Working Girl Cooks!

New Website!

2009-04-30T11:18:00.000-07:00

I know it has been way to quiet here recently but don't worry I have been keeping myself busy busy busy! I decided to create a new, better, more personalized site. So update your feedreaders because my new blog is now located at

www.workinggirlcooks.com!

Some cool new features:

Recipe Index

About Page

Email subscription

Coming soon:

weekly meal plans

amazon eStore

food photo gallery

Daring Bakers- Ginger Grapefruit Cheesecake

2009-04-27T10:45:00.001-07:00

I totally cheated for this months Daring Bakers! You see, I had already baked a cheesecake and was all ready to write a blog post about it when I found out that the Daring Bakers challenge this month was none other than…cheesecake!

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

The other day a basket full of grapefruits surprised me in my weekly farmer’s market delivery and I immediately puckered my lips and made a sour face in slight disgust. Grapefruits are not a fruit I am particularly fond of . Come to think of it, I do not know too many people that are. I cannot eat them raw (too bitter) and I never cooked or baked with them. I immediately went online to find out how I could use my because I am never one to waste a perfectly good piece of fruit, not matter how sour, bitter, or intimidating. One of the recipes I found was a recipe by Dorie Greenspan featured in Gourmet Magazine for grapefruit and ginger cheesecake. Ginger and grapefruit…hmmmm intriguing! Cheesecake? I’m sold!

Among my friends, TDH and I are known for our cheesecakes. We can make a killer cheesecake together. One of our famous cheesecakes is a Reese’s peanut butter cup cheesecake with a chocolate wafer crust that is to die for! But even when we divert from the norm and experiment with a new cheesecake recipe it always has chocolate in it in some form or another. So this cheesecake was a very different kind of cheesecake for us to make. We also decided, since we had no particular reason to make a full cheesecake, that we would make cheesecake bars to give out to friends and co-workers. I find Cheesecake bars to be much more casual and much less intimidating than a fat slice of a cheesecake.

For the crust we used all of the usual suspects: Graham crackers, sugar, and butter. I also added some pureed candied ginger to give the crust some spice. Dorie’s recipe calls for adding the butter to the food processor cold. I have never done this before but it worked beautifully and I have to say I will always be adding my butter cold when making cheesecake crusts from now on.

The first step to making the crust is to process the cookies into fine crumbs.

Then add the rest of the ingredients and process until you have a course paste-like texture.

Pour the crust into the pan and flatten with a spoon or the bottom of a cup. Bake the crust for 15 minutes in a 350F preheated oven. This will prevent the crust from getting soggy when the creamy cheesecake part is added.

Now, for the filling I used all of the usual suspects again: cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and eggs. I also added grapefruit juice, grapefruit rind, fresh minced ginger, powdered ginger to give my filling that citrusy- ginger flavor.

The method for any cheesecake filling is always the same. First you whip the cream cheese until fluffy.

Then add the sugar and whip until smooth.

Then add the vanilla…

and spices…

and drop in one egg at a time, processing until mixed between each egg.

I added the minced ginger, grapefruit rind, and grapefruit juice last.

Pour into pan and it is ready to bake ! The secret to obtaining the perfect cheesecake is to cook it at a low temperature and use a water bath. The water bath helps to cook the cheesecake evenly and the low temperature helps to make sure it doesn’t crack. When using a water bath, pour water half way up the sides of the pan (if using a springform, wrap the bottom three times with foil to prevent the water from leaking into the pan!) and make sure you use boiling hot water! I baked this cheesecake at 325F for an hour and a half and it turned out beautifully!

Enjoy!

Under Construction!

2009-04-23T08:25:00.001-07:00

I have decided, like myself, my blog has been having a major identity crisis these days. So, to fix that I am giving my site ig a new identity and a new look! Stay tuned!!!

10 Pounds in 5 Weeks- How To Stay Motivated!

2009-04-08T11:53:00.001-07:00

It has been a week since I started my mission and all I can say is THAT IS IT? A WEEK? Man, I was hoping this was over already! Trying to lose weight is tough! Really really really tough! To all those women and men out there who have successfully lost weight and reached their goal I want to say CONGRATULATIONS! YOU ROCK!

As my motivation slowly disappeared over the past week I realized this is a very common problem for many people, especially if that person does not have a good support system to help with staying motivated. To address this, I have decided to focus this post on how to stay motivated and how to keep up weight loss efforts until your goal is reached. With two pounds lost in the last week I am right on target with my weight loss goal, but I can already tell that I am not watching what I eat as carefully and am not working out everyday like I should. If I do not do something now to rekindle that fire of motivation within me, I am not going to reach my goal in five weeks. Here are some tips that I have learned through research as well as my own self-exploration that I hope will help others in the same situation:

1. Set Daily Goals! When you wake up every morning look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself: How am I going to achieve my goal today? There are two goals you need to accomplish everyday to lose weight: eat healthy foods in moderation and exercise! If you think about how you have to do this every single day for the next five weeks or however long it will take you to lose weight it can be overwhelming! So just focus on your daily goals. What are you going to eat today? How are you going to make it exciting? What are you going to do for exercise today? How long it it going to last? When are you going to fit it in? How are you going to make it fun and not just a chore?

2. Try something new everyday! Try a new recipe for dinner or buy a new vegetable at your local grocery store. Try a new strength training move at the gym, invite a friend to workout with you, try a whole new routine, or take a class! By adding variety to your everyday goals you will keep it exciting! Can’t think of anything new? Do some research online! There are so many resources for finding new recipes, new workout moves, classes, or workout buddies!

3. When tempted to skip a workout or overindulge find a way to reward yourself for sticking to your goals. After going for that run or completing that weight lifting session reward yourself with a long hot soak in the tub and a good book. Reward yourself for only eating half of that delicious burger instead of the whole thing by having a small piece of decadent dark chocolate for dessert or going shopping for a flattering new pair of jeans, a cute top, or that necklace you have been eyeing!

4. Start a blog! Recording my trials and tribulations has really made me feel like I must follow the path I am on and there is no turning back or delaying my mission. The whole world is watching me so I must succeed! Besides, the positive feedback I get in my comments are a motivating factor all by themselves!

5. Educate yourself constantly by reading fitness and health magazines, visiting weight loss websites, reading online fitness and health articles and blogs. They are full of great tips and ideas to keep your weight loss plan fresh, new, and exciting!

6. Enlist support of friends, coworkers, and family members. Talk to someone daily on the phone or in person! Tell them about your goal to lose weight and your plan to lose it. Get ideas from them, and ask their advice about problems you encounter along the way.

7. Hire a professional. There is nothing more motivating than someone standing over you telling you what to do and how to do it. There are so many professionals out their from personal trainers, life coaches, therapists, to support groups that you will certainly find the right one for you within your budget. They can help you set realistic goals, come up with a specific plan to achieve that goal, and keep you motivated through out the weeks or months it takes to reach that goal. Remember, though, the only person who can achieve that goal is you so if you are not willing to put in the work, nobody will be able to help you.

8. Keep a positive I CAN DO THIS attitude! Think of weight loss as a fun and exciting challenge, not a boring chore! If it feels like work it will be work! But you can make it fun and exciting by always looking at the positive. Picture yourself at your goal weight. What do you look like? What are you wearing? How do you feel? Feeling sluggish or tired? Put on your favorite song and bust a move to pick up your energy!

As for me and how I plan to stay motivated? Well besides using all the tips and tricks I mention above I am going to try something new every week. There are so many weight loss plans, groups, websites, fitness classes, and resources out there and I have decided to pick one a week to focus on. I will write my experiences with each resource here on my blog and I plan to start off with a simple do it yourself plan by Self Magazine called the Self Challenge! I have chosen this plan for the next week because it is free, I can start right away just by signing up online, and it is easily accessible from any computer. In this economy cheap, easy, and fast are key!

Wish me luck!

10 Pounds in 5 Weeks- Days 5 and 6 and a recipe for Broccoli Pesto

2009-04-07T11:33:00.001-07:00

Trying to lose weight is definitely not all fun and games or easy as pie (no pun intended). I have been on a roll lately, with tons of motivation but I can already tell that it is fading fast. I had a hard day yesterday and I am not sure how I am going to keep this up for the next four weeks and 8 pounds! I need motivation and I need it fast!

Sunday was our lazy day. TDH and I never really plan much on Sundays and use it as a day to catch up on sleep, clean the house, and just relax. TDH really needs days like this, and just lazing around the house in his underwear is one of his favorite pastimes. Me, on the other hand, let’s just say it has gotten easier over the years but I still get restless. I am just not one to relax. I do not know how to do it, I need to keep my mind and hands busy at all times. This past Sunday was an exceptionally lazy day. TDH has not been feeling very well this week and waking up early on Saturday to run into work and then spending the day in the sun really wore him out. We slept in and after doing some light cleaning, TDH just wanted to relax and play some computer games. It was beautiful outside again and I just could not stand the thought of being cooped up inside while the sun was shining so brightly outside, so I tried to come up with things to do on my own. I sunbathed by our Jacuzzi and finished reading my book, I took a walk, I wrote in my blog, I thought about going to the gym or going for a run outside but I just did not have the energy or motivation, so that never happened.

Having a slow day like on Sunday is hard for me when I am trying to lose weight because when I am bored I eat! I did alright on Sunday. The key on Sunday was my breakfast. I had a hearty breakfast shortly after getting out of bed consisting of a whole wheat english muffin with my eggplant tomato spread and two eggs and a coffee mug full of grapes. A few hours later I snacked on carrots with hummus and I was able to tide myself over for dinner. Distracting myself by reading my book and taking a walk outside really helped curb my cravings as well.

To enjoy beautiful weather TDH and I decided to add a special touch to dinner by grilling and eating outside on our small little porch. We took our chairs outside and made makeshift tables and I made a broccoli pesto with some whole wheat pasta while TDH marinated and grilled chicken. Sitting outside and enjoying the weather with a glass of chilled white wine really made the meal phenomenal. My broccoli pesto was an experiment that I think turned out amazing! TDH was not as impressed but for being a very healthy version of your usual olive oil and cheese laden pesto, I loved it! It is definitely a dish where you can play around with the flavors! You can use other vegetables for the base, or skip the nuts and add a thicker and creamier cheese like Ricotta! Yum! I have included my recipe below.

Yesterday was the hardest day I have had so far and it really had nothing to do with my mission to lose weight at all. I have discovered some advice that I am sure we have all heard before that I kind of just shrugged off but am realizing is completely true: It is much harder to focus on reaching a goal when you are going through a major life change! My contract at my most recent job ended last week, something I am not in the least bit sad about, but now I am faced with the question of what am I going to do next? I desperately want to start my own life coaching business, but is now the time? Or should I just get another job so that I have a steady income until the economy bounces back? If I do decide to start my own coaching business where do I start? I have never worked for myself before! Should I get back into personal training? Should I try to get a part time job being a life coach at a gym or somewhere else? Where do I even find a job like that and am I qualified enough to get hired?

