Linzers in London

Quick AND Good-for-you: Quinoa and 'Stuff' Salad

2012-01-29T05:09:00.000-08:00

One of the most difficult things about eating healthily is the time, energy, and money it requires. I know it's worth it – we all know that – and the bf and I are lucky enough to usually have the time (if not always the money), but some people have half an hour at best in which to assemble a meal, and often that's simply not long enough to prep and cook something truly healthy. So we fall back on ready meals or eating out, telling ourselves it'll be 'just this once' and then falling into patterns that are, if not unhealthy (after all, frozen fish cakes aren't exactly on par with McDonald's), not as healthy as they could be.

But there's a way to make healthy meals much faster, without always relying on completely prepared dishes: using some pre-cooked ingredients to make food that's almost from-scratch. Apparently, some lady named Sandra Lee has sort of hit upon this (not the healthy part, though, from what I hear) in a show called Semi-Homemade. But my version is much less terrifying: roast chickens from the supermarket, shredded up to make chicken noodle soup; pre-chopped onions and pre-peeled garlic cloves to make your pasta prep go faster; and this latest discovery, pre-cooked quinoa.
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The Best of Both Worlds: Nutella Sea Salt Fudge

2012-01-22T11:40:00.000-08:00

I think it's time for a break from attempts at healthiness, don't you? It's the fourth week of January, after all, which means we've been good for a very long time (well, you have, and I've been trying to support your efforts). I think this sea salt-sprinkled Nutella fudge is just the ticket for a brief holiday from Healthtown.

Most people have cravings that lean one way or another: toward salty foods or sweet ones. My mom, for example, isn't that fussed about chocolate or cakes, but put a bag of salt and vinegar Kettle chips in front of her and she'll have to work very hard not to eat the entire sharing-sized container, and then run her finger along the inside creases and lick off the salt. Similarly, my brother was never as into candy as I was when we were growing up, but he loves a rich, heavy, fried or creamy savory meal.

My dad and my sister, on the other hand, love the sweet stuff. When I was in high school, my sister used to always have a drawer full of chocolate-covered fruits from the Whole Foods bulk section, and if you opened her freezer there would be at least two kinds of ice cream, usually Ben&Jerry's and frequently involving chocolate. And my dad can't keep his hands out of bowls of jelly beans or hard candies (which he chews immediately).

So Easy It's NUTS: Spiced Almonds for Snacking

2012-01-17T10:00:00.000-08:00

This recipe was inspired back in November by a friend of a friend, who showed up at a pub quiz I attended with a gallon bag full of holiday-spiced almonds, which she'd made herself. I had a cold, so I didn't want to be reaching into the bag all night, but I wanted to try them to be polite, so I had my friend Sophie tip a few nuts into my palm. And then a few more, and a few more... all I can say is, thank god for that cold and my reluctance to pester Sophie, or I would have eaten the whole damn bag!

I asked the girl how she'd made them, and she basically listed a bunch of spices, some salt, and an egg white as the ingredients. I wasn't paying enough attention to write the spices down, but they were your baking basics: cinnamon, nutmeg, maybe some cloves (which I tend to skip). The minute I got back to London, I bought a jumbo bag of raw almonds – I was all set to make my own amazingly addictive roasted nuts. And then I put the nuts away in the cupboard, in the midst of a tidying frenzy, and I promptly forgot about them.
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An Easy, Healthy Dessert: Baked Apples

2012-01-09T01:00:00.000-08:00

I'm not one for New Year's Resolutions. If I had to guess, I'd say my hesitation is born of cynicism, which is in turn born of too many resolutions made and broken. I try to make year-round changes, because for me the pressure of 'this is your one shot this year to make a change' is just asking for a massive (and early) failure.

That said, I'm fully aware that the clean slate of a new year is a helpful motivator for a lot of people. And what's the most common resolution, in my experience? Lose weight! Or just eat better and be fitter (sort of my constant resolution). And in support of that, and of all y'all who tire of my constant butter and sugar assaults, I give you baked apples!

Old Favorites Remembered: Gram's Deviled Eggs

2012-01-01T11:10:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite treats when I was growing up was my grandmother's deviled eggs (and her chocolate chip cookies, and the Mexican brownies...). She used to bring them sometimes when she drove to visit us, and I just remember my mouth watering as she peeled back the cling film from the plate and set them on the kitchen table. The minute I was given the go-ahead from my mother, I'd dart forward like a small rodent and grab an egg, stuff it whole into my mouth, and bite down into the rich, soft, yolky center.

My mouth would fill to bursting with contrasts: firm white and silky yolk; smoky paprika and sweet relish; spicy mustard and cool bland egg. I was convinced I could eat a whole plateful by myself, if I'd been allowed to be so glutinous.

Buon Natale di Roma!

2011-12-22T09:28:00.000-08:00

Ciao, tutti! I'm on a much-needed vacation in Rome right now, but I couldn't neglect the blog during the bakingest season of the year, so I'm leaving you with this recipe for fabulously easy, majorly impressive homemade biscotti.

I made these guys for a dinner party back in early November (more on that to come, as it was my first time doing a full-on dinner for a vegetarian-inclusive crowd), and everyone was so surprised to hear that I'd baked them from scratch. I just brushed off the oohs and aahs with a shrug: no biggie.
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Can't Afford Ornaments? Make Your Own!

2011-12-17T02:30:00.000-08:00

The bf and I bought our first grownup-sized (6' +) Christmas tree this year, and after we hauled it home (well, he did) and set it up, I looked up at the giant beauty and realized something: we didn't have any ornaments, and we were far too poor to buy enough of them for a tree this size. We were going to have to do a homemade Christmas tree, and all we could do was pray it didn't come out too wonky.

Okay, okay, technically we could have found a way (probably through IKEA or Poundland) to afford a whole, big-ass tree full of ornaments. But I'm not sure how much longer we'll be here in London – not more than another year for me, and hopefully not more than 2 for the bf – so it doesn't make sense to acquire even more stuff than we already have, and anyway, making things is fun! So I hopped on the internet to find a recipe for a baked good that wouldn't spend a lifetime on my already-ample hips: salt dough ornaments.
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Finally, a Cure for American Fall Nostalgia!

2011-12-12T02:30:00.000-08:00

Back when I first moved to London, one of the things I missed most about the states was hot apple cider. The fall snap in the air that first year hit my nostalgia buttons hard, and I found myself aching to crunch through an autumn wonderland, breath clouding, hands wrapped around a hot cup of steaming apple cider. But alas, I was disappointed again and again – even Starbucks didn't have it, and there was nothing resembling cider (to mull myself) in the shops. The closest thing I found was something called mulled apple cider at Covent Garden, but one sip of the revolting alcoholic brew dashed my hopes against the cobblestones and shattered them into a million shards of sad.

All that fall and winter I had to content myself with coffee, which, luckily, is one of my favorite things. But it still didn't hit the spot. I guzzled the real stuff on brief and wonderful trips home, and resigned myself to a life without sweet, cinnamony comfort.

A Pretty Little Snack: Dairy-Free Blueberry Corn Muffins

2011-12-07T02:30:00.000-08:00

I made these little beauties for a group of friends who came over the evening after I got back to London from Thanksgiving – in other words, I made these muffins, and the other snacks I'd promised (thank god for truffle salt and hardboiled eggs) in a haze of jetlag and exhaustion after a full day of work.

