my my

i'm sure i have over 50 pictures waiting to be posted and written about. in the last 2 months of my absence from blogging, i have baked so much, and eaten so many good things. its a shame i'm just too damn lazy.

this:
is a chocolate from mink. mink is where i go to when i need to indulge and want to have a party in my mouth. and my sister (who is awesome - i know she reads this so i have to say that) knows it too and left me a box of some chocolates wrapped in cute wrapping paper when i came home from my trip last weekend. mink not only makes their own chocolate, and comes up with amazing chocolate combinations (chocolate + mint + bourbon; chocolate + rosemary + fleur de sel + caramel; chocolate + chai + spices; etc etc), but they do coffee too. and hot chocolates. and hot chocolates with peppermint. and hot chocolates with pepper and spices. and they donate all their tips to charities.

the chocolate pictured has got a dark chocolate ganache filling with subtle honey and blackberry in it.

brilliant. now i am craving chocolate. at 12:40am when i should be sleeping. hooray for the stat tomorrow!

this:

is the apple pie i made today. well, the last slice of it. which is resting happily in my belly currently. what can i say about pie? its fantastic. this one is a conglomerate of spices with apples. i used cinnamon, cardamon, and vanilla beans. and sugar. never forget the sugar. for the crust, i used the recipe at simply recipes and its worked well for me nearly every time. if you are patient with the dough and let it sit in the fridge a while before rolling, and don't tear it up by rolling it while its still cold, then its a beauty and becomes a wonderfully rich flaky crust that you want to be best friends with forever. i use butter only, no other shortening, and i don't care how many people rant about how better shortening is in pie crust... butter is best. firstly, because butter is natural. secondly, its not hydrogenated. thirdly, it just tastes better.

sadly, i can't really give a recipe for the pie filling. i kind of made it up. but i can give a general overview:
i spent hours peeling, coring, cutting apples.
i dumped them in some lemon water to sit and wait patiently.
i drained the lemon juice off, but kept the teensiest amount of lemon juice with the apples.
i added: lemon zest, cinnamon, sugar, flour, cardamon, vanilla beans (scraped from a split pod), vanilla extract, sugar.

i was inspired by the milk eggs chocolate blog and her vanilla cardamom pear pie.

and that's enough writing for one night.

my cupcake extravaganza

this post is long overdue.


long story short:
my parents had an anniversary this summer.
30 years.
we had a party.
i made cupcakes.
the end.

here they are:



(sadly, i don't remember where i got the recipe. i used a recipe for lemon poppyseed cake. once the cupcakes were out of the oven, i squirted each cupcake with a lemon simple syrup, to give it an extra lemony taste. i made a lemon buttercream to go on top. i was a little frosting happy, because i still have some frosting in my freezer, just waiting for me to make cupcakes again. i think i ate enough sugar just making the frosting to keep my glycemic index high for a few months. )

party context:






(not a flattering picture of me, but that's how i look when i bake, so deal with it. i made about 9 dozen cupcakes in total. my boss let me use his bakery to do it. what a great boss.)

pizza + beer

i was walking slightly aimlessly at the farmer's market on saturday when i passed the 'knead some dough' stall and decided i wanted some fresh pasta. this is when i noticed a tiny sign on the display case reading 'pizza dough: $4,' which made me all excited. don't ask me why. i really don't know. so i bought the stuff - without asking any questions about how to use it, how long to bake at, etc etc.


then i had to deal with this pizza dough sitting in my fridge. so i invited my friend melody over and we created amazingness. we made our own pesto (basil+roasted cashews+garlic+parmesan+olive oil+salt) to spread instead of the typical tomato-ey pizza sauce. then we added cooked chicken, marinated artichoke hearts (from costco - they're freaking awesome), leftover roasted cashews we didn't use in the pesto, basil leaves, and a mixture of shredded cheeses (havarti, cheddar, parmesan). we baked it at 400 F, and probably ended up leaving it in for 25 minutes? maybe longer. the crust was 'golden brown' and the cheese was all melty. for the occasion (yes, pizza is an occasion), i bought some domestic beer to drink with the pizza. i tried some bowen island honey brown lager. it was delicious paired with the exceptionally greasy pizza.

leftovers omelet

i realize that a 'leftovers omelet' doesn't exactly sound appealing, but it is, in fact, quite tasty. also, quite practical. not sure what to do with the leftover stirfry you made last night because you have no rice left? use it up in an omelet! sounds like i'm advertising a product... when i'm actually advertising your own creativity and innovativeness (not actually a word, but it should be).

i used 3 eggs for my omelet (free range, organic), beat them with salt, pepper, milk, chopped basil, grated parmesan. fried the omelet (some people flip the omelet before throwing the insides + cheese in, some people don't flip... i'm not sure which one is right, and i sometimes do one, sometimes do the other. the risk you take with flipping is cooking the eggs too long and getting a rubbery omelet.), threw in the leftover stiryfry (after nuking it in the microwave), havarti cheese, and closed the omelet. after the cheese melted, i sprinkled more parmasan on top for effect. then i enjoyed my omelet with some toast, avocados, and coffee. and that was my dinner. the end.

