nuxx.net
Making, baking, and (un-)breaking things in Southeast Michigan.

Category food

Biscotti & Coffee

[Cross posted to and .]


Whole Pieces · Side View

Well, today I did both some baking and some coffee roasting. See, with family Christmas celebrations coming up, I needed to get started on the baking of things I’ll be contributing to the food collective. The first part of my contribution is the previously pictured biscotti, and the second is a home-roasted 50/50 blend of Organic Mexican and Organic Sumatran coffee purchased from The Runcible Spoon in Bloomington, Indiana..

I figure that people would like to see photos of these items, but in hopes of not jamming someone’s friend’s page, beyond the image at the top of the page I’ve linked everything else below, including the recipe for the biscotti.

Enjoy!

Links:
· Chocolate, Toasted Hazelnut & Almond Biscotti Recipe
· Whole Biscotti Logs (Old Picture)
· Top View of Finished Biscotti
· Side View of Finished Biscotti
· Green & Roasted Coffee Beans
· Bagged Coffee from the Runcible Spoon

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Kinder bueno

[Cross posted to and .]


Click for more…

Just as I had done before with the Happy Hippo from Kinder, I ate a Kinder bueno and took a bunch of pictures of it.

It’s a chocolate-coated wafer cookie bar, filled with hazelnut cream and topped with a few dark chocolate swirls. It’s very good, although I could only eat half of it.

So, if you’re interested in taking a look at the pictures I took of this candy bar, just give this link a click, and enjoy!

I know I did. :)

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Happy Hippo

[Cross posted to and .]


Click for more…

Well, I just finished up both photographing and eating an excellent piece of candy. When I was in Frankenmuth, MI on the Saturday after Thanksgiving (in the US), I picked up a rather unique piece of candy, Kinder‘s absolutely wonderful tasting Happy Hippo.

Individually wrapped in a typically Kinder orange, white, and blue wrapper, this US$0.99 (at a gift shop) really catches your eye. Opening the package, one first notices the extreme cuteness of the product, with it’s amazingly shaped cookie shell, covered along the bottom half with chocolate crumbles.

It isn’t until one bites the nose off (or, I guess you could start with the arse), that you first taste, and then see the amazing creamy milk and hazelnut filling. Both layers melt on the tounge, with the creamy milk dissolving first, leaving a slightly thicker hazelnut glaze sliding the tastebuds, wrapping your entire mouth in a rich, furry blanket-like comfort.

I find that while this candy measures in at a smallish four inches long, it packs a mighty bite. The three segment body is best eaten in a number of bites, as the chocolate-caked bottom and wonderfully creamy center make even the smallest of nibbles a satisfying experience. In fact, the first time I ate one of these I was in the car on the way home from Frankenmuth, sipping a wonderful cup of coffee, and thinking I needed something sweet to much on. Reaching into the bag, I grabbed the first Happy Hippo candy purchased that day, and worked my way through it in approximately 10 minutes, taking six or eight bites to do so.

So, in the end, this wonderful candy definitely receives a big thumbs up from me. Unfortunately, having done away with my second (and last) Mr. Happy Hippo, I’m going to have to wait until I can find some for sale in a slightly closer shop.

Oh, that day I also acquired a Kinder bueno which I’ll review a bit later… I’ve had my share of chocolate for the night, and that bar is almost four times as large.

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Coffee!

[Cross-posted to and .]

Mmm… I apologize for not having better pictures, but I wanted to take a moment to brag about something…

I just got done roasting and then brewing a 50/50 blend of Organic Mexican and Organic Sumatra coffee. This was then ground and roasted with some wonderfully clean-tasting spring water, and it has made for an absolutely amazing friday afternoon snack. Unfortunately, I don’t have anything sweet (dark chocolate would be especially good) to munch on. :\

The coffee was acquired from The Runcible Spoon in Bloomington, IN, and the mug pictured above is a Ray Troll mug for Raven’s Brew coffee, purchased from SOHO COHO in 1996.

Did I mention my fondness for southeast Alaska?

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:)

Ahh, I figured out the problem.

It seems that in my haste to get vpopmail reinstalled this morning, I gave it an argument of -DSPAM_THRESHOLD=5. Normally I wouldn’t have used that argument, but it seems that the updated FreeBSD port requires it. That, or I don’t remember using it last time… Anyway, that particular vpopmail flag made it DELETE all spam with a score of greater than 5. Sure, most stuff got through, but some was getting deleted. Oops! Since I’ve discovered this flag’s true use (note that this flag is NOT documented in the vpopmail docs) I’ve since recompiled with it set to 30. (And yes, that can only be set per-server, at compile time.) I figure that spam which received a score greater than 30 is hopelessly bad, and should not be delt with.

