Hiatus

The blogging thing has felt like more of a chore to me than anything else lately. So I think I'm gonna give it a break. I may pick it up again, I may post recipes or book reviews here and there, but for now, don't count on new posts!

If you're looking for other food blogs to read, I really enjoy Orangette, The Wednesday Chef, and Everybody Likes Sandwiches.

Or if you're looking for book reviews, I recommend Goodreads, it's really easy to create a profile and then review/read other reviews of books.

My latest book recommend, by the way, is A Homemade Life, by Molly Wizenberg, the genius behind the aforementioned Orangette. A Homemade Life is basically a collection of essays, similar to her blogposts, that chronicle Molly's journey through childhood, adolescence, the death of her father, and the meeting and marrying of her husband. Food has always been integral in her life (she even met her husband through her blog!) and so each chapter involves a description of foods that she remembers being enjoyed at various points of her life. At the end of each chapter is a recipe--some of which sound completely delicious! I highly recommend the book, and some of the recipes! Her lemon yogurt cake has become a staple of mine.

Good reading and eating!

Taco Pizza!

As you've probably noticed, pizza is my favorite food. But running a close second (or third, if you count doughnuts as a food) is tacos. Mmmm....tacos....

So tonight I decided to combine the two to make Taco Pizza! Ok, really, it was kind of like a Mexican Pizza from Taco Bell, but much tastier. And probably much healthier now that I think about it. Basically this was a result of my having leftover taco meat and leftover lavash bread on hand. But it worked really well, and it was a really quick dinner. So give it a shot!

Taco Pizza

2 lavash flatbreads (mine were about 10 x 7 inches)

1/2 lb lean ground beef

1/4 cup diced onion

1/2 cup diced bell peppers

2 teaspoons garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin

salt to taste

1 cup shredded cheddar or jack cheese (I used 2% fat and it worked really well)

1 cup fat free refried beans

1/4 cup salsa

2 tablespoons Catalina dressing (or taco sauce if you want to go spicier)

Place the lavash on a large cookie sheet and bake for about 5 minutes at 350 degrees, or until lightly crispy.

I used leftover taco meat to make these a speedy meal, but if you're starting from scratch cook the bell peppers, onion, and beef together in a medium skillet until the beef is no longer pink and the veggies are slightly soft. Season the beef/veggie mixture with the garlic, cumin, and salt.

Meanwhile microwave the refried beans in a small bowl for about 30 seconds until they're warm. Stir in the salsa and dressing/sauce to thin the beans out for a more "sauce-like" consistency. Spread the bean/salsa mixture over the lavash, evenly covering them in a thin layer. Sprinkle each pizza with 1/4 cup of cheese. Then divide the meat and veggies evenly between the two pizzas. Finish by sprinkling the top of each pizza with another 1/4 cup of cheese.

Bake the pizzas at 350 degrees for about 7-8 minutes, or just until the cheese starts bubbling. Cut into squares, and enjoy! Serves two...or maybe four people with small appetites!

Confessions of a TV Addict

I have a confession to make. I haven't read in almost 2 weeks. I made 3 birthday cakes--but forgot to take pictures of any of them.

They were delicious though: one cherry garcia chocolate cake (mentioned in the last post), one blackberry-lemon yogurt cake, and one vanilla pound cake with chocolate ganache. I'm pretty sure the blackberry-lemon cake was the best, but you'll just have to use your imaginations because I have no pictures to prove their deliciousness. Well, not that pictures can really prove taste anyway, but I feel that pictures help at least.

There is one reason, and only one, for all my distractedness/ lack of reading attention span. It's called Battlestar Galactica. I love love love love love it. I have no qualms with admitting that I am completely addicted. In the last 3 weeks Noel and I have watched more than 30 episodes of it!

In case you haven't ever watched it, the basic plot is this: humans created Cylons (robots) who rebelled against them, and launched a nuclear attack which wiped out all but about 50,000 people. These people are in a fleet of spaceships, attempting to evade the Cylons, under the protection of the Battlestar Galactica.

Oddly enough, when I type it out that way, it looks ridiculous. But I promise that it's not really about the aliens, or the spaceships. It's about the struggles of the humans attempting to survive: their alliances, their problems, their struggles, their attempts to survive. And plus, I'm kind of in love with one of the Viper fighter pilots! So anyway, at some point I may read a book again, or remember to take pictures of something I baked, but in the meantime I still have forty-odd episodes of Battlestar Galactica to enjoy. I'll keep you posted.

Noel's Birthday (again!)

It's Noel's 28th birthday today!

I made him this cake.

And I realized that I blogged about Noel's birthday last year. Which means that I've been doing this blog for more than a year! I obviously failed to take advantage of my opportunity to write a year in review post. Oh well, I think I'll manage just fine with another slice of the cake and another episode of Battlestar Galatica with my 28 year old husband...

Happy Birthday!

Butter and Sugar Galore: Jam Filled Butter Cookies

Growing up I loved these sugar cookies that my grandma would make. They were big and sweet, and had a little thumbprint filled with jam right in the middle. I would nibble around the edge of the cookie closer and closer until I got to the delicious jammy part right at the end.

I tried to recreate those cookies this week, but they didn't come out quite the way I was expecting. Before being baked they were soft and round, like in the picture below, and I was expecting them to come out kind of the same, judging by the pictures on the recipe I found. But instead they came out flat and thin, like in the picture above. They still taste really good though--they're so buttery that they literally melt in your mouth.

They were also a little fragile though, they kept crumbling away if you tried to pick them up by the edges, so you had to kind of balance the cookie on your palm while nibbling at them. I solved that, however, by keeping them in the refrigerator--which was really an excellent decision I think, because they were still flaky and buttery, but much sturdier, and the central jam part tasted better cold. I think that the next time I make these though I'll try one whole egg instead of 2 egg yolks, and see if they come out a little less crumbly.