These are the questions that bombarded me and completely stressed me out yesterday. As a result, all I wanted to do was turn to food. My old urges to binge came back strong and after having a few too many grapes for my afternoon snack I was able to distract myself but it was a close one! Images of chocolate cake and donuts swirled around in my head. I turned to TDH for motivation to stay strong and was finally able to convince myself to throw on some running shoes and just get outside. Going for a short run eased the urge to binge but I was just not motivated to eat healthy or stick to my weight loss “plan” for the rest of the day so I decided to take a small break from my diet. Yesterday was the Men’s NCAA basketball championship game so TDH and I celebrated by grilling some homemade pizza and watching the game. I used my all-time favorite pizza dough recipe from Peter Reinhart’s book A Bread Baker’s Apprentice but used a 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour and 2 cups bread flour mixture. For the topping I borrowed a recipe from Tastefully Done and infused some olive oil with garlic, sage, and some red chili pepper flakes and spread this on the freshly grilled crust. I topped it with a bit of cheese and then tossed some spring greens with some olive oil and lemon for a simple vinaigrette. This went on top of the pizza and I finished it off with some freshly grated parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. It was really good, although I went a little heavy on the olive oil. I am learning that a little olive oil really does go a long way. The pizza was good but I ate too much of it and after a few too many pieces of chocolate for dessert, I went to bed feeling pretty disappointed in myself.

If I am going to keep up with this weight loss for the next four weeks I need some motivation. So tomorrows post will be focused on how to keep up your motivation while trying to lose weight.

10 pounds in 5 weeks- Day 3 and 4 and my Turkey and White Bean Soup

2009-04-05T17:09:00.001-07:00

I just spend an hour browsing through Foodgawker and Tastespotting. Not a good idea! All those cakes and brownies…mmmm….I want chocolate! So far, five days into my mission, I have been good about sticking to smaller portions and avoiding sugar (although I did have a piece of Ghirardelli chocolate with peanut butter yesterday). Yesterday was Saturday. I have decided to make Saturday’s my no computer day. It is so easy to waste time on the computer and I feel like I need at least one day a week where I do not touch a computer and am forced to turn to other activities such as getting outside, or reading a book! Hence, the reason for no post yesterday and the double post today!

Friday was a fairly easy day for me. I feel like I am getting into a routine and am becoming more prepared by having healthy and easy meal ideas at my disposal. Breakfast was a whole wheat English muffin with a slice of provolone cheese and a smothering of my sautéed Mediterranean eggplant spread. Snacks include apples and carrots dipped in hummus (my favorite!) For lunch I had some of the turkey and white bean soup I had made the night before. I added a dollop of plain yogurt and a sprinkling of red pepper flakes and served it with a few pita chips on the side. It was delicious! I have included the recipe below.

Friday night TDH and I had plans to have dinner with our friends Liz and Vee who had just bought a house in Half Moon Bay. This was going to be a challenge for me because Liz and Vee do not get home until 8:30pm at night, which meant by the time they got home and cooked, we were going to be eating late. I knew we were going to have a late dinner so I had a snack after my workout at around 4pm and when Eddie got home we busied ourselves by doing some errands. We got on the road at 8pm to go to Half Moon Bay and I realized I had not even thought about food! I was very hungry by the time we got to Liz and Vee’s house and they had some cheese and crackers out to snack on. I knew we were going to have grilled seafood for dinner and because I love seafood so much it was easy for me to decide to wait to eat and not indulge in the cheese and cracker appetizer so I could enjoy my dinner that much more. I was also handed a glass of white wine as soon as I walked in the door and since I only wanted to have two glasses of wine this evening: one with dinner, one for dessert, I made it a point to also ask for a glass of water. I drank my glass of white wine slowly, enjoying it throughout dinner. For dessert there was angel food cake, strawberries, and ice cream. TDH and I had also brought an El Dorado Nior dessert wine from Ferarri Carrano Wineries with some chocolate covered dried fruit. I was really looking forward to the dessert wine and was so busy enjoying it that before I knew it the rest of the dessert items were being taken away and all I had was three small pieces of chocolate covered dried berries. It was a great night. I really enjoyed the food and the wine and did not feel guilty or deprived at all the entire night!

Yesterday TDH and I woke up to an absolutely beautiful day. We had booked Zipcar to go down to Half Moon Bay and decided to keep in for 24 hours to get some errands done and such. TDH had to get up early to go into work for about an hour and when he got home we got back into bed and talked about what we wanted to do to enjoy this gorgeous day. We decided to go to Chestnut street for brunch and ended up at the Grove where we sat outside and I ordered an ice tea and the smoked salmon plate. We sat there for over an hour enjoying our food, the weather, and each other. After brunch we walked along Chestnut Street and peaked into all the cute shops. TDH told me he had never driven down Lombard Street and so of course that was our next stop. We drove to the top of the hill and then slowly down the windy brick street. At the bottom we decided to head over the Ghirardelli Square to check out the renovations since we had not been over there since they started remodeling. We wandered through the chocolate shops and sampled their chocolate and then wandered into the Wattle Creek Tasting room. It was $10 for a tasting of five wines and we decide why not, we have nothing we need to do today! We started with a light and refreshing Voigner, then moved on to the Rose, then to the bold and flavorful double gold medal Cabernet. By the time we got to the sweet but light Muscat Canelli dessert wine our savvy wine attendant had talked us into joining the wine club. He even let us try some of the wines that are offered to “Wine club members only” including an unusual sparkling shiraz which I loved and TDH thought tasted like rotten grapes (I prefer the term “earthy”).

For dinner that night I had no desire to cook and was craving something substantial and yummy. We decided to order Indian food from our favorite restaurant, Mehfil. This was a dangerous choice for someone on a diet. I always seem to completely stuff myself when I order Indian food. But I had a plan this time:

1. I ordered a vegetarian dish. Although the chicken korma is my all-time favorite, I decided to go with the punjabi channa paneer (spiced chickpeas with Indian cheese cubes), which is also very good but a much lighter dish. I was okay with this decision because I decided once I am at my goal weight and no longer trying to lose weight I will get the chicken korma again.

2. We ordered in instead of going out.

3. I used a small bowl instead of a big plate to serve myself in.

4. I steamed some fresh broccoli and added a little basmati rice, a little of the punjabi channa paneer and mixed it all together. That way I got to enjoy the Indian flavors of the rice and spiced chickpeas but filled myself up on low calorie and healthy broccoli.

5. I had some frozen unsweetened fruit for dessert. By deciding to have dessert later I was not tempted to reach for seconds when I had cleaned my bowl.

10 Pounds in 5 Weeks- Day 2 and my Kickin’ Turkey Burger Recipe

2009-04-03T14:52:00.001-07:00

I am sitting here in Starbucks, with my Green Ginger Tea, completely amazed and proud of myself. I stepped on the scale this morning and it said 126.4lbs. On Monday I was 129.8lbs. That is over a three pound difference! Granted, I seriously doubt I have lost 3 pounds in four days, some of it is probably water weight and such, but I have lost weight! It is working! And so far it is not very hard! What is amazing to me is how hard I worked and how much I suffered when I was in college to lose weight. I tortured myself by restricting, and saying no to anything that looked remotely tasty (because if it is tasty it must be bad for me!). I would gorge myself on vegetables and fruits thinking if I could fill myself up I would not crave any sweets, carbs, or meat, which all carried the most calories. I did not care about protein, or listen to anyone who told me about healthy unsaturated fats or whole grain carbs because in my book any fat or carb was bad! This restricting myself from eating normal foods and gorging on fruits and vegetables to try to hide my cravings made me completely lose site of portion control. Occasionally I would give in and have that bite of pizza, or grab a cookie from the tray, or sneak a piece of candy, and feeling like I had broken my rules I would decide all bets were off and I might as well go all out and eat everything! So I would binge until I was full and to make up for it, I would purge as much of it as I could. It was an endless cycle of restriction, bingeing, purging, and restriction again that ultimately led to weight loss, but it was miserable! I would obsessively read stories of people who lost weight in all the health magazines and I could not understand how those people were actually able to lose weight and be happy about it! Even though I was ultimately losing weight I did not feel in the least bit good about it, or even notice the weight loss. The constant binging and purging caused horrible bloating so I always felt fat. It was awful!

It took many many years, but now that I realize I do not have to starve myself to lose weight and I see myself and my weight loss in a whole new light. Since I have gotten serious about losing these ten pounds and started talking to and getting support from friends, it has been an enlightening and rewarding experience. I have not starved myself, I eat when I am hungry, I enjoy what I eat, and I am losing weight!

Yesterday, when I woke up I decided to have a much heartier breakfast than the day before. I started my day off with a toasted whole wheat English muffin slathered with Sabras Sautéed Mediterranean Vegetables from Costco (that is amazing by the way!) and topped with two fried eggs. It was really delicious and very filling. So filling, I did not even think about lunch until around 1pm. For lunch the day before Miranda had made a quick rice bowl with 1 cup rice, some mixed frozen veggies and shrimp all topped with a teriyaki sauce that looked really yummy. Me being the food snob I am, would never have even considered buying frozen vegetables or pre-cooked shrimp, “only fresh food in my kitchen!” I would say. But day 1 taught me how important it is to have fast and easy healthy food at your disposal, so I put away all that pride and bought some frozen veggies and pre-cooked shrimp and made my own rice bowl for lunch with some leftover brown rice I happened to have in the fridge. It was delicious and totally hit the spot! My mid-afternoon snack was some carrots and hummus, and for dinner I made these awesome spiced turkey burgers that I ate on top of a bed of lettuce mixed with a bit of low fat ranch dressing and a good helping of salsa (Recipe below). I also used the leftover ground turkey to make a soup with white beans, tomatoes, and spinach which I can’t wait to try for lunch today! If it is any good I will post the recipe.

Last night I encountered what could have been my first possible challenge: We were invited to trivia night at Rogue with some friends. Rogue is an Ale House in North Beach that gets packed on Thursday night with young and hungry groups of friends ready to play a few hours of trivia, drink lots of beer, eat good food, and have a good time. TDH and I have been to Rogue several times but we always end up drinking too much and eating greasy bar food. This time, I was going to come prepared. The following decisions were crucial to my success:

1. I decided ahead of time to have dinner at home so I was not tempted by the food at the restaurant.

2. I told TDH and our friends that I was not eating anything at the restaurant because I was trying to lose weight. This was key because now that I had said it out loud I actually had to follow my own rule!

