The Fantastic Felters!

This past Sunday Chris and I hosted our friends, the Felters (Nicki, Fred, and their two angels, Isabella and Charlotte), for a mid-morning breakfast and catch up. Though Nicki and I went to high school together, the Felters now live in Columbus. Charlotte took to Chris right away which made him so happy as our niece was completely afraid of him for months, and Isabella was quite the conversationalist. (Wonder where she got that?!) We spent the morning hunting for cats and playing a game of Q&A. Kudos to Nicki and Fred for doing a great job raising their two beautiful little girls.

I'm not around kids that often and I just forget how awesome they are! Both girls sat quietly at the breakfast table and ate what the grown-ups ate, exhibited the best of manners, and were just as sweet as could be. I wish we lived closer so we could babysit and go on park outings! I promise I'll push you high in the swing the next time I see you, Isabella! Meanwhile, we're on the lookout for a pink, sparkly hammock!

Beer-Batter Cheese Bread, Cooks Illustrated

At the risk of breaking some sort of copyright law, I'm sharing this awesome recipe for beer-batter cheese bread from Cooks Illustrated. I made the sharp cheddar/jalapeno variety tonight and it turned out just great! Easy, delicious, even better slathered in butter...what more could you want from a quick bread? Enjoy!

Beer-Batter Cheese Bread
Beer-batter cheese bread often tastes more like leftover beer than cheese and is so greasy
you have to pass out extra napkins for just one slice. Could we improve this quick bread?
Nothing warms up the house like the smell of baking bread—but making a yeasted loaf from scratch can take half the day. Luckily, there are quick breads, like beer-batter cheese bread, that can be on the table in less than an hour. The basic recipe for this bread is simple: Just stir together flour, sugar, cheese, salt, beer, and baking powder; scrape the batter into a loaf pan; pour melted butter on top (to create a rich and craggy crust); and bake. There are no long rises, kneading, or hassle. Best of all, the beer gives this bread a hearty flavor.
Unfortunately, there were a lot of problems with the recipes I found. Many loaves tasted sour, like stale beer, while others had negligible cheese flavor. And some breads were so greasy that I had to pass out extra napkins at each tasting. I wanted a lighter loaf of bread enhanced with the yeasty flavor of beer and a big hit of cheese. And I wanted it to be as easy as advertised.
To test beer flavor, I made two loaves, using an inexpensive American lager in one and a dark ale in the other. The dark ale tasted great in a glass, but its strong flavor turned bitter when baked in the bread. The mild domestic lager (Budweiser and Millet Genuine Draft were our favorites in a later tasting) provided a clean, subtle flavor without any sourness at all.
Mild cheddar is typically the cheese of choice in this recipe, but no matter how much I used—up to 3 cups for a single loaf—the flavor was well, mild. I turned to more assertive cheeses like Gruyère, and extra-sharp cheddar. The bolder cheeses let me get away with using less (about 2 cups per loaf), so the bread was less greasy. Since my tasters professed a preference for biting into pockets of cheese in the bread, I shredded half the cheese and diced the rest for added texture.
While some of the greasiness was gone, the loaves still felt too stodgy and heavy. Increasing the amount of baking powder helped lighten the crumb a little, but I knew that pouring melted butter over the batter before baking—which creates a beautiful crust—was part of the prob1cm. Cutting back the butter from a full stick to half a stick made the loaf considerably lighter while still producing that craggy crust. I finally had a beer-batter cheese bread that was as easy to eat as it was to make.
—DIANE UNGER, Cook’s Country
BEER-BATTER CHEESE BREAD
MAKES ONE 9-INCH LOAF
Insert the toothpick in a few spots when testing for doneness; it may hit a pocket of cheese, which resembles uncooked batter on the toothpick. Strongly flavored beers make the bread hitter, so mild American lagers, like Budweiser, work best here.
8 ounces Gruyère cheese, 4 ounces shredded and 4 ounces cut into ¼ -inch cubes
3 cups (15 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon pepper
1 (12-ounce) bottle light-bodied beer (see note)
4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, melted
1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9 by 5 inch loaf pain.
2. Combine the shredded and cubed cheese, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Stir in the beer and mix until well combined. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan, spreading it to the corners. Drizzle the melted butter evenly over the top of the batter,
3. Bake until the loaf is deep golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool the bread in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn it out onto a rack. Cool completely and slice as desired. (Although this bread can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, after the second day the bread is best toasted.