I had fully intended to do half strawberry and half grape cookies, but when I opened the jar of grape jelly it had lots of little white and green lumps, so I decided to chuck that, and stick with strawberry!! They are really easy to make though--with only a few ingredients, and the thumb-printing, jelly-squeezing part is kind of fun. I don't recommend telling people how much butter is in them though, you wouldn't want people to feel guilty about eating such delicious treats!

Jam Filled Butter Cookies

adapted from allrecipes.com

3/4 cup butter (either use salted butter, or add about 1/4 teaspoon salt if using unsalted butter)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 egg yolks

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup fruit preserves/jam

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla. Mix in the flour a little bit at a time (and the salt, if using) until a soft dough forms. Roll dough into one inch balls; if the dough is too soft to work with at first refrigerate it for 15 to 20 minutes. Place the balls two inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Use your thumb (or maybe a spoon, I tried that though, and the thumb worked way better) to make a well in the center of each cookie.

Fill a ziploc sandwich bag with the jam, and squeeze all the jam into one corner, making sure to let all the air out of the bag. Snip the very tip off the corner of the bag, and use the bag to pipe the jam into the well in the center of each cookie.

Bake for 8-10 minutes at 375 degrees or until the cookies are golden brown around the edges. Let them cool on the pan for several minutes before attempting to move them, they're very fragile! Remove them to wire racks to cool completely, then store refrigerated in an airtight container. Makes about 40 cookies.


Look, this one came out as a heart! Noel and I split it! Awww....

Saved by the Rice Krispie Treat

A year or two ago I bought some adorable Easter cookie cutters...bunnies, carrots, and the like. The problem is that now I feel like I have to make butter cookies every Easter, so that the cookie cutters don't go to waste. But since I already make butter cookies at Christmas and Valentine's Day, by Easter I'm pretty much ready for a change.

For the last few weeks I've been eyeballing the cookie cutters in frustration, trying to ignore the little voice telling me that I needed to make cookies in order to use them. Last weekend we were having an egg decorating party on Saturday morning, so I figured I should make something dessert-like, and I felt like the cookie cutters were going to mock me if I didn't use them. (Ok, maybe my imagination was running away with me, but I swear they were kind of staring at me from the corner of the counter where they'd been sitting.)

I thought about gingerbread, but that seemed weird and un-seasonal. Jello-jigglers crossed my mind, but while I was reading the back of a jello box to figure out how many packets of jello I needed I accidentally caught a pan of oil on fire and almost burned my house down, so I was too scarred by the memory to mess with the jello. In desperation I started digging through the recesses of my pantry--and found two bags of marshmallows leftover from my Rocky Road Chex Mix extravaganza at Christmas time. In a stroke of genius I decided that bunny shaped Rice Krispie treats it would be--much to my eventual delight, because they were a huge hit!

The marshmallow bag said to use more butter and marshmallows and less rice krispies, and the rice krispie box said to use more cereal and less marshmallows; not surprising I guess since they're each trying to market their own product. Anyway, I combined the two recipes, spread the mixture into a cookie sheet instead of a 9x13 pan, and cut away. I ended up with 20 adorable bunnies, plus a small tupperware full of the delicious scrap bits that the cookie cutter left behind, which Noel and I ate while sitting on the kitchen counter later that night. The rice krispie treats were perfect--sticky, sweet, and a little bit crunchy, plus adorable. And really, who doesn't like have something bunny shaped to bite the ears off of?

After the egg party I made another batch to take to Easter dinner the next day, and then later in the week I made another batch for my work potluck. The last batch was less successful, for three reasons really, (1) I used strawberry flavored marshmallows--no good, stick to the original! (2) I forgot that marshmallows aren't vegetarian, so a lot of people couldn't eat them, and (3) they were competing with homemade angel food cake. Not gonna lie, I totally ate the angel food cake instead of my own cookies!

But, if the competition isn't too stiff, these are the perfect little cookies; both easy and adorable, which is the best of both worlds I think.


Rice Krispie Treat Shapes
courtesy of the cereal box and the marshmallow bag
4 tablespoons butter
10 oz marshmallows (4 1/4 cups of the little guys, 40 individual bigger ones)
6 cups crispy rice cereal

In a large saucepan melt the butter over low heat, and stir in the marshmallows until they're melted and smooth. Meanwhile spray a 14x16 inch baking sheet with cooking spray, and spray a large spatula or wooden spoon (or wait and spray your hands). Once the marshmallows and butter have melted together, remove the pan from the heat, and stir in the rice krispies until they're thoroughly coated. Spread the mixture out in the pan using either a greased spatula, or your greased palms. It's kind of hard to spread the mixture out in a pan that big, so you may have to work at it for a minute to get it all evenly spread out. Once it's evenly spread out, refrigerate the pan for about 10 minutes or until the mixture is lightly set.

Spray a cookie cutter with cooking spray, and cut the shapes out, pressing firmly. With bunnies I got 20, with flowers 22, so you should get between 20-24 I'd say, depending on the size of your cookie cutter. Place the cookies between layers of parchment paper in an airtight container, and let them sit another hour or two to harden a little more, unless of course you like to eat them while they're all gooey and soft. And hey, feel free to eat all the scraps yourself...your family and/or guests will never have to know...

Sex and Intrigue: Circa 1984

Shooting in the Dark by Carolyn Hougan


This is the second Carolyn Hougan book I've read in the last few months--again a reprint of one of her books from the early 1980s. I think that's what I liked about this book, looking back with a 25 year perspective makes you realize how right she was in a lot of ways. The book tells the story of Claire Brooks, whose husband of 8 years announced he was leaving her as she got ready to go to the dentist. Claire can't face him, so on a whim she buys a plane ticket to Amsterdam. Unbeknownst to Claire, international intrigue is centering on Amsterdam, where a shadowy group of spooks, bankers, and heads of state called Circle Group is meeting to plot the assassination of the Shah.

