Thank You.

Thank you my dear friends, for your response.  Even though I didn't use any of the suggested names given, it gave me inspiration. I am happy to announce.....The Dinner Club. http://www.simone-dinnerclub.blogspot.com/
I will posting savory items on the following blog and continuing to post my baked items on this one.

I hope you enjoy!

Im Serious.

No playing around.  No joke.  I'm not lying.  I'm so totally serious.  Really, you have no idea.

I know.  You're thinking, "Oh my gosh woman, I get it already, what is it!?"

I need your help.  All of you who read my blog, subscribed or not, you have to add your input.  You must.

I'm going to begin a new blog. One not for baking, but one for cooking. Gluten Free.  That tastes divine.  That melts in your mouth.  Ranging from smooth to robust.

I've forgotten how much I love to cook.  With cooking or anything savory for that matter,  you have such freedom.  You can stray as far as you want away from a recipe, if desired, making it your own.  Making the recipe "guidelines" or simply gleaning different flavors from different recipes or dishes, and making it all your own.  You have the freedom to tailor your creations by taste and smell.   The textures you can give it, just by a  simple thing called heat.  The concentration of flavors you can create with sauces.  It becomes endless.

This is where you come in.  I need you to throw some names, titles, words of trade marking...if there's such a thing...my way.  Please. 

Please, please, please, don't make me beg.  Please.

Because I'm serious.

....i feel like putting exclamation marks all over this post......

For the Fearless American Cooks...

Julia Child spoke of the "Servantless American Cook."  She never spoke of the "Fearless American Cook."

You don't have to go to culinary school in order to earn the title, "Chef."  One of the definitions for Chef is: to cook, esp. in a skilled or professional manner.  That, is my mother. 

She's fearless.  She is THE "Fearless American Cook."

I would have to say she's the Julia Child in my life.

Do you remember in the movie, Julie and Julia, when Julia takes a knife to the lobster and viciously kills the creature?  Or when she made the mayonnaise? 
My mom wouldn't make mayonnaise, but she made Chile Rellos for the first time tonight. 

She always researches her dishes when she makes something new.  She sits at the computer with her glasses and her cup of coffee...Its so cute.

If my mom has the hankerin for Indian, she'll make Chicken Marsala.  Or French, its Coq au Vin. She loves to make her own spring rolls...from scratch.
And she continues to be fearless.

She's not Julia Child in the way of being tall, frumpy, loud, and in your face when she talks to you, but shes like Julia Child in the way of her fearlessness.

I have another "Fearless American Cook" in my life.  You know who you are...  Its YOU.  Yes, you!  My wonderful aunt. 

She's constantly challenging me and teaching me new things.  And her enthusiasm is astronomical!  You have no idea.  It's so contagious. 

When you see someone, like my aunt, talk about food and watch them cook, and how they pour themselves into their food they make, it brings so much joy to see them have a passion for what they do.  Its amazing really.  I could watch someone cook all day.

I see her as Luisette in Julie and Julia.  She's spunky and served as motivation and support for Julia.

That is my Julia Child entry of the day.

And pppssstt!  The pictures where taken by my little sister!  ...shes goooodd!

Peaches!!!

Do you see these peaches? Do you know how many peaches these are? A little over five pounds buddy. Yep. That’s A LOT. It took me approximately an hour to wash, sort, and slice these puppies. A dear friend of ours has a beautiful peach tree along with an avocado, lemon, lime, and orange tree; boysenberries, grape vines, and a lovely gazebo to complete the lovely yard. Very picturesque. When we arrived the tree was ABUNDANT with peaches. Nothing I had imagined to see or let alone to be picking from.


Now I understand how technology haters feel. Computers, phones, cameras, iPods. All of that. All of it is unpredictable and absolutely stubborn. The point is, I’m going to have to “paint my pictures with my words.” That being said, allow me to continue.

When we arrived to this magnificent abode of a yard, the tree was laden with peaches. Now these peaches didn’t look like your typical grocery store peaches. They were more of an orange apricot color than the typical red color. The red was present, but the orange more so.

Peaches are known for being the “fuzzy” fruit. You think the peaches in the store are fuzzy??? Ha! That’s HILARIOUS. These peaches are so fuzzy, when taken a bite out of; fuzz would literally be sitting on the top of your lip. Instead of a milk mustache, it’s a peach fuzz mustache!

