OMG!!! a cooking forum on DU!?!?

[katusha]

how did this escape me in the past? a DU group devoted to love of food? i have found a new home.
let me start my first post here with a little info about myself so you all will no where i am coming from.

i have been a member of DU since the primaries in 2003(go Wes Clark) although i come here everyday to read up on things i rarely post as i usually don't have much to add to the discussion because my expertise lies in cooking/baking etc.
i am a professional cook/chef/baker/whatever with 20 years experience in food service mostly right here in central texas but i do have some cruise ship experience on the seattle-juneau run.
my last gig was a little bistro here in central texas that was the best job i ever had here is an example of what we did:

http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/review?oid=oid%3A627370

needless to say the restaurant fell victim to the declining economy and now i am looking for work :-(
well enough with the sob story here's some pictures!













anyways, that's where i am coming from so i look forward to learning and sharing with the rest of y'all. here's to food!!!

[cbayer]

1. Welcome to the best forum on DU, Katusha!

I look forward to having you here and partaking in your experience and expertise!

:hi:

[katusha]

20. thank you, i look forward to the fun. n/t

[Lucinda]

2. Welcome to the group!

Glad you found us, we have lots of fun!

[katusha]

21. yes fun indeed and adventerous

first article i read was on potato flake starter, not for the light hearted baker, have we heard of salt-risen bread as well?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_rising_bread

[Lucinda]

46. Yup. I have, but I've never tried to make salt risen.

Have you made either?

[NashVegas]

3. Oh My. We Like You

Did you make that cake? It looks beautiful. Keep it away from me.

[katusha]

22. thank you for the welcome

yes i made all the items in the pictures :-) yes the cakes are dangerous i would have been at the end of cruises parising me at the same time they would curse me for the weight gain lol.

[fishnfla]

4. welcome chef

these folks here are as nice as pie


seriously, best du forum,civility- wise, hands down

[katusha]

23. mmmmm.... pie....

[livetohike]

5. Welcome to the group!

:hi: Looking forward to hearing from you :-).

[katusha]

24. thanks for the welcome

i as well look forward to learning from the group. mmmm....pie...still drooling.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

6. Hiya, hiya, hiya.............

Your pictures made me hungry. I want that cake. You have, indeed, found a home.

I want Spam, too, which is all your fault. Spam, fried in butter with onions, through on a Kaiser roll with tomatoes and lettuce.

Oh, man, this is SERIES!!11111!!!! I have no Spam in the house.

Nice, start, friend, and WELCOME!!!!!

:hi:

[katusha]

25. mmm... spam...

one of the many reasons i want to go to hawaii and experience spam musubi

[The empressof all]

7. Love that Octopus

I'd love directions sometimes on how you did that one. I'm not much of a baker but I do dabble with strange looking cakes sometimes. I'd give that one a try! What a hoot!

Welcome to our little home. It's a terrific group of folks with a vast store of expertise...

[Tesha]

8. The key to that octopus looks like rolled fondant icing.

We once constructed a pretty-impressive Yellow Submarine floating
on a wavy blue sea, all made possible by that stuff.

[katusha]

26. yes, rolled fondant

that is exactly right! a balloon covered in it made the head and the arms were just rolled to a taper and positioned. it was my daughters first birthday so i had to go all out. make the rolled fondant myself as well as the cake, naturally.

[katusha]

27. thank you for the welcome

the cake was easy once i had it in my head what to do. and i actually had a practice cake 2 weeks earlier for my nieces birthday.

[MagickMuffin]

9. Welcome to C&B, fellow Texan here ;=D... Love your desserts

The meat not so much, but that's because I'm a Vegetarian :D

I'm sure you'll love it here.

[katusha]

28. my wife is vegetarian, too

she is also one of the best cooks of a steak i have ever known, go figure :-)

[elleng]

10. GOOD to see you, katusha!

same elleng as at securing america, been at DU for a while. AND as there's always something happening here at cooking, I 'lurk' a lot! WELCOME!

E

[katusha]

29. huzzzahhhh!!! how have things been?

i lurk a bit too but as i said merely because i did not have much to add, but cooking well....

[elleng]

41. Things ok; changes everywhere.

Great to learn of your cooking! These guys helped me 'perfect' chicken soup!

[kestrel91316]

11. Howdy. Is that a dead squid in the center of the plate in that first pic?

(J/K, I see it must be braised fennel, right?)

[katusha]

30. it does resemble a squid in that pic

it's true, but you are correct it is braised baby fennel with artichoke hearts and cauliflower, from the last tasting menu at cafe909.

[NMDemDist2]

12. where have you been all these years??? C&B is what kept several of us from going suicidal in 11/2004

:cry:

but we're all happy campers now and glad to have you aboard!!! :hi: :bounce: :woohoo:

welcome!

[katusha]

31. where have i been? having artificially high blood pressure

from reading all the BS in latest breaking news during the dark years known as the bush presidency.

