The Getting There

I know it seems like I got engaged and just forgot about you all.



This is not the case. It is the #1 drawback to having a regular blog: entry guilt. When I fail to post a new entry at least once a week, a sense of anxiety creeps in. I have been feeling guilty and shameful for seemingly abandoning my blog for the first time in a year and a half. However, this sense of anxiety, guilt and shame was trumped by the only thing that has the power to trump my desire to cook and write about it: pilot season. Remember? I told you all about it a few years ago in this post.

This was the busiest one yet, and my life has been JELLO for the past month and a half. I have not cooked a single thing that entire time, but even if I had, there would have been no time to write about it. I am pathetically making my way back into almost a normal lifestyle (although things are still quite busy), and that includes this.



It was the birthday of my dear friend, Sara, and I wanted to make her something special for this debut back into the world of recipes.

I realized that we are entering the stage of life where we may still look forward to birthday parties (a chance to spend time with friends and eat yummy sweets), but we no longer look forward to birthdays. It may sound ridiculous coming from someone my age, but we fear becoming older. It is not the wrinkles or the gray hairs that being to pop up every now and then (although that stuff sucks on it's own); it is the quarter-life crisis, this in-between stage where you may not be where you pictured yourself ending up as an adult whether it be career, family, spiritual-life or finances. As kids, when we dreamed of what we would be when we grew up, we completely neglected to consider this step of actually giving ourselves the opportunity to get there. It is a time in life that few people really anticipate: the getting there.

Sometimes I find myself getting impatient, wanting to rush through this stage of life towards a more settled and secure future. However, I have come to appreciate this time to soak in all of my twenties have to offer, to gain new experiences, make new friends and continue to develop old friendships. These experiences give me perspective for the future and these friendships get me through the experiences. See how that works?

I made these cookie cupcakes for Sara's birthday because she is my friend and has helped me through many an experience since I have known her. She loves to bake and is super at it. You can visit her blog, Lovely Clear and Sweet for her great recipes. I, on the other hand, tend to perform poorly in this arena. I wanted to ease back into making more new recipes with something simple, yet original. I think these were just the thing for a simple sweet treat.



Peanut Butter Cookie Cupcakes with Chocolate Chip Frosting

1 bag of mini chocolate chips
1/2 c crushed peanuts
your favorite peanut butter cookie recipe (you can really do this with any cookie recipe)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Drop cookie dough balls into greased cupcake pan
Bake for about 13-15 minutes (until the tops begin to brown.
When the cookies are still hot and in the pan, sprinkle chocolate chips generously over the top of each.
You can let them melt and spread the chocolate around like frosting or you can leave the chocolate chips in tact for a textured look.
Sprinkle some crushed peanuts over the top, and pop the cookies out of the cupcake pan once they have cooled off a bit.

THE Cookie

It's the season for milk n' cookies.



I'll have to admit I thought my milk n' cookies and pizza party days were behind me. But I am glad to report that adults have pizza parties too. And grown ups besides Santa Cause can enjoy milk and cookies.



My boss had the wonderfully retro idea of having an office pizza party to celebrate the holidays. I decided this was the perfect opportunity to get back on the wagon and try my hand at baking again. You see, I have been failing miserably lately, and I thought that if I ended up botching yet another cookie recipe, at least there would be pizza around to comfort any disappointed individuals.

I refuse to be one of those "I-am terrible-at-baking" people. A wise friend of mine once expressed his disdain for this sort of complacent, self-aware-of-my-faults attitude. Of course, his disdain lies more in character flaws like "I-am-selfish-so-sue-me" or "I-am-always-late-so-just-learn-to-expect-it-people" and less in things like "I-have-no-patience-for-baking" or "I-use-too-many-hyphens-when-I-write-blogs".

However, as an exploratory recipe-blogger I feel a sense of responsibility to try things with which I may be uncomfortable, particularly because I may demand you do the same at times. This "we're all in it together" mentality is the message of this blog.

