National Library Week Day 5 with Sprinkles' Strawberry Cupcakes, Cinnamon Blueberry Muffins and Hello Kitty Giveaway

Whew! It's the last day of National Library Week!

I made Sprinkles' Strawberry Cupcakes with a strawberry cream cheese frosting. I missed the farmer's market and used frozen strawberries to make the puree. I think fresh would have given more of a strawberry punch.

I didn't make the Sprinkles' frosting on Martha's website because I wanted to incorporate cream cheese. The frosting was 1 block cream cheese (8 ounces), 1/2 stick butter, 3 cups powdered sugar, 3 T strawberry puree.

I also made some Cinnamon Blueberry Muffins (recipe from July 2006/Gourmet on Epicurious). See those brown cupcake holders? Well, you can win a package of them that I picked up at Surfas. How many in that package? 600. Yes, six-hundred. That's a zillion of those little packs you get from the grocery store. If you should win, I hope you either make a ton of cupcakes and muffins or share with others!

Some people have asked if I'm eating all these baked goods myself...oh no! Reason #100293 why the library is a great place...it has lots of hungry co-workers who eat lots of desserts! And yes, this does generate a bunch of goodwill at work. ;)

Today's library thing...programs! Do you like knitting? watching movies? local history? genealogy? selling everything you own on eBay? Perhaps your library has a program about your favorite hobby or interest. Libraries today are reaching out to the community with a plethora of programs for kids, teens, adults and seniors. Most people know about storytime for kids, but did you know that a chess club might be meeting at the library as well? Or a seminar on identity theft? Check out your library's website for a listing of programs and opportunities. You might be surprised that it isn't just storytime anymore!

Here is today's language lesson: kawaii (ka - wa- EEEEeeeee) is the Japanese word for cute. Since I'm Japanese American, I'm genetically drawn to all things cute. (So that probably explains my obsession with the miniature treats!)

And what is more kawaii than Hello Kitty?! For today's giveaway, you can win a Hello Kitty stationery pack with 5 different papers and envelopes, candies, pencils and eraser. (Librarian Action Figure and rice (!!) not included)

To celebrate my last day of National Library Week Day 5, I'm giving away the following to one lucky winner:
a. Hello Kitty Assortment of kawaii stationery and candy
b. 600 (six-hundred!!!) brown cupcake holders (2 inch standard)
c. Handmade beaded bookmark (designed by the Food Librarian!)
d. Disneyland book bag

600 pretty brown cupcake holders from Surfas (Librarian Action Figure not included)

This is your last chance to win! To enter the Day 5 Giveaway, simply leave a comment below (one entry per person) and I'll pick the winner from a hat. Deadline: Monday, April 20, 2009 at midnight PDT. If your comment isn't linked to a blog where I can find you, please leave your email or check back on Tuesday, April 21st to see if you won. Shipping to U.S. addresses only.

Don't forget to enter the daily giveaways to celebrate National Library Week!
Day 1 Giveaway for mini-cake pans, Day 2 Giveaway for mini-loaf pans, Day 3 Giveaway for Trader Joe's Favorites, and Day 4 Giveaway for mini-tart pans. Deadline for all giveaways is Monday, April 20, 2009!

Thank you for visiting my little blog and celebrating National Library Week with me!!! I really enjoyed hearing your library stories - Jen F. cracked me up with: We love ours not only for my crazy book habit, but also for the DVDs for my son--it's a great way to keep up with his ever-changing interests, and as a bonus, we get to get rid of the really annoying DVDs after a week!

Special thanks to my co-workers who loaned me their Librarian Action Figure (Patty, Susan, Andrea, Karen, Jessica and Sue), and my friends who helped make the bookmarks (Agnes, Julie and Sumi)!

Whew. I'm exhausted. Good thing this is only once a year!

What are you still doing here? Get out there and visit your library! :) - mary the food librarian

National Library Week Day 4 with Paula Deen's Chocolate Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Whoo Hoo! It's Day 4 of National Library Week!

I was supposed to make mini-tarts to go with the giveaway (oh, they were going to be so cute), but life got the better of me so you'll have to come back for that one. Instead, I present you with Paula Deen's Chocolate Cream Cheese Pound Cake that I made this morning. (Yes, shocking, I made another Bundt cake!) This is from her book The Lady & Sons Just Desserts: More Than 120 Sweet Temptations from Savannah's Favorite Restaurant (with her very polite and sweet sons on the cover).

As with all things Paula Deen, I will give you the list of ingredients in the cake, but not the amounts. Really, it is for your protection! :) It has butter, cream cheese, sugar, eggs, vanilla, cake flour, baking powder, and cocoa. I left out the ingredients last night and woke up the morning to mix together - it's a very easy cake.

