Imagination Dessert

Shana and I just finished a fabulous steak dinner. It was really simple. Just a couple of pan-fried Angus New York Strips with a buttery pan sauce, some quickly-sauteed green beans, and a light salad.

We didn't really have anything but some chocolate biscuits for dessert, so I thought it'd be fun to enjoy an imaginary dessert. We then volleyed ingredients and preparation techniques back and forth until we had something that was satisfying.

I was first.

Eric: Blackberries - the kind that grow in a garden, not the kind that have exoskeletons
Shana: Cream
Eric: Cinnamon
Shana: Butter
Eric: Cream Cheese
Shana: Flour
Eric: Honey - the darker wildflower kind
Shana: Some kind of Liqueur - Grand Marnier (Eric says port wine)
Eric: Mint leaves

The preparation was next. We thought we'd create a puff pastry with the flour and the butter. But a medium puff pastry. Somewhere between a real puff pastry and a pie crust. We don't want too much airy volume. We'd mix the cream cheese, cinnamon, liqueur and some honey together. Then, cutting the pastry in squares, we put the cream cheese mixture in a reasonable dollop in the center. Then place 3 berries on the pastry with the cream cheese. Finally, folding the pastry, corner to corner, we made triangular little pastries, sealing the edges with a fork.

Then we bake these delights until the pastry is done. In the mean time, make whipped cream with the cream and a little bit of honey.

When the pastries are ready, we put them on the plate, drop some whipped cream in the center, and place the mint sprigs in the whipped cream. The last thing we did was drizzle the plate and dessert with yet more honey.

Then we closed our eyes and enjoyed it. What a wonderful dessert it was

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The Irony about Blogging

I've noticed an interesting thing about blogging. A quandary and ironic twist. The more there is to write about, the less time there is to actually do the writing.

This serves as my first post in nearly a year. I can explain a little bit with the help of this photo.



The past 9 months have been quite eventful. Merely getting used to life with a baby boy wasn't enough, so my family and I picked up our things from Madison, WI and hauled it all to The Best City in the U.S. I started off working on a freelance gig for Madison's Most Reliable Directory of Social Events. Shortly after that I got a job working as a consultant for a PLM Firm in town. We bought our first home, and then I started a new job working for a stealth-mode startup in the job seeker and social networking space. I work from home, feverishly, so we can roll out our first revision.

But back to the photo. This is me, with my new Spongebob Squarepants lunch box given to me by my friend and boss. Spongebob has become quite a role model to me. If I could only discipline myself to enjoy life so thoroughly as he. Ahh. I'm standing at my desk, taking the shot with the iSight camera on my new MacBook Pro in my cold basement office. Yes, that's insulation on the ceiling behind me.

Children, new job working from home, new house, new computer -- it's all there.

I might also take a moment to say that I'm re-dedicating myself to this blog. Communication with the world is increasingly important to me. I'm working on a re-design too, which should be ready shortly. Keep posted!