My Adventures in Food Land

Simple Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies - no flour or butter needed!

2011-12-22T14:32:00.000-08:00

Flourless? Buterless? Easy? Delicious? YES YES YES YES!

I was in the mood to make cookies....my craving was horrible! I wanted to make really really simple cookies. I was even thinking of whipping out my brownie mix and making cookies from that... but then I found this recipe for peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. I think this recipe combines a lot of my loves: chocolate...peanut butter.. and cookies... and to my surprise they looked and tasted JUST like a regular cookie!

The first peanut butter recipe I tried was by martha stewart... ah yes, another failed attempt at her recipe (don't get me wrong... Martha was my idol growing up!... until she went to jail.. but still.. I grew up watching her before and after school... since the food network didn't exist yet... to me she had the perfect life, she was good at everything she did.. cooking... crafting.. entertaining... yep.. that's who I wanted to be when I grew up) I'm sure it was a good recipe, but I made it in a toaster oven. I waited until my mom left to play around in the kitchen. I was probably a freshmen in high school at the time and still learning about cooking and food... like how margarine was NOT butter... ah.. that blew my mind. I quickly mixed up the cookies, made cute indentations with the tines of the fork and baked it... what I didn't realize was the high oil content of peanut butter.. and how that made the cookies burn quickly... they burnt.. badly... I was bummed. I didn't want to make it seem like I failed, so I scraped off al the burnt bits into the trash... they scraped off pretty easily but still left that burnt taste.. I threw away the ones that were beyond salvable....then my mom came home and was like hm.. did you burn something? sigh. what a fail. Anyway, I've never made peanut butter cookies like that ever again. I actually have a thing against toaster ovens now.. probably because I've had a lot of burning mishaps with them... I'll stick to the big ovens... just as long as they're gas powered :)

Easy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from : Epicurious

Makes 18

1 cup smooth peanut butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips
Sea Salt

1. Preheat oven at 350 degrees
2. Mix up everything but the chocolate, stir until smooth, add chocolate chips , use a medium cookie scoop, and drop by the scoopful onto a lined cookie sheet, press down slightly. Lightly sprinkle with sea salt.
3. Bake for 12-15 minutes, depending on the size of the cookie, check to see if it's brown around the edges, if it looks like it's browning too quickly, move it up to a higher rack.

NY Times Chocolate Chip Cookie

2011-12-16T19:43:00.000-08:00

NY Times' Chocolate Chip Cookie

Oh, the controversy... what's the best recipe for chocolate chip cookies? I've tried so many of them.. and most have just be "eh" at most. I've been on food gawker a lot lately, and realized... there is a trending cookie that I wasn't aware of.. the NY Times chocolate chip cookies. The key for those cookies? Letting it rest for at least 24 hours... I wish I had the time, and planned things out better. I wanted to make cookies for my friends... but I always have finals around this time. This year, I didn't get a chance to do it. But I rationalize that this will be my trial run for when I do have time to make them next quarter. I'm officially half way done with dental school, but almost half way done being a dental student. Which also mean... I basically bought a house at 24. I finished my finals yesterday.... my eyes were so blood shot at the end of the day. The very last final was a killer, not because it was hard, content-wise, but it was just hard to stay focused.. all I wanted to do was leave and sleep.

Big bites + cold milk = love!

Patience is a virtue. People have told me that I am a very patient person. I'm not. I may be like that on the outside during random situations, but inside, I'm just dying to just do it, or get it out of someone. I think I've gotten better though, I don't poke things in the oven every few minutes to see if it's done... the only think I haven't really learned is that pizza will stay hot for quite some time... pizza burn is not fun..but happens to me every time. Cooking... well... most of the time, doesn't require much patience. Baking however.... requires a good amount of that.. and uh.. the NY times chocolate chip cookie recipe? Way TOO much dead time. I can understand letting cookies sit for 30 minutes, maybe an hour, of when I'd just stick it in the freezer and "expedite" the chilling time... but seriously... 24 hours?!... I couldn't resist, I fired up the oven and made 3 cookies....and my impatient moment? I was crouched in front of the oven the entire time. I think I deserve a cookie break... especially today... and what's better than out of the oven chocolate chip cookies? Sadly, not much... these days. I wonder if many people have tried to see if developing it for 24 hours really makes a difference? I wish I saved one to compare.

The results of not chilling or letting the dough rest
Still a GREAT cookie!

OMG these were delicious.... and aside from my TMJ problems when chewing them (darn crepitus)... I'd say this recipe is a true winner. These tasted like cookies you buy at the store... FINALLY!!! They aren't like any cookie I have made, but WOW... I'll be surprise if I don't sneak a few more scoops out of the dough tonight... what I realized after baking it.. was that this dough was a bit too soft. I halved the recipe and did a stupid thing.. I forgot to add 1/3 cup of bread flour.... not to fear... I placed the dough back into my mixer and added the flour... my chips did break up a bit... but that's not a problem.. I'm glad my mixer didn't die when mixing that dough + chips. What I'd do differently next time? Not add so much chocolate, and sugar. I'm not a fan of the super sweet sweets. I'll update tomorrow on the outcome of the rest of the cookies. I'm making them for a holiday party.... that and maybe some molasses cookies... gotta use up that molasses I don't find much use for it outside of the holidays...

You can find the recipe here: NY TIMES CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
I followed it almost to a T after halving the recipe... I did reduce the sugar a bit, but will continue to reduce it further in my next batch. I used Guittard milk chocolate ( they're bigger ) and semi sweet. Guittard is my favorite brand of chocolates... and it's pretty easy to find these days too.. when on sale, they range form $2.50 -$ 3 bucks for a 12 oz bag... and that's when I stock up. :)

The well rested cookies

UPDATE: 24 hours later, I baked the rest of the dough. Was the wait worth it? In my opinion... not really. The cookie was VERY DELICIOUS, my best cookie yet. Sorry to break it to everyone who is convinced that letting it rest for 24 hours is the best thing in the world. I really enjoyed the cookie after mixing it. It wasn't as chewy, or crisp on the outside, and definitely flattened out a lot more. As for the ones after I let it rest? The texture was a little better after letting it rest, the edges were crispy and the centers were the perfect.. chewy... but really, if you don't have the time, or patience ... just bake that darn thing.. it's just a cookie! ... and don't forget the sea salt on top.. that actually makes a delectable difference. :) Maybe I'll try and make super thick cookies. I didn't make the 3.5 oz cookies as stated in the recipe. I'm making it for 15 people .. not 5.. oh well next time, and there will be a next time with this cookie!!!

Misfit

2011-12-11T12:32:00.001-08:00

The 5 minute pre finals sandwich!

This is what I feel like a lot of people in the society think about where I could fit in..... "You're a woman, and you're supposed to be making sandwiches." I hear that line enough times.. and I don't get it... probably because I'm not really a fan of eating sandwiches (and.. why sandwiches... aren't they really easy to make?) haha.. but yea, however... that is what I want to do though, but it isn't all I want to do in life. I do feel like I belong in the kitchen, but not because I am a woman, just because I love being there. No guy has ever forced me into the kitchen, it is something I've loved since I was little. If a guy wants to join me in the kitchen, that's a-ok with me, it would be nice having someone who shares a similar passion but I haven't had a kitchen big enough for 2 people so I hate having someone else in my kitchen (they've all been tiny alleys.) I guess having someone who enjoys eating my experiments will work too... just as long as they help with the dishes : D . I seriously don't know how I will juggle my desire to cook fabulous meals every night after a long day at work.... but I'll soon figure that out.

Hermey Would Like to be a ... a... Dentist!

I'm 6 finals away from being at the halfway point, so yes, I am living Hermey's dream. You have no idea how much resistance I've dealt with because I decided to do this.... reactions like "ewwww," "you're weird," "dental assisting school?" "could you not get into med school?" "why not pharmacy?" "doesn't it smell bad?" "don't they have the highest suicide rates?" < - FALSE and my personal favorite and all time most frequent reaction "why?? I hate the dentist!" hahahaha I can't really think of any profession where you tell someone what you're going to be and automatically get the reaction "I hate _______!!!" I feel like dentists can be known as misfits in the society... I've dealt with enough negativity towards my profession to come to terms that this is not really a desirable field to most.... and that's why it's comforting going to school where it's not a big deal... but really, I don't care. I am not embarrassed to be a dental nerd. I am proud, and I know I will be needed, like it or not. I haven't met many people who haven't been to the dentist .. ever, and have no dental problems... if you're out there, I'd like to meet you. Cheers to my 6th finals week, and hoping that these hours of studying have paid off.... then I can finally tackle the beast that will truly mark my half way point.

FoodSaver Obsession

2011-12-11T11:14:00.001-08:00

yep, she did it.. she vacuum sealed spam..
she even fried it before sealing!

A few weeks ago I bought my mom a mini foodsaver food vacuuming system. It was on slickdeals, and I got suckered in. I thought that this would be a great Christmas present for her, but we don't really celebrate Christmas anymore so I decided to just ship it home.. thinking that she wouldn't know what to do with it or call it a waste of money haha .. little did I know, the day after she received it, she called up customer service and had them take her step by step from sealing to vacuuming. She hasn't stopped vacuuming since... yea.. a 10 ft roll was donezo in 1.5 weeks of use. AHH what was she doing?! Vacuuming everything... from meats to.. french bread<- she said it shriveled up like an old lady's face... my mom is hilarious....because she did that just to see what it would look it.. she ended up unsealing it a day after to see it "grow" back to form.

This was a fail, they were still hard after I unsealed it...
but a good attemptat making them last longer!

Anyway, the reason why I got her one and not one for me is that she complains about how I don't eat all the foods she freezes for me and then they "turn bad" after a few months... aka.. they're covered in ice... everything from ground beef to filet mignon...yea I'm a food waster, I just don't really cook meet. I am so lucky to have such caring parents who have visited me when I don't have the time to go home. I don't know of any parent who would do the same of their children. Yes, Ms. Wallace, my parents still cook me food, and also do my laundry for the past 1.5 years. It's not like I can't do my own laundry, or cook my own food, I just don't have much energy invested in those things....I lived fine on my own while at UCLA where they were 400 miles away.

I don't know when I will be cooking this up....
but hey, at least it won't have freezer burn all over it!

My parents came yesterday and brought me a TON of food.... you wouldn't even believe how much food they brought it... from home made desserts and meals to things they bought at a restaurant and what also came along with it? .. all the food saver packets my mom sealed over the past few weeks... haha They spent almost 5 hours here slowly unpacking the foods, throwing away what they thought was junk, cleaning, reading the newspaper, napping, and eating. They even brought me a cooked crab and cracked open my coconut so I can drink real coconut water! Yep. AMAZING. The cool thing is, when they're here I have to study, so I did, with very little "slacking." I went through all of the dental decks for occlusion and dental anatomy, and did around 50 q's out of a book. That might be the most productive time spent on boards thus far. I haven't studied for my 6 finals this week though.. um... yea.. this is quite the crazy program I'm in. Just. Breathe. It'll all be over soon.

Eggplants are Interesting

2011-12-09T21:25:00.001-08:00

I love the texture of eggplant. I don't know why. Have you touched an eggplant lately? I mean, compared to the other fresh things that I eat, eggplants are quite unique. The skin is nice and dark, and has a really rubbery feel to it.. when you slice into it, the flesh is soft and white, with seeds scattered in a weird pattern. Yea. Eggplant. WEIRD.

On my quest to eating healthier... I discovered this gem on sale at Lucky's. $1.50 an eggplant isn't that cheap for something that will probably shrink a bit after cooking... meh, had to try something new. With this, I cut it in half, grilled some of them and roasted the other half. I made pasta with grilled eggplant and tomato sauce, and baba ganoush ... i've never had that before so I have no idea what it tastes like ... it's such a fun word to say.. ba ba ga nouhe .. well that's how i say it.. and my pronunciation has been quite horrendous lately.. don't get me started with pronunciation of bacterias, viruses, and drugs...

Eggplant Spread

1/2 of an eggplant
1/8 cup mayonaise
1/2 clove of garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 the juice of a lemon
1.5 tsp sesame seed oil
2 tsp sesame seeds
salt and pepper to taste

1. Roast an eggplant in a preheated 400 degree oven for 30 minutes ( poke holes in the skin)

2. Take out of oven, and remove skin. (Some people say to run it under cold water, but I didn't try that.)
3. Place all ingredients into the blender or food processor except the olive oil. Puree until blended. While having the blender on the "puree" mode, drizzle in the olive oil.
4. Place in fridge for a few hours so flavors can develop

Things that happened today...

I got my first issue of Bon Appetit! ... which then inspired me to make macarons... and well.. no pictures of macarons here... first time ever, they didn't even make it to the oven! I aged my eggwhites for 3 days... they kind of evaporated... so I didn't have enough egg to fold with the dry ingredients... the batter was incredibly thick, and so I just gave up. Why bother. They were rose flavored.. it smelled and tasted wonderfully... but I knew that it wouldn't give me that elusive macaron look.

I'm sitting next to so many books... Blah Blah "made ridiculously simple." If only that were the case... some days I wonder if I'm in med school... but can med school really be any harder than what I have to go through? Sure it's harder to get in...and people are more cut throat.... but like content wise... and load... I'd like to find the answer to that one day. Meh. Boards Smoards.. they're all the same. I'm studying some USMLE books... and well it makes sense right? It always looks like "You Smile" to me.. Yep. It has dentistry written all over it. Even saying it is cool.. u s m l e.... what's so cool about nbde ... n .. b..d...e ? no one knows about it.... and yes, dentists do need to know everything about the body too.... I think that's why I've been into medical shows lately. I could sometimes come to the diagnosis before the drs on the show, and I understand their "rationales" ... sometimes... arg... this is the longest i've been without Facebook.. and well i don't really miss it. I waste my time watching tv now. I don't know what's worse.

I survived my first oral surgery rotation... without pulling out a tooth :( I was itching to do something... but the opportunities just weren't right this week. Plus, who really wants to pull out a tooth right before the holidays? Iono.. just a theory for the lack of patients. Every surgical extraction came out as a simple one. Sigh. Oh well, next time... for sure. There is seriously something strange about the moment a tooth gets extracted..can't believe it's could be as easy as cutting the attachments, elevating it, and then pulling it out!

I realized I do have an obsession with nails... haha darn Konad. These were my nails last week. I took the polish off after a few days because my hands go through a lot throughout the week... which explains random scratches here and there (don't worry they're from lab work not from patients :D ) .. ahh nail art is so addicting.. ! My nails are currently metallic silver... yep totally reminds me of having amalgam on my fingers...

Blackberry Ice Cream

2011-12-06T19:05:00.001-08:00

I keep coming to the realization that I don't truly possess artistic skills. I may be creative and know what looks good.. but it really doesn't come naturally. I see the big picture rather than the minute details. Blarg. I really wish I could see the details. How do I keep coming to this realization? Recreating a smile from nothing... aka. making full upper and lower dentures. haha... it bothers me when I have to make the teeth have the perfect "straightness" and angulation is a the most "ideal" look... who has that? I surely don't. If I ever made dentures that look like my teeth.. I think they'd fail me... but then again, my teeth aren't naturally like this... oh well...

Back to Food Land... Why is is that I only make ice cream when it's almost freezing outside? (I say freezing, but it's only like in the 40's.. in SF... yea yea.. I can't actually stand the cold.. ) I made my first real batch of ice cream today and boy was it tasty. I used egg yolks.. and cream... yep. the good stuff. It was a tad too sweet so next time I will definitely reduce that, but it was beautiful. I added some raspberry liquor buecase well... I haven't found a use for that and I've had it for well over a year. My hope is that the ice cream won't turn rock hard in the freezer with a little liquor in the batter.

Update: So I left it in the freezer overnight and it was beautiful. I had ice cream for breakfast right before a test. Nothing better than that right? ... Fruits... milk.. and eggs.. yep..that sounds like breakfast to me!

Blackberry Ice Cream

The destruction after a few days of eating it straight out of the pan...

1 1/4 cup milk ( the fattier the better, I only used 2% )
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
2 tbsp raspberry liquor

1 cup heavy cream

1 pint fresh blackberries
1/4- 1/2 cup sugar (I enjoy the tartness of the blackberries so I wouldn't use too much sugar )
1/2 of a lemon, juiced.
A splash of raspberry liquor

1. In a double boiler, bring milk and coconut milk to a simmer. In another bowl whisk together the sugar and eggs. Ladle around 1/4 cup full of milk into the egg yolks to get them use to the hot temperature. Slowly ladle all fo the milk in, whisking it along the way to make sure there are no lumps. Return to double boiler and heat while stirring until the back of the spoon is coated. Take off heat. Add cream and liquor. Stir and put in fridge until really cold ( a few hours minimum )
2. In another bowl, mix together the lemon, sugar and blackberries, add a splash of liquor, and mash it up a bit. Refridgerate for a few hours.
3. Before placing into the ice cream making, mix the 2 bowls together, pour into the machine and for 20 minutes (until thick and "soft serve" stage)
4. Place in freezer until set. Place a piece of wax paper on top of the ice cream surface to prevent ice to form.

Zucchini Cupcakes

2011-12-03T17:17:00.000-08:00

Kudos to a great recipe Martha. Historically, my relationship with Martha Stewart recipes have been mainly misses. I loved her red velvet and banana cupcakes, but there were many in her cupcake book that just did not work out. These were delicious and super easy... because it did not require a mixer. I guess this texture was kind of like a muffin... yea I'm still torn about that cupcake vs. muffin debate...

Anyway, I made these cupcakes some modifications/ differences from the original recipe... only had 9 cupcakes, and they were done in 23 minutes... it stated 12 cupcakes and 40-45 minutes. Good thing I was on the look out for "doneness." My decent sized zucchini didn't yield the 1.5 cups stated in the recipe, and I didn't use nuts.

I frosted them with cream cheese frosting.. but my pictures are awful due to poor lighting :( it gets too dark too soon these days :(

Zucchini Cupcakes

Adapted from : http://www.marthastewart.com/317832/sweet-zucchini-cupcakes

Dry:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 tsp baking powder

Wet:
1 cup grated zucchini (i did it on the biggest size), packed
2 tbsp milk ( I used soy milk)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup oil

1. Preheat oven @350 degrees
2. mix dry ingredients in a bowl, mix wet ingredients in another bowl, mix wet -> dry ... or well it doesn't really matter.. for me it was just mix the smaller bowl into the bigger one. Stir until combined, stop stirring when you first see that all of the flour mixture has been incorporated into the wet ingredients
3. Use a 1/4 cup measurer to scoop out mixture into lined cupcake pan, rap the pan on the countertop or floor a few times so everything settings down
4. Bake for 25 minutes ( or until toothpick comes out clean.) let cool on rack for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely before frosting. Cover them quickly as these do dry out in record time.

My Thai Craving

2011-12-03T14:02:00.000-08:00

Everyone's quite busy these days... I figured it'd be hard to round up someone to go get thai food with me... and what was I to do when the "use by" date on my tofu reads ... well. today? Thai curry time!!!

I love thai food. My favorite curry is pumpkin, but all the other ones are great too. I used the whole package of tofu on these recipes... with 1 zucchini and 1 yellow squash... 2/3rd of a can of coconut milk :).. and I have lunch and dinner.. I only scooped out half for today's lunch. A meal like this would cost at least 15 bucks at a restaurant down the street ($10 bucks is standard for one curry dish in this area! :(.. and that's not including tax and tip and they charge for rice! ) ... didn't use any meat and I"m sure these veggies aren't authentic (but that's all I had on hand :() anyway, the total cost for this is around $1 for the tofu, $1.50 for the veggies $1 buck for coconut milk ( I buy these at the asian food store ... they're a LOT cheaper there.) and well.. iono how to calculate the pastes.. but I must have used a few table spoons of each .. and it's barely made a dent (that container was $2.50 each)... so these dishes cost under 5 bucks to make? Awesome. What's even better? I made it all in around 20 minutes. I had my zucchini cupcakes baking in the oven.. and those were done in 23 minutes... why so much squash-ish things? $.99 / lb at the store...I bought a few... cuz they last quite a while. :)

Tom Kha with tofu, zucchini, and yellow squash

Tofu, Zucchini, and Yellow Squash Red Curry

This can be found at many asian food stores. I got mine at 99 Ranch.. they also have smaller packet for a buck or so. I followed their direction for when to add what, but altered a lot of stuff to my taste. I have no idea how much 50 grams is.. so I added a glob, if it was too spicy I added more coconut milk, if it was too mild, I added more paste.