I have wanted to try the NY Times recipe for a while now (which was all the craze a few years ago). However, that recipe requires you to refrigerate the dough at least 24 hours. I hardly have the patience for baking; waiting at least 24 hours to bake the dough is out of the question. I found a recipe that claimed to be the "last chocolate chip cookie recipe you will ever need" and did not require the 24 hour chilling period. The recipe comes from Ashley Rodriguez of the popular food blog, Not Without Salt . I decided to give it a try and follow the recipe exactly as is. The only thing I changed was to use already chunked chocolate (high quality) instead of chopping my own. Ashley explains in her post that chocolate chips have a waxy texture that makes them cute and pretty, but does not do so well in the taste department. The chunks really were better than chips, and I bet a great quality chocolate bar broken up would be even BETTER! The tiny pinch of sea salt on each cookie was such a great touch too. I truly have found the last chocolate chip cookie recipe I will ever need.



I know that if I can make great cookies, anyone can. It seems this is a fool-proof recipe if I ever saw one. Just follow the directions exactly. The cookies turned out perfectly. They were thick with just the right texture: soft/chewy on the inside with a nice soft crusty outside. I do not like the flat greasy/chewy kind of chocolate chip cookie because the cookie does not absorb the milk the way these could. Sometimes it pays off to take risks and attack your flaws full force.



The party was a success as well! A great group showed up, and it was really nice to just relax and spend time with the people I work with or at least along side of every day. I am including a couple pictures of the office here. It is such a great space, and my boss has it decorated so nicely. My camera doesn't work very well without tons of natural light so these pictures don't even do it justice; most pictures of the attendees were just too blurry to post.

Main room:


My desk:


PTP (Personal Trainer Patrick) judging all the cookie and pizza eaters as he offers a tangerine instead:


The guardians of the pizza:


THE Chocolate Chip Cookie

(recipe from Not Without Salt, a food blog)

2 sticks butter
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup Turbinado sugar (sugar in the raw)
1 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
3 1/2 cup All Purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 lb. chocolate (use the best quality chocolate you can afford. With a serrated knife cut chocolate chunks roughly 1/2 inch)

Cream the butter and the sugars until light. Scrape down the side of the bowl. Continue mixing while adding the eggs one at time. Make sure each egg is incorporated before adding the next. Add the vanilla. Scrape down the bowl with a spatula. Combine the flour, soda and salt in another bowl. With a whisk, stir to combine. With the machine on low, slowly add the flour. Mix until just combined, taking care not to over mix. With a spatula fold in the chocolate.
If you so choose, and I do recommend that you do, sprinkle a very fine dusting of good quality sea salt. Fleur de Sel or Murray River Pink Salt are my recommendations.
Bake at 360* for 12 minutes. They should be lightly golden on the outside but still look gooey on the inside.

PS - I made my trusty Cakie recipe as well. This time, I tried Red Velvet cake mix and added white chocolate chips. You just need to follow the original recipe and use white chocolate chips instead of regular chocolate chips or M&M's. It was fantastic (aside from the stains it left on my hands). I failed to get a great picture, but you get the idea here.

Change Up: Brunch Club October

Some things never change; more things do.



October brunch was at Sube's last year. We feasted on a silly amount of food, and then we carved pumpkins. There were mounds of orange goop in large bowls on the table as each of us carved our own pumpkins with an unnecessary level of concentration. This year was to be a repeat. Sube was hosting again, and brunch was to be followed by the carving of pumpkins.

While I would call the brunch another wonderful brunch success, there was an epic pumpkin carving fail. I believe Andace brought one small pumpkin. Stanley tried to eat the stem, but gave up probably once he realized it tasted like a tree. Once brunch was cleared from the table, the pumpkin tools were brought out, but no one moved. We continued our amusing conversation about what horror movie character Sue should be for Halloween at the school where she teaches and the fact that she and Natalie's dad bears a strong resemblance (at least in his facebook picture) to US House Minority Leader, John Boehner. To illustrate, two of the three pictures below are the real John Boehner; one is Sue and Natalie's dad:





Anyway, we all were so distracted by good food and conversation that the single small innocent pumpkin was spared.

Besides the absence of pumpkin carving, there are quite a few things that have changed just since the last October Brunch (2009), hosted by Sube:

*Candace and Andy tied the knot in a backyard ceremony at Andy's parents' Canadian home.
*Zach and I adopted our Greyhound, Stanley and moved into a new, much bigger apartment and are each in different jobs.
*Elliott moved to LA and got a cool new job.
*Emily and Rob got engaged!
*Natalie moved into a great Loz Feliz Apartment on her own and seems to have made more friends than people I have even met in LA.
*Brian got a great job, and Sue gave us the "two year warning" that babies would be on the way!
*Even though Three-Hole-Punch (Sube's little dog) gained weight since last year, she looks smaller to me now that I am used to Stanley.