This cake is REALLY tall. The batter almost overflowed. You need at least a 12 cup bundt pan...next time I might make a bundt and some mini bundts as well. You can find the full recipe here.


We are almost done with National Library Week! Each day, I'm mentioning a library thing. Today, it's magazines! I love me the magazine. They are like adult picture books - short, full of photos and quick to read. The best thing about my quarterly trips to the dentist is catching up on which celebrities are breaking up, what they are wearing, and if they are eating in 2009. I subscribe to Newsweek at home so I look smart to my postal carrier, but I devour People! :) I get a lot of baking ideas from the magazines at the library. So, don't forget to visit your library, take a seat, and get lost in the world of food, sports, politics, world news, and, um, celebrity trash.

The Librarian Action Figure modeling cute mini-tart pans. Unfortunately, the store doesn't carry this pack anymore so if you win, you'll get the tart shells below...

To celebrate Day 4 of National Library Week, I'm giving away the following to one lucky winner:
a. 1 dozen (12) mini tart shells (the ones on the green photo below)
b. Handmade beaded bookmark (designed by my friend Agnes!)

c. Disneyland book bag (uber environmental and light)

To enter the Day 4 Giveaway, simply leave a comment below (one entry per person) and I'll pick the winner from a hat. Deadline: Monday, April 20, 2009 at midnight PDT. If your comment isn't linked to a blog where I can find you, please leave your email or check back on Tuesday, April 21st to see if you won. Shipping to U.S. addresses only.

Thanks for all your comments, especially about your local library! I hope you visit, support and check things out of your library!

Don't forget to enter the daily giveaways to celebrate National Library Week!
Day 1 Giveaway for mini-cake pans, Day 2 Giveaway for mini-loaf pans, and Day 3 Giveaway for Trader Joe's Favorites. Deadline is also Monday, April 20, 2009!

Coming up tomorrow...two words: Hello Kitty.

National Library Week Day 3 with Barefoot Contessa's Strawberry Country Cake

Barefoot Contessa's (California) Strawberry Country Cake

Raindrops on roses.
Brown paper bags tied up with string.
Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes.

Favorite Things. Rock.

It's Day 3 of my week long celebration of National Library Week! Today, it's all about favorite things!

Up first, California Strawberries! They are delicious, delicious, delicious and the first sign of the soon-to-come onslaught of stone fruits and other lovely summer delights! Strawberries have always been my favorite!

This is the Barefoot Contessa's Strawberry Country Cake. It's Cake (my favorite). It's Strawberries (oh yes). It's Whipped Cream (come on, who doesn't love fresh whipped cream!?!)

You can find the recipe here on the FoodNetwork website. It makes two cakes and you freeze one for later in the summer!

One of my favorite shows is America's Best Dance Crew on MTV! Congrats Los Angeles Quest Crew! Not that I'm a hip hop dancer (remember, I have so little rhythm I can't do the rhythm method), I found myself txting in votes along with 14-year old kid next door. Sigh. One day I'll act my age.

People, check out that Head Spin!! These b-girl librarians are krumping, popping, locking, and gliding to a mix of Lady Gaga and Ne-Yo (you just can't see it in this photo :) Please note that the Librarian Action Figure don't do much action. Nothing moves on her except her arms...in order to do a Shushing motion!


It's National Library Week! All this week, I'm highlighting a library thing. Today, it's movies and music. I know some adults haven't been to their library since they were kids and think libraries only have books...but many libraries have current DVDs and music CDs in their collections. Sometimes you might have to wait a bit if there is a queue, but the check outs are often free or less than a rental store. In our current economic situation, libraries may be able to entertain you with movies, books, and music!

To celebrate Day 3 of National Library Week, I'm giving away the following to one lucky winner:

a. The Food Librarian's Favorite Things from Trader Joe's
b. Handmade beaded bookmark (designed by my friend Julie!)
c. Disneyland book bag (carry all your library books, DVDs and CDs in this cool bag)
d. $10 Starbucks gift card...okay, is this a bit of regifting or "sharing"? Ever 56 days or so, I donate a pint of blood at my local hospital and receive a Thank You $5 Starbucks giftcard. I don't drink coffee and the Starbucks near my work has closed...so I don't go often. I know Starbucks is a "favorite thing" of many people out there so I thought I would pass these along!