What’s incredible and almost bizarre, is the fact that the peaches would begin to rot almost instantly after being picked. Four hours after being picked, I had to begin cutting off appearing bruises and throw out liquefying fruit.

Like I said, it took me about an hour to complete this job. The single picture above is the one picture my camera decided to cooperate for.

And guess what?! Remember when I was, uhmm, talking about superfine sweet rice flour? Well, I’ve learned a lot. Allow me to explain. We’ve already established that Sweet Rice flour is sticky or for a “chewy” sort of substance when used. Tapioca Flour gives you elasticity needed in your goods. Normally, any sort of rice flour makes for a very delicate scone, bread, anything, when combined properly with the correct ratio of tapioca and/or potato flour.

…I just realized I haven’t told you what I’m sharing with you. Lol. Sorry about that. Peach Cobbler. Yum. Goes perfectly with a Southern meal. Fried catfish, ribs, Mac n’ cheese, chili, cornbread, greens, jambalaya, and end it with sweet potato pie or peach cobbler :-). (Make sure to wipe up that drool on your shirt).

Back to my scientific discovery. The scone batter I used for the cobbler called for rice flour, tapioca flour, and xanthan gum. The only kind of rice flour I have on hand is the superfine sweet rice flour. That being taken into context, combination of all those ingredients would just about equal…..sticky, chewy mess. So, I extracted the Xanthan gum from the picture. And the result? Tahdah! A tasty top on your cobbler!

The scone recipe was produced by Darina Allen and Rosemary Kearney. I tweaked it a bit, of course, to fit the cobbler needs.

*If you use regular rice flour, 2 tsp Xanthan gum is needed. The scone recipe was originally produced in grams and ounces. If you can follow the weights, I highly recommend it. To give you an idea for the ounces, 8 oz is approximately one cup.

**I suggest serving it or devouring it with Butter Pecan Ice Cream.



GF DF Peach Cobbler

-1/2 cup Water
-3 tbsp Cornstarch
-3/4 cup White Sugar
-1/2 cup Brown Sugar
-1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
-8 qt. sliced Peaches

-275 g/10 oz superfine Sweet Rice Flour
-50 g/2 oz Tapioca Flour
-4 tsp Baking Powder
-1 tsp Salt
-1/4 White Sugar
-1 tsp Cinnamon
-110 g/ 4 oz Earth Balance
-2 Eggs
-125 – 175 ml/ 4 – 6 oz Plain Soy Yogurt (Wildwood)

Preheat oven to 350F. Line with parchment paper or oil a 9*13inch pan. Stir cornstarch into water until all clumps are gone. On low heat, dissolve cornstarch and sugars to the point of simmering. Add vanilla extract. Follow with peaches. Simmer on low heat until peaches are soft and juices become syrupy. In a separate bowl combine all dry ingredients. With a pastry cutter or fork, break up and mix earth balance until a coarse mixture forms. In a separate bowl mix eggs and yogurt. Add egg mixture to dry ingredients until well combined. Don’t over mix. You still want to see the butter pieces. Pour to the peaches into the pan and spoon the batter on top. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until knife comes out clean when inserted.

The world of EXPERIMENTING

Note to self:  Don't use superfine authentic sweet rice for cakes...ever, EVER again.  If you want pancakes...sure, but for a cake???  NEVER.  Number one, it's too chewy.  Number two, it becomes hard.  I could see it making a pretty good batch of cookies though. 
I can definitely envision that.  Hmmm?  ...oatmeal cookies.. ...butterscotch brownies... See, there's so much to discover and learn.  Oh!  And it could probably make some pretty darn tasty chocolate chip cookies!  Fosho!  Foshiiizzzzlllee! 

I'm not going to be a hater though.  I will try a cake recipe with the authentic sweet rice again.  But.  I'm not going to use the gf mix that consists of the rice flour, potato and tapioca starch. 

I did some research.  Next time, I'm going to use Sorghum flour in place of the potato flour.  We'll see how that goes.  I haven't experimented with cookies in a long time.  That should be fun :).  And ooo!  It should do some gingerbread cookies justice.  Most definitely. 

While doing my research I found that the Sorghum flour, along with the Rice flour and tapicoa starch, is a self-rising flour.  Ima give that a shot and we'll see how that goes. 

