Mini Apple Fritters

As I mentioned in the post from 10Fourteen after trying their BLT fritters I started thinking we should eat more fritters.  Why don't we make fritters?  So I came across a recipe for "Beer Battered Apple Fritters" and I thought ... here we go - perfect opportunity -- fritters and beer.  Perfect.  I was hosting B&B Club so I decided to make a practice run with the fritters to see how they would be.

The recipe is not that complicated -- and me being me -- I had to make a few of my own changes!

Dry Ingredients:
2 cups cake flour
1 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
1 tblsp baking powder
1 tblsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt

1.  In a large bowl sift together the above ingredients and set aside.

 

In another bowl, whisk together the following:

1 cup beer (the recipe called for "de-alcoholized" beer but that just makes no sense to me)

3 eggs

1/4 cup melted butter

1 tblsp orange zest

3 tblsp orange juice

1 tsp vanilla

 

 

Now you don't need the whole bottle of beer for the batter  ... so go ahead and pour the rest into a glass so that you can keep hydrated while you are doing all that whisking.

 

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just moistened; fold in 3 finely diced Courtland apples.  Heat oil in a large saucepan (approximately 2" deep); heat over medium-high up to 375*F.  Working in batches, carefully drop heaping tablespoon fulls of batter into hot oil and fry until golden brown - about 2 minutes per side.

 

 

Remove and and place on a paper towel - I have my paper towels on a cooling rack.  Let cool and dust with icing sugar.

 

 

I had some trouble with the "dusting" with icing sugar; even though they were cool, it was melting into the fritters or just not sticking at all (notice the pile of icing sugar on the plate!).  I even added more sugar the next day.  They are very tasty; they are small so its best to dice the apples fairly finely.  The cornmeal adds a nice bite of crunch to the batter and they hold over well to the next day (although lose the crispiness of being fried).

 

Next time I make them, I would put more cinnamon in the batter and maybe even a bit of brown sugar to make them a bit more caramelized.  But they had good flavour and everyone who tried them said they really liked them.  Mine didn't look as nice as the picture in the magazine ... but it was mostly just because of the dusting of the icing sugar.  They are pretty easy and not too time consuming and a nice fall treat.

 

 

10Fourteen

Stacey and I were heading out to meet up with her friends Sonia and Steve for one of the last nights of live music before the closing of the iconic Elmdale House Tavern (of interest, the old Elmdale has now closed for good but is being renovated and will re-open as the Elmdale Oyster House by the owners of The Whalesbone ... and it's also right next door to my fave burger joint -- best in the city:  Hintonburger ... and no I will NEVER stop talking about Hintonburger, accept it!).

So, of course we had to go out for some yummy eats before heading over to The Elmdale so I chose 10Fourteen, a relatively new resto along the newly gentrified stretch of Wellington just west of Bayshore and, ironically, located at 1014 Wellington Street West ... perfect as we were only steps away from the tavern.  This is the start of of Hintonburg's trendy new restaurant area and I absolutely love this neighbourhood.

The website for 10Fourteen is lacking but I'm attaching the link as they have some much better photos of the inside of the resto than I took that night but other than a map there is not much else on the website.  It's worth it to check out the pix - the decor and ambiance is great.  It's upscale casual with some beautiful mirrors on the walls and a comfy lounge-y area at the back.  The bar was packed with a couple of groups of friends laughing and having a great time (and pretty much every time I've walked by in the evenings I've noticed a group of people having fun at the bar).  There was some jazz music playing and our waitress was pleasant, knowledgeable and appropriately attentive.

Diners are provided with the house made chili-spiced popcorn to munch on while looking over the menu.  The restaurant specializes in "small plates" and the menu, while not extensive, changes frequently so you could basically have something new and different every time you go there.  The chef is also really big on unique and interesting presentation.

 

Stacey chose some red wine while I got some local micro-brewed beer.  Every dish has a title and a very brief description of the ingredients so you really rely on your server for an explanation of the dish and how it is prepared and presented.  We found the descriptions of the upcoming plates that we chose to be spot-on and we appreciated the explanations.  We told our waitress that were were going to order a number of dishes in sequence so as we ordered one item we continued perusing the menu for our next selection.  The time for preparation and delivery to the table was very quick so we finished one round before ordering our next sampling.

