Hazelnut Torte with Creamy Mocha Filling

6 eggs, separated

3/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup plain bread crumbs

1/4 cup flour

2/3 cup finely chopped hazelnuts

2 ounce squares unsweetened chocolate, melted

1 cup butter

2 cups powdered sugar

2 teaspoons instant coffee

1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Place egg whites in bowl. Mix with an electric mixer on medium high speed. Whip until soft peaks form. Gradually add 1/4 cup sugar. Set aside.

2. Place egg yolks in a new bowl. Blend them about 2 minutes until thick and lemon colored. Reduce speed and gradually add in the rest of the sugar and beat another minute.

3. Add bread crumbs, flour and nuts. On very low speed of electric mixer blend two minutes until well blended. Fold in egg white mixture.

4. Pour batter into a greased and floured 9-inch spring-form pan. Bake at 325 for 40 to 45 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes and remove cake from pan and cool on a wire rack.

5. When cool, slice the cake around in thirds to form 3 layers. Frost with the Creamy Mocha Filling.

6. Creamy Mocha Filling: Place chocolate and butter in a bowl and mix with an electric mixer on medium low speed for 2 minutes. Sift sugar and coffee into the bowl and add vanilla. On low speed mix this together for about 30 seconds. Stop and scrape bowl and beat another 2 minutes until light and fluffy.

Asian Appetizer Meatballs

These are quick and easy and smell really good while they are baking, which is no wonder considering they have garlic, ginger and sesame oil in them! Whenever I have a half a bottle of beer left in the refrigerator I always put it in a jar and save it for adding to meatloaf and clear sauces for meat instead of water when it is called for, like in the case of these meatballs. If you have ginger water it is the perfect substitute for the beer (or water) and you don't need to use grated ginger as the water permeates the meatballs better than the grated (or dry if you don't have any fresh ginger-though since you can easily freeze a piece of peeled ginger root and take it out and grate a little when you need it there is no excuse for not having fresh ginger around).

1 tablespoon sherry

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1/4 cup beer or water

1 clove minced garlic

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1/2 pound ground beef

1/2 pound ground pork or chicken

1. In a bowl combine sherry, soy sauce, sesame oil, water, garlic and ginger. Add ground meat and mix lightly. Form into 1 inch balls and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake at 450 for 15 minutes. Serve with dipping sauce if desired though as savory as these meatballs are they work well with a very minimalist dip, like a simple hot and sour sauce made with some rice vinegar, hot chili oil and sesame seeds watered down a little to the desired amount of hot and sour.

Yield: 32 meatballs

Brandied Shrimp & Vegetable Soup

Brandied Shrimp & Vegetable Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 pound shrimp, shelled and cleaned and cut in half, lengthwise

4 ounces brandy

1/2 cup onions, diced

1/4 cup green onions, thinly sliced

2 cloves minced garlic

½ cup green peppers, thinly sliced

½ cup celery, diced

1 tablespoon butter

1 1/2 cups white wine

4 cups chicken stock

1 cup tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced

1 cup peeled and diced potatoes

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon basil

4 tablespoons cornstarch

¼ cup water

1 tablespoon parsley, minced

1. Prepare the shrimp and all of the vegetables before starting the soup.

2. Heat olive oil in a large heavy pan and add shrimp. Cook for a few minutes on each side and add brandy and set aflame. Put lid on the pan. After the flame dies out remove the lid and add the onions, green onions, garlic, peppers, celery and butter. Cook for a couple minutes and add the wine, stock, tomatoes, potatoes, all of the spices and cover the pan and cook for about 5 minutes.

3. Mix the cornstarch with the water and stir into the soup. Heat the soup until it thickens slightly.

4. Top the soup with the parsley and serve.

Moonbeam Kitten Finds the Cat Stand!

From the children's picture book I am working on, "The Adventures of the Moonbeam Kitten" using photos of my snow Bengal mom, Moonshine and her kitten Moonbeam.

Mom I'm bored.

Then let's go play!

Okay here I go!

What is this big thing I see?

Look Mom, a toy on a carpet tree!

There is something back here!

I’m going up!

How did get up there?

I made it!

I wonder where this hole goes?

Here I go!

I’m back!

This is big fun!

I can’t reach the other side.

Parmesan Shrimp Pasta / Spicy Shrimp Chowder Twofer One

In the produce section of most stores you can buy single pieces of vegetables, which works very well for us single people, we can’t use a whole bag of carrots or whatever, so you just buy one or two. That is what you should do for these recipes. These also make two servings and maybe a leftover for one each, or two and a half servings for one person.

Parmesan Shrimp Pasta

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves minced garlic

½ pound Shrimp, peeled

½ cup broccoli florets

½ small onion, diced

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

½ teaspoon paprika

1 cup Parmesan cheese

1 cup cooked pasta, spaghetti noodles are great

¼ cup milk, wine or broth

Cook pasta and set aside. Heat olive oil in skillet and add garlic and shrimp. Cook for a few minutes and add broccoli and onion and cook for about 10 minutes. Turn off heat and add spices and parmesan cheese. Then add the cooked pasta and ¼ cup liquid and heat on low heat for about 5 minutes, until cheese slightly melts and a sauce is ready.