Soy Milk Lattes & My 30 Days Challenge

2011-12-03T10:36:00.000-08:00

Vanilla Chai Tea Soy Latte : Bigelow Tea & Earth Balance Organic Soymilk

On my recent trip to Chicago, I realized something.... I can't have milk in the morning... well iono if that was really the case, but starting my day with a real tea latte ( we frequented Argo Tea ) ..would make me have heartburn all day (.. or it could have been my horrible diet of deep dish pizzas, hot dogs, beers...) I did an experiment to see if I could have soy milk instead... and low and behold.. it worked! I've never been a fan of soy milk... well the american ones....because I grew up on asian soy milk, and thought the american soy milk tasted funny. I've actually never had a soy milk latte until a few months ago. I thought that was what the LA girly girls normally get because it's healthy.. and well I never wanted to be healthy and a lot of times I would ask for whole milk and whipped cream. I love things rich. Ever since then, I have soy milk in my fridge... along with the regular milk for cooking, baking, and "later in the day" lattes. I got a milk frother from my sister... the "Aerolatte" ... which actually goes great with my "Aeropress." ... ahh the simple gadgets that are cheap and effective... no fancy hundred dollar machines here.. plus, they both save room! I hate going and buying lattes down the street because they run at least 3-4 bucks a pop.. yikes. I love whipping up my milk and soy milk to a frothy foamy dream.... most of the time my drink would be half foam.. and that's the way I like it... it takes me awhile to get to the coffee or tea... but eh... the novelty of playing with the froth is too fun.

This is what I do every morning... Dispense hot water into a cup, and place one or two tea bags in it. Fill up a tall glass cup 1/4 full of soy milk, place in microwave for 50 seconds. Use the aerolatte for 15 seconds, give it a stir, and pour into the cup with the tea bag. The whole process only takes a few minutes... and keeps me awake for a few hours.... worth it :)

__________

Well .. it's officially December, and what's happening in December??? MY BOARDS!!! I decided as a motivator for myself, I would take part in a 30 day challenge of some sort. This one will involve food, and the food I will be discussing will be the things that I eat. Yes, that's right, a chronicle of my not so healthy diet. My hope is that by documenting it, I will put a little bit more effort into what I feed myself so that I won't be ashamed of it later on. I have not been really healthy lately. My food choices have been processed foods with little to no nutritional value. Here's to start out this month with a bang. To see my diary... look for the tab above. I might not update everyday, but I will definitely try to update once a week with all the foods I've eating throughout it. Cheers to nourishment and gaining that holiday weight.

Sunday Morning Tradition

2011-11-27T12:16:00.000-08:00

Well, I guess this is the end of my Thanksgiving "break." I didn't do much but sit around and think. I didn't go black friday shopping as I'd hoped, I plan to make up for it online on Monday. I just wasn't feeling being around people. Yea, it was just one of those weeks.

It's Sunday. I have a tradition that I started this quarter. Given time, I should make something that I can be proud of on Sunday mornings. I've baked, cooked, did it all, and photographed it. It just reminds me to take the time to actually make time for ME and my love of cooking, and also take the time to take care of myself. There are no short cuts, no prepackaged goods, or going out.... I try to just make it so I appreciate the meal... and appreciate the work involved into making it.

My diet is crashing again... and when I say diet, I only mean the foods that I eat. Last night, I ate oreos and fries for dinner, and my lunch was peanut butter crackers, fruit snacks, and tea. I just didn't feel like eating. Yes, I know that is a problem. I have a rationale, and those of you who know me know why. It just wasn't a great break. I am incredibly behind in everything. This is going to be one of the hardest month in my life, and another miserable holiday season.... my sacrifices for dental school are adding up...making me ask again.. is it worth it? Hopefully, tomorrow will make me realize that I am meant to be a dentist.

This morning, I woke up craving something savory. That could be a given since I haven't really had a meal in a day. I decided to make Jamaican Beef Patties. They're basically beef filled pies. I've never had an authentic one, but I can imagine. I'm sure it a lot better, but hey, there were pretty darn good as well. I've made them before, they weren't juicy enough, and I didn't make them spicy because it was for a party. The filling was just beef, onions, garlic, and a bunch of spices I had on hand.. I made it spicy and added a lot more ketchup.... The crust had some curry/tumeric in it, and well.. as an added touch I decided to make it festive by putting holly leaves and uh... random flowers here and there... I should have added berries.. but was too lazy to roll up little balls...so these decorations don't make a whole lot of sense.

Spicy Beef Pockets

Makes 6

Crust :

1 cup AP flour

5 tbsp butter

1/2 tsp tumeric

1 tsp curry powder

1/2 tsp salt

a few shakes of ground black pepper

1/3 cup iced water

Filling :

1/2 lb ground beef

1/2 sweet onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

3 tbsp ketchup

1 tsp sriracha

Seasonings to taste- salt, pepper, cayenne, rosemary, harisa, thyme,

water or broth

Dough : Mix flour and spices together, add butter, mix in the butter to flour with fingers to make a coarse meal. Add enough ice water to make it come together. Place in freezer for 10 minutes.

Filling:

Saute onions and garlic with a bit of olive oil. Add beef and spices. Cook for 5 minutes. Add water and ketchup just enough to cover the meat. Let the mixture simmer for 5 minutes until half of the water is absorbed.. roughly. let it stand for 5 minutes without the lid, and then place a lid on it when rolling out the dough

Assembly:

Cut up the dough in 6 sections, roll them out with flour on both board and rolling pin. Invert a medium size bowl onto the flattened piece to make a nice circle. Place aside and continue with the rest. Place in filling on one side, fold one side over and seal with a bit of water. Press the fork tines to seal it. Brush with egg.

Bake:

Preheat oven at 375 degrees. Bake for 30 minutes or until brown.

Adapted from : http://www.stabroeknews.com/2010/the-scene/tastes-like-home/09/18/tastes-like-home-patty/

You should look at those instructions as to how to assemble them... I'm not too great at explaining this

Spicy Beef Filling! ... and my Konad Nails :)

I wanted a more rustic look to the seam, so I pleated it.. the dough was too soft,it I gave up and just used a fork for the next ones
A thing I picked up this week was nail art. I've been watching a ton of youtube videos about hair, makeup, and nails. I know when time is not really there, I tend to just let myself go. I mean, who really cares what I look like. In clinic, I'm wearing this blue gown, a surgical mask, and nerdy looking loupes... my hair is tied up, and I wear flats. Yea, not so attractive, but the thing I realized is that when I try to make myself look better, I feel more confident. The past few quarters, I tried to make more of an effort. I've actually worn nail polish almost every day for the past 2 quarters... yep, my hands go through everything in school... whether it's working on dentures, wax ups, or pouring up models, my nails are the first to go... next up.. my skin. So yea, even though the polish doesn't last too long, I still make an effort to put something on. I bought a nail stamping kit by Konad (Konad's French Tip Kit ~ $20 for 2 polishes, 3 plates, a stamper and scraper, and eraser pen) the other day. It arrived a few days back. It's kind of too cutesy, but I don't care, it's simple, and clean. I wiped my nails clean and stamped a few designs on... sealed it with my favorite top coat : seche vite, and I was good to go.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Swirl Bread

2011-11-22T21:04:00.000-08:00

Ok, as mentioned in my other post, I made bread. It was ok out of the oven, not great. I gave it around a day for the flavors to develop and it was actually pretty good! The only thing was that toasting it is quite a challenge, putting it into the toaster was easy, but pulling it out without it falling apart was not too fun. Another thing that I wondered was if the yeasty/ flour-y taste was due to the type of yeast and flour I use. I've been getting a lot of the "homemade taste" from my bread, which isn't something I'm too fond of. I've looked it up online and they said I added too much yeast.. um... I think I didn't add as much as the recipe called for! but ok? This flavor is not too pronounced, but the crust is definitely bread-y tasting. Oh well. This recipe would have been great for cinnamon roll types. Next time I will do that, and probably omit the pumpkin. I can't really taste it! It gives a really nice color, but that's it. The filling was a little heavy on the brown sugar... making it kind of wet. Ok ok, maybe this wasn't a perfect recipe, but so much better than the disaster that was baked pumpkin oatmeal. That was one of the most disgusting "desserts" i've ever made! The texture was just not great. Ok, back to the normal things.... I'm going to try to stay clear of super "hearty" desserts.

What about my Thanksgiving plans? Well, I don't know. I am going home for a day, but I don't know what I'm brining. I had enough stuff to make a beautiful tart, but my mom told me today that she already bought a pie :( store bought pie??? sigh, saves me the trouble right? Probably. A part of me was sad, but then again, peeling apples is not really my idea of excitement. So, yea, I don't know what to make as of now, but hopefully I will figure it out later. I might just make a tart, i mean, tarts aren't pies.. are they? :( I think I might just make my pumpkin bread or muffins, those were always a hit, and something my parents can eat. I don't know anymore. I think my life is such a mess right now that I shouldn't be thinking or dreaming about the next best thing I can make.

You know what kinds of things I revert to a lot these days? Comfort foods.

Growing up, it was not a thing to eat fancy like nowadays. There were no "fancy" spices but salt, pepper, and garlic salt. The seasonings came from soy sauce for asian foods, and ketchup for everything else (er.. and soy sauce as well.. like soy sauce in pasta, and pasta sauce was ketchup!.. you should try it.. it's pretty good!) Food was simple. Apples came in like 4 varieties, not 10, and well.. what was organic? The foods I tend to eat now brings me back to a simpler time. Campbell's chicken noodle soup, white bread, cup of noodles, mac and cheese, totinos pizza (yea yea I know about the transfat) and well .. boxed ice cream.

Ice cream these days are so expensive without a sale AND they have the nerve to shrink the packaging! I knew it was on sale at another store but was too lazy to go.. grocery store hopping is quite dangerous for me....and well boxed ice cream was cheaper than the sale. Ice cream in a box. I googled that. I don't get why ice cream was in a cardboard box not in a tub. I mean, it's so much easier to scoop out. This was the cheapest type of ice cream they had at the store (guess its was the most generic of ice cream?,) and well, the flavor and texture beats out a lot of the more name brand ones. This brings back good memories. I love this type of ice cream, I remember getting Neapolitan because I couldn't decide on what I wanted. This saved time, and thinking... and money. This was my destruction after a week... I just eat it right out of the box most of the time, and well other times.. I have colorful cones for it.. I'm on my purple cones pack. The pack had blue, red, and purple.... which I find to be quite unappetizing ... guess that was why there was a sale on that.... oh well food is food. :) I will try my luck at making ice cream from scratch this year... egg yolks... heavy cream.. and all my ice cream maker has been awfully lonely this year... wish I had someone to share my ice cream with.. but it just does not transport well and I can't figure out how not to have rock hard ice cream!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

What am I thankful for?.... Being here, having the opportunity to do what I do. Through all the stressful sleepless nights and long heavily caffeinated days... it will all be worth it in the end :)

My Labor of Love

2011-11-19T15:24:00.001-08:00

Hi. I'm still alive. I swear.

The baking season is in full swing, for many people, I wish that was true for me, but there is just not enough time in the day to do the things I want to do... mainly go to school, and bake. You have no idea how much I miss this part of my life. It has been hard adapting to how so much of my life has changed due to school, especially my priorities. My pantry is stocked with lots of goodies that could make wonderful things, but no, not during this part of my life. I'm a daily food gawker addict ... and well it's a cold autumn day on the eve of thanksgiving week, so I decided to make bread... I went to the Acme bread place at the ferry building last week and was quite disappointed in the pumpkin roll. I always loved their sourdoughs and baguettes, but iono, the pumpkin roll was a strikeout, for being dry and lackluster. I wanted to see if I could do better. I have quietly blogged throughout the year, and will probably keep many of those posts a secret. I've deactivated Facebook, and will start using this again to journal my life. This blog was started when I took my DAT's, and now it's time for my NBDE Part I. I've been through so much to get here. Would I do it again? Probably not. I am almost halfway there. The toll it took on my body, mind, and spirit has been something I've always wondered if I'd ever get back. This is life, my life, my only life. I'm just picking and choosing my paths, and why I chose this path, still seems to be a mystery to most.

On the menu this week:
Pumpkin Cinnamon Swirl Bread
French Apple Tart
Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal
Soft and Chewy Molasses Cookies
Butternut Squash Something
Apple Crisp
Pumpkin Cupcakes with cream cheese centers and streusel topping

I've made a lot of those things in the past few weeks, and boy were they delicious. I've stuck to recipes that I've done before so no real surprises here... I think I'd rather watch bread rise than study for tests. Oh well, it's been a long week... took a midterm on very little sleep, ended up sleeping unintentionally 3 times due to exhaustion.. once for 13 hours!, took a few quizzes, set a few teeth for fake dentures, saw 4 patients, scheduled a bunch more appointments, I deserve to indulge in some thing that makes me happy, and that happiness comes from making bread today. Yea, I know. Weird. It's because this is something I really love to do and I truly miss it (also indulging in my online shopping addiction... I don't really go out to the store too often so I've resorted to buying a lot of random things online especially amazon.. like food.. school supplies.. medicine..computer..clothes... haha... amazon along has come to my door 40 times this year.... oh the perks of having free prime shipping for being a student...I feel bad because many of my shipments are just a few bucks...I'm sure the cost to ship alone was more than my purchase! )

Maybe it's because it takes like 4 hours to make, but making bread is incredibly rewarding. I mean, gathering up ingredients, kneading for 10 minutes, rising for 1.5 hours, rolling it up and letting it rest for 15 minutes, letting it rise for 45 minutes, baking it for 45 minutes, letting it cool down completely for 1 hour... ahh.. that must be more than 4 hours :( I used my kitchen aid mixer , Pierre Escargot, to help me with this pumpkin bread. I hate making bread in that thing, if it's one big item I feel like I can live without, it has to be my mixer :( I worked many good hours to buy it, but it's just a prop in my kitchen, a beautiful prop that is. Meh.

So I looked at the recipe, and followed it almost to a T, however when it came to adding the flour, it looked like I had to add an extra cup!... I usually use my bread machine and never really had a problem, but it makes sense, the recipe called for an egg, and pumpkin puree, aka... it's really liquid heavy. So yes, it's rising in the oven again, already put the cinnamon stuff in and rolled it up. Only time will tell if it's any good. In the mean time, back to gen path and microbiology. I'm on question 36 /200 for a section of the boards and I'm determined to finish half of it today, the rest of the weekend will be consumed with mastering 800 or so questions for my final on general pathology on monday. What a trip.

So I made those cookies probably 3 weeks ago, they were SO good and had the perfect crackled appearance. I ate so many of them. I try to bake something each week. Anyway, I wanted a change from the usual gingerbread men, so I made these ones. They were super sweet, but so chewy. I love this recipe because of its ingredients. NO BUTTER!!! Hooray! Well, it's because I'm almost out and have been hunting for a sale on butter for the past few months without a success. I cut this recipe in half because I didn't want to make too many cookies... I should have tho. The other half of the egg was used to make a spinach scramble.. while waiting for the cookies to finish baking. Enjoy. :)

Chewy Molasses Cookies

Makes 12

1 cup AP flour
3/4 tsp baking soda (original recipe called for 1 tsp.. but i felt like the flavor was too strong!)
1.5 tsp cinnamon
1.5 tsp ground ginger
3/4 tsp ground cloves
pinch of salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar (these will be super SWEET)
1/3 cup molasses
1/3 cup + 2 tsp oil
1/2 egg

1/4 cup raw sugar ( I used a mixture of sugar in the raw and organic unbleached sugar <- that's been sitting in my pantry for quite some time, it gives my brewed coffee a weird taste )

Mix wet ingredients in one bowl, dry in another bowl, mix together, and chill in the fridge until somewhat firm (20 minutes) Use a medium size cookie scoop and form even sized balls , roll balls in sugar , preheat oven at 375 degrees, move the rack up to the 2nd position from the top (for the perfect cracked appearance!) slightly flatten the balls, and bake for 8-9 minutes, longer for more crispy cookies, shorter for softer ones. Cookies will be super soft when out of the oven, let cool for 5 minute before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

Adapted from sweetpeaskitchen.com

As for the pumpkin swirl bread, it was decent, but I prefer cinnamon rolls. I won't post the pics or recipe until I think it's worth it. :)

The End of 2010...

2010-12-28T18:56:00.000-08:00

I am a dental nerd.. after all. :) ..however.. first and foremost I am a sweets enthusiast :)

Goodbye 2010... what a year it's been.. time sure does fly. This was the year I partly took off and worked as a tutor..a year I've traveled to new places... this was also the year I got into and started dental school... there were many successes.. and sadly.. almost as many failures. This was the year I learned so much about what I love to do, and who I really am. I miss cooking. I miss making things out of fondant. I miss everything that doesn't really have to do with school. I miss my family, I miss my friends. It's winter break, and I'm sitting in my home catching up on the news and stalking sites for deals. It's been raining a lot.. so I've been stuck indoors a lot.. oh well..that is definitely something I'm used to...

How this year has changed me... this is another attempt at making my 2 passions unite.. what does this remind me of? The countless hours spent making that perfect temporary for a crown using integrity.. or worse.. bosworth trim (yikes!)

These were peppermint bark fangs I made b4 my last day of finals (don't wry.. those were my easiest finals...) ... one of my finals was for dental anatomy .. represented not at its finest on these molds.. haha horrible line angles... super-erupted canines... and missing laterals ( yay anomalies!) .. what could i expect from a mold.. :P I found the mold at a store closing sale on Fillmore.. sad to see another family own business gone on Fillmore.. :/

Last year.. I had 10 goals .. or pseudo resolutions... I think I attempted most of them, definitely accomplished 8 of them.. still trying to find the positives in life when life's not so peachy... and I can't seem to enjoy life for the face value.. whatever that meant haha oh well good start I guess. I am a believer of accomplishing goals.. I set a lot of them so that I feel somewhat accomplished when they're completed.. iono..

1. Figure out my career as soon as possible.

2. Enjoy life for its face value rather than trying to analyze every single aspect of it.

3. Smile more even when it's not the best time in my life.

4. Appreciate my body for what it is.

5. Find ways to relax without just sitting in your room all day.

6. Always be surrounded by people I love without dwelling on the past.

7. Be positive. <- maybe the most difficult one here

8. Live LIFE without having to worry about anything or anyone pulling me down.

9. Finish things that I start, aka don't pick up a new hobby without finishing the last one!

10. Learn to love where I am in life and have faith that everything will work out in the end. 2010 will be one of the most important years of my life. It will dictate what I do, where I go, and who I become. 2010 is scary.

Here are my updated goals for 2011:

1. Stop being so lazy in school, pay attention in class, and study after school... don't cram

2. Pass practicals.

3. Get to second year... basically this is 1+2... as well haha.. actually if this is the only goal I accomplish out of this list, I would be more than thrilled.

4. Learn to deal with difficult people.

5. Understand how to communicate what you want, effectively.

6. Learn how to be happy in not-so-happy situations

7. Reduce the time on slickdeals...

8. Spend more time with people you love

9. Hand out more compliments

10. Eat healthier... that means.. reduce the # of ramen.. soup from can... frozen goodies.....aka respect your body!

Yep.. that's it.. for now.. I guess haha 2011 is important because it will be the year I find out if I can start treating patients or not. At the end of the year.. I'll be half way done with dental school... yikes!!! It will also probably be the year I start studying for the boards.. that I might take at the end of it.. whew. I don't want to think about the boards quite yet. I have bigger things to worry about.... like passing all of my practicals... what a long 11 weeks this will be... my body seriously can't relax enough for this... so.. why bother? I'm going to go away for a few days again... need to get my mind away from this area.

