Logo Happy

Alexander Wang x H&M jacquard leggings, topshop tunic, Isabel Marant sneakers

I know I said I wasn't into the logo'd pieces from the Alexander Wang x H&M but I'm kinda loving these logo happy leggings from the collaboration. With little k in preschool a few days a week, I'm finally able to work out on a regular basis so a new pair of workout leggings was a practical purchase.  Had a great thanksgiving with the family, made a truffle turkey, cauliflower mashed potatoes with turkey gravy, apple chestnut cornbread stuffing, roasted root vegetables and a terrible icebox pumpkin pie (no thanks to GOOP). These nice compression leggings were perfect for the typical overstuffed thanksgiving feast.

Happy St Patty's Day!

We made our traditional corned beef and cabbage St Patrick's Day meal a little early over the weekend this year as K is traveling for work today. It was tasty as usual; picked up about 5 lbs of flat cut corned beef brisket from Pavilions this year along with a few pounds of organic carrots, cabbage and potatoes and of course Guinness! Followed pretty much the same recipe as previous times, although I cooked the veggies a little longer since we had toddlers dining with us. Little k loved everything (except potatoes which she never likes). A true 1/4 irish baby! It was a little bit saltier than previous times, should have soaked it in cold water like we did the first time.

Perfect Pancakes

So I have finally found the perfect pancake recipe: sour cream pancakes via smitten kitchen via pioneer woman cooks. I've tried all sorts of recipes: traditional buttermilk, whole wheat, yogurt, with fruit inside, but this is my favorite. Airy and light on the inside, buttery golden with a little crisp on the outside, with a hint of tangy sweetness. So good you can eat them on their own (a la little k) or piled high with fruit and maple syrup. The batter is just the right consistency, something I've struggled with in other recipes, so that it spreads when ladled onto the pan but isn't too runny, making the perfect round pancakes with just the right thickness. I also like keeping the fruit separate from the pancakes, often putting fruit into the pancakes messes with the consistency and I have trouble cooking them perfectly. Only change I made to the recipes is using part whole wheat flour. Makes me want to keep a container of sour cream in the fridge at all times, nothing better than impromptu Saturday morning pancakes. Only complaint is that this recipe barely makes enough for the three of us!

Sour Cream Pancakes (adapted from smitten kitchen / pioneer woman)

• Heat up a non stick pan over medium low heat and butter the pan
• In a medium bowl, sift together 4 TB of AP flour, 3 TB of whole wheat flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 TB of sugar
• Fold in 1 cup of sour cream until just combined and no dry flour
• Separate small bowl, whisk together 2 large eggs and 1/2 tsp of vanilla (sometimes I grate lemon zest too)
• Fold into medium bowl, careful not to over mix
• Turn the stove up to medium and make sure the pan is well buttered (I have really small burners and use a large 12" pan to maximize the # of pancakes, so I turn the heat higher than most recipes)
• Ladle scant 1/4 cups of batter into the pan. Usually I fit about 4 on a pan. Flip after about 3 minutes when you see small bubbles in the batter. Should flip easily and should be golden brown. Cook for another 2-3 mins on the other side

So Thankful

For family, friends and food. Happy 2013 Thanksgiving! First time hosting Thanksgiving at home since three years ago.

Excellent 2009 horizontal Pinot Noir (loved the Rivers Marie Silver Eagle Pinot)

Happy Sunday: Sheep's Milk Yogurt Pancakes

Thanks to little k, I've been cooking a little bit more since she started solid foods (where does the time go? she's growing so quickly). She doesn't eat enough quantity wise to use up, say, a whole sweet potato, so we will use the leftovers. It has forced me to go to the market more often, and I usually just buy whatever looks good, is organic, local and seasonal. She's also starting to eat some finger foods so I keep that in mind when making our meal, to have a portion that is unseasoned that I can give to her. I think she enjoys eating the same thing that we eat, and we try to eat our meals at the same time, plus it keeps her occupied while we enjoy our meal. Last night, we made a roasted sweet potato, garlic, red onion, kale whole wheat pizza, and she had baked sweet potato fries, yellow squash and a little pizza crust for dinner. This morning, she had sheeps milk yogurt with bananas and blueberries for breakfast, so I used the remainder of the sheeps milk yogurt for whole wheat blueberry pancakes (she had a little pancake as well which she liked). We are starting with sheeps milk yogurt for now, as sheeps milk is supposedly more similar to human milk. I have to admit, I find it a little gross, its quite sour, and I couldn't even stomach it mixed with fruit (luckily she ate it), so it was perfect used up in the pancakes.

