The problem with mediocrity

I can only plead ignorance. No one told me carrot cake was this good. True, I knew it included some of my favorite things–spices, nuts, and cream cheese frosting–but somehow every time I’ve encountered it, it’s just tasted of mass produced bleh that didn’t even seem worth trying to redeem. And so I didn’t.

I was wrong. So, so wrong.

My few run-ins with carrot cake usually went like this: a half-eaten, generic, leftover grocery store cake appears by the communal coffee pot at work and I, who should know better by now, help myself to a slice. It doesn’t taste anything like carrot, only vaguely of spices, and the frosting (which tastes nothing like cream cheese and inevitably includes tiny frosted carrots, because how else would you know what flavor this cake is supposed to be?) peels off like putty. If there are nuts at all, they are sad little crumb-sized pieces not worthy of the warning label “This product may contain nuts.”

The cake isn’t offensive, I still eat my slice, but I won’t even remember it ten minutes later, the only evidence a wadded up paper napkin and a few rouge crumbs on my desk.

And this is why mediocre food is really terrible; it’s not that the cake actually tastes bad, it’s that it’s uninspiring. It’s easy for great food to be inspirational, and bad food at least inspires me to never ever combine those ingredients again. But mediocre food? It just makes me think I wasted calories eating it. And I really hate thinking about calories.

I’m not saying all food should be drop-your-fork-and-drop-to-your-knees amazing. Shoot, for every post here I probably made a dozen average dishes or meals that weren’t worth the effort to type up, but if I’m going to eat cake, it had better be some damn good cake.

Back to the carrot cake. Last weekend I tried a sample of grocery store carrot cake mix, which was just good enough for me to say “Oh. Hey. I could make this.” (Sometimes I feel bad for grocery stores and their samples. I’m sure it’s not their intention that I taste and forgo the box in favor of making it from scratch.)

Flipping through a few cookbooks and combining bits and pieces of recipes from two of my baking bibles, I think I came up with something that is definitely better than mediocre. I may have, in fact, taken a bite of slightly warm, gooey-frosted muffin/cupcake hybrids and actually mumbled through a mouthful of delicious, “Why didn’t anyone tell me carrot cake was this good?”

This carrot cake is packed with everything I think it should be. Carrot, of course, makes its presence known in no uncertain terms; crunchy chunks of walnut will not be ignored (sorry Alton Brown, you were wrong on this count);   raisins plump up to better, juicier versions of themselves. And the spices? Let me put it this way: these cupcakes were under a heavy glass cake dome and I could still smell them every time I walked past.

And last but not least, though these are delicious without any frosting at all (dare I suggest they’re almost breakfast-worthy?), I would actually suggest doubling the frosting recipe to make sure you get a good ratio of frosting to cake–this coming from someone who generally scrapes off frosting like a picky six-year-old.

Now, of course, this discovery makes me question what other mediocre dishes I’ve eaten that could be spectacular. I think I have some more tasting to do.

Projects, projects everywhere

Welcome February and good riddance January. You had some nice points (it was 60 degrees in Chicago for one glorious day, that was a pleasant surprise), but I am more than ready to dig into a new month. So I’m starting with a clean slate–or at least a clean kitchen and four kitchen projects that pretty well establish that I am a total and complete nerd.

These projects really all came out of the same place, literally and figuratively: as part of Apartment Therapy’s January Cure, one of the tasks was to clean my kitchen and to really look at what I could do to make it more efficient and fun to work in. I may have gone a bit overboard from even what they were asking.

Every cabinet and drawer (and refrigerator shelf) was emptied and scrubbed, and before anything went back in, I actually took time to think about how I use the space. This led to the four projects: re-jarred and labelled spices in a dedicated drawer, a new recipe binder (with labels!), magnet strips to hang recipes while I cook, and a magnetic in-cabinet measuring cup and spoon hanging-y…thing. Ok, so the descriptions kind of fell apart there, but still, whee! Organizing!

I told you: nerd. But I just can’t stop petting them all, they’re just so pretty and make me so happy. Each project was really inexpensive too, probably $30 or less, which is always nice. Here are the basics of each project:

Organized and Labelled Spice Jars
I’ve mentioned before that I do love my spices, but it turns out that the rotating spice organizers really don’t work well when you have more  spices than fit the available slots. If you need any more evidence that I am an academic at heart, I researched probably a dozen different sizes/styles/price-points of containers before deciding that my ideal jar would be:

• Under $1.50 per jar
• Glass, with a glass lid and air-tight seal (some people said metal containers rusted or spices stuck in the lids)
• 3-4 ounces, the standard volume of most commercial spice jars
• Square-shaped, ideal for space efficiency

I ended up finding these 3 ounce and 5 ounce jars from World Market that hit three out of my four requirements. While they were round instead of square, the fact that they were under $1 a jar made them absolutely worth it. The 3 ounce jars fit 95% of my spices perfectly, and the 5 ounce jars are just right for spices I buy in slightly larger quantities, like peppercorns, or whole spices like star anise that just take up more space. The lids are also the perfect size to use these clear labels ($10) on the top, making them easy to identify in their newly designated drawer.

