April 20, 2010

Kitchen Concoctions



Recently I made a dessert for a tea at my church. In one of the the Martha Stewart Food Magazines there was this delicious looking Lemon Mousse with blackberries on top. I decided to try it, though I had a few mishaps. (I'm not very adept in the kitchen.)

Here is a 'slightly different' version of the recipe:

A few things to remember before you begin:
. Take out the ingredients whenever you remember that you need them for the recipe
. Clean everything up after you can't see the counter

For the Lemons:
1. Squeeze 2 1/2 fresh lemons
2. Start to squeeze the last half, and accidentally tip over the bowl of lemon juice. Spill it all over yourself and the floor. (Make sure that the lemon juice has not been strained yet. It's a lot more fun to clean it up when it has all the pulp and seeds in it.)
3. Squeeze a new batch of lemons

For the Gelatin:
1. Don't look for the amount (in teaspoons) contained in each package. You must scoop each teaspoon individually. Find out later that each package contains 2 teaspoons.

Next:
1. Mix lemon juice and water in small bowl. Sprinkle gelatin on top.
2. Pour mixture into saucepan and heat on stove until you smell it burning.
3. Prepare ice bath, making sure that there is too much water and not enough ice.
4. Pour gelatin mixture from saucepan back into the bowl it was in before.
5. Freeze your fingers in ice water as you hold the sides of the bowl in the 'too-much-water-not-enough-ice-bath. (You don't want the bowl to fall in.)
6. Take out bowl from bath.
7. Thaw out fingers.

For the Whipping Cream:
1. Whisk 1 carton of whipping cream with hand-held beaters.
2. Take a quick break. (Hold the beaters in the air while doing so.)
3. Absent-mindedly press the lever while beater is pointed upwards.
4. "Aaaaahhhhhh!"
5. Turn it off the beaters and clean up the mess.
6. Realize you could have been using the beater that 'does it itself.'
7. Skip a few steps, (this is getting boring!)

Until... You're done! Except... You forgot to double the recipe!



As you may have picked up, that recipe was a major hyperbolie, though the lemon and whipped cream scenarios were pretty much true. Overall, the recipe turned out alright. I myself wasn't thrilled with the taste, but several people said they liked it. At least they looked pretty in the shiny blue cupcake tins.