maggie's dish off of. From what I can tell, the Dutch version is simply lower on sugar than American taste buds are used to. If you're not going to use butter and syrup to top the pannekoken - you probably should double the sugar. The second suggestion I would make would be to actually make a caramelized apple sauce. I mentioned that to Maggie yesterday, but she had her heart set on recreating the original dish. I think if she had finished the entire recipe (and caramelized the apples, rather than skipping that step) the resulting SAUCE (rather than apple/cinnamon topping) would have covered quite nicely for the low sugar content of the pannekoken. Other than those suggestions this is a fairly simple - yet tasty dish that is really adaptable to any flavor combination you want to use. Give it a try yourself!

That's all we have for you today. We're back tomorrow with our list of ingredients for this week. Be sure to stop by and see the hints to what we have cooking in the coming week. Until next time,

~Cheers

Farmer's Market Adventures!

Good Morning everyone! Today is a gorgeous Saturday. Here's hoping your neck of the woods is as nice as it is here in the greater Des Moines area. Saturdays in Des Moines mean one very important thing to the locals - the downtown farmer's market. Since Maggie and I moved here, we've been hearing all sorts of people raving about the farmer's market downtown. The weekly Saturday event was a highlight to everyone you talked to. "Get there early" "Bring bags" "Be sure to check out this vendor!" everyone seemed to have some advice your an experience to share from their trip downtown. So, Maggie and I decided that it was time for us to head downtown and see what all the buzz was about.

In a word

WOW

The farmer's market in downtown Des Moines isn't just a farmer's market - it's an event! It spans two city blocks running east to west - but each block expands north and south (a block apiece) as well. In other words, it's large. Vendors range from a large amount of fresh fruits and veggies (all grown in Iowa) to flower vendors, vendors that sell spices (rosemary, basil, thyme and mint are in season right now). There are also vendors selling Iowa wines, fresh cheese, fresh cuts of meat (beef and duck were all we could find today - chicken was already sold out!) essentially, if it is in season - it's at the market.

Maggie and I came prepared. The night before we picked out our recipes for next week and made a list of things to look for. Some things (Apples, grapes, lemons) were not yet in season - however, others (yukon gold potatoes, strawberries, pearl onions) were in season and plentiful. We also managed to snag some things that were not on the list - fresh mozzarella cheese, homemade honey roasted peanut butter and blackberry jam.

The most surprising part (for us) was the cost! We were expecting fresh fruits and veggies to come at a premium (something we were prepared to pay for) however, I managed to snag 2 Lbs of yukon gold potatoes for $2 ($2!) and a basket of fresh strawberries for $5. Maggie picked up the pearl onions (2 lbs worth) for $2. All in all, we found everything for a very reasonable price. Here's a recap of what we grabbed and the prices:

2 Lbs Yukon Gold Potatoes                      $2
2 Lbs Pearl Onions                                    $2
Large Basket Strawberries                         $5
Large Tub Honey Roasted Peanut Butter  $5
Blackberry Jam                                          $5
Fresh Mozzarella                                       $5


All in all, we spent an hour and a half enjoying every minute of the farmer's market - and $24 later, we returned to the car with armfuls of fresh, delicious ingredients.


But we weren't done there. Just a block down from where we parked, Maggie spotted a kitchen supply store. Naturally, we had to stop by and check everything out.

Just so you all know, we have a new favorite store!

Kitchen Collage in downtown Des Moines is fantastic! They carry just about everything you could ever want for your kitchen. For about a week now, I've been looking for a certain brand of kitchen knives. According to the folks at America's Test Kitchen, the best brand of kitchen knives for you buck are the Victornox knives from Switzerland. Sadly, none of our usual Des Moines area kitchen stores carried this brand - until we stopped by Kitchen Collage.

I found my 8 inch Victornox chef's knife just sitting on the rack. I was elated. I found it! Happy birthday to me! I also snagged a round (very heavy) meat tenderizer. Both of these gadgets will be put to use this week in my recipes. Maggie had been looking for some medium sized ramekins for a while as well (she has her heart set on a soufflé).

All in all, our Saturday outing in downtown Des Moines was very productive. We are planning a return trip in a couple of weeks!

That's all we have for you today, Maggie is planning on a special breakfast recipe for tomorrow morning, so be sure to stop by to see what she's cooking. Until tomorrow,

~Cheers

Mascarpone! It's Just Fun To Say!

Good evening everyone! Welcome back to Out Of The Culinary! Tonight was Maggie's night to take over the kitchen. Just like last week - she turned to one of her new cookbooks for inspiration on what to make tonight. Knowing how much I love lemons - she spotted tonight's recipe and immediately decided that it would be perfect. (There's a girl who knows how to please her target audience!) However, tonight's dish didn't go as smoothly as planned.

In the recipe's description Giada De Laurentiis states "Creamy, lemony and delicious, either as an entree or as side dish...makes a pretty, festive accompaniment to almost any springtime meal." Sounds fantastic, right? Well, we came to a conclusion after trying out this dish ourselves...Giada lied.

