Flippin’ Omelettes
Breakfast — how I love thee. But my bed fools me into loving slumber more. I hit the snooze button about ten times every morning. Getting to an office less than a mile from my house by 9 AM shouldn’t be that much of a challenge, but it truly is. I know I say this [...]
What I Can’t Live Without: Za’atar and Haloumi Cheese
It has taken me ten months, but I’ve finally stumbled upon a market that carries Haloumi cheese. Yes. Ten. Months. I’ve written about my slight integration into Arab culture before. It started with the language classes, deepened with friendships, and snowballed into a giant cultural chasm when I was sucked into a Lebanese dance performance [...]
Blueberry Muffins
Hello, world. It’s been a while, for which I apologize. Life has been hot, humid, and busy. I’m leaving my job at the federal government! It has occupied almost a year of my life, and the vast majority of my post-undergraduate career. And I’m moving into the non-profit sector, for an international development organization that [...]
Creamy Spinach Vodka Sauce and Sautéed Chicken
I spent the past few days at the beach — happily so, since Washington has proven unable to supply weather suitable to foster my addiction to running (see previous beach running entry here). It was beautiful, active, and as expected, it brought back my memories of growing up in sunny Southern California. It’s funny, really [...]
Pizza Bianca
Everyone grew up with pizza, right? Sleepovers, elementary school pizza parties, Book-its (remember those?)… pizza took up some sort of memory in American households in the 80s and 90s. After all, our parents were workaholics, and not everyone could have been blessed with home-cooked meals every single living day of their lives. It was always [...]
Fireworks Cupcakes
Fondant is surprisingly easy to make, but also surprisingly difficult to work with. It’s sticky, takes incredible clay-sculpting skills, and patience. It took me about an hour to decorate seven or eight cupcakes. This chiffon cake is also one of my favorite recipes because it’s a light, moist cake — and I tend to dislike [...]
Summer Travels
Hello world, it’s been a while. Well, blog-wise anyway. For the break in blogging and cooking sabaticle that will commence, I apologize dearly. I enjoy my time away from my government job too much, and therefore have less work stress to channel into culinary creations for all of you. Your loss is my gain, in [...]
Engagement Cupcakes
Life has been busy and exciting — and the food has been delicious, as always. Here are some cupcakes I made for a friend who just got engaged. I’ve never been a big fan of cupcakes, but she obsessed over them (and a cupcake truck in DC), so I thought I’d give a special recipe [...]
Fresh Mint Chip Ice Cream
When I first started using the ice cream maker, I was obsessed with sorbets — I don’t know why. But at the request of my friends, I switched to ice creams, starting with last month’s almond flavor. The response was extremely favorable, reaching the point at which we even ordered almond-flavored ice cream at specialty [...]
Two Balsamic Salads: One Sweet, One Savory
Summer. It’s hot. And humid. And the thought of heating up my oven seems unbearable on those hot summer days. So we opt for the easier meals in summer — salads, smoothies, fresh fruit, and so on. How can we blame ourselves? The farmers’ markets are all open, the sun is shining, and all of [...]
Waffle Iron Panini
I remember the Tanzanian breakfasts most vividly; I had never been a fan of breakfast until waking up to the beautiful setup became a part of everyday life. The fresh passionfruit juice, homemade chai tea, chapatis… just thinking about it makes me want to book a trip to Dar. Not that tracking down the people [...]
Sweet Potato Fries and a Spicy Tomato-Garlic Aioli
Summer is upon us, Washington. The day is clocking in at 90 degrees, and I may or may not have sweat my face off on my ten-minute walk to the metro stop this morning. And then, I checked into the Department, to find out that we would be having a fire drill, and needed to [...]
Almond Flavored Ice Cream
After much fluctuation, it seems that the warm weather is here to stay — I’m writing this on my balcony, after wasting my beautiful Saturday in bed, sadly, under the weather. Nothing beats having a south-facing balcony in a Dupont row house. This balcony serves as the background for most of my food photography, has [...]
Taco Night
It’s sad to say this, but until today, I haven’t eaten tacos since I left Los Angeles. I know. It’s tragic. But I ended my Mexican food drought today, at the request of my Norwegian friend and neighbor. Naturally, being skeptical of Mexican food on the East coast, I called my cooking mentor in Los [...]
Light and Airy Chocolate Waffles
When I first moved to Washington, I had no expectations — coming from the other side of the country, I really couldn’t. Honestly, I had been flown to the district one weekend over summer to interview for a job in Tampa. I purchased my one-way ticket to Washington two weeks after I returned home to [...]
Sloppy Dads, Sloppy Joes
Some of my favorite memories of childhood stem from visiting my dad after my parents split up. My parents went through a nasty divorce when I was a kid, but our dad was always the perfect cure of goofiness and a hands-off upbringing that I can attribute much of my personality to today. It also [...]
Apple Pie with a Lemon Zested Crust
Today is my roommate Jonathan’s birthday. He has expressed an interest in apple pie before… one of his favorites. But with my recent running schedule and a couple of UCLA friends visiting me in Washington this weekend, I wasn’t quite sure how plausible an entire apple pie would have been on my agenda. So last [...]