Catastrophic Cupcakes

I am not exaggerating in the least bit.

Okay, maybe just a little.

But today’s baking incident was really bad!! I’ve been baking a lot lately, and today I thought I would conquer Snickerdoodle Cupcakes. How good do those sound?

Let’s just say, it didn’t turn out so well THEY WERE AWFUL. It was a total bust.

What was supposed to look like this:

Turned out looking more like this:

They all baked together and started spilling over the edge of the cupcake tin, so there was batter on the bottom of the oven which caused a terrible burning scent and lots of smoke.

Once I started to smell smoke, I immediately took out the cupcakes mess of goop from the oven, while smoke started pouring out of the oven. And to add to the chaos, the dog started barking like mad because he thought we were going to burn and die.

At one point, I thought a fire might actually start.

Instinctively, I called my mother, but she wasn’t really much help. She started laughing at me (typical), told me to wipe down the oven, and hung up.

After I got a grip and let everything cool, I wiped down the inside of the oven, removing any excess batter that was now glued to the bottom of the oven like tar, and I scooped out the remaining chunks of half cooked cupcake from the tins…and I was left with this:

Yummy. 

Today was such a disaster and I am never making these cupcakes ever again.

But if you would like to try this recipe, more power to ya. Let me know how it goes.

I need a nap.

-L

Baking Crazed

I have definitely had the Baking Bug this past week, and it’s rather unfortunate because I can never taste any of my desserts-due to my gum surgery.

Although this could potentially be a good thing too.

If I did indulge in all of these desserts, someone would have to roll me around like Violet in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory...and skinny jeans would be 100% out of the question. I suppose I should be thankful that I am temporarily unable to eat cookies and cakes at the moment, even though I was practically drooling all over these Double Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies!

These cookies are to die for (so I’ve heard) and they’re really easy to make! I got the recipe off of Pinterest (my latest addiction that has unleashed the baking/crafting monster inside of me) and I can’t wait to actually try them sometime!! They smell divine and have just the right balance between peanut butter and chocolate.

Here’s the website, and happy baking!

-L

A Quick Update

As some of you may know, last Monday marked the date of the dreaded “gum surgery.” Last Tuesday night was pretty rough, but by Wednesday I was feeling quite a bit better. In fact, I was feeling so much better that I thought I’d bake something.

I found this eye-catching Chocolate Chip Coconut Banana Bread recipe on Pinterest, and I just had to try it! I didn’t add any coconut because I’m not really a fan, but I’m sure it tastes wonderful with coconut too. 

It’s actually a 2 part project because after you bake the chocolate chip banana bread, you can deep fry (or toast & spray with cooking oil) cubes to make Banana Bread Churro Bites! YUM.

Since I can’t eat any of this (huge bummer) due to my surgery, my family will be enjoying these delicious treats. Lucky them!!

-L

Rookie Foodie Mistake

Have you ever had that sudden realization when you stop and think to yourself, "What the heck am I eating right now?" If you haven't experienced this moment, be very very thankful. If you have, unfortunately you know exactly what I'm talking about...

I was eating in Gwinn Commons tonight for dinner and was so engaged in people watching, that I had no idea what I was stuffing into my mouth. When I looked down, I saw myself trying to cut a nasty piece of dry, grilled chicken with an extremely dull knife. First of all, I didn't know whether or not to be impressed or disgusted with the fact that I was successfully cutting this hunk of questionable meat with a smooth edge knife (imagine cutting through rubber with a chop stick). Secondly, I was wondering why I even picked up the sketchy chicken dish from the buffet line in the first place. After deciding that the fake meat was not such a good idea to consume (because it was probably dipped in radioactive waste), I went straight for the fruit. I picked out a pretty hearty apple and took a huge bite, hoping that it would satisfy my empty stomach. To my disappointment, the apple was disgusting. It tasted like styrofoam covered with a thick apple-like skin. Long story short, I left Gwinn a still starving and now unhappy student.

I share this story with you for two reasons: (1) Learn from my mistake and always be conscious of what you're putting into your body, (2) eat a little extra for me tonight!


Happy and Healthy Eating!

-Leanne

Poppy Seed Perfection

Hello All,

My apologies for the lack of blogging- it's been pretty stressful with school and such, but I'm finally back on the blog!

A few weeks ago, some friends & I decided to start a potluck tradition, and we had our first potluck last week. Since I hosted the first potluck, I prepared the main dish. I decided to make a creamy poppy seed chicken topped with breadcrumbs (my aunt's recipe), and others provided the green salad and mashed potatoes. To my surprise, the chicken turned out wonderfully, and no one died or went home with food poisoning- YAY!! For dessert, Porscha & Barrett brought berry pie as well as Dutch apple pie with vanilla ice cream, and both desserts were delicious. It was so great to catch up with friends and take a break from the busyness of life over a home cooked meal.

