Ham Sandwich Indicted!

True to form (and compulsion), Ham Sandwich and family kept it on the foodie tip this Christmas, with several days of festive food and drink. We started off on Christmas Eve with our now-traditional Feast of the Seven Fishes. This year's menu included: Garlic-butter glazed salmon (caught by H.S's brother, up in Michigan) Lemon and herb stuffed whole trout (also caught by said brother) Prociutto-wrapped scallops Sardines in Salsa Verde recipe here , with sardines instead of anchovies Crab cakes Shrimp cocktail Crab salad Salmon dip Farfalle pasta with tomato sauce Assorted cheeses, olives, and breads We also experimented with cocktails from Imbibe! a book of old-tyme drink recipes. And maybe the folks of 1862 had a different idea of what tastes good, but I would argue that Hot Buttered Rum is not very delicious. However, the Vanilla Punch we made on Christmas Day (with brandy, sugar, lemon, and vanilla extract), was quite enjoyable. For Christmas Day dinner, we went with a...

So, it's January, 2009, and my first post of the new year. I really hope to be more consistent with the posting...just like I hope to be more consistent with running and less consistent with beer drinking. Seriously. I promise...really gonna try to get it together. First, I must show off the newest member of my household--the Series 600 Professional Mixer from KitchenAid. (see above) It was the best Christmas present a girl could get. (Thank you, thank you, thank you, DF!) Below is the first thing(s) I made with it--a honey-wheat bread braid and a herb-garlic boule. They turned out quite well (I just used the basic bread recipe in the book that came with the mixer and then tweaked the ingredients), and are yet another step on my road to mastering bread baking. Also, a quick recap of Christmas (for posterity's sake). I made the black cherry and chocolate macaroons pictured below. The recipe is from epicurious--it's here , but since I couldn't find raspberry extract, I...