odds and ends

just a few odds and ends today. i have a ton of recipes to post that i've tried out in the past couple of months, but not the motivation yet to write about them. i'm in search of a good carrot cake recipe, so if you see one, let me know. i'm looking for a cake that uses either oil or butter, raisins, brown sugar (instead of white sugar), but not pineapple or any of that whickety whack. i just tried a recipe today and thus far i think i may have slightly overdone the nutmeg because it was microplaned fresh instead of storebought ground. more carrots, too, i think.

i have been looking everywhere for the november issue of saveur, which apparently newstands have ceased carrying. when did that happen? saveur is my favorite food magazine because it doesn't follow seasonal and general food trends as closely as gourmet/bon appetit, but instead profiles the food of different cultures. the november issue has an article about gingerbread in it - specifically, about the test kitchen trying out different recipes. i love gingerbread, and i want this issue. apparently cvs and star market do not want me to have the issue.

in a bit of good news, the price of butter has gone down to 2000ish prices. i remember when the price of butter went up in boston area supermarkets, to $4/lb - it was when the price of milk went up to $4/gal. it was also when i was food steward at lmf, so you see why i would pay attention to these things. well, in the past year or so, butter has always been cheapest at whole foods, but usually i would just wait until it went on sale at star market, then buy 6-8 lbs. yeah, that's right. i used to bake quite a lot. anyway, whole foods is still slightly cheaper - $2.39/lb as opposed to $2.79/lb - but now i can feel ok about buying butter at star while it's not on sale. incidentally, it is on sale this week, for $1.88/lb, but all the unsalted was gone by the time i got to the supermarket (at noon on saturday!).

i was walking home from 7-11 - a circuit that included the mit press bookstore since i felt too embarrassed to go to star market three times in a span of 15 hours - during which trip i spent an embarrassing amount for two bricks of cream cheese. i was reminded exactly why i never buy anything at 7-11, beyond the fact that it's simply out of my way. i like to walk home around 5 if i can, the back way (along main street) because there's a small "park" (a clearing with stone benches in it and a few miserable-looking trees) behind a restaurant. at 5, everyone has finished family meal and is sitting outside in that park smoking. while i'm not a huge fan of the restaurant being in my neighborhood (though the food is excellent), it's kind of nice to see someone using those benches, which had sat empty about 90% of the time before this restaurant moved in.

homemade chocolate liqueur

just found a use for that really attractive, 10cane (ten cane, not iocane) rum bottle: another homemade liqueur. i have some cherry bounce in the fridge that's maturing, and vanilla extract maturing in my room (it's about a month and a half into its four month duration), and now i've got some chocolate liqueur to add to the pack. the recipe is kind of obvious - it's a simple infusion of aromatic spices into alcohol - but i think i might let it sit for a few months and give it away over xmas. the original recipe called for a high-proof rum (150-proof), but i went with a 40-proof mid-range rum (bacardi select). i figure that if it sits for longer than the 3-week period specified in the recipe, the infusion will be just as chocolatey and it won't be overwhelmingly alcoholic.

we'll see.

chocolate liqueur

1 bottle (750 mL) rum

1/2c cocoa nibs

2 vanilla beans, cut in half and split lengthwise

1. fill the bottom of a bottle with the cocoa nibs and vanilla beans. presumably, you could just add the nibs and beans to the bottle of rum. maybe it's easier to get everything in the same place if you're not trying to pour things into the liquid, but rather vice versa? i don't know; i used a different bottle because the one i had was prettier.

2. let sit for at least a month. before using/giving away, strain the cocoa nibs and vanilla out of the rum.