2014 - Book 40 c & d & Book 41

 "Opal" & "Origin" (Luxe series books 3 & 4) and "Hourglass" - Tennessee

I don't really have a lot to say about "Opal" and "Origin". They were okay, and "Opal" pretty much satisfied any curiosity I had left about the series. I kept reading "Origin" hoping I would get drawn back into it, but I just didn't. I had the fifth (and final) book checked out from the library too, but I ended up taking it back without reading it, because (although this may sound harsh) I didn't really care what happened to the characters anymore. The story just got sort of weird and I wasn't really interested in it anymore, so I figured my time was better spent trying out a new book.

"Hourglass" was surprisingly good. I reminded me a lot of "X-Men", but all the people had abilities that had sometime to do with time. It was really interesting how the main character could see people from different time periods, and she's really just starting to discover what her power means, and come to grips with the fact that she's not the nut-case she thought she was. Of course, this is another series, so there is a lot more to the story that I don't know, but it was a decent first book, not the best, but not bad either. The relationships were good, not a lot of bad language, and besides seeming similar to "X-Men", it was a pretty original concept.

For my recipes this week, I have chocolate chip beet cookies, "Doritos" nacho popcorn, and a cardamom, pistachio, and coffee Swiss roll. Unfortunately, none of these recipes were "keepers".

The chocolate chip beet cookies were just okay . . . they were kind of chewy/gummy and not as pink as the photos of the original recipe. I tripled the recipe, because seriously, who makes just 8 - 12 cookies at a time? If I'm getting all those dishes dirty, I'm making lots. Also, I used canned beets, and the one can was ~ 190 grams, so I just tripled everything. I pureed the beets with the oil and vanilla in the food processor. It was just a really thick "batter", more like bread dough, so I think cutting down on the flour would have helped them be more cookie-like and less cakey. Also, her cookies look really flat, mine definitely stayed ball-shaped, so maybe if I would have pressed them thinner, they wouldn't have been so gummy? Anyways, I am very thankful for my nice friend who gave me all the canned beets, but since this idea failed, I don't know what to do with the rest of them. I still have five cans, I think, so if you have any ideas, please let me know :)

On a savory note, I really love Cool Ranch Doritos, so I when I saw the recipe for Doritos popcorn, I was hoping it was going to be ranch-flavored, but it's not . . . it's the nacho flavor. Oh well. Like the author of this recipe, I'm not crazy about all the artificial flavorings in Doritos either, so I decided to give her copy-cat recipe a try. It was my first time using nutritional yeast. It's supposed to be a natural cheese-flavored substituted for fake cheese powder, and sort of healthy too. I found it in the bulk bins at Whole Foods, so I was able to get enough to make the recipe for only 96 cents. It didn't really taste cheesy to me, but the taco flavor from the spices was good. After coating all the popcorn, there was extra seasoning left over in the bottom of the bowl, so I saved it and I'll probably use it to make taco meat. This trial was my entry in a friendly "Popcorntest" (aka Popcorn Contest) I had with some friends, but I didn't win . . . take that for what you will, but you might still catch me eating Doritos now and then ;)

The cake was something that I wanted to be really special because I made for my husband's surprise birthday cake. I'd seen it on the Great British Baking Show and thought it was just beautiful. It was neat to experiment with the cardamom pods, spice grinder, and pistachios . . . three things that I'd never used while baking before. The chocolate for the flowers looked beautiful for about 3 seconds and then sagged because I didn't temper it correctly :(

This is what it was supposed to look like:

Photo credit: http://www.thebakingexplorer.com/2014/08/chocolate-lime-swiss-roll-gbbo-season.html

My version . . . it would have been prettier if I hadn't forgotten
the pistachios and had to unroll and re-roll it. Also, I have no
idea how they get such a clean end cut. 

In the end, I didn't really like the cake, but I'm not a big fan of any of the flavors (besides the chocolate), so it's not really surprising. It was a very "grown-up" cake, not very sweet at all. I don't think kids would like it . . . but maybe it would be good with a cup of tea ;) I think that in the United States we have become so over-sugared, that anything like this tastes so savory because it's not packed with sugar. Oh well, sorry I don't have anything better this week. Stayed tuned for hopefully some better recipes and books next week :)