3. I decided to only have one drink that night, instead of my usual 2 or 3. Since I was only going to have one drink I took my time trying to decide which drink I wanted. Rogue has a ton of great beers and ciders. My favorites are the sweet, fruity ones like the pear cider, cherry beer, or raspberry framboise. They are full of sugar and I drink those way too fast and always want more so I decided to go with something less sweet, more substantial, that I would be able to sip and nurse all night. I decided on the chocolate stout, a thick, rich, heavy lager. It was perfect. I sipped it all night and did not even end up finishing it.

Although there was a ton of yummy greasy food around me and I will admit I lingered and stared at it a little longer than I should have at times, I was still able to say no and distract myself with friends and trivia and I still had a great time!

Now if there had been a huge piece of gooey, fudgy chocolate cake in front of me….that might have been a different story. But,we all have weaknesses right?

10 Pounds in 5 Weeks- Day 1 and a Recipe for Otsu My Way

2009-04-02T10:21:00.001-07:00

I woke up feeling sluggish and worn down yesterday. At the cabin in Twain Harte over the weekend TDH and several of our friends started coming down with something and I woke up yesterday feeling like maybe I am catching the same thing. I was still feeling very motivated and ready to tackle my challenge of losing 10 lbs head on so I started off my day strong (or so I thought!) with an english muffin covered in a thin slathering of peanut butter. Protein and carbs right? I thought it was a great breakfast because it was not too many calories and just enough protein and fat to get me through my morning. Well I was wrong! It was not enough to eat for breakfast. I should be shooting for 300-400 calories in my breakfast and that measly english muffin with barely any peanut butter probably had about 150 calories at the most. By 11am I was famished and really not feeling so well so I ate an apple and went to lie down for a bit.

For lunch, I tried to eat something a little more hearty but still healthy and low in calories. It has been awhile since I have done some serious grocery shopping so the options in my fridge were slim. I have plenty of lettuce, but really nothing else to make a hearty salad. I can make a sandwich but I had bread for breakfast so I didn’t really want that. I checked my cupboard and there was a single lonely can of Progresso wild rice and chicken soup. I love to cook so I rarely eat anything canned, if ever! But today, this was the perfect solution. I really did not want to go out and eat by myself, I was not in the mood to cook, and I did not have anything to cook at home anyway. I checked out the nutritional information on the can and there were 100 calories per serving, 2 servings, not very much fat, no sugar, a fair amount of carbs and protein, and way too much salt. I figured this can was better than nothing but even if I ate the whole can 200 calories was not enough for lunch. So I made up a salad with romaine lettuce, salsa, and ranch dressing. Not very exciting but it was all I had in my fridge. I also made a mental note to stop by the grocery store and pick up some stuff to have on hand to make healthy and low calorie/low fat breakfasts and lunches at home.

My lunch held me over for a little bit, but I was hungry again about 2 and a half hours later. I was distracted though and not really near any food so it was not that bad. When I got home I had some carrots and hummus for a snack and set off to the gym to do my daily workout. This was the hardest part of the day. I was feeling a little sluggish and run down still and the last thing I wanted to do was exert any energy. I decided to do some weights at the gym we have in our apartment building. To get ideas I brought down the latest issue of Health magazine and a book called Core Performance by Mark Verstegen, an athlete performance trainer who has a ton of great moves and tips. I did about 40 minutes of weights using the exercises from my Health magazine and mixing in some exercises from the Core Performance book and to my surprise I felt so much better when I was done! My energy was renewed and I no longer felt sluggish!

For dinner, I looked through my Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson (Gosh I lover her!) and picked out her recipe for Otsu, or soba noodle salad. I revised it a bit, leaving out the tofu and cucumber and replacing it with broccoli and chicken. The sauce really makes this dish great and I really enjoyed it. My version of the recipe is below. Overall, what I learned today is that I need to eat more for breakfast and lunch, otherwise I thought is was a very good day!

10 Pounds in 5 Weeks!

2009-04-01T09:35:00.001-07:00

The day after debuting Miranda’s glutinous blue cheese stuffed burgers I am announcing that Miranda and I are on a mission to lose 10 pounds in 5 weeks! And on April Fools day no less! This is no joke, however, we are completely serious! As added motivation, I have decided to chronicle this adventure right here on my blog.

Miranda and I both have different reasons for wanting to lose ten pounds. Miranda is trying to fit into a bridesmaid dress that she bought a half size too small for her friend, Hang’s wedding on May 9th. I am trying to get back to the weight that I was before I became bulimic and started struggling with my weight, 120lbs. I am also doing this because I want to become a life coach and use my extensive knowledge of health and exercise to help those who are overweight learn to be healthy and ultimately lose weight. I feel that to really be able to help people I should know what it is like to try to lose weight in a healthy way. Everyone says the last ten pounds are the hardest to lose so if I can do this myself I feel like I can help anyone lose weight.

Miranda and I have both been trying to lose weight for the past month without much success. Miranda has hired a personal trainer to help her workout and I have cut back drastically on my daily sugar intake and started working out daily during the week. Our problem has been food. Miranda hates cooking for herself and is not motivated to cook herself healthy dinners and I am doing well with cooking and eating healthy during the week but completely let go during the weekends. As a result, Miranda and I have both lost about a pound in one month, which is great, but we still have nine pounds to go!

Our strategy is simple, work together and be accountable to each other. We are going to help each other plan healthy meals and text each other what we eat at each meal. We are also going to go grocery shopping together. Neither of us is willing to revolve our life around dieting so we are not going to count calories or restrict carbohydrates. We will eat whole grains and limit our sugar intake by cutting out most fruits, yogurt, sugary cereal, and…desserts! That is going to be the hardest part for me. I LOVE dessert! We are also going to exercise everyday!

In addition I will be chronicling it all right here on my blog! So the challenge is on! Can Miranda and I lose ten pounds in five weeks through eating healthy, moderation, and exercise? We will see….

Twain Harte, CA and The Best Blue Cheese Stuffed Burgers

2009-03-31T23:09:00.001-07:00

Last weekend, TDH and I drove up to my grandparents cabin with some friends. My grandparents own two cabins in Twain Harte, a small town in Tuolumne County near Sonora, CA. The small town of Twain Harte is nestled in the mountains with a small lake right smack in the middle. I love it up there because it is beautiful all year round and a great place to go to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city. In the summer it is a great place to sunbath and swim in the lake or go hiking in nearby Pinecrest mountain. In the winter it is a great place to go skiing or snowboarding at Dodge Ridge or just chill by the fire and stay warm.

To get from San Francisco to Twain Harte you have to drive down the 580 freeway to the I-5, which is not a very pleasant thing to do on a Friday evening amidst rush hour traffic. None of us had eaten dinner as we were expecting to get to the cabin by 7pm and were excited to enjoy a home cooked meal together. So when it hit 7pm and we were still gridlocked on the 580 freeway with our tummies growling, we realized we were going to have a fun ride ahead of us. The ride usually takes about two and half hours from San Francisco but that Friday evening it took us over four hours to get to the cabin. By the time we finally arrived it was almost 10pm and we were all famished. Luckily, I had brought my pre-cooked Daring Bakers Lasagna and all I had to do to get dinner ready was pop my lasagnas in the oven to reheat, make a quick salad, and warm up some French bread.

While I was getting dinner ready, TDH was busy getting the fire lit and the heater turned on to warm up the cabin. Although it turned out to be an absolutely beautiful, sunny, warm weekend, it still cools down quite a bit up in the mountains at night. After dinner we all took our wine out to the living room to sit by the fire for a bit, catch up, and enjoy some homemade tiramisu that Miranda had brought. By the time we were all stuffed from dinner and desert, it was already about midnight and some of our guests were getting tired so we let them go to bed and the rest of us moved back into the dining room and played Texas Hold ‘em until 4am or later.

The next morning we all hobbled out of bed, tired and hung over, but happy. My friend Miranda whipped us up an amazing breakfast of scrambled eggs with sausage, sautéed onions, mushrooms, bell peppers, and cheese. It was just what we needed to to soak up that remaining bit of alcohol left in our stomachs and kick start our day. My friends Sarah and Sarah (The Sarah’s) headed out to Dodge ridge to go snowboarding for the day. Dodge ridge is a small ski resort up in the pine crest mountain about 45 minutes from Twain Harte and a great place to go skiing or snowboarding in the winter.

The rest of us headed to Leland High Sierra Snow Play, also in Pinecrest. Snow Play is a place to go tubing in the snow. You can rent a tube and walk up the mountain for $18/day or you can rent a tube and get towed up the mountain for $20/halfday or $30/day. We opted for the lazy route and got tow-up tickets. On the weekends, this place is crawling with young kids having the time of their life.

We all thought it was pretty fun to get towed up the mountain and then go speeding down one of the man made slides…the first time. After the first time, it got kind of old and monotonous.

We tried going down forward, backward, and on our stomach, we tried stealing some of the faster tubes to make it seem like more of a thrill, but after going down about three or four times we were all pretty much done and ready to move on. It probably is not worth the $20 if you do not have a kid under 8 years old but it was still fun to check it out, especially since this was the first time TDH had seen snow since he was a young kid.

After our short stint on the tubes, TDH, Ken, Cerena, and I went off to find the Pinecrest lake and do some hiking, while Miranda and Eric went off and did their own thing. There is a ton of great hiking up in Pinecrest and most of it is easy to moderate hiking. We were planning to drive to the lake and walk around a bit, maybe take some pictures of the lake and some trees. We were all pretty tired so we were not planning on doing anything too strenuous or difficult.

When we got to the lake, we started walking and found a path hidden under the snow. We decided to try to follow that for awhile, but before we knew it we were pretty far away from the car and had to make a decision: do we turn back around and dredge through the snow in our measly little tennis shoes or do we keep going and stick it out until we can get to the other side where the snow has already all melted? None of us were particularly fond of getting our feet soaked and slipping and sliding through the snow that covered the path and it did not look THAT far to walk around the lake so we decided to keep going. We kept walking, kept walking, kept walking, eventually we had to start climbing as the path slowly disappeared.

Well, we were in for a much longer, more difficult hike than any of us committed to. The hike around the lake is about three miles and fairly rigorous but it is not a bad hike if you plan for it, wear the right shoes, and bring snacks so you are not starving before you even begin your 2.5 hour hike hours. We did none of these things so after awhile this hike seemed quite intimidating, but we made it around and I am so glad we ended up doing the full hike.

It is beautiful out there and so quiet and serene. There are parts of the hike where you are at the top of the surrounding hills and you can see everything.

There are parts of the lake where you are walking across the bridge over a river, rushing rapidly toward the lake, or walking over the damn looking straight down at all the rocks. It was fun, but we were exhausted by the time we got back to the car.