This is a crazy assortment of MY favorite Trader Joe's stuff. I love the whole store and unfortunately can't send you the refrigerated Mocha yogurt, goat cheese, thin spinach pizza, mochi ice cream and so much more. Included: Mini milk chocolate peanut butter cups (addicting), Japanese ginger cookies (soooo yummy), my favorite pretzel sticks, lemon curd (easier than making it from scratch and you can't see how many yolks you are eating), dark chocolate bars, chile spiced dried mango, tomato and roasted red pepper soup (I can live on this), and my new (childhood memory) favorite: Trader Joe's O's. (Librarian Action Figure not included)

To enter the Day 3 Giveaway, simply leave a comment below (one entry per person) and I'll pick the winner from a hat. Deadline: Monday, April 20, 2009 at midnight PDT. If your comment isn't linked to a blog where I can find you, please leave your email or check back on Tuesday, April 21st to see if you won. Shipping to U.S. addresses only.

Enter the Day 1 Giveaway for mini-cake pans and Day 2 Giveaway for mini-loaf pans, bookmark and bag. Deadline is also Monday, April 20, 2009! Coming up tomorrow...more miniature stuff giveaways!

National Library Week Day 2 with Chocolate Amaretti Torte and Banana Cinnamon Chip Cake

Tuesdays with Dorie Baking Group - Chocolate Amaretti Torte
&
Day 2 of The Food Librarian's Celebration of National Library Week

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Holly of Phe/MOM/enon picked 15 Minute Magic: Chocolate Amaretti Torte, page 276 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

I used some great Italian cookies picked up at Surfas to make this nutty, big, pretty "brownie" with lots of almond flavor. It all comes together in the food processor while your oven preheats.

Thanks Holly for picking a great recipe! Check out Holly's fantastic blog, Phe/MOM/enon for the recipe. See other creations made by the hundreds of other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers!

Did you know it's National Library Week? All this week, I'm highlighting a library thing. Today, it's Downloadable Media. First, do you like audiobooks? Want to read and bake at the same time?! (Yes, listening to audiobooks is reading in my book). Well, audiobooks are the answer! Your public library might have audiobooks on CD or cassette...and the newest form is downloadable media. That's right, download audiobooks straight to your computer, and transfer them to an iPod or MP3 player. It's easy, free, and have no overdue fines because they just stop playing after the check out period. Two popular services include OverDrive and NetLibrary. Search the OverDrive's website to see if your library offers this fantastic service!


To celebrate Day 2 of National Library Week, I'm giving away the following to one lucky winner:
a. Paper mini-loaf pans (package of 50)
b. Handmade beaded bookmark (designed by my friend Sumi!)
c. Disneyland book bag

Aren't these 4" x 2" paper loaf pans so adorable? You can make bite-size carrot, zucchini and a host of other breads - perfect for the holidays or a lovely hostess gift. Win a pack of 50 of these oven safe, paper mini-loaf containers (purchased at Surfas - if you come to Los Angeles, visit Surfas and Disneyland! :)

I made the Banana Cinnamon Chip Cake from Two Peas and Their Pod. Maria was recently on TV in Utah demonstrating the yumminess of this cake - watch it here! She's fantastic and the next Martha! And this cake has no oil or butter, and yet it is moist! Standing with the cake is the Librarian Action Figure. Read more about her on yesterday's post. (Southern Cal friends, I finally found Cinnamon Chips! I went to a big, nice Albertsons with a large baking aisle. They say you can make special requests at other Albertsons so you might want to give it a try!)

To enter the Day 2 Giveaway, simply leave a comment below (one entry per person) and I'll pick the winner from a hat. Deadline: Monday, April 20, 2009 at midnight PDT. If your comment isn't linked to a blog where I can find you, please leave your email or check back on Tuesday, April 21st to see if you won. Shipping to U.S. addresses only (sorry, I'm buying all this stuff myself and international postage is too expensive).

Also, check out yesterday's post to enter Day 1 Giveaway for mini-cake pans (yes, I DO have an unnatural obsession with mini stuff...but I'll go to therapy later), bookmark and bag. Deadline is also Monday, April 20, 2009! Thanks for visiting!

National Library Week Begins! Day 1 with Double-Ginger Sour Cream and Bundt Cake

Double-Ginger Sour Cream Bundt Cake...with the Librarian Action Figure!

Let's celebrate National Library Week with some food, library facts, and giveaways!

The "Food" in the Food Librarian today is the Double-Ginger Sour Cream and Bundt Cake with Ginger-Infused Strawberries that appeared in the April 2009 issue of Bon Appétit. Be sure to visit your library to read a bunch of magazines - free!

This recipe uses 1 cup of crystallized ginger - serious yummy! Sugar in the Raw coats the pan...but most of my sugar baked into the cake (bummer). Look at Bon Appetit's photo - it is quite pretty and shiny.