Claire is stunned by her husband's betrayal, and spends her time drinking too much, and having a sudden affair with a reporter named John Stenner. What neither she nor John Stenner realizes is that life is about to get even more complicated. Stenner is slipped a tape that includes a secretly taped session of the Circle Group meeting, and he and Claire are thrown into a race for their lives as they try and figure out who made the tape and why.

The references in the book are really quite funny--all the Dutch characters keep talking about how inept Carter is and how the USA isn't going to be the dominant world power anymore, and the spy and reporter characters all bemoan how Aghanistan and Iran are not going well, and how it looks like the Soviets are winning. Given some of the countries in the news lately, it seems like Carolyn Hougan was a bit prophetical.

The surprisingly thing about this book is that it's written by a woman. It kind of reminds me of a Tom Clancy book, except that Claire Brooks is obviously not a well-trained spook or anything. It's like Tom Clancy meets chick lit or something--torture, guns, sex, too much alchohol, one night stands, misery over the betrayal of a husband, it's a bit of weird combination, but surprisingly believable. Claire's dazed attempts to figure out who she is without her husband while protecting herself and John Stenner from the mysterious baddies who are after them, actually doesn't seem all that far-fetched. It was a quick, enjoyable read, and if you like Cold War era intrigue I'd definitely recommend it.

Snacker Snocker Snucker: Snickerdoodles!

On Saturday night we had tickets to the symphony for "Bugs Bunny on Broadway"--a concert where they show Bugs Bunny cartoons on a big screen and the symphony plays the score of the cartoon. It was SO much fun, and I went around all day Sunday singing, "What's up, Doc?" I think maybe this is what inspired me to make Snickerdoodles on Sunday evening, some sort of connection between a childhood pleasure, the Saturday morning cartoons, and a favorite childhood taste, the one, the only, the snickerdoodle!

But before I share my snackable sneak-between-meals snickerdoodle recipe I have to digress for a minute, and ponder the name of the snickerdoodle. At some point in the era of cookie prehistory did someone snicker at the squiggly lines on the tops of the cookies created by the cracking sugar crust? Or did someone just doodle away one day and produce the recipe, which made someone else snicker, because after all, who puts cream of tartar in a cookie? Or because the cookies just taste so good that people snicker joyfully as they eat them?

My encyclopedia of word and phrase origins tells me that 'snicker' is a word meaning 'to laugh', originally from an Essex dialect of English, but sadly there is no entry for snickerdoodle. According to wikipedia though, it might be a corruption of the German word Schneckennudeln, which means "snail dumpling". Since "snail dumpling" sounds like a horrifying creation to me, I think I'll stick with my own etymological ideas.



These cookies are pretty standard as far as snickerdoodles go, I found three different recipes on allrecipes.com that were actually all the same, so I decided it sounded like a nice safe bet. You mix up the dough, which is soft and a little fluffy, roll the dough into little balls, and then the roll the little balls in cinnamon sugar until they're brown and sparkly. After a few minutes in the oven they come out puffy and pale, but after a minute or so out of the oven they deflate and turn a little bit golden brown, leaving a thin, chewy, melt-in-your mouth cookie with the distinctive tang of tartar balanced by the spiciness of cinnamon and the sweetness of sugar. I think maybe it's the faint tartar aftertaste that lingers in your mouth that makes it so impossible to eat just one cookie, because you keep wanting to recreate that irresistible taste in your mouth!

Snickerdoodles
from allrecipes.com

1 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt

2-3 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 375. In a small bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt, and set aside. Cream together the shortening and sugar until well-blended, then beat in the eggs. Add the flour mixture to the shortening and egg mixture in small increments until all ingredients are well-incorporated and the dough is smooth and fluffy. In a small, steep-sided bowl combine the cinnamon and remaining sugar. Roll small pieces of dough between your palms until they make walnut sized balls, then roll the balls in the cinnamon sugar. Place the cookies at least an inch apart on a parchment lined baking sheet, and bake for 7-8 minutes at 375 degrees F. The cookies will be quite puffy and still pale in color when you remove them from the oven. Let them sit on the pan for another minute or two until they deflate, then remove them to wire racks to cool completely.

Once they're cool, store them in an airtight container, preferably with a slice of bread or apple to keep them moist. Keep changing the bread or apple daily, and the cookies should last for up to a week, unless of course you eat a dozen or two while you're baking them, which is easy to do when they're warm and fragrant! This recipe makes about 65-70 cookies depending on the exact size though, so you should have at least a few left.

Superfluous Lemon Bar Pictures

I realize that just the other day I said that more lemon bar pictures would be redundant, but I forgot that I took these. And I just couldn't let such luscious pictures go to waste! I do have a handy suggestion though, which justifies the superfluousness (superfluosity?). Follow the lemon bar recipe that I gave before, but substitute lime juice and lime zest for 1/3 of the lemon juice and lemon zest. It looks a little creepy at first with the lime zest, like tons of tiny caterpillars in your lemon curd, but once it bakes you can't see the green bits anymore, and it adds a nice zinginess to the lemon bars that lemon juice and zest alone doesn't add. So enjoy looking at these pictures (careful not to drool on your keyboard)--I hope they inspire you to make some lemon bars of your own!

Unmotivation

I've been feeling rather unmotivated about blogging lately...as you've probably noticed. At some point in the last couple of months it turned from "ooh, fun, I should blog about that" to "it's already been a week since I last blogged, gotta come up with something". I think it's perhaps because I've been in a bit of a culinary rut.