Luckily, when we got back home, The Sarah’s, Nathan, Miranda, and Eric were already there and dinner had already been started. Miranda, our chef for the weekend, whipped us up some amazing blue cheese stuffed burgers, which she served with avocado, bacon, sautéed onions, and mushrooms, and more cheese as toppings. They were so yummy and totally hit the spot! After dinner we all sat by the fire again and played a couple of games of Apples to Apples and Balderdash until around midnight when we all decided we were way to beat and went to bed. It was a great weekend with friends and nature and it was nice to be away from the city, without any internet, cell phones, or TV to distract us.

Below is the recipe for Miranda’s blue cheese burgers. These burgers are decadent and not for those trying to lose or maintain their weight. I might try in the future to make a healthier version but I am sure it will never taste as good as these did. It is a very general recipe and very adaptable to any size party or any particular preference or taste. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Daring Bakers- Traditional Northern Italian Lasagna

2009-03-29T22:20:00.000-07:00

Whew! It has been a crazy week for me! My part time job has turned out to be more than a full time job! On the one hand it is nice because I am super busy and I am getting paid a decent hourly wage. In this economy we are all happy about every penny we make right? On the other hand it leaves me with little to no time to focus on the things that I love, mainly this blog! Last year I was posting 20 posts a month or more! This year I can barely get 10 posts done in a month! I am so disappointed in myself. I keep saying next month will be different, I will get better, and each month I just cannot seem to find the time!

To all you bloggers out there with full time jobs and families: HOW THE HECK DO YOU DO IT???

The other change in my life that seems to be taking up all my time is that I have tried to start a regular workout routine again. I have been an avid exerciser for most of my life. In high school I played sports, in college I started going to the gym and taking fitness classes, after college I started running half marathons and doing triathlons. I love exercising, it makes me feel good. But in college, as my eating disorder developed into full blown bulimia, I became obsessive, and exercise became a necessity, a way to keep losing weight and all of a sudden it was not fun anymore. It was not a release of daily stresses, but something I HAD to do. As part of my recovery last year, I decided to stop exercising, a sacrifice that was very hard for me but definitely what I needed. The best part about taking the year off from exercise was that I found cooking to be just as much of a stress release and I had more time for other things, such as creating and contributing to my new blog! I am now at a place where think I can start enjoying exercise again. I am taking it slow, and not pushing myself too hard but I am trying to get in about 30-40 minutes of exercise everyday. As you can imagine, working all day then coming home and exercising for 40 minutes does not leave much time (or energy!) for cooking or blogging.

I did find the time to complete this month’s Daring Baker’s challenge though! It took me a full week to make the lasagna and, unfortunately, I did not document the process with pictures but I finished it! I made two lasagnas, each with a different ragout sauce and took them both up to my grandparents cabin in Twain Harte, CA to my with some friends this past weekend.

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

For some reason I had a hard time getting motivated to complete this challenge. Do not get me wrong, I LOVE lasagna, I was just completely intimidated! I tried making fresh pasta once in my life and it turned out horrible and when I decided to make this for a group of friends it became just that much more intimidating because now it has to be good! The last thing I want to do is serve my friends some horrible tasting homemade concoction! I am just not that confident of my baking skills yet, so I pretty much followed the recipe as it was given to us for the spinach lasagna noodles and the béchamel sauce. For the ragout, I decided to do something different and made two different kinds: a chicken ragout and a mushroom ragout, they both turned out really yummy and I have included the recipes for both below. For the original daring bakers recipe, go here.

The chicken ragout was kind of an accident. I had some raw chicken breast in the fridge that needed to be cooked and about 5 minutes to do something with it. I frantically threw the chicken breasts in my slow cooker, dumped some tomato sauce, tomato paste, onion, whole garlic cloves, a ton of Italian seasoning, and some salt and pepper and let it cook for 9 hours. I was not sure how good it would turn out but to my amazement it was delicious. The chicken just melted and all the spices and tomato sauces melded together nicely. It made the entire kitchen smell like heaven and it was so easy and fast to make!

The mushroom ragout is a vegetarian version of the country style ragout recipe featured in the daring bakers challenge. I pretty much followed the directions for the meat ragout but instead of meat I substituted mushrooms. This one is also really good but I can see how the addition of the fat from the meat would make it taste much better. I do love me some mushrooms though so I was excited to try my vegetarian version.

I struggled with the béchamel sauce. Not that it was hard to make, it is actually so incredibly easy! I struggled because I have officially realized that I weigh more than I ever have in my life and I am completely struggling with this issue right now. I am trying to figure out how to lose some weight, but do it in a healthy manner without diverting back to my old bulimic habits. I thought about how I could make the béchamel sauce healthier without losing the taste for the entire month. In the end, I decided the heck with it! It really is not that bad for you, the main ingredient is milk! So I followed the daring baker recipe and am glad I did. Who knew such a simple sauce could taste so yummy!

The pasta was the most fun to make. Although I was completely intimidated and have no pasta makers or rollers to help me out, I was pleasantly surprised with how my pasta turned out. I followed the recipe exactly although I did have to add an extra egg to get the dough to bind. I kneaded it for hours (okay more like 10-15 minutes, but it seemed like hours!). I did not have time to make the dough, roll it out, and assemble the lasagnas all in the same night so I made the lasagna dough, wrapped it in saran wrap and left it in the fridge overnight. It was much easier to handle the next day and rolled out nicely. To roll it out I took chunks of the dough and rolled it into a nice long, thin rope, then used a rolling pin to roll the rope flat. I divided the pieces and placed them straight into the lasagna. I decided not to boil the noodles and to my surprise they tasted just fine in the lasagna. They were a bit too thick but very creamy and still very very yummy.

Baking the lasagnas made my whole apartment smell like heaven and it was very hard to not be able to try a piece straight out of the oven, but the wait was worth it. Both lasagnas were very good and it was a perfect dish to serve the first night we arrived at the cabin. We were all very tired and hungry and all I had to do to get dinner ready was reheat the lasagnas in the oven 30 minutes, whip up a quick salad and warm up some bread. It was definitely a hit!

Wine with Dinner Thursdays IV

2009-03-19T09:33:00.001-07:00

Ahhh, It is Thursday again! We are on the homestretch towards the weekend! It is time to let loose a little bit, get a little bit crazy this evening. It is time to break out the wine! And today is no ordinary Thursday, it is the first day of March Madness. I do not know about you but I am rooting for UCLA! Go Bruins!

You can be sure that all of the bars will be showing the games on TV and it is probably a great night to go out to your favorite sports bar, fight the crowds, drink too much beer, and get rowdy. But if that is just not your thing, why not enjoy March Madness in a little more style with this jug of Guadagni red table wine from Preston Wineries (Hey! I said a LITTLE more style ok!). I first told you about this jug of fun when I wrote about my wine tasting trip to Dry Creek Valley. This is not your ordinary cheap jug of wine you pick up at the grocery store that will leave you with a bad taste in your mouth and a horrific hangover. This jug is special! Preston Winery dishes up this wine straight from the barrel into these three liter jugs only on Sundays. It is a blend of Zinfandel, Mourvèdre, and Carignane grapes made to look and taste like the wine that was enjoyed by their old neighbor and fellow wine maker Jim Guadagni.

This wine is best enjoyed with a group of friends sitting around a big table (or on the couch in front of your big screen TV) enjoying a simple Italian dinner served family style. I served it with my Mother-in-law’s famous homemade tomato sauce, cooked up with a large batch of thin spaghetti and served with a side of roasted vegetables and homemade focaccia. YUM!

Here, have a closer look at that spaghetti and tomato sauce. Hmmm……ok that does not look so appetizing anymore does it? Well then, nevermind, forget I ever showed you this picture….

One Day at a Time…

2009-03-15T17:06:00.001-07:00

It is Sunday, and as I stir in my sleep, rolling over to wrap my arm around TDH, I think to myself how nice it is to have a day where I can sleep in. I have no alarm I have to wake up to, no work to rush to, no dire tasks that need to be completed. Ahhh, I can just lay here all day long. Unfortunately, I am not one who can sleep for half the day and be perfectly content and eventually my brain revs into full functioning mode, my dreamlike state wears off, and I realize that I have NOTHING to do today.

Well, okay, it is not that I have absolutely nothing to do today, I just have nothing I really have to or want to do today. Trying desperately to come up with something, I quickly list in my head the things that I could do:

1. Go for a run- I should, it is good for me physically and mentally and I know it will make me feel better about myself and my day. However, I can run at any point because I have nothing to do, so maybe I will hold off and run later. Besides, I always make time to workout during the week, I do not have to make myself workout during the weekend too!

2. Go Shopping- For what? I don’t NEED anything! If I go shopping I know I will end up buying something and feeling guilty about it. I really do not enjoy shopping that much anyway and it looks like it is about to rain outside and since I have no car I would have to walk there. I really do not want to walk in the rain.

4. Write in my blog- I have so many pictures that are just waiting to be turned into blog posts. I should write, I really, really should. But what should I write about? The grapefruit cheesecake, the pulled chicken sandwiches, there are just too many posts that need to be done, I’m feeling overwhelmed.

5. Look for a job- I currently have a job, it is not an awful job but I do not love it. It is not what I want to do for the rest of my life. What do I want to do for the rest of my life? How do I get to the point where I can do it? I should start looking for a job that I love now because if I do not start now I will end up working at jobs I do not like for the rest of my life. But what do I look for? I don’t really know what I want to do. Oh Gawd!

This is the point when I yell to myself STOP! I take a couple of deep breaths and tell myself to stop worrying so much and “ just take it one day at a time!” Sure, I have a ton of material to write about in my blog, but I do not have to write about it all today! Now that I really think about it I would rather have too much to write about than nothing at all so I really have nothing to complain about! I can just write about one topic, whatever topic I feel like writing about today! It is my blog and I will blog about what I want to! And my job really is not that bad. Sure, I do not love what I do today and may not find that perfect job tomorrow, but that does not mean it hurts to look! It does not mean I will not find that perfect job someday. Unless I never bother finding out what is out there!

I decide I need to just get out of the house for a bit and clear my mind. I grab my laptop and my rain jacket and start walking, ending up at the Border’s in the Westfield Mall in downtown San Francisco. I order a green tea, grab some magazines and just relax for a bit. It is raining today. It is miserable today. I have nothing pressing to do today. It will not ruin my life or my day to just relax and do nothing productive today!

Immediately, I feel good again and decide it is time to take a gander at the wanted ads, write a blog post…and who knows, maybe even go for a run!

The moral: Take everything one day at a time and you will find yourself less stressed, more productive, and much happier!

