Since I've only been writing here for a few weeks now, I haven't gotten much into details about myself personally outside my culinary experience and various other tidbits here and there. With that, let me share something new about myself - I make cakes. That seems very anticlimactic, I know. They're not just cakes, they're custom cakes. I mean, I'm not here to boast about myself, but they're fairly cute, people who order them seem to love them, and I simply love doing it. For details on the cakes, go here. Anyway, let's get back into the Smitten Kitchen, shall we? The reason I bring up the cake side of me is because today I began baking my first cake project of 2012. I'll be making a Thomas the Tank Engine themed cake for a little boy's 2nd birthday. The boy's mom wanted a vanilla cake and seeing as there are dozens of cakes in the Smitten Kitchen, I knew vanilla wouldn't be hard to find. I chose a recipe Deb had previously used when making a tiered wedding cake, so I knew it would be perfect for a tiered Thomas cake. So this afternoon I completed the beginning process of baking, cooling, wrapping, and freezing 8 layers of vanilla cake. Decorating to take place next week.
Having already spent a nice amount of time in the kitchen, I opted for a simple dinner of potato soup and a green salad. This soup was easy to make, requiring very little effort as I think homemade soups should, yet was superbly filling and delicious. Warm, soft starchy potatoes covered in cheddar cheese and sour cream. Was there any doubt this would go wrong?
We topped off the night with some rice pudding. I've only ever eaten this cold, but when you make it yourself it's too difficult (at least it was for me) to wait for it to cool down. I'm glad I didn't too because it was wonderful warm. Both my boys agreed - even though I cut the recipe down to serve one it successfully served three (bonus!).
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The thing about rice pudding that has always stressed me out is that I can't seem to get the rice to soften. I realized the last time I made it that it might have been because I have always attempted making it with brown rice. So I have to ask - white rice, or brown?
ReplyDeleteYes Kim - I completely agree. I think I tried once before and also used brown rice. The recipe used Arborio rice which is not only white, but it's smaller, too. I bought it in the bulk section of Whole Foods.
DeleteGotchya. I would still like to find a way to make it with brown rice!
ReplyDelete