Spicy Shrimp Chowder

2 tablespoon butter

½ small onion, diced

½ pound shrimp

2 tablespoons flour

1 can chicken broth

½ cup milk

1 potato, diced

1 carrot, sliced

1 stalk celery, diced

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Curry Powder

½ teaspoon Chili Powder

Melt butter in a sauce pan and add onion and shrimp and cook for about 5 minutes and add  flour and when it is thoroughly mixed in add the chicken broth and milk and heat until the mixture thickens. Add the potato, carrot, celery, salt, curry and chili powder. Cook this over low heat until the vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes. Add more milk to thin if needed.

DEEP THROAT & LOVELACE

I watched a documentary style movie made about the making of the movie “Deep Throat”.  I know there is a theatrical movie just coming out about the life of Linda Lovelace, who was the “star” of the porno movie “Deep Throat”. I had never seen a porn movie and at the age of 23 I had a boyfriend who had also never seen one, and he was 7 years older than I was, so we decided to remedy that situation. Now I really hate bad movies, it always pisses me off when I go see a movie and it is bad. I guess that should be a clue that I wasn’t going to be very impressed with porno movies but I wasn’t a prude, just a movie snob, so Greg and I went and saw two movies that were showing at our local “indie” film theater. They were “Behind the Green Door” and “Deep Throat”, they were infamous so we figured we should see them. Boy, were we wrong, they were terrible movies and it had nothing to do with the sex. A movie with no plot and bad acting is by every definition I know a very bad movie and these two movies were no exception! Greg agreed that they were bad movies and the only other porn movie we ever watched was one he rented for a bachelor party called “Debbie Does Dallas” and it was equally as stupid. My hating these movies has nothing to do with the sex it is because they are terrible movies. This documentary was terribly silly and very over dramatic, if it is giving me any clues as to what material is going to be presented in the movie “Lovelace” then I will pass. They presented her story, she was a self-abusive battered woman, and why is she any more tragic than any other battered woman? It is too bad she was one of them but no more tragic than anyone else’s story. I do have to say that Harry Reems (the male porn star Linda played opposite to) really missed his calling, he could have been a great comedian. The events in the documentary regarding arresting the people who made the movie seem rather silly now but in the early 1970’s our country was going through larger morality issues than would ever be considered a big deal now, but times change fortunately. The ending of the documentary actually pissed me off, they made comments that pornography made Linda Lovelace get taken advantage of, I’m sorry but Linda let herself get advantage of, she was not held hostage while she made the movie. I am sorry that she didn’t make any money off of the movie but it is no more of a tragic story than anybody’s life is that doesn’t work out the way that someone wants it to. They made a comment that she died in a car wreck and was broke, what in the world do those 2 things have to do with each other. They said everyone else made money from the movie but her, but what did that have to do with her dying after a car wreck? Another attempt at sensationalism which we have way too much of in this world and I am tired of it. I have been screwed over every bit as much as her and no one makes a big tragedy about all of the wrong things that have happened to me. I just thought that it is an unfortunate part of life and really does occur in almost all walks of life and in many different ways. Life is hard and not necessarily fair for most people. 

Paella / Jambalaya Twofer One Recipes

Being single things can get forgotten about and go bad so I try to make two recipes at a time that use up the ingredients I bought. You can buy sausages and ham in whatever quantity you want at the butcher counter and chicken usually is sold in 1 pound packages especially if it is on sale which is how I like to shop. Since onions and peppers can get forgotten sometimes I wanted to use the whole onion and pepper in these recipes, same with the can of tomatoes and chicken broth. I recommend making one of these dishes one night and freeze half of it for the next week and do the same the next night with the other one. If you made the meatball soup and meatloaf from yesterday and froze half of them you could rotate the dishes in your lineup for dinner so you can have a little variety without too much effort.

Paella

½ pound skinless boneless chicken

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ teaspoon salt

¼ pound hot Italian sausages (or Spanish Chorizo)

½ onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic minced

½ red bell pepper, chopped

½ can tomatoes

1 teaspoon Paprika

1 teaspoon cumin

½ cup rice

½ cup water

½ can chicken broth

1 small jar artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

 In a skillet with a lid heat the olive oil. Add the chicken, season it with salt and cook for about 5 minutes and then add the sausages, onions, garlic and peppers and cook another 5 minutes. Then add the tomatoes, ham, cumin, paprika, rice, water and broth. Cover the pan and continue cooking over low heat for about 20 minutes. When the rice becomes tender add the artichoke hearts and continue to simmer over low heat for another 5 to 10 minutes. Makes 2 (and maybe a snack) servings.

 Jambalaya

2 tablespoons olive oil

½ onion, chopped

½ red bell pepper, chopped

2 cloves minced garlic

8 ounces diced chicken

4 ounces diced ham

½ can tomatoes

½ can chicken broth

½ cup water

½ cup rice

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Thyme

1 teaspoon Oregano

½ teaspoon Cayenne pepper

 In a soup pot heat the olive oil over medium heat and add onion, pepper, and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the chicken and continue cooking another 5 minutes. Add the ham, tomatoes, broth and water and bring to a boil. Add the rice and spices. Cover and cook over low heat for 20 minutes and cook until rice is tender and broth has been absorbed.  Makes 2 servings (with maybe a snack).