March 2010
22 posts
3 tags
Pita Chips
So yesterday was a bit of a “fail” day in the kitchen because not only did I attempt to revamp a perfectly good salad, but also tried to make my own pita bread to eat with said salad, only to achieve extremely mediocre results for both.
The pitas actually tasted fine, but they weren’t much better than the pitas you can buy from your big chain grocery store. I had a bit of...
February 2010
23 posts
5 tags
Warm Butternut Squash and Chickpea Salad with...
Sometimes you just shouldn’t mess with a good thing. The combination of ingredients in this salad totally captured my attention and I couldn’t wait to make it. And it was so tasty! The subtly spiced squash plays so nicely with the chickpeas, and the dense, earthy textures are not too heavy, due to the brightness of cilantro, the crunch of a bit of onion, and an awesome tahini and lemon...
4 tags
Vanilla Rice Pudding
Amazingly, for someone who ate rice almost every day for the first 20 years of her life, I never had rice pudding before a few years ago. I haven’t quite made up for this defecit, but learning how easy it is to make rice pudding certainly points me in the right direction.
The recent soggy weather we’ve been experiencing only makes one crave warm comforting foods, and what is more...
6 tags
Marmalade Cake
The snow wintry mix rain has set in for the last few days, and we supposedly have a few more days of wetness look forward to… but I don’t even really mind because I think I have found my “sunshine-in-a-bite” in this marmalade cake! This rustic cake is moist and coarse-crumbed, rich in toasted nutty-ness with a strong and vibrant citrus flavor that screams HELLO...
3 tags
Semi-Homemade Twinkies
Last weekend, Andreas and I watched Zombieland, and though I am usually not a zombie-movie kind of girl (or any movie where aliens/possessed people/crazies/serial killers/vampires pop out suddenly to a suspenseful symphonic soundtrack), I actually enjoyed this movie! The movie was more like a smart comedy that happened to have zombies in it, and unlike after watching other zombie movies, I felt no...
7 tags
Pasta Shells Stuffed with Ricotta, Spinach, and...
How lovely are these shells?! The juxtaposition of their smooth sloping lines and ridges only hint at their potential beauty… stuff them with an excessive amount of cheese (and veggies and meat, just to cover all the food groups) and their true beauty is revealed in a hearty, satisfying, comforting weeknight meal. I liked these stuffed shells because each shell was like its own bite-size,...
4 tags
Citrus Cornmeal Shortbread
Every year from about mid-February until the snow thaws for good, I suffer from a bit of “the winter blues.” I get weary of bundling up like an astronaut every time I leave the apartment, tired of losing one glove along the walk to work or a beloved pair on the train, upset that my skin freaks out from the dryness so that my hands and lips crack and split constantly while parts of my...
5 tags
Potato Leek Soup
After last week’s disappointing snow debacle, the weatherpeople redeemed themselves and successfully forecasted snow on Tuesday. All day I watched snow steadily fly past my window: wet flakes that melt as soon as they hit you, fast little flakes, and my favorite, those big fluffy flakes (the size of quarters!) that float up as they are falling down and never seem to reach the ground. We got...
4 tags
Almond Cake
I’m drooling a bit, just thinking again about this dessert. For those almond-lovers out there, this is for you. It’s a slightly dense, sweet and buttery cake with INTENSE almond flavor; it can be a perfect after-dinner bite… or an early morning wake-up bite… or late afternoon tea-time bite. Throw on some toasted almonds, dust generously with powdered sugar, and a quick...
6 tags
English Muffins
“Nooks” and “crannies” are words that I only associate with english muffins. I guess that is the evidence of a successful marketing campaign. I baked up some english muffins this weekend, and though they were pretty easy, they unfortunately lacked the expected nooks and crannies. It may have been because I was overly excited to eat them (read: starving), so I may have...
8 tags
Ginger Fried Rice and Ginger-Orange Glazed Ribs
So I actually thought Chinese New Year was last weekend. I had talked to my mom briefly last week and she had mentioned going over to my Grandma’s with the rest of the extended family on Saturday, and I swear that I heard “for Chinese New Year.” So last Saturday night, I thought, I’m going to be a good asian and cook myself a Chinese New Year meal! Nevermind that the Google...
Sweet Hearts.
I remember when I was in the 3rd grade, we had to give cards to everyone in the class on Valentine’s Day. We spent the morning constructing and decorating mailboxes out of shoeboxes and paper, and during lunch we were to distribute our cards. I had a huge crush on a boy and I was so nervous about dropping a card off into his mailbox, because even though everyone was supposed to give cards...
5 tags
Oven Pancakes
I’ve mentioned before how I like to pamper myself by making breakfast on weekend mornings. This past Sunday, I took the time to enjoy this lovely oven pancake. The preparation is super simple and requires very little manual labor, but the final result tastes like you’ve put way more effort than you actually did. You mix together a few ingredients that you probably have in your...
4 tags
Chocolate Stout Cupcakes
Have you ever wondered what an Irish Car Bomb would taste like… baked??
Well, I actually had never wondered.. until I saw this recipe.. and then I DID wonder.. and then I baked them.. and yes, this is it. It all begins with a surprisingly light and tender cupcake: slightly chocolate-y, but not too sweet, thanks to the wonderfully deep flavor of the Guinness Stout. The decadent sweetness...
7 tags
Tomato Eggplant Basil Pizza and Butternut Squash...
I bought a baking stone when we first moved into our current apartment. It was cheap, like $12 from Bed Bath and Beyond, and I used it maybe twice to make pizza (and one loaf of bread, that failed for other reasons, not the baking stone) before it broke in half (while baking a pizza). Even though I had very limited quality time with the baking stone, I can still almost taste the difference...
5 tags
Orange Almond Madeleines
You can never have too much of a good thing…
especially if they are these lovely seashell-shaped cake cookies. Yum.
I know that I made madeleines less than a week ago… but I was anxious to try out another recipe with a different flavor profile. These were better than my first attempt: they “humped” up nicely, had a bit more flour to butter ratio so were a bit more...
6 tags
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Just as I was congratulating myself earlier this week on surviving January in Boston (typically the coldest, snowiest, most wintery month that physically makes me ache for California for all 31 days), an ARCTIC FRONT (I am not even kidding, that’s what weather.com said) has crashed the party (what party, you ask? my LIFE party.. duh.) and kindly brought along his buddy, temperature in the...