[NMDemDist2]

43. well you've found where the mods hang out to decompress

:hi:

[hippywife]

13. Welcome, Katusha.

Yep, you have found THE place to be on DU. Sounds like you'll fit in well around these parts. Sorry about the economy eating your job, though. :hug:

:hi:

[katusha]

32. thanks for the love :-)

if i think of it as a trade off of losing a job to lose bush then it eases the pain.

[Stinky The Clown]

14. Welcome to the group! The happiest bunch on all of DU

And the most active group of posters back here in the small rooms. :)

(Go Wes Clark!! Yeah, yeah!!! :thumbsup: ;) )

[katusha]

33. husb2sparky.. err.. um.. stinky that is..

good to see you here too. as you know already i enjoy your posts from way back :-)

[troubleinwinter]

15. Welcome!!! But

you must post BUNCHES and LOTS!!!!

[katusha]

34. yes, many posts, many recipes

hopefully i will be working soon, but late at night i always find time to come to DU.

[pengillian101]

16. You will be a fun member at C&B!

Picture posts of food are always my favorites.

I have also read at DU for 5-6 years, but never signed up to post until a year or so ago when I found the Cooking and Baking Group, LOL!

It's a great group.

Hope your job search goes well.

:grouphug:

[katusha]

35. thank you for the encouragement

the restaurant job market is already starting to turn around so things are getting better here.

[housewolf]

17. Hmmm... let's see... I'll take that chocolate cake and those great-looking rolls ...

:9 :9 :9 :9 :9

Seriously though... Welcome to C&B! Think you'll find it interesting and fun here.

Baker here... not much of a cook anymore... but love to talk baking, especially bread, especially sourdough... haven't tried ABin5 yet though...

Come on in, you'll be right at home here!

[katusha]

36. thank you for the welcome

baker ehhh....let's talk ovens, what kinds do you have access to? professional, home, brick? as you can see baking is a joy of mine and yes you can live on bread alone, if it's fresh.

[AwakeAtLast]

18. Great pictures!

And, um, anytime you feel like making that chocolate cake and want to send it to me, I won't say no! :9 :9

BTW, my sister lives in Austin and we will be visiting her the first week of July. I am so excited to get to sample the food of Austin!

I am the kind of cook who knows how to do things, but I will only do what is relatively quick and/or easy. There are occasions where I have taken a day to do something bigger, but it doesn't happen very often. I think that's the working mom in me. Maybe that will change later on.

The one thing I do want to get around to doing is baking bread. I've never even looked at a package of yeast. No one in my family ever used it, and they were fairly good at cooking and baking. So I'm sure one day soon I will venture into the process.

Great to have you! Welcome! :hi:

[katusha]

39. you didn't even get to see the inside of the cake

a chocolate-mayo cake brushed with amaretto and a raspbarry filling between the layers then covered with ganache and decorated. i am just a little proud of that cake.

when you come to austin make sure to check out parkside on 6th street, city market in luling(just south), the salt lick, perry's steakhouse, all hell here is a link to the food section of local paper so much to eat.
http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/section?name=Food

i am like you in that i prefer simpler, easier when i cook for myself, when someone pays me money however...

as far as bread goes the link at the bottom of the blanc du bois brioche pic in my sig line is the easiest, most forgiving recipe/technique EVAH!!!111!!! it will change your life.

thanks for the welcome and bon appetit!

[hippywife]

44. You are a late comer.

We've been all over that bread recipe and have moved on to making our own mods to the Artisan in Five bread recipe and others. That's been the cause for the flurry of posts around here lately. :rofl:

Seriously, did you make those rolls? We want information...details...cough 'em up or yer outta here! ;)

[katusha]

45. oh my, yes i see the posts now

busy bees with bread i see. good to know that the group is ever vigilant in search of good bread.

yes i made the rolls, the details, well maybe i should start a new thread for that....

[MagickMuffin]

42. You should stop on over @ the DU Texas forum and tell them you're coming

If you have time available they love meeting up and having lunches with other members. They are a great bunch of people. I live in the D/FW area so I don't get down there as often as I would like.


:hi:

[Inchworm]

19. Welcome!

:woohoo:

Nice pics!

:hi:

[katusha]

37. thank you for the welcome

it was actually a post by you that inspired me to post pics, so thank you again :-)

[Gormy Cuss]

38. Oh great. Just what we need here, another professional cook/chef/baker.

Seriously, where have you been? Glad you finally found C & B!

[katusha]

40. hehehe... i've been here

i just haven't been HERE. look forward to reading everyones secrets er um posts that is :-)

[lisa58]

47. My Mother used to make those dinner rolls - haven't seen them in years...

...thanks for posting and welcome - this is a great place to visit everyday.

[bicentennial_baby]

48. Welcome to the best DU forum!

:bounce:

:hi:

[wryter2000]

49. Amazing, huh?

C&B saved my sanity after the 2004 election.