blue artichoke

I haven't abandoned cleaning out my house; it's just become a bit more piecemeal in the last few days. I'll return to it in a few days. My newest endeavor, however, is cooking my way through my cooking school textbook. We didn't cook every recipe from this book, not even half, but it's French and fancy and why not? I made an onion flan from the book a few weeks ago. It was super. Tonight I'm making Steaks au Poivre avec Pommes Sautées à Cru, which translates to Using Seldom Used Kitchen Implements and Cooking for a Really Long Time. Or something like that. Seriously, no home cook could be expected to cook like this regularly. Where do you find veal stock? I made a faux veal stock using tomato paste, chicken stock, beef stock and some aromatics and bay leaves. It tastes alarmingly like real veal stock. I used my mandoline to thinly slice potatoes, then I blanched them in oil (pre-fry) before frying them in oil. The sauce (it is French, after all), requires a flambé. That's why I chose this recipe. I've never done this at home, without the security of an overhead chemical extinguisher. I did singe my eyebrows doing this at school. Fingers crossed for luck.

Oh, yeah, has anyone tried the new mashed potato bowl at KFC? Gentleman Caller and I tried one and I was a bit disappointed. I'm a big fan of KFC's mashed potatoes and gravy. I used to eat that on the road trip home from college. So, I know that's good. Corn mixed in with mashed potatoes is what I used to eat at d-hall in college (or sometimes I mixed in peas instead of corn). So, I know that combo is good. Fried chicken tenders go with mashed potatoes and corn, so no problem there. Add cheese, which makes everything better, and it should be a masterpiece. But it wasn't. Maybe more gravy or seasoning would help. Maybe I hyped it up too much. Anyone else tried it?