Here's an ode to #9 of 2010's goal...

9. Finish things that I start, aka don't pick up a new hobby without finishing the last one!

So.. I've lived in the city for 6 months now. My apartment is bare.. in the decoration department. I am quite a colorful person, I love splashes of color everywhere ( except my wardrobe kinda looks like I"m going to a funeral.. everyday haha.. anyway.. ) yea.. my apt has white walls... and it really depresses me because the only thing I taped onto it .. was my schedule for ICS .. yay one day of class.....boo... well also a pretty cool wall clock I found in the clearance section of target.. the place I decorated the most? my hallway.. yea.. all 6 square feet of it hahaha oh well.. so anyway, I went shopping yesterday for decorations. I wanted to put up some vintage-ish art to keep with the age of the building and my location. I really love the vintage style.. with somewhat of a French romantic theme.. I couldn't find anything.. so.. I decided to make my own stuff. I bought frames.. scrapbook paper.. and scrapbook 3-d sticker-ish things.. ( paper cut outs of things ) and assembled it to my liking. I really love damask.. so I thought I'd continue that theme throughout the apt. It took me longer to coordintate paper and sticker.. than it was to put it all together... this project ended up costing me under 25 dollars ( I gave myself a 50 dollar budget to decorate my apt.. yea very little .. right?? I was thinking of going to a thrift store too!).. for 4 pieces of "Art"... I call them.. "My 4 favorite places I'd rather be"... although I wanted to find an SF scrapbook sticker set.. but didn't find it.. oh well maybe next time... I will stock up on these cool frames..for future projects. I think the tacks needed to hang these won't poke that big of a hole in the wall.. yay. I just want to find cool damask print paper and frame them...

Cost run down:

4 8X8 frames - on sale from $19.99 -> $9.99 + 25% off... making it only $7.50!

4 Packs of stickers.. (buy 2 get one free.. 4th one. use a 50% off coupon .. making all 4 = $10)

Scrapbook paper - reg 99 cents... sale .. 69 cents X4 = around 2.80 ( not that great of a deal.. but I was desperate.. and there isn't a michaels anywhere close in SF...)

~ $22 bucks including tax.. and I finished making these in around 30 minutes!

Rome.. the paper in the back has gold glitter detailing and the sticker is an intricate paper cutout of the Coliseum

Definitely would rather be lounging at the beach listening to the waves crash.. the sticker even has sand on it!.. can you find the seagull ?? :)

cheesy LA.. gold glitter on the back too!

My favorite one.. and place... this paper had velvet damask detailing on it.. wish I found more papers like this!

Can't wait to put these up! ... Hopefully I will put them up soon.. and not just have them sit around...knowing me.. they'll sit around for months..

Anyway, Happy New Year!

Eggnog Ice Cream with Store Bought Eggnog!

2010-12-28T18:41:00.000-08:00

From eggnog carton -- > ice cream maker -- > freezer ... really.. that's it!

My first attempt at ice cream! I don't have time.. yea I shouldn't even have time to walk to the store to buy food.. but I did.. cuz I also wanted bread... plus I don't really call a 15 minute break wasting that much time. I found a recipe where the blogger actually added just eggnog to the ice cream maker.. which resulted in.. well.. ice cream! EASY. I'll figure out harder recipes when I have the time to buy ingredients, and stuff. I walked down to Mollie Stone's today and grabbed a quart of eggnog. ( Clover Farm's Organic Eggnog ) I've been buying much more organic stuff these days.. must be the city's influence.. anyway, it was on sale ( but... of course! ) and it cost as much as the non-organic counterpart. $3.29 for a quart to be exact (there was one brand selling for $10... ridiculous!!! .. it better come pre-spiked for that price!).. yea Safeway is selling it for around the same price.. for double the amount. sigh. BUT it's not organic... if that makes any difference...and I'm sure it's not as tasty.. :P .. well that's my hope... anyway... yea. simple simple simple, even clean up was a breeze. My bowl is back in the freezer... up next? who knows. everything was too expensive at mollie stones... like yogurt (it might cost 12 bucks to make a lil tarty frozen yogurt thing.. yea might as well just go to Yoppi up the street)... cream (5 bucks for heavy cream.. no way!).. half and half (they ran out of the pints..)... sigh.

I kept this bowl frozen for 1 full day. That was a tough-y. I assembled my machine and turned it on, and poured in around 2/3 of the carton (I could have stopped here.. but I wanted to add some flavor.. so I guess my title is deceiving...) + 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice and 1/4 tsp cinnamon , then I eyeballed around 1.5 tsp of imitation vanilla extract (wish I had a little rum or bourbon but it's totally not worth it to buy liquor for that amount).. next time I think I will be much more generous with all the spices. The flavor didn't come out as much as I would hope, but hey, experimenting is the best part about cooking! I let that machine churn for 15 minutes...resulting in some soft (semi icy?.. maybe there wasn't enough cream/milk in it?) serve. I'm not really a fan of softer ice cream, especially if it's not tart :).. but yea.. put all of the ice cream into a tupperware and stored it in the freezer.. I'm looking forward to having some ice cream every meal now. :).. definitely softens the blow of going through 500 pages of questions.. not to mention.. around 50 lectures for those 2 classes.. oh hey, that's just 2 classes.. how about the other 5?... 50 more hours of lecture to go over those those... argalksjkfldsjakljkljlksdf mind explosion.. just like how my waistline will be after I figure out this ice cream thing... you know.. real ice cream with tons of egg yolks ( eggwhites for macarons possibly?!) .. heavy cream... milk.. and oh yeaah.. sugarrrrrr

ONE MORE WEEK.. then.. off to.. vegas for some gastronomical adventures.. and many hours of sleep... I still won't get to do the normal vegas thing..I've outgrown that scene it seems... I'm feel like an oldy who loves to sleep... haha oh well. this trip will repeat last year's trip .. that's for sure. Wynn Buffet, and Jean Phillipe here I come! Hope to dive face first into some amazing desserts... that's really all I want for Christmas.. a happy stomach!.. and a well rested mind.. hey how about passing all my classes while I'm at it.. 11 grades to look forward to getting.... holy crap. Can't wait until Friday, party hardy for the rest of the year!

Eggnog Ice Cream

For a semi - icy consistency :

1 quart eggnog

Spices to taste ( cinnamon, nutmeg , pumpkin pie spice, cloves )

2 tsp vanilla extract

Place ingredients into a well chilled ice cream maker bowl, and turn on for 15 minutes.

For a creamier version :

3/4 quart eggnog

1/2 cup whipping cream

1 egg yolk

2 tsp vanilla extract

Spices to taste

Recipe above hasn't been tried, but sounds like it would work.

This will yield soft serve ice cream right out of the machine, transfer to tupperware and freeze for a few hours until set to get "regular" consistency ice cream. Sprinkle with some spices when serving.

Once a cheater...

2010-12-28T18:36:00.000-08:00

always a cheater ...

I cheated. I feel bad... but... I wanted sweets SO badly..... like SO SO SO SO badly.. but didn't want to pay a lot for it...

I went to safeway and bought a cake mix.. and some pineapple... total cost was around 2 bucks... and made 8 pineapple upside down cupcakes... that's a lot of $ .. I should have to just bought some at the store... yikes. But yea, I hate box mixes... they just taste.. bad? iono.. just overly SWEET. I can't get over it... anyway.. here they are.. my inspiration .. Roy's in Waikoloa Village , HI..service was bad..pretty bad food there as well... dessert was nothing spectacular :( .. meh.. what can I expect from a touristy area? oh well.. I didn't really like this recipe just because it's TOO sweet and SOGGY..I really need to step away from boxed mixes for awhile.. maybe forever..

The 5 minute breakfast sandwich

2010-12-14T09:44:00.001-08:00

I don't live by fast food places... if I did, I'm sure my breakfast would consist of something delicious. Anyway, I guess fast food places are too yuck for these people here... :/ .. although there is a burger king...close...by? iono.. it's just never on the way. I need to eat healthier, really.. I do. I also need something with calories that won't kill me.. or end up being empty calories.

... oh this was the easiest of all breakfasts...and pretty healthy too!

1. place 2 frozen links on a paper towel, microwave uncovered for 1 minute

2. place english muffin in toaster (split in half) ( I have mine at temp #2)

3. turn on the stove (MAX HEAT!,) place a grill pan on it (optional, you can just put cheese in the middle, and microwave it for 10 seconds or until cheese starts to melt)

4. when the muffins are done, place a slice of cheese on the inner halves.. sandwich together, and place on hot grill.

5. let cheese melt, stick in sausages, and greens

I timed myself... 5 minutes.. from start to finish. Nice. Might as well add in making coffee and call it a "complete" meal. haha..

Cost breakdown.

33 cents for muffin ( Thomas's with 5 g of fiber... yea cuz we're all not getting enough fiber in our diets right?!) - Pack of 6 =$2

50 cents for sausages ( all natural... I made sure that they microwaved up nicely) - 10 links per package $2.50

15 cents for cheese (kraft's singles) .. no idea how much, but I'm sure it was on sale

15 cents for salad ( organic mixed baby greens) $2 for a pre-washed bag

~$1.13 for a sandwich ... not bad at all!

Back to finals.

My motto for this finals session...

YOU WILL FAIL IF YOU DON'T EVEN TRY TO SUCCEED... yea well. isn't that obvious? Wasn't so much to me during the quarter haha sigh. and I need crazy complicated biochem later in life... why.. again???

If any patient of mine asks me about carbamoyl phosphate, I might have to give them the treatment for free... makes my education worth it.. when I hear things I learned way back in grad school rite?.. rite...

6 more.... and I'm not capable of pulling all nighters.. I mean should I?... I would be pulling an all nighter for a test relating to amalgam, composite, and glass ionomer... oh joy.

Matcha loving.. also energy drinks.. and tons of coffee...

How far would you go for ice cream?

2010-12-11T10:50:00.001-08:00

this is a view looking out towards the marina, it was a horribly gloomy day, but perfect for a nice slow run..

I almost have to gain a LOT in elevation to get back home ( 6th steepest hill in the city.. 26% grade).. this is why I had to take a taxi back.. there was just no way I could have carried those 2 boxes another 0.5 mile up that massive hill! Taxi fare was $4.45 I really should have driven.. parking would have been $1 .. I just didn't want to give up my parking spot

For me? A mile. I ran to Williams Sonoma this morning because I wanted to get an ice cream maker. Yes, yes.. I have finals, but I also like to run to get my mind active.. early.. I hate being locked up in my apt, or at the library... so yea.. it was a short mile run to the store, which opened later than I thought. I stood outside... with my perio notes and reviewed out loud. I'm sure those Marina folks (they are an interesting bunch of people stuck in their work out gear 24/7) enjoyed my ramblings about bacteria, plaque, pockets, probing depths, and bony defects. haha Anyway, I snagged up the ice cream maker... and thought that I could walk back home but yea.. gave up half way and took a taxi. Poop. why? I didn't just buy one... I was lugging 2 ice cream makers (15 pounds EACH)... and a bag of random candies and peanut butter from walgreens. oh well.. taxi got me back quickly.. I'm sure he enjoyed the short drive... and now I'm back in my cozy apt with 2 ice cream makers... not knowing when I'd have time to make it.

Love these hearts.. too bad they're going away...

I'm adding to my collection of kitchen toys!

Extra bowl! What a deal! :)

I bought it in red.. of course. :) It's beautiful , and such a deal because of that extra bowl ( it's not like I need it.. ) but I"m sure when I have time I will be able to bring some ice cream to sim lab.. and share. I've never made ice cream before... yea... this might be bad... but for me.. I love random appliances. Last year I got a super cute and tiny cuisinart food processor that I use a lot for grinding oatmeal, almond meal, chocolate, and now peppermint candies. The year before, I got my Breadman..ok I need to stop my apt is not that big.. haha I think I will put away the slow cooker and put out that ice cream machine.. cuz it's so adorable! This is my gift to me.. it's kind of like an adult christmas.. I used to get toys related to my play kitchen when I was little.. now.. it's the real deal. Can't wait to make some. I'm thinking eggnog ice cream.. cuz I found a recipe that has only eggnog as the ingredient... can't get any simpler than that. I'm trying to find a Tarty Yogurt recipe... yea that's going to take awhile.

I will admit this, I am a pretty impatient person.. waiting 24 hours for that bowl to freeze has been crazy. But... I've made myself not go down to the store to buy the ingredients until tomorrow morning. That will be my morning errand. Yay.

Speaking of gifts and another digression... I'm in search for a new camera.. it's been 1.5 years since I've gotten my other one and think that it's time for a nice upgrade. I really do love photography.. and can see myself getting into it more and more as I grow older. Eventually.. I'm going to try to work up to the 5D Mark.. uh by then maybe 4?.. but that will be when I have a nice stable job and probably a beautiful growing family. :) I'm just thinking of how many crowns and fillings I have to do in order to earn that beauty (this will make me try harder to perfect those things!) I love goals... and I'll just add that one to my growing list of things to do when I'm done with school.. and that list is definitely growing. I have 2.5 years of school left, that doesn't seem like much anymore....

All of my toys I've been dying to play with... the red of this ice cream maker isn't so.. "red".. it's more orange-red.. if anything.. sigh.. should have bought a white one? meh I don't do well with white .. look at my coffee maker... and my toaster.. those 2 things are in the worst shape possible..

Pierre to the Rescue!

2010-11-14T15:15:00.000-08:00

I try not to exert more energy than needed these days... I wanted to make some cream puffs... and used my KitchenAid Mixer as my extra set of hands.. worked out ok, It wasn't as puffy as normal, but that could have just been my fault somewhere along the process...

Oh yea, I found out that I have Photoshop on my laptop... I have NO idea how to use it.. been trying to play around with it for awhile now.... nope.. nothing spectacular.. I think I just like it simple... oh well.. this pic was edited with it... iono.. just doesn't look like something I'd do! :( I miss my fun colored papers..

ho hum.. quite the boring picture without the color paper!

.. and here.. untouched pictures....

Used a medium sized cookie scoop to get the even amounts..

Puffy!

Coffee Junkie

2010-11-02T20:38:00.000-07:00

Every week I go to the store and buy coffee. I try to be my own starbucks. Every week, it's been different. I've gone from the generic brand coffee to organic to super premium. This coffee collection is slowly turning into my well neglected tea collection :(

So, school hasn't gotten any better. My life revolves around 0.25mm mistakes, and rigid plastic. But hey, looks like I can sort of do crown preps.. we'll see how I do next practical haha..

So, in honor of not really baking anything new, I've decided to keep this post as a reminder of all the coffee I've tried in the past few weeks.

Week 1- Greenwell Farm's 100% Kona Coffee, Bought it at the farm in HI

- I drink this really rarely. It's my special occasion coffee, kona coffee is quite expensive, and I don't know if I can ever get this brand again without traveling to Hawaii. It was such an informative tour around their grounds. I learned more than I've ever wanted to know about the coffee making process. (pictures above were from the tour)

Week 2-Allegro Mocha Java , Whole Foods

- A very good blend, smooth and rich in flavor. Also it fills my apartment with the wonderful smells of freshly brewed coffee! This was my first time buy coffee grounds...

Week 3- Allegro Earthquake Blend, Whole Foods

- A little too bitter for me, maybe because I like more of a light roast?

Week 4- Jeremiah's Blend - Vanilla , Mollie Stone's

- Yum, vanilla flavor isn't that apparent, but it has a good smooth texture

Week 5- Safeway Select Hazelnut, Safeway

- very delicious, and cheap too! Most of the other ones were around $11 a pound, this was $8 - ish. I bought 60 cents worth of this coffee... good enough for my weekly supply.

Week 6- Jeremiah's Blend - Kona Blend, Mollie Stone's

- Pretty decent, I tend to mix this with the other flavored ones. It's a little darker than I'd like, but some days I just want that extra body in my coffee.

Week 7- Safeway Select's Breakfast Blend

- Only bought 59 cents worth.. using it to mix with my leftover flavored coffees... was very smooth so far!

I've gotten a routine, which kind of makes me happy. This makes me go to the store each week and try something new. Once I'm done trying all of the flavors, I will probably test out Peet's, Starbucks, Coffee Bean, and Tully's? iono if they sell beans. I typically buy around $2 worth of coffee grounds each week. Not bad... considering a cup of coffee runs around that much at the shops.

I'm making it a goal to have 10 different types of coffee by the end of the quarter. I'm also looking at new ways to make it.. definitely looking into an aeropress.. supposedly it doesn't produce as much acid in the coffee.. which would be perfect for me. I don't really get heartburn as frequently anymore.. only when I don't eat. It's hard to make time for food when there's so much to do. I just want to take a stroll around the area every weekend. Enjoy the nearly perfect SF weather.. sigh....when will I ever live in an area like this after graduation??? Probably.. never... Pac Heights is a neighborhood really out of reach for me and my goals. I guess reality will hit me in a few years... I'm still living in my fantasy world.

Cutest thing ever.. Mini Moo's. half and half.. paired with some 100% Kona Coffee... in a cute cafe off the highway in the big island...

This lil guy joined us for breakfast at that same cafe (which also had wonderful views of the Kona Coffee farms and the ocean!)... SO adorable!!!! I guess normally I would be freaked out if I saw something like this... but iono.. he was TOO cute.. and didn't mind us taking a ton of pictures of him :)

Earl Grey Creme Brulee

2010-10-24T19:18:00.002-07:00

It rhymes! So, i failed at making macarons.. the biggest disaster in over half a year... what happened? One bad egg... the eggwhites couldn't be whipped up... sigh. I had 3 egg yolks left over from making those macs, I wanted to make some creme brulee.. never thought it'd be this easy.

I don't know if I'm missing any steps.. I'm sure I am.. made this a few weeks ago.. and finally decided to write down the recipe... search creme brulee on allrecipes.com, i used a water bath for a more even baking, and also reduced the cream with some milk .. it was rich and custard like ..

4 servings

3 egg yolks

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

3/4 cup whole milk

4 tsp of sugar

1 earl grey tea bag

extra sugar for top

Bring cream and milk to a simmer ( drop in an earl grey tea bag if you want), add sugar, then let cool for a few minutes (remove tea bag.) Whisk in eggs ( whisk quickly!! ) Preheat oven at 350, place 4 ramekins into a 8X8 inch pan, fill ramekins with mixture, then add boiling water to the pan to make a water bath, fill up 2/3 of the way up the ramekin's height, place into oven, back for 35-40 minutes until the center is jiggling, but not oozing out liquid. Chill for a few hours.

Blot off excess condensation formed from chilling, turn on broiler ( HI) , sprinkle a mixture of brown and white sugar on top ( around 1 tsp per ramekin ) ... brown tops.. be careful not to burn it! .. takes around 5 minutes... with my oven.. wish I had a blow torch : /

It's Pumpkin Time .. Again!

2010-10-24T19:18:00.001-07:00

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

... I had a craving.. it's been awhile since I've had this. Safeway was sold out of pumpkin puree .. ( in October! )... but I found a great replacement at Whole Foods.. for cheaper ( yea.. whole foods cheap?? no way.. ) but this can of pumpkin was.. $1.20? iono.. maybe it was a little more.. just not over $2. I made 2 batches of pumpkin stuff.. one pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, the other pumpkin cupcakes.

Time sure does fly... look for my recipe using the search function, it's basically the top rated Pumpkin Bread recipe from allrecipes.com

Bakerella Cake Pops Book

2010-10-09T00:01:00.000-07:00

YAYYYYYYYYYYY! She remembered me!!!! :) My inspiration for blogging.. baking.. and photography... and now I have a personally autographed book!

