I wanted to keep it simple this year for the fourth, maybe too simple, as in just sitting around and doing absolutely nothing... that would have been perfect, but I did that all week, and I think I'm over my lazy life. Anyway, my sister told me in the morning that she's coming to the city after work... which ended at 5... and I asked if I should make dinner.. well finally, someone agreed that I should make dinner. I think I've offered dinner so many times to my friends and no one has really come through... my dining set has been quite lonely... and cooking elaborate meals for one has been a tad of a waste lately... oh well, I guess my friends like to go out instead of eating in.... I shouldn't complain.
I've never cooked for my sister and her husband before... I began my marathon of cooking. I guess I shouldn't consider it a marathon, I just had to research the recipe, run down to the store and grab some ingredients, and start cooking. First off, the pulled pork went into the slow cooker with tons of other ingredients, then I started to make the buns. I used my bread machine to whip it up, so that took care of itself for 1.5 hours on the dough cycle. Then, I started to make the lemon blueberry loaf, and timed it so that when the loaf is done baking, the bread will be ready for the oven. After that was done, I marinated the corn, and started with the potatoes... Once those were in the oven, I went running up and down the Webster hill a few times (gotta get in my workout before my hefty meal!) and came back to my corn and potatoes crisped and cooked... I showered, and got ready... and popped open the large Hoegaarden I've been saving up for some time, and plopped some hot dogs on my grill.... and there we have it... I started at 10... ended at 6.... to a wonderful home cooked 4th of July feast. Phew... my kitchen is still dirty from all the cooking... 2 days later.... does anyone want to clean it for me ? :)
Reviews for the recipes :
Pulled pork : http://allrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-texas-pulled-pork/ - you really can't screw this one up, just have to cook it long enough so it's tender, and when shredding it, take the time to take out most of the fat... it's not so nice biting into a sandwich and hitting a piece of fat.... It's the bbq sauce that really makes it... and I was tempted to make my own, but decided... store bought is the way the go. It really was.... I need to stop making things harder than they should be.
Light Brioche buns: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/dining/011brex.html - good for sandwiches, light and soft on the inside, however, the dough was very wet to work with, it rises a lot, so if you're making hot dog buns, make then really really small to begin with.. maybe even a 1 inch in diameter rope ... my hot dog buns expanded so much that I had to cut half of it off. These buns are good the day they are made... it hardens up/ dries out quickly.. egg wash was half an egg, mixed with a little water and sea salt, it gave a good color, nothing too eggy ...
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| I just thought this was SO cute... it was the cheapest eggs at my local store $2.79 a dozen.. (yikes!).... typically I go for the standard... caged... white eggs.... but I just didn't have any in my fridge! |
Lemon Blueberry Loaf- I didn't want to devote a post to this, I followed the recipe closely, and it produces one of the best semi light loaves I've had.... people rave about it.... Although.. I think it's the blueberries that make it.. Mollie Stones has the BEST blueberries.... ( I buy them by the bulk... for those who didn't take the time to calculate... it was 5 bucks a pound (16 oz)... or 2.50 for a 6 oz pre packaged container...buying in bulk is a better deal! 5 bucks seems like a lot for a pound.. but omggg so freaking delicious... they were so large, plump, and sweet!... I'm not a blueberry fan.. but now.. I might be! ) I went down and bought more blueberries thinking I'd make another loaf, but ended up just eating them raw with greek yogurt and a drizzle of maple syrup :)
Changes - reduced sugar by 1/3 of the amount, added 1.5 tsp lemon extract , skipped the glaze this type, it got too sticky with the glaze last time I made it.
.. and here are some pic from the San Francisco fireworks show ... all taken with my wonderful iPhone haha I must say, I wasn't expecting much from the show since the last few times I've watched fireworks for SF had be ehh... ( with the exception of the GG bridge anniversary... ) but the weather was perfect, and they added a lot of new styles!! :)
Happy 4th!
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