Beware the Ides of PIE!

Friends,

It is almost that time again! The month of March not only brings the Ides, but alas, the national holiday for all bakers, 'Pi'e day!! This is the second annual 'pi'e extravaganza I'm hosting, and I can't wait! This Monday, March 14th, I along with several of my dear friends will celebrate the numerical value of pi. 3.14 (get it?). But more importantly, we will consume large quantities of the greatest dessert ever invented by human kind.

Until that post arrives, I'll share a few other foodie adventures from the last few weeks. This first picture is of kambucha butternut squash soup with roasted pumpkin seeds brought to you by Outerlands. This lovely little cafe on 45th and Judah lives in the Outer Sunset. The restaurant makes all their bread in-house, fresh everyday, and every dish is served with or on this delightfully warm, chewy loaf. They also purchase most of their produce from local farmers, including a fellow named Toby who is my brother's age, who also grew up in Davis! The world is small...

The below photo is turkey chili I made last weekend. The best thing about chili is you can put whatever you want in it, and usually it still tastes great. I browned the turkey with garlic and onions, added four kinds of beans, and canned roasted tomatoes. I think using the roasted variety is the trick to good base flavor on chili because it gives it the sort of smoky flavor. Naturally, I also seasoned with cayenne, tapatio and chili powder. It was perfect for the end of a rainy, cold weekend, and of course I made corn bread to accompany it. So comforting and delicious.

Last night, a few friends of mine that I met early on as a freshman at Santa Cruz were in town, and I hadn’t seen them in almost 2 years. In honor of our reunion, I decided to make a rather festive meal, and the following two dishes were featured in the meal. I don’t know why I never thought to do this, but if you take a date, stuff it with blue cheese, and wrap it in bacon, and bake in the oven until the bacon is crispy, voila! It’s heaven on earth. Sweet, salty and fatty. All in one. Can’t go wrong.

Lastly, I made a fruit compote with crème fraiche and chopped up some gingerbread I’d made to sprinkle on top. It was the perfect ending to a very filling meal.

I apologize for the quality of the pictures. I’m in the market for a new camera, actually. Hopefully I’ll employ a friend’s camera for ‘pi’e day, so that your mouths will water with pure jealousy!

Happy cooking, I hope you all have a fun, food-filled weekend!

Boo Rain

Hiya friends! I'm updating from rainy Davis while eating delicious miso soup. I just had my tonsils removed last Friday, so I'm home recovering from the surgery. Unfortunately, I can't eat anything delicious, but I have been fantasizing a lot about all the amazing fried things I'm going to make when I can eat again! Woohoo!!! Just wanted to post a few delayed pictures from the last few months. I've been baking and cooking a lot, but haven't been taking enough pictures . That will come to an end! I promise.

In the following photos

devil's food cake topped with the BEST and easiest ganache recipe ever.

My first ever no-knead bread. This is the NYtimes recipe that came out a few years ago. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html

The dough is napping. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I followed the original, but my room mate's friend who is an amazing bread baker suggested I follow a different recipe from America's Test Kitchen. AND it has beer in it, so it has to be the best. Right? More on that soon.

And last but not least, Granola Bars. This is seriously the easiest and most versatile recipe on the face of the earth for granola bars. Even if you don't have half the ingredients, you can substitute everything, and they'll still turn out deliciously. Sorry the picture isn't too great... It's from the iphone

Anywho, I hope you're all doing okay, even in the dreary February weather. Eat soup and try to stay indoors!

Happy Eating ! :)

Cupcake MADNESS!

So I'm off my crazed pie fixation for now... However, my new obsession is cupcakes. I mean it's just so friggan fun! Regular cake flavor in a cute little package, ch'yes! So these are carrot cake cupcakes with walnuts. However, the trick to moist cake texture in this case is crushed pineapple! Yessir, that's the key. And it works! Only 1/2 cup of crushed pineapple for a dozen, and you've got yourself a soft, moist cupcake.

Alas, the best part about this is the frosting. Brought to you by none other than the famous Karen S. Henwood, this is a fool proof cream cheese frosting. Not only is it extremely easy to make, but anything you make for this frosting is immediately unworthy! After-all, cupcakes are simply catalysts for delicious frosting!

That's all, I'm doing some more baking this weekend, so stay posted :)

Jewish Ho Ho's?

Greetings Bloggers!

It's been a while since I've blogged, but things have changed quite a bit for me in the past month or so. I've been engaging less in baking than I would otherwise, but getting back into the swing of things. I've returned from Oregon and have shifted gears a bit. I'm moving to San Francisco this upcoming week to start a job as a publications assistant at a non-for-profit publishing firm! It's very exciting for me professionally, but I'm mostly juiced about the food prospects that come with the city :)

This picture here was my most recent creation. My dear friend Alex just completed his LSAT on Saturday so I made him so home-made ho ho's to celebrate. This recipe caught my eye on none other than America's Test Kitchen publication. It was surprisingly easy, and friggan delicious! I'm starting to believe that the secret to all cake is 1) sour cream (duh!) and 2) espresso powder. Seriously, it deepens the flavor of the chocolate and makes for a great batter.