Not that I haven't been making good food...I have...it's just a lot of it is food I've already talked about! Offering pictures of more veggie tacos or more lemon bars or another batch of those addicting crackers just seems redundant.

And I haven't read anything particularly inspiring lately...mostly because I have started watching way too much tv again! But I figure that tv will be over in another month or two, and I'll have all summer to catch up on reading....

So anyway, I apologize for the lack of interesting reading around here lately. I'm going to try to get myself out of this rut...I think I'm going to make biscuits this weekend, and hopefully sometime in the next week or two I'm going to attempt falafel, which I'm pretty excited about! So bear with me...and my overabundant use of ellipses...and hopefully I'll have some new and exciting recipes to try soon!

Favorites: Georgette Heyer

Sometimes in the book-snobbish world in which I work, I try to pretend that I don't love Georgette Heyer as much as I do. I mean, after all, she mostly wrote romances. How stultifying and non-intellectual! And the romance part I can't deny, probably 3/4 of her books are romances, with a few mysteries and a few non-fiction histories of Britain's royal family thrown in for good measure. But the thing is, they're good romances! No heaving bosoms or throbbing manhoods or any of the other cliches of the modern bodice-ripper genre, these are much more Jane Austen-esque.

They are true to their era, so much so that some people have a hard time reading them because Heyer uses so much 18th and 19th century slang. Her historical accuracy means that the characters follow the strict rules of propriety that held sway among the members of the ton in the Georgian era so you don't have to worry about what I term "awkward bits", and that as a bonus after reading several of her books you will know all of the answers on the "Georgian Era" category in Jeopardy! I also like how casually Heyer throws French words around in several of the books, apparently writing under the assumption that of course her readers will understand French.

Heyer's books are characterized by a plethora of minor characters who are hilariously annoying, main characters who are witty and erudite, and a convoluted plot that generally ends with two people getting happily married. There are a couple of exceptions to this: in one book the "True Love" marries someone else, and he settles for next-best, and a few of the mysteries and historical books don't have a love story, but generally speaking the books follow a predictable, but still delightful pattern.

This is a list I wrote a couple of years ago on amazon.com, which attempts to sum up my favorite Heyers. The Grand Sophy and False Colours are probably what I would call my two favorites, but it's really difficult for me to narrow it down. Every year I re-read two or three of her books though, and then once I've read them again they usually temporarily shoot up to the top in my estimation for a few weeks.

Speaking of re-reading old favorite Heyers however, brings me to my exciting Heyer news. There is one, and only one, of her historical novels that I have never read. Heyer tried to suppress The Great Roxhythe in the later years of her career, because she was dissatisfied with it. As a result, this Charles II era novel is veeeery expensive online. Two years ago the cheapest one I could find was $250. But luckily a lot of Heyer's books are being reprinted right now, and a relatively cheap hardback edition can now be found for less than $40, hurrah!

So The Great Roxhythe arrived in the mail yesterday, and I greedily opened the package and read the first chapter. And then I had to put the book down because I want to savor it. After all, it's been 14 years since the last 'new' Heyer for me, and this is the last new one ever! Unless she starts publishing from the grave, but since that seems unlikely I'm going to read this slowly. At least that's what I'm telling myself, but I have this Friday off of work, and somehow I'm suspicious that I may end up devouring it all. But either way, I'll let you know how it was.

Lemon Bars: Citrusy Fabulousness

I adore lemon bars. Lemon desserts are among my favorites: lemon meringue, lemon sorbet, lemon icebox pie, I love them all. But there's something special about lemon bars. Maybe it's because I lived in Texas for so long, I think lemon bars are more of a southern thing, but I really love them. They're sweet and tangy and flaky on the bottom, with just enough powdered sugar on the top to drift all over your lap if you happen to laugh while eating one. They're good warm and sticky, but I love them cold. When they're cold something magical happens: the lemon curd part is still sticky, but it melts in your mouth along with the flaky crust. I highly recommend that you make yourself a pan of these, stick them in the fridge and wait about half an hour, and then devour them!

Lemon Bars

adapted from the Better Homes and Garden Cookbook

2/3 cup butter

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 cup all purpose flour

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

4 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 teaspoon lemon zest

6-8 tablespoons lemon juice (to taste)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

powdered sugar for dusting.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl cream butter and powdered sugar. Beat in the flour till crumbly, press the mixture evenly into a lightly greased 9 x 13 baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 18 minutes, or until lightly golden.

Meanwhile, in a medium mixing bowl combine the eggs, the granulated sugar, the flour, lemon zest, lemon juice, and baking powder. Beat two minutes, until smooth. Pour the filling over the baked layer (while the baked layer is still warm). Bake for 20 minutes, or until center is set and top is just starting to brown. Cool on a rack, dust with powdered sugar, store in refrigerator. Makes 2-3 dozen bars, depending on whether you like them ginormous or regular sized.

Murder in North Korea: Bamboo and Blood

Set in North Korea in 1997, this book tells the story of Inspector O, a thoughtful and introverted man, trying to maneuver his way through the complicated politics and silences of the North Korean Ministry. The bleak winter reflects the bleak attitude of most of the people in North Korea, who are struggling merely to stay alive while O struggles to discover who killed a woman, when he doesn't even know where or how she died.

His mysterious assignment to discover who killed the unknown woman leads him to New York and Geneva. I feel like the plot gets a bit too convoluted in Geneva, where O's fellow North Koreans diplomats and the Israeli who has been following him are joined by Swiss intelligence, and then the three groups proceed to chase each other in circles while they all try to figure out what O is up to, and he tries to figure out what they're up to.

