Since sheltering-in-place started, I’ve been trying to write a blog post every week because, you know, there is time and all. The problem is that time is not the only requirement for writng an interesting post.
It is also helpful to be actually doing something other than making homemade cat toys with empty paper towel rolls.
The cats DO love them. All you have to do is tape the rolls in a pyramid shape and put a treat in the centre of each empty tube and then they reach in and drag the treats out.
This is my life, much of the time.
And I can only tell you so many times about my woes. You have your own, I know.
So today I am going to write about FOOD because aren’t we all heavy into that right now?
My friend Peter, a phenomenal cook in ordinary times, has decided to use this time to make his way through a list of new things to learn starting with Nasi Lemak and ending with Gougeres. I have no idea what Nasi Lemak is and I have only made Gougeres once. They are like little savoury cream puffs.
The rest of us are making super easy Peanut Butter Icebox Pie, at least that’s what I made last week. Andrew said that he remembered I had made a “pie thingy with a cookie crumb bottom and then a layer of chocolate and it was really, really good – could you make that again?.”
From his passionate though sketchy recollection, I figured this would have been a recent dessert but I had no recollection of making a chocolate pie anytime in the last five years.
So I started going through my recipes. Could it be the chocolate pavlova? Maybe it was the chocolate Budino? Neither dessert seemed to fit his memory.
Then I came across my chilled peanut butter pie recipe and I remembered when we were in New York in February (FOREVER AGO), we went to Magnolia Bakery and Andrew ordered a piece of their Peanut Butter Icebox Pie and loved it.
I figured that must be it because there is a graham wafer crust and melted chocolate on top of the peanut butter filling.
So I made it and sure enough, it matched his memory and he loved it. Yay!!
There are so many challenges with this time but I have to say: I am loving the totally unusual (and in a way, absurd) time to focus on making recipes we never would, in spare hours we’ve never had, for those we love.
This week: Beef Wellington, a dish that is one of my favorites but I hope Andrew and Rebecca like it too!!
