Happy Anniversary Blog (aka Leaving Baby in the Car)

Today is the first anniversary of my blog!

And I'm not going to say it started out bad....just WAY crazy.

First, I decided to bake the first two recipes I made last year: Banana Bread and Blueberry Muffins.

This time, I used one of the variations in Baking Illustrated's Banana Bread recipe by adding cinnamon, nutmeg and orange zest. (pg. 24)

Orange-Spice Banana Bread

Blueberry muffins #1 last year were a disaster (confusing baking soda for baking powder...) and then attempt #2 ended up meeting Mr. Trashcan, but things finally came together.

Today, I tried Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours Orange Berry Muffins (include orange zest, orange juice) (pg. 3)

Lotsa blueberries
(Still a bit clueless on the new camera...need to take some lessons or class)

After taking the photos, I was running late for work so I grabbed my stuff and tossed it into the car. Today, I had a lot of books to return to the library, my laptop, and my sad lunch (homemade frozen bean burrito, orange (sans zest) and a leftover spotted banana).

Once I got to work...I had to make two trips.

(Yes, you know where this story is going...)

I got into work and started answering reference questions...and didn't make the second trip. Did I mention that it was 100 degrees today in Los Angeles? I went out to my car 5 hours later, and the poor guys looked like someone mistook them for a tomato and put them in a hothouse. Covered in condensation and burning hot. I touched them and they were just. plain. gross.

The only good news is that my car now smells of orange zest and bananas. Who needs those little pine tree air fresheners?

Well...Happy First Anniversary Blog! This all started with a desire to break from the cake mix box and use a bit of technology. I've had a great time and want to thank all my readers, especially my friends! I love getting comments that you are baked something, or just to say hi.

I can't believe how much I've learned (I can actually explain to people the difference between cake flour and all-purpose flour, the difference between french, italian and swiss meringues (swiss the best!)... and how much I have left to learn and conquer! (i.e. pies, tarts and pastries). My list of "need to make" recipes just keep growing! Thanks for coming along for the journey!

Happy National Chocolate Chip Day!

Today is National Chocolate Chip Day! Although probably created by Nestle...it was fun to celebrate nonetheless. And thanks to Jessica for the heads up on this day...and all other food related days (did you know December 5th is Sacher Torte Day? I'm going to celebrate that next year!)

I just used the recipe for White Chip Chocolate Cookies on the back of the darn Nestle package of white chocolate chips!

I added 1/2 cup of chopped crystallized ginger to the Nestle Toll House recipe and deleted the nuts. I should have added some ground ginger to the mix too, but forgot.

Happy National Chocolate Chip Day!

P.S. Okay, did you watch Top Chef last night? Ugh! I'm a huge fan and feel so let down this season. I'm spending all my time wishing more and more so-called chefs are eliminated, rather than rooting for a favorite. They should have dropped all three of the annoying, disrespectful, talk-backing, I-really-need-to-take-my-Ritalin idiots last night (box lunch episode). Sigh...at least hot Sam was on the show.

Mango Upside Down Cake

I Heart Mango!
Even upside down!

Can you believe my blog is almost one year old?! Oh the amount of butter, flour and eggs I've used this year!

My new blog year's resolution is to tackle the "I'm-so-intimidate-I-run-for-the-hills" pie crust and tarts. If master foodie, P prize winning J Gold can't master it, I don't hold out much hope. However, I AM a librarian like his mom so perhaps that is the secret! :)

But, until then, I tried a recipe I had trouble with before. It's the Fruit Upside Down Cake from Baking Illustrated (page 332). You can use delicious pineapples, peaches, plums or mango. I opted for mango as they are probably the world's best fruit (well, until I head to the Farmer's Market and start eating the pluots, apricots, white nectarines...oh, I'm weak in the knees thinking about the upcoming fruit season...)

Last time I tried this, I underbaked it and was left with a ring of cake. This time, it turned out okay!

A mixture of brown sugar and butter are caramelized and then placed on the bottom of a 9x3 pan. Then the batter is added and baked off!

Very simple cake to make and yummy!

