My Day In Pictures - Belgian Waffle Party

My Day In Pictures – Belgian Waffle Party

We had an impromptu Belgian waffle party tonight at the house and it was awesome. The recipe came from America’s Test Kitchen and included buttermilk, seltzer water, sour cream, sugar, salt, unbleached flour, eggs, vegetable oil, and a host of other items to create a waffle batter mix that was crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

It’s been a great day: The sofa was delivered, as were the second set of fine bone china I haven’t written about (all white, hotel collection for simplicity), a KitchenAid toaster, a KitchenAid Pro Line waffle maker, and some belated Christmas gifts I ordered for others. I ran into one of my best friend’s parents in the grocery store and she, Aaron, and I talked for a good hour in the frozen food section as we were shopping for supplies for said Belgian waffle party. His parents came to visit. My family stopped by. I got to spend part of the afternoon with my grandmother Ruby. It’s just been a great day. Family. Friends. Food. New toys with which to play. More books show up for the library. Some Jelly Defense tower games for iPad. How can you beat that?

Strawberry Belgian Waffle from KitchenAid Pro Line Waffle Baker

One of the Belgian waffles was garnished with strawberries, whipped cream, and powdered sugar.

This was a peanut butter and banana with maple syrup Belgian waffle.

Belgian Waffle Party with the Little Man

I took some time out to play with the little man as others took over the Belgian waffle baking duties.

Ghiradelli Milk Chocolate Chips for Belgian Waffles

The fruit toppings for the Belgian waffles included cherry, strawberry, blueberry, and apple, as well as fresh bananas, peanut butter, chocolate chips, chocolate syrup, caramel syrup, whipped cream, and almost anything else you can imagine. The cool thing? The fruit toppings now have no corn syrup.

The Belgian waffle recipe we used called for creating two mixing bowls - one dry, one wet - and then combining them in a final step. This was the dry mix, which included powdered buttermilk, flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda.

Eggs, Sour Cream, Vegetable, Oil, and Vanilla Extract for Belgian Waffle Recipe

The wet mixing bowl included eggs, sour cream, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, seltzer water ...

Belgian Waffle Mix Batter from Homemade Recipe in KitchenAid Pro Waffle Baker

The final step of the wet mixing bowl, putting in the seltzer water, before combining it with the dry mixing bowl to create the Belgian waffle batter ...

Belgian Waffle Batter in KitchenAid Pro Line Waffle Baker

We had to use far more waffle batter than the recipe called for because the KitchenAid Pro Waffle Baker has a larger surface area, which is more what you'd find in a hotel or restaurant.

KitchenAid Pro Line Waffle Baker Making Belgian Waffles

The KitchenAid Pro Line Waffle Baker has a cool feature that causes the ordinarily blue timer countdown to turn red and start counting up once you miss the beeping alarm telling you your waffle is finished.

Hot, piping Belgian waffles coming out of the waffle maker ...

The waffles were plated, ready to be garnished, adorned, and enjoyed by everyone ...

Finished Belgian Waffle with Strawberries

Another shot of some of the finished Belgian waffles.

Oh, and you know one of my childhood business heroes, Don Keough? There was a product at the grocery store that reminded me of his career; that we all have early days, we all have places to start. It’s just a great lesson. I picked up a box, er canister, solely out of nostalgia for those childhood stories reading about the type of people I wanted to grow up to be like.

They had Butter-Nut Coffee! The moment I see it, it makes me think of one of my childhood business heroes, Don Keough of Coca-Cola, who started his career with the Butter-Nut Coffee Company in Nebraska, which eventually led him to Coke.

Gilvus

Is that a Brazilian ubatuba countertop?
- Joshua Kennon
  
  I have no idea. I just know 1.) it is granite, and 2.) I loved how it looked. I can never quite tell if it is green or black, plus there are these gold spots throughout it. It looks almost three dimensional if you are staring directly down into it from overhead.
  - Gilvus
    
    Yeah, that sounds exactly like the material in my parents’ house. They get annoyed when I tell them it’s not technically granite.
    
    You’re actually seeing 3-D! The quartz crystals in the rock is semi-transparent, so you’re actually looking at minerals buried underneath through a warped lens!
    - Joshua Kennon
      
      Is it Charnockite, then? A quick Google search of the material you mentioned looks very much like what I have and calls it that, which is defined as “any orthopyroxene-bearing granite, composed mainly of quartz, perthite, or antiperthite and orthopyroxene (usually hypersthene), as an end-member of the charnockite series.
      
      I have no idea what half the words in that sentence mean but I’m guessing, if that is it as the online wholesalers and retailers are calling it, people probably short-hand granite because it is indistinguishable to the layman and it looks pretty.
      
      Plus, if someone told me I had Charnockite in my house, I would feel the urge to call Dr. Who to eradicate whatever it / they were. Assuming that is even what it is. That words sounds like an angry Alien race that wants to declare war because I violated some subtle social protocol. I picture them speaking with loud, hostile voices and having furrowed brows.
      
      Ref 1: http://granitesavannah.com/Ubatuba.html
    - Gilvus
      
      Yup! From your standpoint, lumping all music between the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution as “classical music” is woefully inaccurate, but that’s what everybody does.
      
      In the same way, “granite” gets used as a blanket term in place of geological jargon like charnockite. It’d be like if someone told you “I love this sonata” while listening to a minuet.