How I spent my summer vacation (eating)

So I more or less took the summer off from blogging, even though I hadn't intended to do so at first. But I'm back, or so I'd like to think, and am going to start with a recap of the summer. (It might take a couple of weeks...I have a lot of photos to share, and as usual, I can't narrow them down as much as I want to.)

While it rained a lot this summer, mostly on weekends, I did manage to fit in some fun excursions to both new spots and old favorites--Los Angeles, Provincetown, Beacon, Storm King Arts Center, Red Hook, Saugerties, and so on.

But I'm going to start with what I ate. Or at least the photographs of food that I found on my computer, taken with intentions of posting here but never followed through on.

Garlic scapes

We used them to make a pesto,

some of which ended up on this pizza (under the cheese, so you can't really see it). Amazingly, these photos were taken months ago but I still have some pesto in the freezer, which I plan to finish this week.

Tomatillos and a couple of jalapenos, about to be roasted

and turned into salsa.

Mushroom empanadas before,

and after.

Pasta with red chard (I love how it turns the sauce pink).

A pretty salad, made with radishes and lettuce (and maybe a couple of other items)

Strawberry shortcake

I of course ate a lot of other great stuff this summer (both home-cooked and in restaurants) but for whatever reason this is what I photographed.

Flakiest biscuit, indeed.

I've tried this recipe for biscuits several times and have not been disappointed. Its proclamation of "flakiest biscuit" is pretty accurate. I may have overbaked this particular batch (the timer went off, I said to myself, as soon as I'm done scrubbing this dish I'll take them out of the oven, and the next thing I knew, many minutes had passed) but they're still pretty awesome. They work well for breakfast with jam, or with a more savory meal. I think the key is the cream of tartar and the dough-folding technique.

A visit from the Easter puppy

My mom made this cake. It's supposed to be a lamb but I thought it looked more like a puppy. So much so that it was kind of disturbing when she started cutting it up. Eventually it fell over without a body to support it and there was just a puppy head laying on the platter staring up at us as we ate.

Chocolate pudding pie

Last weekend I decided to try out this recipe for Mexican chocolate pudding pie. It's pretty much a combination of a lot of good things.

I decided to forgo the instant pudding, and instead used a recipe for chocolate pudding from this cookbook zine. The process is insanely easy.

The moment when it thickens up into pudding really kind of feels like magic. It happens very quickly--one second you're starting to doubt if it's actually going to work, and the next, pudding!

I also decided to make my own graham cracker crust rather than buying something pre-made, by smashing some graham crackers (always fun), combining the crumbs with melted butter, and pressing it into a pie plate (and baking it for a short time). That's really precise, I know. Also, I need to accept that I am not much of a food stylist. The plastic bag of chocolate chips and crumbs on the table are not really adding to the ambiance.

I forgot to take a photo of the finished pie until a few days later. It was pretty good. Although at the same time, I think I'd be just as happy with chocolate pudding alone.

Valentine's Day gifts and treats

Dave and I celebrated a pretty laid-back Valentine's Day. No big grandiose plans, just hanging out watching No Reservations, eating sweet potato enchiladas, and exchanging a few gifts.

Dave made me this wrestling-themed valentine--oddly enough, I had been attempting to purchase these cards for him but couldn't find them at my local supplier of paper goods. I instead looked to an airmail envelope for inspiration,

including a silly, telegram-style message inside. (I somehow forgot to add spaces while using the rubber stamps.)

I received some chocolates from the Lil' Chocolate Shoppe in Pleasantville, NY.

I finally attempted to make this paper goldfish mobile for Dave (I had bought the floral wire several years ago but never got around to doing anything with it). After a bit of a false start (I do not recommend using thin thread, as it tangles like nobody's business) it was looking pretty great hanging from the light fixture in our bedroom.

Also very exciting was this incredible book that Dave gave me (somebody's been paying attention!). This year's Valentine' Day has really had a wrestling theme going on.

You haven't wrestled till you wrestle the "Cleveland Cruncher."

I made these oatmeal coconut pecan squares as a Valentine's Day treat (to be accompanied with the above chocolates).

Christmas catch-up

I wanted to share a few more images from my Christmas, even though it's now post-Christmas (I'm not so good at the whole timeliness thing).

Brown paper, rubber stamps, and baker's twine=my favorite wrapping method.

I tried out incorporating buttons into one of the gifts after reading this post. It's cute, although I think I'd want to go with a little less next time.

I also made rubber stamped gift tags for everyone.

I embroidered an ornament for my ornament-obsessed mom (note that I did glue the extra fabric to the back--this photo is in an unfinished state). It was looking really good until I got to the word "Greetings." Not sure what happened there.

I usually try to bake a few varieties of cookies around this time of year, although I ended up doing less than I had planned. But these pfeffernusse cookies (recipe here) were so good that any other cookie might have seemed inferior.

Finally, the New York Times sent these cookies to my boss, and I couldn't resist including a photo here. It's an Oreo covered in icing and sprinkles. And of course stamped with the NYT logo.

Sweet potato biscuits

Last week I made these sweet potato biscuits, and they were as delicious as they sound.