I shouldn't be complaining.  I know I shouldn't.  But we all know the feeling of working hard and our product turns out lower than satisfactory.  Oh well.  This is going to happen often during my career.  You learn by mistake.

They do look awful pretty though.  I'm sorry...I'm not going to lie.  I like how they look.  They're not fabulous...but they're the type where if you saw them in the window of a downtown bakery you would SAY, "Ooo." 

I would have to say its the most pastry-like thing I've made.  It's not amazing, but I'm proud of myself :-].

Not to mention my wonderful aunty, who got me some beautiful pans and a Silpat.  I need to tell you something....if you don't have one...get one.  You will be one of the happiest bakers in the whole entire world.

Now, I have a friend, who loves bacon.  Many of you love bacon.  You're probably thinking, "Is she talking about me?"  You know who you are.  You know exactly who I'm talking about...  YOU. 

For the rest of you, don't even worry about it.  But please, continue reading. 

Now, I know, I know that we agreed you would be present when I began baking once this Evil Poaching Chamber of Heat of Dear ol' San Diego was over.  But, as you can see,  I began baking without you being present.  Now, I want you to be thankful.  For, this occasion of baking is not exactly a joyful one.  Its more like a chewy one.  But, I wasn't going to forsake you.  Please believe me.  I wasn't.  I was going to reserve you one of the cakes.  For fear I should die.  But, as you can also see, it didn't turn out very tasty.  Lol. I know I can be a drama queen.  That's how I role sometimes ;-).

Have you noticed how I never once mentioned what I baked exactly ?  Yes a cake, but never what kind...  And this one is a no brainer...one lonely picture......sorry.

I know...I know...I know...

Its been a while, and please forgive me for that.  I need to upload you on all of my major events.

1) School is OOUUUTT!!! Oh yeah...alrightt...uhhuh...thats right I'm raisin the roof!  "Ceeelaabration time!  Come home!!"  Use your imaginary music.  All of the seniors have passed on the torch.  All of whom, I'm going to miss.  But now I'm rulin the school! ;-)

2) My camera broke.  That's one of the main reasons why I haven't posted anything lately.  Money is tight and I can't afford a new one on my own.  A new camera was already on my wish list before this one kicked.  And now, it's bon voyage for good.  So, I don't have any delectables to show you.  My lovely friend took a picture of a Carrot Cake I made for her though.  Thank you! Xoxo.  It's my aunt's secret recipe so this one is off limits.  No recipe this time.  Sorry!  And yes, yes it is gluten free.

3) Kicked it at La Jolla.  Met a couple new people.  Chilled with Wii later that evening.

4) Went to the fair....  You know, I wonder sometimes....who in the world would come up with the idea of deep frying a stick of butter??? And EATING it???!!  I mean come on now.  Really, why?  That's like eating a heart attack on a stick. 
These are all of the marked fair foods:  Deep fried, oreos, pop tarts, butter, and twinkies; chocolate covered bacon, blooming onion, funnel cake, fried zucchini, gigantic cinnamon rolls... I can't think of anything else...can you?  Well, if you do, let me know.  This list should be completed.  Oh!  Duh!  The corn dog!!!  But still, let me know if you think of anything else.
I tackled most of the major rides, all but one.  I absolutely refused to go on it.  My friend's little brother and his friend threatened to knock me out and put me on the ride while I was still unconscious.

5)  I got my Food Handler's License.  Twenty five bucks at the Food and Beverage Corp.  That, my dear friend, is cheap.  The first place I looked, it was a hundred.  The second, forty.  The third, twenty-five.  Bingo.
When my mom and I walked into the office, the lady was sooo rude.  Once she found out that I be representin Grossmont, she softened up.  (Her daughter graduated valedictorian from g-mont).

6) We, my friend and I, toured her cousins around downtown San Diego.  A couple gals from Buffalo, New York.  We had a blast :-).  We went to this place called "Chocolat"?  The moment I walked inside, my jaw dropped.  They're gelato?  Ah! Omgness...fabulous.  I send a shout out to you ladies!  Xoxo.

7) I got my Driver's License.  Ooohh yyeeeaa...:-D.  I am so happy.  You have no idea.  You do, but Ima say that anyways.
Everyone was always talking about the Lady.  The instructor that everyone dreads.  The one that is ultra tough.  And guess who I got?  Lo and behold, I got the Lady.  But, I passed!

