garlic heart

The Prodigal Tumblr

I’ve been telling myself for a while now that I’m going to start posting again, but now I’m really going to start posting again.  It feels timely.  I’m starting my program at the French Pastry School this week and I want to share that.  Plus I’m feeling more and more settled in Chicago…I can’t believe it’ll be two months tomorrow.  This means a lot of home cooking has been happening these days.  The weather’s been pretty crazy so it’s been nice cozying up inside with tasty things.  A picture for demonstration:

One thing I revisited recently is yema candy.  It’s a Filipino candy with Spanish origins and it offers a creamy, unique texture and taste.  Also its very easy to make.  The recipe I use comes from the SprinkleBakes cookbook, I’ve made a few minor adjustments to try out different flavor profiles.  This past incarnation was lemon almond yemas.

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Chicago Treats

A couple weekends ago I was a very lucky lady and spent some time in Chicago with some dear friends.  I ate so much delicious food, saw so many shops that were made especially for me, visited an amazing school, and wandered the streets of a city that I may call home sometime in the next few years.  Exciting times!  The Bean!

I stayed with Alexis and Cory in Andersonville, the Swedish neighborhood, loved it.  And on my last day in town the lovely Alexis got me these rad tart forms from the local Swedish Historical Museum.  For their maiden voyage I made chocolate marzipan tarts, a slightly tweaked version of a recipe from the little book that was included with the forms.  I added chocolate, I’m sure there are no objections dear readers.

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Grape City, USA

Just a day or two before the rain started last week I was walking the pup with my dad and we heard a voice coming from a little vineyard on top of a neighbor’s garage asking if we wanted any grapes.  This type of interaction is one of bonuses of my Portland neighborhood.  Every friendly neighbor is growing or brewing somethin’.  Also: these concord grapes were amazing, they smelled like jelly and were just as sweet.  What followed was bacchic grape feasting, juicing, and a unique cake.  Rosemary + Semolina + Grapes = Delicious.

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Here’s that Irish Bakery I was talking about!

Boxty

Over the summer I went to Ireland for the first time with my family.  It’s a beautiful country, and an added bonus was the delicious food.  I ate so much bread.  Malted wheat, soda bread, brown treacle bread, wheat muffins, currant scones, etc. etc.  We made a stop at a bakery in a small village and my sis and I met the kindest baker.  We talked shop for a bit, he told me about flours he’d been experimenting with like amaranth and kamut, continued on to the preservative effects of using honey and treacle, and then generously loaded us up with free scones to go along with our huge slice of currant loaf.  A few cities on I spotted a small cookbook called the Best of Irish Home Baking and decided it was a necessary investment.  Since I’ve been back I’ve made wheat soda bread but have yet to delve into the other recipes until yesterday when I made boxty.

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Hearty Vegan Banana Bread

One of my regular blog stops is Smitten Kitchen.  I’ve never had a bad experience with a recipe and the pictures make you want to get in the kitchen.  They’re inspirational.  Recently Deb was called upon to make a healthier version of banana bread, something that could actually be consumed as breakfast and not make you feel like you’re just consuming a cake in disguise.  One addition that I had never seen before was millet seed to give the bread some crackle.  I had some bananas in the freezer and my sister’s been real busy with school and I wanted her to have snacks.  So I decided to take the recipe a bit further and make it vegan for her, and thus even MORE nutritious in this case.  Also because vegan things are good.  Additionally I adjusted the recipeand added shredded coconut and coriander to compliment the coconut oil that the recipe already called for.

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Tomatoes and Thunder Cake

I feel like garlic heart has turned into “what to do with things you have too much of because they’re so abundant and delicious right now”.  I’m not complaining, necessity is the mother of delicious invention.  In my neighborhood there are many admirable backyard gardens, some of which belong to friends of the family, thus we have lots of plump, sweet tomatoes.

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Shrub aka Drinkin Vinegar

The first thing I did when I got to Portland last month was eat lunch at Pok Pok.  Like immediately, that’s what we did.  Pulled up in the U-haul and then walked down Division.  Claire and I got those delicious spicy wings, a noodle salad, some tuna, and I have to thank her very much for introducing me to drinking vinegar.  It’s so refreshing and crisp.  A little sweet with a tangy, vinegary aftertaste.

A couple days later I did a little research and found that it’s traditionally called shrub, which sounded even more homey thus effectively increasing my enthusiasm.  One of the many wonderful things about shrub syrup is that it is a great way of preserving those fruits of the season that have seen better days.  Or all the extra stuff that you can’t eat quickly enough and have run out of ideas on what to do with.  The proportions are 1:1:1, fruit, sugar, and vinegar. I decided to make ginger peach and decided to use apple cider vinegar.  Most sites recommended apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar.  I wanted it a little less sweet so I only used 2/3 cup of sugar.  You can adjust your proportions to taste.

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Cupcakes: A Reflective Post

During my time in Seattle some of my favorite things that I’ve baked came from requests made by friends.  These were usually prompted by me around birthdays and such.  Sometimes they’d be classic dishes, like tiramisu or croissants, made vegan, or just flavors that I used to tweak basic cupcake recipes.  So upon moving to Portland I thought this would be a good time to compile some birthday cupcake pictures from my time in Seattle, and mention a few that were eaten too quickly for pictures.

Rose cupcakes, made with Rooh Afza, with nectarine & honey cream cheese frosting.

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I was down in Portland this weekend and made this cake for my seester’s Birthday.  It was beautiful and decadent and chocolatey delicious and in our haste to consume it we did not take any pictures.  I think I will be making it again soon though, maybe replacing the water with tea?  We shall see…also I will exercise more patience next time when it comes to pictures.  I highly recommend making this.