Conversation with the Sis: Canadian Geese

Sis: They think geese took down that jetliner. I think it is terrorism. From the North.

Me: Remote controlled, Canadian geese?

Sis: Yes. Suicide geese. Sounds like the next installment of Dr. Horrible.

Conversation with the Sis: Kid In The Garage

Sis: So, talking to Mom today. And she says oh yeah, remember that drugged kid in the garage last summer that I told you about? No. No Jane, I know I told you, you will remember when I tell you again. Nope, you did not tell me about the kid in the garage. No, here is the story, don't you remember? Nope. You did not tell me. Of course I told you...
Ack.
Did Mom tell you about the fucked up kid in the garage last summer?

Me: omg, lol, yep.

Sis: Maybe she thinks I am you? I would remember a kid in the garage on drugs.

...And Then The Drinking Started

I got up this morning to greet a sunny day in Denver (at 18 degrees F) and immediately started making caramels.

Today's Flavor: HONEY BOURBON

Yep, the sis had a nice bottle of Kentucky Bourbon in the cupboard, so I figured I would do her the public service of pouring it into the heavy cream as it heated. And then the rest of it into the sugar as it was cooking.

I used some of the honey powder from Savory, as well. They taste amazing, though again, a little too stiff, even though I stopped the cooking process several degrees cooler. So I'm trying one. more. batch...

...which worked perfectly, finished at 235 degrees.

And in one of my many clumsy moments I spilled the bowl of Fleur de Sel on the butcher block and bumped into the ceramic jug with the ground coffee in it, mingling the grounds with the salt... tasted it out of curiosity and stood there in total shock at the subtle salt/coffee flavor, and realized that would be the next caramel experiment.

After I come down off this sugar high.

Creativity At 5,260 FT

People lie. Art should not. ~Daniel Richter

The sis took me to the Denver Art Museum where I fell in love with the paintings of Daniel Richter. I wasn't permitted to take photographs of the paintings themselves, but the security guard allowed me to take this one.

Then I went to the permanent collection of Western Art (sponsored by Coors, of course).

Down in the Corral.

Turn of the Century Bronze

Painting by Daniel Sprick. The detail is amazing in part because it's slightly out of focus. I sat and stared at this for a long time.

Detail from same painting

mmmm. Claes Oldenburg. His piece Typewriter Eraser is in the outdoor sculpture garden in Seattle.

Earlier in the day the sis took me to Savory Spice Shop, where I found some really incredible spices to experiment with in caramels. Here is the booty I gleaned from Savory, including different chiles, Honey powder, Mexican Cocoa, Himalayan Pink Sea Salt, Murray River Flake Salt (from a river! In Australia!)

Tonight I made a batch of cane juice/brown rice and maple syrup caramels with fleur de sel. They came out very hard, which I think is a result of being in Denver at 5,280 feet, and the fact that it's sub-freezing temperatures and therefore very dry. However, the taste is incredible, and we're using splinters of caramel to dip into the different peppers and spices to see how they marry.

It's humbling to go into a spice shop and discover spices that you did not know existed. A picture of three chile peppers:

The dark one is Urfa, also known as Isot pepper -- earthy and smoky and moderately hot. The red flakes are Aleppo, they have a fruitier flavor that is described as "a cross between cumin and cayenne". The threads are korean chile threads, which I thought might be a nice visual as well as flavor addition to a batch of caramels.

The Sis, reading to me from Cookwise: The Hows & Whys of Successful Cooking about caramels as I'm making them:

I also knitted a cozy for my G1 cell phone. All in all, a productive day.