 

For 'round one' Stacey picked the "Bahgi" (their spelling) which was identified on the menu as Onion/Curry/Tamarind and I chose the "Poppers" which were described as Artichoke/Chiorizo/ Cheese.

 

The Baghi (background) were perfectly crispy and I love the sweet/sourness of the tamarind.  They were perfect and I don't think that you would know that your favourite Indian mummy-ji had not made these perfect little bundles for you.  The jalapeno poppers were filled with smooth-creamy cheese and lots of chiorizo - so they were already spicy to bite but with sufficient cooling cream cheese to find them enjoyably spicy not too hot to burn your taste buds and miss the smoky flavour of the sausage.  However, if you wanted even more of a kick, that is sriracha dotted alongside them (I did).

Next up, was "Glass of Bacon" selected by me and described as Rhum/Coke/ Lime while Stacey chose the "Mac N' Cheese" explained as Bechamel/Cheddar/ Biscuit/Butter.  The waitress described the bacon as being marinated in the rum and coke then grilled and finished with the lime.  The Mac N' Cheese also came accompanied by a side of a beautiful purple cabbage slaw.

Both of us agreed we could not get any of the flavours other than bacon (not a bad thing mind you ...) from the bacon - the marinating and finishing we didn't find added anything.  Really - bacon is already good as it is, it doesn't have to be made any better.  The Mac N' Cheese was super creamy (and unbelievably hot) but we both found it a tad bland.  Stacey and I both agreed that we should have added the bacon to the Mac N' Cheese and it would have probably improved both dishes.  The biscuit was warm and freshly made with herbs and we both loved the slaw.  Overall this was our least favourite course.

On to 'round three' and we went for the two specials of the night:  "Supreme" which was Boar/Chili/Verde/Jalapeno/Cheese and the "Platter" described as BLT/Fritter/Aioli Leek/Rings/ Apple.

The boar chili is on the left side.  It was delicious with tender chunks of boar and was spicy but not overly hot and very flavourful.  The salsa verde was piled on top and gave a nice temperature and crunchy texture variation from the hot chili.  At the far right side is the BLT fritters.  These were really good.  They were crunchy and hot.  The aioli was delicious -- creamy and tangy.  Really good and made me think I need to make and serve food as fritters in the future - change things up.  And finally, in the centre are the "leek rings" -- essentially an onion ring made with leeks.  These golden nuggets were crispy and and delicious.  They had a much subtler flavour than onion rings and I absolutely loved them.  They were laying on some pureed apple sauce - not for me but Stacey enjoyed it.  I didn't really see the point of adding a sweet fruit (and apple sauce is not one of my favourite things in any case) but it was a flavour and temperature contrast to the leek rings.  I could have popped these golden, crispy babies in my mouth all night.

Alas, it was time to begin the short walk down the street to catch up with Sonia and Steve; the bill arrived in a wine pourer/measure so Stacey decided to put a bill of her own right back in the measure glass to pay!

We had a great dinner and I thoroughly enjoyed myself, enjoyed the company of my great friend and the restaurant.  The food is top notch and we really liked it - in all honestly some of the small plates are a little on the 'small' side and we totally figured had we wanted to, we probably could have eaten every dish on the menu.  In fact we only missed the "Protein" (Lentils/Beans/Chickpeas/ Onions/Cauliflower/Kale) and the "Greek" (Pita/Chips/Cucumber/Tomato/ Onion/Olive) which our waitress told us was essentially a Greek salad with pita chips so we didn't feel like we were missing anything we had not had before.  Nonetheless I have recommended this resto to others and look forward to going back again ... sometime.

coupl'a drinks later and heading out to the tavern ...

Medal Ceremony and After Parties

So by some bizarre twist of fate I was nominated (I did not self-nominate) for a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal.  According to the Governor General the medal "is a tangible way for Canada to honour Her Majesty for her service to this country. At the same time, it serves to honour significant contributions and achievements by Canadians".  Yeah, that's right ... the Queen loves me!

So you may be asking what significant contribution and achievement did I make/do? ...Yeah.  I was asking myself that too.  I did my job.  I guess that's what I did.  And thanks to a really amazing boss ... who has since left for Ottawa for the glory and prestige of Regina (yeah ... Regina ... I don't get it either) who vouched for me having done a good job -- I somehow was a selected recipient of the medal. 