A Special Cookie for a Special Person!

2009-03-13T11:20:00.001-07:00

It is my friend Tam’s birthday today. Happy birthday Tam! Tam is a good friend of mine from Australia. Her and her husband, Cam (yes Tam and Cam….cute huh?) moved into the same Avalon apartment complex as TDH and myself in San Francisco almost three years and we became fast friends. Over the last three years we have become very close. She was a bridesmaid in my wedding and I am an “auntie” to her cute six month old daughter, Summer.

I wanted to make something special for Tam for her birthday but I did not have a ton of time (procrastination is an evil thing!) so I needed something that was easy and fast. Cookies are always really good, really easy to make, and can be made start to finish in an hour or less. So I figured a type of cookie is my best bet, but cookies are kind of boring! How can I turn my birthday treat to Tam from a boring cooking to something really special?

Well, the first valentines day I spend with TDH waaaaaaay back in the day when I was a wee little sophomore in college, TDH bought me this giant heart cookie decorated with frosting. It was such a sweet (get it….sweet….haha) gift and thinking about how to make a cookie special brought me back to that memory.

So I decided to make Tam a large cookie shaped and decorated. I used this chocolate chip cookie recipe from Cooking Stuff because it looked so gosh darn good and she has step by step photo directions! I spread my dough into one big blog on some parchment paper then cooked it for about 25 minutes at 325F. I decided to shape the cookie as a map of Australia (I thought she would get a kick out of it!) so I printed out a map of Australia and used a small sharp knife to cut around my cookie blob to shape it. I had a lot of extra cookie blob left (I had meant to make half a batch but got a little excited and was halfway done with making the full batch when I realized what I was doing.), so I used up the rest by cutting out some cut little hearts, flowers, and bears. Attempting to decorate them was fun, although it made me realize I could use some practice! I used some tubes of writing frosting I bought from the grocery store in cute pastel colors because I know Tam likes cute little girly colors.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAM!

Wine With Dinner Thursdays III

2009-03-12T07:41:00.001-07:00

This is a Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro from Barbolini. Barbolini does not have a website (as far as I can tell) but you can easily search and buy this wine online if you cannot find it in your local wine shop. This Italian wine is very unique and special. It is a luscious red wine…with… du du dunnnnnn….carbonation!

This wine is made from Grasparossa grapes grown on vineyards in the ancient “Giardini” road of Italy, where the special “white soils” are found. It is full of body, yet well rounded, and slightly sweet. The carbonation gives this sweet wine the extra body it needs to be perfectly paired with spicy foods.

I decided to pair this wine with a spicy dish that TDH whipped up for me one night as an experiment. I absolutely loved it and have made it again since then. This may look like your standard pasta with sausage and tomato sauce but it is not my friends! This little pasta dish has had chipotle peppers in adobo sauce chopped up and added to it. What you get is a very spicy and delicious pasta dish that has turned into one of my favorite weeknight meals! I have pasted my version of this recipe below. Enjoy!

Mr. Snowmug and Nancy’s Italian Wedding Soup

2009-03-10T23:03:00.001-07:00

I have a thing with extremely large mugs. I love them. They are perfect for tea, I love filling them with my morning fruit, granola, and yogurt parfait, and I absolutely love eating soup out of them. This is one of my favorite mugs, it’s my Mr. Snowmug. I do not remember where I got him from but when filled with soup he always makes me feel very warm and toasty on a cold winter night.

This is Mr. Snowmug filled with one of my favorite soups. This is my mother-in-laws Italian wedding soup. Whenever we visit TDH’s parents down in Southern California I am always sent home with a large Tupperware container filled with her famous tomato sauce with meatballs or this Italian wedding soup. She makes it with ground beef meatballs and egg square pasta and although it is very tasty as is, I think it would be just as delicious with turkey or chicken meatballs and barley or some other slow cooking grain. Below is the recipe straight from the source. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do….especially in your very own extra large Mr. Snowmug!

Quick Asian Inspired Rice Bowl

2009-03-08T18:53:00.001-07:00

Whew! It’s been quite a whirlwind weekend! Eddie and I went to dinner with our friends Ken and Cerina at Tres Agaves on Friday night and had some awesome (but slightly overpriced) Mexican food and super yummy margaritas. Everyone in San Francisco must go to this restaurant at least once just for the tequila selection! The tequila list is just crazy! They also have restaurants in Las Vegas and Roseville. On Saturday we went out with our with my friend Alina and her new boyfriend, Todd, to the Mission and ate at Aslam’s Rasoi for some really good Indian food (Although we still like Mehfil better!). Then, we went to a late showing of Watchmen, which was really good! Today we took a bike ride over the Golden Gate Bridge, down through Sausalito, and into Mill Valley to have brunch with Eddie’s friend Beth and her new boyfriend at the Dipsea Cafe .

Needless to say I’m exhausted and the last thing I wanted to do was spend all evening in the kitchen cooking dinner. So I whipped up this really quick Asian- inspired rice bowl and you can too! This meal serves two people.

I cooked two cups of brown Korean rice in my rice cooker. While that was cooking away I minced up some garlic (about 4 small cloves) and ginger (about a half inch chunk). Then I sliced up three small chili peppers and placed the garlic, ginger, chili peppers in a pan along with a hefty pour of sake (about 1/2 cup) and a few splashes of soy sauce (about 1 tablespoon). This all got heated to a boil over medium heat and then I tossed in a head of baby bok choy, sliced in half lengthwise, broccoli rabe, and some firm tofu sliced into matchsticks. Do not stir! Simply cover the pan, reduce the heat to low, and let simmer and steam for about 15 minutes.

When the rice is done, dish out into bowls, top with 1/2 bok choy, half the broccoli rabe, half the tofu, and some of the leftover broth (make sure you get some of that yummy garlic, ginger, and the chilies too!)

Then top this with some Teriyaki sauce and sesame seeds and Wa-La! Dinner is ready!

Bring on the Color! Part 2

2009-03-07T15:15:00.001-08:00

Unfortunately, I do not have a picture to go with this recipe. This is especially unfortunate because, in my opinion, beet risotto is one of the most shocking and beautiful dishes. Slow cooking the beets with the grain turns the entire dish bright red. Fortunately, I am not the first person to make risotto with beets and there are plenty of picture out there on other blogs. Here are some of them:

Roasted Beet Risotto by Coconut and Lime

Beetroot Risotto by An Edible Symphony

Creamy Beetroot Risotto by Domestic Goddess in Training

For my beetroot risotto, I decided to use barley instead of risotto. I am on a mission to try new grains and barley is one of them. I like the crunch of barley and thought it would go well with this dish. TDH was not a fan of the barley and it did take much longer to cook, so unless you love barley and are willing to spend the extra time, I would stick with risotto, some other rice, or a slightly quicker cooking grain. I used chicken stock for the liquid, and for the cheese I decided to use a mixture of plain yogurt, goat cheese, and herbs, it went heavenly with the beets. In my opinion, this dish is a winner and I can’t wait to make it again!

Wine With Dinner Thursdays II

2009-03-05T17:26:00.001-08:00

This week I am featuring a Black Muscat dessert wine with the dessert I made for Valentine’s Day. I have never been a huge fan of dessert wines. They have always been way too sweet to me, to the point where my mouth would pucker every time I would take a sip.However, I have slowly come to appreciate a good dessert wine, especially when paired with the right dessert. Here is my story:

TDH and I have these friends, Liz and Vee, whom we love dearly and whom we always have so much fun going out to dinner with. Unfortunately, they are always super busy so we only get to see them every six months or so. But when we do get to see them we usually go all out and go to some fancy place and drink loads of wine. About a year ago, Liz and Vee took us to the cute little Italian place on California Street in Palo Alto named Spalti. We drank and ate for hours, ordering several bottles of nice wine. At the end of the meal as we were enjoying our dessert the waitress brought us each a glass of sparkling white dessert wine. I took a sip to try to be polite knowing I wouldn’t like it very much and I was blown away. It was the most delicious thing I have ever tasted!

I was fairly convinced that it was a one time deal, my actually liking a dessert wine. Maybe it was the fizz or the fact that it was white instead of red, I don’t know. I never really bothered finding out either as I really haven’t drank much dessert wine since that night.

Well, the other weekend during our trip to Dry Creek Valley we stopped at the Ferarri Carano Winery and sampled some of their dessert wines. They had a white and a red. On my list of all the wines they had available for tasting I put one star next to the white dessert wine, it was too sweet for me. But the Black Muscat dessert wine got two stars. They gave us these chocolate covered grapes to have with the red dessert wine and they really brought out the taste for me. That wine was amazing with those chocolate covered blueberries. It brought me back to the wonderful dinner we had a year ago with our good friends and made me realize maybe I should give dessert wines a second shot.

So for my second Wine With Dinner Thursday event I am featuring a 2006 Rosenblum Black Muscat, Gallagher Reserve. The description on the site says “This fine Black Muscat dessert wine is handcrafted from select plantings of Black Hamburg Muscat grapes. The rich bouquet of exotic berries and spices is very effusive. Flavors of ripe berries, creamy cherries and hints of chocolate are long on the palate.”

The blueberry chocolate cobbler I made for our Valentine’s Day dessert pairs perfectly with a wine like this. The recipe is below and makes enough for two small individual cobblers.

Enjoy!

Bring on the Color! Part 1

2009-03-04T20:50:00.001-08:00

MmmmmMmmmmMmmmm I love me some beets! I love the vibrant color, I love the texture, I love the slight sweetness, and I love how colorful and yummy beets make almost any salad. Now that you know my feelings towards beets you might be surprised to find out that I never really eat them anymore! Well, until recently that is. I was thinking about why that is today and I realized beets are most commonly seen in canned form (at least here in the bay area) and I don’t really buy canned food anymore. I have noticed that they sell fresh beets at the local supermarket but I always try to always buy vegetables that are on sale, and beets are never on sale! Hence the reason I never eat beets anymore! Well, a month ago I signed up to get a bag of fresh veggies from local farmers and guess what vegetable is a frequent guest in my weekly bag? BEETS! I don’t know how I lived without them for so long! They are so good. And I don’t think I will be able to live long without them anymore. Today I will give you one of my two favorite recipes for beets. This colorful roasted beet salad is super easy to make, extremely healthy, and so so so good!

Stay tuned for my other favorite beet recipe: Beet Red BarleyRissotto! Say that fast ten times!