8) I start work Monday!  I'm an apprentice for Chef Betsy G.  She's the bomb.  I'll have to post an entire thing about her.  But, I'll be baking gluten free goodies and she'll be showing me the ropes :-).

That is the upload on my life at the moment.

Summer Time!

• The only activity you’re willing do in class is sign yearbooks.


• Long sleeves have been officially outlawed.

• You realize its time to get a new bathing suit.

• Bright colored nail polish begins to be replenished. (Sorry boys, you’ll have to think of something else).

• It’s forecasted to be eighty degrees and above everyday of the week.

• Your house becomes a poaching chamber.

• The fire pit gets cleaned out.

• Mommy breaks out the barbecue to renew some smokin grillin skillz.

• Evenings in the hammock, enjoying the fresh air and cool breeze becomes a ritual.

• You end up with tons of boysenberries.

When all of these things begin to occur, there’s only one conclusion to come to: Its summer time.

Summer is a time of relaxation. School is over for a couple months, every evening is beautiful, the fresh produce is great, and you can’t disagree with me with this one, some of the best dishes you have all year are during the summer. Come on now, you can’t disagree with me there. If you do, you’re leaving me a comment to enlighten me for any legitimate reasons why not.

Did you notice the last thing I listed? That may not pertain to you, but it does to me. Every year, our freezer becomes filled with bags, BAGS, of boysenberries.

If you want a smoothie, bust out some frozen berries, yogurt, and honey. Frosty cool goodness for the soul.

Or if you want a touch of flavor in your rice chex mix, slip on the slippers and pick a few off the vine.

What about pie? My mom and I were picking berries and apricots the other day. As we were heading back for the house she practically gave me a heart attack. No lie. My mother, Angie, mentioned making a pie. My mom! A pie!

You know when your brain isn’t familiar with something; it takes a few moments for your brain to process what ever it is? That’s what happened to me. I promise you. Even ask my mom... She saw me stop for a moment and the puzzled look on my face. AND today, she decided she wants to make a boysenberry cobbler! I, am, sooo extremely proud of her.

She said I could whip something up of my own. Bingo, my dear friend. I had a recipe for boysenberry tulips in the works. Is this great or what? Oh, ha, I know it is buddy.

You may be thinking “Tulips? Did she just say tulips?” Yes, indeed I did.

Have you ever been to the store, (well of course you have,) and seen a scrumptious little treat called an “Apple Blossom,” or a “Berry Blossom”? Very tasty. But, oh so glutenized. And dairyenized when you make it al-a-mode. Omgness, THAT is DEFINITELY how you do it. I will teach you the oh so magnificent ways of melty vanilla ice cream on top of hot fruit filled pastries.

There are two reasons why I’m calling them Tulips instead of Blossoms. One, I don’t want someone to come along one day and try to sue me for using their name, “Blossoms.” I could be over reacting. Two, it’s an opportunity to create something with a different visual presentation. How many pastries have you seen that resemble tulips? Point made.

Well, guess what?  As you can see, they didn't turn out to be tulips at all.  They're more what you would call a blob of pastry.  And one pretty pocket pastry sorta...thing.  But! I made it al-a-mode like I said I would.  But I'm not sharing it with you.  Sorry.  Well, actually I'm not sorry, because the recipe needs to be perfected.  I'm not too happy with the flour combo.  I'm not going to share anything that I feel wouldn't be approved by your taste buds.  That's just how I roll.

I had an awesome weekend though!
Day One, aka Friday:  Ultimate little person number one in my life, my sister, promoted from middle school!  Sniffle sniffle...so proud of her :').

Day Two: I drove my mom up to Chula Vista and we survived.  That was a joke.  I'm not a bad driver...at least I hope not.  Hey!  I'm getting my license on the sixth so that should tell you something! ;-)  I earned a little mula that night, babysitting.  Those kids are just so funny.  The oldest decided she wanted to make cookies.  Good ol' Betty Crocker.  Choices?  Chocochip and Peanut butter.  The youngest, decided he wanted to help.  They chose to combine the batters.  Peanut butter Chocochip cookies.  Not too shabby of an idea...  The youngest, who is EIGHT, "taste test" the batter and says, " Mmm delightful!"  I start to laugh and his response is, "What?  You've gotta let a man enjoy his cookies!"  Omg, those kids, I promise you, are a crack up!