I had a lot of poppy seeds left over after the potluck, so I decided to make poppy seed muffins from scratch. I looked up a quick recipe online and found the most amazing poppy seed muffin recipe that I have ever tasted. Since John doesn't care for lemon, we made plain poppy seed muffins, but they were just as tasty as lemon poppy seed muffins. The recipe was really easy to follow, and the muffins made great breakfast treats!

 

If you are interested in one or both recipes, let me know and I'll gladly share it with you. Hope you are all having a wonderful and relaxing weekend!


Cheers,

Leanne

Right, Together, Left, Together.

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending a wedding with a great friend of mine, and although I was very excited for the happy couple, I was secretly even more excited to taste the wedding cake! 

Wedding cake is possibly the best dessert in the world (but only if it's good wedding cake, of course). Some may argue that wedding cake is just wedding cake, and it doesn't taste any better than premixed birthday cake from a box. However, these people are quite mistaken. Wedding cake can be one of two things: absolutely terrible or exceptionally tasty. The wedding cake that I ate this weekend falls under the category of "exceptionally tasty." It was definitely moist and elegant, but most importantly, it didn't have too much frosting.

Now when it comes to wedding cakes, there are many options for frosting. You have your buttercream, marzipan, meringue, whipped cream, fondant, ganache, and royal icing. I'm sure there are many more options for frosting, but these are the few that come to mind. In addition, cakes come in different flavors too, the primary flavors being: chocolate, vanilla, lemon, red velvet, marble, and carrot. Last but not least, fillings. Whether it's a ganache, mousse, fudge, cream, or fruit filling, it can really make or break your cake...so choose wisely.

The wedding cake from this weekend was a white cake with raspberry filling and buttercream frosting. Even though this was a "typical" wedding cake, it tasted so much better than some of the cakes I've tasted in the past. Like stated above, the cake was extremely moist, and the buttercream was tremendously light, which made me feel like I wasn't going to gain 10 pounds from the frosting alone (like the feeling I get when I eat fondant). Overall, the ceremony was lovely, and the salmon dinner was fabulous (not too dry either!), but most importantly, their cake was a huge hit. So here's to Eric & Melissa on your new marriage & your delicious wedding cake!

Happy Eating,

Leanne

Seattle Sweets

Last school year, I discovered a charming cakery in Ballard with some of my friends, and I seriously couldn't stop talking about it. Since Sarai and I finally have a food blog, I feel both obligated and excited to tell our faithful followers about my lovely findings...

Hot Cakes is relatively new cakery in Ballard, and holy smokes, my experience at this place was absolutely fabulous. The interior was delightful and I couldn’t take my eyes off of the exposed brick walls and the chalkboard menus! Hot Cakes is without a doubt, beautifully designed and gives off a cool and hip vibe, luring in many curious (and hungry) customers.

When it comes to the menu, there is certainly a variety to choose from. I ordered their Molten Chocolate Cake in a Mason jar (absolutely heavenly) with a dollop of creme, drizzled with melted ganache, and topped off with delicious bits of toffee. At first, the portions seemed small, but since the chocolate was so rich, splitting a serving was the just the right amount! Being the coffee addict that I am, I ordered an americano as well and it paired very nicely with the dark chocolate. 

In addition, I was even more thrilled when I found out that Hot Cakes also uses Theo Chocolate (Seattle based), which is a fair trade and organic chocolate shop! (Theo's chocolate is simply divine, which makes Hot Cakes that much better than other lava cakes.)

Hot Cakes is definitely one of my faves, and if you’re ever in Seattle, make sure to stop by this little hole-in-the-wall. It’s great! For those who won’t be making it to Seattle in the near future, check out their website. It’s definitely worth perusing. (You can purchase Theo chocolate online too!!)

Sweet Dreams,

Leanne

My Daily Ritual

Sometimes life gets hectic. You get caught racing from errand to errand until 10 pm hits you and you think "well today sucked...". Unfortunately, those days happen more often than most of us would prefer. But when we get stuck in a rut of errand running, I find that it always helps to have a daily ritual.

When I moved to Seattle, coffee percolated through the culture. Everywhere I turned, there was some small cafe where I could duck in to take shelter from the rain. There was one shop that I purposely sought out for my coffee fix: The Q Cafe. They serve Stumptown coffee, which is the most perfectly roasted coffee I have ever had (if you don't know about Stumptown, its time you learned about them here).

(view from the back of the Q) 

(even if you don't like coffee, their 

hot chocolate is smooth as velvet)

So I was naturally at a loss for my bittersweet companion when I moved back to California for summer. Fortunately I have a wise mother who quickly directed my wandering steps to Ritual Coffee Roasters. They source from Central and South American countries (for specifics go here) and they roast the beans just enough for a caramelized sweetness, without burning the sugars.

Soon, a strange phenomenon began to occur. I found my right hand perpetually occupied by one of their pillowy lattes. I would get up just a smidgen earlier everyday to sit on the back patio and silently sip this mid morning treat. In these moments of solace, before my day starts, that's where I find my energy for the tasks ahead of me. This picture perfect ritual was just enough beauty to start off my day of facing ugly errands.