It's been many weeks.. I still haven't had the time to flip through it.. it's proudly displayed in my entertainment center thing... I see it everything.. one day I will attempt something... until then .. I will probably put one of those pins on my lab coat.. to remind myself that winter break is coming.. that means.... relaxation!!!!!!! ... or well.. sometimes not : /

I'm not ready to become a dentist...yet

2010-09-16T11:38:00.000-07:00

How do I get through days like .. today? I don't. It's been the roughest 10 weeks of my life. I want to unwind... but I have 7 finals to figure out... as well as learning not to dwell on that fact that I'm not ready to be a dentist. That would be amazing if this school taught in a way.. and recruited the types of students who will all be wonderful clinicians after 9-ish weeks of drilling. Wouldn't that be nice? Reality is... if it was this easy to be a dentist.. I'm sure many more people would do it. I can't expect myself to be the best driller and filler after 9 weeks of school.. (10 days of instruction only...for this class). I will expect myself to be wonderful after a few more months of learning. Until then.. I will try not to let this get me down. I've thrown away and left behind so many parts of my life that have truly defined me... my friends.... family... baking... yea... this accelerated program is slowing draining the life out of me.. and before I can say.. I'm so grateful that I'm in.. I have to wonder... what they saw in my application.. to allow me to be where I am today. I sit in sim lab many days absorbing the views and dreaming of the day when it will all click.. the day my hand will be super steady... the day when I will just get it. The Lab part is over for the quarter. I just don't know how I will survive next week.. but I have to. It would be selfish of me not to try my best. So many people dream of being where I am right now.... some I'm sure are more qualified than I was... and although I am miserable and frustrated at my inability to understand and do things... I should be thankful that I've been given this opportunity to pursue something I've wanted for so long. So these 7 finals... will define me for the next week... yea.. just a few hundred hours of lecture to go over... no biggy.. no pressure. Right. no pressure. at least my grades won't be set in stone for awhile..... thank goodness for year long courses...

Monday - Perio Exam

Tues- Dead Day.. yep just one.. day...

Wed- Restoratives and Human Anatomy (Ugh.. cadavers) Final

Thurs- Biochem and Operative Final

Fri- Physiology and Dental Anatomy Final

Sat- BREAK and Vacation for a week...FINALLY... then diving head first into the hardest quarter of d-school... at least that's what everyone tells me... sigh. 8AM -5PM Mon-Fri? ... + lab til 9... each night....I have a new found respect for all dentists who graduated from my school.... I don't think any school is this intense.. cramming 2 years of schooling into one..... :/.. maybe that's why all the other schools are 4 years...

A note on that pic above... they are like removable dentures that are custom made to fit my teeth... I made these in class yesterday.. I didn't want to go fancy.. it wasn't being graded.. I didn't even feel like polishing them... even though one day I might. I can totally see someone with these teeth somewhere... maybe I will treat someone with these teeth one day... haha anyway.. we made halloween teeth. I wanted just ugly teeth.. so I made them super crooked and made it look like I was a heavy smoker... I even have a spot for the cig... and then I scratched the heck out of it... and embedded some black stuff to the scratched... so it looks like I haven't brushed in ages... yea.. looks great in my mouth... ahha quite scary I'd say..... I doubt I'd want to look like this even if it's for halloween.. haha

I made myself some earl grey hot chocolate just now.. that definitely hit the spot.. althought I don't have a pic... I will share my recipe... since I love the chocolate earl grey combination.. and don't think many people have discovered the deliciousness of that combo yet.. :)

Earl Grey Hot Chocolate

Makes 1 serving

3 tsp cocoa powder ( I use Ghirardelli)

2 tsp sugar ( or to taste)

1/4 cup water

3/4 cup whole milk

sprinkle of salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract ( I use imitation)

Earl Grey Tea Bag ( I use the Tazo brand )

1. Mix cocoa powder and sugar in a bowl.

2. add water to a small sauce pan... and turn the heat to med-low. Add powder mixture.

3. Stir until combine and dissolved, don't turn the heat on too high... it will burn.

4. When mixture starts to bubble, add milk and salt, bring to a gentle boil.

5. Add tea bag and simmer for 3-5 minutes.

6. Add vanilla extract, and remove tea bag.

Banana cupcake (not muffin... I used cake flour to get it super soft and fluffy)... recipe to follow one day... all I have to say is.. finally... a recipe out of the Cupcakes book that is worth going back to... Pierre is definitely doing good things for me lately... it really is a time saver to have a stand mixer... (I just found out that they're discontinuing my mixer's model :( .. and that KA mixers are at a record low for prices this year poopy. haha ) .. anyway.. I'm happy with my Pierre.. and but I'm wondering what I should do with my meat grinder.... I'm so tempted to sell it.

Hope everyone is doing well..and enjoying the last few weeks of Summer :)

The return of the Mac....

2010-09-06T22:27:00.000-07:00

I wish I was talking about a computer... I really don't like my Dell. anyway... here they are.. in all their glory.... macarons... although it wasn't an uber fail (as I thought would happen).. it was a good attempt after my really long hiatus.. of macaron making (3-4 months?)... I made earl grey macarons.. using my (not so trusty) KA mixer.. Pierre Escargot. I had to give him a last name to distinguish him from the previous mixer I had.. haha.. anyway... these were tasty.. kind of tasted like fruit loops.. I used 2 earl grey tazo tea bags to get the flavor. It was my first time making them in my kitchen.. as well as with that mixer... most of them did not turn out as nice as the one pictured... the foot was in the wrong place... but the texture is still the same (eggshell outer.. semi chewy / semi hollowed out center.) I think I might have to increase the temp a bit for this oven... iono.. trial and error.. I'll live with these results.

other than that...there's not much else going on in my life... I had a wonderful Labor day weekend... didn't do much.. finally got to relax a bit. Hope everyone had a wonderful break as well... I've deactivated facebook so that I can focus on my schooling. I had another practical today.. hopefully that went ok and I passed... haha.. yep.. oh, before I forget.... Happy Birthday Ben! Hope you ate all of them!!!

A pretty cookie .. with a nice shape.. and feet... just a few in this batch!

Speckly!

Yum.. Macarons...earl grey with chocolate butter cream :) ta ta for now.. I'm on my oh so rare 2 hour lunch break..yayyy

The Ramen Diet?

2010-09-04T17:57:00.001-07:00

I eat ramen... like 5 times a week. MSG overload... and not the good ramen either.. ( well it is quite delicious).. but.. dried ramen.. + hot water... + powder soup base.. type of ramen :(.. well the picture above is of this udon set I bought at the Japanese store... I wanted to add some substance to my soup

What happened to cooking, and eating healthy? That all went down the drain. It's labor day weekend.. I'm just vegging out and enjoying the fog as it rolls by.. contemplating how I'm going to buff up my new hand crafted piece of jewelry... but tomorrow I will do some touristy things... as in going to union square haha.. haven't been there in a few weeks... I like playing tourist here. I look like a tourist.. I guess haha. Anyway... My adventure in food land have been dwindled to processed/instant foods... but this is something that ties in with what I did almost a year ago when I took the wilton courses on flower making.

I have this class... out of my 7 classes (or 10.. wth..) haha that deals on restoring teeth. We've learned how to make a crown prep, a temporary crown, and stuff relating to that... yea.. since we don't actually make the crowns ourselves ( the lab does it) we still had to learn the process as to how they're made. We made jewelry out of silver. First, we formed the shape out of wax... people did pendants.. rings... little figurines... well .. I made a ring. I always wanted a rose ring... iono.. I was so close to buying one on Etsy... but I figured.. I should just make it for my project! I knew how to sculpt a rose from gumpaste.. and fondant... how is making a tiny ring any different?... besides working with less pliable materials.. and making it 1/4 the size? ... I think my hand skills are developing... slowly haha anyway... last week I made it out of wax... poured stone over it to make the impression... this week.. it was baked at 900 degrees ( eek!).. so all of the wax can fall out... and then I used this cool spinning machine to melt the silver with a blow torch.. and spun that molten silver into my mold.... the result.. a silver rose ring that I have to polish... silver's not so shiny when it comes out of the mold... makes me thing of silver jewelry in a different light.... but this is one of the things that I"m actually proud of.. something I can take home... ( it's not like I love to look at my close to ideal cavity preps all day.. but yea. I plan to wear this ring out when I'm done polishing.. next week.. we're going to be making out halloween teeth.. we've taking impressions of our teeth and will be placing a set of false teeth over it.. hm.. what should I be? a person with severe gum disease?.. gummy smile?.. vampire fangs...? many chipped teeth? haha iono.. I guess I have a few days to decide how creepy I will look.. this will be fun...

The countdown begins... 2.5 weeks til finals.... 7 finals in a week.... and a few practicals along the way... zzzzzzzz I will start studying now.. I guess...

The pattern made out of wax.. my fingers hurt badly from doing this.. wax is so hard to work with..this is my attempt to loosely combine my love for cooking... and dentistry.. :)

The almost completed ring.. I still want to buff it more.. the crevices of the rose makes it extremely difficult to get shiny.. but the band is almost mirror-like :) .. it went from that dull silver you see at the base of the ring.. to a shiny.. wearable piece of art.. iono I think I baby this piece of jewelry.. because I made it myself.... I've worn it around already.... and I still have to spend a bit of time polishing it before it's due on Wed.

Things that I've made... yes I still bake.. once a week..and cook whenever I can... and just simple stuff too.. that I've done before.. I don't have time to look for recipes :/

I might blog about these later... who knows.. that later might mean in a few years... cya later for now :)

The Good Life...

2010-07-20T16:29:00.000-07:00

This was how I relaxed before my first week of school (1.5 weeks ago).... Riesling and Framboise... with Brie and Crackers...I would say that my life is quite amazing right now ..... what could make it better??? ->

:) I'm a Pop Star!!!! :) I made it onto the pop star archive on Bakerella.com!!!! :) This definitely gives a nice semi- end to my year long of baking... I don't think if I'll ever have time to bake as much as I did or decorate stuff. I wish I did... but a few hours out of the day to just do random things has been out of the question for the past few days.. not to mention the next week. I have 4 quizzes/test and a project.. or two? .... and I only have 3 days of class! (Taking a mandatory 2 day retreat to the main campus...hahha) omg. Dental school is intense.. it's like going to a double load of science classes with 3 art classes.... arg. Time to read.....

I've had time to cook and such (Today was the first day I've ever eaten out by my apt. for lunch!)... just haven't been looking up any recipes really ... here are some things I've cooked in the last few weeks at my new place..

Dinner for the bf.. it's been SO long since I've cooked for him! : Fried rice, beef with broccoli (marinated meat tastes just like the chinese restaurant, recipe from someone who worked in a chinese rest. all her life :)), my mom's potstickers.. oh yea.. those are my plates..my kitchen is incredibly matchy.. I freak people out.. I think :)

White wine chicken breast with super crispy skin, used Herb de Provence for flavoring

Mac and Cheese from scratch then baked... for that nice crust

My project for the week.. make that blue peg into a tooth that has to look exactly like the one on the other side... using wax...haha... let's hope I don't brand myself again....

Hello, Goodbye.

Full Time Dental Student...

2010-07-13T17:09:00.001-07:00

I had almost 8 hours of class today....Went from 8am to almost 5pm... I've never had so many hours of class.. ever in my life. I'm going to give myself a schedule... one of which I need to follow. I'm going to turn off my phone.. and just try... (key word: try) to learn and understand.. and practice. I went home for lunch today. Class.. after 5 hours.. gets really really long and tiring. I wanted a nice hot meal.. I wanted some alone time.. cuz well.. I'm constantly surrounded by over 140 people all sitting in the same classroom... look at the same slides... all listening to the same lecture. I had a warm rosemary ham and cheese sandwich, brie and crackers, soda, and chips. I like my alone time. I like my peace and quiet.. I love just resting for a bit before having to go back in and do it all over again...man... this is weird. I knew this would happen... and I could never have prepared... oh well.. just a day in the life of a dental student right? 35 more months.... I will be a doctor of dental surgery. Spiffy.

I love pacific heights.. the weather is beautiful here... it's pretty warm.. surprising and I get hot wearing my business attire. I wish I had more time to enjoy the outdoors... one day I will go to the parks... on a beautiful day... that is... today is totally one of them... ok.. time to study. goodbye blog.... I think I will start a personal blog... so I can remember this incredible journey.

I don't know if I can ever keep up with this adventure in food land.. I may just post pictures of what I baked.... from a box.... I wipe out so easily now.. I have a few solid hours of work left. I must get into the habit of studying.

An update on my kitchen.. all of these things.. I wonder when they will ever be used if the only thing I seem to use these days is the microwave.. and stove/oven..oh well.. it's fully stocked just in case... I have something for anything....

Toodles for now... I have a post that is still in the draft stage... it has food stuff.. I swear.

I did...and I can't believe I made it this far... really....

.. and I remind myself to do this everyday..as I strut out the door in my heels... : )

Blogging Hiatus :/

2010-06-29T23:56:00.000-07:00

I have totally neglected this blog :( sigh... I've been baking... here and there, but mostly, moving. I should be all moved in by the end of this week. It's taken a lot longer than expected... I never knew how much junk I can accumulate throughout the years : / I will be back. I promise :( ... definitely won't post around 8 posts a month.. but probably just 3-4... hopefully. I plan give myself some free time when I study to making something yummy. I love my kitchen so far. There are many more appliances that I brought along with me... on top of what's shown on that picture... my theme is red... and damask. The living area is more pinks, corals, greens, and purples, and the bathroom is green, blue, and pink. I have so many kitchen stuff.. it's kind of crazy. I haven't had a chance to organized anything, so yea... there's a lot more kitchen stuff going today and tomorrow...I have quite a bit of room in my apt. It's not as cramp as I thought it would be. Last night I sewed curtains for my walk in closet. There were these flimsy folding doors that got stuck on the carpet a lot, so I removed them, and went to JoAnn's. I sewed the curtains, tie backs, a pillow for my chair, and strap covers for the chair cushion (all for $10!.. I love clearance!). I will hopefully get a before and after pic of these things soon. :) I wanted to add a personal touch to this apt. It was looking quite empty and boring... I looooooove color! Ok, back to more packing. I'm leaving early morning tomorrow and spending almost a day out there trying to figure out stuff and unpack. :( Have I mentioned that my building does not have an elevator? I live on the 3rd floor.... going up and down and up and down and up and down... has given me my workout for the month... my calves have never hurt so badly... and I used to conquer those UCLA stairs everyday..

So empty :( ... this is how sunny and bright this apt is.. such a change from the apts I've lived in before! Pac heights has amazingly blue skies compared to the other neighborhoods. The air seems more fresh there.. much much more breathable. The view is very nice... to the left.. mainly.. haha... I have a view of Alta Plaza Park and lots of houses. To the right.. I have a view of more houses... I live on a pretty big/wide road.. hence.. the great lighting! In front, I have a view of scaffolding...for now... they're renovating a synagogue that's been there for over 100 years..... it should be nice when it's finished. I'll have a view of the stained glass windows.. but that won't happen for another 6 months...:( white tarp it is... for now.. haha

Happy 1st Birthday !!!

2010-06-17T00:11:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday, Skinnyminhy!

No, not me,.. err well it was my bday a few days ago haha... but my blog! I can't believe it's been a year! I've posted 123 times... which makes that around a post every few days! I can't believe I kept this up. This was supposed to be my space to just vent and reminisce about life... but it turned into something amazing... something I am extremely proud of. What have I learned? I learned a ton about who I am, and what I love. I love baking. I love cooking. I love FOOD. I also love photography, and love to share all of my creations and rants with people :) I also learned what a macaron was.. and how to make it.... that was a big part of my blog.. I guess.

Some random stats.. cuz I love stats :)... this site has gotten over 11K pageviews... over 4500 unique visitors from 93 countries... ahhh who would have thought SkinnyMinhy would get..even... 20 visitors.. haha... I don't know. I was bored one day and started to market this blog to reach an audience. I wanted to see if people actually read it. I started at allrecipes.com and entered those photo voting contests.... I then moved on to flickr.com.. then Foodgawker.com and then Tastespotting.com. ... and that's when I started to refine some of my photo taking skills. I love how it was that one push that made me try really hard to make the presentation count. Getting on foodgawker.. isn't as easy as it looks.. my submissions have been rejected quite a few times. I just keep trying and trying... ahhh but I have been lagging the last few weeks. I just have.. no time left :(

This year has been spectacular. I worked for half of it (last day today!!!!,) and just sat around for the other. I've traveled a ton.. ( Seattle/Victoria, BC, Vegas, Miami/Key West, South Lake Tahoe, and... 4.. soon to be 5 trips to SoCal)... not including all of the exploring I did in day trips around the Bay Area + probably over 25 trips to the city! I don't think I could have asked for anything better! I have no complaints. I have no regrets. I am so grateful and thankful that things worked out. This year was perfect for me just to relax.... finally. My acid reflux has gotten a lot better so I've been able to enjoy more foods! My fun life is winding down now, and starting next week.. I will become a resident of beautiful San Francisco! I've been packing and buying a ton of stuff for the move. I want to make it feel very home-y when I move in. I won't even be in town most of next week.. so it's my last hustle to buy stuff.... right... now.

I've spent a lot of time coordinating my kitchen with stuff. Most of the time was just sitting and waiting for the perfect deal (I am a slickdeals addict.) Most of the things I bought were on super clearance or were really good markdowns... ($9 for 24 piece Oneida flatware set from Sears! $17 for a 10 inch victorinox chef's knife!) I am and will always be a fabulous bargain shopper. haha... my deals are amazing. As for the kitchen.. I made everything match my mixer since that was the first big purchase.. and I'll be leaving it out on the countertop. I have a red microwave, blender, mixer, plates, rugs... yea.. I went a little overboard. I want to sew a matching apron since my apron doesn't match my theme at all. I don't know. I'm weird, and have too much time... my kitchen is almost complete... but now.. I need to figure out the rest of my tiny apartment.

Brownies with Fresh Picked Berries!

2010-06-08T09:52:00.000-07:00

I guess people find it weird that people actually go fruit picking nowadays. haha... well.. I did, and I have been going ever since I was little. It's one of those lost traditions as we all aged. My parents still go, we just don't go as a family outing anymore. So, my friend and I decided to go pick some fruit over the weekend. We picked strawberries, mainly, and had a few peaches, and blackberries as well. Most of these fruits are just going to be eaten, straight. I might bake with a few strawberries and blackberries. I made brownies the other night. I wanted to get back into the baking mode. I realized that all of my cakes and dense and dry. I couldn't really fail with brownies because they are dense... to begin with.. haha but yea... I did not use my mixer, and these turned out to be quite yummy! They were so easy to make and tasted a lot better than the box mixes I always used.

I got this recipe off of allrecipes.com - Brooke's Best Bombshell Brownies.. I always wanted to try it because I always saw it on the front page... and am so glad I finally did! I halved the recipe and reduced the sugar a little bit (not as much as I normally do because my parents aren't a fan of chocolate-y things.) I served it with some pistachio ice cream, peanuts, strawberries and blackberries which were the fruits I picked.

Here are some pictures of the fruits my friend and I picked! :)
The blackberry bush
My friend's strawberry tray.. she dug deep for the big ones... I just skimmed the rows for small to large-ish ones haha

All the things that I love... chocolate, ice cream, fruits, and nuts.. all that's missing is a nice dollop of whipped cream.. and chocolate drizzled over the top!

Fresh Basil Pizza with a Crispy Garlic Crust

2010-05-31T01:48:00.000-07:00

This could be another post about another failure, but I'll refrain from saying that word from now on, in this post. I think everyone goes through a period in their life when they just... want to give up. Whether it's starting something new or doing something old... I feel like there are so many times in my life, I've had the option to just give up and move on. Well, for unknown reasons, I feel like all of my baking in the last few weeks have resulted in gross foods. I have used my KA mixer in all of those preps... so uh..... through the laws of whatever, can I say, I DON"T KNOW HOW TO USE THAT MIXER?! I won't give up. Why would this mixer kill my recipes?.. I'm talking recipes I've used 5-6 times.... not new ones. I JUST DON"T GET IT. Sorry, I'm venting. I just don't know why I'm messing up all the time. I think it's also the stress. I never really have time to just experiment in the kitchen anymore, there is just so much going on in my life! On the weekdays, I teach a totally full schedule. I wake up, eat, prep, drive to work.. and come home around 9PM. On the weekends, I hang out with friends and shop for my new apt. I don't cook anymore. I don't bake anymore.. and if I ever crave something... I find it easier to head to the store and buy it. What am I becoming?

