Thyme For An Update

Hahahaha. Pun'd.



This sucker is doing pretty well lately. It's been rainy lately, though. But my plant needs sun. So.. I can't really move it out of the rain. My house is not designed well for gardening in terms of sunlight and stuff. It's annoying. Eh. Mr. Rosemary plant is doing fairly well, too, by the way. But tracking my rosemary plant is not as interesting, since it was never in as much peril as Mr. Thyme plant.

Tastylicious

I had this for lunch today. It was amazing. I had it for breakfast the two prior days. It was amazing then, too. Looking at the picture makes me want more right now. ): But I have no more egg white salad. And I brushed my teeth already. Which means no more eating for the day. Boo.

Amazing Plastic

I found this box when cleaning stuff out from under my bed. I don't know where the railroad track came from, but the rest of the box appears to be Legos. Legos are amazing. I never had my own Lego sets as a kid, just random boxes of leftover stuff my brothers had (like this), but as an adult I've collected two X-Wings, Hogwarts, another Star Wars set, another Harry Potter set, and a Hollywood stuntman movie set. Legos are amazing. I want the Pirates of the Caribbean ship, Queen Anne's Revenge that just came out. But... I don't really have anywhere to put it. But it looks so cool. 0:

Uh Oh

I did a bad thing and calculated the nutrition, or lack thereof, in the "healthy" crispy treats I made yesterday.



Each square (they're small, much smaller than your standard square) is 280 calories, 12 grams of fat, 5.6 grams of protein and 22.1 grams of sugar. Egads. That's AWFUL. I've only eaten two so far because it scares me. Especially when I'm trying to slim down a bit. So much for healthy squares ): should have just made marshmallow ones!

"Healthy" Squares

I stumbled upon this "healthy" version of Rice Krispy Treats a few months ago. I finally got around to making it. It takes brown rice syrup, peanut butter, puffed rice cereal and a dash of vanilla extract. I managed to throw this together in roughly five minutes and I'm pretty pleased with the results. Oh, I guess I threw in mini chocolate chips for good measure (texture, varying flavor). They're tasty and easy to make. And peanut buttery. They don't stick together as well as normally Rice Krispy Treats, but that's because there's no sticky marshmallow. I guess there's also no yummy marshmallow flavor. ]:

I want marshmallow krispy treats now. ]:

Shoes

Okay, so I know I had a picture of my closet yesterday, but I'm particularly proud of my organized shoes.



I bought a case of plastic shoe boxes from The Container Store and I've labeled each shoe box with the contents. My shoes now line the top shelf of my closet. They used to be jumbled in a pile at the bottom and kind of a pain to get to. Now I have easy access, er, well, I have to stand on my bed post to reach them, but, easier access than before. :D Plus, I can see all my shoes (except my boots are still on the floor of my closet).

Yay for The Container Store. :D

My Garments

I love my closet. Not as much as my bookshelf, but, almost as much. Growing up, I barely had use of my closet because my parents kept a lot of old stuff in there. Old clothes, old photography stuff, idk. Since then, I've cleaned it out and finally taken claim to the whole thing. My closet is pretty clean and i know where everything is. No "cleaning out the closet" (literally) needs to be done here. Yay, me. (:

Sorry, Vie de France

I love palmiers. Or elephant ears. Or whatever you want to call them. Delicious, buttery, puff pastry sprinkled with sugar and baked until light, buttery, sweet and crisp. I've tracked down the best. At least, in my opinion.



And strangely enough, it's not from a French bakery. It's from Yamakazi Bakery in Little Tokyo, and only $1.50 for three. Less than half the price of Vie de France in South Coast Plaza and way better tasting. Yay! I have a scary feeling I'm going to buy at least three packs next time I visit x:

Hope

I have hope for my English thyme plant. I know seeing pictures of my herb plant every couple days is probably boring, but it's exciting to me, so, too bad. The new thyme growth seems to be thriving fairly well. It's still green and it's still growing. It was first growing out of the sides of the plant (English thyme likes to spread) so I tucked it back into the pot to encourage the "branches" to put down and establish more roots. I got a little overzealous with all the dried out branches and pulled out a lot of still-living roots that I probably shouldn't have. Practice makes perfect, I suppose. Thinking about my follies makes me sad ): I'll just think about my new thyme growths :D We haven't been getting much sun lately, argh. First, too much sun torched the remainder of my plant. Now, not enough is threatening to stunt growth. Bah! Thyme is supposed to be easy to grow, too...