If you ask me, these are all great changes. This stage of life is so fascinating to me. Change is not only rapid, it is significant. People are going from boyfriend/girlfriend to husband/wife, jobs that will direct the course of our careers are won/lost/quit; it is like life on steroids because the decisions we make at this stage of life seem to carry more weight than ever before, laying the groundwork for our adult lives.

Zach and I adopted Stanley the Greyhound, it was strange to think that the decision would have a huge effect on my life for about the next ten years. I think it is important to take big decisions seriously, but it is just as important to be be able to break them down into manageable terms. We cannot always know exactly where the decisions we make will take us or what the consequences might turn out to be. It helps me to think of big choices in terms of "day by day". Each day, I will choose to take on the consequences (good or bad) of the decisions that have led me to that point (big or small). I guess a huge decision is simply made up of a bunch of small ones.

With all the decision-making and changes taking place, the constants become increasingly important. I am really grateful for the consistency of something like monthly brunch club but more so for the relationships that led to it in the first place.

Maybe you are not in this very scarily exciting time of your life, and you could use some change! If that is the case (and even if not because who really cares if their food changes as long as it is delicious), you may consider trying the following recipe from the hugely popular baking blog, Bakerella. Here, she comes up with the most creative little treasures, pancakes in the form of mini-muffins...Puffins. Brilliant! They are dip-able/dunk-able (however you prefer to put it) little pancakes: dip in syrup and eat with your hands. You can make them in any variety of pancake; I went with blueberry puffins and chocolate chip puffins.



Chocolate Chip Puffins

(Recipe from Bakerella, makes 24)

1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 egg
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips (I did half blueberry/half chocolate chip so I used 1/4 C chocolate chips and 1/4 C fresh blueberries)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar in a medium bowl. Sift together with a wire whisk.
In another bowl, stir buttermilk, egg, maple syrup and melted butter until just combined.
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir with a spoon until combined.
Stir in chocolate chips. Reserve a few chips to sprinkle on the tops.
Bake for 8-9 minutes.

Makes 24 mini pancake muffins.

Let cool slightly and remove from the pan. You may need to use a toothpick around the edges to separate the pancake muffins from the pan.

Serve immediately with warmed butter if you like or even just with maple syrup.

COMING SOON: I made another dish for brunch that was potentially my favorite dish I have ever contributed to the feast. For a sneak peak, check out the yellow thing with bits of green in it on the bottom of my plate (I apologize for the horrible picture)...

All Out: Christmas 2009

"If you're gonna go, go all the way".



Of course, that was the first thing Aunt Janet said when we started making the arroz con gandules on Christmas Eve, but I think that statement can be applied here as well.



This was, no doubt, the most hectic Christmas this family has ever seen. If you know me, you know that by "hectic" I mean a blast. I love a crazy mess every now and then, especially if it means I am surrounded by people I love. Christmas Day was relatively quiet compared to the days surrounding it. The roster consisted of my mom, dad, brother, sister-in-law, two nieces, uncle, uncle's girlfriend and me. We took our time getting to the presents in the morning as we enjoyed this impromptu little spread:



I get nostalgic this time of year. Here are a couple things I was reminded of this time around:

Christmas 1992: My big brother, Brian and Uncle John "hosting" their own sports talk show in front of the video camera. I was in charge of the intro music (for the show opening and coming back from the fake commercial breaks), and my dad would play the voice of "the callers" phoning in to ask their controversial questions about players, coaches and other sports drama.

We went all out.

Christmas 1993: My 3rd grade class memorized and recited the Christmas story from the book of Luke. I remember we would tackle about two verses at a time. At the end of each week, there was a free reading time (if you were really good, you got to sit on a special bean bag chair). Each student was called to the teacher's desk individually to recite the verses for that week from memory. This was done in every 3rd grade classroom so that at the end of the quarter, right before the holiday, the entire 3rd grade class stood in front of the whole school to recite the 20 verses:

Luke 2:1-20
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom his favor rests!” When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

We went all out.