Luckily, the medal ceremony coincided with my birthday so Emma was able to come for the the birthday weekend and stay for the medal ceremony, which was great. I was so happy she could come ... it made getting the medal worthwhile!

Official photograph ... Doug and I

 

This was a very serious affair in the parade with the uniforms getting all sorts of instructions on marching, saluting, how long to shake the Assistant Commissioner's hand, etc.  And us civilians ... we were told to "just walk normally".  What a challenge.  Despite the formality, pomp and circumstance I had full intentions of having fun with this thing.  And I was pretty sure I could nail the walk ... hopefully I wouldn't trip down the stairs with my fab-u-lus new purple shoes!

 

As well as Emma, my dear dear friends Marlene, Stacey and Sherrylynn all attended the ceremony.  And they took my lead to have fun with the ceremony too.

 

waiting for the guest of honour ... oh yeah

that's me!!!

 

 

It would be inappropriate to repeat the commentary that was taking place as some others were receiving their medals, but suffice it to say ... we had some good laughs during the presentations!  There was no way we were not going to enjoy this ... I mean how often is the Queen gonna choose me for anything?

 

FunBobby pretending she doesn't see me walking

down the aisle to get my award ...!

 

Luckily, I was the last one to go ... so I also took the opportunity to smile and wave to my fans!  After the ceremony, I asked the Sergeant Major if he thought us civilians did ok with our 'normal' walking?!  He was laughing and said he thought I was pretty funny when I was walking up to meet Doug.  For a guy who had to organize and coordinate a very serious and formal event, I was glad that he appreciated me having fun with it and didn't think that I was being disrespectful to the pomp and ceremony.  After all this was my big moment too (sort of ...) I should be allowed to enjoy it!

After the ceremony, there was time for socializing with guests and to get more photos.  And have some Tim Horton's coffee and tim bits.  Ahhhhh ... cops and their Timmies.

  

Great friends like this make it all worthwhile!

 

Kiss the medal!  Ahahahaha

Ok ... I know my eyes are closed but this is such a great

pic of Emma I chose it instead of one with my eyes open.

 

After the reception ... the real celebrations began! Stacey had to head back to the office for a bit but she was planning to rendez-vous with us in few hours for dinner.  Emma and I started off with some beers at the Preston Street Heart & Crown ... an excellent choice for a Monday afternoon at about 2pm.  Can't go wrong with that.

"Winston" (as we named the medal -- you know after the house of Windsor) enjoyed a pint and the other beers were not even jealous because he was very fun and generous!  He was not even pretentious or anything!

 

Since we were practically the only people in the bar, we had almost the full and uninterrupted attention of the bartender.  Although his attention was periodically drawn away from the glory of the medal and our gorgeousness to watch coverage of Super-Storm Sandy on TV.  I guess that's ok - it was a pretty spectacular storm after all.

 

After a couple of pints we headed home to change and relax for a few minutes before heading out to Table 40 to meet back up with Stacey for dinner.  Table 40 is the communal dining restaurant attached to, and run by Ross and Simon Fraser, the owners of Fraser's Cafe in Beechwood.  It is only open for special events and the "Monday Dinners" (how fortuitous that my medal ceremony was on a Monday!).  It is a set menu, that is posted on-line a short time in advance of the upcoming Monday.

 

Here's Winston checking out the menu -- since the rest of us had

already seen it on-line and knew what we were going to be having!

 

We got a cozy table up front in the corner. It seated six but it wasn't until after we were finished eating that another couple was seated at the other end of our table. There are about 3 or 4 tables for six and one huge table that probably seats about 20 people I would guess. The decor is funky with lots of wood mixed with modern fixtures.

 

As soon as we sat down we were served a fresh, home baked loaf of bread which was yummy and delicious.  More recently than this dinner I've been out a number of times and it seems that bread being served to start a meal is just not happening so much anymore ... and I say bring back the bread dammit!  You can't beat delicious fresh bread to start off a nice meal.

 

Winston checking out the bread and waiting for his soup

while Stacey reads up on the "All Time Favourite Casserole Recipes"

from the 1977 Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.

