It's been too long. Cheesey biscuits:
One day I'll come up with my own recipe for JAMMIE DODGERS
I meant to post something about going to the baseball game last week, but the pictures were exceptionally boring. Except for this one, which is of a pirate (he's wearing a patch if you can't tell).
Also, let's all welcome the newest reader, ChadAmerica's as-yet-unnamed second heir to the throne.
Sometimes (all the time) you just wanna get some pho, and the idea makes you really excited.
Especially when you get there and realize that it's the best phomaker in the world. Seriously, all you people who are opening pho places in the city need to steal this dude. He's about yay high, Vietnamese, and remembers us every time we come. 
Here's a spiral pain d'epis from yesterday.
Come on, Value Village! You have this kitteh wall hanging for $3.87 and expect us to walk past it? Huh? I don't know where you were brought up, Value Village, but this is not how it worked in my family.
I have had a dream, possibly from watching North by Northwest too often as a child, or possibly Frasier, of having decanters. Dream fulfilled.
Finally, making ciabatta is on the time-intensive side of things. But it is important for the realization of a sandwich vision I had a few days ago, and will reveal in due time.
Trying out first batch of dough from book Eric loaned me, I didn't have any instant yeast, so I substituted active dry yeast. Result? Did not rise. Still baked, though, and resulted in two sandwich loaves which are delicious but ridiculously heavy.
Next up: jalapeno cheddar biscuits. Perfect, right! Yes. But no. Did not add salt, so savoriness not as overwhelming as it should be. Luckily there is still peppery cheese goodness to replace it.
Finally: mourning end of last bottle of 1989 R. Lopez de Heredia Blanco Rioja. Must order more. (Thank you to Andy Myers at CityZen for introducing this wine which rulz.)
Jalapeno Cheddar Biscuits
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, jalapenos, cheese, and salt. Using your fingertips, rub butter and apple butter into dry ingredients until mixture looks like crumbs. Make a well in the center and pour in the chilled buttermilk. Stir until the dough comes together and is sticky.
Turn dough onto floured surface, dust top with flour and gently fold dough over on itself 6 or 8 times. Press into a 1-inch thick round. Cut out biscuits with a 2-inch cutter, being sure to push straight down through the dough. Place biscuits on baking sheet so that they just touch. Reform scrap dough, working it as little as possible and continue cutting.
Bake until biscuits slightly browned on top, 10 to 15 minutes.
Considering how much I love biscuits, it's weird that I haven't made them before (aside from my three-year stint as Saturday morning biscuit-maker at Chick-fil-A Lilburn). Here is my first batch, using Alton Brown's recipe:
His recipe, like most things related to the South, uses Crisco, which has all sorts of oils in various states of hydrogenation. Which people say is not healthy, etc. So I tried another batch replacing the Crisco with unsweetened apple butter (1/1),
being pretty certain that it would not be nearly as delicious. I was wrong. They are better.
Next up: jalapeno cheddar sausage biscuits.