Day Three: I drove my entire family up to Chula Vista.  And yes, we all lived...for the second time.  My uncle's girlfriend, as of yesterday it has been announced that she is his finance, taught me how to make Chile Rellenos.  I absolutely love her!  I'm happy for both of them <3.  Don't get mad at me!  Yes, forgot my camera AGAIN.  My relleno was dairy free.  My aunt hooked me up with Daiya.  This stuff is amazing.  The flavor and texture?  Up and out the roof.  So good.

Banana Bread

There's no denying Banana Bread is a classic.

Its one of the first things your mommy teaches you how to make in the kitchen.

A friend of mine has a picture of her daughter when she was around four or five years old.

 The mother was in her chef's coat and her daughter was helping her make something.  Her daughter was at the counter, standing on a stool, wearing an apron, a shirt, and her panties.  Its one of the cutest pictures I've ever seen.

Not to mention, it makes the perfect afternoon snack. 

Its those simple things in life that make it enjoyable.  Banana Bread is one of those things that you don't consider to be an essential.  But when you can't eat it all of a sudden, you realize you miss those simple things, such as Banana Bread. 

In other words, its a comfort food.  We all need comfort food. 

This is the first recipes I successfully converted.  The recipe is simple, like Banana Bread, but scrumptious.  I like that word, "scrumptious" :-). 

I found the recipe here: http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/old-fashioned-banana-bread.  If you do use the orginal recipe, I suggest you ditch the powdered sugar, it just simply doesn't need it.  And I would add a tbsp of vanilla extract.

GF DF Banana Bread 

-1 1/4 cup Bob's Redmill All-purpose
-3/4 tsp Xanthan Gum
-1 tsp Baking Soda
-1/4 tsp Salt (about)
-2 large Eggs (lightly beated)
-1/2 cup Canola Oil
-1 cup White Sugar
-1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
-2 large overly ripe Bananas (mashed)

Preheat oven 350F.  Combine flour, xanthan gum, baking soda, and salt.  In a seperate bowl combine eggs, oil, sugar, vanilla extract,  and the mashed banana's.  Slowly add to dry mixure.  Pour into a 9*5 inch loaf pan.  Bake for 50min or until inserted knife comes out clean.  Or into a 8*8 inch ceramic pan for about 25mins or until golden brown.

A Trip to the South

You, my dear friend, have no idea...of how long...I've been craving soul food.  Really.  You have no idea. 

Omg, just the words themselves: "ribs," "catfish," "cornbread," "greens," "mac n' cheese," "peach cobbler," "sweet potato pie." Ah!  Shier torture!  But, alas, its happening.  Finally! 

My mother has agreed.  I'm so happy! 

So tonight for dinner we're having fried catfish, cornbread, beet greens, and sweet potato pie. 

I'm in charge of the cornbread and sweet potato pie.  Haven't attempted either yet.  HOPEFULLY it'll turn out.  My resources are limited at the moment, so I'll be using Trader Joe's GF Pancake Mix.  For the cornbread and  the pie crust.

After reading that you probably just thought of something along the lines of, "Oh..."  And my response to that is, "Yeah...I know."  If it doesn't turn out I'm going to go by Julia Child's words, "No apologies!  No excuses!"

What can I say?  I will have tried my best.  And besides, you can't make discoveries without experimenting.  Am I not correct...?

                        Fortunately enough for me, the cornbread was delish! 
This is the original: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/golden-sweet-cornbread/detail.aspx.  Here's my version...my family really, really liked it :-).  *If you use the pancake mix don't add xanthan gum. 

GF DF Sweet Cornbread

-1 cup GF Pancake Mix
-1 cup Yellow Cornmeal
-2/3 cup White Sugar
-1 tsp Salt
-3 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
-1 Egg
-1 cup Almond Milk
-1/3 cup Vegetable Oil

Preheat oven 400F.  Combine GF mix, cornmeal, sugar, and baking powder.  In a separate bowl combine the egg, almond milk, and vegetable oil.  Combine oil mixture with cornmeal mixture.  Pour into a 8*8 square inch pan.  Bake 20-25 mins.

