cameodolli's ramblings

I've always enjoyed cooking for my friends and family but now, more than ever, I'm finding comfort in creating yummy foodstuffs. It is a firmly held belief that nothing helps grief more than good food, good company and laughter. That's why when we get news of someone passing the first thing we do is take food to the family and sit with them. It's hard to remember to take pictures of my accomplishments rather than just stuff my face and crawl back on the couch, but I am trying to pull myself (and my friends) out of this deep sadness. Until I can remember to photograph current food, I'll just have to post whatever is backlogged in my camera.

Mmm, would ya look at that? Bacon Cheeseburger in Paradise! This is my favorite way to eat ground beef. Ask me tomorrow and I'll probably tell you I prefer it some other way so pay no mind to that. Seasoned ground beef, bacon (from a local meat market, none of that pansy Oscar Mayer stuff here, no sir), cheddar cheese, green onions and just a dab of mustard makes this perfection on a bun. I season my meat (does that sound dirty or am I just a perv?) with black pepper and hickory salt. I've mentioned hickory salt before and Katie asked what it was and where to find it. Personally, I'd like to know where to find it too. Apparently every ding dang company has discontinued it and the closest thing I can find in the grocery store is some disgusting bacon flavored salt, blech! Hickory salt is so delicious I could lick it out of my palm, not that I'd do such a thing...no, no way, that would be unseemly!

Something terrible happened in my world this week. Sunday June 7, 2009 two beautiful women were murdered. I don’t know any magic healing words to say to the families struggling to cope with this enormous loss. Those children and parents and brothers, family and friends shouldn’t have to shoulder the burden of so much pain.

Chris and I were inseparable for a while; partners in crime getting into trouble for talking too much at work or laughing too loud or being sarcastic smartasses. I can think of many times that our “inappropriate” sense of humor landed us in hot water. Inside jokes, late nights spent laughing and watching stupid movies. Something happened, and I let my pride stand in the way of us staying close. There are so many things I’m sorry I never told her or explained to her. I hope she knew how much I really cared for her and how sorry I am that we drifted apart. Chris Pizza, I don’t know how to say goodbye and I don’t want to…I miss you. PS: Wherever you are now, I'm glad you have those damn ugly sunglasses you love so much...but I still hate them.

Candy was such a warm and genuine person. I know she had to get tired of hearing me complain but she never showed it. She gave me advice and made me feel comforted when the drama at work was driving me crazy. Candy’s laugh was bubbly and contagious. If I heard something funny, I had to share it with her because I knew that no matter how dumb the joke, she’d always laugh…and then call me a dork. I loved sneaking up on her late at night while she was busy working. She’d jump then laugh then scold me. It was a bit of a routine. I miss you Candy Cane. PS: I know this wasn't your favorite picture of yourself, but I took it and I love it.

Cinnamon rolls have been a Saturday morning tradition with Pookie and I for quite a while. Until yesterday, they came exclusively from a cardboard canister. I've been making lots of homemade breadstuffs lately so when I came across this recipe I knew it had to be attempted.

Things went ok until I turned the dough out to knead it. Holy crap was it ever sticky! Apparently I'm not a moron since I followed the directions correctly, it just needed more flour. Wish I would've gotten a picture of my doughboy hands. But had I touched it, I probably would've ruined my camera. (What a way to go; death by cinnamon roll. Just go ahead and put that on my tombstone.) Spreading the filling wasn't a picnic either because the consistency didn't lend itself to spreading but was really good at tearing my dough. Argh! I did finally succeed in rolling the darn thing up...

After slicing the roll, I cooked them in a muffin tin. I'm surprised that the rolls didn't stick! They made this fun "fwoop" sound when I popped them out.

I cannot have a cinnamon roll without icing; it's criminal! I tried out two different ones. The first was a simple icing from powdered sugar, milk and vanilla. It tasted horribly cornstarch-y to me. So, I tried some sweetened condensed milk thinned with milk. It was better but still not the right consistency. This made me sad. These rolls were delicious, no doubt about it. But next time, I'm going back to the cardboard canister. I can have yumminess within ten minutes and the icing is perfect. Maybe for Christmas morning these will make a comeback.

Sometimes I fixate on a specific ingredient and attempt to make something yummy. My last experiment with artichokes went horribly wrong and I was hesitant to try anything else. That is until I developed a hankerin' for some coconut shrimp. Mmm Joe's Crab Shack....

Ok, snap back to reality. Wipe drool from chin.

I absolutely hate peeling and de-veining shrimp, so I decided to make coconut chicken instead. So I took my boneless skinless chicken tenders and soaked them in a marinade of coconut milk and curry powder. (I let them relax in the fridge for about 6 hours) Then I rolled the strips around in a flour, coconut flake, and cajun seasoning dry batter and pan fried them. *gasp* I know! Fried! What was I thinking?? I was thinking YUM that's what I was thinking. ;) I decided they needed a dipping sauce so I whisked together a bit of orange marmalade, lemon juice, honey and red pepper flakes.

Plate appearance is not an area in which I excel. Also, I opened a can of corn and heated it up on the stove with some butter, sugar and hickory salt. My side dishes are seriously lacking in imagination. Maybe I should work on that...

And no day is complete without dessert! Root Beer Float: classic, simple, delicious. If it's not Blue Bell then it's not real ice cream.

In honor of my last day of final exams (at least for this semester) I want to take a moment and thank Pookie for making this full-time college student thing a reality. Here’s a photo reminder of his adorableness, in case you’ve forgotten:

Yes, I know, I use too much photoshop, but I get carried away. See the laugh lines at his eyes? Some of those are my fault; I love to make him laugh. Those little crinkles get me all weak in the knees.

Um, what was I saying? Oh yeah, thankfulness and stuff. Pookie has given up many of his accustomed luxuries to save money so that I could quit my job and go back to school full-time. We’re not able to buy the newest video games and gadgets like he would like but he hasn’t complained…and that amazes me. I wish that I could find the money to buy him a Kindle. Perhaps I’ll snag a summer job and surprise him with one! But if he’s a good husband and actually reads his wife’s blog, then it wouldn’t be much of a surprise. So maybe I'll just cook a lovely dinner for him :)