VARIATIONS
BEER-BATTER BREAD WITH CHEDDAR AND JALAPEO
Follow the recipe for Beer-Batter Cheese Bread, substituting 8 ounces extra-sharp cheddar for the Gruyère. Stir 2 stemmed, seeded, and minced jalapeno chilies into the bowl with the cheese.
BEER-BATTER BREAD WITH SMOKED GOUDA AND BACON
Follow the recipe for Beer-Batter Cheese Bread, substituting 8 ounces smoked Gouda foe the Gruyère. Stir 8 slices bacon, cooked until crisp and then crumbled, into the bowl with the cheese.

TASTING GRUYÈRE CHEESE
Though its fame derives mainly from its use in fondue and French onion soup, Gruyère is also a table cheese revered for its creamy texture and savory flavor. Both Switzerland and France make authentic versions that are crafted from raw cow’s milk and aged for the better part of a year in government-designated regions (the French cheese is called Gruyère de Comtè). Though labeled “Gruyère,” domestic cheeses of this type bear little resemblance to the real thing. Made from pasteurized cow’s milk, they are aged for fewer months and have a rubbery texture and bland flavor. In fact, in a blind taste test of nine brands, tasters overwhelmingly panned the two domestic versions, likening one (from Boar’s Head) to “plastic.” Imported Gruyeres, on the other band, received raves. The top picks in the lineup were three reserve cheeses, aged 10 or more months to develop stronger flavor: the Gruyère Reserve carried by Whole Foods Market, Emmi Le Gruyère Reserve, and a Gruyère Sale from a Boston-area cheese shop.

The Messicks Encore

This is a little late, but I hate to miss an opportunity to put a shout-out to my best cousins, the Messicks. Holly and Danny arrived mid week the last week of June for a Cubs vs. Tigers game (that's baseball, for all you non-sports fans) and some of that Rutherford je ne sais quoi. The following weekend we headed to Chicagoland for a family reunion.

The visits were riddled with parallels. They arrived in Detroit making excellent time; we arrived in Chicago in record time! We weren't home to greet them when they arrived; they were able to return the favor upon our arrival. (You get the picture.)

We always have ridiculous fun with the Messicks. Now we just need to figure out how to hang out more often. Is a move in order?

Before and After

Since I was no longer wasting time running while in a cast, I decided to take on some home improvement tasks (which I'm just getting around to photographing and uploading). I was lucky enough to inherit my grandparents dressers. I loved the lines, but was not happy with the finish or the hardware until now! The whole project took about a week, including drying time. The dressers needed to be painted three times and have one coat of stain (wiping it on and off immediately). What a huge improvement it's made for our room! The white dressers really pop against the chocolate walls now, rather than looking blah and blending in.

The Tillerman 2004

Public service announcement: If you have any of this, and I mean ANY, listen closely. Go down to your cellar, grab the offending bottles and a friend, pull the cork and guzzle. My beloved Tillerman has lost its nose, its dark fruit/smooth tannin/ pleasant mouth feel and turned into a disappointing sip. You still can drink it (and should, based on how much you likely paid for a bottle), but it's not what it once had been that made me fall hot and heavy over heels for the 2004 Tillerman.

Eight Days without a Cast

It's been eight days so far since I've had my cast removed. Not a day goes by when I am not thankful for being able to take a shower without the plastic bag that leaked anyway, and having to summon Chris for my every need. (It's funny how his hearing waned as we approached the six week mark of my injury.) I had my last checkup yesterday, and am cleared for activity, as long as it doesn't hurt. Orthotics have been ordered and I'm on my way back to running...well, sort of.

I walked a mile today with Chris and Elvis, albeit very slowly. I only experienced one shooting pain on our way back at the corner of Nine Mile and Woodward. (No that this detail matters, but I thought I'd set the scene.) Considering what my foot had been through, I think that's pretty good. Miraculously, I was able to shake it and make it home, relatively unscathed. I know my body is working hard at building bone and new synapses, and my new found patience (wishful thinking here---bear with me) will serve me well.