I wasn't expecting much from them; I threw the ingredients together based loosely on a basic muffin recipe and the random ingredients we had in our cupboard, and I was more than a little worried that they'd turn out strange. But lo and behold, they came out looking fabulous (if I do say so meself)!

The 'Other' Thanksgiving Dessert: Apple Crisp

2011-12-01T06:29:00.001-08:00

You guys already know I'm obsessed with pumpkin, and especially with my family's pumpkin pie. So of course when I was home in San Francisco for Thanksgiving I ate a ton of the stuff. But what you don't know is that there's another dessert my family serves every year, and it's not pecan pie (we do serve that sometimes, in which case it's a third option) – it simply has to be something fruity.

'scuse the iphone pics – didn't bring the big camera home.*

My mom and her sisters, the current matriarchs of our big, female-dominated clan, aren't super big on sweets. They're salt folk, and they often skip dessert altogether on Thanksgiving, preferring to eat a slice of pumpkin pie at 6am the next day, for 'breakfast' (my mom never eats breakfast, besides these rare morning-after occurrences). So if there's going to be another dessert on their table, they require it to be something a bit less sweet, less rich, more fruit-based, and that usually means an apple crisp.
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Trust Me on This One: Blueberry Oatmeal Cookies

2011-11-12T11:18:00.001-08:00

Okay, first things first, I need to acknowledge the elephant in the room: these pics. They're not so good...and there aren't very many of them. This post is unlikely to get past the guards at Foodgawker, or be pinned on Pinterest, or be bookmarked solely for the beauty of the photos. For that reason, I've been putting off writing this post. But then, on a long and awkward train journey to Edinburgh, I ate the last of these cookies, and I decided I couldn't let the photos hold me back anymore – the world needs to know about these chewy gems.

I'm not even kidding. These cookies are that good. They can make a squished train ride bearable, a cold day feel nostalgically wintry, and a loved one forgive a stress-related slight. They're magic, and they're so easy.

Delayed Gratification: Blueberry Boy Bait

2011-11-05T10:16:00.000-07:00

When I first saw this recipe forever ago on Smitten Kitchen, I immediately bookmarked it. I mean, cake batter, fresh blueberries, cinnamon topping, and a cute name? Sold, sold, and sold again.

But then it got lost in the flood of recipes I was bookmarking every day, and I forgot about it. Until my friend Aine asked me on facebook if I'd ever heard of it, and the desire came rushing back. Oh, Boy Bait, I lamented, how could I ever have forgotten you?
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A First Time for Everything: 2-Hour Whole Wheat Bagels

2011-10-29T07:00:00.000-07:00

I've always wanted to make bagels, but every time I thought I was up for it I either balked at all the steps or had a yeasted-things-disaster just before I was planning to make them and got too intimidated. It seems like such a process: all that kneading and rising, then more rising and resting, then the shaping, and to top it all off they have to be boiled before they're baked?? WTF.

But then, last weekend, I found myself with nothing interesting to do (the bf was off with his study buddy) and some extra whole wheat flour on my hands (not literally, that part comes later), and I came across this recipe for bagels in two hours. Yes, two hours, start to finish! It seemed too good to be true, but I was bored and I figured I'd give it a shot.

The End of an Era, Marked by Crumb Coffee Cake

2011-10-23T07:32:00.000-07:00

So, my MA course is officially over. We've all handed in our dissertations, and even though some people are still working on their books (poor researchers...), most of us are starting to look for agents and publishers to take us on. It's a whole new ballgame, and this time we're on our own. No weekly workshops where we can glean advice from those farther along than the rest; no meetings with grown-up writers (ie tutors) who can guide us in the right direction; no grades/marks to let us know whether what we're doing is working. Nope, each of us is on her own now, and that's both freeing and terrifying.

But it doesn't mean we can't still meet up and gossip over cake every now and again, and that's exactly what we did a couple weeks ago! After much back and forth on scheduling and location, we settled on a date and time and met up at our classmate C's house in West London for brunch. And yes, the tube lines were down, and yes, the journey was long, but it was so worth it for the lovely outdoor space and even lovelier hospitality.

Fall Baking, Without the Pumpkin: Dairy Free Spice Cookies

2011-10-16T05:47:00.000-07:00

The air is biting, the leaves are turning, and the adolescent swans down on the canal are finally starting to turn white, which means two things: 1. the swans are currently a mottled grey-white, which is adorably hilarious, and 2. it's time to bust out the fall recipes!

Now, I'm not the most creative cook, so fall recipes, for me, usually just involve pumpkin. I love pumpkin. Pie, bread (or bread, or bread), muffins, oatmeal – you name it and put pumpkin in it, I'll eat it.

Healthifying a Craving: Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-10-08T03:41:00.000-07:00

My cravings aren't always butter-related. Often I crave sushi, or heirloom tomatoes, or noodles.

But if we're going to be really honest here (and I think we should be – this is a safe space for honesty and cravings), I have to admit that the majority of my sudden desires involve copious amounts of sugar, egg, flour, and yes, butter.

New York, New York: City Cravings and Cold Sesame Noodles

2011-09-23T04:01:00.000-07:00

The BF and I are headed to New York this evening; I have a one-week layover on my way to a good friend's wedding, and he's coming along for the first two nights in one of our favorite cities in the world. I'm so looking forward to it. No work drama, no book stress, just pastrami and sushi and bagels and central park and wide sidewalks and all the other things I miss so much when I'm away from NYC.

One of the foods I crave heavily when I haven't been to the city in a while is cold sesame noodles. If you've never tried them (and chances are if you've never been to New York, you haven't, as I've never seen them anywhere else), you should. They're salty and peanutty and cool – a wonderful summer lunch dish, although I made these on a chilly day and they were just as satisfying.

Another weird veggie I'd never cooked: Chard with White Wine and Garlic

2011-09-16T10:34:00.000-07:00

Contrary to what you might think from reading this blog, I do in fact eat healthy foods. Real foods, like meats and veggies and fresh, non-baked-in-sugar-and-butter fruits. It's true, I swear! The problem is, anything interesting enough to share is usually cooked for dinner... at night... (so please excuse the bad pics in this post) but I promise I do eat, and enjoy, healthy foodstuffs.

Take, for example, this beautiful chard that came in our organics box last week. Isn't it pretty? And, amazingly, my tastebuds finally grew up about a year ago and decided they liked chard! Especially when it's cooked in lots of butter and cheese, but that's neither here nor there.

Fall Nostalgia Favorites: Gooey Butter Cake

2011-09-11T04:23:00.000-07:00

Well, it's starting to get fall-y again out there – the wind is picking up, leaves are already beginning to litter the sidewalks, and the humid midday gloom is replaced with cool, breezy evenings. This time of year always makes me feel massively nostalgic, both for San Francisco, my heart's forever home, and for St Louis, where I went to college and experienced many wonderful autumn seasons. The minute that fall bite hits the air I start craving long, leaf-crunching walks through residential streets, hot apple cider, and gooey butter cake, best consumed sitting in the window at Kaldi's, watching the dusk fall on the seminary park outside.

Gooey butter cake is a St Louis institution. It tastes as good as it sounds (does what it says in the tin, as the Brits say): gooey, sweet, buttery, with a crisp top and a soft cakey bottom. It's divine. So when I saw the recipe in the New York Times a while back, and then again on Smitten Kitchen, I bookmarked it immediately. But it's pretty involved, and I'm generally pretty lazy, so it wasn't until this past week that I got around to making it.
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Cinnadoodlesnaps!

