One of these mornings...

I am going to make biscuits and gravy (a dish I have never actually had, but I have heard descriptions of it, and it sounds nice) in the Northern California style: fresh, small-farmed ingredients, homemade sausage, etc.

The trouble is: I am not a baker, and within the area of baking, biscuits are my weakest area. I tend to overwork them, which yields a little hockey puck.

But just having biscuits, sausage and sausage gravy just doesn't sound like a proper breakfast. There should be something sweet, but not too heavy, to go along with all this. I would like to think along the lines of a meyer lemon curd, but I don't think I want to put that on the biscuits that will be drizzled with gravy. However, adding another bread product strikes me as gross...so I am forced to think of little meyer lemon pots de creme with fresh, local berries (you can tell I am planning a bit far ahead here), but is this getting to be too much? Perhaps if I just served mimosas that would do the trick.

Hmmm. I am beginning to understand why I don't go for big breakfasts. All of that work without the benefit of a martini? I suppose one could have a martini at six in the morning, but that sort of thing was never my style. Martinis shouldn't be served too often before five in the afternoon.

So, why am I thinking of fancy breakfasts now? Probably because of my general dissatisfaction with commercial breakfast sausage. I taste these things and think, "well, it's OK, but it could be much better, really." And to spend all that time making sausage and not give it the right setting seems wrong.

Hard Cider

They have some Hard Cider from Vermont at Trader Joe's, so we picked up a six pack. The stuff is really good: crisp, refreshing, sort of like Martinelli's, but not as sickly sweet, more thirst quenching, and with a much better flavor. At 5% it barely counts as hard, but it is enough to give it structure. Good stuff.

Vegetable Soup.

I have to produce one for an event tomorrow. I hate vegetable broths, which is why I have NEVER seen soup as a viable Friday in Lent option. However, duty calls, and I have to think of something edible. I am thinking of building a vegetable stock of standard aromatics with leaks, then using that to make a mushroom/potato bisque, and serving it with rustic French bread croutons and thyme-infused EVOO and drizzled with creme fraiche.

East Indian Catholic Recipes.

Someone found the site looking for the above phrase. Unfortunately I don't really have a treasure trove of any Indian recipes. I cook a few, but they are not spectacular, and I know nothing of the food of Goa, which is probably pretty good, since I can only imagine the combination of Portuguese and East Indian cuisines. I like Indian food, but it is probably my weakest area, foodwise.

So, sorry.

Now, if you want to move over a bit further East, to Thailand and Indonesia, then we can talk. I love to cook Southeast Asian food. And if you have some good Vietnamese recipes to offer, well, then I am all ears. I know a little bit, but would like to know more.

I suppose I should focus on Phillipino food, since we live in such a Phillipino area (with a great market full of all sorts of goodies that are just screaming for experimentation). Anyone recommend a good cookbook?