Milk and Cookies

Not the prettiest cookies in the world

I haven't done much baking lately, other than several batches of these cookies, which I always have in my kitchen at anytime. I'm always hungry, particularly first thing in the morning or late at night, but often don't have time to make anything, so these cookies are a nice quick hearty bite to tide me over. These cookies do double duty, as they are made with lots of oatmeal and brewers yeast, both ingredients that are supposed to boost milk supply. I've altered recipes that I've found online by halving the amount of sugar and butter and subbing in some whole wheat flour. Since I am always snacking on them, might as well try to make them a little healthier! They definitely aren't the most decadent cookies out there, but definitely hit the spot.

Ingredients:

1 stick of butter

½ cup of sugar

½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons flax seed meal
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup A/P flour

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups oats
1 cup chocolate chips
4 tablespoons brewer's yeast

Directions:
1 Preheat oven to 375°.
2 Mix the flaxseed meal and water and let sit for 3-5 minutes.
3 Beat butter, sugar, and brown sugar well in a stand mixer
4 Add eggs and mix well.
5 Add flaxseed mix and vanilla, beat well.
6 Sift together flours, brewers yeast, baking soda, and salt.
7 Add dry ingredients to butter mix with the mixer on low until evenly combined
8 Stir in oats and chips.
9 Scoop onto parchment paper in a baking sheet in little balls about 1 heaping TB (I use my coffee scooper so I’m not sure the exact size)
10 Bake for 10-12 minutes rotating once
11 Let set for a couple minutes then remove from tray.

Post Labor Day Heatwave

September and October can be the hottest months in Southern California and it's been no exception this year. It's currently in the 90's in Santa Monica which is unbearably warm for a city where many of the houses don't even have air conditioning. It was the perfect excuse to fire up the grill, which we sadly haven't used for a year or so. We'll get good use out of it all weekend as we have friends in town from Seattle and it is way too hot to turn on the stove or use the oven. Nice excuse to sit by the pool with a (veggie) burger and a cold glass of wine.

Fatted Calf: Hog Heaven via SF

We had an indulgent brunch by the pool last Saturday courtesy of some good friends who brought us specialty goods from as far as San Francisco. JK flew into LA in the morning and not only brought us handcrafted artisanal sausage and amazing thick cut bacon from the Fatted Calf, but also freshly baked muffins that she baked at the crack of dawn before her flight. To complement the pork-y goodness, we also had delicious pan au chocolat, croissant aux amandes and danishes from Susina Bakery near Hancock Park. I've had a particular weakness lately for buttery flaky pastries. With some coffee and some fresh berries, a well-balanced meal in my book. A real gourmet brunch, and we didn't even have to leave the house!

Pastries from Susina Bakery

JK's freshly baked muffins from the Flour Cookbook

Return to the Farmers Market

I finally made it to a Santa Monica farmer's market after several months of absence. It was nice to simply walk around, enjoy the fresh air and check out all the seasonal produce. Looks like we are in the height of stone fruit season and my favorite, tomato season is beginning. I picked up some peaches for one of my favorite summer salads, a grilled peach, burrata, arugula salad to go with some slow cooked short ribs (Mario Batali's Brasato Al Barolo recipe) over fresh rigatoni from Bay Cities.