 

 

We started with French onion soup with Swiss cheese mustard toast.  The soup comes to the table in the pot, steaming hot and you serve yourself.  The soup was absolutely delicious.  It was smooth and velvety and the onions were sweet and cooked perfectly.  It was also nice that the Swiss cheese mustard toast was served on the side because Emma is not a big fan of traditional French onion soup which can sometimes be overloaded with cheese.  Serving the toast on the side also kept it nice and crispy rather than soggy from absorbing all the broth.  It was a Dijon mustard so it added some zing to the flavour.  I decided that I was going to try making this toast at home some time it was so good.

 

Winston checking out the soup and you can see the Swiss cheese

mustard toast on the side

 

As I mentioned wood features prominently in the decor at Table 40.  You can see here all the food is served on a variety of sized, thick slaps of wood - which is cool and fun for the customers and definitely adds to the home-y, comforting communal dining feel -- but as our waitress mentioned, they are not the easiest to pick up off the table and can become quite heavy when laden with food.  You definitely need muscles to work here!

 

Awaiting our next course, we had some time to enjoy some wine, and Winston was chatting up all the ladies.

 

 

The main course was described on the menu as Braised beef and oxtail ragout pasta, tomato sauce, broccoli and Carrot salad with walnuts, parsley, cumin and yoghurt (their spelling) dressing.  From the description we thought the ragout had the pasta, tomato sauce and broccoli in it but these were three separate dishes.  The sauce on the ragout was outstanding - but for the fact that it was too thick, I would have just poured it down my throat!  The flavour was very good but we all found the one of the meats was dry (while we could clearly distinguish that there were two kinds of meat in the dish, we just could not tell which one was which).

 

 We've already dug in to all of the dishes but Winston

remains poised for any falling bits of food. 

 

The pasta was fresh made, and as a general rule I don't always love home-made pasta.  I often find it dough-y.  This pasta was perfect.  It was light and soft - I think you would call it 'pappardelle'; it was basically long, thick strips in shape.  The tomato sauce had lots of fresh tomatoes and a nice amount of cheese.  It was excellent.  And the broccoli was broccoli.  It was cooked well; but was just steamed broccoli.  I could have done without it.

 

You should also notice the massive wood plank (essentially a 2-inch thick slab of tree trunk!) and some yummy delicious salty olives strategically placed all over the plank.  As the waitress came to remove the plank when we were finished with our main course I noticed there were still a couple of olives hiding on the far side of the dishes so I had to snag those before she took them away.

 

 

The best thing I can say about the carrot salad was that it was incredibly beautiful.  It was totally not what we were expecting - it was a frisee salad with some beautiful heirloom carrot curls on top.  The entire salad was very fresh and crisp.  Sadly, we found the cumin and yoghurt dressing quite bland.  It had so much potential but we all felt it fell sort of flat.  Oh, and those tongs were useless for serving the salad.

 

Finally, to finish off the meal:  Poached pear tart for dessert.  Now I've already talked about how often last fall poached pears kept popping up everywhere I was out eating.  What's up with that?

 

In keeping with the family style dining theme, three pieces of poached pear tart were served on a wooden plank.  The plank was first drizzled with a maple caramel which was delicious.  The tart was fine.  It was not overly sweet, so the maple caramel really added to the flavour.  Overall it was tasty but not my favourite thing ... but then again, unless its chocolate, dessert is never going to win out over good savoury dishes for me.

 

Finishing off the last bite!

 

Clearly ... it wasn't bad since we finished off the whole thing and scraped the maple caramel off the wooden plank.  I loved the experience of the family-style communal dining theme and I really love the atmosphere/ambiance of Table 40.  It is a really great, unique dining experience.  There was a birthday party at the big table and we really felt like everyone in the restaurant was a part of the party.

 

We had such a great time at the ceremony and the after parties.  I was so blessed to have such wonderful friends around to share the experience with me.  After all, it's not every day that the Queen picks you to get a medal and it would have meant nothing if I wouldn't have been able to spend the party with my friends.  Thanks to all of you!

 

Birthday 2012 ... BDT

My birthday this year ... number 46 ... was bittersweet.  The Saturday two days after my actual birthday was the day I planned my party.  It was also the morning we said goodbye to my Jakey.  I had been up almost the whole night beforehand and made the decision around 3am.  What a terrible choice to have to make about someone you love so much.  I know it was the right thing to do and he's in a much better place but I'm still so sad and continue to miss him everyday.