Here's the recipe. The cake is quite delightful and rich. It gingerific with three types of ginger: ground, crystallized and fresh!

The "Librarian" in the Food Librarian is the Librarian Action Figure! [I'll wait while you giggle]. It's made by the same company that presents us with the Lunch Lady, Jesus and Deluxe Jesus action figures. She's modeled after librarian Nancy Pearl who you may have heard on NPR dispensing reading recommendations. There is a button that lifts her arm in a "Shushing" motion...oh, the stereotype! (But I doubt there are many other occupations that have their own action figure...so I'm not complaining!)

Each day this week, I'll have a giveaway! I want to celebrate libraries and thank the readers of my little blog.

Day 1 Giveaway:
One lucky winner will receive:
a. Cool 3-tier mini-cake set with tray. This is a 4", 3", and 2" pan made by Southern California family-owned company, Parrish/Magic Line (purchased at Surfas)
b. Beaded Bookmark - Mark your favorite cookbook or novel with this bookmark handmade by the Food Librarian and friends!
c. Book bag - Stroll into your library with this super light bag from the happiest place on Earth, Disneyland! The library is very environmental because it's the ultimate reuse center!

Just leave a comment below (one entry per person) and I'll pick the winner from a hat. Deadline for all the giveaways this week: Monday, April 20, 2009 at midnight PDT. If your comment isn't linked to a blog where I can find you, please leave your email or check back on Tuesday, April 21st to see if you won. Shipping to U.S. addresses only (sorry, I'm buying all this stuff myself and international postage is too expensive).

Librarian Action Figure is not included. I borrowed all these from my co-workers! ;)

To enter the drawing, leave a comment. You don't have to write anything special...but if you want to tell me about your library or a library story, that would be fantastic! Don't forget to visit and support your local library! See you tomorrow from some Tuesdays with Dorie yum and more giveaways! thanks for coming by - mary the food librarian

Easter Jello

Easter Jello!

Easy Peasy Easter Treat from 3 ingredients and a level refrigerator

My new oven is arriving today! Yippee!

Here is an easy no-bake Easter treat:

1. Jello.
2. Sweetened Condensed Milk.
3. Knox Gelatin.

For each layer:
3 ounces of Jello. (3 oz is a small 4-serving box. Blue and Purple flavors come in larger 6 oz. boxes - I use my scale and weigh out 3 oz or just measure half the package.

1 full or 1/2 package of Knox gelatin. For mine, I used 1 package. Next time, I would decrease this to 1/2 a package. My jello was kinda stiff. It ain't going anywhere. So, it's up to you - I was making up this recipe as I went along.

1 cup boiling water

Mix until totally dissolved.

In a separate glass measuring cup (or bowl), empty 1 can of sweetened condensed milk (don't use evaporated milk, 1 can is about 1 cup of milk). Add enough boiling water to make 2 cups of liquid.

Add 1/2 cup of the milky mixture to the dissolved colored jello.

Pour into pan and let set for about 30 minutes (depending on how much gelatin you use and if you let the mixture cool a bit before pouring). Make sure your refrigerator is level! :)

Continue for other colors. You can make up to 4 layers with the 2 cups of milky mixture.

I used this garnishing tool to make the crinkly cuts. Cute, huh? Picked it up cheap at my local restaurant supply place.

I used blue, purple and green Jello flavors (I think that translates into blueberry, grape and lime, but they all taste the same to me!) I was going to add pink or yellow, but it got too tall and I was tired. :)

Happy Easter to you and your family!

Next week, I hope to make a kosher/vegetarian gelatin with agar agar. Agar Agar is made from seaweed and used in a lot of Asian gelatin desserts (in Japanese cooking, it is called Kanten). Don't know if it'll be Kosher for Passover, but it won't have animal products...unless I make bacon jello (just kidding)! Also, next week is National Library Week so come on back for giveaways and all things library!

Real Housewives of Orange County Pie for You Want Pies with That?

Real Housewives of Orange County Orange Jello Pie

First, let's all have a moment of silence for my oven. It finally died. Unfortunately, it died with a half baked Hummingbird cake inside it that I needed to bring to work. [You know those meltdowns that happen on reality TV competition shows (a la Project Runway) when the contestants are completely sleep-deprived and just crazy? Well, that happened.] I ended up buying some cakes instead. Sigh.

So, I bought a new range/oven today...it should be delivered on Friday. Very plain Maytag. But it has a window in the door so I'll be sitting in front of it for hours I'm sure.