BOO ):

I Dare

I've always wanted an orchid, but I was always afraid of killing them. My recent success at bringing my rosemary and thyme back to life from the brink of death makes me feel like my thumb is a little greener. I picked this sucker up from 99 Ranch market because the ones sold at American/Western places are not nearly as pretty and cost more. For once, the quality at an Asian place is better ;D woohoo! Looking at my pretty orchid plant makes me smile :D even thinking about it right now is making me happy. Yay, plants!!

PS: Yes, that's a weird wooden samurai sword in the background of the picture.

Box o' Yum

I finally decided to try a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program out. I found Tanaka Farms which is nearby in Irvine. I was always deterred by CSAs because of their prices and large amount of produce. Luckily, Tanaka Farms allows biweekly subscriptions for $20/small box. This works out perfectly for me since I won't get over inundated with produce I can't finish before it spoils.

This week, I got strawberries, two grapefruit, some spring onion thingys, carrots, bok choy, spring peas and lettuce. A pretty decent haul. The peas make me the happiest. Yay, peas (: and I've been wanting to make carrot cake :D

Flowers

Happy early Mother's Day.



These were for my grandma. We visited her last weekend.

I'm Glad Thyme Isn't My Kid

Remember that beautiful, bushy, full pot of English thyme I posted a few weeks ago?



Yeaaaa.. All of it was dead on Sunday. I started watering and pruning out dead stuff (well, it all looked dead). A few new green sprigs have popped up. I'm hoping these new sprigs continue to grow because I pulled most of the deadish roots out. I started with 50ish live sprigs of thyme, and now I have 3ish new ones. I'm monitoring watering it better to keep the soil damp until more roots appear. I fret about my herbs, a lot. I think it's giving me wrinkles.

Very, Very, Very Light Green Thumb

The rosemary plant is looking greener and less like a dying Christmas tree now, yay!

I've been monitoring watering it more, even though I know rosemary likes dried out soil. So they say. I think I went overboard with the dried out soil thing because it was dying.

If only my thyme was doing better.. ):

Oat-y

I like healthyish muffins and I like oatmeal, so I made the oatmeal muffin recipe from the King Arthur Flour Cookbook. It required me to soak the oats overnight in buttermilk. I don't like buttermilk, but I use it in baking a fair amount. The texture of these muffins was sort of weird. I'll leave it at that. They were tasty. But sort of spongy. Spongy is.. weird. I guess I didn't just leave it at that. Oops.

Smoggish

A rare, clear day in Los Angeles County. I took this from Rose Hills Cemetery, about thirty miles south of Downtown LA. Sad that this is considered a "clear day" but I'll take what I can get. You can see the mountains behind the city. Sometimes you can't even see the mountains behind the city when you're in the city. That's gross. ): We breathe that air. Ew. ):

Corn!

I love kettle corn. Ridiculous amounts of love. But I don't frequent fairs or farmers markets or anything that have it. So now that I know how to make it at home... I am picturing lots and lots of kettle corn in my future. Except, in my mind, the kettle corn in the future isn't burnt like the kettle corn pictured above. For once, using a nice Le Creuset pot is probably a BAD thing.

Goo

Gelatin + sugar/corn syrup/water/pinch of salt cooked to soft ball stage + paddle beater = marshmallow goo.

Fluffy Cubes

I got the brilliant idea that I wanted to make s'mores this weekend. I have a bag of the JET PUFFED marshmallows in my garage, but, well, it's me, so of course I made my own marshmallows.



You can't tell from this picture, but each fluffy, puffy cube is flecked with vanilla bean specks. I don't know why, but that always makes things seem more gourmet. I used a really, really, really, really dull paring knife to get the vanilla bean "caviar" out of the pod and I was pushing down on the sharp edge of the blade with my finger while scraping the "caviar" out. It was then when I re-noticed how dull the blade was, as it didn't hurt me at all. I tried throwing this paring knife away when I moved out of my apartment in college. My mom has insisted on keeping it all this time. l: Oh, I've gone off on a knife tangent. Oops.