Wine Tasting in Sonoma- Dry Creek Valley

2009-03-02T20:20:00.001-08:00

TDH and I have a friend that works in a Winery in Sonoma. A few weekends ago he took us on a little tour around Dry Creek Valley, a part of Sonoma that specializes in Zinfandels. If you have never been to Dry Creek you have to go, and if you don’t have a friend that works in a winery in Sonoma or Napa you must find one! Not only will you get to spend a day in one of the most beautiful places in the world, but you get to also taste delicious wine for free! Winery employees get free wine tasting for themselves and their friends at all other wineries! For those of you who have no idea where Dry Creek Valley is here is a map. Dry Creek Wineries are all situated on this beautiful country road that takes you towards Lake Sonoma, which is a gorgeous place to hike and camp by the way!

TDH and I got picked up at 9am Sunday morning by our friends Miranda and Amy, who also went wine tasting with us that day. We arrived at Devin’s cute apartment in Sonoma by around 10:30. After catching up for a bit we headed out to visit our first winery, Mazzocco.

Mazzocco is a small, family owned winery snuggled right between Dry Creek Valley and Alexander Valley. It is owned by Diane and Ken Wilson who grow their grapes in a diverse set of vineyards scattered around both Alexander Valley and Dry Creek Valley. According to the Wilson Family it is this key element of diversity that defines their wine. Their winemaker, Antoine Favero, employs many traditional French wine making techniques, which also contributes to the uniqueness of the Mazzocco wines.

A tasting at Mozzocco runs about $20, a high price to pay for a tasting in Sonoma but well worth the money. We were able to try 12 different wines, more than double what you get at most wineries. Some of the highlights were the 2006 Lytton Zinfandel, which scored 90 points according to California Grapevine. This is a drier Zin, made from their home vineyard right outside the tasting room. The 2006 Stone Zinfandel has an aroma of rose pedals, flavors of dark berry, and a hint of mocha. This zinfandel took a double gold metal at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition in 2007. The 2006 Zinfandel and the 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Dry Creek from the Sonoma County collection both took a gold metal at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition.

TDH takes his wine tasting very, very seriously…

Although it was the dead of winter and all the vines are very bear, it was still very beautiful and being surrounded by such greenery, hills, and vines is just breathtaking.

We spent almost two hours tasting wines at Mazzocco’s and were famished when we were done. So we hopped back in the car and drove down the road to this quant little deli called Dry Creek General Store. Established in 1881, stepping into the Dry Creek General Store is like taking a trip back in the past, when food and life were simple and just plain good.

They have a decent menu of sandwiches, salads, and soup, they use premium meats, cheeses and breads to make their sandwiches, and they are exactly what you need to keep you going during a day of wine tasting.

With our bellies full, and our buzz from the first winery waning, we set out to our second winery of the day, Bella. Bella is unique in that their tasting room is inside a cave and covered with vines. It’s a beautiful setting. Bella Winery is owned and operated by Lynn and Scott Adams who fell in love with wine country after getting married in its majestic setting. With the help of Scott’s parents and brothers they bought their first vineyard and immersed themselves into learning everything they could about growing grapes and winemaking.

Bella grows their grapes on two vineyards in Dry Creek and one in Alexander Valley. Their mission is to make small lots of high quality wine from distinct parcels in these wineries. The tasting fee is a steal at $5 a person but only includes 4 wines (5 if they like you). The wines we tasted were all from 2006 and included the Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel, Big River Ranch Zinfandel, Belle Canyon Zinfandel, Sonoma County Syrah, and they threw in the Lily Hill Estate Zinfandel, a wine not on the tasting menu that day, that took home a gold metal from the Orange County Fair Wine Competition. I won’t go into detail about how the wine tasted because I am no expert in that field. Of course I did the usual sniffing, swirling, swooshing, swallowing (is that usual???). But to me they all taste like wine!

Here we all our, happy after tasting all those yummy wines at Bella and ready to head to our next destination.

Preston Winery, our next destination, was probably my favorite winery of the day. It is a quaint little farm house, nestled in the heart of the valley. When you walk inside it is like going back 100 years. It is decorated very simply and organically. There is an old bookshelf in the corner filled with ancient books on topics such as wine, cooking, and canning for guests to peruse at their pleasure. Next to the bookshelf is a rocking chair inviting their guests to come in, sit, and relax. When I walked inside I immediately felt comfortable, like I have been their before. I felt calm and everything felt so surreal. The girls behind the counter slowly poured each wine, allowing us to wander around and touch everything in between tastings. No one here is in a hurry.

What I loved most about this winery is that they are also a bakery and an organic farm. They were selling large sourdough loaves made fresh from the commercial kitchen they built into their winery back in 1988. They had freshly cured olives and silky smooth olive oil sitting out for you to taste. They also had a fridge filled with fresh eggs laid by ducks and chickens that wander the farm. The taste of the wine mixed in with the fresh aroma of the bread and olive oil was absolutely heavenly. I could have stayed there for hours.

Did I mention that they have cats! Tons of them! Lounging outside on the picnic tables, rocking chairs, and even the trees and roofs!

The tasting fee at Preston Wineries is also a minimal $5 fee and you get your choice of five different wines from a list of about eleven wines. What makes Preston Wineries truly unique among the smattering of wineries that line the Dry Creek Valley, besides the bakery and organic farm, is their selection of wine. In an area where Zinfandel is king, there was only one zinfandel listed on their tasting menu. The wine varietals that Preston Winery makes, from Sauvignon Blanc, to Viognier, to Barbera, to Syrah is very vast. This is because in 2001 Lou and Susan, the owners, downsized their production from 20,000 cases to 8,000 cases using only the best grapes from their massive vineyards scattered all around Dry Creek and Alexander Valley, and selling the rest of the grapes to other winemakers. They specialize in unusual varieties of grapes that other wineries of Dry Creek Valley have failed to succeed at by using only best grapes of their crops.

In the back of the tasting room there is a door that leads to the cellar where all the wine barrels are kept. On Sundays, a surprise awaits all of the guests that venture into this dimly lit room…

It’s called the Guadagni Jug, a three liter jug filled with a special wine that celebrates the contribution John Guadagni made to wine, grapes, and the people of the Dry Creek Valley. John Guadagni was an old neighbor that taught the owners of the Preston Winery everything they know today about winemaking. This tradition started in 2002 and is going strong. While we were waiting for our brand new jugs to be filled we saw guests come in with jugs that had 12 labels staggered around the jug representing the number of times they have had their jug refilled.

Jug in hand, we headed over to our last winery of the day, Ferrari Carano. A mansion among mere farm houses, this winery stands out in the Dry Creek Valley like a sore thumb (only much grander and more beautiful). Sonoma wineries are much more modest than the mansions that are scattered across Napa Valley. Ferrari Carano is the exception. It is huge, gorgeous, and built to impress. Built and owned by Don Carano and his wife Rhonda. Don, a lawyer specializing in business and gaming law, made his fortune in hotels and casinos in Reno when he built the El Dorado, a hotel that now has 817 guest rooms, 10 restaurants, a casino, and a showroom.

Don and Rhonda fell in love with Sonoma during a trip to find some good wines to serve in one of their restaurants in 1979. Soon after they bought a 60-acre parcel of land in Alexander Valley with a 1904 farmhouse. What started out as a haven away from the hustle and bustle of busy casino life soon turned into a passion for good wine and a large, successful winery.

Ferrari Carano has two winemaking locations each specializing in specific types of wines. The Estate Winery, where the tasting room is located, is where the white wines are produced. They have a cellar in the basement of the mansion that you can view as you go downstairs to sit in the tasting room.

The tasting bar is as elegant and grand as everything else in this winery. The unique thing about this tasting bar (not shown in the picture) is that the bar itself is modeled after a wine barrel.

A tasting here will run you $15 for four selections, probably the steepest priced tasting in all of Deer Creek Valley and maybe even all of Sonoma. But the wine is amazing and just being able to walk around the grounds and view the grounds and mansion in all of their glory makes the fee worth it. Also, the bartenders are usually very nice and will comp you and extra tasting on the house. All the wines here are extremely good, but my favorite was the 2005 Sangiovese-Alexander Valley, and the 2007 El Dorado Nior- Russian River Valley.

If you ask for a tasting of the El Dorado Nior they give it to you with a couple of chocolate covered blueberries. Now I have heard of pairing wine with food and that certain foods make wine taste better, but I had never fully experienced it until I tasted that dessert wine with those chocolate covered blueberries. Alone, the Nior is really good but with those chocolate covered blueberries it is amazing! The flavors burst in your mouth and meld together so wonderfully. TDH and I loved it so much we brought a bottle home to drink with our dessert for our Valentine’s Day Dinner.

By the time we left Ferarri Carano it was 5 o’clock and all the wineries had closed their doors for the night. As we made the two hour drive back to the city we all sat in the car silently. We were exhausted, but satisfied, and happy.

Daring Bakers Challenge- For The Love Of Chocolate

2009-02-28T12:39:00.001-08:00

The picture above shows you all the ingredients needed to make a flourless chocolate cake: eggs, butter, and a whole lotta yummy, creamy, scrumptious, delicious, decadent (Oh god I’m getting hungry!) chocolate!

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.
We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

I was so excited when I found about this challenge because it included my two favorite things: chocolate and ice cream! I spent the first two weeks trying to decide how I was going to make my DB challenge unique. What king of ice cream should I make? Should I add chilies or cinnamon to my cake to add a little extra kick? Eventually I decided to leave it how it is because adding anything to this already amazing recipe would take away from the chocolate, which I felt was the star of this dish.

To make this cake all you have to do is melt the chocolate with the butter over a double boiler, then whip in the eggs. So simple! Oh yeah I forgot to mention that before you whip in the eggs you have to separate the yolks from the whites, whip the whites until you see peaks, then whip the yolks until foamy. Then you mix the yolks into the chocolate and butter first and slowly fold in the egg whites. Folding in the eggs whites is the hardest part and will make or break your cake because it is the only ingredient that will add volume and fluffiness to this otherwise super dense cake. I would explain to you the correct way to do this only I have no idea! I was fairly lucky this time and was able to fold in my egg whites without mixing too much so my batter stayed fluffy. I have had other incidences where I spend the time to whip the whites only to see them completely deflate when I am trying to fold them into the batter!

I decided to make this cake for a dinner party that I was going to for thirteen people. So I doubled the recipe and baked it in a large pan. Using a cookie cutter I cut out individual hearts. In order to cut out the hearts without completely destroying the cake I had to freeze it for about twenty minutes to firm it up. I served the individual cakes with homemade French vanilla bean ice cream and homemade creamy caramel sauce. They were so amazingly delicious. Everyone was raving!