My favorite summer salad: grilled peaches, burrata, arugula with a little drizzled balsamic and olive oil. Optional additions: grilled radicchio, speck

Some beautifully marbled short ribs from Whole Foods

Nothing beats fresh made pasta. A worthwhile splurge

Simplified Tuna Nicoise Salad

We had a leftover sushi grade tuna toro steak from Friday's handroll dinner so I decided to make a tuna nicoise salad with ingredients that I had around the house, including lemons and cherry tomatoes from my parents' garden, olives from the pantry, salad greens, eggs, parsley, garlic, anchovies and capers from the fridge. I surprisingly had most of the ingredients around the house, even though I hadn't been cooking that much recently. The only things that I was missing vs. a traditional tuna nicoise salad were potatoes and haricot verts. I used Tyler Florence's recipe for the salad dressing, just omitting the tarragon since I didn't have any around and doubling the parsley in its place, and using a bit of anchovy paste and agave nectar. The dressing is similar to my everyday dressing, which is usually dijon mustard, red wine / champagne / balsamic vinegar, shallots, olive oil.  Not sure why I haven't tried this before, but I like his idea of shaking up the salad dressing in a jar in order to fully emulsify it; I find that whisking never quite gets it all the way there, and its not worth the hassle of cleaning to use a food processor or blender for such a small amount. The salad was excellent, I will definitely be making it again. Lots of strong and contrasting flavors; I love seared, peppery tuna, pungent anchovies, salty olives and capers, sweet and fresh cherry tomatoes, eggs, and garlicky and tangy dressing. Omitting the potatoes and haricot verts takes out some of the more time consuming steps, so it's a good salad to make for a quick, complete and tasty weeknight meal.

Saturday Night Carrot Risotto

I've been slowing easing my way back to cooking, about once or twice a week. It's been at least a few months since I've been cooking regularly, and it's still a bit hard to find the time, but I'm making more of an effort as I still find it relaxing and therapeutic, a way of getting life back to normal. While I can no longer cook things that take 4+ hours to cook, I've been looking for inspiration and new recipes. Saturday night, I decided to give this carrot risotto recipe via S. a shot, primarily because I wanted to use up this bag of carrots that had been sitting in my fridge for a few weeks. It's hard to really get inspired by carrots, and I thought this was a nice way to use a lot of carrots. Only changes were the addition of some peas and omission of thyme. It was pretty good; I think it could have used a little more salt and seasoning along the way and probably would have been even better with fresher carrots in season, but it was a comforting and hearty one pot Saturday night dish that went well with a bottle of our wedding white wine, a 2006 Morgan Metallico Chardonnay.

Three Scoops of Happiness at the Brentwood Country Mart

Cookies and cream, mint chocolate chip and salted caramel in a waffle cone from Sweet Rose Creamery. Been cooped up in the house too long; a walk to the country mart and some small batch ice cream is the perfect remedy. I love being walking distance from the country mart, I feel like I live in a small town, where I can walk to my local post office, bank and grab a bite to eat or some coffee. Just a slightly Hollywood version with expensive but delicious $5 scoops of ice cream (sweet rose creamery), $15-20 brunch entrees from a French laundry expat (farmshop), shops selling mulberry, helmet lang etc (newly opened intermix), and celebrity sightings. It is possible to get a cheap and filling bite to eat though, I usually turn to fridas tacos in the central food court-ish part of the mart. Brentwood country mart is a good place to take small fry because even though it's a public space with lots of people, there are plenty of quiet nooks with tables and benches for us to hang out in to avoid germy crowds. I can have my ice cream and eat it too.

Sweets for the Week

I'm trying to cut down on sweets, but it's not easy! Two things we baked over the past week, based on recipes from Joanne Chang's Flour Cookbook: a lemon meringue pie and Flour's Famous Banana Bread. It may look pretty, but sadly the lemon meringue pie turned out to be more like lemon meringue soup; the lemon filling never really solidified. My first failure with a recipe out of her cookbook, otherwise everything else has been excellent. I'm still not really sure what we did wrong; her recipe does use more lemon juice and egg yolks than other recipes that I saw on foodnetwork, but I have no idea if that was the issue. The banana bread was great though; I did substitute in some whole wheat flour, using half whole wheat and half A/P flour and I don't think you could tell the difference. It is very moist on the inside with warm spices, with a nice thin crust on the outside. Perfect for breakfast on the go. We always have lots of bananas lying around the house for smoothies, so we'll definitely be making this bread again with any overripe bananas.

