Bake it til you make it

Fleur de Sel and Peanut-Butter-and-Jelly Sandwich

This post is cross-posted at my political blog, Screaming from the Rooftop

I discovered something today that just may change my life forever. A few weeks ago I went and bought some Fleur de Sel for a cake. You may remember, the cake turned out disastrous.

Well, I kept trying to figure out what to do with the Fleur de Sel since I knew I would never make the cake again. I could not throw it away since I practically had to take out a loan to buy it in the first place.

Well, I have found a few uses that I like quite a bit. I enjoy it on fries and steak and it really goes good on ice-cream.  But how did it change my life?

Let me tell you!

First, do not go out and buy it just for what I am about to tell you. Actually, who the hell am I kidding? Go now and buy it!

Unless, of course, you have some sitting around. And if you do, you’re one rich mofo and I want to be your friend.

But moving on.

Fleur de Sel changes the classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich FOREVER. This is what I do:

1.    Prepare your PB&J as you normally would, using your favorite jelly or jam and peanut butter (Jif for those in the know). I prefer my bread toasted.
2.     LIGHTLY (and I do not use that word lightly) sprinkle the peanut butter side of the sandwich with the Fleur de Sel. I mean lightly, people!
6.    Put the two pieces of bread together.
7.    Cut your sandwich in two
8.    Eat and enter a new dimension reserved for those lucky enough to try this creation.

Now to all the chefs and food pop culturati, you better give me credit when you start putting this on your menu! I’m not joking. I want the credit, Toque-ers! I don’t want to be watching The Today Show or Rachael Ray about how the latest trend is putting a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich on the menu. And then see how Jean-Georges is taking all the credit. It’s mine!

I know how all you celebrity-chefs operate. One person puts it on their menu and everyone follows suit. It happened with sliders and The Little Owl. After sliders showed up on the menu at The Little Owl, everyone had sliders on their menus.

It happened with the mac-and-cheese revolution of 2001. Every snotty restaurant across the land had mac-and-cheese on their menus for a while.

All I’m sayin’ is that if you put a fleur-de-sel PB&J on your menu, you give me credit.

Thank you.

PS. A word to the wise. Don’t go trying this with Kosher salt or table-salt. It won’t work. It might work with other sea-salts but I have not tried.

Why I'm gonna marry Dove Ice Cream and might vote for McCain / Palin

NOTE: This post is cross posted at my political blog, Screaming from the Rooftop

The past couple of weeks I have not paid any attention to this site. I have not posted, put up recipes or put up any videos. Instead I have been consumed with my husband’s health as well as some other things. And what time I have left is devoted to the upcoming election.

However, not having time to bake does not mean my sweet tooth has gone away. In order to satisfy the craving, the husband and I have been eating a lot of different ice cream these past few weeks. We have our standard go-to brands that we love such as Ben & Jerry’s and Breyers and if something is on sale we will give it a shot.

A couple of weeks ago I noticed that Dove was on sale for 2 for $5. Now, maybe I live under a rock but I was unaware that Dove made ice cream tubs. I knew about, and have tried, their ice cream bars but not the tubs. So I bought two and took them home.

That night the husband and I discovered something that we never knew before. We discovered that heaven was, in fact a place here on earth. We found it in each spoonful after delicious spoonful of Dove Ice Cream.

And to top it all off (literally and figuratively) each pint has a layer of ganache that you break through to get to the creamy, unadulterated goodness. And once you are there you will never, ever think of ice cream the same way again.

Now, I have only tried two flavors because our grocery store does not carry but two. I have tried Unconditional Chocolate and Give In To Mint.  But I assure you that even if I see another flavor on my way to a meeting I will buy it and eat it at the meeting -- consequences be damned!  But they will not take my Dove away from me!

Let me tell you how much I love this ice cream. If, in the debate on Thursday night, Sarah Palin had said “To my fellow Americans, I want you to know in a McCain / Palin administration we will provide government sponsored Dove Ice Cream” I would have pledged money to their campaign that second and committed myself to getting them elected. That’s how much I dig this ice cream. It's not that my devotion to Obama is that weak. It's that my devotion to Dove Ice Cream is that strong!

So if you have not tried a pint I suggest you make it to your grocery store and indulge. Forget your diet for the night (or for the week) and go crazy.

I promise, you’ll never be the same again.

I also promise to be back in a couple of weeks!