An Expanded Lexicon

I ended my quest to learn a new word every day for a month today, rounding out the 30 word list with "fascicle." I have to admit to not using every one of the words (I missed about 20% of them), although I consciously made an effort to every day. I continue to attempt to memorize and understand their meanings to enable myself to use them in future conversation. My goal was to learn a host of new words, which I did, and I definitely plan on staying on the word of the day list-serve to learn more in the future. As such, I'll count this as a success and put $10 in my jar.

A complete list of the words (sans their time and usage) can be found here.

On to the Hunger Games

Last night I finished We the Animals by Justin Torres. It was definitely a quick, enjoyable read, but I have to agree with the innumerable reviews I've found on the book regarding the ending. In short, the last chapter felt rushed and thrown together. I don't know how I would have chosen to finish the novel, but after so many well-written insights into the lives of the characters, what was written doesn't do the rest of the book justice.

As the title to this entry suggests, I'm now onto reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I bought the three books as a collection on my Nook after my friend Alexandra told me I HAD to read them. The reason? She had a dream that had something to do with the books, and something to do with me, but without reading the novels, I wouldn't be able to understand it all. In other words, I MUST read the books, and SOON! I promise to read them fast!

Sweet Potato Biscuits

This year for Thanksgiving, Jake and I joined my parents at their place in West Chester. My sister, brother-in-law, and their two kids were traveling to see Michael's family in Baltimore, so it was just the four of us (plus Toby) at my parents place. Being the gentlemanly folk we are, Jake and I offered to bring something with us, but as is the normal case, my forward-thinking parents already had almost everything taken care of. We were asked to bring wine, an hors d'oeuvre (we opted for these scrumptious jalapeño sausage treats, which we will be making again), and to pick up some good dinner rolls.

I decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to bake again, even though I technically already had this month (gold stars may be sent to my home address). My internet was being rather capricious that day, so it was on to the stack of magazines I've come to love so much.

Hours passed and I had made zero progress in picking a bread-y side, despite the piles of magazines surrounding me. I found a recipe for delicious fig and goat cheese cornbread cooked in a skillet, but was unsure if my parents liked figs. I also found a beautiful looking rye bread recipe, but it required a pre-ferment and a ferment and a whositwhatsitthing and a whole load of complication that takes almost a whole 24 hours to make. I WILL tackle this recipe at some point! Just not for Thanksgiving when so much else is happening. I finally narrowed it down to two - brioche buns OR sweet potato biscuits. Exhausted from the afternoon's task, I awoke Riley from her nap to pick between the two; however, she had no interest, and simply rolled back over, grumbling all the way. Luckily, Jake was quick to decide on the Sweet Potato Biscuits, so I noted the page of the brioche buns for another day, and put together my shopping list: one sweet potato. I already had everything else I needed!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my parents. My mom had TWO whole glasses of wine, which approximately quadruples the amount of wine I've seen her drink in my life. My dad made fantastic Manhattans. And we had a great time sitting around the table talking and laughing. The biscuits were very good, though I wish they had more of a sweet potato flavor to them. The recipe calls for 7 tablespoons of butter, but the Paula Deen in me decided to throw in the whole stick - after all, what would I do with that one little extra tablespoon....  I don't know how I would infuse more sweet potato flavor into the biscuits, as I worry that simply adding more sweet potato could alter the composition of the rolls in an unfriendly way. Definitely an easy recipe worth trying though!

Ingredients:

• One 1/2-pound sweet potato
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp light brown sugar
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• One stick (8 Tbsp) cold unsalted butter, diced
• 1/3 cup buttermilk

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375°. Poke the sweet potato all over with a fork and bake for 45-60 minutes depending on the size of the potato, until tender. Peel and mash the potato. Set aside 3/4 cup of the mashed potato and let cool completely; reserve the rest for another use/eat it immediately with some cinnamon-sugar. Raise the oven temperature to 425°.

In a food processor, pulse the flour with the brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the buttermilk and the 3/4 cup of mashed sweet potato and pulse just until the dough comes together.

Turn the dough out onto a heavily floured work surface and knead 2 or 3 times, until smooth; the dough will be soft. Roll out the dough 1/4 inch thick and cut out eight 4-inch rounds. Arrange the sweet potato biscuits on a parchment paper–lined baking sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes, until golden brown. Serve hot.

Pecan Pie

I managed to capture a picture of the last slice...

This month actually has TWO from scratch baking items. Holler for a dollar!

Firstly, came a dessert request from Jake - Pecan Pie. Now, as surprising it may be, I've never made any type of pie before, so I was a little nervous about making a crust from scratch. I tried to avoid this step by looking for a pecan pie-esque dessert, but my attempts to do so were quickly squashed by Jake, who demanded requested that I make a traditional one.

After searching around for a few recipes, I found one that used no corn syrup and decided to use that one. Not that this pie was "healthier" for the omission of such an item - the recipe still calls for two cups of brown sugar - but corn syrup doesn't add any real flavor, and I knew I could get the sweetness it adds from a more flavorful ingredient.

