Sweet Eats to End 2010

Sweet holiday baking including strawberry cheesecake, heart shaped blueberry ricotta muffins and almond cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting!

Read More

Bread Baking

Friday night I took a bread baking class at the Whole Foods culinary center with Lynn Kutner.  She was a terrific teacher and demonstrator, and kept things fun.  We baked basic whole wheat loaves, cinnamon rolls and fougasse ... and by Saturday I was all breaded out.  A sampling of the breads made:

Read More

Easter Baking: Quiche and Biscuits

Easter Sunday was a gorgeously pretty day, and after am mass and class, I went home and backed a onion & cauliflower quiche (with grey poupon on the bottom) and cheese and garlic biscuits! 

Starting from the bottom layer, pre-bake:

Read More

Eating A Lot Continues

I've been making/eating a lot still ... I loaded up on a lot of groceries when Bud was here ... a lot of these were made in effort to clean out the fridge!

Stuffed Capped Bellos (Baked)

Potato Latkes to Start the New Year

Healthy Chocolate Cupcakes

Avocado Makes Them Healthier :-)

Low Budget Scallion Pancakes

Shepherd's Pie (One of Bud's Favorites)

Shepherd's Pie!

Vegetarian Orzo With Almonds and Basil Too!

Chicken Noodle Soup

Read More

Holiday Baking

I baked a few dozen mint chocolate chip cookies yesterday (target had a sale on morsels) and lemon bars!  I decided to bake lemon bars bc we had an excess of 1) lemons 2) butter 3) sugar 4) amaretto and 5) almond roca.  Both turned out well!  

A Plate of Cookies for Santa

Lemon Bars!

Read More

It's Beginning to Feel More Like the Holidays

Last wknd was my last wknd in New York for 2009 - I baked gingerbread cookies (men and yogis) and also had a dinner gathering at Jaimin's.  Most stores have their holiday decor up and the cold weather has finally kicked in as of Saturday night, making it feel a lot more like the holidays.

The next few weeks will be busy, Jury Duty, Company holiday part ... work.  Next few weekends I will be in Alexandria, Boston and Orange County!

View from Jaimin's Apt

Night Time Photos

Persimmon Cous Cous Salad, Goat Cheese Tomato Tarts, Orzo, Potatoes and Gingerbread Men!

Taking Photos of Outside Lights

(Top to Bottom, L-R): Aaron Telling me to Take  Pic, Listening to Jaimin's Story, Tambu Interested in Listening, Erika and Roseann

Ginger Yogis

Made of Sugar & Spice & Everything Nice ... Doing Postures w Happy Smiling Faces

Read More

November Weekend Foods

Another food filled weekend ...

Ch-uffins: Cranberry Ricotta Muffins

Honey Ginger Chicken Made With Orange, Soy Sauce, Sesame Oil

A Lunch Rice Bowl

Swirly Cheesecake!

First Few Pieces of Cheesecake

Read More

Apple, Ricotta, Vanilla Tarts

Saturday Morning Tarts

After my morning walk in Central Park, I stopped by Whole Foods where they had a sale on red Gala apples. I purchased a few and decided to make apple, ricotta, vanilla tarts (with egg too!). I've already had two - good thing theyre not too unhealthy!

Only difficulty in making these were slicing apples as thin as possible ... and I ended up eating quite a few apples while slicing bc some slices didnt pass QC.

Read More

On Turning 27

Saturday was a busy day, and tk goodness, everything turned out well!

Some reasons why it turned out so well -

- Sarah rented a car and drove from Cornell to make it to dinner and festivities

- Marissa carried 2.5lbs of potatoes and a squash on a bus from Boston so I could have fresh CSA goodies for dinner (as per my request :-)

- JP kindly hosted everyone at his nice apt in the Lower East Side

- People showed up, including people I havent seen in a very long time

Saturday morning started out late when I got up at 7am - I had two hours of work, before I headed downtown to grocery shop for the evening before going to class. In the early afternoon, I also made strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese strawberry frosting. Around 6ish, we started cooking dinner, and for dinner we made butternut squash risotto, rosemary roasted potatoes, wild tomato salad (they were in season), honey, figs and ricotta bruschetta and strawberry on strawberry cupcakes! We've really gotten more efficient at food making and the food was all ready to be eaten by the time guests arrived at 8pm -

My Cooking Friends, We Have The Most Amusing Convos

Dinner Food Pics (Minus the Risotto!)

A Dinner Party in the Lower East Side

Supporting the Happily Fed Look

Following dinner, we walked to Pegu club on W Houston and W Broadway. The night began with a bottle of champagne (not my idea, but how nice!) - and it was so great to see everyone. The evening ended with eating pizza at two places, and catching up with Sarah (my favorite). Below are some more pics from the evening.

Some Party Pics

Thanks to everyone for making it so special! Y

Read More

Labor Day Weekend: Northern California

Here's the real photo update from the weekend. It was great catching up with family, and being able to squeeze in more baby Evan time. I love him!

Bud and I bonded on Friday (Brother Sister Day), we walked 8-10 miles and worked out for 1.5 hrs before lunching at the Ferry Building (Delica) with Rmy. Our conversation ranged from random trivia to future aspirations to other random tidbits. He's always going to be my favorite, and I cant wait to see him again hopefully during liberty weekend in November.

The weekend also featured lots of food (as per usual). I made 24 egg tarts, mostly because I made the first batch way too crusty. The second batch turned out much better, and the crust tasted like butter cookies. We ordered in lots of sushi on Sunday from Hotaru, which I liked a lot (esp their snow crab roll topped over wakame salad).

Sightings from Walk from Financial District to Marina (Top to Bottom, L-R): Heart in Union Square, Zarzuela Restaurant, Powell Street Cable Car, View from Nob Hill, Fella Street, Bay Bridge, Russian Hill and Marina

Bud and Me, Post Walk

Holding Evan

Self Snapshot

Sleepy Baby

Taken in Evan's Room (my old sleeping qtrs)

Egg Tarts

Read More

Weekend Meals Planned

Lots of food this weekend -

On Saturday, made din with Nora and her mentee, Tasmin - she's very mature for a 13 year old, and I was definitely impressed by how well read she is - I had a lot of fun meeting and chatting with her throughout the evening. At 13, she's already so goal-oriented and mature!

On Sunday, had brunchfest at JP's in the Lower East Side ... it was a large group of eight, and we served Mexican pizzas a la Taco Bel style. Conversation and food turned out well, but clean up turned out to be not so fun (not surprisingly).

Salmon Sliders for Dinner

Boston Cream Cupcakes

Mentee Fun!

Mexican Pizza, Pecan Pie, and Beets with Cheese!

Read More