(Coffee and Sherlock, what more could I need?)

Daily rituals save us. Time set aside for prayer or reading or even just a cup of coffee with no interruptions is all we need. Give yourself time to savor and sip. Add a chewy cookie, a crisp biscotti or even a pocket of cream in a profiterole to your ritual for those especially difficult days.

(One of Ca Momi's famous cream puffs)

The great thing about coffee is that you can find a good cup just about anywhere you go. Whether it be The Q in Seattle, Ritual in Napa and San Francisco,

Handsome in downtown LA,

(here)

The Wandering Goat in Eugene, Oregon,

(here)

Temple in Sacramento, 

(here)

Intelligentsia in Pasadena,

(here)

Or even just with your brother when he takes you out to dinner.

Whatever your ritual is, don't skimp on it, don't forget it, and savor those moments just as much as the coffee that fills them.

-Sarai

(all photos property of yours truly)

Buttah.

Aryshire. Holstein. Guernsey. Jersey. Shorthorn. Brown Swiss.

What do all of these have in common? They all possess the magical capacity to create edible gold: Butter.

I was contemplating pummeling you with a whole history of butter and dairy cows and the whole long drawn out process, but who really needs all that background stuff? (not that it's not fascinating!) My job is to experience the food and share it with you, not become a technical jargon expert who expects you to keep up with my all-knowing facade. (Because who really likes reading that??)

So as my first attempt to invite you into the world of gastronomical gourmands, I thought I would start with butter (the one substance every foodie consumes more than oxygen).

When I was just starting my career as a food-lover, at the prodigious age of 2, my favorite meal was a tortilla slathered with butter. My mom would fold and roll it so perfectly that nothing could escape to the greedy paper plate. I began to devour these daily, not even tasting the tortilla, only savoring the warm, melted richness that I held on my tongue as long as I could.

Those were the good old days.

Of course, life goes on. I got older (and a little chubbier (probably from all the butter)) and my midday snack melted away with the rest of my childhood. Until I recently rediscovered this nostalgic treat after a hard night of studying in my dorm. I couldn't have stopped the memories even if I had wanted to.

But all of this is just to say: Butter is perfect. It is savory but not too salty. Laced with just a hint of creamy sweetness. It melts, spreads, whips and makes everything taste a whole heck of a lot better. I know its not as healthy as olive oil or even (dare I say it?... gulp) margarine, but butter is classic. Butter is nostalgic. Butter is the reason that the diet always starts tomorrow.

I know this may seem like a simple post, just writing about one component, but taking the time to notice the small components is what being a foodie is all about. You don't have to be a critic, a food journalist, a chef, or even a food blogger. You just have to care about the things you eat.

So take care (and eat more butter).

-Sarai

A Brisk Beginning

I recently received a phone call from Sarai, and she asked me if I would be interested in co-editing her soon-to-be food blog. Of course, I was absolutely thrilled to be a part of her upcoming project, and I just couldn't wait to get started! I also can't believe that the site is already up and running, considering she came up with the idea yesterday. I suppose this just proves that we don't mess around when it comes to food!

I love food just as much as the next guy, but dessert...dessert is a whole different story.

Whether it's a baked, fried, frozen, or chilled dessert, it's a given that I'll love it. Using this blog as my excuse, I will roam Seattle searching for tasty treats and fabulous foods (but mostly desserts), and I'll gladly recommend where to dine with your parents, in-laws, dates, girlfriends, etc.

I hope you enjoy what's to come, and are not bored of my lack of wittiness that comes from a jaded day in lecture halls!

(It's dinner time, so I must scoot. Food or blogging about food...hmm...FOOD.) #iswearimnotfat

Until next time,

Leanne

First post (I promise it'll be short....ish)

I love food. That's it.

There is really no other reason that I am up at 1:08 AM on a Sunday night writing to no one. I love food so much that I can't even contain my adoration until 1:09. Therefore, I have decided to inflict my utter obsession with food upon you. 

Here's a brief (very brief) summary of how the masterpiece that awaits you came to be:

 I was perched on a park bench during a family reunion in Downey two days ago, thoroughly enjoying my father's roasted potatoes, when I was struck with the overwhelming desire to tell someone about their garlicky goodness. So I called up Leanne and told her that I wanted to start a food blog. After careful deliberation of my proposal, she accepted and came up with the name in a heartbeat (probably because it is her life mantra). 

I couldn't wait to get my hands on a computer and create this for you, so here I am, at 1:17 AM, awkwardly trying to kick off this new adventure in food, photography and friendship (I enjoy alliteration, you may as well know that now). 

And as much as I would like to spill out my life history, I promised to keep this one relatively short for your sake (and mine) so I'm off to dream of my next meal.

Goodnight and Good Eating,

-Sarai