I found the recipes for both the pie crust and the pie filling on Bon Appétit's website. The crust was a lot easier to make than I was expecting, and makes enough dough for a double crust, or two pies. I only had to use the one, so the other is relaxing in my freezer for another day.

I altered the pie recipe a bit - opting for bourbon instead of scotch and electing to toast the pecans a bit first. The end result was a delicious (although not the most aesthetically pleasing) pecan pie. Next time I bake the crust, I'll keep the pie weights in a bit longer in an attempt to keep the crust from folding in as it did (I altered the directions below to how I would do it next time). The flavor was wonderful!

Pie Crust

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour 
• 1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into small cubes 
• 1/4 cup vegetable shortening 
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 tsp. sugar 
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt 

Directions:

Combine flour, butter, vegetable shortening, sugar, and salt in a food processor until butter resembles tiny pebbles, about 25 seconds.

Transfer to a large bowl. Gradually add 3/4 cup ice water, using a fork to stir until dough is a mixture of clumpy wet pieces and sandier pieces, adding more water by tablespoonfuls if dry. Press plastic wrap over surface of dough. Chill in the bowl at least 1 hour or over night.

Preheat oven to 375°. Divide dough into two equal portions. Wrap one portion and refrigerate or freeze for later use. Roll out other dough into a 13-14" disc. To transfer to the pie dish, lightly fold the dough in half, and then in half again, and place over dish. Unfold the dough and press against the sides, cutting off the excess, but leaving enough to make the crust finish you desire. Prick the crust all over with a fork. Line crust with foil or parchment paper. Fill with dried beans or pie weights. Bake 30-35 minutes.

Remove from oven; lift out foil and weights. Reduce temperature to 350°. Return to oven and bake until crust is light golden brown, 10 minutes longer.

Pecan Pie Filling

Ingredients:

• 2 cups (packed) dark brown sugar 
• 4 large eggs
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted 
• 1 tablespoon bourbon
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
• 2 cups pecan halves

Directions:

Keep the oven at 350°. Toast the pecans in a dry pan to release some of the oils. In a large bowl, whisk sugar, eggs, butter, bourbon, vanilla, and cinnamon in until relatively smooth. Mix in nuts. Pour filling into dough-lined dish.

Bake pie until filling is slightly puffed and set in center, about 40 minutes. Check the pie halfway through and every so often after that to ensure that the edges are not browning too quickly. If they are, you can cover them with foil. Cool pie completely at room temperature. It's accompanied wonderfully by whipped cream or vanilla bean ice cream.

Enjoy!

Road race 1 of 5

Last weekend my entire family participated in the Race for Hope, a 5k dedicated to raising funds for brain tumor research. We joined a team of 43 participants known as Katie's Krusaders, running and walking in honor and memory of the sister and aunt of some of my family's longtime friends. As a team, we raised over $5,000.00!

I've done a 10 miler and a half-marathon before, but this was my first 5k. It certainly was a beautiful morning for a run, but I have to admit that I wasn't prepared for such a fast race as I'm used to pacing a bit more for the longer miles. While I'm not exactly happy with my time (which I'll keep to myself), I'm glad to know that I can push myself a lot harder on my next 5k. I was, however, very proud of my family for participating. My parents and sister walked with my niece and nephew, Jake and I ran together, and my brother-in-law, Michael, placed third overall!

Afterwards, my family of eight went to a great brunch at one of Jake's and my favorite places, Cochon, where we all indulged ourselves with a delicious meal. The entire day was a great experience to share with my family and close friends!!

Beginning #65: new words

I decided to begin my month-long educational adventure of learning a new word every day beginning November 1, 2011. And as you all know, that's today. At least it's still today in Eastern Standard Time.

To help facilitate this desired increase in my lexicon, I signed up for dictionary.com's Word of the Day e-mails over the weekend and looked forward to my first official Word of the Day. I awoke this morning, picked up my phone with excitement, opened my mail, and saw the following message:

AIOLI?!?! That's my first word? Now, I realize that everyone may not know what "aioli" means, but I love an aioli. LOVE. I would eat with beef. I would eat it with french fries. Heck, I would eat it with a spoon.

Not wanting to admit defeat so early in this quest, I decided to harness the power of google and search for a different word of the day. Once again, I was disappointed...

Merriam-Webster's word: Cerulean
wordthink.com's word: Expeditious
wordsmith.org's word: Pinstriped
NY Times' word: Evocative
quotationspage.com's word: Aria

I even checked SuperKids.com's Vocabulary Builder to no avail (Dividend).

I was ready to give up when I stumbled upon a website - I can't even find the exact one now - with the following word: "Lilt." I've heard it before, but didn't really know the definition. In most usages, it means "a light, happy song," and considering how much I love coming up with my own lilts on a daily basis, I thought that having this word as my very FIRST word was very à propos.

I decided to join a few more list serves to increase the likelihood of finding a new word everyday, despite my disdain for having too much junk mail. Considering how long it took me to find a word today, I think it will be worth it.

I probably won't write any more full blog entries on this task, at least not until it's all over. But for those of you interested in increasing your vocabulary along with mine, I will be posting every day's word here, along with the approximate time and subject of the sentence in which I use it. My fourth grade reading teacher, Mrs. Figueroa, would be so proud!