A lot of craziness in the kitchen this week- I bought my first manual cooking instrument: the beater in order to make my favorite dessert: Creme Brulee (photos of both to come- believe me they will be quick since I have to wait to eat the rest of the Creme Brulee until they do!)(Okay, so I'll have to make some more CB to take photos of because I ate it last night!) Besides this my DP upended the kitchen in order to finish painting it and I have been at war with ants that decided to make my kitchen plants there home.
SO lets get started.

I'll start with the infestation:
What does this have to do with the kitchen? The ants decided to nest in my kitchen plants which are my herbs.
I started noticing ants around the house only a week after I moved in. Of course it's New York and I live above a Pizza shop AND a bagel bakery so I didn't think much of it, but soon it seemed there a few too many, so I purchased a few of those ant traps where the poor things carry the poison back to their home. That worked. They seemed to thin out, but when I went to water the plants a million of them came up out of one of my flowering plants so naturally I tossed it out the window! The next day as I was watering my basil they rose out of that. I set it on the window sill and started looking online for what to do next. I love Basil and my basil plant was my favorite. Yes, I said was.
Online I found a tip: pour a little vinegar in the soil. So I did. The ants left, but my basil turned brown and died, and then I found the assholes in my thyme. I'm serious about trying really hard to be green, but when something messes with my herbs, their messing with my moral stability. Luckily my friend Jenn was quick on the e-mail reply and suggested a few things which I guess brings us to Household Tip #1!

Household Tip #1: How to Magically Rid House Plants of Ant Invaders (Thank you Jen!)
To rid your houseplants of ants in a green and humane way sprinkle a bit of Cayenne pepper on the soil after spraying it lightly with soap water.

It worked! So far. I'm not sure how often you are supposed to do it but I'm just spraying the soil every other day and putting on more Cayenne as it disappears after a few waterings. I'll update you if this ends up creating super ants or ants with sombreros or kills my plants in some vicious and painful way, but so far so good.

Manual Kitchen Appliance #1: The Vintage Hand Blender
Last week, in preparation for the Tres Leches cake I'm making for James' Birthday, I bought a vintage egg beater/hand blender. It's fucking amazing. And to test it out I made two types of Creme Brulee, which leads us to Cooking Tip #1 and Recipe #1, which is fitting that it would be creme brulee as it's the best fucking dessert in the world.

Cooking Tip #1: Make it your own
So, I know that technically creme brulee is baking, but I'm referring to it as cooking here as it practically is. When locating using a recipe, unless you are baking something that has to be exact, I really feel you should make it your own; this is where cooking/baking crosses the line of just being and becomes personal. Know yourself well. Dig deep into your likes and dislikes. It's an opportunity to discover yourself and be selfish. Always cook for yourself, even if it's ultimately for other people. Cooking is sharing. It's a labor of love and it should be yours. I always end up using about 40% or so of recipe and making the rest my own. For instance I like vanilla, so I add extra vanilla to my creme brulee, I like brown sugar so I use half a cup of this in place of the white sugar. Search out your own tastes and experiment. Don't worry if it turns out wrong, as long as you are trying; anyway, it would be really rare to make something so bad you can't even eat it!
Look at recipes not as maps, but as basic foundations for you to build off of.
When cooking I always end up adding something to it; or taking something out.
That's the beauty of cooking and how you can make it personal.

Recipe #1 Creme Brulee


So this is the basic recipe and you can add things to it. I made one batch plain and one batch Ginger.

1 Quart heavy cream
1 Vanilla Bean
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar (for top, or mix the two together and just set aside a 1/2 Cup)
6 Egg Yolks
Some Vanilla

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Cut the vanilla bean down the middle and then run the knife down it to get out all the seeds. I do this by pinching the end of it and with one hand and holding the knife tip with the thumb of the other hand (so the blade sort of rests on my pointer finger's bend inside the knuckle) then put the vanilla been on the pointer-finger and pull. It flattens out the bean and rests the seeds on the knife.

Put the seeds, pulp of the vanilla been and the Cream into a saucepan on med. high heat and let it come to boil, stirring it now and then. This is when you could add other ingredients of your choice, such as ginger, chocolate, etc. When it starts to boil, set it aside with a lid for 10-15 minutes. Don't forget to take out the pulp when it's done. (if you put in something like Ginger you will need to strain it before adding it to the egg mixture.

Whisk 1/2 cup Sugar and eggs together until it's well blended, here if you like vanilla you can splash in a little bit, or chocolate powder or whatever. When that's blended start adding the creme (don't forget to take the pulp out), not too much because it's hot and the eggs will harden, a splash every so often, whisk, another splash, until all the creme is added. When it's all added you can put the liquid into your ramekins. I used small used canning jars (3" high ones) and it worked great and looked cute. Just make sure it's not too deep.

Take whatever you choose to use and fill it with the liquid, place these in a large roasting or cake pan and fill it up with hot water up to half the height of the jars/ramekins Bake for about 40 or 45 minutes or until the creme brulee is just set in the middle. Remove them and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days.

A little before you are going to serve them sprinkle the top with brown sugar and either broil them (carefully!) or use a torch to melt the sugar.

You can put anything you like on the top. I put blueberries on mine, both the Ginger and the regular ones.

Hope you like it! Let me know what you add to yours or how you modify the recipe. I love comparing.

heartrl