(no subject)

I have made pot roast!

Or I will have, in about ten hours.

My mum's slow-cooker pot roast always came out a little soggy and greasy, and while it was certainly edible I think I can do better. I think the thing is that there's enough liquid in the roast and the potatoes already, so I'm going with minimal liquid as per some recipes and we'll see how that goes.

In preparation for the pot roast, which is the first one I've ever made all on my lonesome, I looked at a lot of recipes and devised one I call "Frankenroast". I also looked at slow-cooker sites for advice on liners, because the liners I have tend to crumple and burn around the edges. I discovered that some people put water in the pan before they add the liner, so I tried that -- just a thin layer of water beneath the nylon liner. It's supposed to eliminate "hot spots".

The recipe, because I know people will want it, is for a smallish slow-cooker and is as follows:

( FRANKENROAST. )

UP NEXT: BACON CHEESECAKE. As soon as the cream cheese softens.

(no subject)

My origami calendar doesn't have stuff to fold on the weekends, usually, and I'm not at work anyway, so I've been supplimenting my studies with internet links and a book called Pornogami, which is exactly what it sounds like (wait till you see tomorrow's project).

Today's was via a link from spiderine, which teaches us how to make Abe Lincoln In A Baseball Cap out of a new five-dollar bill.

He looks so serene!

The folding instructions are here, but when you get to step three I guarantee you will weep, gnash your teeth, and believe that God, if He exists, does not care for you. I've noticed this trend in origami instructions -- they'll treat you like an idiot who doesn't know what paper even IS, and then suddenly WHAM, the most complicated fold ever comes at you all in one step.

The secret with Step Three Of Evil is that you don't actually have to make it look like it looks in the picture. You just have to fold the damn thing so that Lincoln's ear and jaw are outlined by the creases. I fully admit I fudged it, and I recommend you do the same.

(no subject)

I continue to be underwhelmed by bacon in desserts.

The bacon cheesecake came out okay; the bacon really brings out the flavour of the cream cheese, which would probably be nicer if I hadn't used really cheap cream cheese. You don't taste the bacon unless you get a piece of it in a bite, and then it's quite strong. The problem with baking bacon into sweet things seems to be that it tends to either overwhelm or disappear.

Most of the recipes I found for bacon cheesecake seemed to want to make it into a kind of savoury bastard quiche; they involve using salty cheeses or apples and lots of savoury herbs. So I just went with this recipe and added bacon.

Mind you, I cut the recipe by 2/3 (I only had one package of cream cheese) and made mini-cheesecakes instead of one big one, so there's some serious adjustment going on there. I'm actually surprised how well the cheesecake itself came out, I'm not usually this successful at baking.

( Bacon Cheesecake Attempt. )

(no subject)

Before I say anything else, because pot roast interrupted the meta I was going to write about Trace: Chapter Eight of Trace is up!

AND NOW: EPIC SAVE ON POT ROAST. SAM STARBUCK LEVELS UP.

I went into the kitchen to check on the pot roast and thought, You know what? It looks done. But it's only been cooking for five hours...

And then I remembered that all the recipes that said "Cook on low for ten hours" were also talking about cooking a piece of meat roughly twice the size of this one. So I checked it and sure enough, it's perfect. I'm letting it stand, because at the moment it's so tender it's impossible to cut; it just falls apart when I try. The potatoes look good too, and the gravy I drained off and strained is going to be an awesome au jus.

And now I have time to make molten chocolate cake tonight! (That recipe comes pre-recommended, I've made it before.)