2011-09-04T02:03:00.000-07:00

Y'all know how much I love cinnamon, right? Have we talked about this before? Oh, yes, we have. A lot. So I ask you this: how is it possible that I never tried to make gingersnaps with cinnamon taking the lead? HOW?

Okay, it doesn't matter how. We'll just chalk that up to yet another brainfart on my part. The point is, dear people, I've now tried it...and I'm not sure I'll ever be able to go back. The cinnamon, oh, god, the cinnamon has me swooning.

Summer Lovin': Heirloom Tomato and Corn Salad

2011-08-30T12:30:00.000-07:00

I'm often heard to lament the woeful state of tomatoes in England. Although London has made leaps and bounds on the food scene in the past ten years, there are a few things* you just cannot get here, and tomatoes are one of those things. The little cherry ones are okay, but the big-'uns are just sad, flavorless lumps of dried-out depression.

Which is exactly why, when I have the opportunity to go home to the Bay Area for a month (as I just did), I eat as many tomatoes as I can get my hands on. And my favorites, hands down, are the big, bright, juicy, luscious heirlooms that were just coming into season as my plane landed at SFO.

Fruit That Holds Its Own: Rhubarb Spice Crumble

2011-08-07T14:01:00.000-07:00

I'm in San Francisco right now (so please pardon the iPhone photos and potential long silences), taking a wee break from the mad scene of Londontown, but have no fear – I'm still baking! I don't get as many opportunities when I'm home (mostly because my mother glares at me every time I place something buttery/sugary in front of her), but last weekend we had new neighbors coming over for brunch and my mom actually asked me to make something for dessert. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity.

My mom had brought home rhubarb from the farmer's market, and I didn't have many ideas of what to do with it. I'd made a delicious rhubarb coffee cake before, and I thought about doing a muffin version, but I'm also kind of on a health kick while I'm in the land of fresh, amazing produce, and I didn't want to load the dessert with butter and sugar. So I decided to do a crumble.
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Dead Easy: Chocolate Chip Blondies

2011-07-27T04:07:00.000-07:00

I love a one-bowl recipe. Lately, with my MA course ending and changes at my job and this massive manuscript edit looming over my head, all I've been wanting to make are easy, comforting, quick recipes – had you noticed? With the exception of the lemon cream pie, nearly everything I've made in the past 2 months has come together in under an hour and involved one bowl, a couple of measuring cups, and a (usually lined with foil) baking dish/tray. Few steps, few ingredients, few dishes to clean up – great result. That's my kind of recipe.

The Lazy Baker Strikes Again: 'Baked' Brownies For Slackers

2011-07-20T10:40:00.000-07:00

The other day, I wanted a snack, but our cupboards were bare. This is a very dangerous situation. When we're out of snackables, I usually just eat way too much of everything else (random cold potatoes leftover from dinner, old candies from Christmas stockings, toast with butter and jam at 5pm), but occasionally I'll get up off my butt and bake. But it has to be something easy and quick, because when I get snacky it usually means I'm either hard at work (scoff) or bored and lazy. Enter: the lazy version of the 'Baked' brownie.

This recipe, in its original form, isn't even that involved. But I was looking for super low-maintenance baking. I toyed with using a one-bowl recipe from Allrecipes, but the reviews were either fantastic or abysmal, and I wasn't really up for taking the chance. So I went back to this post from Brown Eyed Baker, for the brownies from the book 'Baked', which has been getting a ton of buzz around the food world – especially for the brownies.

Martha's Magic: Lemon Cream Pie

2011-07-14T06:21:00.000-07:00

I love Martha Stewart's recipes. My banana bread recipe comes from her book, and it's been a regular favorite of pretty much everyone who knows me for years. In fact, my friend made it for her boyfriend the other day and she said he loved it, so the legend lives on!

A Genius Among Us: Joy's No-Roll Pie Crust

2011-07-09T06:03:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you all know Joy the Baker by now, yes? She's the adorably quirky baker/blogger/muser-on-life who brought us such gems as sunflower seed bread, chocolate peanut butter puffs, and these lemon meringue cookies, which I'm dying to try once I don't feel too lazy / I buy a pastry bag. Basically, she's kind of a genius, as well as being so creative it actually makes me sleepy just to read her blog.

But sometimes her creativity energizes me, because it encourages my laziness. Enter the no-roll pie crust. This dough doesn't require a lot of work (amazingness, especially for a pie dough); it mostly involves grating frozen butter, manhandling the dough a bit, and lots of greasy fingers. Have you ever grated butter? It's kind of weird, but also kind of ingenious. And more than kind of pretty:

Indecision Baking: Banana Fluffernutter Muffins

2011-07-04T02:08:00.000-07:00

I have a bad habit of changing direction in the middle of projects. I do it when walking (suddenly decide to take a different route), I did it with my book (and as a result have been busy rewriting the first 3 chapters almost entirely), and I do it with baking. A lot.

These muffins are a perfect example. See that pear up there? The one with all the brown splotches? I was totally going to use that. I was going to make healthy muffins, with bananas and a pear and low-fat yogurt instead of butter or oil. I had the best of intentions. But then...
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How to tell if your neighbor is a food blogger...

2011-07-02T11:40:00.000-07:00

...well, if she makes pie dough in her nightgown in front of the bedroom window, trying to photograph the process with floury, buttery hands, that's a pretty good sign.

For Real This Time: Momofuku Compost Cookies

2011-06-29T08:36:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I know I already waxed lyrical about the wonders of the Momofuku method as a base for my favorite cookie ever, but I did also (finally) try the recipe as it's meant to be made: with all sorts of weird, shouldn't-that-be-savory things stuffed into it. And I wanted to share my experience.

A couple of weeks ago, the bf's brother came to stay with us on his way to a year abroad in China, and I thought it might be nice to give him and his friend a good old American cookie send-off. I wanted to make a batch of my chocolate cherry cookies, but I also wanted to try the real Compost Cookies of lore. So I made the dough up until the additions bit, split it in half, and did one batch of choc-cherry and one with potato chips, pretzels, and chocolate chunks. You can see the bits here:

Topsy Turvy Cravings: Pear Upside-Down Cake

2011-06-24T01:28:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I always seem to make things out of season. It's not intentional, but I do seem to crave certain foods more when everybody else in the world is ignoring them – maybe it's my affection for the underdog!

Anyway, for whatever reason last week I got a mad craving for pear upside-down cake. I've never made an upside-down cake, and the most common one seems to be pineapple, which I'm not a big fan of (in things. I love it fresh), so it didn't make sense that I would want this specific baked good, but there you have it. I'm just a slave to my cravings (and no, I'm most certainly NOT pregnant).

What to eat when there's nothing in the fridge: Mishmash Salad

2011-06-18T08:29:00.000-07:00

The bf and I have been crazy busy lately. He's spending all hours at school and in the hospital (for school), and I'm trying to edit the first draft of my manuscript, wrap up my MA, and deal with book proposals and agent queries, all while still working part-time. There are a lot of people out there who pile more than that on their plates, and plow along just fine. But we're not those people.