So, that’s that. Now it’s time to go home and have some dinner. I think tonight’s tasty treat will be veggie nuggets with a spicy salsa to dip them in.

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Roasted Corn on the Cob

[Crossposted to .]

So tonight I wanted something really tasty to eat… On the way home I swung by one of the local markets and picked up four ears of corn on the cob with the intention of roasting them. And, that’s what I did.

Well, not the only thing. ;)

As I have a habit of doing, I also took a number of pictures of the process, along with writing up a recipe entry for it. I guess I shouldn’t quite call it a recipe, as it’s more an outline of a process, but it accomplishes the task: showing people how to cook corn in one of the best ways possible.

It also gave me a chance to finally use my grill. As I haven’t been eating meat for almost a year now, I haven’t been grilling much. I tend to cook almost everything inside…

Anyway, here’s some of the other photo highlights (Click << and >> to move through the photos, or just go up higher in the gallery to see the thumbnails.):

· First Grill Marks
· Most of the Grill
· Done!
· Perfectly Colored, Ready to Eat!

So, enjoy the photos and this recipe, along with any of the other ones that I’ve got listed.

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Mmm! Pizza!

[I originally posted this in yesterday, but I figured people here might want to see it.]

So today I wanted some pizza… Well, there’s a local fruit / veggie market called Randazzo’s who has recently installed a pizza oven. To make a long story short, I ordered a pizza margherita, and this is what I got. While it’s not quite accurate, it still is good… The only problem is that the last time I ordered a pizza from there, a four cheese one, I received basically the same thing, but sans tomato.

I’m not so sure the guy making the pizzas knows how to follow the recipes… But it is good.

There is another shot of the whole pizza here if you’re interested.

Also, one interesting thing… I get there, and there is a big sign out front advertising buy one get one free pizzas for Labor Day. As I hadn’t asked about this, I just head inside expecting to pay the $6.99 for the pizza (did I mention this place is also very reasonably priced?) and the person behind the counter rings it up as $3.49.

Not bad at all… I can forgive the slightly not-to-order-yet-still-tasty pizza for the speed, price, etc. So, if you live in the Macomb Township, Michigan area, Randazzo’s gets a big thumbs up for it’s pizza (not to mention it’s veggies). Especially compared with the crap chains that surround it.

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..//..

I’m writing this so I can remember what went into today’s lunch. Well, the pot from which today’s lunch was served. I *think* it’s vegan, too.

[UPDATE: Yes, it is vegan. The only item in question was the Double Cream Stout, so I called the Kalamazoo Brewing Company, and the quality control lab assured me that there is no dairy in that beer.]

[UPDATE 2: Nope, not vegan. It would be if the Morningstar Farms meatless crumbles are replaced by something that doesn’t contain dairy. Checking Kellogs’ website, the Meatless Crumbles have a kosher status of Kosher Dairy. Oh well.]

Faboo Chili

· 2 Poblano Peppers (Diced)
· 5-6 Serrano Peppers (Chopped Finely)
· 3 Cooking Onions (Diced)
· 1 Green Pepper (Diced)
· 2/3 Bulb Garlic (Sliced into 1-2mm thick pieces)
· ~2/3 Large Bottle McCormick Chili Powder
· ~1-2 Tbsp Sea Salt
· ~1 Tbsp Ground Cumin
· 1 Bag Morningstar Farms Crumbly Bits of Not Meat TVP Goodness
· 1 Small Can Contidina Tomato Paste
· 1 Small Can Contidina Tomato Sauce
· 1 Bottle (minus one drink) Bell’s Double Cream Stout
· 1 Can Dark Red Kidney Beans
· 1 Can Red Kidney Beans
· 1 Can Corn
· 3 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Put the olive oil, onion, garlic, and serrano peppers in the bottom of a large pot. Sweat everything together until the onions are just starting to get clear.

Put in everything else.

On low, let the mixture come to a boil and then continue to simmer for ~30 minutes.

Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool to eating temperature.

Turn the heat back on and return the mixture to a simmer for another 30 minutes or so.

Turn off the heat and serve, allow the mixture to cool for packaging, place in the fridge, whatever.

It’s very, very good.

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