In addition to the marshmallows, I made hideous graham crackers. I used Nancy Silverton's recipe instead of Alice Medrich's because I failed with Nancy's two years ago and wanted to make amends. They were way more hideous this time than last time, but they taste way better. I'll take my victories in the flavor and texture department this time around.

No Hockey Pucks

Apparently scones get a bad rap for being hockey puckish or dense and tasteless or just generally bad. I don't know what scones other people are eating, but they certainly aren't eating mine.

This is Ina's recipe and it's pretty awesome. I was originally looking for a copy-cat recipe of the Starbuck's Maple Oat Nut Scone but decided that those aren't really that tasty. I went with something that I knew would be more well received. Ina did not disappoint. I normally forgo glazes (see: sour cream coffee cake last week) but several reviews I read of this recipe insisted that I not leave it out. Good thing I did my e-search. These would have been pretty bland without the glaze as the scone itself is not sweet at all. The outside was crisp (wait, is that the proper adjective to describe the outside of a scone?) and the inside was light and fluffy. I sort of with it was oatier but I'm weird and I like overly oaty things. Yet.. I'm not a huge fan of oatmeal. Unless it's steel-cut and freshly made by me. Hmmm.. I want oatmeal now.

Oh yea, I added some maple extract. So I guess I adapted the recipe. Go me. And I used rolled oats instead of quick cooking. Scandalous.

Cooking Lessons

I love cruciferous vegetables. Though I don't love that they make me gassy. This, however, does not stop me from eating them and eating them as often as I can. Roasted Brussels sprouts are ridiculously easy to make. I feel stupid for having paid so much for this dish now at so many different restaurants.



If it wasn't already common knowledge, Brussels sprouts taste like ass if you don't know how to cook them. I have a feeling a ton of American mothers don't know how to cook them because these things seriously have a bad rap. Luckily, the Internet exists with it's wealth of information, you have no excuse to make crappy Brussels sprouts. Not that there are any moms reading this blog. But if there were..

PS: Lots of restaurants suck ass at making these things too. *Cough Bottega Louie.

In case you're lazy/curious:

Pop a tablet of Beano. Preheat oven to 450F. Parboil/blanch halved Brussels sprouts for 3 minutes in boiling water. Put in ice bath to stop cooking. Remove from ice bath and get rid of excess water. Toss Brussels sprouts with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Put on rimmed baking sheet. Shove in oven. Leave it there for 30-40 minutes. Top with freshly grated Parmiggiano-reggiano, if you so desire. Eat.

Because I Promised

A better picture, that is.

It's still not a great picture, but it's better than before.

I signed up for a photography class in Orange County! And I swear I'm going to read the camera book I bought when I got my camera. I will improve. Another promise. D:

This coffee cake was tastylicious even without the maple glaze. Maybe I'll throw some on there next time... hmmm... what say you?

Salivation

I started drooling as soon as I pulled up the HTML code to post this.



More ridiculously tasty sh*t from Mini Kabob in Glendale. I have Sabra hummus in my fridge and I don't even care to touch it anymore because it pales in comparison to this.

Anyone want some free hummus? :P

Dilemma

I love bread.

My metabolism hates bread.

What am I to do?

):

Ugly

I first bookmarked this recipe back in 2009. I purchased cacao nibs and buckwheat flour and never got around to making it. I finally did and can't decide if I would make it again. I think I was mostly disappointed by how much my cookies spread. I can only attribute this to the water content in my butter as I carefully weighed out all the other ingredients and had an oven thermometer in my oven. I also chilled the dough before baking it. Alas, the cookies spread like weird flat pancakes anyway ): they were tasty, I suppose, but they were so hideous I couldn't bring myself to like them that much. I even deleted the picture I took of the final, baked product. Oops.

PS: I bought new flour and new cacao nibs to make the recipe :P the old stuff was thrown out.

Play Doh For Foodies

I made rigatoni the other day.



I used my KitchenAid Pasta Extruder for the second time ever. Eventually, the cost of it will be made up for in homemade pasta.. right?

I used only semolina flour this time and it came out really semonlina-y. I think last time I used a mix of semolina and all-purpose flour. I'll probably follow a similar route again next time. Then it won't be so semolina-y.