So why wouldn't this family go all out when it comes to the food at Christmas? I know a lot of people cut back on gifts and spending this year for obvious reasons. Two things I love about food is that it is relatively cheap, and it promotes togetherness. There is really nothing I love more than coming around the table with great people to share a meal. Uncle John and his girlfriend, Connie, were gracious enough to bring a delicious ham from the store that is their new obsession: Costco. We all contributed to the table with dishes including: Katie's spinach and artichoke casserole (from a friend's recipe), dad's green bean casserole, Publix's dinner rolls, my stuffed jalepenos wrapped in bacon and goat cheese mashed potatoes and Uncle John's sangria (recipes soon to come).

Everything was delicious, but more importantly, it was really special to have the opportunity to share the meal with some of my favorite people.

Dessert. There is a lot of pressure to finish off a great meal with a delightful dessert dish. The Costco crew brought an extra large pecan pie which I will continue to enjoy for the next few days. However, I wanted to try my hand at another cake. In an attempt to counter the state of the economy, I aimed at making the richest cake possible. I found a recipe for a dark chocolate cake that included ingredients like bailey's liqueur, dark chocolate chips, chocolate pudding and sour cream.



I went all out.

Rich Even When You're Not Chocolate Cake

(recipe from All Recipes)

1 package dark chocolate cake mix
1 package instant chocolate pudding mix (about 4 oz)
16 oz sour cream
3 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup baileys liqueur
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease a 10 inch bundt pan, and lightly dust with cocoa powder.
Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another (large bowl); whisk the contents of each bowl.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients little by little, mixing in thoroughly.
Beat until ingredients are well blended.
Fold in the chocolate chips to the thick batter.
Scoop the batter into the bundt pan.
Bake for 1 hour.
Cool for 10 minutes in the pan.
Turn the cake out onto a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before serving (even though we ate it warm).
Sprinkle powdered sugar on top of the cake using a sifter to make it pretty.



Tip: A lot of people on the message boards for this recipe on its original post recommend using andes mint chips in place of the semisweet chocolate chips and creme de menthe instead of baileys for a mint chocolate cake. Other suggested adaptations include using raspberry or orange liqueur. Be creative.

Easy as Pie

Easy as pie; I don't know what this means. There are things in life easier than pie. There are certainly things easier to bake than pie, like break-and-bake cookies. It must refer to the ease one would have in convincing me to eat this:



The questions is not whether or not you are a chocolate person. The questions is what kind of chocolate person are you: nuts-n-chocolate, mint chocolate, fruit and chocolate, chocolate-coated caramel, chocolate and coconut, dark, white...shall I go on? As for me, I am usually a minty kind of girl...york peppermint patties...junior mints...there are some exceptions:



Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie.

I saw those words all in the same recipe title, and I had to have it. This recipe was a finalist this year in the Good Morning America "Best Slice" contest. I have always been drawn towards deserts that are spiked with a type of alcohol that I would never drink on its own. The restaurant where I used to work served a warm chocolate bread pudding in a hot bourbon sauce. My Aunt Janet's rum cake is always something to look forward to every Christmas.

This was no exception. It was a hit at Thanksgiving dinner (i.e. Zach and I both liked it and said "mmmmmm"), but it was an even bigger hit the next day after it had spent the night in the cold harsh conditions of the refrigerator. Some friends of ours came to spend the rest of Thanksgiving weekend with us at the Palm Springs house-of-my-dreams where we were staying. I served up some of that pie, and I got some great quotes followed by "and you can quote me." I am sorry to say I do not remember those quotes, but maybe you can come up with your own when you make this because you definitely should. It is so easy, the first pie I have ever made. I did not make the crust myself even though there is a recipe for it. I thought the pie would be much more difficult to make and I didn't want to give myself so much room for error. Marie Calendars makes an amazing frozen pie crust (it come in a pie tin ready to go with instructions on what to do to make any type of pie).

You Can Quote Me Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie

(Recipe from Michele's Pies in Norwalk, Connecticut)

10" piecrust (I used frozen Marie Calendars)
3 large eggs, room temperature
¾ cup sugar
1 ¼ cups dark corn syrup
½ tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons bourbon (the recipe calls for 1...I added extra)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and kept warm
1 ½ cup chopped pecans
¾ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350
Place the eggs, sugar, corn syrup, vanilla and Bourbon in a bowl and mix. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl at least two times while mixing. Add the warm butter. Mix well. Combine the pecans and chocolate chips and sprinkle them on the bottom of the pie shell.