Every cook hits their lull. I've hit mine. This is my second one in 2010. I feel pretty depressed. I spent so much time mastering the art of baking. I knew it so well. I was pretty confident about my abilities.... not anymore. I don't know if i should just ride out this lull ... or keep at it. I've already had 5 bad batches of stuff... can't really have anymore rite or then it'd be a waste of food :/ I eat everything as a punishment, each time analyzing why it came out the way it did. I have so many pictures to show that I am capable of baking... but sadly.. no goods to prove that I have skill... anymore :(

My attitude has always been.. if you think it's worth it, keep at it. I refuse to be bogged down by this. I will continue to bake and bake and bake until everything has come back. I just think this KA mixer is a lil too big. I make small batches.. and this mixer just doesn't mix it up well enough. I can produce better results with just a whisk, I feel : / Oh well. Time to make some high calorie treats for my hunger pains I always feel while working.. talking burns a lot of calories for me.... I never knew that.. but then again.. I've never had to talk soooo much in my life.

So, I wrote this post when I made the pizza, and now.. after almost a week.. I'm finishing writing it. Normally, posts take around 1-2 hours to write .. including the time it takes to edit pictures. I apparently don't have 1-2 hours to spare these days, which makes me really sad. I'm sure this is how my life will be starting next month. : / Anyway, I used the basic garlic pizza crust.. and halved it. I probably shouldn't have done that. The crust wasn't the best, but it held pizza. This used to be really good.. so iono..the dough hook did a poor job of mixing the small amount of dough.. so I transferred it to my trusty bread machine. Something is off, still. I can't figure out what. It might just be my mood. I'm just not feeling it anymore.

Pizza 1 Topping (Top picture): red sauce with fresh basil from my basil plant! (buying a basil plant was cheaper than buying basil at the store haha) with caramelized onions, cheese, pepperoni, and honey ham

Pizza 2 Topping: bbq sauce, onions, cheese, pepperoni, honey ham, and fresh basil

Easy right? I just don't really like how it takes so long from start to finish.. (over 2 hours!)

Dear Martha....

2010-05-24T00:34:00.000-07:00

Dear Martha,

I think I'm waving my white flag. I've accepted defeat. I've tried 5 of your so called "recipes" in your Cupcakes book 4 of which resulted in failures. I am disappointed. I know I can bake, but every time I try one of your recipes, it kills my baking confidence. These little set backs have made me not want to bake anymore. I hate that feeling. I love baking. I love making edible pastries and sweets. What I don't love? Your recipes. I feel like it's just me who doesn't get it. People seem to have so many successes, and I, failures. You were my idol since I was little. You inspired me to become a domestic diva, but I can't stand to waste another batch of cupcakes that are based on your recipes.

- SkinnyMinhy

Oh, hello baking world, my... have I missed you. I wanted to give that cupcakes book another chance. How can I failed with the "one bowl chocolate cake" recipe? This was very similar to THE chocolate cake recipe I always use. The steps were vague. And the taste of the baked cake? Dry. Dense. Gross. Another DRY cake in that cupcake book... and one that sticks SO much to the liner. Why? well .. how about 1.5 tbsp of oil for 10 cupcakes... that seems a bit.. little doesn't it? I have 1/4 cup oil for 12 in the other recipe... and 3/4 cup for 12 for red velvets (the only good recipe out of the book.) Maybe that explains the dry texture. It was just dense. SO disappointingly dense... I know I did reduce the sugar, but I always do, and the texture is usually not compromised. Maybe that's my issue with her recipe. People DO use the full amount of sugar. I never do. I know her recipes must be good. I've read so many blog entries by people who get it right. I'm going to try them all again when I move. Maybe... the issue is with my electric oven... gas is the way to go for me. blah... oh well. my mixer got a good workout.. not really. I'm going to make a sponge cake soon...like those Chinese bakery ones. I have the recipe for that, never made it myself, but my mom has perfected that recipe for the past few years.

Peanut butter frosting. I really love peanut butter. This was a delightful change to the regular butter cream frosting. It wasn't too sweet, but very rich and creamy. The recipe was just a combination of a lot of recipes online on peanut butter frosting. I eyeballed everything.. * creamy pb, salted butter, powdered sugar* <- so easy!!! Yummmm I've really been lazy in the staging and photography side of cooking.. well.. and also cooking itself.. haha here's my lazy frosting job.
Hope these cupcakes magically become moist tomorrow, maybe the oil from the peanut butter will seep into the cake....

(Re) Introducing...

2010-05-23T16:57:00.000-07:00

oh gosh.. this took way too much effort to find a replacement for my defective mixer. I went to Costco 3 times this week, and calling on the days I didn't go in. I found out that this mixer isn't really going to be sold at Costco for awhile, maybe because demands won't be high until the holidays. I had the manager track down the next shipment, and there was one coming at the end of the week.... and then it didn't come in. haha... The shipment was late, but it did arrive. This was a fresh shipment... never been touched or handled by customers. I had them bring out the forklift to bring down the crate. (surprisingly 5 people in my area bought this stand mixer in the past 2 weeks... at regular price (I bought it on sale haha!)...only the display was left..) One of the guys helping me tore off the plastic, and handed me... a silver one. Poo. haha... What I've found by going through this mixer-finding-adventure has been this... most guys just don't understand. Women get it... but guys... especially all the ones that helped me at Costco.... there were a ton of guys helping me there (I didn't know that most people working at that Costco were men.. especially in management)... to locate a shipment... stock at other stores...returning the old one....overriding the price...yea... they didn't get why I wanted a red one, and specifically ... a red... one, nothing else. haha I guess I'm still crazy. Oh well, my mixer works, and it doesn't rattle. I knew it shouldn't. I can picture it in my new kitchen now.... taking up quite a bit of room.. but oh, so, sexy... next to my fridge. :) Hope there will be no returns (knocks on wood)... because.. if it rattles again.. I think I will just say that I've lost faith in this mixer and kitchenaid.

Name: Pierre 2.0 or Sir Mix A Lot
Birthday: 5/22/2010

Well, I can't decide what to name him. The name Pierre didn't get to live out its life...so maybe I should just stick with it.. Well, while contemplating names.. I thought of Sir Mix A Lot.. iono if it just came to me.. or if I saw it on a forum. This is an awesome name for this mixer! There's another reason why I was going to name it that... but I'm not going to say online :P haha It's kind of mean.

Sir Mix a Lot-
"I like baked buns I cannot lie... With some creamy butter on the side...That when a girl walks in with a itty bitty waist and a round thing on her plate... you get.... hung... (gry.)"

Ok, enough of my obnoxiousness hahaha

You know what happened on 5/22/2009? I pulled the trigger and got my camera. I remember the day I picked it up from the store... I worked all weekend, and after work one day, I ventured off to that store to pick it up. It was one of the last cameras available for pick-up in the LA area, and I so happen to work right by it! (Work was 35 miles away) Good times. I remember taking it home... and contemplating my purchase... asking myself if this camera was worth the cost .. Most of the pics I took with it on my first few days were with flash. I didn't know any better.. and I lived in a really dark studio.. that had one window.. that faced a ivy covered hill. I spent many hours figuring out how to use it... and well.. after 1 year I'm still learning! I can't believe it's been a year! It's been all over CA, Seattle, Victoria, Vegas, Miami, Keys.....I've taken thousands of pictures... and it's still as good as new (I don't have a bag or case for it.. I normally just throw it into my big purse.. hahha oh well... this was meant to take food pictures... and I have plenty of pictures that I am so proud of this past year!

Happy Birthday, my Rebel!

Why hello there...

2010-05-19T01:10:00.000-07:00

I really have stopped cooking :( I work 3 times my normal load... so yea, that really doesn't leave me much room to plan a day of cooking. I usually bake on the weekends, but this weekend I spent going out to SF and Oakland. Oh well, I will bake more soon. I'm still on the hunt for that mixer.

So, back to my adventures in food land... which will have a new place starting July 1st. I finally found an apt! I was stressing out about this for the last few months. I wanted a perfect place and had a pretty good idea of what I want and don't want in an apt... and I finally found it. It is a studio apt located one block from the school that has carpet (which I love/is rare for SF apts), high ceilings, a small but cute eating area that is separate from the living area (maybe a small bistro set or pub set would do for a dining table?.. I mean.. it's just going to be me... usually haha), a pretty big kitchen for a studio! with full sized appliances, gas stove!!!<- if it was electric I would have said no... haha.. I'm pretty picky when it comes to stoves ( gas saves time and money.. and I hope to walk back for lunch each day... because I love hot meals !)... and a huge fridge! (yay for costco).. The apt itself is very bright because it faces a very wide street. I even have bay windows to stare out of (with a view of the school haha!) I don't think I could have asked for more, given my small budget. Pacific Heights isn't geared towards the budget seeking tenants :( ...unless you're willing to live without a stove.... and have your bed against the wall.. (I honestly didn't think those types of apts existed !!) I get to furnish this place from scratch and not have to worry about dividing anything. I'm slowly buying things so I don't get stressed out when the time comes because school starts on July 9th (8 days to unwind, unpack, and make it home!) I've moved to 6 different places during undergrad... now.. onto my 7th move in 5 years... I should be good at this by now, right? I actually haven't really unpacked from undergrad.... I still rummage through boxes to find things... but yea. I'm going to dig through all the clearance section for the next month to see what I can find as well as slickdealing stuff. Last weekend I bought 5 spoons from a box of 6... in the as-is section at IKEA... for one missing spoon.. they reduced the price by 50%... hahah I love that section.. I wish I lived closer to IKEA just so I can wait and see what gets returned everyday.... oh... how fun that'd be! So yea.. that will be my update on life right now. I'm thinking of starting a personal blog.. another life soon. I want to remember things about this time in my life. I'm juggling around with different names.

Here's what my new kitchen will look like. This was taken of an empty unit. I'm not a fan of the tile, but everything else is nice and bright! This kind of reminds me of the kitchen in my home now. You should see apartments around this area...at the same price range as this one... (think... layers and layers of paint over wood... no counter top space... and miniature appliances...) This is definitely a great upgrade from my last few apartments...and I'm so excited to start cooking in it.. even if it's just pb and honey sandwiches and cup of noodles. :)

The Whoopie Pies that Killed "Pierre"

2010-05-15T00:35:00.001-07:00

Well, not really. This was the batch of cookies.. or um .. cakes.. that made the mixer rattle.... and um...ultimately revealed that it was defective. It wasn't like I was making bread.. like 5 loaves of it or 6 dozen cookies (my mixer was supposed to be able to handle 4 loaves of bread or 5 dozen cookies..,) so that the mixer would just overheat and die in those cases... I was mixing cake batter.... a very small portion too. I only used half an egg... yep.. small. I dream one day, KitchenAid would think about the bakers who bake tiny portions... who only need a 1 to 1.5 quart mixer for small batches of cookies.. cakes... and frosting...wouldn't that be perfect for me????

I read a lot of blogs and news about food. One thing that people seem to agree on is that... Whoopie Pies are going to be the next "it" dessert. (I beg to differ.) First it was the Cupcakes.. then Yogurt?.. then Macarons... now.. Whoopie Pies. I mean, I've seen it on the menus at some bakeries and bake shops close by, but have never dared to try it. Maybe I should have before I tried to make it myself. This was adapted from the NY Times recipe, surely a recipe posted on that paper should be "the real deal" right? Well, maybe it was the fact that my mixer was dying... during the last steps of making this.. or that I didn't know whoopie pies are supposed to taste like.. but whoopie pies.. just.. aren't that great! They're bland, a tad dense, nice soft/silky texture outside, but kind of dry. I think I can follow recipes pretty well, but this one.. just doesn't cut it. It looks cute.. kind of sloppy, but very home made. I guess that's why they've been selling those whoopie pie pans at Williams Sonoma and Sur La Table.. just so people can achieve that perfect round "pie" shape and size (I've also seen it piped.) I prefer cupcakes. You want a whoopie pie.. my way?... Take a cupcake... slice it horizontally... put filling in the middle and eat it. I think I'd enjoy that more. I love spongy/airy/light things.. maybe that's why I love cake more than this. haha

I think it's supposed to taste like a cake..or a fake oreo...? I can kind of see that. I think if my batter wasn't so tall and mounded, it would taste pretty good. (I thought they would spread out a bit more.) The batter was much thicker than a regular cake batter. I should have rapped the pan on the ground a few times. The traditional filling is similar to marshmallow fluff, which I'm sure would be delicious, but I only had cream cheese frosting that I made a few days back. I've had a few pies. I did end up filling a bunch of them, and threw them into the freezer. I read somewhere that people enjoyed eating them frozen. It's kind of like eating one of those ice cream sandwich bars .. you know the one with the chocolate cookie/cake thing.. but just times that cookie by 6 or 7.... If I wanted to eat a good sandwich.. I'd opt for two cookies... and ice cream in the middle.. or frosting would be good too... or well, I think I'd like my macarons more because the flavors really pop in those! Maybe that is a West Coast thing... these whoopie pies are an East Coast dessert. Worth the hype? Sure! Things that are sweet, portable, packable, and easy to make are always going to be hyped up to a certain degree. I might try another recipe.. or cheat and do the cake mix version (too much sugar :-/ !) I also want to try the pumpkin whoopie pies next... those look pretty tasty!

Recipe: Chocolate Whoopie Pie - NYTimes.com

Gingersnaps Without the Snap

2010-05-14T22:58:00.000-07:00

What to do on a Friday night... another Friday night when I'm like.. gee.. I'm kind of bored! Almost all of my friends are taking some sort of test in the next few weeks, my sis is out in Vegas and my closest friend who is not busy is.. "just" 35 miles away haha... which leaves me here...watching my baby boy aka Fish, blow his millionth bubble nest and poop... while I'm blogging on yet another Friday night... haha. I worked a lot this week... the most I've ever worked this year! As tutoring is coming to an end... I've come to realize that teaching kids is really rewarding. I've learned a lot about them, their families, their learning styles, their area... which is also my area haha (I have way too many stories about this one....,) and a lot about just interacting with kids. Anyway, something I'm so glad I've started to pick up is giving praise. One of my new years resolution was to be less negative. I'm the type of person who will most of the time tell it like it is, like it, great, don't like it, leave. Sometimes the truth hurts, and that's what I do. I am honest, and it's hard for me to verbally like something I don't actually like. I found that I can't be that type of person, while teaching... or well, I'm sure they'll start crying. But.. teaching these kiddies... boy... they do make a lot of mistakes, but it's ok, I see that they're trying, and it's so adorable, and saying "you got it!" "great work!" "good job today!" might be all the praise that they need to keep them going. Whether it's a kid writing a funny paragraph about how "anoying" (annoying) his brothers and sisters are and how they drive him "blistic" (ballistic) to playing restaurant with a kid who drew an entire menu himself in which he named after me<- :), tutoring these kids have really given me a new perspective on how to be more positive, and how staying positive really does increase and encourage productivity. I think I've given 6 out of my 10 resolutions a good attempt this year, something I really should be quite proud of, in a year when a lot of people just don't understand, why I had to take it off, in which some days I feel like I've kind of failed. So back to my life... this past week aside from the crappy mixer tragedy. haha

***********
Ginger cookies! I actually do love to switch it up once in awhile by making cookies that are not so "typical" i.e. chocolate chip, oatmeal, peanut butter. These cookies were yummy. They were soft with a chewy texture. I've only made gingerbread cookies before this, and the recipe is pretty similar, just I rolled them up into balls and coated them with cinnamon sugar. I wish I had more cracking on top. I don't know what the secret it to getting that beautiful crack. For the chocolate crinkles the secret was to place it on the highest position in the oven, i did the second highest for these cookies and only a few turned out slightly cracked.

These were not a hit with my family. I guess they're not a fan of cloves. My mom couldn't figure out what she didn't like about them.. but said there was a flavor in there that made it weird... I'm thinking cloves. I wanted to try a spicy cookie! The aftertaste was a little peppery... and well.. my mom cannot stand heat! Oh well, more for me. :) I got these off of allrecipes.com. I did half a batch, and yes I did use shortening. Yum. I don't think there's anything wrong with shortening in very small amounts. I made 13 cookies, and there was only 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp of shortening.. so not too bad. I reduced the sugar from 1/2 cup to 1/3 cup, and it was plenty sweet due to the sugar coating. I would make these again, and would probably serve it has an ice cream sandwich at this time of the year.. maybe pair it with some pistachio ice cream? I love when they spice pistachio ice cream a bit... so I'm sure this combination would be wonderful... I'm becoming my own Diddy Riese... ahh those were the days... every Thursday after math discussion, I would walk down to Diddy Riese and get some cookies... and people watch while sitting in front of their shop... then trek back to my dorm to burn off the calories... haha.. I miss Westwood.. Recipe: Grandma's Gingersnap Cookies - Allrecipes.com
(I added 2 pinches of cloves, reduced the sugar to 2/3 cups <- full recipe) I did sift it many times, as directed... sifting flour into a bowl on a mixer is hard.. I got flour all over it!)

Not.. "for the way it's made" RIP new mixer...

2010-05-12T23:50:00.000-07:00

You should see my face.. it looks kind of like this-> :((((((( .... For 3 days, I looked at my mixer sitting on the floor of my room. Every time I looked at it, I was happy. There's a symbolic meaning to this machine. I put in a lot of hard work to get this, and it has taken me so many years to show and prove to myself that I am extremely passionate about baking. I basically already gave it a name.. "Pierre"... or well that's what people called it. I was too excited to try it out... just waiting to find that perfect recipe to test out the ease and power. I finally found a few recipes to try out. I made gingersnaps, and also whoopie pies. The gingersnaps were wonderful. The mixer was great. I moved onto the whoopie pie. In my last addition of flour, this rattling noise started to come out of my mixer (this was the second problem)... and it got louder.. and louder.. and I was like.. uhhh the beater must be skimming the bottom of the bowl. So I stopped, checked it out, and it was ok. I already adjusted the beater because when I was testing out the attachment, I noticed that the beater was touching the bowl (this was the first problem.) I beat the mixture some more, and was done with my whoopie pies. Then, I was curious. I went back to my mixer and turned it on, without an attachment or bowl. There was definitely something wrong with it. It sounded like a gear was missing something.... I don't know, but the sound was unbearable, kind of like someone hitting a spoon on a metal bowl.. continuiously. ARG.... so... yea.. I did this for awhile, hoping that it will go away... it did.. and then came right back. I don't know what to do, but I need to get rid of this defective one.

It was an open box when I bought it....I was crazy, and spent a big chunk of money on a battered box... : ( Someone probably used it and realized the problem and returned it to Costco, due to their wonderful return policy. I might have to do the same. I'm going to call up Kitchenaid tomorrow and ask them their opinion. I might get a replacement through them to keep my color because Costco does not have red anymore.. online or.. in stores :( ... and I wanted a red one... I don't know if I can settle for black.. or silver.. this thing is supposed to last forever... and mine can't even handle 2 batches of cookies (half batches of each)????.. The Kitchenaid's slogan "for the way it's made" is a load of... BS.. then!. : / ... I guess the comparable one they would give me wouldn't be the professional HD, but rather the professional 5 plus. It is basically the same machine, just 450 watts instead of the 475. I think I won't notice the difference. I could also just return it completely at costco and buy it at Sam's.... iono... the price went up all around because I bought it on the last day of their sale. I just want a mixer that works.. without a horrendous sound. : ( : ( : ( Huffle Puffle : ( : ( : ( ... back to square one? Is this a sign that I should keep waiting to buy that mixer?