Herb Anxiety

My herbs are making me stress out way too much.

Look at how happy this thyme was.



Just a week ago!

But now it's looking a lot less green and a lot more droopy.

I'm starting to hyperventilate.

Oh dear.

Hideous Picture of Delicious Cake

The title says it all. I'll take a better picture in the morning when I have proper lighting. I promise. (:

There's Something Wrong With My Bear

He got opaque. I forgot how to fix it. Time to go to Google.

Shortbread Throwdown

The recipe throwdowns continue. This week, we're doing shortbread. I finally put that Lurpak butter and Nielsen-Massey vanilla bean paste to good use. Thomas Keller's shortbread is pretty famous and after whipping up a batch I can see why. I'm not normally a big shortbread fan. I know Walker's is supposed to be the best, so says Nancy Silverton, but I've never gone nuts over it. Keller's recipe doesn't call for oat flour or cornstarch or confectioner's sugar like recipes I'm used to, but the texture and flavor is still amazing. I think I'll be making shortbread more often from here on out. Woe be my waistline.

Nancy Silverton and Cook's Illustrated's recipes are up next. I need to buy more butter.

So Freakin' Good

This is from Mini Kabob in Glendale.

Just go.

That is all.

PS: I just drooled.

Dolled Up

If I can put nuts in something, I probably will. I always have walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios and pecans on hand for impromptu baking. The nut that doesn't have too much favor in my book is the cashew. I recently learned that two handfuls of cashews gives the same benefit as a Prozac tablet, not that I'm in need. I don't dislike cashews, but they certainly won't be the first nut I reach for. That is, unless they're spiced and roasted following Ina Garten's recipe. She uses cayenne, fresh rosemary (from my plant!), salt, dark brown sugar and melted butter to bring good flavor to cashews. Every recipe of hers I've tried has been amazing so far (: Her maple oatmeal scones are next up on my list to bake!

Cookie Verdict

The New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookie

These cookies were gigantic. According to the recipe, the dough balls were to be 3.50 oz each prior to baking. The recipe said they would be "generous golfballs." I'll just go with gigantic. The cookies had a thicker consistency than the Cook's Illustrated version, likely due to the bread flour and less liquid in the batter overall. I did feel that the flavors in this cookie were more one note. While the Cook's Illustrated cookie had nutty, deep toffee notes from the browned butter, the New York Times cookie was mostly just very sweet. I had already decreased the amount of chocolate in favor of some walnuts and found that the ratio of chocolate to cookie was still very high. As the recipe is based off of Jacques Torres' recipe, this wasn't too surprising. The New York Times cookie, however, held up much better over time. After the first day, the Cook's Illustrated cookie began to crumble and fall apart, despite being stored in an airtight container. I guess next time I'll just have to eat these faster. (:

My final verdict is that the Cook's Illustrated recipe wins out due to flavor and ease of preparation. Though the mix/rest steps may take extra time when making the dough, I won't have to let the dough rest for 36 hours. I don't plan that well ahead anyway (:

Round Two

So, the first rosemary plant I had (Rosmarinus officinalis) pretty much died. I'm now trying another one. I replanted this one immediately after purchasing it before it became too rootbound within it's original pot. I was able to loosen the roots a bit so hopefully it will take to the potting soil more easily. I'm still fretting a lot about my thyme and rosemary plants. I definitely do not have a green thumb. I think my mom may have been overwatering my plants and she keeps moving them out of the sun (I stick them out on the pathway up to my house) because she thinks the bunnies will eat them. This ain't no lettuce, woman! Peter the Rabbit won't be eating my herbs I'm pretty sure, but she's stubborn. ):

Contender Two

The chocolate chip cookie throwdown continues. This recipe calls for cake flour (low protein, adds tenderness) and bread flour (high protein, adds chewiness). My thoughts were, wouldn't all-purpose flour make more sense since it's right in the middle? Well, this recipe is based off Jacques Torres' recipe. He must know what he's doing, so I'm looking forward to the results. I used the same chocolate (milk and bittersweet) and walnuts as the recipe yesterday so I can focus mainly on the texture of the cookie itself after it's baked. The 24-36 hours of resting time this dough has to do in the fridge is supposedly going to do wonders for the flavor. We'll see.. !