I am the type of person who hates to waste. So I rolled the leftover cake into balls, froze them, dipped them into melted white chocolate and topped them with a milk chocolate squiggle. These little balls were also a huge hit at the party. To make these little balls I decided to try to “temper” the chocolate. I found this awesome article on how to melt, dip, or drizzle chocolate. It has an easy thermometer free way of tempering chocolate. All you have to do is place your chopped chocolate in a bowl, place the bowl in a top of very warm water (100-110 F) and stir until melted. By the time the white chocolate finely melted my arm was dead from stirring so much. Man, what a workout! But it worked and the result was cute little scrumptious chocolate covered balls!

This challenge has been one of my favorite so far. And the recipes (listed below) are definitely keepers!

Chocolate Valentino

16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.
While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.
Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).
With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.
Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.
Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. {link of folding demonstration}
Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C
Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C.
Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.
Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.

Katie’s Creamy Caramel Sauce

1 cup of sugar
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large, deep, heavy duty saucepan or dutch oven, spread the sugar in an even layer.
Cook the sugar over low to medium heat, watching it carefully.
When it begins to liquefy and darken around the edges, use a heatproof spatula to very gently stir it to encourage even cooking.
Tilt the pan and stir gently until all of the sugar is melted and the caramel begins to smoke and turns a deep amber color.
Immediately remove from the heat and whisk in half of the cream, which will steam and bubble up furiously.
Carefully stir until the sugar is dissolved, then gradually whisk int he remaining cream and the salt and vanilla.
If there are any bits of hardened sugar, whisk the sauce over low heat until smooth.
Serve warm.
Keeps in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks, if it lasts that long. Rewarm gently in the microwave or stirring in a saucepan over very low heat.
If the sauce is too thick, you can thin it by adding a small amount of milk or additional cream.

Dharm's Ice Cream Recipe
Classic Vanilla Ice Cream
Recipe comes from the Ice Cream Book by Joanna Farrow and Sara Lewis (tested modifications and notes in parentheses by Dharm)

1 Vanilla Pod (or substitute with vanilla extract)
300ml / ½ pint / 1 ¼ cups Semi Skimmed Milk – in the U.S. this is 2% fat (or use fresh full fat milk that is pasteurised and homogenised {as opposed to canned or powdered}). Dharm used whole milk.
4 large egg yolks
75g / 3oz / 6 tbsp caster sugar {superfine sugar can be achieved in a food processor or use regular granulated sugar}
5ml / 1 tsp corn flour {cornstarch}
300ml / ½ pint / 1 ¼ cups Double Cream (48% butter fat) {in the U.S. heavy cream is 37% fat)
{you can easily increase your cream's fat content by heating 1/4 cup of heavy cream with 3 Tbs of butter until melted - cool to room temperature and add to the heavy cream as soon as whisk marks appear in the cream, in a slow steady stream, with the mixer on low speed. Raise speed and continue whipping the cream) or use heavy cream the difference will be in the creaminess of the ice cream.

Using a small knife slit the vanilla pod lengthways. Pour the milk into a heavy based saucepan, add the vanilla pod and bring to the boil. Remove from heat and leave for 15 minutes to allow the flavours to infuse
Lift the vanilla pod up. Holding it over the pan, scrape the black seeds out of the pod with a small knife so that they fall back into the milk. SET the vanilla pod aside and bring the milk back to the boil.
Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and corn-flour in a bowl until the mixture is thick and foamy.
Gradually pour in the hot milk, whisking constantly. Return the mixture to the pan and cook over a gentle hear, stirring all the time
When the custard thickens and is smooth, pour it back into the bowl. Cool it then chill.
By Hand: Whip the cream until it has thickened but still falls from a spoon. Fold it into the custard and pour into a plastic tub or similar freeze-proof container. Freeze for 6 hours or until firm enough to scoop, beating it twice (during the freezing process – to get smoother ice cream or else the ice cream will be icy and coarse)
By Using and Ice Cream Maker: Stir the cream into the custard and churn the mixture until thick (follow instructions on your ice cream maker)

Wine With Dinner Thursdays I

2009-02-26T22:50:00.001-08:00

This is an Atteca Old Vines 2007. It is made from Granacha grapes from vines that were planted in the last decades of the nineteenth century. Deep rich blackberry flavors persist on a long supple finish and are highlighted by the bright and shimmering claret color. This wine has a bright bold taste that is excellent with bright bold flavored food or on its own.

We decided to pair this wine with a bold red curry noodle dish. We simmered coconut milk with red curry paste and added some chicken, baby bok choy, and baby brocolli. We added a bit of brown sugar and soy sauce to bring out the flavors and toped it all on some brown rice pasta. YUM!

Introducing Wine With Dinner Thursday!

2009-02-25T19:55:00.001-08:00

It has been way too quite around here lately and I have to apologize. Since DT died TDH and I have found it less important to be home. So we have been making plans and always seem to be on the go. Since we have been so busy,I haven’t had time (or the motivation to be honest) to write. But don’t you worry! I have still found the time to take pictures! Lots and lots of pictures of food, and wine, and all the crazy events and trips that have been taking up all my precious time!

I also think I have been trying too hard to be a perfect writer. I have been stressing over grammar and word choice and have turned what I used to love into something that feels like work. So to get myself excited about my blog again I have decided to 1) stop worry so much! and 2) start a little weekly blogging event over at my little humble blog. Every Thursday I am going to feature a wine and include a recipe that will go with that wine. Tomorrow will be the first Wine With Dinner event so stay tuned!

In other news, TDH and I got a new kitten! He’s a crazy little boy that we named Roxy after the band Roxy Music because TDH and I are really into their song “If There is Something” right now. If you haven’t heard it you should download it or watch the movie Flashbacks of a Fool. It’s such an awesome song (and a great movie!).

Six Courses, One Plate- Our Valentine’s Day Dinner

2009-02-15T17:32:00.001-08:00

Wine of the night: A Spanish Rioja from El Coto

First Course: Melon e Prosciutto

Second Course: Crostini with a trio of sauces- Roasted Garlic, Roasted Red Pepper Pesto, Olive Tapenade

Third Course: Fresh Crab Salad

Fourth Course: Polenta Caprese

Fifth Course: Orzo with Italian sausage, fennel, basil, and goat cheese

Sixth Course: Blueberry Chocolate Crumble, ice cream, and Ferrari Carano El Dorado Nior dessert wine

Preserving Meyer Lemons to Preserve My Sanity

2009-02-11T20:01:00.001-08:00

Whew! It’s been quite a whirlwind week! Eddie and I have been quite the little socialites. We have been going out non-stop since last Thursday and I haven’t had a second to work on my blog or even do any cooking! Last Thursday we went out with our friends Veronica and Bryan to Trivia Night at Rogue Ale House in North Beach. Friday we went over to Miranda’s for drinks, Saturday we had friends over for dinner and game night, Sunday we went Wine Tasting in Napa with Miranda and Devin, Monday was our first year anniversary so we had dinner at Ame, Tuesday we went to Zarzuela, a Spanish tapas restaurant with Veronica and Bryan, and tonight we are going over to Tam and Cam’s (yes they have rhyming names) to hang out and watch Lost. Not that I’m complaining or anything. I love hanging out with my friends. I’m just saying I have an excuse for it being kind of quiet around here. You know…because I must have an excuse….because….because…..I don’t know I just do okay!

Oooh! And if that isn’t enough of an excuse I got a new job as well! It’s supposed to be a part-time job helping this start-up software company in the Real Estate vertical hire four new people but right now it’s more than a full time job. There is just so much to get done. So that has been keeping me busy busy busy. Not that I’m complaining or anything…..I mean…I have a job….which is nothing to complain about in this economy!

Well, in the midst of all my busyness I did find some time to pick up some very ripe Meyer lemons at the farmers market. I used one lemon in this delicious dish I will tell you about later and the other three I decided to preserve. There is a ton of info and recipes for preserving lemons and after browsing through it all for about three days I decided to go with the easiest version.

To preserve the lemons you first make sure they are scrubbed clean. Then cut them into quarters, but not all the way through. You want to keep the lemon intact at the end. Stuff the lemon with kosher salt and stuff them in a jar. Make sure you squish them down there so that all the yummy juices begin to flow. I added some salt in the jar between squishing lemons for good measure as well. Once you are done with your lemon squishing you should have squished lemons covered in lemon juice. If there isn’t enough juice to cover the lemons, add a bit extra from extra lemons (they don’t have to be meyer lemons). Close the jar and let it sit for a few days at room temperature. Then transfer to the fridge and let it sit for a few weeks. The lemons are ready to use when the peel is really soft and tender.

I’ll let you know how mine turn out in a few weeks! In the meantime, check out these websites on preserving meyer lemons.

http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/001815how_to_make_preserved_lemons.php

http://countingsheep.typepad.com/amuse_bouche/2008/02/preserved-meyer.html

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2006/12/moroccan_preser_1.html

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Preserved-Meyer-Lemons-102747

Thai Plum Sauce- A success! Followed by a failure.

2009-02-05T13:17:00.001-08:00

I had a baaaaaad cooking day yesterday. Some people have bad hair days, and I just say whatever and throw my hair up in a pony tail. Some people have fat days, and I just wear baggy pants (I have many in my closet). Some people have bad work days, of which I have had many but I am currently jobless so no need to worry about those anymore! But when I have a bad cooking day, that’s when I just want to get out the cheap wine and drink myself silly. I’m not sure why but when I cook something that doesn’t turn out right or tastes plain awful it ruins my whole mood, my whole day, and nothing can salvage it. Does anyone know what I mean? Or is it just me?

Since returning from Thailand I have been on a huge Thai food kick. I want to learn how to cook everything I ate in Thailand at home. And I want it to taste exactly how it tasted in Thailand! Is that too much to ask!!!!! Okay maybe it is….but I’m determined! Last weekend Eddie and I rode our bikes over to Chinatown to try to find some of the more uncommon Thai ingredients. Most people think of Grant Street as China Town in San Francisco. But the street next to it, Stockton Street, is where all the good stuff is. That is where the markets are with fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, and seafood. All for very very cheap! There were some particular things I was looking for that I learned about in Thailand that I haven’t found in San Francisco. I was able to find really big fat carrots (which I use to carve pretty flowers), Thai preserved plums, Tofu cakes (a much firmer, yummier version of tofu), rice noodles and fresh small chillies (I was really excited about those two ingredients!) I still haven’t found kaffir lime leaves or green papaya. I really really need to find green papaya. So I can make this amazing green papaya salad! It’s amazingly yummy!

Anyways, I couldn’t wait to go home and try out my new found goodies. The first thing I made was a Thai plum sauce with the preserved plums to go with some fresh spring rolls I made for Super Bowl Sunday. This sauce was so yummy and a huge success (which is why the recipe is printed below). The next thing I tried was a Thai style noodle dish using the rice noodles last night. This was not so much a success as a complete disaster!!!!

