a very good sign

what are friends for? well, among many good things, taking pictures of delicious baked goods. delicious auspicious baked goods, might i add, given the timing of this shot.

could it be...bread baked in the shape of a turtle?! found nowhere but in my favorite city (read my ode to my favorite city here).

thank you feng(a) and grant. this is most definitely a sign that 2006 will be thoroughly fulfilling, happy, and full of baked surprises.

big thick waffles

for breakfast...at noon.



here is what i have learned. you can make your own baking powder from baking soda and cream of tartar, in a ratio of about 2:1. i guess cream of tartar acts as an acid. baking soda alone could work, but you would need to have something else in the mixture (like fruit or chocolate) to start the reaction. if you want to make authentic Belgian waffles, however, you need to use yeast, and you also need to seriously whip your egg whites. i have attempted Belgian waffles a number of times before, but i have yet to come across a recipe that delivers the same crispy, crumbly, buttery sweet waffle that I held in a square of wax paper walking over the bridges of Bruges. (please send me your secret if you have found it! i promise not to bake and tell. :)

anyhow, this is why i love being at home: i love being at home because i generally spend the first 60% of my day in my flannel pjs (back from high school), and inevitably around noon my dad will snap out of his sleepiness, wish me a good morning, and say, "hey - is that a new dress?"

merry week

happy holidays.

sunday: fortune cookies for the first annual dsg cookie swap. martha stewart's recipe.

it took me hours to come up with fortunes for everyone. sean got my favorite: "Over the next 10 minutes you will grow even better looking." btw - my coworkers are phenomenal bakers. there seems to be a high positive correlation between design strategability and bakingprowess.


tuesday: butternut squash soup with cardamom, nutmeg, & cinnamon. my ideal was to make an onion foccacia to go with it but i was weak from hunger. no pix.



saturday (xmas eve): creme brulee infused with ginger and mint (the custards are cooking as i type!). mama will take care of the japanese curry. baba is setting up chinese hot pot (huo guo). i will also make braised root veggies, which i realize, is basically the western version of curry. (p.s. finally found russo's in watertown - visit for the produce experience of your life...in the burbs of boston. http://www.arusso.com/)

anyway...happy holidays. this is the first year i haven't listened to mariah carey's "all i want for christmas" on repeat for hours. have i entered a new stage in my life?? :)

belated potato

it's december 4 and i still haven't posted about thanksgiving's sweet potato cake with cream cheese frosting! how will i ever become world famous baking blogger if i keep this up??

well brief summary: this was sincerely the BIGGEST CAKE i have ever made in my life. in addition to the artful mix of brown sugar, autumn spices, and sweet potato, and dense moistness of the crumb, i honestly do love this cake for its sheer weight and size. the only thing i regret is not overdoing the decoration to complement the overall theme of excessiveness. lack of planning, adequate support in the kitchen, and patience led me to shirk on the decorating (planning = didn't purchase any food coloring, but then again it didn't seem right piping little yams on top of the white cream cheese frosting anyway; adequate support = my dad threw away the toasted walnuts I had reserved for dotting the top of the cake; patience = i wanted to eat it).

anyway, the actual reason why i decided to post is to reflect upon my friday morning. yes, i have officially had the worst morning of my life! already! at age 24.5! i started the day at a bleary 7 am, pulling myself out of bed to go running. a half mile out, it started snowing, and my ears began to ring and scream in pain. i hurt all over (this quitting the gym thing has not done me well on the whole physical fitness thing), tripped and tumbled onto dirt and gravel. i skinned my knee. i was too numb to swear.

my dad needed to take my truck for the day. pulling his car out of the driveway, i took my first turn and found my pants in a pool of warmth. (no, i did not pee in my pants! gross). my honey lemon tea had spilled out of its cup holder and pooled around my lap. i drove back home, wiped down the leather, and changed my sticky pants. i decided to try a different route to work to make up for being late (ellen's way), but about 25 minutes into the commute i realized that i was lost. work was somewhere to my left, and i was still going straight, so i compulsively swung a turn. this also happened to be during a red light. within moments i was pulled over on the side of the road, frigid air and snow blowing through the open window as i waited for the cop to approach, wondering whether i should feel sorry for myself, or be grateful that if bad things were meant to happen, at least they were all condensed into a 45 minute period...and perhaps this was actually a dream? the cop requested my registration and waited as i searched desperately through my dad's glove compartment, pulling out a mess of hats, magazines, maps, receipts, and...what was this?...web print-outs on my ex-boyfriend. oh god.

i got off with a warning. and directions to work. (i love you, mr. policeman.)

but i was still very late.