From glaze to caramel

On Saturday, Chef R asked me to make glaze for the scones she was baking. I took equal parts sugar and butter and stirred them in a sauce pot over heat. When the sugar finally dissolved in the butter, it started to brown. I turned off the heat and walked away. About twenty minutes later, Chef R asked me, is it supposed to be that brown? I went back and looked, and the whole thing congealed into one blob with clarified butter floating on top, and it turned a deep dark mahogany brown. I stuck a spoon in and tasted it -- it was thick, viscous, nutty, a delicious but poorly made caramel. As I learned in c-school, if I hadn't stirred it so much and dosed it with a drop of corn syrup, it would have been silky smooth caramel. Mine had lots of gritty sugar crystal in it.

So I made it again, with 2x more butter than sugar, and whisked it on a lower heat until the sugar crystals dissolved. All was well with the scone world.

ADDENDA:
My apprenticeship ended on Saturday. I came in on Sunday for a token payment, and Chef R will be talking to the owner this week about future arrangements. We'll see.

B was feeling frisky this morning and made french toast. I have some horrible memories of my mom making french toast. Thin dense crumbly Arnold white bread dipped in some roughly beaten eggs then fried at a high temperature in margarine in a non-stick pan. Deeeesgusting. So I arm-chair quarterbacked B as she cooked.

B's instinct was to go for the whole wheat bread in the freezer, but I insisted on her using the spare challah rolls from Thanksgiving. We happen to have the PERFECT french toast bread on hand, why not use it? Take eggs, whisk equal parts milk (because we didn't have cream), sweeten with sugar (we used brown sugar), dash of salt, cinnamon. Preheat heavy bottomed skillet, butter generously, preheat oven. Dip thick-sliced challah in batter, cook on medium heat. At the flip, I told her to place the whole pan in the oven, but she didn't believe me. So she cooked the 2nd side, and liked it just fine. Out of annoyance, I got up, cooked a second batch, then finished them in the oven; they came out crisper on the outside, firmer and more custard-like in the middle, and despite my life-long aversion to french toast, really enjoyed it (and the cranky process of cooking with my sweet wife).

In a good mood after the shop, I swung by the market on the way home and made B a faux-Mexican meal. First step, made sofrito - sauteed minced onion, green pepper, garlic, and a little jalapeno to soft in olive oil. Threw in chicken stock, brown rice, black beans, and half the sofrito in the rice cooker. The other half of the sofrito I mixed with lemon juice and sauteed fresh butterflied shrimp in. B made a crude guacamole today, which I finished with lemon and salt, and spread it on a whole wheat tortilla wedge with jack cheese, and put in the broiler on an oiled sheet pan.

While all this was happening, I knocked out a batch of chocolate chip cookies, this time using three vanilla beans instead of extract -- oh man, these cookies just hit the next level of cookiedom.

SATURDAY
BREAKFAST: 5:30am, 2 waffles, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 10:30am, donut from donut plant, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Had the 'creme brulee' donut, a new thing that is more of a small cream puff, vanilla custard and a slightly crunchy top, really good.

AM-PM SNACK: 11-1pm, equivalent of 1.5 donuts, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Brought donuts in to the shop, just in case this was my last day -- one of those things that were talked about, would of been a shame if I never followed through, I hate insincere people.

DINNER: 5:30pm, pad see ew, thai salad, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Crappy Thai food with the B.

EVENING SNACK: 6:15pm, oversalted popcorn, some peanut m&ms, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

SUNDAY
BREAKFAST: 9:45pm, B-made french toast, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, slice with caramelized onion, mushroom and parm, root beer, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3pm, chocolate chip scone, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 6:15pm, chocolate chip cookie dough batter, half a cookie, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7:15pm, sofrito shrimp with guacamole quesadilla and rice & beans, ginger ale, chocolate chip cookies with B&J organic vanilla ice cream, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5