We're the type of people who get home in the evening and go straight for our computers, each of us hoping that the other will sort out dinner while we zone out in front of youtube or food blogs (respectively). And that's where this salad comes in.

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Another English Classic: Elderflower and Raspberry Jelly

2011-06-10T07:08:00.000-07:00

I never knew what elderflower was as a child. I figured that you could make alcohol with it, provided it was related to elderberries, because otherwise this scene didn't make much sense (to the extent that Monty Python really ever made sense), but I had no concept of what it tasted like.

So when I moved to England, and found elderflower-flavored things everywhere, I was a bit surprised. I feel like in this day and age we like to think that we've at least heard of the big flavor combinations of the countries we're familiar with, but somehow I never noticed this one, even when I was living in England for 6 months in college.

Making a great thing even better: Momofuku-esque Chocolate Cherry Cookies

2011-06-03T10:25:00.000-07:00

There are times when you think a recipe just can't get any better. It's gone beyond 'tried and true' to be a real favorite, not just a go-to but something people talk about for days after the product of said recipe is gone. The ingenious combination of chocolate chips, oats, and dried cherries in a cookie is one of those recipes for me. People never expect it, and they always rave about it once they've tried it.

But then. I tried something new with it. I know, blasphemy, but I was curious! For months, I've been watching other bloggers try the Momofuku Milk Bar Compost Cookie recipe, and I keep wanting to try it but we never have the required snack foods lying around (mostly because on the rare occasions that we do, I eat them all before I can think of doing anything else with them). But last week, I really wanted to bake something special for my porter – who'd saved me in a really horrible, ambulance-requiring moment – and I decided on my awesome cherry chocolate cookies, with a Momofuku twist.

Delicious Imperfection: Peach and Nectarine Tart

2011-05-30T14:10:00.000-07:00

It was supposed to be a lazy Sunday afternoon. We'd had lunch at one of our favorite London restaurants (to celebrate my first full draft of my manuscript!), followed by a windy wander through Bermondsey, and the plan was to go home and relax / work. But then I was struck with an unrelenting desire to bake a peach tart.

Admittedly, the desire began a couple of days before, when I was watching Come Dine With Me and one of the contestants made a peach and nectarine tart. We didn't have the fruit on hand, so I filed it away for another day, but then we walked past an M&S on the way back from lunch and I decided to do it that day. In a hurry. Without a recipe... which kind of led to a semifail. Let's go through it one part at a time.
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Stodgy Summer in a Bowl

2011-05-26T06:07:00.000-07:00

The New York Times is a great recipe resource. I forget that sometimes, and then one day, in my 'Recommended For You' sidebar, up will pop a link to a recipe, and I'll just happen to have the ingredients on hand, and I'll be struck with a desire to try that recipe then and there.

And boy, am I glad I decided to try this leek and lemon chicken soup. It's so good, and so...unexpected. Fresh and bright, creamy but without any cream, and super healthy to boot! It was delicious. I was seriously really proud of myself.

American as Blueberry Pie

2011-05-21T06:08:00.000-07:00

I made my first fruit pie last weekend. Oh, I've made pies before, but usually I limit myself to pumpkin and then move on to cakes and cookies. In the States, it's pretty easy to make a pie: buy pre-made crust, line pie dish, fill pie, bake. But over here, good sweet pie crust is really hard to come by, so making a pie means making pastry, and we all know how I feel about that...

Nonetheless, this being spring and all, I got it into my head that I wanted to make a blueberry pie. We invited the work girls over for dinner, and I planned a menu of Italian Wild Boar Stew with Taleggio Polenta and a big side salad, then got to planning the piece de resistance: my pie. I thought if I could just get the crust sorted, I'd be golden. And after much huffing and puffing and mess (and a premature nervous breakdown), I had what looked like a decent crust!

Simply delicious: grilled cheese and tomato soup

2011-05-17T01:24:00.000-07:00

I talk a lot about simplicity on this blog. Simple cakes, simple candies that turn out not so simple, simple...cakes. But there are deliciously simple savory ideas out there too, and when it comes time for me to make dinner, this is where I rock. Pan-fried chicken breast in olive oil with asparagus or broccollini? Yes, please, and don't skimp on the salt.

Last week I decided that I would make dinner, since the bf has been cooking a lot lately and I wanted to cut him a break. Okay, maybe I just wanted to control the dish-making for once – don't judge me. Either way, I was struck with a wonderful idea: we had fresh tomato soup in the fridge, and suddenly all I wanted to eat it with was a grilled cheese sandwich.
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Falling Into Spring: Pumpkin Spice Bread

2011-05-13T10:02:00.000-07:00

It's definitely Spring here in London. The trees are blooming, the sun is shining more often than not, and the birds on the canal are having adorable, fluffy babies:

And how am I celebrating this glorious breaking of Winter? Well, I'm sneezing a lot... and numbing myself with bucketsful of Benadryl... and baking pumpkin bread.
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With a little planning, you too can dine Ad Hoc!

2011-05-08T07:19:00.000-07:00

The bf and I spent the Easter holiday in San Francisco with my family. I'll spare you the details on that (mostly because the only interesting bits involve silly string fights and yipping pitbulls), but there is one part of our vacation that I just had to share: dinner at Ad Hoc.

Whenever we go back to the Bay, the bf and I try to get a little time in the Napa valley. My parents have a house up there (I know, sweet, right?) and we love to go up and just veg out: we swim, we read, and most of all we eat. We have a few must-hit spots (Go Fish, Redd, Cook, and C Casa are some of the faves), but we've always wanted to try one of Thomas Keller's restaurants, especially after we had such an amazing experience at his NYC restaurant, Per Se.

Baking for others: Cinnamon Bun Bread Semi-Fail

2011-05-05T06:08:00.000-07:00

Well, we're back from San Francisco. And while I'm not stoked about having to leave my friends and family, I am looking forward to getting back into a routine with work and writing. And, of course, blogging!

I think my stomach is looking forward to a routine as well; we ate so much good food in NorCal, which made my mouth extremely happy but my body has gone all soft. I'm sure it hasn't helped that I skipped my usual daily pilates in exchange for more delicious food. Mmmmmmmm...
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What to do when you're buried in potatoes: make Pommes Anna

2011-04-27T14:54:00.000-07:00

I was never a big potato eater. My mom is the kind of health-conscious, California cook who generally prefers green veggies to root ones. We had carrots, but usually raw as a healthy snack, and we had baked potatoes sometimes, with nonfat cottage cheese (tastier than it sounds), but otherwise they were pretty much eschewed as bland, unnecessary carbs. So of course I ordered buttery roasted or mashed potatoes in restaurants whenever I had the chance.

But once I was out from under her healthy thumb I found I wasn't that interested in potatoes after all. I really did genuinely like green vegetables! It was pretty shocking.
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Just sweet enough: Vanilla Bean Cake

2011-04-21T12:16:00.000-07:00

There's a magical place back in my hometown of San Francisco. There's wine for two dollars, amazing pre-made salads, and scrumptious frozen foods. But the best thing Trader Joe's sells are the sweeties: rich, indulgent, massive bars of chocolate, salty-sweet mini peanut butter cups, and a boxed vanilla cake mix that's to die for.

Yup, I said it. A boxed mix that's to die for. It's fragrant and moist and vanilla-y without being too sweet, and it's one of the reasons I so rarely bake when I'm home– why tamper with something so delicious and easy?

