The Cat's Pajamas

Something New in the Works

After launching this blog, I quickly realized that I wanted to focus the content.  So, I've spent the past few days throwing around ideas for a new blog...about pie.  For now, I'll be spending time on that and sadly, neglecting the short lived "Cat's Pajamas".  I'll post the link to the new blog soon.  Thanks for reading!

Shake it Like a Poladroid Picture!

I'm kickin' it old school with Poladroid today! 

If you haven't heard about this cool *free* software, it lets you create Polaroid-like pictures from any ol' digital photo.  Once you drop your photo onto the little camera icon, it makes that sweet Polaroid noise!  AND, the pictures develop slowly.  Just like it was a real Polaroid picture. 

Here are a few I shook up.  Get it?

Santa Barbara Mission in the '70's.  Can you make out the bell bottoms on the people in the background?

 

 

Those are some OLD cookies.  Don't blame me if they're stale!

 

Butters, back in the day.

     

I remember being at my Grandma's house as a little girl putting Polaroid pictures under my arm.  We didn't shake them in my family. Oh no, we arm-pitted them.  It really did help them develop faster.  Those photos were fabulous, if not a little smelly.

What kind of Polaroid memories do you have? 

My Love/Hate Relationship with Julie & Julia

All this Oscar buzz about "Julie & Julia"  has reminded me of my own foray into the world of French cooking. 

A few years ago, after reading the book, I was inspired.  Why couldn't I cook up a little French cuisine myself?  Soon, I was at a bookstore digging through the shelves for the cheapest paperback book of Julia Child's recipes that I could find.  "The French Chef", which was a companion to her first public television show, fit the bill. 

Once home, I found a relatively easy chicken recipe and started cooking it up in my pretty little vintage turquoise Pyrex dish.  It looked like this, except mine was oval.  I loved it.

I was so French, cooking my Supremes de Volaille a Blanc (Chicken breasts poached in butter with wine and cream sauce)!  It was fabulous!  Soon the Supremes felt 'springy and resilient'.  I transferred that lovely dish from the oven to a burner set on high and proceeded make the sauce.  In went the *cold* wine.  Can you guess what happened?  Oh yeah.  A huge explosion of glass and hot drippings. 

My beloved dish had shattered into a trillion teeny pieces.  Along with those pieces of glass went the hot butter and bits of chicken, all over me, all over the stove, all over the cabinets, the fridge, the floor.  My love/hate relationship with Julie & Julia had commenced. 

I don't know what we ate that night after we mopped up that mess.  Maybe it was just the butter covered Haricots Verts that were supposed to accompany those succulent butter and cream smothered chicken breasts.  What I do know is that I love butter.  And Julie and Julia are to blame for the destruction of my casserole dish.  Not me...no...not me.

A-whey We Go

It's funny how the plan for a day can evolve. 

I woke up yesterday and nothing sounded like more fun than hitting up the Seattle waterfront for some Ivar's fish n' chips.  Then, PJ'S reminded me that we now live in L.A..  Dang!  We sat in bed and thought about what our other, more realistic, options were.  The Getty!  Little India!  Venice!  Of course we chose none of those and ended up close to home. 

The really exciting thing about this was we went to The Home, Wine Beer and Cheesemaking Shop.  I've been wanting to make cheese for a long time.  It's on my list.  So I picked up the "Basic Cheese Kit", with promises of cheddar, gouda, monterey jack, feta...YUM.  PJ'S eyed the soda making supplies, so look forward to another post about sugary sweet pop!

Home with all my supplies I chose to give the feta recipe a whirl.  It really didn't take much, just some raw milk (it curdles better apparently), a thermometer, rennet, cultures and a cheesecloth-covered colander.  Try saying that three times fast!

I heated the milk in a water bath, added the culture, gently stirred and let it sit.

 

  

The pot looked so cute all bundled up in a dishtowel.  I was worried about it losing heat and this did the trick.  Warm and cozy, the milk was primed to...sit!  Let me tell you, cheese-making is action-packed.

 
  

After a while, I added the rennet and it sat again.  This time, though, something happened.  The milk solidified!  It was kind of looking cheesy!  Per the directions I took my longest knife and cut that stuff into...wait for it...curds!  OMG, I had curds and whey.  No Miss Muffet and no spider, thank God. 

 
 
 

Time to drain the whey! Weeeeee!

The whey drained out over several hours and left me with something that was looking kinda like feta. 

It didn't taste like it yet though.  The brine would take care of that.  Mmmmmm, salty, salty brine.

I tasted it this morning and it was feta-like!  We plan on eating it with dinner tonight, but I'm not sure what to make.  It should be something that lets this cheese shine, since I made it myself!  Any ideas?

It's The Cat's Pajamas!

Oh shiz!  I'm blogging.  I'm officially in the blogospere.  I'm SO behind the times, as usual.  But here I am gettin' my blog on. 

I'm here to share all of the creative things I think are The Cat's Pajamas, i.e. the coolest.  These are the things that make my life a little more interesting.  Some projects I finish, some I don't.  Some I really suck at.  But this is where I'll dish.  To myself, to you, all about cooking and baking (and eating, too), gardening, apartment decor, gettin' crafty, maybe some photography and traveling for good measure.

So, thanks for joining me.  I think you're The Cat's Pajamas!