Breakfast Smoothie and Lemon Poppy Cake

Most mornings, I make a smoothie with greek yogurt, a banana, OJ, milk, flax seeds and a mix of frozen and fresh organic berries (usually strawberries, blueberries and raspberries). It's a quick and easy way to get a lot of protein, calcium, vitamin C and other good stuff in one glass. I've been meaning to try JK's version breakfast smoothie and finally got around to it this weekend. I pretty much used everything pictured above: 1 banana, 1 fuji apple cored, about a 1/2 inch piece of ginger peeled, 3 leaves of kale destemmed, a handful of frozen blueberries (instead of the strawberries which I just ate), a splash of carrot juice (forgot to buy real carrots), about 2 cups of almond milk and some flax seeds. It was quite good: refreshing and different; I'll be making it a few more times this week. It's perfect for this time of year as apples and kale are still in season; will have to figure out how to mix it up in a few weeks. Updated: I've made it a few more times this week and I like the addition of some greek yogurt to smooth it out a little bit and also a little wedge of lemon, peel and all. I also blend it through two cycles on the "smoothie" cycle on my Breville blender to puree it a little finer.

I also made a French Lemon Poppy Pound Cake from Joanne Chang's Flour Bakery cookbook for dessert today, as it was my dad's birthday. Since we were having quite a big meal with steak, roasted cauliflower with lemon and garlic, and grilled hearts of romaine, caesar salad style, I decided to keep dessert on the lighter side, as opposed to a traditional birthday cake. As with everything in her cookbook, it was excellent: fluffy super lemony, but nicely balanced with the texture and pop of the poppy seeds, and not too sweet. I think the key to keeping it light and fluffy is to beat the eggs and sugar together for a solid 5 minutes in a stand mixer, and then to carefully fold in the other ingredients but not overmix. The leftovers will be great toasted for breakfast with a healthy smoothie.

Sweet Tooth

I've somehow developed quite the sweet tooth the last few months with chocolate being a particular favorite. To try and manage it, I try to do most of the baking myself, just so I know exactly what is going into my desserts, and I try to give away as much as possible so that I don't eat it all myself. This afternoon, after watching some foodnetwork this week, I made Giada's Smore Brownie Bites. I pretty much followed her recipe, except I just used all regular flour (quinoa flour at $9.99 for a tiny bag at WF just didn't seem worth it to me), subbed in dark chocolate chunks for the unmelted chocolate chips, used a little less sugar and butter and added a little bit of salt and baking soda. I baked it for 12 minutes, rotating once, and it was pretty good, though not quite as moist or fudgy as I would have liked.
To balance all these extra desserts, I try to eat three as complete and healthy meals as possible for breakfast lunch and dinner. I'm trying to eat at least 80 grams of protein everyday (lots of eggs, fish, meat, greek yogurt, tofu), get plenty of vitamin C through fruits and juices, get a lot of calcium through milk, eat as many dark leafy greens and colorful vegetables as possible, and eat ample whole grains and carbs. I've had to cook a lot more the last few weeks with my mom in Taiwan, but we've done quite a good job in eating balanced and healthy with a lot of variety. The below is a simple but complete dish that I cooked for dinner last week: a shrimp and tofu thai curry with peppers, tomatoes and spinach served with rice. I pretty much followed my usual curry recipe (halving the one here) and tossed in some shrimp and spinach for the last few minutes of cooking. Along with yoga 3x a week (mostly at home) and taking the dogs for a brisk walk almost everyday, I've managed to feel pretty good through 29 weeks.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Irish Soda Bread

