(no subject)

[noahgibbs]

For the record: another damn fine weekend.

Had a good fancy dinner with friends on Friday, a wedding present for a Happy Couple of acquaintances.

Saw Circus Contraption on Saturday, which was morbidly beautiful, and had crepes three (!) times that day. I was the one cooking them only one of those times. Combination to recommend: blackberry and apricot. Nifty crepe condiment: very spicy plum chutney. Now I just have to find a use for a lot more spicy plum chutney :-)

I made dinner for a different pair of married friends on Sunday evening. I did something relatively complicated, at least for me. Always good. I made marinated chicken breasts, baked brie, this excellent salad with goat cheese and pears and vinaigrette, and then managed to forget about the broccoli and green beans until they were slightly oversteamed and the guests were stuffed with chicken and brie. Ah, well -- I'll call the meal successful in any case. Oh, and pie! I just used a Safeway apple pie, but it was still good. Anyway, yay for weekends where I cook!

I do need to try to be more conversational and pay less attention to cooking and washing stuff and whatnot. I have something like mertuil's hosting problems that way. Of course, if I'd just get around to getting more plates and silverware I could stop having to wash up every time I feed four people :-)

I have a dressy grey sweater I'd forgotten about. It looks very distinguished, which is probably why I forgot about it. I tend to forget that I can look sorta like the less-attractive magazine models. I have a decend build, at least for hanging clothes on. Anyway, I'm surprised at how old the guy in the mirror looks when I'm wearing the sweater. I've just bought more clothes that are similar that way, so we'll see how it all plays out.

Comments

[angelbob.livejournal.com]

I use a temperature of around 150. I wouldn't go hotter than 250 or so (maybe lower) to avoid burning the rind, but that's just a guess. You could even use a toaster-oven if you were so inclined.

You can tell it's done by poking it with your finger or a butterknife -- you'll feel it being all sloshy and liquid inside. If you use a low temperature you can give it a nice long time without problems, it'll just stay melted.

A quick google search on "baked brie" also shows a lot of people more industrious than me who do fancy things with it. For instance, you could trim the rind off the top and broil it until it's brown. Or mix it with spices and cream cheese. And I can tell you from experience that it sautees well with portobella mushrooms... Mmm... Tasty goo.

[wuttd.livejournal.com]

Chutney baked brie!

[angelbob.livejournal.com]

Mmm... Chutney-baked brie.

They recommend 350 degrees in that recipe, but they also recommend about 15 minutes. I usually went for a less-warm oven for longer than that, so I guess I'm just a brie conservative :-)