Okay...to the pie! For this month's You Want Pies with That? challenge, the theme is: Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous Pie. If I had an oven, I was going to go for the Halle raspBerry Pie, but since I had to go with no bake...I went fake bake (with heavy emphasis on the FAKE)!

Presenting the Real Housewives of Orange County Orange Jello Pie. It's fake pie for all those fake boobs! (although the new one with the sick boyfriend 3x her age says hers are real)

The fake bake ingredients:

Keebler graham cracker crust.
Store brand gelatin box of lemon stuff.
"Whipped topping" (store brand Cool Whip stuff) - yes, full of oil and other chemicals.
Artificially flavored Orange gelatin cut into little squares.

I think Michael Pollan would agree that this is totally fake food! And it is perfect for the all the girls with their multiple collagen, botox and silicone injections!

By the way, I may mock but I can't turn away! I promised my friend's daughter that when she goes off to college, we are going to skype about it all the time (if I can figure out how to skype...) So I give you a reality TV salute to the Lifestyles of the Rich and Semi-Famous Housewives of the OC!

*** Edited to Add: OH MY GOSH! I brought this into work and my co-worker asked me about the orange circle on top. I said, "Yeah, It's an Orange for Orange County!" (I'm so clever, I think). But then she said it looked like a nipple!!!! Oh my gosh! That was NOT the intention at all! I'm horrified and feel like Elaine on that Seinfeld episode. So, take your mind out of the gutter, it's an orange piece of jello meant to represent the Orange in Orange County! ***

Check out the other creative pies from the You Want Pies with That? crew! And join in the fun!

Banana Cream Pie (Tuesdays with Dorie)

Banana Cream "Pie"

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Oh. Sorry.
That was my head hitting the keyboard as I struggle to stay awake. It is 8:15 pm.

I'm so tired today. I yawned so much at work my co-workers are starting to think my life isn't as boring as it really is. I don't know what it is, but I'm going to go to bed in a few minutes.

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Amy of Sing for Your Supper chose Banana Creme Pie, page 342 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours. I made 1/4 of the recipe and skipped the pie crust. Instead, I used these lovely ginger Japanese cookies and some thin ginger cookies from Trader Joe's (watch the blog next week for giveaways that include these cookies!)

My pastry cream was a little too cooked and ended up a little "tough." Ah, I need to practice more on the puddings, custards and creams.

Be sure to check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers!

And check back next week! It'll be National Library Week and I'm celebrating with giveaways all week long! :)

Cinnamon Chocolate Bundt Cake

Cinnamon Chocolate Bundt Cake

Spring.

One of our two seasons here in Southern California (the other, of course, is summer).

And what comes with Spring? Besides in influx of pollen that can destroy your quality of life (oh, I digress and yet would like to take this opportunity to say the Neti-Pot isn't just an Oprah craze...it is a miracle worker!)…Okay, back to Spring. What's else in the in air? It's love. Yes, love is all a'swirling.

Or at least in my oven.

Recently, I was looking at Amy’s Sing for your Supper blog and saw her beautiful Chocolate Cinnamon Bundt cake . She has a fancy new Bundt pan. Go look at her cake. Go ahead. I’ll wait for you.

Cute, huh?

It was love at first sight and bite!

And the love continues. I have made this cake four times in one week (to four different groups of people)! Yes, I'm so in love.

This recipe is so awesome simple! Don’t have to get anything to room temp and you don’t need a KitchenAid mixer. The secret is bringing 1 c water, ½ c oil, 1 stick butter and ¼ c + 1T (or 5 T) cocoa powder to a boil and then adding it to a 2 c flour, 2 c sugar and ½ t salt mixture. Add in ½ c buttermilk and 1 t baking soda. Mix 2 eggs, 1 ½ t cinnamon and 1 t vanilla in a small bowl and combine with batter. That's it!! Bake in a Bundt at 375 for 30-35 minutes (the original recipe says 25 minutes but mine has been raw at this point). Cool in the pan (I took depanned mine after about 20 minutes with no problems).

Oh geez, I just typed the recipe from memory. I’m seriously head-over-heels in love.

One time, I added 1 t instant espresso powder to the boiled mixture and it was good, but it muted the cinnamon flavor. Ina Garten just did a Barefoot Contessa show where the secret ingredient in her chocolate recipe was coffee…and I agree with her…but not in this one so I'm sticking with the original. Also, I've made it with both Dutch-processed and regular Hershey's cocoa powder - and it was fab both times. I'm telling you - this cake rocks.

Do your friends, family and co-workers a favor...make this cake!
You'll fall in love this Spring too!

Recipe:
Amy’s Sing for your Supper
Play-by-Play photos on Vintage Victuals (who adapted the recipe from the recipe from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)