Introducing....

2010-05-09T17:31:00.000-07:00

It's big, it's powerful, it's shiny, it's red... and it's finnallly mineeee!!!! Many many posts back, I said that I'd get a kitchenaid mixer if I got into d-school since I'd have an apt to myself.. and... well.. the time has come. Luckily my move to school is only a 40 mile drive, and I can take all of my kitchen gadgets with me! This is my early birthday present to me...haha lame, I know... yayy maybe I'll make my bday cake with it :) Introducing: _________ .... I have yet to name it, but I will, since I'm crazy like that.... :-D

3 Costco trips... and finally.. found the perfect one (I even settled on buying an open and busted box because I wanted that red one so badly!) I went yesterday to see it... and was like hmm do I want this one.. or the Artisan one with less power but more compact design?... hm... so I went home and researched... I figured.. I do bake a lot... more so than the average person, I'd say, and I do love power... This machine is not supposed to break down easily (and Costco has a wonderful return policy.. if it does die.. haha).. and yea...it's a one time purchase..(fingers crossed) so I put in a little more money to get more power and better construction...plus a bowl lift which seems to be a nice feature (I've had horrible issues with the head tilt ones.... We have a sunbeam one at home now.. and tilting it is a PAIN)...

I've had my eye on a red mixer for quite some time now. Why red? I don't know... I don't really like that color (it's the color of my car as well haha,) but red is quite a sexy color to have sitting on the counter. In addition to getting the mixer the set included a few prep bowls, a digital timer (which is great for my favorite chocolate cake recipe!) AND a meat grinding attachment... (Free! after mail in rebate :/.) I wouldn't say this was the best deal on a mixer, but one of the better ones at this time (the sale ended today.) I guess I can't find slick deals on everything right? (although my decision to buy this was partly due to the slickdeals people talking about how this is a great deal for this type of mixer in terms of power.) This mixer has a 475 watt motor, whereas the Artisan one has 325, and the Classic model has a 250 watt motor... so in terms of power, this one is pretty darn crazy.

So what does that mean for my lil mixer? I've been using a cheapy $7 mixer I bought at Longs for the past 3 years. This mixer will always have my heart. I will use it until it dies. I've made so many batches of cookies, cakes, brownies, creams, and macarons with it, and it hasn't let me down! Sure, it has 5 speeds, and the 5th speed is probably as powerful as speed 3 (out of 10) on the Kitchenaid, but that hasn't stopped me from making anything. This will still be a perfect mixer for when I don't need to make a large batch of stuff.

I'm playing around with it like it's Christmas for me.. haha .. it's currently sitting in my room... on the ground.. and plugged in... I've whipped up the air quite nicely tonight.... haha... I will give it a proper photoshoot later... Say "hello" to my new baby!!!!

Name : To be determined... :)
DOB: 5/9/2010
DOD:... Please don't die on me.. ever : /....I'd be really sad.. because I've wanted you for the past 10 years...and getting you was a LOT of work...
*EDIT: DOD: 5/12/2010....... ;-(
Model: Professional HD (I think this model is only available at Costco and Sam's.. and reconditioned ones are sold on Amazon.. a comparable model is the Pro 5 Plus)
Color: Empire Red (the red is like a sports car red... very pretty and shiny)

I can't wait to test it out... macarons? cookies? cakes? : )!!!!!!

Hush Little Baby... Don't Say A Word...

2010-05-07T18:38:00.000-07:00

Mama's going to buy you a... haha I just googled the lyrics...and I don't know if this will be a lullaby I'd be singing to my kids haha... it's like... be quiet baby.. I will buy you things to reward you for being quiet.. and if those things break, it's ok I will buy you more things... and more and more and more.. until I can't anymore.. and in the end you'll still be sweet. Hm... does anyone else see something wrong with this????

I made 72 red velvet cupcakes last night (4 times what I normally do).... yep... 36 normal size ones and 36 minis... all in one batch. I ended up sifting 5 cups of flour.. a few times... adding in cups of oil... many eggs.. a few cups of milk... AHHHHHH... not to mention beating it with a hand mixer.... it was HUGE. Thankfully, it came out nicely, and didn't flop and become dry. For the frosting, I made a standard cream cheese one with a bit of meringue powder mixed in so the frosting can set a bit and not be so goopy when it is transported.

So this was made for a baby shower (never met the expecting mother, but hope she liked the cupcakes!) I baked the cakes, made the frosting, frosted them, and my sis did the decorations. It was a 2 person show, and took many hours to finish. My sis drove them to WC then had them picked up to be transferred to SF.... whew, hope they make it! I gave some away to my friends, aunt, uncle, cousin, and 2nd cousin.... haha I thought I made enough so that I would have plenty of eat at home, but ended up only having 8 normal size cupcakes leftover ... hahahah... yea... oh well, I still have a ton of frosting left, so I might have to make something else to frost them with!

So here they are. The little nursery of babies, inspired by a project done in Hello, Cupcake, a book I haven't used... because I feel like it didn't live up to its hype :/. The ducks were inspired by the ducky liners I bought at Jo Ann's. I drew half the faces, and did all the duck bills... or well they kind of look like beaks haha.. and my sis did everything else.

We were working up until the deadline so I didn't have much time to take pictures : /

Tucking them in... awwww.. too cute! :) Those were mini Nilla wafers, with fondant pacifier and buttercream eyes, the blankets (heart shape cut outs) and all other decorations were fondant ("Satin Ice" brand... Wilton fondant is harder to work with and tastes weird) The pillow was a marshmallow cut in half.
Sweet dreams :)!An almost completed tree of babies :)
awwww... all sound asleep... all 24 of them haha
now.. let's get ready for the duckies!
they look a bit confused hm?
quack quack quack
or.. maybe you'd want a rattle?

***************
I touched the cricut cake yesterday.... ahhhh introductory offers always sucker me in.. but I can't... now is not the right time : / ... I think I'd rather try to find the perfect deal on the kitchenaid mixer than have a machine that cuts fondant/gumpaste... but first.. must find an apartment! The next few weeks will be devoted to teaching (doubled my load= a lot more prep time!) and apartment hunting on the weekends. I went a few days ago and found nothing : ( . Let's see how many times I have to venture out to the city to find a nice place to call home ..... ahhh 2 more months until school starts!!!!

Doughboys: A Review

2010-05-03T01:21:00.000-07:00

Red velvet where? Ok... I'm there! That's usually my response to when I hear the words "red velvet" in a sentence. I've been wanting to try this place for many many years. I remember driving past it and seeing how packed it was throughout the day... and then it closed. That really puzzled me. This restaurant was doing so well, it was a trendy celebrity type of place, but still a place where mostly locals can come to gather and get good food. So, apparently it was closed down due to vermin? I don't know exactly. I think they said due to remodeling and rotting wood? haha.. whatever the case, it's back. And I ended up walking 1 mile there, and 1 mile back just to get a taste of that red velvet. Crazy right?

Doughboys- Whenever I hear the word doughboys I think of.. Pillsbury..haha I don't know, I love that cute lil white doughy creature! This place specializes in breads and is famous for its red velvet (2 things I love A LOT.) I was talking to my sis when I headed out on my journey to find food, initially to the Farmer's Market by the Grove LA, and decided to change my plans and head further down the street. It was worth it. I got there at around 3PM on a beautiful Sunday, it wasn't too hot, but wasn't too cool, just perfect. My sis said her friends went there yesterday and that it was no longer closed. I knew it wasn't too far so I google maps it. That led me into the alley ways...that's strike 2 for iphone google maps that needs some serious updating.... (first being last Friday when it led me into a dead end/telling me to drive through a fence... ugh...) But, it's alright. I still know my LA directions pretty well, for being a tourist and what not.. now.. haha. The restaurant wasn't crowded. I thought it would be, kind of like Joan's on Third (which was right down the street) ... the outside seating was full, but the inside tables were mostly empty. I was seated right away. yay :)

Arnold Palmer- Must be the drink of choice on the street. I had this when I went to Joans on Third, and well, you can't go wrong. It was almost evening, so I didn't want to kill myself with so much caffeine, but I guess it did something.. it's 2am.. and I'm still up blogging... the lemon kind of ended up giving me a lot of heartburn as the meal went on. : ( $1.75 for a large glass of that? Awesome... at that price I don't feel so guilty ordering a drink besides just plain water haha...

Pulled Pork Sandwich- Yum, sandwich. I was expecting a sandwich, you know, 2 pieces of bread and some meat in the middle? What I got? This flat bread/ naan-ish type of thing. It was sooo unbelievably soft delicious... I'd just go there for this bread, if I had to. The meat itself was good, a tad on the salty side, but full of flavor. I think the combination of the bbq sauce and lemon in the drink resulted in me having heartburn for the next hour or so.... but yea, the portion size was HUGE. I ate half because...well, you know. I always save room for dessert, and that was my main reason why I wanted to go.

Red velvet- omg, this thing is HUGE. it's like a mini cake! It was SO red, that I'm sure it stained my tongue red, well I did touch it slightly, and.. the red did in fact transfer to my fingers haha... yea.. amazing. This was mainly cake with a piped top of cream cheese frosting, with crumbled red velvet on top. AHH... and the taste? YUMMY! I got too excited. haha... but yea. It was good, very moist, a tad too sweet ( normally red velvet cakes aren't too sweet.) It was very dense, not at all light and airy. This didn't taste like sprinkles. It tasted more like the red velvet layered cake from "Sweet Lady Jane." I had a few bites.. maybe 1/4 of it and packed up the rest. The cake was $6 which isn't too bad considering the size of the cake, how dense it is, as well as the area the restaurant is in. The rest is in the fridge right now. I still have around 1.5 days left here, so I will try to finish it up... yep.. can't wait.

Would I come back? Sure! The prices were extremely reasonable (Most sandwiches were $9.50 and the portions were quite generous.) The staff was attentive and nice, and most importantly, the food was good. Thanks Doughboys for finally opening up again.

Thanks to everyone who recommended it, you know who you are, or well.. I guess I will tell you all when I get back home haha : ) I surely did enjoy eating my slice of cake!

Cupcake Cake Balls

2010-04-27T20:24:00.000-07:00

This is my last week teaching a few of my kiddies, and I wanted to gift them with something as a way of saying, "thanks for putting up with me forcing 10 pages of math problems into your brains every hour." hahaha In every job that I've had, I usually disguise my real identity. I don't let people in on who I am, what I do, and where I go. I don't know. I'm pretty open about who I am, if you ask, but I just wanted parts of me to be secret, especially with this job. So yea, I never told any of them that I bake, and that is one of my passions in life. It's sad that some of my work is over with these kids. I really wish I made a positive impact on their lives, and hope that they get better at math when I'm not there. Sigh, that's the sadness of teaching. It is so rewarding to see the kids do well, but also incredibly discouraging to see kids struggle with problems we've worked on for so many hours. I've picked up more work to round out my last month of working. My next job will be as a... dentist. That's definitely a scary thought.... even scarier.... that'd only be a little over 3 years from now! AHHH! Sorry, I digressed. Back to cake balls...

Doesn't this concept seem a bit counterintuitive to you? Why? I baked a cake, made some frosting. Simple steps to building a normal cake or cupcake right? Well, not a cake ball. I crumbled up the cake, mixed IN the frosting, shaped it like a cupcake, and dipped it into chocolate. So, it goes... Cupcake -> Destroyed cupcake -> (back to) Cupcake. I mean, common sense would be to.. just make cupcakes.. right?? I don't know, maybe it's just me... but! I enjoy eating the cake balls, and it's very cute! These were Bakerella inspired, and my sis has been doing these for quite some time now. I have just never made them in these shapes.. even though I bought her the peanut butter cup molds.

I will also add (I'm in a digressing kind of mood)... that there is now a shop in downtown WC that sells cupcakes and... cake bites.. aka these cake balls... or cake truffles. Whatever you call it, it's all the same, cake mixed with frosting dipped in chocolate. I haven't tried it yet. I passed by many times thinking.. psh... they are living out my dream (envious, I know)... and selling these things at an insane price. I don't know, reviews have been mixed. I hold Sprinkles as being one of the best cupcake shops I've been to, and well, nothing else has come close. I looked at that store's website, and my reaction was... "...." Not to be snooty, but, come on... you have a shop in another even more upscale location, and a shop right on Broadway, and you can't afford a photographer? Their site is beautiful, but... the pictures of the cupcakes just don't match the beauty of the site. Ok, maybe I'm just ranting, but if anyone checks out that site, you'll know what I'm talking about. I'd love to take a shot at taking pictures for them (I think I can do better.. but am no where near to great at taking pics of cupcakes haha.. but they fit my style.. scrapbook paper + cupcakes) I'd love free cupcakes in return of course :) They charge around 2 bucks for a cake ball... arg. These cost 2 bucks to make! I made the cake and frosting from scratch, and the candy melts were fairly cheap. (My sis gutted her entire Guittard Melting Chips stock from her store when it went on clearance....so now I have many many pounds of chocolate to spare... enough to make it through the year...hopefully :))

Recipes:
- I used my favorite chocolate cake recipe, and kept the sugar level a little under 1/2 cup ... this is the best way to control the sweetness of the dessert since you will be adding a lot of frosting/coating later. This made the dessert not so overpoweringly sweet.... well sweet enough because the kids liked it :) The recipe: Click here!-Teddy Bears at the Beach Cupcakes!
- For the frosting: 1/4 cup butter 1/8 cup shortening 1.5 tsp vanilla extract and as much powdered sugar needed to make a stiff consistency frosting.

So here they are.. my cupcake cake balls....the lighting was bad today :( It was rainy....

Un-molded cake balls from the plastic peanut butter cup molds (Found at Michael's and Jo Ann)

The easiest way to melt chocolate for me is by using the microwave. I filled a disposable piping bag (the plastic ones) with chocolate (3/4 full) heated it in the microwave for 1 minute, squished it around, heated it until it was thoroughly melted, snipped the tip, and filled the molds around 1/2 way full, tap it down, and placed in the cake pieces.

Yum.. sugar... the circle ones are my favorite type of sprinkles.. although the ones above these ones are fun too... :)

Packed up and ready to give out... :)
So many sprinkles!!!
HAHA... this is the result of using Wilton candy melts to try to dip the cake balls in... what a disaster!!!! Wilton's candy melts are very thick. I tried to then it out with some shortening, but might have needed some more. The thickness caused the cake to break off half way, I saved it, but still... it produced quite a unique cake ball (flames? a flower?) For the white tops, I used almond bark. I only find these during the holidays... and I'm down to my last piece :( The base was Guittard dark chocolate melts, Wilton could be used for the bottom as well because it doesn't matter how thick it is.

That's it for now, I will be making things this entire week, probably a lot of repeats, just my favs... I haven't dipped probably 10 of them, I'm going to freeze them and complete the dipping stage on Friday so they will be fresh! What's really weird and great about this time in my life is that I seem to vacation every month. I'm going again at the end of the week... yea... hope to see and do new things... here's to my seventh vacation in seven and a half months... wowsers... life is awesome... *knocks on wood* :)

Chocolate Macaron Ice Cream Sandwich

2010-04-24T22:39:00.001-07:00

Macarons... again... haha. The only reason I really make macarons these days is because my mom makes her pastries, and only uses egg yolks for her egg wash. It's not like I don't have a desire to make them, I'm just not really interested in them too much anymore. haha I think my creativity for macarons has run out of steam. I envisioned making these flavors, did it, and now I'm done. I sped through making these macarons today. My sister was going to see her friends, so I decided to send some macarons with her. I basically made these in an hour. These egg whites had been denaturing for over a day, and whipped up like a dream. I don't know if I'll be making chocolate ones anymore, I definitely need to tweak the recipe a bit for chocolate due to the dense cocoa powder. The cookies, sadly, were under-baked (just like my last chocolate batch.) I squirted out different sizes again, probably in my mad rush to finish them. I also didn't let them dry a lot, so the crust/shell was never really formed. The larger cookies had tops that were slightly soft. Sigh. Well, it was still edible, just... tasted like a brownie... very cake-y and dense, not what a macaron should be like. Oh well, live and learn.. rite? I will try more basic flavors next time. I don't know how my earl grey chocolate macarons came out so nicely. I probably added less cocoa powder to the mixture.
Anyway. I didn't want to whip up a ton of frosting for these. I was in too much of a hurry and didn't fill them. I wanted to make a pistachio buttercream, and also a peanut butter frosting to place inside ( to mimic Reese's peanut butter cups haha). I ended up just making one sandwich again, for me to devour... an ice cream sandwich that is. This is just like a sundae, you have your vanilla ice cream, chocolate, and nuts!.. delicious-ness....

Here's a link to my macaron tutorial, be warned, 1.5 tbsp of cocoa powder might be too much.. resulting in a very dense, "hard to bake" properly, macaron.

Topped with peanuts....
Topped with pistachios... Post baking... The lone macaron...

Crispy Oatmeal Cookies

2010-04-24T22:12:00.001-07:00

What kind of cookies do you like? Chewy? Crispy? Soft? Crispy around the edges, and soft in the center? Everyone has their preferences. I don't know what mine are, just as long as the cookie is gooooood. Well, someone had a request for crispy oatmeal cookies. It was hard finding a recipe for these ones because normally oatmeal cookies are soft and chewy. I found this by doing a search through foodgawker.com. It was a recipe that was from America's Test Kitchen. It was pretty good! I didn't have much, I basically shipped the entire batch. I made these during my week of "healthy" living...and I know exactly how much butter was in it, and why these cookies were crispy, not chewy.. yay for the magic of BUTTER.

Crispy Oatmeal Cookies (From The Best of America’s Test Kitchen)

Makes 20 cookies

- 7 tbsp unsalted butter, room temp

- 1/3 Cup granulated sugar

- 1/8 Cup brown sugar

- 1/2 large egg <- haha I cut this recipe in half... I didn't want to use up that much butter!

- 3/4 Teaspoon vanilla extract

- 1/2 Cup all-purpose flour

- 1/4 + 1/8 Teaspoon baking powder

- 1/4 Teaspoon baking soda

- 1/4 Teaspoon salt

- 1.25 cups old fashion oats (not quick cook)

1. Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy (3 minutes.) Beat in egg and vanilla until combined.

2. In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, soda, and salt. Add to butter mixture until combine.

3. Stir in oats. Form using a medium sized cookie scoop. Flatten with a spatula dipped in flour, to prevent from sticking.

4. Bake for 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Leave cookies on tray to cool completely, then remove and store. This step will make the cookies extra crispy.

* when cooled, drizzle on some melted dark chocolate candy melts and chocolate chips, I used probably 4 parts candy melts and one part chocolate chips (I wanted a softer chocolate drizzle, since the candy melts are quite hard.)

*To drizzle- I melted all of the chocolate in a ziploc bag, and squished it around to distribute the melted chocolate. I then cut a small hole on the corner and squirted it out. I used the same technique to write, and this candy melt/ chips ratio makes writing pretty easy. Just remember to work fast, candy melts harden TOO quickly!

drizzle drizzle drizzle...I had no time to waste, 3 hours to decide on a recipe, make it, wait for it to cool, take pics, pack it up, and run to the post office... but all this drizzling... ended up in this...

haha... cool... candy melts harden so quickly!... cleaning this up was easy, just snap off all the chocolate pieces... resulting in this...

What's great about these cookies? Perfect for shipping. They don't break or bend, or at least I don't think they do....I forgot to ask... even if it did, I'm sure they were still edible :)

"Madeleines" Using a Cookie Tray

2010-04-23T17:40:00.000-07:00

Another french pastry, but not a great recipe. I hunted for hours to find this recipe. Madeleines have SO MUCH BUTTER... I wanted to see if there were ways that I could reduce the amount. I found a recipe that had lesser amount of butter and tried it. It baked well, butter was seeping out of the cookies/cake-ish while baking. It just wasn't good. It tasted almost like corn bread. I used a cookie tray instead of a madeleine tray because I don't see myself making these cookies a lot. This tray did have ridges, so I thought it would produce similar results.. iono.. it got the elusive hump.. but not much more. This recipe was quite bland, and dry. Oh well, gave it my best shot. I ended up making 6... yea, all that effort, and only 6 were made... haha I am the queen of making ridiculously small batches....

