Category — About this blog

Here it is!!!

Like I mentioned yesterday, I am offering free downloads of my cookbook; Angie Pangie Celebrates:  Chinese New Year. 

This cookbook is a compilation of 15 “Americanized” Chinese/Asian recipes that I have tirelessly tested, eaten, and tweaked over the years.  Also included are articles on the traditions surrounding Chinese New Year, nutrition information, and a detailed grocery list.  While I realize that Chinese New Year is over for 2008, I promise that the recipes are tasty year round.

This book was a true labor of love for me and the first cookbook I ever put together.  I’m purdy darn prooud of that, since I’d been talking about doing it for an awfully long time.

The download is free, all you need to do is subscribe to my email updates here.  You’ll receive an email notification each time I update my blog - which means you’ll never miss another recipe from me.  Once you sign up you’ll receive detailed information on how to download the cookbook.

Thank you.  Drive thru.

[Be sure and read to the end to day, folks.  There's a very special announcement for you.]

O.k.-O.k.-O.k.  I. am. SO. EXCITED.  Today when I got the mail, guess what?!?  I got a package addressed to little ol’ me!  And it’s not even Christmas.  Or my birthday.  Or Mother’s Day. 

And when I opened it guess what I got?!?  Hmmm, you’re dyin’ now, aren’t ya?  Hmm?!?

LOOK!!

And, who, you may be wondering, would send me tangerines and a navel orange?  Well, I’m going to tell you.  Todd and Diane over at White on Rice Couple sent them to me. These are a couple of super funny, mighty talented, and unbelievably friendly folks.  And even if they hadn’t sent me goodies, I’d still say those nice things.  Because they are true.  If you don’t believe me, you should hop on over to their blog and check it out, because they send free stuff to people all the time.  All you have to do is ask.  They call it “Sharing the Love” and I call it groovy.

You know something else that is mind boggling cool?  They GREW these!  Holy Sh!t people!!  I live in Michigan.  Do you know what it looks like here right now?  Kinda grey, kinda brown, gloppy, muddy, wet, mushy - with parking lots spotted with cement colored snow hills from months of heavy plowing.  (Those snow hills will still be here in MAY!)  It’s really not pretty.  Nothing but mold and lichens growing here.  And they sent me gorgeous home grown food.  Unreal. 

As I opened the package Katie walked into the dining room.  “Look!  Todd and Diane sent me fruit!  From California!  They GREW these.  In their backyaaard.”  She furrowed her eyebrows a little and said “They grew them?  That’s weird.  Are they safe to eat?  I thought they were supposed to come from a temperature controlled truck.”  Fricken’ smart ass.  But, do you see how deprived we are here?  My kids think that oranges don’t really grow on trees in backyards.  They come from trucks.  Sigh.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Todd and Diane.  You’ve made my day, my week, my month!  And, you’ve let me teach something new to my children.  And I think you’ve taught me a thing or two about giving, too. 

Speaking of giving, tomorrow I’ll be offering free downloads of my last cookbook; Angie Pangie Celebrates:  Chinese New Year.  Be sure and check in so you can get be among the first to get your first copy.  If you use Twitter you can follow me here.  I’ll send an update when I release the cookbook. 

Hey, it’s important that I start off this post by letting you know that I have made an extremely important executive decision.  O.k., well, actually two extremely important decisions.

First, I am not going to post about what I did with my pesto in this entry.

Second, I’ve decided that instead of calling my oldest daughter Z-DOW, I’m going to call her Katie - well, here on the blog, that is.

Now, for explanations.

It all started last weekend when Katie’s friend Mad invited her to spend the night.  Not really that unusual, except for that when Katie went home on Sunday, Mad promptly came down with the flu.  Then, on Tuesday, Mad and Katie had tickets to go see Rent - and had been waiting to go see Rent since December (when our family gave Mad the tickets for Christmas).  Mad made the declaration; “I don’t care if I have to crawl, I’m not missing the musical.”  And she didn’t have to crawl, but I do think she had to hobble a bit.  Anyhow, they went together - sharing air-space, and germs.  And, on Wednesday, (big suprise) Katie called around lunch time from school and said “I’m feeling really bad, could you come pick me up, please?” 

