Saturday, May 26, 2007

Honorable Mentions: Food that didn't make the cut

I often get asked if the dishes and baking featured on Under the High Chair are really what we eat from day to day, and this surprises me. As if I would have time for extra projects on the side with a toddler running around keeping my life exciting and busy! What you see is what we eat, and I never cook specifically for the blog. Of course there are many, many everyday things that are not featured, such as our simple pasta dishes, the frequent bean-and-tortilla-variations (Danny’s favorite) and quick stir-fries (Noah’s favorite), but this isn't a daily food diary.

And yes, there are the flops, the experiments, the disasters….and occasional fires in my kitchen. (Boy, I’m really ‘fessing up here) I love trying new things and getting out of my cooking comfort zone and things don’t always go as they should. Unless there is a particularly good story behind the failed dish or lesson to be learned, I won’t take the time to blog about it.

But there are some items that fall between the cracks, and I call these the Honorable Mentions. While they are not complete failures, I am not 100% happy with them and hence, they don’t get featured with a recipe on UtHC. They may be recipes that need a little re-working; dishes that are lacking something, or some baking that just isn't good enough.
Here are some of those items. They may not be winners, but they still deserve a honorable mention and their fifteen minutes of fame!

(pictured above: Marble Cake. What used to be one of my favorite cakes when I was growing up, I found dry and barely palatable. Anyone have a great recipe to share?)

Lemon Polenta Cake. Love the combination, but again, it was just too dry.

Brown Sugar Roasted Pineapple with Ginger Whipped Cream
Muh. Not caramelized enough and the pineapple was stringy.

Citrus Cheesecake. Almost perfect, but a little too grainy for my liking.

A fresh fruit display I did for a party. It was tons of fun to do, but still falls in the cracks.

Melon Tray. Fun photo, but there's no recipe for this.

Chocolate Shortbread. Such a simple thing, but I don't think I baked them long enough. They needed to be more sandy.

Over and Out.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fires in the kitchen! I hope engineer son has implements to protect family, house and home!
Do8

Nora B. said...

Aimee, I understand what you mean about the blog not being a daily food diary. I have many ordinary recipes that I wouldn't want to bore readers with.
Your "hournourable mention" is an impressive line-up! You've presented them very well, I wouldn't have guessed that they weren't delicious.

Anonymous said...

I love the fruit tray idea. It's like a puzzle. My husband would have more fun playing with it than eating.

Aimée said...

Hi Pa- don't you worry about those fires. There are usually cause by that same son!

Hey Nora! I've though about having a food diary, but not seriously.Thanks for your nice comments.

Hi Tammy! Well, hello there!

Hi Lynn- Welcome! Yes I had a lot of fun making the fruit tray. I though it would be destroyed after a matter of minutes on the buffet, but people respected the geometrics of it and helped themselves accordingly.
:)

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