Now for the pie...

 I learned something new today and perhaps humbled a little. I hear how it’s such a challenge to make a good GF pie crust. I basically thought to myself “what’s so hard about it? It’s like anything else.”

Wrong. When I made a tart crust for a quiche I had used Bob’s Redmill, which acts like wheat four when it comes to pie dough.

For this particular pie I wanted something that would carry more of a buttery flavor. Bean flours don’t. So I thought I would use the pancake mix from Trader Joe’s...because that's all I had. Ha.

1) Different flours react differently. That should have been a no brainer for me.

2) You need to check the ingredients of any prepackaged GF flour mix. Not just for xanthan gum but for baking soda and salt too.

But everything turned out! I would have to say that this pie has a nice combo of a smooth yet powerful filling, resting on top of a fluffy and very light crust. Yuuummmm!!!

I have to be honest with you guys. And some of you may hate me for it, but I must confess. I do not like Martha Stewart. I’m sorry, I just don’t! There’s just something about her I just don’t like…

But her recipes are the BOM! One day, my mom wanted a recipe for a quick Chili con Carne. She couldn’t find what she was looking for. I suggested Martha’s web. She didn’t think she would find anything but went anyways. And lo and behold, bam, there it was: “Quick Chili con Carne.” When in doubt, Martha Stewart will figure it out.

Not crazy about her but you gota hand it to the woman, she’s got this whole foodie network thing figured out. You may think, “Well, yeeeah duuhh…She’s Martha Stewart...” I have no comment in response to that. I mention Martha because we’re going to be using one of her recipes for Sweet Potato Pie :-) 





http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/sweet-potato-pie But I’m here to share a GF DF version with you. Just an FYI moment: My pie crust is completely different from hers. Good Stuff.

GF DF Sweet Potato Pie

Crust

-1 ½ cup GF All-purposed Flour (use something with neutral flavors) ***
-1/2 tsp xanthan gum
-1/4 cup sugar
-9 tbsp Earth Balance (cold)
-2 Egg Yolks
-2 tbsp Almond Milk

Filling

-2 large Sweet Potatoes (or canned in light syrup 29oz.)
-1/2 cup Earth Balance room temp
-2 Eggs
-1/2 tsp Allspice
-1 tsp ground Cinnamon
-1/2 freshly ground Nutmeg
-2 tsp Vanilla Extract
-juice of half a Lemon

Preheat oven to 375. In a food processor combine flour and sugar until blended. Add butter and blend until it becomes a coarse consistency. Add yolks, process for 30 seconds and then add milk. Process until it just becomes smooth. Spread into a 9 inch pie pan. Poke with fork to allow venting. Bake until the pie shell is firm. Approximately 20 min. or until an inserted knife comes out clean.

If you actually bought the whole, raw sweet potato I wouldn’t waste my time with the entire steaming process. Just zap them in the microwave. Once cooked or from the can, in a mixer beat until they’re well mashed and the stringy fibers have wrapped around the attachment. Clean attachment. On low speed add the butter until combined and slightly cooled. Slowly add sugar. Once combined add spices, vanilla extract and lemon juice. Pour into crust and bake for 45-50 min. or until the center has set.

***If you use the Trader Joe’s Pancake Mix don’t add xanathan gum. It already has it.

Can you do me a favor?

You know what I feel like I’m lacking? Inspiration. If feel like this has all been done before. Well, I know it has all been done before. I feel like I’m lacking ummff. I’m in the kitchen all the time but I don’t feel challenged.


Could you do me a favor? Please :-). Challenge me. Send me pictures of things that you want to see created. Tell me things that you want to be made. Really, anything, please. I don’t just bake. I cook too. If you want soul food, I can hook you up with some cornbread and ribs. French? I’ll whip up some ratatouille. Italian, etc. I could go on and on.

Actually…soul food doesn’t sound too bad… As a matter of fact, I’ve been hankerin for some fried catfish, collard greens and sweet potato pie. Yum :-).

I think what my problem is, is that I don’t know what to make. To a certain extent I do, or otherwise I wouldn’t be here. But I want to get out of the norm. I need some inspiration.

So all of you who know me or read this blog, please let me know you’re out there. My creative food artistic ability is now resting within your hands. No pressure ;-).