Since then, Katie has been really sick.  You know how when you’re really sick and you feel like total poo and you want something to eat, but you only want a very certain something?  Like, if you eat anything besides that certain something you’re certainly going to hurl?  Well, yesterday Katie wanted cinnamon raisin bread.  And, honestly, she hadn’t eaten anything beyond a few crackers since Tuesday, so I immediately made a loaf of cinnamon bread (It’s not that I’m nice, it was honestly self preservation because I didn’t want to deal with any further hurling.)  Which is why I’m not going to post about the pesto, just yet.  Because I made Cinnamon Raisin bread, instead of working with my pesto. 

During the course of Katie’s flu I started feeling bad about calling her Z-DOW here on the blog.  It’s just not nice.  I mean, I still think it’s hilarious when we call her Zarthax, Destroyer of Worlds, but it makes her really angry.  So angry, in fact, that I haven’t been able to even allow her to view my blog, for fear that we’d have a serious blow up when she found out that I’ve been calling her Z-DOW in front of the whole internet, for over a month.  So, I decided, based on said blow up based on how mean it was that I would change her name (again, self preservation here, folks).  And, based on the above mentioned blow up resolution to be nicer, I’ve gone with changing her moniker to “Katie”.  As in, Katie Ka-Boom.  You do remember Katie Ka-Boom, right?

Right, so anyhow, Katie is (as of this morning) starting to feel much better.  And, I think it’s because of the cinnamon raisin bread.  Well not really, but it did make her give me the weakest little smile when it came out of the bread machine all warm and fragrant.  Katie doesn’t really like sweets a lot, so she prefers I leave off the icing.  But, I do like the icing and am including the recipe for it.  I did leave it off this time, but if you decide you want the icing, just smear it on the loaf before you slice it, after you’ve let it cool a bit.  I have a really cool bread machine, so I make almost everything in it (including my meatloaf), but you’re welcome to make this bread in your mixer (if you have a good one, I don’t), or by hand.

If you’re interestested, here’s my bread machine:
Cuisinart CBK-200 2-Pound Convection Automatic Bread Maker

And my dream mixer:
KitchenAid Professional 600 Series 6-Quart Stand Mixer

I’m going to get that promised recipe up next.  It shouldn’t be a big deal . . . although Aspie Girl woke up sick this morning . . . *sigh* 

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

1 cup water
3 tablespoons margarine
3 cups bread flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
1/2 cup raisins
cinnamon stick (optional)

For the glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar (icing)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-2 tablespoon whipping cream

Place the raisins in a small bowl and cover with warm water.  If you’d like, you can add a cinnamon stick to the water to help increase the flavor. For a really good loaf of bread, soak the raisins in triple sec.  Not for this loaf, though, since I’m feeing it to my children.  Just drink the triple sec yourself if you’re making bread for the kidlets.

Add all the ingredients to the bread machine in the order listed, except for the raisins.  Be sure to place the yeast in the opposite corner from the salt.

Set your machine to the sweet bread setting with light crust.  You can use the “regular white” setting if you’re machine doesn’t have a “sweet bread” setting.  If you have to set the size of the loaf, choose 1 1/2 pound.

Start the machine.

After 10 minutes, drain the raisins, discard the cinnamon stick, and add during the mix-in signal.

If desired, after the first rise, but before the second rise, oil your fingers, and lift the loaf from the pan.  Remove the paddle, and shape the loaf into an oblong ball.  Remove air pockets and make sure the raisins are mixed in well.  If you aren’t home, or don’t catch this (my machine beeps to signify this cycle), the bread will turn out fine.  This is just a nice touch.
When done, remove from pan and cool.

To glaze mix the powdered sugar, vanilla, and cream until well blended.  Spread over the top of the bread and allow to set up for a few minutes.
Slice and serve.