Oh, oh, it's magic, you know!

2011-04-16T09:51:00.000-07:00

Newsflash: I love love love an easy meal. I'm honestly one of the laziest cooks I know. I love to turn out something fabulous, but I hate the time/sweat/tears that go into some creations. Which is one reason the bf does most of the savory cooking – baking (at least the kind I favor) is much less about prep time and focus than it is about throwing stuff together and chucking it in the oven, then having a nice chin-wag and a cup of tea with a friend (or watching The Real Housewives of NYC).

But that's exactly what I love so so much about this pot roast. It makes use of our slow-cooker, which, due to space restrictions, sits on a high shelf in our kitchen and therefore rarely gets used. But oh, man, is that thing ever awesome! It operates like an oven, without heating up the house all day. It sits on the counter and does magical things to meat and veg, and in 9 hours you come back from work/class/gallivanting and dinner is served! Seriously. Magical.

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Simplicity at its best: Chocolate Loaf Cake

2011-04-11T10:08:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, a girl just needs chocolate cake. Not a chocolate bar, which can be too heavy and creamy, or a chocolate dessert, which requires pomp and circumstance, but just a nice, simple, cocoa-laden chocolate loaf cake.

What to do with too many veggies? Make a Greenery Scramble!

2011-04-06T12:53:00.000-07:00

For the past month or so, the bf and I have been testing out a veggie-delivery system called Abel&Cole. Basically, instead of buying the same 4 or 5 kinds of veg in our normal shop, we trust these organic, healthy, charming fellows to deliver whatever's in season, and we figure out a way to use it.

So far it's going pretty well– delicious veggies, great customer service, and it's cheaper than what we used to spend on vegetables in our normal shop! We do sometimes get sick of potatoes and carrots (mostly because we don't always have time to cook them properly), and we have yet to figure out how not to massacre a beet, but generally it's been fabulous to have new things to try, like celeriac and jerusalem artichokes. And the leeks! Oh, the leeks make me so happy...
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A simple pleasure? Making my own Peppermint Patties

2011-04-02T06:32:00.000-07:00

Somehow the simplest things in life always seem the most difficult for me. A box brownie mix turns out dry and flavorless; grilled chicken ends up pink on the inside and charred on the edges; a walk down the block to buy milk results in a turned ankle, my dress hitched up into my underwear, and tears running down my face half an hour later.

Seriously, I don't know why it's so hard. I can make a Thomas Keller recipe, do a perfect tree pose in yoga, and write a freakin book (two, if you count my shelved novel), but I can't cook the simplest things or perform the most basic tasks.
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Is there anything cinnamon doesn't improve? Chocolate-Chip-Cinnamon-Sugar Cookie Bars

2011-03-29T10:01:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, I'm hit with a stroke of genius.

And then, more often than not, I fail to execute my genius perfectly...and my fabulous idea turns out...not as fabulous as I'd envisioned.

BUT, sometimes, even though it's not what I expected, it's still delicious, if crumbly/messy, and the bf still eats it all. This was one of those times, and thank goodness for that because wasted chocolate chip cookie dough is a travesty.

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Homemade beats the can, hands down

2011-03-26T12:30:00.000-07:00

In the continued interest of posting delicious things I've made at night and taken bad pics of, this weekend I'm going to tell you something every Jewish mother already knows: homemade chicken soup is the bomb.com! Now, I'm not saying I've abandoned good ole Progresso (oh, Progresso, how I miss your soups!), but I am saying if you have the time, go the extra mile. Because it's easier than you think (especially if you buy quality chicken stock instead of making your own). And because nom.
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Educating the Europeans: Buttermilk Cornbread

2011-03-22T12:22:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, I found myself with leftover buttermilk. Again. You see, it was Pancake Day a couple of weeks ago, and over here in the UK they take their food-related holidays extremely seriously. I didn't even know what Pancake Day was until I moved here, but I kid you not, by Tuesday morning all the stores I checked (about 5) were out of maple syrup– that's how serious they are. Anyway. any holiday about eating something delicious, especially if it involves breakfast for dinner, is a holiday I'm on board with, so we bought buttermilk and whipped up some tasty buttermilk pancakes. But alas, we only used about 1/3 of the carton. What to do?*

Springtime Means Teatime– Pinkies Up!

2011-03-18T03:26:00.000-07:00

The days are getting longer, and the bite is slowly retreating from the air. Spring is finally starting to peek around the corner, and you know what that means...

Tea Parties! Pretty, girly, dainty tea parties. Love it. And this almond cake is the perfect accompaniment.
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When in doubt, throw in some chocolate!

2011-03-13T04:10:00.000-07:00

I made muffins for class the other day. I wanted to bake something, but I didn't know what. I didn't really have time for cookies or cake or anything that required multiple steps, and one of my classmates is dairy-intolerant, which can be a difficult work-around with some baked goods, so I went with muffins.

I didn't really have a plan. I had a basic muffin recipe, for which I swapped water for the milk, and I had some spotty bananas. So I just kind of winged it.
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Last-Minute Dessert, Anyone?

2011-03-09T07:20:00.000-08:00

What do you do when you've invited a friend over for lunch, but you forget to plan a menu? Well, soup is always a good start... especially if it's this delicious pozole:

Other good things to have: an organic grocery store within ten minutes' walk of your flat, which, if you're lucky, will have fresh wheat bread on sale; a head of organic lettuce from your weekly veg box; the most amazing salad dressing in the world, imported from the good old US of A; and Greek yogurt. For making a lemon yogurt cake! Oh, and a nice servant boy is always good to have on hand as well.

Pretty in Pink: Thomas Keller's Gorgeous Grapefruit Cake

2011-03-04T11:36:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it's nice to try something new. I mean, I love me my lemon bars and cakes and cookies, every now and again I read a recipe for something kind of out there and think 'hells yes, this must be made immediately.

And that was exactly the response I had when I read the recipe for grapefruit cake in Ad Hoc at Home. Now, granted, pretty damn near everything in that book sounds delicious– I think I've spent more time drooling over it than the bf has, and it was his Xmas gift from me!– but this one definitely caught my eye. Because, really? Grapefruit? In a cake?

Um, yes. Really. Ooooooh yes really.
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Valentines Day At Home: Shakshuka, Champagne, and NY Cheesecake

2011-02-27T09:10:00.000-08:00

Um, really? It's almost March already? Yeesh.

Let's not even go there on what that means for my book deadlines... the important thing is that I only have a couple more days to write a Valentine's Day post and have it be remotely relevant! So here we go.

Sometimes the only good thing about life in greytown...

2011-02-24T07:31:00.000-08:00

...is the proximity to Italy!

Usually, the bf and I can't afford the airfare, much less the accommodation, but we had a little windfall last month, and rather than spend it on silly things like heat or groceries, we decided to blow it all on a whirlwind trip to Naples.

And boy, were we glad we did! Here are a few pics of the most important part of our trip: the FOOD!
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A healthier comfort food: Whole Wheat Sunflower Seed Bread from Joy the Baker

2011-02-21T10:43:00.000-08:00

I can't even go there with you on how bad these pictures are. All I can do is apologize for baking this bread at night, and then promptly consuming (with the bf's help, of course) the entire loaf before having a chance to photograph a slice in daylight.

I'm so ashamed.
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Does it count as daytime eating if the sun never really comes out?