We had a few friends over Saturday night for a St. Patrick's Day meal. Last year was the first time I made corned beef, so I decided to step it up a notch and also make Irish soda bread, a Guinness, broccoli, cheddar dip, and double chocolate mint cookies. I basically doubled the recipe from last time. Even with S's borrowed 6.75 quart Le Creuset, I still needed a bigger pot, so I undercooked a bit of the carrots, potatoes and cabbage. I'll have to remember to either cook it longer next time or use a bigger pot. I also used point cut as opposed to flat cut corned beef brisket from Vons. It was still very good, but definitely fattier, so we had to trim off a lot of fat before serving. It was my first time ever making bread and I followed Ina Garten's easy recipe for Irish Soda bread, using bread flour since I was almost out of AP flour. I baked it for about 50 minutes, but I think it could have used another few minutes; it's really hard to tell when bread is done from the outside. It also tastes better warm, it was really good toasted in the toaster oven this morning for breakfast, topped with just a little bit of butter. The fragrant orange zest and currants really make this bread stand out. For the Guinness, broccoli, cheddar dip, I used my usual dip recipe, just subbing in shallots instead of onions adding half a pint of Guinness and reducing for a few minutes in the beginning, using only cheddar (about 3/4 lbs) and subbing in steamed then chopped (using a food processor) broccoli for the greens, and adding a little bit of mustard, thyme and parsley towards the end. The Guinness definitely adds a nice depth to the cheesy creamy dip. I made Giada's double chocolate and mint cookies again but used really good organic mint chocolate bar from Whole Foods, as opposed to Andes mints which I used the first time, which I think definitely made the cookie better. I served the cookie warm out of the oven with a cup of vanilla ice cream, a nice ending to a big St. Patrick's Day meal. A different way of celebrating from the pub crawl days of old, but a nice alternative as well.

What remains of the corned beef

Double chocolate mint cookies

Flour's Oreo Cookies and Marcella Hazan's Spaghetti Carbonara

These days, when I do cook, I keep things super simple and last night was no exception: I made a Sweet Lady Jane-inspired fig, speck, feta spinach salad with a shallot red wine vinaigrette, Marcella Hazan's Spaghetti Carbonara and Joanne Chang / Flour's Oreo Cookies (K. and his family loves Oreos). The cookies were the most time consuming, but everything else was put together in less than an hour. I've made Marcella Hazan's spaghetti carbonara several times now and it always a quick, yet delicious and creamy dish, with the smooth eggy cheesy sauce and little pops of pancetta and peas (not in the recipe, but a good addition). Like everything else from the Flour Cookbook, the Oreo Cookies were delightful and a much loved, an elevated tasty version of the original. They were crunchy and crumbly (but not dense) with a deep chocolate / fudgy flavor on the outside with the sweet creamy frosting on the inside. Again, very well balanced and not overly sweet.

The cookie dough: 2 sticks of melted butter mixed with 3/4 cups of granulated sugar, then 1 tsp of vanilla and 1 cup of melted chocolate and 1 egg. Then it's mixed with the dry ingredients: 1 1/2 cups of flour, 1/2 tsp of baking soda, 3/4 cup of cocoa powder, 1 tsp of kosher salt. Let it rest for 1 hour at room temp

Dough is rolled into a log (about 2 1/2 inches in diameter, 10-12 inches long) in parchment paper. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, rerolling every 15 minutes or so to keep the cylindrical shape.

Cut into 1/4 inches slices and place on cookie sheet, at least 1 inch apart. Bake for 23 minutes at 325, rotating once, until firm on top

My first batch: did not space them 1 inch apart. Also, came out flat instead of rounded on top. Wonder if it's the silpat, never quite comes out right vs. parchment paper

Assembled cookies! Frosting is 1/2 cup of softened butter, 1 2/3 cups of confectioners' sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 TB milk, pinch of kosher salt. About 1 TB of filling per cookie. I made about 22 cookies total. They are huge, like 3-4x the size of an oreo cookie

Spaghetti Carbonara: super easy. Saute 4 smashed cloves of garlic in a few TB of olive oil until they've infused the olive oil with garlicky flavor and turn golden brown, then discard. Then cook 4 oz of pancetta in the oil until crispy, then add 1/4 cup of white wine and let it boil for a minute or two. Meanwhile, cook 1 lb of spaghetti, tossing in 1/4 lb of peas for the last minute. In a large serving bowl, crack 2 eggs, 3/4 - 1 cup of parmesan or pecorino romano and lots of coarsely cracked black pepper and mix. Toss everything together in the end.

Fig, Speck, Feta, Almond Spinach Salad with shallot red wine vinaigrette (minced shallots, red wine vinegar, agave, dijon, salt, pepper, olive oil)

I made the Sweet Lady Jane version of the salad a few days ago, with pancetta and arugula instead of speck and spinach. Both work!