DB, Dorie, and FATAL ERROR!!!

Yes, those are the words no computer owner wants to see/hear/read. But they were the words that were blaring in my brain last week. When my COMPUTER DIED!!!!! Yes, Bloggers, the computer decided it did not want to live anymore. It tried. It would start to boot up, and then change it’s mind. And try again, and change it’s mind. Then it decided it just wasn’t worth the trouble and even gave up trying. Now my hard drive has gone to Computer Heaven (back seat of the car) and my local ‘Puter VooDoo Shaman is trying to raise it from the dead just long enough to retrieve my stuff (and my sanity!!!)

But some sanity has returned – along with the New (refurbished/recertified) cpu which arrived this morning. Partial YAY!!!

So, let me do a little catch up.

First: Daring Cooks. This was supposed to be posted last Thursday, but…. The challenge this month was to make Ricotta Gnocchi. Contrary to popular belief, it is not pronounced g-nochi, but rather noki. According to Wikipedia,”The word gnocchi means “lump”, and comes from nocchio, a knot in the wood.” Remember the Fairy Tale of Pinnochio. Now you know…..!! The recipe came from the stunning cookbook by Judy Rodgers, named after her restaurant, The Zuni Café Cookbook.

GNOCCHI is an Italian noodle or dumpling. It can be made from flour, semolina, potato, bread crumbs, or other ingredients. The challenge was to make gnocchi using Ricotta cheese. Now, I have some Italian ancestry – Gradenigo – but it evidently it isn’t enough, ’cause my gnocchi just did not want to turn out. I tested the ricotta – not wet – mixed everything up and popped the first test guinnea pig blob into the boiling water – not holding together just doesn’t describe what that little blob did. Okay, added some egg white – same story, added more egg white – same story added ALL the egg white – almost same story. Frustration!! Added a little flour – ehhhhh!!!. Add more flour – finally. The next blob was a little better. Not pretty, but at least they were holding together. So I made some more…. And then I made a few more…..and put them in the butter sauce. Not bad, but not great. I tried some with some Sun Dried Tomato Pesto a friend had made. Better, but still not something I would make again. I didn’t have any zest available, but I did add some Italian seasoning, otherwise I followed the recipe as listed. But it was a challenge.

Second: Tuesday with Dorie!!At least I can get this post up on time. This weeks delight was chosen by Kelly of Baking with the Boys. Great Choice, Kelly!! Easy!! Tasty!! Pretty!!

big pieces of mango – YUMMEEE !! The only changes: I left out the (eewwww) raisins and added about a teaspoon of diced fresh ginger. Liked Loved it!! Nice and spicy and moist.

I made the whole recipe and ended up with 3 little loaves and 1 mini bundt cake. This is definitely added to my Bake it Again list. Thanks, Kelly!

Catch up later with the Lemon Tart. Next week – Chipster Topped Brownies.