Florida Pie - Tuesdays with Dorie

This is my first Tuesday with Dorie baking effort! Thanks Dianne's Dishes for selecting this lovely dessert. (Library co-workers loved it!)
A delicious key lime pie with coconut and meringue

Dorie Greenspan says she often uses a purchased graham cracker crust, but since I used the small pans, I made my own.

I purchased my key limes at the local ethnic market in Los Angeles- always get a great deal for produce! I'm not a big fan of shredded coconut. I feel it tastes somewhat like edible dental floss (sorry, coconut lovers!) I wanted to get the taste of coconut so I cooked the cream with the coconut but strained it out.

Here is a thin layer of strained coconut cream topped with the key lime filling.

I had huge difficulties with the meringue. First, it was 5 am...and I tried the first batch. I was using my thermometer and tried to get it to 160 degrees to keep things food safe. But it got too hot and it smelled like cooked egg white. Down the drain those went. Next, I tried again...but again that just didn't feel right. Finally, I got it right (by realizing my thermometer's battery was dying) and didn't overcook the batch. I used a blow torch to brown it. I wish it turned out better...but I had to get to work!

Here's the recipe from Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours book. You should definitely buy it or borrow it from your library as the photos are lovely, and the stories touching.

Florida Pie
1 9-inch graham cracker crust (page 235), fully baked and cooled, or a store-bought crust
1 1/3 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups shredded sweetened coconut
4 large eggs, seperated
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup fresh Key (or regular) lime juice (from about 5 regular limes)
1/4 cup of sugar

Getting Ready:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put the pie plate on a baking sheet lined with parchment of a silicone mat.

Put the cream and 1 cup of the coconut in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring almost constantly. Continue to cook and stir until the cream is reduced by half and the mixture is slightly thickened. Scrape the coconut cream into a bowl and set it aside while you prepare the lime filling.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl beat the egg yolks at high speed until thick and pale. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the condensed milk. Still on low, add half of the lime juice. When it is incorporated, add the reaming juice, again mixing until it is blended. Spread the coconut cream in the bottom of the graham cracker crust, and pour over the lime filling.

Bake the pie for 12 minutes. Transfer the pie to a cooling rack and cool for 15 minutes, then freeze the pie for at least 1 hour.

To Finish the Pie with Meringue:

Put the 4 egg whites and the sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan and heat over medium-low heat, whisking all the while, until the whites are hot to the touch. Transfer the whites to a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, or use a hand mixer in a large bowl, and beat the whites at high speed until they reach room temperature and hold firm peaks. Using a rubber spatula, fold the remaining 1/2 cup coconut into the meringue.

Spread the meringue over the top of the pie, and run the pie under the broiler until the top of the meringue is golden brown. (Or, if you've got a blowtorch, you can use it to brown the meringue.) Return the pie to the freezer for another 30 minutes or for up to 3 hours before serving.

Check out other creations by Tuesdays with Dorie bakers!

My new camera!

I bought a new camera! Yippee!

Canon Rebel XTi, EF 50mm f/1.8, EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro and 430EX Speedlite Flash

I don't know what most of things do...but I'm playing around with all the buttons. David Lebovitz recently had an entry about photography, and I took his advice as well as my cousin and Smitten Kitchen.

Trying out the new macro lens...having never taken a phtoography class, I have a lot to learn but it is soooo much fun!!

My niece and nephews run, jump, bike and are so active. The shutter speed of the new camera is amazing! I feel like a sports photographer...and once I figure things out, I'm sure it will be even better! (Auntie pride: CJ was awarded the game ball for his excellent hitting!)


Finally, here is a photo of my friend's "pet" squirrel. Racheal is moving to Washington DC with her husband - who is starting a cool job at Georgetown.

House House Yogurt Yogurt

Can it already be May? Here are a few photos of my weekend of eating and building.

Yesterday, I went to visit my friend Helen for breakfast and hanging out. First, we found ourselves at Marie et Cie in Valley Village - looking for a bite of fruit. Unfortunately, they were out of fruit so we ended up getting pastries that contained little bits of fruit (that's on the food pyramid, no?)

Shortly thereafter, I found myself lying down in the back of a car...feeling every single bump on the streets of the valley. You know how every experience is a "learning" experience? - well, in this one I learned how a kidnap victim or Soprano's associate feels. Helen bought a 10 x 10 gazebo-canopy-outdoor house thingy at Home Depot and after two orange-vest clad employees shoved it into the car, there was no room for me. Thus, the floor of the car.

