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I N  T H E  N I G H T  K I T C H E N

I'm feeling a little sad. My momentum after the layoff has slowed a bit. The potential to be paralyzed by self-doubt and worry is high right now. I need to not fear failure. (Though, the fear of debt-collectors should not be pooh-poohed.)

11:31 AM link

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Dutch Babies

pan size        butter      eggs        milk & flour
2-3 qts.        1/4 c.       3           3/4 c. ea. 
3-4 qts.        1/3 c.       4           1 c. ea.
4- 4 1/2        1/2 c.       5           1 1/4 c. ea.
4 1/2- 5        1/2 c.       6           1 1/2 c. ea.

1. butter in pan or skillet at 425. I usually use a touch less butter than is called for above.
   
2. milk, eggs and flour in a blender. you shouldn't need to blend it too long just make sure the flour gets nicely mixed.
   
3. take pan out of oven and swirl butter around to coat bottom and sides of pan.
   
4. pour mixture into pan. put all back in oven.
   
5. after about 15 minutes check on it and see how it's going. it should rise really high and be a nice, toasty shade of brown. depending on your oven, it could take up to 25 minutes so be patient but don't let it burn.
   
6. make sure everyone is gathered around as you put the Dutch Baby on the table so that they can marvel in its puffyness.
   
7. Spoon apple pie filling into center. Slice like a pie and serve.
   

Ready-made apple pie filling generally has spices already mixed in it but you can always lightly dust with cinammon or nutmeg if you like. You can also use a vast amount of different kinds of filling but apple is my favorite.

Sometimes I put the pie filling on the oven on a low temperature while the Baby is baking to make sure that it's warm enough. With a large-sized Dutch Baby, simply spooning room temp. filling onto it will warm it up just enough. Don't forget the syrup!

10:10 AM link

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Things are really cookin' right now. Spoke this morning with the guy that Scott hooked me up with for some freelance work. Sounds like a good guy who is really on the up and up. I'm going to be working on a proposal and preliminary estimate this week.

I've just got a quick on-site, two day Flash project for a company in town that I worked for the last time I was temping. They're not a bad little company and I know more than a few people there now. It should be fun and challenging. They are doing a really quick turn so I'm going to have to be quite speedy about everything -- shouldn't be a problem. There was some haggling on price which made me a little nervous as any lower and I was going to turn them down but we're all set to go now.

Things are getting really interesting around here. I'm setting myself up as a Sole Proprietorship and getting all my business affairs in order. I need to dust off my old contract and see how I can improve upon it with this first client. I'm calling everyone I know and letting them know that I am available. People seem to be really responsive to me; I think I've gotten a decent reputation! Right now it's all about networking and it's all about recommendations from friends.

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Last weekend was pretty full. T.'s little sister was in town for two days and we took it upon ourselves to show her as much of Portland as we possibly could. She's of drinking age now so we made her sample the local brew. I don't know why she was so suspicious of every beer I told her she should try. She kept giving me a bit of the stink eye -- did she really think we'd let her drink Miller while she was here? Uh-uh, no way.

Friday night we went out to Salvador Molly's which has damn fine jambalaya and jerk chicken. I love that place. It's always so cheery and packed. The drinks are pretty blah there so I stick with beer -- Red Stripe. No sense in bogging down a hot, Caribbean-inspired meal with fancy beer or Vodka.

Saturday, I cooked Dutch Babies for breakfast and then we walking along Hawthorne and everybody bought something cool. My prize was a vintage purse for twelve dollars that looks a bit like a flask but has this about-the-size-of-a-quarter opening in the top. Lift the top and the opening expands wide. I'll have to take some pictures for that to make sense.

In the evening we had T.'s cousin over and we played Simpson's Clue and watched L.A. Confidential. We were going to try and get over to The Crystal Ballroom to see some Elvis impersonators and bounce around on the springy floor but we were too pooped. She left Sunday morning, not nearly enough time. We'll have to get her back again.

11:47 AM link

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