Molasses Cookies, A Holiday Preview

Yum. The best part about these simple molasses cookies is the 3 tablespoons of dark rum added to the powdered sugar for the glaze. Really good, and gives them a little kick. Just use rum instead of water or milk in the glaze. Like I do in my cereal.


*pics taken with our new Canon camera!

Have mixer, will bake.

With the holidays fast approaching, I'm daydreaming of all the delicious recipes I've been stockpiling. I FREAK out come the end of the year, getting preoccupied with making sugary sweets, frothy eggnog and all sorts of roasted spicy things. It gets a little insane at times, until before I know it, Tara and I are trying to shape home made marshmallows out of cookie presses, surrounded by champagne or trying to force people to try our eggnog meringue. Getting into the spirit of things, Tara and I have begun compiling a list of all goodies we will be attempting (and possibly even failing at a few, but who cares when it involves ingredients like these.) Here's my check list so far- all from recipe sites that I really enjoy- lots of other great non-sugar related recipes on most all of them:

Dulce de Leche Marshmallows from: The Spiced Life
My marshmallow love knows no bounds. I've killed hand mixers on batches of them, experimented with espresso and cocoa mixes and am now ready to move on to the next.

Buckeyes from: Smitten Kitchen
I have made a home made peanutbutter cup thing in past years, but now I'm looking forward to trying these. They look a bit more sophisticated, but that may just be the beautiful photography that Smitten Kitchen consistently provides.

Cherry-limade Bars from: Cheeky Kitchen
The lemon bar is a CLASSIC. My cookie book's page that holds this recipe is neatly annotated by my mother's hand but is gummed down by layers of sugar and lemon. I'm not quite sure I can get behind the maraschino cherries and food coloring called for in this version, but it opens up some great possiblities that I never imagined. Layered lemon bars? Holiday colors? Yes. YES

Salted Gingersnap & Hazelnut Bark from: Bitchin Camero
I LOVE how grown up this looks. Like, Harry and David good. Like, I ordered this from some catalog just for you this Christmas. But wait, I actually made it! This is what I imagine the conversation will go like when I gift my friends sweet packets of this salted chocolate confection. Oh, and I also love how freaking EASY it sounds to make. But I leave that part out of my imaginary conversations.



French Bread Pudding from: Epicurious
Tara and I are also going to be doing a bread pudding- however, most recipes I have been looking at call for chocolate, french toast, sweet breads, caramel and other extras when all I really want is plain good bread, eggs, cream and sugar. This recipe looks simple enough to satisfy those cravings, with dried cherries to add some tartness.


Burnt Sugar Lollipops from: Fig & Kindle
These rustic candies look so unassuming. I imagine all the better to appreciate all the differing degrees of caramelization. I can see these wrapped up in stiff cellophane and brown bows.


Hooray for the holidays! Time to dust off those rolling pins and start stocking up on refined sugars. YES. What are YOU guys making for Thanksgiving/Christmas/whatever?

Exploring the Galaxy (Cafe)

Austin has too much good food. How a city with so many in shape and fit people (who don’t look like they eat all that much) can financially support so many delicious restaurants is beyond me.

One place I really liked, is called Galaxy Cafe. Everything here is good. I really can’t say more. Also, I’m on some weird salad kick. I’m eating salads everywhere. Who does that?!

Also, I have so many backed up food posts to do, it’s insane. If I was a religious woman I might ask the Lord to give me strength, but I guess I’ll just have to rely on Jean Luc Picard to motivate me.

Yes, I would like some Basil

The little farmers market by our house happens every Wednesday and Sunday. I have time enough on Wednesdays on my way home from work to pick up some good eats. Heirloom tomato season is coming to an end, so I wanted to make sure I ate some, today! I also picked up some apples and chard and green beans and of course basil, to go with my tomatoes.

Yum, yum!

And then I made this while Moni was making pasta with lots of veggies.

And I made this super easy tart, that my friend Alejandra, the chef, whipped up for us one day. We already had the pastry crust in our freezer. It's super easy and quick. Thaw crust, peel apples, toss with sugar. Put apples in heaping mound in middle of thawed crust, brush with egg whites and sprinkle the top with more sugar. Cook in oven at 350 til golden brown.

I was like, "lets make whip cream". And he was like, "NO! Let's make ice cream, banana ice cream!" I was like, "you can't just whip it up like that, you need a recipe." And he was like, "No, you don't." And he was right. And it was good! The End...or is it?

Chow time

There's this website I like to look at, www.chow.com. I've watched this post in particular a few times, about making the perfect chocolate chip cookie. They look amazing! I think a lot of the people and recipes featured are San Francisco based. Take a peek...they have all kinds of other recipes on the site too :)

Hold on a minute, summer

I love fresh corn. And cherry tomatoes. I could eat those all day long come summer. Tried out a corn pancake recipe from Smitten Kitchen this morning. I'm not particularly into pancakes- they've got nothing on waffles, IMHO. But man, these fresh corn ones were doing right: very light and fluffy, savory and soft, with chunks of fresh corn folded throughout. Smitten Kitchen suggested they may pair well with fresh tomatoes, so I made a topping of cherry tomatoes, some more fresh corn (lightly sauteed in the breakfast sausage juice), tons of basil, green onion and a pinch of salt, sugar and thyme. I took one bite and kind of freaked out. James added syrup to his plate, but I did fine without.
I will def be making these again. They would be a prime candidate for upping the savory factory- perhaps some green onion or shallots would be good thrown into the batter...