Before the building began, we zipped off to Menchie's for some frozen yogurt. Now, I'm a simple librarian with simple tastes. And I've loved the frozen yogurt since the beginning of time. (I also have an intense love for the noodle, the apricot, and the octopus, but that is a different post). I remember the first Penguin's opening as a girl and learning what love was. Then, Pinkberry came along and removed the oversweet sensation that I only knew...and my love only escalated into pure addiction. I love Pinkberry but feel I always get too much yogurt (I get the medium with three fruit toppings), so when Jennifer from work mentioned a new place that had yogurt by the ounce, I was so excited that such a place was born!

Menchie's Yogurt in Valley Village! Yogurt by the pound. I got a non-dairy berry sorbet (delicious!), Captain Crunch, Strawberries and mochi pieces.

Speaking of addictions, I'm completely hooked on the TV show House. I don't know how this show passed me all these years. I think it was because I don't watch Fox much and there was a time when I wouldn't commit to another episodic TV show (I was much younger then and didn't have a DVR). So, I caught up...by watching all three seasons in about 2 weeks. Dear god. I love Hugh Laurie, but this spiraled into an addiction...with the bad skin and puffy eyes to prove it. I borrowed them all from the library (of course!) and was watching one epi in the morning and way too many at night. Luckily, there are only three seasons - or I would have ended up on another favorite show, Intervention, about my addiction to a show about a doctor with an addiction.

Back to the other house...here we are assembling this bugger. Yes, three woman no taller than 5'5" putting this together in the sun (damn, those nuts and bolts get hot when you lay them in direct sunlight!), using those really sturdy plastic chairs! It went up like a piece of Ikea furniture and puffy tent.

The completed house will be great in the hot San Fernando sun! It's next to their pool.

Today, I volunteered at the Japanese American National Museum (coming in June - Chado Tea House!!!) and went to another yogurt place with my friend Cris and her adorable son, Lukas. Yogurtland just opened and I had to try it. I find their layout of toppings much easier to reach and cleaner than Menchie's...however, as the name implies, they are all yogurt. I found Menchie's choice of one non-dairy (and kosher!) sorbet flavor refreshing when you don't want dairy.

Like my pool to see when gas hits $4.00, I'm wondering which yogurt shop in Little Tokyo is going down first. They have a Pinkberry, CeFiore and now Yogurtland...all within a two block area.

Yogurtland in Little Tokyo. I had mango and blueberry yogurt, topped with strawberries, mango, blackberries, granola and little mochi pieces!

Is Lukas the cutest kid ever? Here he is eating Pasta in Little Tokyo. He eats pasta everyday...and perhaps every meal. Lukas is monster tall - he is only 3 years old!

Friends this weekend! Jun and Socrates rode their bikes to the Museum on Sunday. We ate at the Curry House in Little Tokyo. Photos of the food didn't turn out - but the Teppan Hamburger with Garlic Sauce is great!

Rosie and Helen at Menchie's Yogurt. We made a good assembly team. I promised Rosie I would help her assemble her Ikea furniture when she goes to college!

New York-Style Crumb Cake...sorta

I love my DVR.
Seriously in love.
I'm taping "America's Test Kitchen" - the PBS show by the people behind Cook's Illustrated.

Recently, they made New York-Style Crumb Cake. It was really pretty. You should really watch it on TV because you won't see it on Food Librarian TV!

The error of my ways was all in the topping. I think I overshaped my topping...bummer.

On another note, did you see Ugly Betty? So happy it is back. It was a moment of fashion synergy when Christian of Project Runway was on the show. Fierce!

The topping that wasn't.
The recipe says to create pea size topping pieces...and I spent way too long creating these. By the third shot, I was so bored. I must have done something wrong because my topping faded away a bit.


From the oven...the topping isn't what it was supposed to be, but when all cut up and covered with powdered sugar, it was tasty. Also, my co-workers appreciated the efforts making the little pea-sized topping pieces!


Although very yummy, if I had to choose my favorite coffeecake, I would say my heart lies with Rose B's Cake Bible Sour cream coffeecake and Ina Garten's Blueberry Crumb Cake.