Kitchen Adventures

In the past 12h, my kitchen has been the epicenter of quite the cooking-quake:

Started off with a full cooked breakfast (including freshly-made scones) with homemade yogurt and homemade blackberry jam. So the yogurt and jam don't really count towards today's cooking throughput, but eating has to count for something.

2 loaves of Banana Granola Bread - one to keep, one to send to a friend.

Chocolate and Sea Salt Shortbread - I ran out of cocoa, so I had to make just a half-batch, but in a loaves-and-fishes moment, I wound up with more cookies than the recipe predicts. The dough was impossible to work without loads of flour, so perhaps it could have benefited from a chill first. I'd like to try them again, but with the cacao nibs, if I can find them. (Anyone know a good source?) I wasn't too sure whether the salt would be overpowering, but it's a nice counterpoint to the rich and almost fruity cocoa. I'd also like to try these with a darker cocoa.

Cauliflower and Potato Sabzi for lunch. (minus the fresh ginger and cilantro; plus green peas)

Gougeres. Cheesy savory cream puff goodness. These will likely be the feature of another blog next week sometime. You know how I was ahead of the trend on cupcakes? I'll go ahead and predict that cream puffs will be the next big food trend.

Dinner: Black-Pepper-Parmesan-Crusted Pork Cutlets, whole wheat pasta with tomato sauce, Green Beans Provencal, and probably a fresh peach for dessert.

All this baking is hot on the heels of a bunch of wedding-cake samples for tastings the past few days, plus a second shot at ma'amoul, which may get its own post some day.

I am exhausted, but it's a good brand of tired. :)