Yearly Archives: 2002

Baklava

From the kitchen of: unknown.

  • 3 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 1/2 cups water
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
  • 1 stick cinnamon
  • 3 whole cloves
  • 1/2 pound walnuts, finely chopped
  • 1/2 pound blanched almonds, finely chopped
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1 1/2 pounds filo pastry
  • 1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted

In a saucepan, combine 3 cups of the sugar, the water, honey, lemon juice cinnamon stick and whole cloves, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove the cinnamon stick and cloves, and let cool.

In a large bowl, combine the walnuts, almonds, remaining 1/2 cup sugar, ground cinnamon, and ground cloves and set aside.

Unroll the filo dough on a flat surface and keep it covered with waxed paper and a damp towel so it doesn’t dry out and become brittle. Remove 8 filo sheets, fold, cover and refrigerate for the top layer. Using a pastry brush, brush a 15 1/2 by 11 1/2 by 3 inch baking pan with some of the melted butter. Lay a filo sheet on the bottom of the pan, brush with butter, and repeat using a total of 8 sheets. Sprinkle a handful of the nut mixture over the top filo sheet. Layer 3 more filo sheets, brushing each with butter, and sprinkle again with a handful of the nut mixture. Continue until all the filo sheets and nuts are used, being sure to brush each sheet with butter. Use the reserved 8 sheets of filo for the last, top layer.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Using a long, very sharp knife, cut the baklava into small diamonds: First make 6 evenly spaced lengthwise cuts. Cut straight down until the tip of the knife touches the bottom of the pan, and keeping the knife straight, cut in a straight line all the way. Next, cut diagonally across the lengthwise cuts to form diamonds, starting in one corner and making cuts until you reach the opposite corner.

Heat the remaining butter until it bubbles and pour it over the top of the pastry. Bake for 1 1/4

hours or until evenly golden and flaky. Remove to a rack and spoon the cooled syrup over the entire pastry. Cool in the pan, then serve pieces individually, placing them in decorative paper cups if desired.

Yield: 55 to 60 diamonds

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Bread Pudding

From the kitchen of: Arline Groenwoldt.

  • loaf bread, 1 pound
  • 3 eggs
  • enough milk to make sloppy
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • raisins (optional)

Bake 350 degrees until knife comes out clean. (25 to 30 minutes)

Lemon Sauce

  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 teaspoon or 2 corn starch
  • juice of two lemons
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 teaspoon nutmeg

Cook all except nutmeg, let cool, add nutmeg.

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living room work

Rich came over last night at helped me pull up the plywood floor in the living room…. discovered two things:

1) I’m definitely doing the right thing pulling up all the crap floor to get at the hard wood.

2) It might take longer than I thought.

The floor in the living room looks… right. It’s definitely the right choice to fix it an go with that floor. It is fire damaged. I’ll need to replace about 8 boards, with the help of experts from water damage restoration san diego as they repair all forms of home damage due to water or fire.If you want services, you could check here! And they will look like the historical period of the house! Awesome. It will not be that hard to do and I will have tremendous satisfaction from it. According to some guys in the neighborhood who had a fire in their living room too, I should go ahead with the sanding before the board replacement, because some of the boards I’m thinking need replace might be just fine when the top layer is sanded down.

The “longer than I thought” part… I will probably only be able to do the downstairs before I get moved in. Rich and I worked 4.5 hours and there’s still one corner of the living room I have to do. I might be able to get the foyer ripped up this weekend, and the extra room downstairs done this week, but I don’t know about upstairs. It depends on how easy/hard the linoleum is to get up.

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Don’t Leave the Baby Out in the Rain

  • Post author:
  • Post category:Dreams

I had a dream last night that I was babysitting for people I didn’t know, and I accidentally left the baby out in the rain. Then the parents came home, and said, hey, where’s the baby? And I went out and found it in the backyard. It was soaking wet, but in good shape. Although it was one gigantic fat baby. Not a toddler at all, but a big big kid. I was horrified that I’d forgotten him, until I started to wake up and realized that, thank god, it was only a dream. Now I’m worried that if I have a kid, I’ll leave it in the yard. Is that like throwing the baby out with the bathwater? I wonder.

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I can’t tell an anecdote anymore

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  • Post category:Site News

Okay it’s creeping me out a bit the number of people who I’ve started to tell a story to, and they say, “yeah, I read that on your site.” First because I’m scared that my friends actually check my journal regularly, and second, that I’m ruining all my small talk. I can’t tell the same story over and over just to hear my own voice. I actually have to shut up and listen to other people. 🙂
I changed all my catalog subscriptions (Pottery Barn, Ikea, etc.) to the new address, so I should start getting tons of junk mail shortly.

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Removing drop ceilings, ripping up floors

Last night I ripped out the rest of the drop ceiling in the living room. Above it, someone had blown in cotton insulation (three garbage bags full), which I had to bag and take to the attic for later dispersal. And I carried all the panels for the drop ceiling out to the backyard, along with all the metal supports. Then I swept the ceiling, which was covered with cobwebs, dust, peeling wallpaper and paint, and crumbling plaster. Thank god for saftety goggles and breathing masks. Then I spent the rest of the evening with my new shop vac cleaning up the stray dust and insulation.

My plan is to dump all the refuse in the backyard until I’m finished, then rent a dumpster and throw everything in. Tonight I’m going to carry the carpets out to the backyard, pry up the floor in the living room, install the new mailbox in a more accessible spot, install the doorbell, and staple plastic over the section of wall where theres no drywall to prevent the insulation from falling into the room. (Boy my house sounds like a pit doesn’t it? It’s really not that bad.)

2165 N. Pennsylvania - Walkthroughs

2165 N. Penn - House Projects

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Black-Bottom Cupcakes

From the kitchen of: Katie Mineart.

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/3 cup salad oil
  • 1 tablespoon vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/4 cup cocoa
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Beat well, fill muffin tins 1/3 full.

Filling:

  • 8 oz. cream cheese
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup chocolate chips

Top each muffin with one tablespoon of the filling. Bake at 350 degrees, 30-35 minutes.

Notes: This is an old family favorite from my grandmother that used to be unique to our family. But I’ve seen other people produce versions of it (including on in our companies coffee shop) in recent years.

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Chocolate “Better Than Sex” Cake

From the kitchen of: Rosie.

  • 1 german chocolate cake mix
  • 1 can Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 can Hersheys chocolate fudge
  • 1 9 ounce can cool whip
  • crushed hershey bars

Mix cake mix according to package directions. When cool, poke holes in cake with handle of wooden spoon. Pour milk in cake, spread fudge on top. Spread cool whip over fudge, put crushed hershey bars on top. Refrigerate, enjoy.

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Chocolate Crazy Cake

From the kitchen of: Pat Mineart.

  • 3 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons soda
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 6 tablespoons cocoa
  • 2 tablespoons vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 3/4 cup oil
  • 2 cups cold water

Mix well. Pour into 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 27 minutes.

For frosting, my mom’s recipe for chocolate cake frosting is very good.

I’ll have to ask my mom how she picks between this recipe and the “Save a Day” Cake recipe, or test the two and see which I prefer.

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