The cookie tray
A Tulip!...

Goodbye for now...

2010-04-15T12:38:00.000-07:00

This was the week to not make too much foods, but I kind of did. I didn't eat it, I gave it all away. I have a bunch of pictures, but will not have time to update. I am going on vacation for the next 5 days Miami (South Beach!!,) the keys all the way down to Key West. I remember a dental student told me to take as many vacations as possible on my year off because that was one thing he regretted. Yay, so here is another one.... This will be my last big trip before school. I will probably still go places, but all of those places I've been to many times before. Since school is year round, I won't have as many breaks to take these random trips... something I'm not looking forward to haha. So yea, off on a red eye tonight and will wake up to the sunny.. or cloudy.. or rainy.. beaches of South Beach. I haven't been to a warm beach in like 1.5 years, so this will be fun. Can't wait to finally splash around in the Atlantic Ocean, and see what the East Coast has to offer. This vacation will hopefully be relaxing, for once. Nothing is actually planned, no sights I'm dying to see, or places I need to eat at, I think we will just use our iphones to get through the trip once again. There will be a lot of sun soaking beach side, pool side, shopping, and of course, eating. : ) I'm also excited that it won't just be me and my sister going on this trip, her friend and her sister are coming along as well. The more the merrier right? It's a sisters trip, and should be AWESOME! I always wondered what the hype is about Miami, and will soon figure that out.... adios blog for awhile, again.... until we meet again... I will hopefully be a nice color of brown/red (haha,) and a few pounds heavier :)

What I have done this week:
- Bought really cute cupcake liners and cupcake boxes by Martha Stewart, that were in the clearance section at Macy's! They always have the best stuff at the Macy's by my home, maybe people in my area don't bake as much...or care for cutesy things? ... These colors were an inspiration for the next project...
-My rainy day project: Sewed a vintage inspired full apron (dress like skirt) which was teal print with a cheerful yellow trim, it was my first time sewing a dress thing. It turned out nicely. I actually made my own pattern for this apron haha, thankfully everything fit in the end. I decided to add an extra trim to the bottom of the skirt, so I will have to finish that after I get back. Everything else was completed in 4 hours, from drawing to sewing to wearing...

- Attempted madeleines without a madeleine tray (used a cookie tray,) but found the recipe to be quite drythe instructions were great, and even got me to get that elusive "hump" on the cookie, but it was quite bland tasting.. sigh. Maybe I will try again with more butter and a real madeleine pan, I used a cookie pan that was kind of similar. These cookies are quite fatty, it's almost like a portable pound cake.

- Very crispy chocolate drizzled oatmeal cookies, used candy melts as the chocolate so that it dried fast and hard.
haha, ok there's my sneak peak of stuff. Bye! :)

Basa with Fruits and Nuts Couscous

2010-04-11T00:26:00.001-07:00

So, here is my attempt at eating healthy. I seasoned the basa with lemon pepper seasoning as well as some cumin, and pan fried it with a little bit of olive oil, and crushed red peppers ( placing that into the hot oil really brings out the heat!) Here's a recipe for the couscous. I used whole wheat to try to be healthier. It was pretty tasty, and took just a few minutes to make! This meal had a lot of protein, and fiber. Yay, fiber. HAHA Can you sense my enthusiasm for healthy eating? Don't get me wrong, this stuff is actually really good. I just can't wait to indulge in some oily goodness. Just a few more days. I'm trying to be in the best shape and fitness of my life, for the week, let's see how that goes!

Fruits and Nuts Couscous
1 serving

1/3 cup water
1/2 tsp butter
a dash of salt
1/8 cup golden raisins
1/8 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup whole wheat couscous
a dash of nutmeg, lemon pepper seasoning
toasted almonds

1. In a small saucepan, boil water with butter, salt, raisins, dried cranberries.
2. Add couscous and stir.
3. Remove from heat and cover with a lid for 5 minutes.
4. Remove lid, and fluff with a fork, season to taste, plate and sprinkle some toasted almonds on it.

Simple right?! It's amazing how quick and easy couscous is to make! This dish goes very well with fish and chicken.

Helloooo weekend!

2010-04-10T23:19:00.000-07:00

I finally sewed my sister's dSLR strap cover. I've been holding off on this for many months! We're going on vacation at the end of this week, and will both be bringing our camera. I wanted her to have a pretty strap as well. I'm not going to bake or cook much this weekend or week. I'm trying to keep up with my goal of eating healthy for one week. Vacationing is usually horrible for my acid reflux :(. I normally love junk foods, gummy bears especially. I'm going to try to limit myself to just a few a day... rather than a bag every few days.. The 99 cents store.. I mean.. the $0.9999 which is ~> essentially the $1.00 store has the best sour gummies, thank you for introducing me to them.. you know who you are. haha

I changed the way I did it this time. I created a hole to slip the strap in, it was so much easier to turn in inside out after I was done sewing! I will redo my strap cover soon, but will not make it padded (It's so much harder to sew with the extra padding!) I'm thinking something more spring time... something fun, bright, and festive! :)!

So... with 1/4th of a yard of fabric... I was able to make the strap cover and this...
Please excuse the horrible sewing job.... I've never sewed a tote before (with a rectangular base)..... and... I had scraps of fabric left, so I had to piece together a few of the scrap to get the proper size... I was just sewing until it fitted into the bag.... So.. why did I make this?

I wanted ""protection"" for my camera! haha, I don't have a case for my camera, still haven't found a cute purse to carry it in (I've had one in mind for years.. but the price tag is still making me very weak when I think about it...) I usually just put it in a purse dust bag... yea, less protection than this! I might line it to make it less messy, but probably not. If I do go back to the fabric store it'll be to make a new bag with foam padding, or a cute retro apron... something I can hang proudly in my new kitchen :)
*******
I was contemplating making a personal blog, just to remember my life in my early 20's aka my never ending years in school. These are supposed to be wonderful times in a person's life right? I feel like I'm still too young to have big obligations and pressures. These are the years that really should be cherished for being free, exploring the world, and getting to know who you really are. Yep, seems pretty sweet to me!
So, what is a day in the life of ....well... me? As you may all know, it is really just nothing. I have a few hobbies here and there, sleep til noon-ish <- so awesome, I work as a NCLB tutor 4 days a week... and those things pass the time pretty quickly.
I wanted to share something else with this blog, pictures of my parent's hobbies. We all have something we like doing in this house, and it's quite different from one another. My parents garden.... a lot. They have a pretty big obsession with Bonsais, and Japanese maples. I never really got into any of that, trust me, I've tried. (I think I'm too ahhh of bugs and animals in the garden...) There are so many things in my parent's garden, from green trees, shrubs, to fruits, vegetables, exotic flowers, a pond that used to be filled with huge kois (stupid raccoons...)... and so much more, I've lost count. Every week, there seems to be a few new plants. This week tomatoes... last few weeks... Japanese maples... So my mom asked me to take pictures of these plants, because well, there's no guarantee that they will survive or look as vibrant next year!

My parent's bonsai plants and some other things around the garden...

(I don't know why my mom placed a glass fish back there haha...so random!)

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! :)

Strawberry Macarons

2010-04-05T01:40:00.000-07:00

The inside out- chocolate covered strawberry... aka.. the strawberry covered chocolate!

Strawberry season is almost here! Yay! I didn't use fresh strawberries in these macarons though. I used something different.. as in.. strawberry concentrate oil. These were cute, good like all the others, and the flavor, well, it kind of tasted like strawberry milk tea, Trix, Captain Crunch, or strawberry wafers... ok that was a random blurb of foods. I don't know if it's because of the concentrate, or just the texture plus the strawberry-ish flavor, but really, the taste was not expected! I mean, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't the strawberry I was looking for (tasted a bit artificial) I also added some powder out of the bottom of the bag of the freeze dried strawberries from trader joe's. I wanted more of a strawberry kick. I think I will stick to the freeze dried ones to make my strawberry powder/ flavor next time.

Is anyone out there sick of the macarons yet? I think I might be! Has anyone tried my recipe? I'm always afraid of people actually trying my recipe, because I fear that it wouldn't work out : ( I only made these because my mom saved me a few egg whites after she baked her pastries. I left these egg whites out, uncovered, for over a day! Yes, I finally did that, let my eggs denature.. in time. I don't know if it made a difference. I don't think it did. My mom was just afraid that the egg whites were bad if left out. (I believe they have antimicrobial properties making them safe, unrefrigerated?... A lot of recipes for macarons call for really aged egg whites (3 days?) )

Anyway, these macarons were quite tasty. I ended up making ..one.. sandwich... haha.. out of the 11 I could have made. No one really likes the filling in my family, so I just filled one with leftover frosting that I froze. Strawberries + Chocolate = !!!! Love !!!!

I've run out of ideas when it comes to staging my macarons.. they all look the same.. this was a twist on the norm... haha... doesn't even match.... : P That is the fabric in which I will make a new camera strap with for my upcoming vacation. My damask one is looking slightly worn.. already.. : /

Here's a link to my macaron tutorial if you would like a basic recipe. I added 1 tbsp of freezed dried strawberry powder/ piece to the food processor along with the powdered sugar and almonds. I added a few drops of pink gel food coloring. After the egg whites were whipped to an almost stiff peak, I added 1/8 tsp strawberry concentrate oil.

Here's a link to all of my other macaron recipes

I realized I've never taken a pic of a macaron that has been bitten into. I talk about texture a lot, and how the texture of this cookie is what makes it so special. So, here it is. The macaron, savored, in small bites. The shell, which is crisps and cracked, combines with a delicious semi-chewy, semi-melt in your mouth center, paired with a rich chocolate-y buttercream. (These strawberry ones were slightly more chewy, don't know exactly why... maybe the strawberry powder?) Yum yum yum!

I froze a few macarons... will update later on how they turn out when thawed... if Trader Joe's can do it.. so can I!... I hope : /

The Strawberry Concentrate Oil - Got this at Shackford's in Napa

Pretty in Pink!

Big Mac Love : ).. and these even do look like burgers, especially with that chocolate buttercream!

You know when your food is good when....
a bug lands on your macaron when it's in its drying stage.. and gets stuck.. and you take the tray to the 325 degree oven, and bake that poor bug to a nice crisp, not knowing that the bug is stuck on the macaron. Yum. : ) So yes that happened to me, I basically squat at my oven the entire 12 minutes and analyze the shapes and progression of each macaron. (I study their stages...I am weird.) I noticed this thing sticking off of a mac. It looked like a bug... and I figured.. yes, it was a bug, that got stuck, and is now basically done for. So post-baking, I examine the bug... it's quite dead, and embedded into the mac. I tried to take pics of it, and went to my sis's room to show her it. I was holding it up and the tv show caught my eye. I didn't say anything about the bug, and well... she grabbed the mac from my hand and took a slight bite..... she missed the bug. HAHA... but yes, took quite some convincing for her to finish eating the other parts of the perfectly good macaron. :-)

RIP bug- You had a wonderfully sweet last meal. I'm sorry I baked you.
To think.. my sister almost ate that! I'm sure it would have tasted the same... : ) .. perhaps this could have been a belated April fool's joke?

Red Bean and Coconut Bread

2010-04-05T00:48:00.000-07:00

I love those Chinese bakery buns, especially the ones filled with red bean paste. I love going to 99 Ranch and getting them (or Chinatown,) but recently, they haven't been too great... plus at like 89 cents a bun.. I really can't afford to eat too many.. too often. The bread, now, is usually dry, and well, they really do skimp the oh so yummy filling. I bought a can of red bean paste from 99 ranch a few months ago, hoping to make this. My mom used a bit of the red bean to fill her pastry, which was a flaky mung bean bun.. er well.. now flaky red bean bun, so I had half a can left. The canned red beans are sweeter than I would like, but it does make this recipe, almost effortless, if you use your bread machine. I will try to make the red bean paste myself next time, maybe cutting back from the sugar a bit.

I did two styles. I did a spiral loaf, and a faux-braided one. The braided one came out the best. I forgot to butter the pan, and the spiral bread stuck to the pan :(. Sadness. It was a mini disaster, but tasted just like the ones at the Asian bakeries. I know what to do next time, but I think I will just stick to the round bun shape, just for portability, and also freezability.. haha ok, well that's not really a word.

Anyway. I've been searching high and low for the perfect bun recipe. I was going to try a Brioche dough, but found that to be too much effort. I thought, why not just use a basic white bread recipe with a bit more sugar? Sure. That worked. It tasted like white bread, with red bean paste.. nothing bad with that, but still not the real deal. My parents both loved the breads. I think I will experiment more with it, as well as the filling. The bread part is tasty, soft, fluffy, and moist. I think it will go great with some BBQ pork filling, as well as the custard ones. I also want to try a pineapple bun recipe, because that was one of my favorite ones at the bakeries... a pineapple bun (bo lo bao) with red bean filling.. ahh the best of both worlds : )!

So this braided loaf, is something I've done in the past, maybe 6-7 years ago. I used to make the bread part, the old fashion way, kneading, and pulling...I filled a bread like this with a raisin-walnut filling. It was delicious, time consuming, but dried out pretty quickly. I forgot to take pictures of how to do it, but it's basically roll out your dough into a rectangle, fill the middle third with filling, and cut angled strips along the sides, on both sides making sure they're a mirror image of one another. Alternate placing strip from right to left, and fold in the ends. I'm bad at explaining these things... but I'm sure there's a tutorial on line somewhere. I think it's a beautiful way to show bread, that is actually really easy!.

Red Bean and Coconut Bread

Makes 3 braided loaves or one spiral loaf and one braided loaf

1 cup warm water
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
2-1/4 tsp dry yeast
1/4 cup oil
3 cups bread flour

+ 1/2 - 1 can red bean paste
1/3 cup shredded coconut
1 egg for egg wash
Sesame seeds for sprinkling on top of egg wash

1. Combine all ingredients in a bread machine on dough setting (everything but the flour on the bottom, adding the flour last.) Set it.
2. After 10 minutes, restart the machine, so it starts on the dough setting again. (For more softer/tender dough!)
3. After 1.5 hours, take out the dough. Punch down, and let rest for 5 minutes.
4. Remove dough and place onto floured surface. Knead a bit to get it pliable. Fill and shape the dough. Let rise for 1 hour in a warm place. (Use an oven, preheat at 220 degrees for 3-4 minutes, and then turned off... make sure it's warm, not hot!.. then put your bread in.)
5. Brush with egg wash. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake in a pre-heated oven @ 350 degrees until golden brown. Mine took around 18 minutes.

**** if you use a pan, be sure to butter and flour it well!****

I always have a hard time photographing bread... I hate taking pictures in my kitchen.. it never turns out nice... : / I'm hoping for a kitchen with plenty of sunshine when I move! ... on the few days SF gets sunshine that is.... ahh I'm going to miss all of those sunny LA days... : (

Braided loaf - before the final rise After 1 hour of rising in a warm place.. ahh so fluffy! The end piece is always a mess...there's actually no filling in that part.. just a lot of excess dough!It rose a lot!... The dough was so soft and squishy... :)

haha, so here is the inside of my spiral bread.. I basically had to scrap it out of my bread pan... because I forgot the butter : (. Lesson well learned. My dad said it was still very good... maybe he was just saying that to make me feel better because I was pretty sad to see my bread in pieces, especially after all that time I spent waiting to eat it. I think the beans are a bit too heavy, or I added too much, or rolled it too many times which made the inside of the bread collapse. I will try less next time, and won't put it into a pan. I love the way the braided loaf turned out, and the beautiful color it got from the egg wash.. I rarely get a nice even browning of my foods in that oven!

Almond Truffles

2010-03-28T21:46:00.000-07:00

My 100th Post!!!! Hooray!!!

Along with those milk chocolate almonds my family always gets at See's Candies every holiday, we typically also eat a few of the almond truffles. It's basically a truffle covered in chopped almonds. I tried to make this today... because I had some heavy whipping cream leftover.

Almond Covered Chocolate Truffles
(Makes 15-20 depending on your size)

1/2 cup milk chocolate chips (good quality)
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips (good quality)
1/6 cup heavy whipping cream
3 tbsp butter , cut into 6 cubes

1/2-1 Cup chopped almonds that have been roasted a bit on a pan over medium heat (7-10 minutes,) chopped when cooled ( I used a food processor) I also sifted out the almond grounds so only big chunks were left.

1. Heat heavy whipping cream in a small sauce pan until it starts to simmer.
2. Add butter to the pan and stir until melted and simmering. ( med-lo heat)
3. Reduce heat to low. Add the chocolate chips, and stir until smooth. Pour into small bowl and chill in the fridge for a few hours, until firm. ( You can freeze it as well.)

After your mixture is chilled....
1. Spoon out mixture to a desired size. Work in little batches at a time ( around 5 truffles ) put back the un-spooned mixture back into the fridge while forming the balls
2. *This will get messy* Use your hands to form balls. Form all the balls first, then roll and press into chopped almonds. Return to fridge or freezer so it is cold again.
3. Repeat until finished.

*These need to be refrigerated... They're kinda too soft at room temp. I think I will add less butter or cream next time. I like a more firm truffle. I also like a truffle I can leave outside the fridge... hm.. maybe no cream next time? We'll see. This is a nice treat, but I don't see myself doing this a lot. There's too much down time.

Both of these pictures were taken with the 50mm lens... I gave up after taking a few pictures of these truffles and switched back to the regular one. I mean, it's an ok lens for this, especially for choosing which truffle I wanted to focus on.. other than that.. still pretty difficult to shoot with (for small food.)
A nice box of homemade chocolates would make a wonderful gift.. don't you think? :-) These weren't too difficult, just a tad time consuming and messy.

Carmelized Onion Rosemary Focaccia

2010-03-28T12:34:00.000-07:00

If you're ever craving that free bread you get at those Italian restaurants... let's say.. Macaroni Grill... look no further, this one definitely is a close cousin. I love getting bread at restaurants. I love eating as much of it as possible and don't care if I get full off of it. I always thing that the quality of the bread kind of shows the quality of the restaurant.... good bread... good food.... usually... haha.. there are always exceptions!

Yeast is an amazing thing... this is a modification of Jo's Rosemary Bread from allrecipes.com. This is probably my all time favorite bread to make in my bread machine. I wanted to make focaccia with it today, so I only set my bread machine to the dough setting and them formed it onto a baking sheet. I poked a ton of holes with my fingers, brushed on the oil, and then topped it with caramelized onions and a bit of cheese. This bread is perfect for eating with pastas, or just dipping with olive oil, balsamic vinegar with a bit of cracked black pepper in it.

I did something new today and tried to create a steam environment for my bread to bake in. I wanted that crispy crust. Never in my life have I been afraid of baking... until today. haha. I put in an old pan into the oven as it preheated... and well it started to smoke and give off a horrific smell. I was afraid the fire alarm would go off.. or that the pan itself would catch on fire...I was supposed to put the bread into the oven and throw ice cubes onto the hot tray.. I did that.. but they all migrated to the other side.. so I threw on more and more and more.. but still, they all went to one side (towards the back of the oven)... I gave up and closed the door, hoping that that would be enough water to steam the entire bread... (it wasn't.) I was also hoping that all the water would not evaporate so I would be left with a really really hot pan, that was dried up. Scary. So yes, I was panicking as I was baking it, trying to figure out what to do. Because that pan was there, the bottom of my focaccia did not brown. So I had to remove that incredibly hot pan of water. The bread baked fine. Half of it is soft... half of it is crusty... go figure... The steam technique actually worked!... now if only I had a way to distribute the heat evenly. I think I'll get a cast iron pan, and pour water into it next time. The ice cubes kept shifting and the baking pan was curling.... oh well, lesson learned. Next time I will be more savvy with the steam method. ( I was afraid to spritz it with water because people had horror stories about their oven door and light shattering... just like how pyrex (glass) things do... room temp water + 450+ degrees glass... = really big disaster....)