The Wonders of Paris' Garden (part 1)

I'm holding down the home steady for Paris, which means aside from feeding his carnivorous kitties, and plants , I also am caring for his community garden lot, which is full of goodies! I picked some of the swiss chard, which is getting a bit too big. I have a couple ideas for cooking it, but I started with a simple little soup.

swiss chard
Potatoes
carrots
mushrooms
rice noodles
chicken broth
usual yum yum spices
lots o garlic
fresh thyme!( I love having Paris' herbs available)


It turned out super yummy, but even though I added the swiss chard last, it was still a bit over cooked. The next day I heated the rest of it up(mostly potatoes and broth left). I put it in this cute little bowl, found through the vigorous cleaning of Paris' apartment, and then I put the rest of the chard in, closed the lid, and let it just sit for a bit.

It was just right! but I wish I had more rice noodles to add.

stay tuned for the Wonders of Paris' Garden part 2!!

The longest journey begins with a single taco.

I am cold. There is no sun today, in fact there is a drizzle of rain. Since it is the middle of August I certainly didn't bring a coat, and I am getting a little wet. And you know what? I am not alone here, there are other crazy people here. At least some of these people brought a coat.


Why are we here? Outside? In the rain?


You have probably already guessed, Taco truck=tacos!

Yes, I go to the taco truck twice a week for lunch for the tacos, and the mind destroyingly awesome tortas. And today I felt like a soda to go with it.


Anyway, I am heading out of town today and I plan on trying tacos throughout my trip! Next up is Happy Fresh Taco in New York City! Then California is in the plans!


(this taco truck is located in the parking lot of the Chevron gas station next to the Bellevue Fred Meyer.)

K – Town shenanigans

So when Tara came to visit me the second time around we decided to go eat in K-Town! Korea town is basically just one measly block and right off Harold Square, but they do have some GOOD eats!

Here’s Tara looking silly and hungry and Peter looking irritated while we waited for Peter’s friend Adam outside.

The Restaurant is that window on the left, I was trying to take a picture of this guy, who is actually behind the guy walking by. The guy I wanted a picture of was on his phone talking loudly about sleeping with some girl and how everyone found out except her boyfriend and this girl named Josie and how it was really incredible because she was going on this trip to Cancun with her cousin who is also the girlfriend of this guy he went to school with! OMG, I know. It was all very fascinating. In the end though I didn’t get his picture, OR, a good picture of the front of the restaurant, but if you ever wanted to know what the door to the right of the restaurant looks like, this is a perfect shot.

The restaurant is called Kunjip and it’s always super packed, so they had us waiting for a table at the back and even took our order while we were still waiting. They are really pushy and probably would be even meaner if we didn’t have an actual Korean with us.

This is by far the best Korean food I’ve ever had, in a Restaurant I guess. Peter doesn’t know the phonetic spelling of the dishes but the one in the middle is this kimchi pork stuff served with tofu, and the one on the far left is kinda like pot roast type stuff only a thousand times better and Korean-y. Plus at Korean restaurants they give you all these little side dishes things and some of them are really nasty, like the pickled cuttlefish, but some are really amazing, like the seaweed and foamy egg soup thingy.

OK, this is already a really long post so, IN CONCLUSION: The Korean food at this place is AMAZING, but they’re really rude and kinda ignore you and kick you out as soon as you’re done. Bringing a big, rude, Korean speaking escort is sort of a must. Afterwards we walked to a bar/eat place called the Blind Pig. Pretty good. Although Peter was disappointed they didn’t have any Root Beer and I got pretty much soused off two glasses of Pinot Grigio.

The End.

Soup fit for summertime

Natalie wasn’t feeling well recently, and normally what makes her feel better is my chicken soup. However, with the temperature in the 80s, how can I made a hot chicken soup that doesn’t feel out of place in the summer?

Normally I like my soups with potatoes, rice, pastas, and other hearty ingredients. I decided to go lighter for the summer. I made a standard chicken broth, shredded some of the chicken breast in it.

Then in the bowls I was serving it in, I sliced up some fresh chard, spinach, and thinly sliced broccoli. Then I poured the hot broth and chicken over it, topped it with some cilantro, some slices of avocado and a few slices of tomato. When I gave it to Natalie, the green veggies under the broth were just barely cooked, and when a bit of lime was squeezed over it, it tasted really fresh!

I don’t normally think of soup in the summertime, but this was pretty damn good!

Chick-a-bobs!

So this really is chicken, but it looks dark because I marinated it overnight in a mixture of soy sauce, minced ginger root, fresh basil, lemon verbena leaves, garlic, coarse kosher salt, some fresh lime juice, and a little honey. The chicken is alternated with red and green bell peppers and sweet Walla Walla onions. The cherry tomatoes on the ends are fresh from the garden. Soak wooden skewers for at least 20 minutes prior to barbecuing so they won't catch on fire. They turned out very delicious! (The kabobs, not the skewers)

Grillz

Had some Korean BBQ ribs at Rontoms last night. Served on a large chunk of grilled lettuce with some charred edges. Does EVERYTHING get 20 times better if it's cooked on a grill? I'm about to go on a all-grill diet.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Rachel screams for homemade ice cream

Not that it's been that warm here (haha... in your face, Feli!), but we couldn't wait to try to make some stuff with our new ice cream maker. First time we tried, the maker's bowl didn't get cold enough in our freezer, and we ended up with warm custard. Had to pack the freezer with some ice and salt in order to get a hard freeze.



Spiced Banana. Like a banana eggnog, almost.


Mixed Berry frozen yogurt.

A Baker's Dozen!

My friend Abby and I went to take this class on decorating cupcakes. Feast your eyes upon these babies!