2011-02-16T10:32:00.000-08:00

Anybody recognize that dark-yet-festive table? Hazard a guess what it's set for? I'll give you a hint: see that red stuff in the pitcher? Bloody Mary. Hells to the yes. That's right, it's another brunch!

This time, the star of the show was a baked egg recipe, with smoked salmon, arugula and leeks, topped with manchego cheese and freshly ground black pepper. Oh my goodness.

Baking with a near-empty cabinet: Pecan Pie Cookies

2011-02-12T04:24:00.000-08:00

What first attracted me to these cookies was the promise of flourless, butterless baking. I always seem to be running out of flour, butter, eggs, and/or brown sugar (which I can't seem to find in the big-ass bags I need, given how much I love it), and the thought of a recipe for cookies that eliminated the need for two of those things basically had me at hello. And then I tried them, and if I wasn't sold before I sure am now! These little circles of tastiness are easy, relatively quick, and can (in most households) probably be made with the dregs of your last grocery shop. A definite keeper.

Another famous recipe from Gram: Mexican Brownies!

2011-02-09T00:19:00.000-08:00

Remember those cookies I told you about a while back? The ones that are amazingly delicious and addictive but a little finicky? Or the pumpkin pie, which basically put my mom's family on the map, baking-wise? Well, they're not the only recipes my grandmother handed down– the trump card, her ace in the hole, the ultimate indulgence, was her recipe for Mexican Brownies.

Now, I know I say 'ridiculous' a lot, but this time I mean it. These things are ridiculous. I mean, a whole box of powdered sugar for the frosting? Buttermilk AND margarine in the cake? This is serious stuff, guys. Sugar overload, and it hurts so good.
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Think you don't like olives?

2011-02-05T05:51:00.000-08:00

Well, think again!

Both my father and the bf claim to hate olives. Usually when we go out to dinner with my parents, bowls of marinated olives are left entirely to my mom and me, the salt/vinegar lovers. But a few years ago, my parents were visiting London and we went to a restaurant called Pied à Terre for lunch. The food was very good, and the service was pleasant, if a bit obsequious, but what we still talk about to this day were the olives.

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Fighting winter as best we can: Mom's Chicken Pozole

2011-02-02T13:50:00.000-08:00

London is a cold, grey place lately. I haven't seen the sun much (which is why you haven't seen nice pics here much), and I'm getting really really tired of finding dresses I can wear over tights/leggings without sitting at my desk all day, pulling at my midriff self-consciously.

On that note, I'm also trying to eat more foods that could be classified as 'healthy.' Not that I'm avoiding badness altogether (stay tuned for a ridiculous chocolate cake/brownie recipe), but I have decided that one way to warm up in the midst of all this mist is to eat healthy, hearty, delicious soups. Preferably with chili.

And that's where this pozole comes in.
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On indecision: vanilla bean pudding/custard

2011-01-27T02:47:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I have trouble deciding. Which restaurant I want to eat at, what dress to wear to work, whether to do Tae Bo or yoga. It's a curse (and, apparently, not one I face alone). Unfortunately, this obsession with options extends to my kitchen.

The internet is a seemingly limitless resource, especially when it comes to food blogs and recipe galleries. Which is awesome, because you can find a recipe for pretty much anything, but it's also daunting, because you can find a million recipes for the one thing you're craving. In this case: vanilla bean pudding.
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For Broseph: Snickerdoodle Blondies

2011-01-17T13:36:00.000-08:00

When my brother read last week's post on savory things, he was less than thrilled. Even though he loves ceviche, it seems he reads this blog for the sugar and butter, not the olive oil and salt (mmmmmmm salt). So, for my brother, because I love him (yes, I said it, don't blush, now!) and because he makes me laugh more than anyone else I know: snickerdoodle blondies.

It's no secret that Snickerdoodles have always been a favorite of mine. They're sweet without being too rich, spiced without being too spicy, and just the right combo of soft and chewy. Not to mention how easy they are. But you know what's even easier? Blondies.
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On savory things

2011-01-13T00:54:00.000-08:00

*Update: The bf and I made this again today, and this time I managed to sneak a few photos of the ingredients before the sun (if it was there behind the clouds) went down. Hopefully these will be a bit more convincing! And in the name of bad-pic honesty, the old photos are still here, they've just been moved down to the bottom of the post.

One of the reasons I rarely post about the savory dishes I make is that, well, I don't make that many. The bf does most of the cooking, because he enjoys it and I don't so much. That is, I enjoy the cooking part, but prep annoys the hell out of me, whereas he loves it. So I usually leave it to him.

But as I've mentioned before, his schedule has become more demanding in the past 6 months, so I've been stepping up more. Which leads me to the other reason I don't often post my savory creations (besides the fact that they rarely involve more than chicken breasts and some veggie in a frying pan with olive oil and salt): I make dinner at night.
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Resolution time.

2011-01-08T03:33:00.000-08:00

In December, I always think: I'll start off the new year with a bang! I'll leap out of the gate and get myself organized, gym-going and writing and tidying up a storm.

And inevitably, in January, I'm in a panic, still trying to catch up with leftover work or errands from December, mired in frustration (and often self-pity), wishing I could throw it all away and start fresh again next year.

Can you guess what's coming?
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Mini doughnut muffins for the holidays!

2010-12-25T14:42:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays!

I'm currently riding out the rain in San Francisco, and doing more tree decorating than baking, but I thought I'd share some pics of the mini doughnut muffins I made before we left London.

They came out pretty adorable, especially in their little Martha Stewart cups.

We gave a bag of them to our porter, and I left a bunch for my friend Magda, who'll be staying in our flat sporadically while we're gone.

They make a great, easy, super-cute holiday gift!

The recipe is here.

Gram's cookies– a major meltdown story

2010-12-15T13:45:00.000-08:00

This is what they're supposed to look like. Buttery, powdered-sugar-y, fluffy-but-rich little drops of chocolate-chip heaven.

These are the cookies that made a generation of wary grandchildren smile at the expectation of a visit from a somewhat dour, WASPy (if well-meaning), grandmother. Gram's cookies. Usually delivered in a Folgers coffee tin, along with what she called "the healthy cookies"– basically chocolate chip with oats (healthy!), and quite scrummy, but couldn't hold a candle to THE cookies. Once I got the recipe from my Gram, these immediately became my go-to holiday cookies (especially cute with Martha Stewart packaging):

Continuing the Workplace Takeover: Chocolate Peanut Butter Puffs

2010-12-04T07:21:00.000-08:00

Now this is a stroke of genius.

Shop-bought puff pastry, peanut butter, and chocolate chips; a pizza cutter (or sharp knife) and a rolling pin; an oven. Add a half hour's attention and minimal energy (and, more importantly, minimal dishes!), et voila: Chocolate peanut butter puffs!
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My family's super-secret Pumpkin Pie recipe, revealed!

2010-11-22T16:24:00.000-08:00

It's time.

I've decided I finally know you guys well enough to let you in on the big family secret: Great-Grandmother's Pumpkin Pie.

Don't take this lightly, now. I made this pie every year for my friends at college, and every year the list of pie requests grew; I made no fewer than 10 pies my senior year. And when we graduated, after much coercion, I agreed to give the recipe to my friend Brittany, but I swore her to secrecy. And now I'm blowing the whole thing open by posting the recipe on the internet. I'm taking a big risk for y'all.

