Orange, Almond, and Olive Oil Cake
There comes a time when you come to understand the red flags that your body uses to get your brain back on track. In college, pulling all nighters was no big deal. Coffee sweetened with Coke for extra caffeine? No problem. High sugar content late night drinks? Bring it on. Hung over? A Sunday morning [...]
Bourbon and Chocolate Cherries
I can’t lie to you guys. 2011 was quite the blogging fail, on my part. For the past week or so, I’ve been walking around, lounging in my house, and chatting at bars about how I needed to write something for this post.
Croissants aux Amandes
You guys. I’ve been wanting to make these croissants for months. Years. Lifetimes.
Cute Girl Discount, and a Chocolate Tart
I could probably still drive the route from my parent’s home in Los Angeles to my Santa Barbara beach houses of choice with my eyes closed. No, I wasn’t allowed to have a car while I was in college in Santa Barbara – that was a strategic move on my parents’ part in bribing [...]
Bacon… jam?
Types of jams in my life: Traffic jams. Street or shopping-related. Copier jams. Bane of my professional existence. Jammin’. A cookie rager without Ke$ha or Cee Lo? Blasphemous. Jammed. As in my schedule. I don’t have time for anything these days… And now, bacon jam. To tell the truth, I actually don’t even like bacon. Well, I [...]
Almond and Honey Granola
I never realized how beautiful my balcony floor boards are. Look! That muted wood just turns out beautifully in photos. Discovering new things in the house I’ve lived in for a year now is something I look forward to every time the seasons change. The nutty aromas that seep through walls take me back exactly [...]
Salted Caramels
I ate chicken feet today. Well, chicken foot. I only had one — but I would eat them (it) again. I was at dim sum; the food kept coming, and I really just couldn’t eat that much. I hate to admit that I was one of those little kids that hated vegetables. My parents still [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Mini Pound Cakes with Raspberry Whipped Cream
I know I’m from California, but I secretly love snow days — and I’ve had a thrilling blizzard-filled winter to kick of my life on the East Coast. Washington is currently being pelted with about three feet of snow… so beautiful! Sometimes it’s nice to have an excuse to not leave the house. Today, we [...]