Thoughtfully, several of my friends coming to the party offered to postpone to another night when I was feeling better but I thought the best thing to do was to go on with the party.  Jakey, always one for a party (i.e. eating), would have wanted it that way!

I had a terrible time trying to find a place to go.  My initial thought was to organize a gourmet dinner at The Urban Element or Table 40.  Turns out October is an extremely busy month for birthdays and weddings.  I could not find a date that worked for me.  And while I still love this idea and might pursue it for a future birthday, it can be quite expensive.  My next idea was just to plan a dinner for a bunch of us ... again a challenge since the places I wanted to go to either do not take reservations on Saturday night (even for a group of 20 people) or they were all booked up for large groups.  I finally managed to confirm at Brasseurs du Temps (BDT) on the Gatineau side for a group of 15.  That was the most they could accommodate even though I was planning about two weeks in advance!

As you know, if you've read my previous posts I have had both good and mediocre experiences at BDT.  The place is great, the beer is awesome, but there have been some misses on the food and service.  Generally I thought it was a good choice with a good variety of food and the brewery right on site, a bit unfortunate about having to go over to the Quebec side but, really ... at this point I had no choice if I wanted to have a birthday par-tay!

We had a great location right in the centre of the main room - almost with a view of the beer vats.  There were no other tables close to us which was nice.  I won't go into all the food -- frankly I'm not even sure what I had ... I think I had ribs but I'm not positive.  I know several of us started with the goat cheese salad which was really really good -- and huge.  It is a dinner sized salad with ... guess what?  poached pears.  As I mentioned in my post about Burnt Butter, this fall I was inundated with poached pears everywhere.  The goat cheese salad also led to a heated discussion between Jack and I ... disagreeing whether there was horseradish in the dressing.

There was.  I won.

 

I don't know for sure what everyone ordered.  I know that the three women sitting closest to me (Stacey, FunBobby and Caitlyn I'm looking at you) ordered the mussels.  I gave Caitlyn a pass on my ultimatum that that she not order mussels anymore when we go out only because there were other people having them too.  Everyone who had the mussels said they were awesome.

 

Emma started with the bison tartare.  She loved it ... and to her great surprise I tried it.  She never expected me to try it since it grosses me out everytime she tells me about the fab-u-lus steak tartare she gets at a resto that she goes to in London.  I can assure you ... the bison tartare was excellent.  You just have to be able to get over the fact that you are eating raw meat ... it's worth trying.  Obviously, this was before Emma went vegan!

 

 

I also can vouch for the fact that the french onion soup smelled amazing!  Bonnie ordered it as a starter and she assured me it was really good.  Also there were a couple of people who ordered the poutine with smoked meat and it also smelled amazing.  Next time I'm at BDT I'm definitely going to try that -- Caitlyn, Yves-Etienne and Ivana all said it was really really good too.

We had a great time.  I'm glad that I had a designated-driver so I was able to sample all the beers.  And some bosoms too ... FunBobby nestled me in her ample boobies.

 Special birthday treat for me!

 

and to think I insisted I didn't want any birthday presents ...!

It was lots of laughs and fun all around.  When you get Chicklit laughing this much you know it's gotta be a good time, and/or she she's had much more booze than usual!

 

Stacey got a little treat from Emma too ... at the end of the night with a little whipped cream delight.

 

mmmmm whipped cream and wine

 

We really had a great time at the restaurant.  The guys were good enough to head out and let me and my girls finish off the night together on our own.  Stacey got a gorgeous set of beer glasses and then we headed back to my place for another little cocktail.  We had tossed around the idea of heading of to a Gatineau club but we didn't think any of us had enough of a fake tan and bleached blond hairs to fit in.  And, it really had been a very long day for me and I appreciated soooooo much all my dear friends hanging out with me to celebrate my birthday and to comfort me in such a difficult time.  Love you all.

Arancini - The Obsession Continues

I've mentioned my obsession with arancini (rice balls) several times now.  In October I finally got around to trying to make some myself.  It can't be that hard right?  I've googled several recipes and after having eaten a few different versions (see my posts from my weekend in Toronto:  Part 2 at Table 17 and  Part Trois at Gusto) I figured I could basically recreate the mushroom/fontina ones that we had had at Table 17.