They weren't quite as fluffy as I was expecting, though they were nice and flaky. I don't know whether the mashed sweet potato made it denser, or if it was something I did. Either way they were pretty tasty. I'm going to make them again this week—perfect for Thanksgiving.

The recipe can be found here.

P.S. I just made them again last night. I tried making the biscuits thicker from the outset and that seemed to do the trick. They were still a bit dense but not as flat. Either way they were a definite success.

Cinnamon chip muffins

A few weeks ago I wandered into a grocery store I'd never been in before and discovered that they sold the elusive Hersheys cinnamon chips. So despite the fact that I had no real use for them I decided to buy them, because who knows when I'll have the opportunity to do so again. I found this recipe for cinnamon chip muffins on Cookie Madness (good for more than just cookies, apparently!) and doubled it. Along the way I noticed the lovely way the light was hitting the kitchen counter and couldn't help but photograph the steps.

Ingredients:
1 cup boiling water
2/3 cup rolled oats
4 tablespoons butter, cut up
1-1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup cinnamon chips

In a medium sized mixing bowl, thoroughly mix flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

In another mixing bowl combine boiling water, oatmeal, and butter. Let sit for 20 minutes.

With a spoon, beat the eggs and vanilla into the oatmeal mixture.

Stir oatmeal mixture into dry ingredients until mixed.

Stir in cinnamon chips.

Place paper liners into muffin pan (wasteful, maybe, but it beats cleaning the pan--one of these days I'm going to buy some from Bake It Pretty) and spoon the batter into the cups. Bake 18-20 minutes in 400 degree oven.

Let cool slightly and transfer to wire rack.

Cupcake madness

For awhile I was making lots of cookies, but I seem to have now moved onto cupcakes. After seeing this recipe for carrot cupcakes with maple cream cheese frosting on Design Sponge, I decided I needed to try it.

I'm not all that skilled with the icing, but I think they don't look half bad. More importantly, they were delicious. I brought most of them to my friend's house for her birthday, hence the white box they are inside, which I tied with red and white baker's twine to look festive.

So, I of course had the dilemma of needing to use up more eggs, so I combed the blogs for another recipe that caught my eye, and saw this one for black and white cupcakes (modeled after the famous black and white cookie).

These were even trickier to ice, what with the two different kinds of icing covering one half of the tops. It was made all that much harder by the fact that the white icing was really runny, even after sitting for awhile to thicken (or so the recipe says). I don't know if I missed something in the translation or if the icing is naturally that runny, but it was dripping down the sides like crazy, which made for some messy-looking cupcakes. No matter, though, they are quite tasty.

Still one egg left--maybe back to cookies, which happily do not require icing.

Peanut butter filled chocolate cookies

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For tonight's final episode of Lost season 5 I made these peanut butter-filled cookies. Kind of like a cookie version of the peanut butter cups, you might say. I got the recipe from my favorite, Cookie Madness, though I found that it yielded a little more than 18 cookies (so I ended up running out of peanut butter balls and made a few plain chocolate cookies--no complaints, really, but just sayin) and I also found that if you flattened the balls slightly they made for more of a cookie shape. But maybe you're just supposed to know to do that anyway.

Sugar Sweet Sunshine

Yesterday I happened to be in the neighborhood so I stopped by one of my favorite cupcakeries, Sugar Sweet Sunshine on Rivington Street. Their chocolate almond buttercream frosting is divine.

I got the "sassy red velvet" while Dave picked out the "black and white...just right" (they have some silly names for their cupcakes--I always have a hard time ordering the "ooey gooey"). Anyway, they looked so cute that I couldn't resist taking a photo before devouring them. I love the little hearts on top of the red velvet.

A well stocked kitchen

For me, this weekend has so far been all about two things: being outside and enjoying this great weather, and buying new/upgraded items for my kitchen. Yesterday I took a walk to Crate and Barrel on my lunch break with my co-worker and bought a few things, and today while strolling through the town of Katonah after checking out a Lichtenstein exhibit at the Katonah Museum of Art, we happened upon an 85-year old department store that had a great kitchen supply section.

Above is a sampling of some of the items I am most excited about. Not pictured are a new and improved muffin pan, square baking pan, grapefruit spoons (we've been eating a lot of grapefruit lately and these serrated spoons will make things much easier), and a new vegetable peeler. Not that they're not also exciting. But...

The wire rack is going to be quite useful for properly cooling various baked goods. According to the girl who worked at the department store, Chicago Bakeware is excellent. (Maybe it was the braces, but this girl looked about 14. I guess teenagers from Katonah, which is kind of a bourgie town, enjoy the finer things in life. Like comparing bakeware.)


More importantly...I didn't really need another slatted spoon, but this has to be the greatest one I have ever seen. It makes me laugh every time I look at it. And the teaspoon measurers will be quite useful for future baking projects.

We'd been buying the Costco-brand salt and pepper mills, but you can't refill them and it always seems like such a waste to throw them away. So buying this one seems much more economically and environmentally sound.


Plus, it's really fun to use--if you twist the top left you get salt, and right you get pepper. (Between this and the spoon, I could be amused all day. I'm pretty easily amused.)


Let's get another look at that spoon.