Happy New Year

With all the veggie, carb, butter and sugar, I wish you all a happy new year! 

Whoopie Pies - The Daring Baker Challenge December 2013

The December Daring Bakers' Challenge had us all cheering - the lovely and talented Bourbonnatrix of Bourbonnatrix Bakes was our hostess and challenged us to make fun, delicious and creative whoopie pies! Delicious little cake-like cookies sandwiching luscious filling in any flavors we chose... What else is there to say but "Whoopie!"

This was the first time I had and, obviously made, whoopie pies.I chose the chocolate whoopie pies, with greek yogurt and honey frosting for filling. The frosting was perfectly tangy for my taste, but too runny for its intended purpose. O well. I just opened the pie, drip more yogurt on top and ate it Oreo style! Perfect!!

Thank you, Bourbonnatrix for a fun, fun, fun challenge!

Anxious, anxious ... Taking a peek off the oven.

Ready to eat!

Happy Thanksgivukkah

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Chanukah!

We were planning on eating barbeque for Thanksgiving when a visit to Annie's Eats inspired me to roast turkey breast, make green bean casserole from scratch and bake some honey rolls. Seem easy enough to cook for four, and so it was. Thank you, Annie!

I was also going to buy pie, when I heard Chef Matthew Raiford talk about his Nana's sweet potato pie on NPR. 

So indeed the universe is telling me to cook for thanksgiving. 

The Mushroom gravy recipe is from Splendid Table. (Yea, yea ... I listen to too much NPR.)

So here goes. My first home-cooked thanksgiving meal; except for the pie shell (after making sfogliatelle last week, I don't want to see a rolling pin for another month at least), and  the french fried onion (no mood to deep fry shallots today.)  All devoured within 20 minutes! With just enough left over for light lunch tomorrow. 

Sfogliatelle - The Daring Baker Challenge November 2013

Sandie of the lovely blog, Crumbs of Love, was our November hostess. Sandie challenged us to make a traditional Italian dessert, along with its American version – Sfogliatelle (or better known in the US – lobster tails!) The flakey, 1000 layers of super thin dough, shaped into a horn and filled with a scrumptious filling. Così buono!

O my ...  and a challenge it was!

I made the ricotta cheese and candied orange peel, for the first time ever. The Sfogliatelle Frolle came out OK, but for someone with my (lack of) patience, making the Ricci without a pasta maker was the most challenging part.I will definitely try making the ricci again, hopefully with a better result.

Thank you, Sandie and the daring bakers for the challenge and encouragement!

Ricotta, Candied Orange Peel, Ricotta-Semolina Filling

Sfogliatelle Frolle and Ricci.

PB and J Winter

Yeah. It's definitely not summer anymore.

Pastel De Tres Leches - The Daring Baker Challenge September 2013

Inma was our Sept. 2013 Daring Bakers’ hostess and WOW did she bring us
something decadent and delicious! Pastel de Tres Leches or Three Milk Cake, creamy yet airy, super moist but not soggy.. just plain delish!

What can I say ... delish it is! Thank you, Inma. 

I actually didn't know until this challenge that the '3 milks' were infused into the baked cake. I thought it was part of the batter. Duh. 

Since this is the first time I tried making a tres leches, I made the plain sponge cake, plain whipping cream frosting. I barely sweeten the cream to balance the sweetness of the cake. Yum yum yum.

Gnocchi - The Daring Cook Challenge September 2013

Todd, who is The Daring Kitchen’s AWESOME webmaster and an amazing cook, is our September Daring Cooks’ host! Todd challenged us to make light and fluffy potato Gnocchi and encouraged us to flavor the lil pillows of goodness and go wild with a sauce to top them with!

PB and J weren't too keen on the gnocchi served with a choice of cilantro pesto and marinara for lunch.
(I know, it wasn't too appetizing on the picture either, but "I" love the cilantro pesto.)

I tossed the left over gnocchi in olive oil, onion and shrimp for dinner and that was a bigger hit with the boys, especially PB. 

It's a fulfilling challenge overall. Thank you, Todd!

Good Bye Summer

This blog has served its (original) intended purpose, summer vacation was over.
We survived the first week of school!

Post tally:
 J = 2
Mama =15

Ha! 

America the Beautiful - It's All About the Altitude!

Today was the first day of school, but our hearts were still at the mountain in Colorado.

 Rocky Mountains: Our first national park visit

 Pikes Peak: Up, up, up, to America the Beautiful

Lake Estes: If you stick your tongue out, the fish will come

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo: Mama + Daddy + J + PB =  1 adult male gorilla

J In the Kitchen: Chocolate Chips Scone

Easy Peasy Chocolate Chips Scone

mix mix mix ...

then magic ...

PB and J Japanese Dessert Adventure

Yuzu Balls and Green Tea Tiramisu for dessert at Soto Japanese Restaurant.

"Really? We should wait 3-5 minutes for best taste? Oh well, OK. We'll start with the green tea tiramisu."

"Well? Has it been at least 3 minutes? What?! No?"

 "Seriously, how much longer?"

"Now we're talking!"

Cha Siu Bao - The Daring Baker Challenge July 2013

Well, this blog is supposed to be the boys' project for the summer but J lost interest fast. (Or he'd ask me to post for him!) So when I joined The Daring Kitchen last month I decided to use this blog. Here's my first completed challenge.

For July 2013 Daring Bakers challenge, we are allowed to choose from any of the past challenges. At J's urging, I made Cha Siu Bao, Chinese Barbeque Pork buns, a challenge  from December 2011. He was so persuasive I don't even remember what my original choice was. 