Contender One

Hello. This is Cook's Illustrated's Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie. I'm sort of conducting a chocolate chip cookie recipe throwdown right now, so expect lots of chocolate chip cookie pictures. This is how I like my chocolate chip cookies: Crisp edges, chewy interior, walnuts, pockets of good quality chocolate, a little saltiness. This recipe pretty much fits the bill. The recipe calls for the butter to be browned prior to mixing in with the sugars (white and dark brown). You then must whisk the sugars, butter and vanilla together until all of the sugar has dissolved. Then, you let it rest for 3 minutes. Then another 30 seconds of whisking. Repeat this cycle three times before gently folding everything else together. There is no additional resting in the fridge like so many other recipes call for, and I like that. Sometimes you just don't want to wait 36 hours to have freshly baked chocolate chip cookies in your mouth. As I type, I do have New York Times' chocolate chip cookie dough resting in my fridge.

I thought I had found the perfect cookie recipe last year. I even spent months setting the type to letterpress the recipe on 100 cards to give to people to spread the word. No doubt, that cookie still rocks. Thinking about it now is actually making my eyes a little shiny. Damn, those cookies are good.

I tried the CI recipe a bit over a year ago in a 100 degree kitchen and it didn't fare too well. They baked up wonky with all the wrong texture. I was so burned by it (not literally) that I didn't dare go near the recipe for another 18 months. Now, I feel a little silly about wasting so much of my life not re-trying that recipe out. The NYT recipe has also been circulating the Internet for years. I'm finally going to give that one a go, too.

In truth, I was never a big fan of chocolate chip cookies. Chips Ahoy suck. Market ones obviously suck. All others (Starbuck's, Costco, Mrs. Fields, any nice bakery really) always seem very one note. Now I'm glad I can turn out ridiculously good chocolate chip (walnut) cookies in my own kitchen. Maybe, one day I can serve them in my own bakery (:

Eye Patch, Please

I made chocolate chip walnut cookies today. I made buckwheat shortbread dough with cacao nibs today. I went to the gym today. I replanted my thyme and rosemary plants today (haha, they're so dead).

I got



in my eye today.

Just kidding. I did get weird debris in my left eye more than one time, though. Ow ):

Basket Time

This picture soothes me. It also makes me want to have a picnic. I think it's time to have a picnic. I have a picnic basket and it's super QT. Weather has been so wonky lately it's difficult to plan for a picnic. Curse you, wonky weather!

Scary

Bugs are scary. I know lots of people think ladybugs are cute or pretty or adorable or whatnot. Not me. I was never one of those kids that picked up ladybugs on the playground. Oddly enough, I always poked at ants and sow bugs. I never thought they were cute, though. I digress. Ladybugs aren't cute. But they're supposed to be "lucky." I could go for some luck.



Or double the luck. As long as the luck isn't cancelled out.

Potato Staycation

Burgers are delicious. But I haven't been in the mood for burgers lately.



This thing didn't even pique the interest of my taste buds. I suppose this is a good thing because burgers have a billion calories.

Fries though, I'm ALWAYS down for fries.

Authenticity

So I have to ask, where the hell did these crispy noodle things come from?

I have a lot of baking books and I've always seen this recipe: Mexican Wedding Cookies (or Russian Tea Cakes). I've somehow managed to not make it all these years so I decided that today was definitely the day.



I remember having them back when I was in elementary school. Someone's mom brought them in and told us they were Mexican Wedding Cookies but didn't have an explanation for the name. Naturally, I looked it up and found out that Russian Tea Cakes really are the original name and the recipe does indeed originate from Russia. The cookie is commonly eaten around Christmas in both Russia and the US. They appeared in Russia in the late 18th century as a confection to have with tea. By the 20th century, it became popular to serve at weddings in Russia and the US. Wikipedia tells me the name "Mexican Wedding Cookie" emerged in the 1950s possibly due to the strained relations between the US and the Soviet Union. This sentence has a citation in Wikipedia so it must be 110% accurate.

I calculated the nutrition facts of these cookies. They're not very large but amount to 110.7 calories a piece. I imagine this is because the recipe contains ground pecans and whole pecans. I only put one coat of confectioner's sugar on it because any more would make it unfathomably sweet. At least for me.