The glimpse of the poverty and hardship of life in North Korea was gripping though, as was the stark imagery of the winter in Korea and Switzerland. O's obsession with wood, and the feelings that different types of trees can create in him are a part of his thoughtfulness and his careful attention to detail. This attention to detail is reflected both in O's knowledge of what makes a beech different from a maple, and in the way he can see himself in the shoes of those around him, whether they be fellow Koreans, or foreigners. I liked how the characters rarely had names, and those who did have names merely had one, 'Pak', 'O', etc. It made O's humanity in the midst of the obedient North Korean legions all the more apparent.

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with "Cream Cheese" Frosting

So here's the deal. I'd already gone to the store specifically to buy apple cider vinegar, tofu "cream cheese", and soy milk for the vegan cupcakes. I'd then made the cupcakes, and they were merrily baking away while I started mixing the frosting. Then, to my chagrin, I realized I'd used up almost all of the powdered sugar on the lemon bars from the day before. I contemplated going back the store, but I was already in pj pants, and since I can't go to the store without running into nine thousand people from church, I would've had to get dressed again, and well, I decided to experiment.

My handy dandy American's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook told me that I could substitute one cup granulated sugar + one teaspoon cornstarch + a little spin in the blender for one cup of powdered sugar. The cookbook politely said, "Works well for dusting over cakes, less so in frostings and glazes." But did I listen to the cookbook? Nooo....I thought it would totally work to grind up my sugar and cornstarch and then make vegan sour cream frosting with it. Oh well, at least the cupcakes looked good in my cutesy new cupcake caddy.

And the cupcakes themselves weren't that bad, once you got over the crunchiness of the frosting. They were moist, in an almost gummy way, like the other vegan cupcakes I made. I prefer a finer crumb, but they were still had a nice chocolatey flavor. I got mixed reviews about them at work, but the people that didn't like them were merely indifferent, and the people that liked them really, really loved them. So I think all in all, I'd give them one thumbs up.

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with "Cream Cheese" Frosting

from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

Cupcakes

1 cup soy milk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

3/4 cup granulated sugar, preferably raw

1/3 cup canola oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extract, or more vanilla

1 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Frosting

1/4 cup vegan margarine, softened

1/4 cup vegan cream cheese, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. For the cupcakes whisk together the soy milk and vinegar and let it curdle for a few minutes. Add the sugar, oil, and extracts, and beat until foamy. In a separate bowl sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add in two batches to wet ingredients and beat till no large lumps remain. Pour batter into a lined muffin tin, until cups are about 3/4 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into one comes out clean. Cool for a few minutes, then remove the cupcakes to a wire rack and cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting, cream together the margarine and cream cheese until just combined. Beat in the powdered sugar until frosting is smooth and creamy, then mix in the vanilla. Keep the frosting refrigerated if you're not going to frost the cupcakes right away.

This will make one dozen frosted cupcakes, plus an extra few tablespoons of frosting...which you can probably snack on if you actually use powdered sugar, and don't have gritty frosting!

Long Time No Blog: North Korea, Vegan Cupcakes, and Lemon Bars

Hey everyone,

Sorry, long time no blog! It's partly a result of procrastination, and partly a result of internet issues at home. And blogging at work seems a little questionable! :)

But I'm reading the book above: it's a mystery set in North Korea in 1997. It's really good so far, I'll keep you posted on my final opinion.

And I made some more vegan cupcakes, which did not turn out so well. The vegans ate them anyway, but they were less than impressed.

I did, however, make some excellent lemon bars with which I have been gorging myself all week, because Noel is out of town and isn't there to help me consume them.

More details will be forthcoming, cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-die. Bisous!

The Age of Innocence

Oh Edith Wharton, how I love you.

The Age of Innocence is pretty classic Wharton: amazing characterization, a love story that goes awry, heartrending sadness mixed with satirical observation. Set in high society in New York in the 1870s, The Age of Innocence tells the story of Newland Archer, an up-and-coming young lawyer, who was recently engaged to the fair, serene, and always proper May Welland, and May's cousin, the dark, complicated, and rarely proper Countess Olenska.

Newland Archer was a bit wishy-washy as a main character for my tastes, I thought the two women were much more interesting characters. But by far my favorite parts of the book were the descriptions of May and Ellen Olenska's obese grandmother, old Mrs. Mingott, which were strikingly vivid.

For example, these sentences are taken from a scene where Newland Archer goes to visit Mrs. Mingott shortly after she has had a stroke.

"She merely looked paler, with darker shadows in the folds and recesses of her obesity; and, in the fluted mob-cap tied by a starched bow between her first two chins, and the muslin kerchief crossed over her billowing purple dressing-gown, she seemed like some shrewd and kindly ancestress of her own who might have yielded too freely to the pleasures of the table.

She held out one of the little hands that nestled in a hollow of her huge lap like pet animals, and called to the maid: “Don’t let in any one else. If my daughters call, say I’m asleep.”"

How can you not love someone who can write like that? I feel quite happy that Edith Wharton won the Pulitzer for this book. I must say, so far so good with catching up on the classics I've missed; I've really enjoyed both The Great Gatsby and The Age of Innocence.

New York, New York

Well we're back. Tired, with a lot of dirty clothes, and a lot of great memories, and more than a lot of pictures.

We did the normal touristy stuff, and ate at some of the normal touristy places, and a few local off-the-beaten path spots as well. We ate cheesesteaks in Philadelphia, hummus in Yonkers, Chinese in the Bronx, hotdogs and pretzels from vendors, and pizza pretty much all over Manhattan. Sadly it didn't occur to me to take pictures of the food we were eating for most of our trip, because I was so busy taking pictures of touristy hotspots. Plus, navigating mittens, food, and camera would have been a lose-lose situation for me. But I did take a few, so here you go:

This pizza is from Lombardi's, supposedly the best in New York according to some sources. It was good, but not great, and the lighting in the restaurant was terrible, making for this not so great picture. The crust was a little bit too dry for me, but the mozzarella was fantastic, which made up for a lot. Besides, it's pizza, and I love pizza in almost any shape or form.