Caramelized Onion Rosemary Focaccia

Bread:
1 cup warm water
1.5 tsp dry yeast
1 tsp sea salt
2 tsp sugar
3 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp Italian seasonings
3 tbsp olive oil
2.5 cups bread flour

Topping:
1/2 onion, sliced thinly
1 tbsp olive oil to saute onions with
1 tbsp olive oil to brush onto bread
1/3 cup mozzarella cheese
1 tbsp Parmesan cheese
A gently sprinkling of coarse sea salt (optional)

1. Add all of the bread ingredients to the bread machine except the flour. Add the flour on top of the mixture. (or as specified by your bread machine.) Select dough setting.
2. Once your dough setting is complete, punch the dough down, remove from machine. Turn onto a baking sheet, and stretch out. Poke holes with fingers or a wooden rod. Let rise in a warm place for at least 1 hour, or until double in size.
3. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a small skillet at medium heat. Add in onions, saute until soft. (Around 5 minutes) Take off heat.
4. Once bread has doubled in size, brush with olive oil, scatter onions around, sprinkle with cheese and salt (optional).
5. Preheat oven with a baking sheet or cast iron pan in the bottom rack at 450 degrees. Once it is preheated, put the bread in the bottom 3rd off the oven. Pour water into the pan (if you're using that.) or toss a lot of ice cubes onto a baking sheet. This will create your steam so that you can have a crustier crust. This is optional, but creates a more textured bread. This bread is really soft if you just bake regularly. Bake for 20 minutes or until brown on all sides and bottom. Do not open the oven door until the last 5 minutes of baking (if you have to check.)

After it's risen twice.. topped with olive oil, onion and cheese. It's a really fluffy and soft dough.
After it baked .. this was the crusty side.. I think I should have stretched it out more to make a flatter focaccia.

Ok I really tried to use my 50mm f/1.8 lens here... didn't quite work out. I gave up when it was time to shoot the truffles. This lens is still annoying to me. I can't shoot foods with it, and I don't really shoot pics of people.. aghhh.. ok back to the kit lens for a really long time...I'm going to buy a filter for all my lens.. my whole system is pretty darn dirty with food residue and fingerprints.... haha
???? I give up on this lens..

I'm trying to find a good recipe for hot cross buns... looks like it's the thing to bake these days because Easter is coming up.... we'll see if I find one. I haven't had much luck making sweet breads. I'm trying to find the dough they use at those Chinatown bakeries for all of their baos.. sigh.. another Asian recipe that is impossible to find.... I need to work at a Chinatown bakery.. haha maybe if I hang around enough they'll spill their secret!

Sausagefest 2010!

2010-03-28T12:22:00.000-07:00

I've left this blog for quite some time... whoops. But! I did change the layout. I need to figure out these coding things before I can do more to it. I really want a 3 column blog. I don't know how to do that without screwing up the banner and stuff. This is a really spring theme... it might be too spring-y. I do like pink this time of the year.. but maybe not that much pink... I'm just a fan of color, and this was the most vibrant blog template blogger had... I would go and pick out a new one from those other websites, but haven't found a super simple background yet.

Anyway, what have I been up to? Not much. The same old thing... work... relax... work...relax... go out... shop... relax... you get the picture... just a lot of nothing. So normally, this nothingness would be filled with a lot of baking or cooking. I haven't been inspired lately, so nothing has really come out of my kitchen.. from me.

Last week I went to a sausage making party. I bought my friend a sausage attachment for Christmas, and he decided to make a party out of it! I've never made sausages before and they were SO DELICIOUS. It was quite an entertaining night as well seeing everyone make their own sausage.. we got the 2 inchers.. and the large.. uh.. 18 incher... haha. All in all, it was a great night filled with a lot of food and fun. :-)

The machine...
haha ...

Yay... finished with my sausage

My sis and I made shepherd's pie for the party. Some advice- if you're planning to serve it hours later, be sure to have plenty of gravy/sauce. The mash potato topping has an affinity towards liquids... and it ended up sucking the shepherd's pie's sauce dry before we could serve it... I think they started to eat it around 11pm? We were driving it over at 3pm.. haha.. yea we left beef out in the open for 8 hours... no one got sick...I don't think....from the food...that is...

Sauce before the trip... and then it dried up after 8 hours.... :-(
Piping with ketchup!

Corned Beef Sandwiches

2010-03-17T18:19:00.000-07:00

It's St. Patrick's Day.. so I made corned beef (and cabbage...!) I'm a huge fan of beef in sandwiches. My sandwich of choice is usually a roast beef... or burgers. I've had corned beef sandwiches before, only when I know it's like fresh and not out of a can. I think the most recent time was at a food stand at The Grove in LA, which was really good, but really really big. I looked up recipes for corned beef and found one especially for sandwiches on AllRecipes.com. This was cooked in the slow cooker for 8 hours. The meat simmered in a beer, water, bay leaf, garlic, and seasoning mixture. It was wonderful. 8 hours later... I had a huge chunk of meat that was incredibly tender. YAY. So, I toasted up some white bread, slathered it with a good amount of spicy brown mustard, sprinkled the meat with a bit of cheese, and then broiled it. Delicious! I had it the next day where it had a chance to mingle in the fridge. It was so much easier to slice and tasted even better than the day before.

Here's a link to the recipe on allrecipes.com : Slow Cooked Corned Beef for Sandwiches

* Something that was not Irish was the beer I used... Guinness was probably the beer of choice.. but I only had Heineken at home... worked well, the beer flavor was subtle, but you can taste it, especially when it was fresh out of the slow cooker.

So here it is... a documentation of my adventure... haha I rarely use the slow cooker these days... and waiting 8 hours for a meal??? I don't know about that one....

Corned beef sliced cold. It was a lot easier to slice thinly when cold... look at the solidified fat! :-)
Sandwich time!
I couldn't resist.. I free-handed a 4 leaf clover out of mustard ... I should have tinted it green hm?
I'll say that's one good looking clover, I did it all in one squeeze! I remember in elementary school I used to sit on the grass and try to find a 4 leaf clover... I never found one.. I though only 3 leaf clovers existed.. and that the 4 leaf clovers are a myth just like the pot of gold... and leprechauns...but I guess they do exist.. just are really rare... :-/ This lunch was scrumptious : )

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Matcha Macarons with Chocolate Buttercream

2010-03-16T02:17:00.000-07:00

The return of the macs! I haven't made these in a month. This was my first time making a double batch. I typically like to stick with macaron recipes that only need one egg white, but my mom saved me 2 egg whites... and put them in the same bowl. It took quite a bit more time to whip up the egg whites. I wasn't even really paying attention much to the process because I going back and forth from kitchen to living room watching the Ultimate Recipe Showdown on cakes. One of the contestant was a dentist. She made 2 cupcakes, both of which looked amazing! I think there was a Key Lime Coconut one (one of my favorite flavor for martinis!) and the other one was a lemony sunshine cupcake, with a lemon curd topping... drool ( if my stomach can handle that much lemon.) She placed second, which isn't too bad. She lost by a point. It's just cool seeing that other dentists out there that share my passion. : ) I don't get to see that a lot. I strive to be her in the future!... Food Network... here I come! .... jk haha but I'm definitely looking forward to enter in baking contests. I might have to move to a smaller city though, competition around my area is probably crazy hard!

I wanted to make the earl grey chocolate ones again, but I don't think my parents were too fond of that flavor. I made a huge batch, and needed their help in consuming them. So, I made the matcha one again and didn't color it as intensely as before. I should have though, since I had an idea to make these semi- St. Patrick's Day- worthy. Oh well, they're green. I've definitely found my go to recipe for macarons and am glad that it worked out. I gave these to a friend who has never had a macaron before. I hope she likes them! (Hey Delaura ;-P) They're really a hard-to-describe cookie, in terms of texture and taste. Anyway, typically I would fill it with a ganache, but I had no cream on hand, so I did the next best thing... frosting. I didn't let the frosting set up when I took the picture... but it's not as grainy as it looks. Ganache goes so much better with macarons than frosting does. Maybe I'll do that in celebration of Macaron day... aka March 20th... yes there is such thing... I just found out about it probably 15 minutes ago... interesting. I'm going to try to freeze a cookie to see how well it tastes after it's thawed.

Happy (early) St. Patty's Day :-)

Click here for the Matcha Macarons Recipe

************
On unrelated news... I was browsing sites and found this machine that I think has the ability to change cake decorating forever. It will make home cooks produce those thousand dollar cakes for probably 90% less. It's called the Cricut Cake... o.m.g. It is what the Cricut is to paper... aka.. it cuts out shapes of any type... and will be able to do that on gumpaste! I saw the video, it looks amazing. Everything is SO clean and professional. Rumor has it that this machine will cost anywhere from 300-400 bucks. Sigh. If I wasn't going to dental school, I would definitely love to invest in that machine and open up a bakery that sells affordable fondant wedding cakes.. because fondant cake decorating.. just got a lot more effortless. : ) Let's see if there's a machine that makes fondant roses... and scroll work... hm... I'll be dreaming for that day.... The Cricut Cake machine should be available May 1st.... I'll be sure to check it out.... but will definitely not buy it.... yet... give me a few years and a few more occasions to celebrate... I can see a lot of uses from this when I start a family.....

Up next: Corned beef, and maybe some cabbage. The beef is stewing right now in the crock pot with a bottle of beer. Never cooked meat with beer before, what could go wrong? haha...

French Apple Tart

2010-03-14T01:52:00.000-08:00

This was an extremely time consuming dessert, that was well worth it in the end! I went out to buy a tart pan just for this dessert. I didn't know where to look, but I thought that one of the downtown WC places would have it.. aka Sur La Table and Williams Sonoma. I didn't want to break the bank to buy this tart pan.. chances are.. I'll probably use it just a few times. I found this to be rare, Williams Sonoma was actually cheaper than Sur La Table for an item! I bought my 9.5 in Tart Pan for 9 dollars (regular price : /) The sales person suggested that I buy the non-stick one... for 10 dollars MORE... uhh I found that to be pointless because typical pie crusts are like sooo buttery they will not stick to any baking surface ! Oh yea, it was $14 at Sur La Table (but it was made a little better.)

This was another wonderful recipe I found in Baking With Julia . This required me to make a pie crust, chill it, bake it, cool it, make fresh bread crumbs, add to diced apples, bake it, mash it, then add that to the pie shell, and layer on a flower-ish design with apples, brush that with butter and apricot preserves that were pushed through a sieve... sprinkled with sugar, baked... and broiled so it's golden brown. What a mouth-full. It's not as complicated as that though... but is pretty time consuming! The result... an elegant apple tart. : )

French Apple Tart
Makes 1-9.5 inch tart
Recipe adapted from Baking with Julia

Pastry Crust
3/4 cup flour
2.5 tbsp butter, cold
2.5 tbsp shortening
2-3 tbsp ice cold water

Apple Puree
4 large granny smith apples cut into 24 pieces per apple
1 slice of white bread placed into the food processor and turned into bread crumbs
1/3 cup of sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1- 2 tsp lemon
2 tsp flour

Apple Topping
2 granny smith apples thinly sliced
1 tbsp lemon juice to keep it from browning
1.5 tbsp melted butter
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup apricot preserves pushed through a fine sieve, and heated in the microwave for 15 seconds

Pastry Crust :
1. In a food processor, pulse the 1/2 cup flour, butter and shortening together until it creates a fine meal.
2. Add in ice water one tbsp at a time while pulsing until the dough starts coming together. Stop (it might only need 2 tbsp of water... or less) and dump onto a lightly floured surface. Add more flour if needed. Knead a few times, wrap it up and chill for 30 minutes.
3. Roll out pastry crust to fit your tart pan, place it in and press in the edges. Take a fork to the crust all over the bottom of the pan to prevent the bubbles. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, or until slightly golden brown.

Apple Puree:
1. In a large casserole pan, add the apples, sugar, bread crumbs, lemon, flour, and cinnamon. Toss until combined. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes until it can be mashed.
2. Take out of the oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Transfer to a mixing bowl and mash with a potato masher. It's ok to have small chunks of apples leftover.

Making the Tart:
1. Add the apple puree to the cooled pastry crust. Spread around until even.
2. Layer the apple slices on top starting from the outside. Pack them tightly because they do shrink when baked.
3. You can cut out a circular shape and put it in the center to make it more like a flower.
4. Brush with melted butter, and apricot preserves. Sprinkle with sugar (A step I forgot to do :/)

Baking the Tart:
1. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. The middle of the tart will start to brown before the rest of the tart. When this happens, use foil to cover that area so that the apples on the edges get a chance to brown.
2. Broil if necessary. Everything is already cooked, and the apples don't need more than 30 minutes to get soft. I broil with the piece of foil in the middle of the tart on "LO" for 5 minutes, checking often. Then I remove the foil when the edge apples are as brown as the middle apples, and broil it some more for another 3 minutes. The picture in the book had brunt apples... I think I like my apples slightly brown on the edges, not black.... but that's a personal preference :-)

This is a tart.... a close cousin of the pie... and you know what today is? .. 3-14... aka.. 3.14... Pi Day! Have you had your slice of pi today?

This would be awesome with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!!!

Cranberry Lemon Scones

2010-03-14T01:28:00.000-08:00

I spend quite a bit of time browsing the cooking section of the library these days. I find it therapeutic. I am weird. I know. It's so wonderful that these books are available to me for free. I take advantage of that. I've been all over the internet trying to find new recipes and new foods to try... but there's something about a book that makes things seem 10 times more appealing. I borrowed the book Baking with Julia. It is an old book, and has very little pictures. The colored pictures are bunched together at the beginning of the sections... so that's something I'm not used to. I flipped through this book a few times and tried to find recipes that seemed doable. Even though there aren't too many pictures, the descriptions make all of the recipes seem so tantalizing!

I wanted to make scones. I saw this scones mix at Williams Sonoma the day before and was reminded as to how wonderful scones were.. if they were made correctly. When I was in undergrad, I had a Coffee Bean to my disposal... literally. It was a meal swipe for coffee... and a pastry (I guess they figured that was an appropriate "meal" for the LA people...). I had scones there once.. and only once. It was hard as a rock, dry, and gross. I thought that was how scones were supposed to taste like... so yes, I didn't think much of it... until I went to The Empress in Victoria, BC last year. I had tea time there and boyyy were the scones amazing. They were warm, soft, flaky... and they went SO well with the tea. They had the scones mix for sale.. but I think they were expensive... : /

(Scones @ The Empress in Victoria, BC)

I searched around the internet for a pretty long time last night, especially on foodgawker.com .. to see if anyone had the perfect scones recipe. Scones just all look so dry and stale in pictures... so I didn't know who to trust. So many variations exist for scones. People had savory ones... very sweet ones.. oatmeal.. with egg... without egg... with sour cream.. yadidididaada.. I was lost. But I trusted this cook book, and the recipe called for everything I had in my kitchen (except for buttermilk.... which I make by mixing reg. milk with vinegar.. ) These scones were so easy to make! .. and when they baked.. they were absolutely amazingggg.. It was flaky, buttery, and tender just like a biscuit should be. It was slightly sweet, but slighty tart... and the added dried cranberries gave it a nice touch. After a few hours, these scones were still good. I prefer them warm, but we'll see tomorrow if they actually retain their moist and soft texture. : ) This was one of the recipes where I goofed. Typically this would be bad, but... I made such a small amount, the mistake actually made it tastier. My mistake? I added too much sugar!!! ( for once!) So the original recipe was double of what I made... I cut it down to half because I didn't want to use up all the butter. It called for 1/3 cup ( original recipe..) so naturally I reduced that amount to 1/4... because I don't like sweet things. Whoops. I was supposed to add 1/6 .. and reduce that amount..Guess that didn't happen. The scones actually are not that sweet at all... I mean 1/4 cup of sugar for 10 scones? That's very little. I guess if you eat it with jam, it might be too sweet... but all of the other morning pastries are probably 5 times sweeter than this.Scones- Pre-baked...I found that pastry scraper in the clearance section of Sur La Table for $3! It's really nicely made and even has a ruler on the edges.... I can see many great uses coming from that thing!

Cranberry Lemon Scones
Makes 10

1.5 cups of flour
1/4 cup sugar ( or 1/8 cup if you want it to be less sweet.)
.5 tsp baking soda
1-1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces
1/2 whole milk + 1/2 tbsp vinegar, mix together and let stand for at least 5 minutes
1/2 tsp lemon extract
1-2 handfuls of dried cranberries

1.5 tbsp melted butter
1-2 tbsp sugar for sprinkling

1. Preheat oven at 425 degrees. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda/powder, and salt.
2. Put the butter into the bowl, and using your fingers, mix the butter into the flour so that it resembles a coarse meal. There will be butter chunks left, leave those because it adds to the flaky texture of the scones. Add in cranberries, mix with fingers until well distributed.
3. Add lemon extract to the milk mixture. Put the milk mixture into the butter/ flour mixture. Use a fork and mix until almost combined.
4. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead for a maximum of 12 times until it comes together. Be sure not to over knead or over handle your dough, that is the key to a perfectly flaky scone.
5. Shape out into a log of your choice and use a sharp knife or pastry scraper to cut out the shapes. Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Brush with melted butter and lightly sprinkle with sugar.
6. Bake for 10-12 minutes. or until the bottom is golden brown. If the top is not brown, use the broiler on "LO" to brown it for a few minutes, be sure to watch it carefully because the sugar has a tendency to burn really quickly!

*Scones are best the day it is made, but if you want to eat them the day after, place them into a tupperware with a tight fitting lid, and place a piece of wax paper on top to prevent it from drying out. Reheat in a toaster oven at 350 degrees for 5 minutes, and the scone will be almost as good as it was out of the oven! Yay! These scones did not dry out the next day! : )!

It was a marathon baking day. Cranberry Scones, French Apple Tart, and Green Tea Macarons.... Who am I going to feed?

*My Adventures in Food Land*

Simple Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies - no flour or butter needed!

NY Times Chocolate Chip Cookie

Misfit

FoodSaver Obsession

Eggplants are Interesting

Blackberry Ice Cream

Zucchini Cupcakes

My Thai Craving

Soy Milk Lattes & My 30 Days Challenge

Sunday Morning Tradition

Pumpkin Cinnamon Swirl Bread

My Labor of Love

The End of 2010...

Eggnog Ice Cream with Store Bought Eggnog!

Once a cheater...

The 5 minute breakfast sandwich

How far would you go for ice cream?

Pierre to the Rescue!

Coffee Junkie

Earl Grey Creme Brulee

It's Pumpkin Time .. Again!

Bakerella Cake Pops Book

I'm not ready to become a dentist...yet

The return of the Mac....

The Ramen Diet?

The Good Life...

Full Time Dental Student...

Blogging Hiatus :/

Happy 1st Birthday !!!

Brownies with Fresh Picked Berries!

Fresh Basil Pizza with a Crispy Garlic Crust

Dear Martha....

(Re) Introducing...

Why hello there...

The Whoopie Pies that Killed "Pierre"

Gingersnaps Without the Snap

Not.. "for the way it's made" RIP new mixer...

Introducing....

Hush Little Baby... Don't Say A Word...

Doughboys: A Review

Cupcake Cake Balls

Chocolate Macaron Ice Cream Sandwich

Crispy Oatmeal Cookies

"Madeleines" Using a Cookie Tray

Goodbye for now...

Basa with Fruits and Nuts Couscous

Helloooo weekend!

Strawberry Macarons

Red Bean and Coconut Bread

Almond Truffles

Carmelized Onion Rosemary Focaccia

Sausagefest 2010!

Corned Beef Sandwiches

Matcha Macarons with Chocolate Buttercream

French Apple Tart

Cranberry Lemon Scones

My Adventures in Food Land