The buns are one of J's favorite at dim sum. He can eat a whole serving of 3 buns if we let him. Growing boys are expensive to raise. 

Anyway, they came out just OK. Next time I think I'll adjust the oven temperature down or reduce the baking time by 2-3 minutes or let the dough rise a little longer. Hindsight, hindsight ....

I skipped the red food coloring for the filling, made a red bean paste filling for myself, and used the leftover pork filling for chow-mien. Overall, time well spent!

Portuguese Sweet Bread

This reminds me of "Roti Sobek" from "Roti Go". One of my childhood favorite.
 Recipe from King Arthur's Website.

Mam/Pap,
If you are reading this: Ingat waktu Jun2 cacar air, Mam/Pap pulang dari toko suka beli-in roti sobek coklat.

Pancake and Science Day

Yesterday started with a stack of pancakes for breakfast. Then PB and Mama checked out some science experiments from www.sciencebob.com for our afternoon no-screen activity.

We decided to pick the not-too-messy physics stuff today. The chemistry stuff - lava and volcanoes - will have to wait. 

1. The Incredible Hoop Glider, which glided, and still does today, so very gracefully.
2. The Lincoln High Dive (I knew that Gerber jar would be useful one day), which caused euphoria every time the penny dropped into the jar.
3. The Straw Duck Call , which was totally fun, but annoying after non-stop calling (not pictured for that very reason. Yes, there's a vindictive side of me.)

Independence Day Dinner

Happy 4th of July!

What could be more American than a burger and red, white and blue dessert (Berry Shortcakes courtesy Annie's Eats)? 

I might have a chance of making PB a vegetarian yet. He asked for a black bean patty for our next burger, but he looooves the buns.

Everybody's favorite part of dessert? The strawberry topping. The boys were scooping it straight out of the bowl. 

Update: J reviewed this post and asked me to mention that the whipped cream was as popular straight-off-the-bowl as the strawberries.

Maple Walnut Bread: J in the Kitchen

Maple Walnut Bread. For snack at tennis camp tomorrow. 
Thank you, Sprinkle Bakes.

This week's reading list

DK's The Economics Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained, is what J's reading this week. He picked it from the library himself, along with 2 fictions. He has been re-hashing what he read to me, sounding like an Econ Professor with his adorable, if sometime piercing, early adolescent voice.

PB's starting to read longer chapter book. Cam Jansen: The Scary Snake Mystery.

Father's Day Snack: Southwestern Egg Rolls

Southwestern Egg Rolls from Annie's Eats. We didn't use green chile and substituted cilantro for green onion. 

Mom didn't get any egg rolls at dim sum last week because they didn't have any vegetarian rolls. So these are great substitute. 

Black beans. Check. Corns. Check. Yummy. Check. They burst a little, but still tasted good.We'll know not to pack them too tightly next time.

Grilled Cheese ... on "inside out" buns

PB's grilled cheese from Elevation Burger. The buns were inside out, backward, crust-side in, or whatever the right term was. Seriously.

I am... The Green Lamp!

"Lanterns are so last century.
I am... the Green Lamp!"
-John Smith

"In darkest day, in brightest night,
No gangsters, hoodlums, pickpockets, terrorists, burglars, lawbreakers, evil dictators, racist fanatics, supervillans, serial(cereal) killers, kingpins, greedy business owners, nature destroyers, human rights violators, etcetera shall escape my sight.
Let those who worship gangsters, hoodlums, pickpockets, terrorists, burglars, lawbreakers, evil dictators, racist fanatics, supervillans, serial(cereal) killers, kingpins, greedy business owners, nature destroyers, human rights violators, and etcetera's might

Beware my power--Green Lamp's light!

Koala

Messed with a photo editor for a little while.  Heh heh. This has been a very "productive" summer.  

J in the Kitchen: Penne ala Betsy

We didn't have penne in the pantry, so shell pasta will have to do.
This is a recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks.

Garlic, onion, chicken broth, tomato sauce, cream, and shrimps. Lots of shrimps!
Mom did the chopping, prep, and pre-cooking the shrimps, but J did the rest of mixing and stirring. 

Not bad. 

PB in the Kitchen: Shortbread Cookies

It’s time to use the new stand mixer!  PB loved that he got to use the new set of cookie cutters and put the sprinkles on the shortbread. The dough has no egg, so he got to eat some too. 

Of course the baked ones are yummier. Couldn't even wait until they are cool.

Dozens of cookies to share.

J in the Kitchen: Rice and Salmon

At 12, J thinks he’s old enough to stay home by himself for at least a couple of hours at a time. Doesn’t that mean he’s also old enough to learn how to feed himself with something other than peanut butter and jelly or Nutella sandwich?

Plain rice. J got the 1:2 rice-water ratio down pat.

 

Salmon, salt, pepper.  375 degree in the oven. Easy peasy. 

Maybe lower temperature next time. We’ll work on the appeal factor later but this is quite edible and delicious.

What are we doing this summer?

What are we doing this summer?

There's 86 days of summer vacation this year

School will come along before you know it
So the annual problem for PB, J and Mom
Is finding a good way to spend it

Like maybe, read a hundred of books
Or clean up the Legos in the play room

Getting re-acquainted with Wii and Playstation
Or go to one camp or another

Taking a road trip, play tennis and swim
Learn to cook, at least to boil eggs and make rice in the rice cooker

So Grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins across the country and continent
Stick with us, 'cause PB and J will try to do it all

(Inspired by theme song from Phineas and Ferb)