This omelet was from An Beal Bocht, an Irish pub/cafe in the Bronx. It was pretty much amazing, and my plate went from the above picture to the below picture in record timing. The eggs were perfectly fluffy, stuffed with cheese and ham and peppers and onions, and accompanied by tasty home fries and perfectly toasted toast. Just don't expect them to actually serve breakfast at 10 when they open...we definitely beat the cook there by about 20 minutes. The food will totally make up for the wait though.

And last, but most definitely not least, is the wonderful, the amazing, the magnificent (cue trumpets) CREAM PUFF from Beard Papa's Sweets Cafe. Noel and I first discovered Beard Papa's on our honeymoon in San Francisco, and I had been salivating for another one ever since. These creampuffs are seriously the creme de la creme (ok, I know, that was a terrible pun, but really, you should've seen it coming). My memory was not wrong....they were just as excellent as I remembered. The choux pastry was flaky and only mildly sweet, and the cream was, well, creamy--with a sublimely rich vanilla flavor. Now if only Beard Papa's would open some locations in states besides New York and California...

Veggie Tacos, Wheat Rolls, Apple Pie, Macaroni and Cheese and Molasses Cookies

I'm in New York on vacaaaaation! When I get back, hopefully I'll have some fantastic pictures and stories to share! But in the meantime, I thought I would leave you with the links to some of my favorite recipes.

I don't recommend eating them all at once, you might die of delicious over-indulgence. But if you split them into two meals, I think you might have a couple of tasty dinners on your hands!

Veggie Tacos

Apple Pie

Macaroni and Cheese

Wheat Rolls

Molasses Cookies

Bon appetit! I'll be back in a week!

Emily of New Moon

Since my middle name is Anne (most definitely with an 'E'!) I was always a fan of the Anne of Green Gables series. I love almost all of L.M. Montgomery's books though. The Blue Castle, Kilmeny of the Orchard, and the Pat of Silver Bush books are all excellent. I had forgotten how wonderful the Emily novels were till I recently picked them up again on a whim. The Emily novels consist of three books: Emily of New Moon, Emily Climbs, and Emily's Quest.

Emily of New Moon starts out when Emily Byrd Starr, aged not quite eleven, is not yet Emily of New Moon. She lives with her father, who is estranged from her late mother's family, the Murrays of New Moon. After the death of her father, the orphaned Emily is taken to live with Aunt Elizabeth, Aunt Laura, and Cousin Jimmy at the New Moon farm.

These books are classic L.M. Montgomery. Emily is a serious, curious, occasionally pert little girl, who generally means well, but often gets in trouble with the aunts because of the things she says that they just don't understand. She loves nature, spending hours with her friend "the Wind Woman", and various trees and flowers and cats and gardens. Emily's other great passion is writing: she starts by writing letters to her dead father, which soon progresses to writing stories and poetry. In Emily of New Moon Emily meets Teddy, a semi-invalid with a jealously possessive mother, Perry the hired hand at the farm, who is also an orphan, and Ilse, whose mother is dead and whose father is neglectful. The four of them have many different adventures, and Emily learns to love New Moon in spite of her sorrow over the death of her father.

Emily Climbs continues as the four children go to high school in nearby Shrewsbury. Emily has to board with the unlikeable Aunt Ruth, and sufferes many misadventures as she attempts to get an education, continue her writing, and yet not disgrace the Murrays. Emily, Ilse, Teddy, and Perry are all about 14 when this book starts, and 17 when it ends, at an age when romance is beginning to blossom. Emily receives a fantastic career offer, and must decide whether or not she is ready to leave New Moon.

Emily's Quest continues the story after high school. I read it once in fourth or fifth grade, but I haven't re-read it yet, so I can't give you any details. I'm planning to take it with me when we go to New York this week though (that's right! I said NEW YORK) so I'll fill you in on how it ends later!

I highly recommend giving these books a read: if not for nostalgia of a bygone era, just because Emily is a likeable, stubborn little girl. I think you'll like them, especially if you liked Anne of Green Gables.

P.S. And if you don't like reading...there have been both a Canadian television series and a Japanese anime series based on the Emily books, so you can always watch the story instead of reading it....but you'll miss out on L.M. Montgomery's moralistic but entertaining prose.

Tempera Painted Butter Cookies

So (for now) my five favorite things in life are:

(1) Noel
(2) pizza
(3) reading
(4) butter cookies
(5) chocolate

It's a bit embarrassing that 3 of my top 5 are food items, but hey, I can't lie, I like eating! And, I'm pretty sure I have perfected #4 on my list, so I have to share my new technique.

I've been making these cookies for years in various shapes and formats. I make bunnies and ducks at Easter, Christmas trees and stockings at Christmas, leaves in the fall, which I've talked about before, and for Valentines Day I always make hearts, which normally I frost and decorate like those candy hearts with little sayings on them. This time, however, I decided to experiment with the tempera technique that I used at Thanksgiving time last year, and it worked beautifully.

Before you bake them the cookies look a little odd, the tempera is thin and yellow-ish, and it seems like they won't turn out. But both times I've done it they've come out in bright jewel tone colors, and they're very festive looking. The tempera technique is also really a cinch to do. My one word of warning is that you need to make sure that whatever brush you use to apply the tempera doesn't lose its bristles easily. Last time I used some little kid water color type paintbrushes, and they kept losing bristles on the cookies. (And on a total sidenote, later I noticed that the brushes were made out of horsehair! Ack!!! So I checked all the cookies again, and threw away two that looked like they might've had a bit of a brush bristle on them, but I'd already given some away. Sorry to those of you who ate those...hope you weren't vegetarians...)