Amy's Bread and Cranberry Cookies

2010-11-13T13:49:00.000-08:00

I bought a new cookbook a couple of weeks ago, on a whim. My sister has it, and she showed it to me when I was last in SF, and I was taken by a photo of an adorably pink layer cake that I haven't been able to get out of my head since. So I bought the cookbook, The Sweeter Side of Amy's Bread. And it came. And I put it on the coffee table, and then I sat down on the sofa and flipped through it. And I sighed and bookmarked and planned and plotted. And then I put it down again, and didn't pick it up for two weeks.

The thing is, I've got this new job. And I love this job, and more importantly I love my office-mates. But... well, I don't have a lot of time for baking anymore. I know, I know. The grass is always greener. In fairness, I have been baking (well I didn't want them to regret hiring me!), but I've been falling back on old favorites like banana bread and pumpkin pie bread. I haven't really had the time to do the kind of baking that Amy requires: weighing, measuring, sifting, using 6 bowls– this lady's not fooling around. Her recipes aren't difficult, exactly, but they are certainly exacting.
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BAKED oatmeal? Why does no one tell me these things?!

2010-11-07T08:52:00.000-08:00

Okay, yes, these photos are bad. I won't even bother to submit them to Foodgawker (with whom I'm having a bit of a beef right now anyway, since they refuse to make allowances for the fact that I live in England and it's effing DARK here all the time and there's no room for a lightbox / I'm poor)
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Forced to bake with buttermilk!

2010-11-02T09:23:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, at our lovely new(ish) flat, we like to host dinner parties. And sometimes those dinner parties become a bigger production than is absolutely necessary.
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One thing United Airlines does right: Carrot Cake!

2010-10-29T12:59:00.000-07:00

Carrot cake is a wonder of science.

You start with something relatively healthy: of the earth, raw, vegan, gluten-free, all that jazz.

And then you spend a few minutes imagining the worst men you've ever known and thanking your lucky stars your poor lovely bf isn't home...
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Falling in love– banoffee blondies

2010-10-24T23:42:00.000-07:00

When I moved to Brighton to study abroad my junior year of college, I was expecting the cold (not that I was prepared). I was expecting the dark, the rain, and the terrible 'mexican' food. I was expecting good, cheap beer and student discounts at nightclubs, and I was even expecting to find food that I could stomach. But I wasn't expecting banoffee.
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It's getting pretty chilly out there...

2010-10-18T13:34:00.000-07:00

I guess it's time to make chili! (Yes, I know, I should be ashamed... but I'm not.)

The bf has been really busy with school lately, so I've sort of taken over a good bit of the evening cooking. Which means savory. Which is not something I've ever been terrible at, but it's always been more about sustenance than interest.
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Homemade potato chips, or: How you know you're truly a master procrastinator!

2010-10-11T23:15:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't noticed, I'm kind of controlled by my cravings. That's one of the dangers of being both anti-dieting and home all day. You end up making all kinds of random things in pursuit of a craving.

Well... in pursuit of a craving while also trying to outrun a deadline. Yeah, yeah, I was supposed to be writing my book. But I needed salty crunch! Don't judge me.
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This should be illegal...

2010-10-06T06:58:00.000-07:00

Seriously? This is just wrong.

See, what we're talking about here are cookies. That taste like brownies. But with chewy edges and cakey centers. And this is the really naughty bit: they're cookies, so they're really easy (like, wayyyy too easy) to just pick up and pop in your mouth.

This is some dangerous genius we're dealing with here, folks.
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Carrying on the Thanksgiving-with-a-twist theme: Pecan Pie Muffins!

2010-10-02T09:18:00.000-07:00

These little babies are the business. For serious.

I was never really a pecan pie gal. I was much more about the pumpkin (as I would think might be obvious from the wealth of pumpkin-related posts on this site (and there are more to come!)).* Pecan pie was just a tad too rich and sweet for my tastes, not that that stopped me from eating it. I just didn't eat as much of it...
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Fall is in the air!

2010-09-27T02:32:00.000-07:00

Well... inasmuch as Fall can ever be in the air in a city where the default weather setting is grey...

But yes, the air has crisped, the trees are already turning brown and baring their branches, and school is starting up again. And you know what that means: baking for an audience again! Oh, and pumpkin. Definitely, definitely pumpkin.

Specifically, pumpkin pie bars, the answer to the age-old question: how can I take my pumpkin pie with me on the go? Because don't we all need a little pie-to-go in this rushing about, bustling, high-energy world (or at least city)? Yes. Yes we do.
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More my thing: easy 'donut' muffins

2010-09-20T01:23:00.000-07:00

After last week's challah trials (and tribulations), I needed a pick me up. Something easy. Something delicious. A guaranteed success. Enter: the donut muffin.

The Idiot Baker (or maybe just a shlimazel)

2010-09-13T11:11:00.000-07:00

It started so innocently. A naive shiksa baker with a lotta chutzpah, a missed slice of challah at a friend's recent wedding, a craving, a dream...

But then it that dream turned to drek.

First came a strange, knead-less recipe that, while it seemed to work well for Rebecca, and while it made a pretty braid on the cold cookie sheet:

nonetheless led to a dense, bloblike 'loaf.' Not exactly a mitzvah. Although we did eat it all.

Next, I decided to really roll up my sleeves and get to work. So I went back to a long-ago bookmarked recipe for a gorgeous challah from Deb. I figured it would be complicated, but I told myself it was worth the extra effort to get it right. I didn't have to be such a schlemiel, I just needed to focus.

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Spotty bananas– a healthier way!

2010-09-09T14:20:00.000-07:00

First off, let me assuage your fears: no, I am not on a health kick, and no, this blog is not becoming weight-conscious or health-obsessed. I just got back to London (don't get me started on the welcoming deluge) from a month in San Francisco– land of the latest organic/vegan/macrobiotic craze– with my crazy, points-counting family, so I've got health on the brain. But don't worry, I'll be back to my buttery, sugary self in no time.

Now that we've got that out of the way, lets talk about what awaited me upon my return to the UK (besides the aforementioned rain): piles of books/clothes/general boy stuff on every surface in the flat; a closet full to bursting, into which I was hoping to unpack my stuffed suitcase; a fridge full of random meats and not much else; and bananas. Spotty, old, fragrant bananas.
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Points Counting and Panna Cotta

2010-08-30T11:34:00.000-07:00

I have a bit of a baking dilemma: when I'm in London, I have very little equipment/space, but there are people around who will eat the things I make. When I'm in San Francisco, at my parents' house, I have all the beautiful, fancy equipment and stainless steel countertops a girl could desire, but nobody will touch my creations. Why is this? Well, I blame weight watchers.
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On cravings.

2010-08-23T10:34:00.000-07:00

Every now and again, I do in fact feel like baking something savory. Now, usually this craving comes in the form of buttery, flaky, biscuity goodness, but it's also been known to rear its head in a sharp, tangy, cheddary way. As it did last week.

