Food Obsessions: The first online post (part two).

Begin part two.

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The last remaining bites of leftover chicken mole and arroz rojo on really great nixtamal corn tostadas I just discovered thanks to my friend Rebecca2. These tostada shells are imported from Mexico and only have nixtamal corn, salt and a smidgen of some natural preservative. Please find them, they will change your life! They can literally transform anything leftover into a meal. Here is their website in Spanish: http://www.sanissimo.com/ In Wisconsin, they carry them at Woodman's - a regional superchain

Rising Buns: above.

I will never buy hamburger buns again after last summer. When perusing the Internet for recipes I came across What Geeks Eat: http://www.whatgeekseat.com/wordpress/2008/06/24/the-weakest-link-the-hamburger-bun/ and got this amazing recipe. I use half of Vanessa's recipe for 12 2 oz-ish buns. Leftovers make great pressed sandwiches the next day. I also use bread flour and let the dough rise in a warmed oven (preheat to 175 Fahrenheit and then turn off) for about an hour instead of the longer cooler rise she does. I also form rolls by hand rather than the cylinder method she uses. Mine look to be a bit softer than hers, but nonetheless very delicious.

Baked Buns: to the left.

I had insane cravings for coconut macaroons. These weren't quite perfections, but were very edible. Especially crumbled into vanilla ice cream spiked with rum and chocolate...

I know that Martha Stewart is supposed to be the preeminent authority on all things relating to the household...but sometimes I wonder who is testing her recipes. It was very tasty and healthy, if not a little on the dense side, but it's a good thing I used half the recipe (by weight) because there was so much flour in this baby that my Professional Kitchen Aid had a hard time keeping up. And there was no way I could have kneaded by hand, seeing as I am not a professional arm wrestler.

I now know that I have to figure out how to import pictures faster. I lost information twice here typing things in, and actually will admit that I split this in 2 parts because it would not save any more info on the first half of the post. I can hardly believe I'm THAT wordy... Now to find time to research the technicalities.