Dr. Rebecca Lancefield’s Eggnog Recipe
Friday, December 19th, 2008–

Ingredients

1 dozen eggs
1 quart heavy cream
1 quart light cream
1 pint bourbon
1 quart rum
nutmeg
sugar to taste (1/2 – 3/4 lb)

Beat eggs, add bourbon and rum slowly with stirring to prevent precipitation of egg proteins. Beat heavy cream separately until it peaks and add to the egg/bourbon/rum mix.
Add the light cream with stirring. Add the sugar to taste with mixing (1 pound/batch), then add nutmeg to taste.
Leave standing at least overnight with lid slightly ajar in refrigerator. Serve after 2-3 weeks in the cold.

–

Sources
Rebecca Lancefield

• Several cans of La Costeña Refried Pinto Beans
• Several dozen Fresh-baked local Los Comales authentic Mexican tortillas
• One very flavorful can of “Cuitlacoche” (a gift from Bruno at the end of a recent Mexican cooking class)
• Two cans of La Costeña red jalapeño sauce
• Two varieties of fresh homemade Pico de Gallo
• Two varieties of (green and traditional) Mole
• Fresh onions, scallions and tomatoes
• Eggs, sausage, cheese and hashbrowns

[12-Jan: photo added]

 From Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery that Revolutionizes Home Baking by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois (Thomas Dunne Books, 2007). Copyright 2007 by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois.
Serves 4

Note: This recipe must be prepared in advance.

• 1-1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (about 1-1/2 packets)
• 1-1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 6-1/2 cups unbleached flour, plus extra for dusting dough
• Cornmeal

In a large plastic resealable container, mix yeast and salt into 3 cups lukewarm (about 100 degrees) water. Using a large spoon, stir in flour, mixing until mixture is uniformly moist with no dry patches. Do not knead. Dough will be wet and loose enough to conform to shape of plastic container. Cover, but not with an airtight lid.

Let dough rise at room temperature, until dough begins to flatten on top or collapse, at least 2 hours and up to 5 hours. (At this point, dough can be refrigerated up to 2 weeks; refrigerated dough is easier to work with than room-temperature dough, so the authors recommend that first-time bakers refrigerate dough overnight or at least 3 hours.)

When ready to bake, sprinkle cornmeal on a pizza peel. Place a broiler pan on bottom rack of oven. Place baking stone on middle rack and repeat oven to 450 degrees, preheating baking stone for at least 20 minutes.

Sprinkle a little flour on dough and on your hands. Pull dough up and, using a serrated knife, cut off a grapefruit-size piece (about 1 pound). Working for 30 to 60 seconds (and adding flour as needed to prevent dough from sticking to hands; most dusting flour will fall off, it’s not intended to be incorporated into dough), turn dough in hands, gently stretching surface of dough, rotating ball a quarter-turn as you go, creating a rounded top and a bunched bottom.

Place shaped dough on prepared pizza peel and let rest, uncovered, for 40 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough or refrigerate it in lidded container. (Even one day’s storage improves flavor and texture of bread. Dough can also be frozen in 1-pound portions in airtight containers and defrosted overnight in refrigerator prior to baking day.) Dust dough with flour.

Using a serrated knife, slash top of dough in three parallel, ¼-inch deep cuts (or in a tic-tac-toe pattern). Slide dough onto preheated baking stone. Pour 1 cup hot tap water into broiler pan and quickly close oven door to trap steam. Bake until crust is well-browned and firm to the touch, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven to a wire rack and cool completely.

Pushing me over the edge—I’ve been wanting to start an online diary for a long time—were two unrelated items: first, a most enjoyable second year at the MARBLE/marble symposium in Marble, Colorado; second, the latest book I’m reading: Rainbow’s End by Vernor Vinge (online copy). Vinge was the first to popularize the notion of a coming technological singularity. A fascinating transcript of a recent talk where Vinge talks about this latest book (and states “It will be a very glorious thing to be an early post-human artist”) can be found here.

Inspiration for the name of this blog—foolscap—comes from Rainbow’s End. In the depicted world of 2025, this foolscap is a sort of flexible electronic “browser paper” that effectively provides a neural interface to the connected world.

This blog’s content will likely be centered on a handful of topics of intense personal interest: Art (especially three-dimensional), technology trends, life (where it came from, what it is and where it’s headed), photography, cooking and travel. Due to its public nature, this diary will not contain anything about the personal or private lives of me, my family or friends. For now, comments are turned on but will be moderated. I’m not certain if or where they might fit in to my grand scheme.