First, you have to make the mushroom risotto.  I have a G-R-E-A-T mushroom risotto recipe that comes from the LCBO's Food & Drink magazine (Lucy Waverman's mushroom risotto) and I've made it several times and it has turned out great every time.  In fact, it seems Lucy Waverman liked it so much she first published it in the Autumn 2001 edition and then repeated it in the Autumn 2003 edition of Food & Drink.  I see all these cooking competition shows where risotto is the death of contestants but this one is seriously reliably good.  There are a number of steps involved but it's not overly complicated or time-consuming.  I won't replicate the entire recipe here, since you can look it up in Food & Drink but I will show you how I made it.

 

First rehydrate dried mushrooms (I used a mixed variety pack) in 1 cup of boiling water.  Set aside.  Chop fresh mushrooms (I use white and cremini) - about 1.5 - 2 cups.  Sauté the fresh mushrooms in olive oil and butter until the mushrooms are soft and all the liquid has been released.  Season with salt, pepper, parsley and I usually add some thyme.

 

 

Next, heat olive oil and butter in a sauce pan.  Add onions and arborio rice and coat well with oil/butter.  Add white wine and cook until all the liquid has been absorbed.  Add the mushroom soaking liquid and the rehydrated mushrooms (I strain the liquid and give the mushrooms a bit of a finer chop as the rehydrated dried mushrooms can sometimes be a bit rubbery so you don't want a big bite of one).  Continue to cook and stir until all the liquid has again been absorbed.

 

 

 Then add stock in one-cup increments adding more after the last cup has been absorbed.  Now I know you are supposed to add warm stock ... sometimes I heat the stock in the microwave so it is warm when I add it to the rice; other times I've added the stock at room temperature -  this recipe is very forgiving.  I've also been known to add more white wine than the recipe calls for, as well as to have a little glass or two for drinking while I'm cooking -- hey the bottle is already opened and you don't need the whole thing for the risotto.  Don't judge. 

 

This whole process should take about 20 minutes or so.  The rice should still have a bit of firmness in the centre (I think those chefy types say the rice has a bit of a bite).  Add the sautéd mushrooms and stir well.  Remove from heat and add parmesan cheese.  Stir till well combined.

 

 

Now you have to let the risotto cool before you can move on to actually making the arancini.  I put it in the fridge and took the dogs for a walk.  It still wasn't cool enough so I had to watch some tv till it was cool enough to work with.  This recipe is ideal if you were using left-over risotto or were able to chill it overnight.

 

First chop the fontina cheese into small cubes.  I cut them into about 1.5cm to 2cm squares and as I was stuffing the rice I realized the smaller ones actually worked a bit better.  Then form the risotto into balls approximately 2 tablespoons or slightly larger in size.  Use your thumb to create a hole in the rice ball and insert the cube of fontina.  Close up the ball to cover the cheese with rice.

 

 

Set up a two-stage breading station with beaten egg and bread crumbs (I used the seasoned Italian bread crumbs).  Roll each ball in the egg then into the bread crumbs.  Continue with this process until all your balls are rolled.  Ahahahahaha!!!

 

Then deep fry.  I don't have a deep fryer and just use vegetable oil in a large sauce pan on the stove.  The first batch I cooked I had the oil a bit too hot and they cooked too quickly so the cheese in the middle didn't melt and get all ooey-gooey like it should have.  After that I got the temperature of the oil regulated a bit better (you can use a candy/deep fry thermometer if you have one ... if I recall correctly I think it was best to not have the oil over 300*F). 

 

 

They don't take long to cook about 5-8 minutes (I flipped mine in the pot while frying since they were not immersed in oil).  They should be golden brown all over.  Remove from oil onto a paper towel.  Serve hot with tomato sauce.

 

 

 

Since I had made a full batch of risotto I had a lot of arancini.  I breaded them all and put half of them uncooked in the fridge and then just fried them up the next day.  I also took some of the fully cooked ones to work for my lunch for the next few days (hey ... I had about 15 rice balls) and they heated up in the microwave really nicely too.

 

All in all it is fairly time consuming with having to make the risotto first.  For me it was totally worth it and and they were totally delicious.  They are super crispy on the outside and the gooey cheesy goodness on the inside is really yummy.  If you are thinking of trying them out I would suggest planning on making them on a weekend where you can do things in stages.