Pour the filling over the nuts and chips.
Place the pie on the baking sheet on the bottom shelf of the 350 degree oven and bake it for 30 minutes. The edges of the filling will rise, but the middle will still be a little bouncy. However, the pie will continue to bake after it is removed from the oven. To set up and have it firm enough to slice, give the pie 2 to 3 hours of cooling at room temperature, or a half hour of cooling at room temperature and an hour in the refrigerator.

Pie Crust:
2 cups flour
1 Tsp salt
½ cup Crisco

Mix flour and salt together. Then add the Crisco. Mix gently until crumbly. Add 1 Tbls. of icewater at a time. Mix after each addition. Mix until forms a ball. Chill dough ½ hour before rolling.

Something's Missing

It is sometimes really difficult to tell when something is missing. I remember those little picture games growing up where you had to compare two photographs and figure out what is different between the them. Or sometimes a person is just off, and it is hard to explain exactly why. The following story is not a case of this. It is very clear what this person is missing, his dignity.

I have this friend...of a friend of a friend of a friend. It is not necessarily that far removed, but I am trying to protect this person's identity as to not cause irreparable damage to his reputation and whatever self-respect he may have left. Anyway, this young man moved to New York City after graduating college and secured a job at a large company. This person moved up in the company after a relatively short time into an administrative assistant type position. While the rest of the country was mid-downward spiral into the economy's toilet, this guy was on the way up in the world. Apparently, the pressure of a steady, paying, and coveted job was too much for him to handle; he decided he needed to quit. Two weeks? Phone call? Letter of resignation? All not necessary to this guy. He thought things would be easier to just not go in one day...and then the next day and then the next. Yes, that's right...he would just not show up to work ever again. This may have seemed like a good idea for a little while, but not for long. This young man began to feel like he made a terrible mistake by not informing his employer of his intentions to quit his job. He did what any well-raised boy would do; he called his mama. The details here are fuzzy, but it does not even matter how this came about. All that you need to know is that this guy's mom called his boss and quit for him.

Yes, hello Mr. Boss, this is (we'll call him) Henry's mother. I would like to thank you for all you have done for my son. However, I would like to take this opportunity to inform you we will not be requiring your employment beyond this point. If you should have any questions, please do not hesitate to continue wondering. But I will not be answering anything further at this time. That will be all. Thank you.

Sometimes it is easy to tell what is missing, but when it come to cooking, that is not always the case. I made these cookies for the first time by the recipe exactly. They are delicious and unique. I cannot imagine anyone not enjoying them either way. However, I felt like something was missing. They tasted delicious. They were sweet, nutty, and flavorful. It was the texture that seemed off to me. Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are usually soft and chewy, and these did not have a chewy texture. They were thick, but crispy and very sweet (likely because of the coconut). I like them, and I would even consider making them this way again, but I wanted to experiment. The original recipe did not call for an egg so I tried making them again, just adding an egg. The cookies with the egg were softer, less sweet, and thicker almost more of a muffin-type texture). Both versions were great. The combination of ingredients here go so well together, and I would recommend baking them whichever way sounds more appetizing to you. I will likely continue experimenting with this one and update if necessary.



Mamma's Boy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

(adapted from an Everybody Likes Sandwiches recipe)

1 C butter
1 C brown sugar, lightly packed
1 t baking soda
1/4 C hot water
1 large egg (optional)
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 C flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 C oats
1/2 C dried coconut
2 C semi sweet chocolate chips (if you want to add walnuts, mix some crushed walnuts in with the chocolate chips to equal 2 cups)

In a small bowl, beat the egg. Then add the vanilla.
In a large bowl combine butter and sugar with an electric mixer and then slowly add the egg mixture.
Dissolve the baking soda in the hot water and add to the butter and egg mixture.
In a medium bowl, combine all the dry ingredients (except for the chocolate chips and nuts)
Slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter and egg mixture, stirring well.
Add the chocolate chips (and walnuts if desired).
Drop dough onto a greased cookie sheet. This should make about 24 medium sized cookies. I don't like them to be too small.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 12-15 minutes.