in defense of food

i have started reading 'in defense of food' by michael pollan.
his writing style is a little hard to follow, but it's still fairly interesting. the book initially caught my eye while waiting at the LA airport a couple months ago, and i contemplated buying it for my flight, but $22 seemed a bit much for an airplane read. so i waited til i got to my trusty public library and requested it, which is when i discovered it was a popular book. i was #73 on the waiting list. i got it pretty fast though, and now i have to read it quickly since i'm sure its still a hot book. anyway, as i was saying, some of the book is hard to follow (so far), but i think the cover catch phrase is a good one to follow. 'eat food. not too much. mostly plants.' basically, pollan is defending food, actual food, versus the fake food that has overtaken our grocery stores. you know, the stuff that lasts forever and is made up of 'natural flavor' and chemicals, but because its got a 'health check' on it, it's good for our health. pollan also writes about uncovering how our society, which is seemingly obsessed with 'eating healthy' is becoming increasingly unhealthy. pretty much the big food businesses are doing just that.. business. with the pretense of selling food that's healthy and good for you, they don't actually give a shit about our health, they just want to make money and make repeat customers out of us. i know it sounds conspiracy-like, but if you really think about it hard enough, it makes sense and its actually quite scary. the more we consumers know about our food and our health, the less we will buy the processed, overly refined, high in fructose stuff, which won't make the food industry happy. but, i've only just begun the book and have much more to read. i already make a lot of my own food, and am a little anal about reading the ingredients on absolutely everything i buy, so i can only imagine i'm going to become even more anal about it after i'm done reading the book.

iced coffee mojito

i'm posting the finished product first. you know, just to entice you to read further. it is quite delicious and will make a tasty + refreshing summer drink, when summer decides to commit to a long visit.

this drink is a delightful discovery: the iced coffee mojito. it's non-alcoholic, but like any drink, the iced coffee mojito has much room for improvements. ;) i discovered the drink while in san francisco a few weeks ago. i follow a coffee blog, cleanhotdry, that gave me a few wonderful places to find amazing coffee in san francisco.

philz coffee, where i had the iced coffee mojito, was the least elite place of the 3 i checked out, though it was a warm atmosphere and definitely an experience you shouldn't miss out on. (i will write about the other 2 coffee shops another day, though. today i am focused on the iced coffee mojito.) philz' slogan is "one cup at a time." and it really was that. you line up in front of a row of a few baristas, similar to lining up at a bank, waiting for a teller to open up. you get your own personal barista for a few minutes, and he/she specially makes your drinks using the pour-over method of brewing. each coffee is fresh, special, and often personalized with a sprig of mint.

back to the iced coffee mojito and my attempt to try it at home. first, i brewed some coffee. i use a french press at home. if you don't have a french press (sometimes sadly known as a 'bodem'), you really should get one. if you don't know how to use the french press, jjbean has excellent instructions (under the 'coffee basics' tab). for this iced drink, the coffee should be brewed stronger than usual - less water or more grounds - since you will be adding ice to it later.

while i was waiting for my coffee to brew, i muddled a handful of mint leaves and a few teaspoons of sugar in the bottom of my glass with a wooden pestle. if you don't have a pestle, i guess you could try and smash the mint on a cutting board and then transfer to the cup. after muddling the mint + sugar, i added ice.

i then poured the coffee into the glass + stirred. milk can be added now if you like milk in your iced drinks. i don't typically, although the drink i had at philz was with milk (at the barista's recommendation - he was cute + friendly, how could i resist?). final step: consume. so there you have it. try it at home on a nice hot summer day.


oh yeah, this is what happens when your hand and your eyes don't coordinate well. or when you are holding and peering into a camera with one hand, pouring coffee with the other. when you are too lazy to take out the tripod or ask your roommate for an extra hand.

being sick is sucky

... especially when you work hourly, so taking a 'sick day' really means you're sick AND you're losing money because of it. nonetheless, it was so good to take a sick day this week. i had a nice leisurely breakfast, incorporating lots of fruit in it, since eating fruit is good for the immune system (unlike the brownie + americano i ate after work today). so i put apples in my oatmeal, but i couldn't forgo the brown sugar. i don't know how anyone eats oatmeal without brown sugar, but maybe one day i will be able to cut the sugar in my oatmeal like i cut the sugar in my coffee.


i also had a blueberry + banana + yoghurt + other fruits i forget smoothie. the smoothie made up for my coffee. but my coffee was half decaf, my lame attempt at pretending i was boosting my immunity by using decaf beans along with the normal ones. i can cut out the coffee if i need to, really, and i usually do when i'm sick, but i just really like it, ok?

..yeah, this is just a pretty picture. not of food. although it may be edible... i've never looked it up. okay, so i just looked it up, and apparently narcissus flowers are poisonous. do not eat them. seriously. the name should really give it away... narcissism isn't exactly a desirable trait.

old bread and chocolate

this is not news to me, but i am really slack when it comes to actually posting things i take pictures of.


i made this focaccia bread in october. and i only just ate it today. wow, i'm disgusting. just kidding. well.. anyway, the picture is from october also. i do not keep bread for 5 months before i eat it. maybe i used to keep food for that long (halloween candy, anyone?) but i am maturing and am learning to eat what i have instead of 'saving up' for a special moment in the future that doesn't exist. so now when i buy a bar of chocolate, i just eat it all in one sitting. this is a much better solution. :) speaking of chocolate...