Also, the marshmallow cream was super easy to make. I used gelatin, butter, vanilla and some marshmallow creme. That stuff could probably survive a nuclear war, but taste brilliant in these little guys.

That's about all for today. I hope you're all enjoying the changing of the seasons and welcoming fall food fun!

Unblogged

Greetings Blogosphere!

I've been a horrible blogger as of late, I apologize. To be perfectly honest I have no excuse except that I've been exceptionally lazy. Alas, I've brought you some delicious stories and pictures.

This first one is a picture of a beauteous spread Jake and I made upon his arrival home from Oregon. The tomatoes, basil and plums were from my yard, the cucumbers were from the Farmer's Market and the berries came from a berry stand on the way home from Oregon. The rest is from Nugget and the Coop including a delicious Pinot Noir that complimented everything wonderfully. YUM! This kind of meal is perfect for summer dinner. Not only is it healthy, diverse and interesting in flavor combination, but it's not too shabby on the eyes either. Yay finger food!

So, the other day I was stressin' out and decided to do some baking to heal myself. But, I couldn't decide what to make. As I flipped through one of my various pastry books, I was inspired to make mini mille fueille, a traditional French pastry that features creme anglaise and fresh fruit. Off to the store I went for my ingredients, excited to create something lovely. However, I baked my puff pastry and realized they'd come out too salty, and I had to leave my project for the next day. I've been wanting tart pans since... well forever. They've been on my baking tools list (yes, I have one) for a long time, and so I thought I'd redeem my baking project with trusty AKT "foolproof" pie dough. Oh YES! I par-baked the tart crusts, filled them with my kick ass creme angliase and topped it all off with some fresh berries. They were truly sensational and I can't wait to work with the tart pans again.

Now, the second part of this success story lies in the puff pastry. I decided I'd use some cremini mushrooms to create a puff pastry appetizer. Cremini mushrooms are tasty little buggers, full of delicious flavor, and they work well in a variety of capacities. So I sauteed the mushrooms with some garlic, olive oil, fresh thyme, salt and pepper. I then shredded up some of my favorite cheese, black diamond chedder and mixed it all up together in a big bowl. I cut the pastries in half and stuffed them with the savory mushroom/cheese mixture and voila! This was probably one of the easiest, most delicious appetizers I'd ever invented.

I hope you're all enjoying summer and taking advantage of all the beautiful food we're so lucky to experience here in california! I'm getting ready to move up to Oregon and I'm SUPER excited to see what kind of culinary adventures I find myself wrapped up in there.

Happy Eating!

Gardens Gardens everywhere!!!!!

Hello All!

Sorry I've been a terrible blogger the past few weeks. Alas, I have been traveling and rather lazy as I'm simply enjoying the relaxing times in the Davis heat.

However, I did do some cooking and baking the past few days. As you all know it's that time of the year when all is in bloom, and my folks' garden is no exception. We picked a bushel of tomatoes as well as basil of two varieties. So naturally Jake and I proceeded to make the most delightful lasagna with a homemade basil/spinach pesto, mozzarella, ricotta and beauteous sliced tomatoes. It was SUPER tasty!

Yesterday I visited my dear friend Cory Mann at his mom's house in Davis. Kim is a fabulous gardener and she graciously gave me a bag of delicious yellow peaches from their tree along with some zucchinis. I made a peach pie with my favorite pie crust recipe. "Fool Proof Pie Crust" from America's test Kitchen. If you don't know already, I love ATK, I think they are gods and I read almost everything they publish.

Anyway, hope you're all well.

Happy Eating!

Summer Travels!

Hi Everyone!

Here are some pictures from my weekend in Humboldt County. It was my first time up there in my adult life, and of course the trip's mission was to see the sights, and eat delicious things of course. My favorite was Brio Breadworks, a cute little place on the corner of the plaza in Arcata, CA. The bakery has a European feel with artisan breads, and a plethora of unforgiving pastries, all of which is made in-house! We had a fruit danish, Egg's Benedict on a croissant, and a classic omelette with Emmental cheese and Chives. We also dined at Brick and Fire, a cute little cafe that prepares all of their food in a massive brick oven in the back. It was delicious! I tried two interesting dishes I'd never had, a polenta lasagna (very creative), and a refreshing mint-peach sorbet for dessert. Last but certainly not least, we went to the Lost Coast Brewery in Eureka! I've had plans to go there for a long time, and finally had lunch there this afternoon! My turkey burger was FANTASTIC! The picture you see here is a collection of 10 4 oz samples of all the brews. It was a fun way to end the trip, and I'm glad I got to experience some new foods and flavors, and spend some time in that part of the state.

Hope you're all exploring the culinary world through summer's bounty !