So anyway, this time I used a basting brush to brush the tempera on, and it went pretty quickly since I was doing hearts. I think it would be a little tricky to use a basting brush if you wanted to do more intricate cookies, but it might still work. What's brilliant about using tempera instead of frosting is that since you apply the tempera before baking there's no need to wait for cookies to cool before you frost them, or for frosting to harden before you can stack them. I rolled out, cut, painted, baked, and cooled them all, and had them in a container less than an hour after I started pre-heating the oven, which isn't bad for almost seven dozen cookies!

Because the tempera lends a bit of crustiness to the top of them they taste more like a shortbread cookie than a butter cookie, but I kind of like that, because I think you can taste the actual buttery, flaky cookie more than when you smother them in frosting and they become just another sweet treat. My valentine definitely likes them this way, that's for sure!

Egg Tempera
(makes enough to top about 40 two-inch cookies)

1 large egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon water
2 drops vanilla extract
3-5 drops food coloring

In a small bowl stir together the egg yolk, water, vanilla, and food coloring until it's all evenly colored and slightly fluffy. Brush a thin layer over the top of butter or sugar cookies, sprinkle with sugar, and bake as directed. The tempera doesn't expand a lot, so don't use it on cookies that rise substantially, it will just crack. Also make sure that you only put a very thin layer on the top of the cookies, if you get it too thick it'll run off the cookies while they're baking and smell eggy, which is just weird! Let the cookies cool for a minute or two after they come out of the oven, then stack and store them in an airtight container. I also wouldn't recommend the tempera technique if you're trying for pastel shades, because the egg yolk is so bright to begin with that you have to put quite a bit of food coloring to dilute the yellowness.

P.S. Before I get any comments from the peanut gallery...Noel is definitely staying in my top five! It's the cookies/pizza that might be negotiable!

Daughter of Fortune: A Novel by Isabel Allende

Daughter of Fortune tells the story of Eliza Sommers, a young orphan who is raised in Valparaiso, Chile, by Jeremy Sommers and his spinster sister Rose. Eliza is cared for by Rose, and the family's cook, Mama Fresia, who is a bit of a medicine woman.

Although Eliza is raised as a proper Victorian young lady by Rose, she falls in love with a young Chilean named Joaquin Andieta, and when Joaquin leaves for California to try to find gold, Eliza follows him. She is helped along her way by Tao Chi'en, a young Chinese doctor who worked for Captain John Sommers, her uncle.

I liked that this book, although mostly about Eliza, also delved into the past history of other characters, particularly Miss Rose Sommers and Tao Chi'en, plus a host of minor characters. These detailed characterizations lent validity to the plot, which was admittedly farfetched, but didn't actually seem so. It seemed quite believable that a spunky orphan could meet the challenges that Eliza had to face in Chile and California, and not be fazed.

Allende vividly portrays life in mid-nineteenth century Chile and gold rush California. She paints a picture of a very rigid and stratified society in Valparaiso, and a wild, lawless society of men and prostitutes in California.

My two caveats are: there are a few love scenes, which was awkward since I was listening to this on audio book in my office. I should've learned my lesson with the last Isabel Allende book I listened too, but I kind of forgot till the 'awkward bits' rolled around! So I'd recommend just reading the hard copy, or listening to the audiobook in your car! Secondly, the book ended a bit anticlimactically for me. I felt like a story that I was so invested in should have finished with more of a bang.

But the very likeable characters and interesting (if sometimes predictable) plot made up for my two small complaints. I would definitely recommend this, and I think I'll give some more Isabel Allende a try.

My Superbowl Un-Victory

A few months ago I got Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook, and although I've drooled over the photographs several times I hadn't yet made anything out of it. Today I was flipping aimlessly through some cookbooks looking for something inspirational to make for a Superbowl party tomorrow. I came across a recipe for One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes, which sounded (a) easy, and (b) decadent...pretty much my favorite combination when it comes to desserts. So I pulled out my canisters of flour and sugar--and the sugar canister promptly proceeded to crack across the bottom and spill about 3 cups of sugar all across the floor of the pantry.

Slightly demoralized, I decided to press on, and mixed up the cupcakes anyway (while my super awesome husband cleaned up the sugar fiasco). I'm pretty sure that I should've taken the sugar explosion as a warning shot across my bows, because the cupcake batter was suspiciously runny. I gave it some shifty looks out of the corner of my eye as it was mixing, but decided that now I'd already invested 2 1/2 cups of sugar (plus the 3 on the floor) more than a cup of cocoa powder, 3 eggs, and a silly amount of milk and oil in them, that I'd better just try baking them.

Sadly they came out looking like this.

And they left my pans looking like this.

So, Martha Stewart, you definitely let me down this time. I went ahead and baked some basic toll house chocolate chip cookies for tomorrow. After I made them I remembered that I usually substitute shortening for part of the butter so they come out softer, but oh well, at least they taste good. And they didn't destroy my muffin tins/oven racks. Hrmph. Oh well, if I'm lucky I can talk my husband into cleaning the oven too!

Miscellaneous Reporting

Warm and sunny here in Tucson stop.

Made brownies the other day stop. Put walnuts in them stop. Made me feel like a murderer for killing perfectly good brownies stop. Did not eat brownies stop. Made me feel virtuous so maybe the walnuts were a good idea stop.

Caught another mouse in trap in garage this morning stop. Made me feel more like a murderer stop. However pantry supplies are still intact thanks to mousetraps stop.

Made the blueberry cake again stop. Used buttercream frosting this time since it was for a birthday party stop. Recommend sticking with powdered sugar stop. May go into sugar coma soon as result of frosting stop. Nothing virtuous about this cake stop.

Finished Joseph Ellis's biograpy of George Washington's stop. It was pretty good stop. Did you know the King of Spain sent George Washington a prize jackass to start a new line of superior jackasses in the United States after the Revolutionary War ended query. I mostly wrote that last sentence just so I could put 'query' at the end stop. Started reading World War Z and The Story of Edgar Sawtelle stop. Weird juxtaposition stop.

