gingery caramels

There are a couple (food-related) things that usually do not work out for me: 1. dough-y stuff and 2. caramel-y stuff. I don't know if it's the recipes I follow, or my own lack of skill, but there have been so many batches of caramel that have burnt, or seized, or what have you. It's a bit ridiculous.

But I decided to face the challenge once more, because I saw a box of ginger caramels one day at TJ Maxx (the Home Goods store seriously has the most awesome collection of things?!) and just had to make them myself.

spiced oatmeal apple carrot cake

One of the hardest things for me about creating new(-ish) recipes is probably naming them. It's just like writing the subject line of a super important email to a stranger: it needs to adequately summarize your email, but be short and interesting enough that they don't just delete it without reading. It is an ordeal, let me tell you.

sunrise muffins - orange pulp, dried cranberries, and nuts

It all started with Whole Foods. On the weekends, there's a dude squeezing oranges and selling fresh-squeezed OJ and it's just about the best tasting thing ever. But as most things are with Whole Foods, it's a little pricey, so my mom and I decided to make our own. Usually when I juice, I throw out the leftover pulp (I know, boo me), but this time there was so much orange pulp that it seemed a horrible waste to just get rid of it. Plus, it tastes pretty good by itself? Anyways, I decided to bake them into something, which gets us to these muffins.

dark chocolate peanut butter swirl cookies

My mom and I are putting together another care package for my brother, so I baked up some cookies to send along. We also found out that he has no cookie sheets (and I'm guessing any other baking pans?) where he lives, which just blew my mind. Like, whoa. But I guess I was just fantastically lucky living in a dorm with a fully stocked kitchen on each floor.

happy birthday, mommy!

Mommy's birthday nineteen years ago, with me and my little brother

I can never remember how old my parents are, but thank goodness for the Chinese zodiac, because I can remember their signs. Usually I'd go all out and make a three-layer cake, but my family and I are working on eating healthier, especially cutting down added sugar, so that's unfortunately a no-go for cake. Then I thought of baked apples, but we didn't have any apples, and so that too was a no-go.

everything but the allspice

But what we did have a lot of was persimmons. Most recipes I found tend to use Hachiya persimmons, the pointier ones that you eat with a spoon when super squishy, because they're a lot sweeter. Ours weren't ripe yet, and they tend to be stringy and astringent, so I didn't want to go that route. But I did find a recipe which uses Fuyu persimmons, the flat crunchy ones, and only a little added honey, so I decided to go with baked persimmons.

beets and beet greens

For some reason, I tend to completely forget that beets exist in this world, and then I'm endlessly delighted once more when I rediscover them. It's a pretty great cycle, though, to be honest.

pomegranate oatmeal with dried blueberries and toasted nuts

Oatmeal tends to be put on hold when the warmer months come along, but I pull it out of hibernation the minute it starts getting cold. Which, in California, is around November. I'm sure everyone has their own method of making oatmeal, so this is less of a recipe and more of a toppings suggestion instead, to move you away from the butter and brown sugar and raisins that are traditionally thrown into the mix. So instead: pomegranate seeds, dried blueberries, and nuts.

I peeled this pomegranate the night before as an after-dinner snack, but it was a little too sour to eat by itself. So it got saved for the next morning to get rescued with a little maple syrup, along with some dried blueberries I found in the pantry, and some toasted nuts we always keep on hand just for this purpose of sprinkling on top of cereals, salads, etc. Being the lazy lazy person that I am, I also make my oatmeal in the microwave. It's a one-bowl process that couldn't be easier, and perfect for the coming months. I hope you enjoy.

chocolate marshmallows

Marshmallows are surprisingly simple to make, as long as you have a stand- or hand-mixer and a candy thermometer. And the results are a definite crowd-pleaser. One batch makes up a ton, but at the rate they'll get eaten, you'll be glad you made so many in the first place.

rainy days (and chanterelle tacos)

After a week of hot and dry Santa Ana winds, a day of rain was a welcome reprieve. Gloomy weather always makes me want to curl up in a blanket with a something hot and watch movies. Though I didn't get a chance to do that today, winter in soCal will bring lots more rain, so I'm sure I'll get the chance again.

rainy days are great for steaming bowls of [red bean and mochi] soup

baked eggs with chanterelles

I don't know what to talk about here.  I could, because it's October, talk about Halloween. I'm currently completely stumped on costumes, but definitely inspired for how to decorate the house (since I'm ridiculously scared of everything, we're going for cute). Or I could talk about my friend Harriet who's absolutely in love with mushrooms, and walks around muttering "'shrooms. give me some 'shrooms" like a crazy person. Or I could talk about Emma Approved, which just started. I'm currently in the middle of #50 of my 101 in 1001 list, where I'm not watching tv for six months, but I've decided that Emma Approved doesn't count, because it's a web series. Anyways, I just watched it, and don't really know how I feel about it, unlike the Lizzie Bennet Diaries which I'm pretty sure I fell in love with immediately. I'll give it a couple more episodes.

a brief foray into food photography

Over winter break, I commandeered my mom's DSLR, and basically took the camera everywhere for two weeks.  Most notably, I baked up dozens of cookies, which were meant to be gifted to our neighbors.  They ended up not getting any (sorry neighbors!).  Most were eaten at the gatherings we had at our house, but there is still a tin with some leftovers.  I bet they'll still be there when I go home for the summer.

I started off using the lenses that came with the camera, but my dad later picked up a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 lens that multiple bloggers suggested.  So I went back and reshot some of those original photos.

Now that I'm back at school, however, I no longer have the camera at my disposal.  Boo hoo.

All-Purpose Cornbread

taken from Cook's Illustrated (thanks Sean!)

Makes One 8-inch Square. Published January 1, 2005.

Before preparing the baking dish or any of the other ingredients, measure out the frozen kernels and let them stand at room temperature until needed. When corn is in season, fresh cooked kernels can be substituted for the frozen corn. This recipe was developed with Quaker yellow cornmeal; a stone-ground whole-grain cornmeal will work but will yield a drier and less tender cornbread. We prefer a Pyrex glass baking dish because it yields a nice golden-brown crust, but a metal baking dish (nonstick or traditional) will also work. The cornbread is best served warm; leftovers can be wrapped in foil and reheated in a 350-degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour , (7 1/2 ounces)
1 cup yellow cornmeal (5 1/2 ounces), see note
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon table salt
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar (1 3/4 ounces)
3/4 cup frozen corn (3 1/2 ounces), thawed
1 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), melted and cooled slightly
Instructions

Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray 8-inch-square baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl until combined; set aside.

In food processor or blender, process brown sugar, thawed corn kernels, and buttermilk until combined, about 5 seconds. Add eggs and process until well combined (corn lumps will remain), about 5 seconds longer.

Using rubber spatula, make well in center of dry ingredients; pour wet ingredients into well. Begin folding dry ingredients into wet, giving mixture only a few turns to barely combine; add melted butter and continue folding until dry ingredients are just moistened. Pour batter into prepared baking dish; smooth surface with rubber spatula. Bake until deep golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 25 to 35 minutes. Cool on wire rack 10 minutes; invert cornbread onto wire rack, then turn right side up and continue to cool until warm, about 10 minutes longer. Cut into pieces and serve.