I'm pleased with the results and I'd definitely make them again (: Some recipes suggest walnuts or almonds but that seems like a travesty to me. D:

Bunny

Every time I look outside, there's a bunny or two nibbling on blades of grass on my lawn. If I weren't terrified of my backyard, I would go out there and take a picture. I don't normally see them on the front lawn unless it's night time and they scatter away when my headlights wash over them. Bunnies are cute. There were a billion of them at UCI. I remember seeing tiny little ones that I knew I could crush with my bare hands. I wouldn't ever do that, don't freak out. :P It just fascinated me how small a bunny could be.

Since I didn't have a picture of a bunny, I decided to post a picture of a flower I took. Bunny. Flower. Spring. Same thing, right?

PS: Damn those two bunnies in my backyard are ridiculously cute.

Fruit I Eat

I recently received a copy of Joanne Chang's Flour Bakery cookbook. The first recipe I made from it, milk chocolate-hazelnut cookies, turned out to be somewhat disastrous in texture and shape. I didn't even bother taking pictures of it. This bread, however, looks to be more promising. This recipe was published in Gourmet magazine back in 2003 and is also posted on Food Network's site. It has almost 1000 reviews averaging almost five of five stars. I'm a sucker for reviews and I'm a sucker for banana bread. I've also had a hankering for banana bread for weeks and would have produced a loaf sooner had my bananas not been squandered away by my mother.

I'm patiently waiting in my room as the loaves cool down. The fragrant scent of banana bread is wafting in and out of the rooms of my house. I ran 5.55 miles today in preparation for this bread (and bread from Tartine!). I think it's time for me to go downstairs and dig in now.

Hello Spring

These flowers have done what my parsley plant could not. Flourished (sort of) in the spring weather. This picture reminds me of Vincent van Gogh's Irises, though they are not irises themselves. I took about ten years of art class as a kid and we spent a lot of time studying artists and their works. van Gogh was always one of my favorites. Though Irises is nowhere near Starry Night in my artistic heart, I still find it hauntingly beautiful. Interestingly, I learned, van Gogh painted it as more of an exercise than as a work of art. Funny how things turn out.

Sorry Kindle

I'm as big a nut for electronics as I am for cooking gadgetry. I also love to read. So I suppose it may be surprising to some that I don't own a Kindle or a Nook or a Sony Reader or whatever. There's something to be said about the feel and weight of a real book in your hands. The craftsmanship of a book, even if it's manufactured by a machine, is something I just can't give up. I like to physically see the progress I'm making through a book and the satisfaction when you get to that last page and close the book is incomparable.



This book was made in the thirteenth century. The amount of time and effort people used to put into making books is astounding. These days, the art of handwriting is completely lost. I wonder how many man hours went into just one book back then. I can't even fathom it. It's hard enough to get me to write down a grocery list without wanting to just input it somewhere electronically.

I took a bookmaking class last summer and can attest to how much of an art bookmaking really is. I'm still taking my letterpress now (my one year anniversary is this weekend for it!), so my love of craft for paper goods is still apparent.

I love Amazon, but I just can't bring myself to get a Kindle. Sorry trees ):

I Had To

I flung a lot out the window for these chips.



My ability to take a good picture. My diet. My rules on avoiding processed foods. My common sense when spending money. My willpower in snacking.

But it was all worth it.

Please go buy these chips. Then bring them to me. Thanks.

Mission: Shortbread

Lurpak butter, check.

Nielsen-Massey vanilla bean paste, check.



Flour, check.

Confectioner's sugar, check.

Granulated sugar, check.

Preparations for Thomas Keller's shortbread are almost complete.

Most excellent.

Problematic Parsley

I'm finally going to grow my own herbs. I'm tired of paying a lot of money for them at the market, not know what sorts of pesticides have landed on them if I don't seek out organic herbs, and then not being able to finish the overpriced bundles I buy before they dry out.



As you can see, I'm really good at taking care of my Italian flat leaf parsley plant.

I'm also really good at taking pictures of my herbs at night with a steady hand.

PS: The last two statements were sarcastic.

Bakery Fail

The concept seems sound. But, the execution was shoddy.



How disappointing. More than half of it went in the trash can. ): It looks so damn tasty, too.