Tuesday, December 03, 2002

The days of sunlight deprivation have begun, but at least I have soufflés.  I made my second Monday night, a Souffle au Fromage, and damn, I believe I got these babies beat, so to speak.  Really isn’t much to it.  This time I buttered my soufflé dish and dusted it with parmesan.  Then I cooked together three tablespoons each butter and flour for a couple of minutes before adding a cup of boiling water off heat.  I added a bit of salt, cayenne and nutmeg, and boiled it for a minute. Which done, the mixture got all satisfyingly gluey.  Working with thickening agents like roux or cornstarch is like chemistry, I like it.  Then I beat in four egg yolks and set that aside while I beat five egg whites. I admit, I admit, I didn’t do them the Julia way, with a balloon beater.  I have decided that I need a new beater for I attempt that.  Convenient, isn’t it?  For the time being, my handheld suits me just fine.  Once they were nice and stiff (I think; but JC says the test is that the beaten whites can support a whole egg; I was afeared to try that) I folded them into the egg yolk mixture along with ¾ cup mixed, grated Swiss and Parmesan.  Then I poured it into the soufflé dish and stuck it in the oven for half an hour.  Par simple.  And goddamned if it didn’t come out just about perfect, at least as far as I can tell.  I don’t know much about soufflés, as I’ve mentioned, but it poofed up nice and high, and had a nice brown crunchy top, a moist, airy center, and it tasted like cheese.  So, good.  We had Eric-made salad to go with.  Then I got my sun-deprived ass in bed.  Leave me alone.  I had to work late. So the Reverse Cowgirl wrote a snarky, though not at all stupid, bit on the New York Times article on women bloggers the other day.  I gotta say I agree with her to some extent, I don’t exactly think we girls are exactly being crushed by The Blog Man, but why you gotta knock people who knit?  I mean, come on – snarky sex writing and knitting tips – viva la difference!  Personally, I could use with a little less wittier-than-thou political and social commentary in the blogverse.  But then, see, I swore I’d never delve into blogging issues on my blog, and here I am doing it.  Bad, Julie, bad girl!!!  Go to your office! Aw, shucks. 7:54:19 AM    comment []