I love opening this drawer now and looking at the pretty array of colors in their clean, clear jars.

Recipe Binder
I have to give my dad credit for this idea originally, because he used this exact setup when I was growing up for handwritten recipes, newspaper clippings, etc. (though personally I think mine looks prettier; sorry Dad!). If you just want functional, get any old binder (free if you have one laying around), some clear plastic sheet protectors (maybe $8?), and slide your recipes in them. Quick, easy, done!

If you want pretty (as I usually do), buy or use a binder that has clear pockets on the cover and sides and buy some fancy paper ($2-3). I cut out templates on some scrap paper to fit in these pockets then traced it onto the nice paper for the best fit without too much fussing around. Also, since I clearly have way too many recipes, I also bought some dividers with pockets ($6). The kind of dividers are important–regular dividers are only designed to be wide enough for standard 8.5×11 sheets after they are in the binder, and won’t be wide enough to see the tabs if you use sheet protectors. It took me three packs of dividers to figure this out, so learn from my mistake.

The tabs don’t actually stick out like this, the cover does, well, cover them, but they just look so colorful this way.

This is a great way not only to decrease the number of drips, splatters, and other flying food issues that inevitably come from being a not-exactly-meticulous cook, but also keep my huge stack of torn-out recipes organized. Plus they make really great, easy gifts for say, your mom or a wedding shower for a great friend who loves to cook.

Magnetic Board
In cleaning out the drawer to house my spices, I needed to find a new place for my measuring cups and spoons. I’ve been kind of obsessed with chalkboard and magnetic paint lately, and started trying to figure out how I could do something like that for my kitchen. I also wanted to keep the cups and spoons hidden, so the only logical place was inside a cabinet, but it had to be removable and/or not damage anything (ah the joys of renting).

Again with the research–turns out Home Depot etc. sells small pieces of sheet metal that will hold magnets (bring a magnet to check! I had to return one piece) for about $6. A few Velcro Command strips ($5), some magnetic hooks ($5), and voila!

If I really get ambitious, I can take it down, paint it with chalkboard paint, and stick it back up in the cabinet. And as my dad has warned me at least twice already, please do be aware that the edges of the sheet metal are sharp so you may want to cover them with something.

Recipe Strips
While I was playing with magnets, it occurred to me that it would be really nice if I could somehow get my recipes off of my limited counter space and protect them from the aforementioned flying food issues in my kitchen.

Re-enter the Command strips (or other double-sided tape) and these small magnetic strips from The Container Store (but you can really find something similar anywhere for about $5). I temporarily taped a recipe to the cabinet to figure the correct height, marked it, and then centered and leveled the magnet strip. I ended putting one up on the cabinet over my cutting board next to my stove, where I do most of my “regular” cooking, and another on the cabinet over my mixer, where I do most of my baking. It has worked fantastically so far!

So with those four projects done to make cooking a bit easier, and my kitchen spotless, I’m back to making a mess of things–recipes to come soon!

Spicing things up

Six years ago, spices were not something that would have really been a big deal to me–spices come from the grocery store in their little plastic jars to add to pasta sauce, some cinnamon and vanilla extract for baking, maybe some dried mustard for baked beans, that’s about it. Then I smelled a real spice shop, and I haven’t looked back. The flavors are the difference between a black and white picture and a technicolor 3D video with surround sound, they just aren’t even in the same league. And the variety–my cupboards are a victim of the variety. Sweet, savory, multi-purpose, single ingredients, blends, mixes from every corner of the world.

Mulled wine ice cream, take one

I bought an ice cream maker on clearance at the beginning of the summer, and have spent the past few months experimenting with ice cream bases and flavors (observe, the challenges of my life). After a total bust with the standard cooked-egg-custard base, I discovered a process that has yet to fail me. And for that, I have to credit Jeni Briton of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream (Ohio family, she has a shop in Chagrin Falls, please tell me someone has been there! Chicago folks, you can buy some of her ice creams at a few gourmet shops around the city) and her recent cookbook.

So far I’ve made pistachio (hard to go wrong with adding nuts to anything, in my opinion); lemon with raspberry swirl; chocolate with almond, caramel, and marshmallows; and my latest, a mulled-wine-spiced base with roasted grapes.