Time for nap stop. Warm, sunny day and delicious tacos and enchiladas and cake combine for sleepiness stop. Tired of writing the word 'stop' stop.

Berries Were on Sale! Therefore: Blueberry Cake

Last weekend Sunflower had 6 oz containers of blueberries and blackberries on sale for 88 cents each, so I bought 8 containers and have been happily gorging myself all week. I love love love berries, and these are particularly good ones: the blackberries are sweet and incredibly juicy, and the blueberries are plump perfection. On Friday night we were having another game night with the McWheatyPantses, and I was supposed to take a dessert. I almost took chocolate chip cookies, because you can't ever go wrong with those, but I decided to try and put some of the berries to use. I debated making a tart, but those are best warm, and I wanted something that wouldn't be difficult to transport. So I checked out some recipes online, and decided to adapt a recipe from Orangette's blog, which I have adapted before in the form of lime cupcakes. The original recipe calls for a lemon glaze, which I left off, and I substituted lemon extract for the lemon zest it calls for, because I didn't want an overpowering lemon taste.

This time I added blueberries and made a blueberry/blackberry sauce to drizzle over each slice. The end result was pretty much a tea cake: not too sweet, with a fairly fine crumb and a nice lemony, yogurty tang. The warm blueberries on top drizzled down through the cake, and I dusted each slice with powdered sugar to add a bit of extra sweetness. Considering I think I ate half the cake by myself, I can vouch for its deliciousness. I think it would be equally good with strawberries, or raspberries or blackberries that have small seeds.

Blueberry-Lemon Cake with Blueberry and Blackberry Sauce

adapted from Orangette's blog

1/2 cup plain or vanilla yogurt

1 cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp lemon extract

1/2 cup canola oil

4 oz fresh blueberries

2 oz fresh blueberries

2 tbsp blackberry or blueberry syrup

1 tbsp water

powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prep a 9 inch cake pan by lining the bottom with parchment paper and lightly greasing the whole pan.

In a large bowl cream together the sugar and yogurt, then beat in the eggs. Once these three ingredients are thoroughly combined, mix in the flour, baking powder, and lemon extract. Add the oil and stir to incorporate it. I did all the stirring with a wooden spoon, it just takes a minute or two of elbow grease to completely incorporate the oil. In a separate bowl toss the blueberries in about a half tablespoon of flour, until they're all lightly coated.

Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan. Dot the surface of the cake with the blueberries, then top the blueberries with the rest of the batter. Bake at 350 degrees for about 40-45 minutes, or until golden-brown on top. Let the cake cool at least 15 minutes in the pan, then remove it carefully to a wire rack to finish cooling. Dust with powdered sugar if desired.

In a small saucepan over medium heat combine the rest of the blueberries, the syrup, and the water. Bring to a boil, then let simmer at fairly high heat for about 5 minutes. Turn the heat down to low, and let it simmer and thicken for another 5 minutes or so. I poured the sauce into a small tupperware container, and took the sauce and cake separately. Then just before serving I microwaved the sauce for about 30 seconds, and then drizzled the top of each slice. Bon appetit!

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things: Steak Tacos

These definitely aren't as veggie friendly as my last taco recipe. In fact, they're pretty much loaded with meat, so if you're vegetarian, avert your eyes!

This is one of those meals that sort of randomly came together based on what I had lurking in my fridge and pantry. Since I basically made it up as I went along my recipe is not very specific, but the end result was completely delicious! So think of this as more of a set of guidelines than a recipe...and have fun with the leftovers in your fridge! Besides, how can you go wrong with tacos in any shape or form?

I made chicken ones for the boys too, since they're not as picky as me, but the steak still won hands down. I got the shells at La Mesa Tortilla Factory, so they were golden and tasty, and crunched ever so satisfyingly ever time I took a bite. The steak was maybe a little too well done...I got a little distracted, but it was garlicky and limey, and when topped with a little cheese, a little lettuce, and a little salsa, was pretty much sublime.

Now that you're hopefully droolingly ready to make these for yourselves, here are the aforementioned guidelines:

Steak (or chicken) Tacos

about 1 lb meat, sliced into about 1 inch strips

1 lime

1-2 tablespoons salad dressing or oil

1 small onion, roughly chopped

4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

10-12 corn taco shells (or small flour tortillas-I used those for the leftovers and it was equally fantastic!)

about 2 cups of shredded jack or cheddar

about 1 cup of salsa

about 1-2 cups of lettuce, roughly chopped

The night before you plan to make these, get a large ziploc bag, and throw in the meat, the lime (juice it into the bag, then just chuck the rest in), the onion, the garlic, and the oil or dressing. I used vegetable oil for the steak, and balsamic vinaigrette for the chicken. Make sure the bag is securely closed and then pound the meat for a minute or two, making sure that all of it gets coated and the garlic and onion are pretty evenly dispersed.

The next day bust out your handy dandy George Foreman grill (or a grill pan or even a large skillet) and cook the meat for about four minutes on each side, or until cooked to your satisfaction. I discarded the lime pieces and the biggest chunks of garlic so that the garlic breath issue wouldn't be too scary.

While the meat is cooking toast the taco shells in a 300 degree oven until warm. Shred the cheese, chop the lettuce, prep the salsa, open your container of sour cream...etc. Once the meat is done let it rest for a minute or two so that you don't boil your fingertips off, then quickly shred/cut it into bite-size pieces. Place a layer of meat in the bottom of each taco shell, then top it with the toppings that your heart desires. Mmm....tacos.....

Oh and p.s. you will probably have some leftovers, which I can testify will probably taste even better the next day!