Now, as someone who never visited restaurant chains as a child (my parents are food snobs, much to my childhood chagrin– not that I mind these days!), I can't testify as to the oft-cited deliciousness of the Red Lobster Cheddar Biscuits. I can, however, say that the many bloggers and food message-board commenters who describe them gave me a major jones for cheesy, chivey, garlicky goodness. So off I went to hunt for a recipe that would be easy to throw together with stuff I already had in my pantry. And boy did this one fit the bill!
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On ADHD and rice pudding

2010-08-16T12:42:00.000-07:00

I’ve always said I’m confident I can cook pretty much anything*, except pasta and rice. Yes, you read that correctly. For some reason, I always seem to either undercook or overcook those simple basics, yet I’m capable of making mini lemon soufflés in hollowed out lemon peels! Seems really weird, I know.

Not a total fail Fruits-of-the-Forest Crumb Bars

2010-08-09T11:29:00.000-07:00

Sigh... Yet another SK recipe that didn't turn out as I expected. I think Deb's gorgeous photos just raise my expectations too much! I'm just one person, damnit, with an insufficient kitchen and metric conversions to do! Oh, and I didn't follow the recipe exactly, so that might have been it... Hey, fresh blueberries are spend-o-rama, and we happened to have some forest fruits in the freezer, and they looked so beautiful...

Consider my heart duly touched– Dim Sum in the 'dam!

2010-08-03T09:49:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

Like when the bf whisks me off to Amsterdam for a weekend of charming canal walks and delicious ice cream. Or when we arrive, having checked the weather and prepared for rain, and instead we're greeted with cool breezes and warm sunshine and fluffy white clouds. Or when, as a thank-you, I book us in for a cooking class at a place I've never heard of, which just happens to be the only class I can find where the timing fits, and we end up cooking dim sum for 4 hours (and staying to eat and chat for another 1.5) in a gorgeous studio with a raucous, international crowd of students and a fabulous, young, Socratic teacher named Fong.

Luckiest girl in the world. For serious.
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Homemade bread on an hour's notice? For serious!

2010-08-02T04:12:00.000-07:00

Do you ever just think: "I really feel like baking bread today," but feel like there's too much effort and time required? That was me a couple weeks ago. I didn't really have time to deal with a couple of long risings, and I didn't have an appropriate loaf pan for a quickbread. So I set out on the hunt for a recipe that would allow me to have bread and butter in my mouth within the hour, and wouldn't require any equipment besides a baking sheet, a bowl, and these two lazy hands of mine.
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Signs of summer: Strawberry Shortcake

2010-07-25T08:47:00.000-07:00

Is there anything that better represents summer (to Americans) than strawberry shortcake? Now, I wasn't one of those lucky girls who had treats and sweets all summer long, but strawberry shortcake was one of the few sweet things my mom could get on board with. My dad loved it, and we used to 'make' it for him for breakfast in bed on fathers day, with storebought shortcakes, canned whipped cream, and fresh berries. I'm pretty sure it knocked our sloppy pancakes out of the park.
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The miracle of microwavable cake!

2010-07-22T05:13:00.000-07:00

When my older brother and I were in undergrad together at Washington University in St Louis, I used to take him grocery shopping with my mom's credit card. I was always a little appalled (and admittedly a weensy bit envious) at the things he'd chuck into the cart: frozen pizzas, chocolate milk, canned whipped cream, more frozen pizzas/breakfast sandwiches/soft pretzels. And, one time, some sort of packaged chocolate gloop that theoretically turned into cake when you add water and put it in the microwave.

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An impromptu brunch, with only a little hair-tearing!

2010-07-18T11:18:00.000-07:00

When my friend Miranda suggested brunch last weekend, I immediately offered to host. I’d been out and about a lot the week before, and I was kind of tired of the rat race (and paying people to cook my food), so I was psyched when she accepted. I started planning right away: something savory, something sweet, some fruit, maybe a salad, something else sweet… I spent hours on Allrecipes, cruising brunch recipes and looking for something new and different. And I found three recipes that seemed perfect, at which point I printed them out and spent another couple of hours (book? What book? Was I supposed to be writing something other than blog posts?) reading the reviews and compiling tips in the margins so I could idiot-proof the recipes.

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Success IS possible!

2010-07-16T09:09:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share that, despite my earlier failures, I'm not a total flop in the kitchen. Yesterday, unable to look any longer at the bananas blackening rapidly on the kitchen dresser, I fell back on an old favorite. And it did not disappoint!
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Week of the baking brown thumb

2010-07-13T03:15:00.000-07:00

I know it may seem like I’ve got this whole baking thing figured out (if you ignore all my posts about hair-tearing), but I do sometimes make mistakes. Usually, though, they’re few and far between in the grand scheme of things. But not last week. Last week was the week of baking disasters.

A not-so-short story about shortbread.

2010-07-05T04:18:00.000-07:00

You may sometimes wonder, as does my mother, who eats all this stuff I bake? Well, for a while it was my classmates I depended on to make sure we wasted not, but then classes became fewer and farther between. And other people started bringing snacks (usurpers!), and I didn’t want them to think I was trying to steal their thunders. So when the bf started working full time I was pleased to be able to ply him with tupperwares full of brownies and coffee cake and cookies.
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Vegetables! With butter...

2010-07-01T06:29:00.000-07:00

I was hoping to post about how I do, on occasion, eat things that don't involve butter/sugar/flour, but unfortunately these steamed artichokes were delicious dipped in a lemon-butter mishmash of my own making. Still, they were green and healthy and savory, so that's something new and different for this blog!

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Heat wave sweet crave solution

2010-06-26T07:44:00.000-07:00

It’s hot in London right now. As my brother would say, hot as… well let’s just say, really hot and sticky. Muggy. Humid. Still. Not exactly comfort-food weather. I spend all day grazing on chunks of cheese and nibbles of cucumber– anything cold and quick.

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Because we love dads, even when they don’t love chocolate.

2010-06-22T09:47:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was father’s day. It was also the weekend of a huge outdoor party, complete with big bohemian tents and a pig on a spit, that the bf’s dad and stepmom hosted at their house in Oxfordshire to celebrate their joint birthdays. They took care of all the party planning and much of the food (besides the pig) themselves, so of course I offered to help. Which meant baking 3 trays of brownies (not too hard, but very messy) and bringing them up on the train on Friday evening (really surprisingly hard). It also meant finding a great, easy brownie recipe (pretty difficult too).

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Rhubarb Coffee Cake, Rhubarb Lemonade, and Apologies Again

2010-06-11T11:12:00.000-07:00

I’ve been bad. I’ve been eating too much sugar, working too little on my book, and worst of all wasting too much time online gawking at other people’s food blogs and not spending enough time working on my own. But I’m back now, having been for a whirlwind week in New York with my bf and 'rentals, and with a brand new camera to play with!* I've also gotten my first big book deadline under my belt, and I’m celebrating with all things rhubarb!
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It’s Easter! Wait, It’s June Already? Crap.

2010-06-01T10:38:00.000-07:00

So, back in April, when Easter actually occurred, I was at home in San Francisco. I had the baking bug real bad, and so I begged my mom to let me take care of the main dish for breakfast, as well provide the something sweet: a newfangled invention I’d just discovered called Monkey Bread, which basically means cinnamon-sugar-butter-biscuitiness. Trust. OMG.
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Spring is... still springing!

2010-05-19T07:24:00.000-07:00

Spring is being a bit coy around these here parts. One day it's sunny and gorgeous, and the geese are parading their fluffy babies all over the canal:

And the next day, we're having friends over for brunch, doors flung wide open to let in the... oops, and now it's pouring. But at least the food was a hit!

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