The Recipe: Lemon Risotto
Original Recipe Found In: Giada's Kitchen: New Italian Favorites

What You'll Need:

4 Cups Low Sodium Chicken Broth
2 Lemons
3 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
2 Large Shallots
1/2 Cup White Wine
1 1/2 Cups Arborio Rice
1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese
1/4 Mascarpone Cheese
1/2 Lemon Zest
3/5 Tsp. Salt
2/4 Tsp. Black Pepper
2 Tbs. Parsley

All the ingredients, ready to go

You ever have one of those days, where you think everything smoothly, but then it kind of crumbles right in front of you.  I should have taken work as a cue as to what my recipe would turn out as.


This recipe was pretty straight forward: add a couple of ingredients, stir a lot, mix other items, and present to hungry patrons.  And it was a fairly easy recipe - one of these days I'll get bold and do a fairly complex one.  But, I'm still getting my training feathers in, waiting until I can soar, i.e. learn more about cooking....anyway, back to the reason why you're here...


Before I started anything, I gave my lemons a quick roll on the cutting board.  According to Giada, (Tyler's Note: AND TYLER! I made that suggestion weeks ago!) this brings out more of the juice in the lemons to give it a better squeeze.  I also chopped the shallots in our mini food processor.  Shallots are like mini red onions, they give a very similar odor to red onions, but in a compact version.  (Albeit expensive - at $4 apiece) 

Before...

After!

In a large saucepan, I pour the chicken broth and squeezed my now halved lemon.  I put a little strainer over the pan to catch the seeds (wouldn't want that in our lemony chicken broth...)  In another medium saucepan, I melted 2 out of the 3 tablespoons of butter and added the now chopped shallots and heated until they were tender.  After this, I added my rice.  Arborio rice is almost like little rice pellets, they are not long by any means.  When I opened the rice for the first time, I had to cut open this vacuum sealed package and it made a nice little "eeeeeeee" sound.  I giggled at the sound these little legumes made.

Arborio rice

After coating the rice with the butter/shallot mixture, I added the wine and the other halved lemon, squeezing the juice out as I previously mentioned.  As the liquids evaporated, I added a half a cup of the lemony chicken broth to the rice combination an waited for that to evaporate as well.  


Once this mixture was clear of free standing liquid, I added another half cup of the lemony chicken broth and stirred constantly until everything was the same consistency.  Repeat this until all of the broth is gone.  By now, the rice should be getting to a creamier state and should be tender (about 20 minutes.)

After this, I added the last of the butter, parmesan and mascarpone cheese, salt and pepper, and stirred until it was an even more creamy concoction.  Serve and sprinkle with parmesan cheese and parsley.


The End Result:

Sure, the risotto looked tasty and I was throughly waiting for that first lemony, tangy bite...  It never had that lemony, tangy bite.  Oh, it had a bite, but for the life of me, I have no idea what ingredient lead to the tanginess of the dish.  I thought about all the ingredients I included, but it's hard to pin point one key ingredient that would give such bite to a normally subtle dish.  


This was the first recipe that I had made that didn't include a picture of the dish being made.  And probably for good reason too.  I wouldn't call this a failed recipe, but maybe a 'too much of something; or 'not our taste recipe.'  If anything, this had definitely made me more perplexed than when I started tonight's journey.


Thank you Maggie. After tonight's 'flop' Maggie is, understandingly bummed. No one likes to make a recipe that falls flat. There is no way to sugarcoat this one though - I didn't like it. Like Maggie mentioned the lemon was completely missing in the recipe - you couldn't taste a hint of it - which is odd because we had great, fresh, lemons. Instead - the flavor was this odd battle of chicken broth and...well...we're not sure. I originally blamed the mascarpone cheese (which is a ton of fun to say by the way... MASS-CAR-PON-AA) However, Maggie pointed out that mascarpone is essentially flavorless. For the life of us we don't know what caused the recipe to have such a bite. I'm hypothesizing that it may have been the shallots - they seemed to have a stronger odor than onions and maybe that odor was a precursor to the bite they would deliver...it's hard to say. 

In the end, Maggie (or anyone who has ever made a 'dud' recipe) shouldn't feel too badly. All she can do is follow the recipe. In the end, I think this may be a recipe of 'acquired taste'. Perhaps Giada feels these ingredients all blend well together to make a fantastic dish - I'd have to respectfully disagree. They clash - badly. Normally, Giada's recipes have turned out well - tonight is the exception to the rule.

We knew this would happen though. From day one, we said that we were going to share our cooking experiences - both the good and the bad. For most of this blogging adventure, we've been able to share fantastic, delicious recipes that have been successes. Tonight was our first real dud. It happens, and as much as Maggie would rather NOT share this experience with you tonight, the good comes with the bad and my philosophy is simple - there is no such thing as a bad cooking experience. Only something that you can learn from in the future.

Needless to say, we wont be putting this recipe in our big book. Nor do we recommend you tackle it yourself. Giada's reputation took a hit here tonight, (and Maggie's cooking self esteem took a big one too) all that we can do is get up, bring out the pots and pans and try again!

That's all we have for you tonight. We're off tomorrow (It's my birthday!) We're going to our downtown farmer's market on Saturday and plan to post some pictures and experiences from that. Sunday is still pending - we're looking at another breakfast recipe, but are undecided yet on what to do. Tune in Saturday for an update on our Sunday plans. Until Saturday,

~Cheers