The first thing that went wrong yesterday was that the refrigerator was turned down, way down, and all my vegetables froze. Those beautiful sprouts you see in the picture above…frozen! My fresh mushrooms I couldn’t wait to use in a salad…frozen! My rice noodles…FROZEN! So when I went to use the rice noodles they were so hard that I couldn’t pull them apart to soak in soy sauce, the first step in making fried noodles. After completely tearing apart the first batch I decided to try to soak the second batch in some hot water to try to loosen them. After ten minutes they still were rock hard and I was getting hungry and very desperate. So I boiled them. They came apart beautifully! I drained the water and stuck the noodles in the soy sauce. I cooked the veggies, made the sauce for the noodle dish, and then tossed in the noodles at the last minute like I was supposed to. They completely fell apart! They disintegrated and I was left with a pile of mush! Okay, so maybe boiling them was not such a wonderful idea. I was so disappointed. I was so looking forward to this meal and I got mush! I couldn’t even eat it. So I ate half of it, resorted to drinking beer because I just needed something to help me feel sorry for myself. And then ate some banana with yogurt and granola because I needed something sweet and we have NO DESSERT IN OUR HOUSE WHATSOEVER!!!!

Anyways, I’m off to buy some more rice noodles, a bottle of wine…and dessert! (just in case I have another disaster) and I leave you with a recipe for Thai plum sauce that is excellent with fresh or fried spring rolls.

Rhode Island Hot Weiner’s- Super Bowl Super Food!

2009-02-03T22:49:00.001-08:00

I am not meat’s biggest fan. In fact I like to eat a mostly vegetarian diet. And when I do eat meat I almost strictly stick to chicken and seafood. But these hot dogs are F-ing awesome! The first year TDH and I started dating he took me back east to Rhode Island to visit his family. Both his parents were born and raised in Rhode Island and he still has a set of grandparents and a handful of aunts, uncles, and cousins living in Providence. I don’t remember many details from our trip as it was 6 years ago (hey I’m getting old…my mind is going already!) but I do remember the food! I remember joking about how I gained 10lbs during that 10 day trip because we ate so so so much! TDH comes from an Italian family that loves to eat. We ate a lot of pasta but the food I remember most are these hot wieners. I have never had hot dogs this good before. They don’t have them anywhere except Rhode Island. They are made by a company called Olneyville New York System. They use a secret blend of spices to make the meat sauce that tops the hot dogs taste incredible. You can find out how they make their incredibly indulgent wieners by going here but they don’t divulge the secret spice recipe. Well, the other day my mother-in-law sent me a link to a food network recipe for Rhode Island Hot Weiners with a spice recipe. I couldn’t wait to try it out to find out if it was authentic and I thought what a better time than Super Bowl? So I threw a Super Bowl party….simply so I could make hot wieners…umm…and…watch…the …game?

There are a few secrets to making amazing hot wieners. The first is to use 80/20 ground beef. The fat really adds to the flavor and keeps the beef sauce nice and moist. You are also supposed to use shortening. I just didn’t have the heart (attack) in me so I used butter. I think I will break down and use shortening next time. The sauce just wasn’t as moist with butter. The sauce is really easy to make and only needs four items. Really good fatty ground beef, onions, shortening…. and the secret spice sauce. This spice mix is OFF THE HOOK! (Did I really just say that??). Holy moly mother of something holy! Just the smell it leaves in your kitchen while you are cooking the sauce is heavenly. I have officially decided that everything I make from now on must include this spice mixture.

The other secrets to making these hot wieners really kick some ass is to make sure you buy natural casing all beef hot dogs and steam the buns. I just popped them in the microwave bag and all for a minute to steam them and they came out nice and warm and moist.

Needless to say these were a major hit at the Super Bowl party. Everyone ranted and raved and all 24 of them were gone before the game ended.

Click Here to get the recipe from the Food Network and Enjoy!

Eggs in a Heart and a Fresh Start

2009-02-02T17:16:00.001-08:00

He he, I just noticed that my title rhymes! So didn’t do that on purpose! Anyways in other news, I quit my job today! Yep! First day back after almost two months off and ended up being my last day back! I wasn’t intending to quit my job today, I didn’t go to work thinking I was going to quit. It just sort of happened. I was working at a small recruiting firm for commission only. I didn’t hate my job but I didn’t love it either. My bosses and co-workers were great but I didn’t have a passion for it. I didn’t wake up thinking I can’t wait to make tons of calls today and find people jobs. YES!

While traveling around Thailand and Vietnam I had a lot of time to think and ponder. I pondered about life, about careers, about what I am doing back at home. Apparently, a month is not enough time because I came home still having no clue what to do. I LOVE to cook, I LOVE to bake, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE writing in this blog.

Should I become a chef? Although I love to cook I’m not sure I would love to be a chef. My favorite thing about cooking is experimenting and trying new dishes. I’m afraid the stress of being a chef and the monotony of cooking the same thing over and over again would get to me.

Should I become a pastry chef? But I don’t really like to bake? Or do I? Is it that I don’t like it or that I just don’t know enough to be good at it and I HATE not being good at things. I have been having a ton of fun with Daring Baker’s lately and I feel like Pastry is a much more defined art than cooking. I feel like if I went to cooking school I would taint my innocence which I find adds to my culinary uniqueness. But Patisserie school! Now that is something that I could benefit from. But do I really need to fork out 30 G’s to go to Patisserie school? Is there another way to gain experience without breaking the bank?

Should I become a food writer? I love writing in my blog, I love reading other blogs, I would LOVE to be a food writer. But how do you even begin getting into that field and what to I do in the mean time?

These are some of the questions that I was frantically pondering while walking into work today. As I was trying to get back into the swing of things I just couldn’t focus on the task at hand. My mind was on Pastries, and Cooking, and Food writing. As I was cleaning out my desktop I saw my resume staring out at me. I opened it and wondered, what could I do? What do I need on this piece of paper to land my dream job? Where do I start? Of course as I was pondering these important details my boss walked by and saw me with my open resume. He called me into his office and confronted me. Of course I told him the truth. I was just cleaning up my desktop but then I thought, why not really tell him the truth? So I explained that my heart wasn’t in it and I was considering going back to school to become a pastry chef. We said our goodbyes and our good lucks and I packed up the few items I had in my office and that was it. No two weeks, no drama (THANK GOD!).

Of course the problem is I have no job and no set plan. OOPS! But it’s ok. I am lucky in the fact that I have the most supportive husband in the world and we are not hurting for money. So now I need to go ponder some more and find out the answers to the questions I have. If anyone knows how a girl can break herself into pastry and food writing let me know!

In the meantime I leave you with a sweet little brunch idea for your loved one on Valentine’s Day. Think breakfast in bed! Can’t get more romantic than that!

Daring Bakers- Tuiles

2009-01-29T09:44:00.001-08:00

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

Need a good idea for a decadent Valentine’s Day dessert but don’t want to break the calorie bank? Make these fondue cups! Tuiles are really simple to make (I mean if I can make them they have to be!) and so very light! These Tuiles cups can be filled with anything! Use your imagination! You can fill them with ice cream, mouse, or fruit salad! Since Valentine’s Day is coming up I decided to fill mine with white chocolate fondue and fresh strawberries.

To check out what my fellow Daring Baker’s did with their tuiles go here.

Following is a recipe taken from a book called “The Chocolate Book”, written by female Dutch Master chef Angélique Schmeinck.

Recipe:
Yields: 5 “bowls”

Preparation time batter 10 minutes, waiting time 30 minutes, baking time: 5-10 minutes per batch

65 grams / ¼ cup / 2.3 ounces softened butter (not melted but soft)
60 grams / ½ cup / 2.1 ounces sifted confectioner’s sugar
1 sachet vanilla sugar (7 grams or substitute with a dash of vanilla extract)
2 large egg whites (slightly whisked with a fork)
65 grams / 1/2 cup / 2.3 ounces sifted all purpose flour
1 table spoon cocoa powder/or food coloring of choice ( I omitted this)
Butter/spray to grease baking sheet

Oven: 180C / 350F

Using a hand whisk or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (low speed) and cream butter, sugar and vanilla to a paste. Keep stirring while you gradually add the egg whites. Continue to add the flour in small batches and stir to achieve a homogeneous and smooth batter/paste. Be careful to not over mix.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. (This batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week, take it out 30 minutes before you plan to use it).
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with either butter/spray. Take a spoonful of batter and spread onto parchment paper in a circle about 5-6 inches in diameter, make sure the batter is spread evenly and thin. You should be able to fit two circles of batter on the baking pan at a time.

Bake in a preheated oven (180C/350F) for about 5-10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Immediately release from baking sheet and proceed to shape/bend the cookies in the desired shape. These cookies have to be shaped when still warm. I shaped my bowls by placing the tuile over a drinking glass. Once the cookies were cooled I placed them back in the oven for five more minutes to firm up.

To make the fondue filling just mix 1/2 cup chocolate (I chose white chocolate) with 1/4 cup hot cream. Mix until melted and allow to cool to room temperature. Spoon some chocolate fondue in the bottom of the tuiles bowls and top with fresh strawberries. Top off by drizzling a little more chocolate over the strawberries.

Enjoy!

South East Asia- The Phi Phi Islands, Thailand

2009-01-28T11:19:00.001-08:00

Well this is my 100th post! And unfortunately instead of baking a cake or celebrating in some way I came home from my wonderful vacation to some devastating news. While TDH and I were running around Thailand and Vietnam having a great time our sweet little Dog, DT was killed. It happened a week into our vacation and we didn’t find out until we got home. We are both pretty devastated and after spending a week mourning and doing nothing else we are trying to put our lives back together and figure out how to go on without our baby. We had revolved our whole life around him and he was the only reason we were excited to be coming home. So this 100th post is dedicated to my sweet little puppy. Although I am not religious, I desperately hope there is a heaven out there, for his sake.

D’artagnan Barlow December 1st 2006- January 9th, 2009. We miss you so much baby!

Our last week in Thailand was spent on Phi Phi Island (pronounced Pee Pee, yes, I’m serious. They also have a palace called Phuping (pooping) Palace… hehe). TDH had been to this island seven years ago, before it was developed, ruined by the tsunami, then developed again. When he went there was no one on the island and not nearly as many resorts, restaurants, and bars. This time, we took a large Yacht from Railey Beach to the island and docked at a pier to a beach lined with resorts, restaurants, and crazy crowded with people. For a map of Phi Phi Island go here.

It is high season in Thailand right now so Phi Phi Island is packed with tourists and we had a hard time finding a place to stay. We finally booked a room at the Andaman Legacy Resort. It was a little more than we wanted to pay but cheaper than the other options available on the island. As soon as we got off the boat their was a bag boy waiting to take our bags, and us to our hotel. The Island is unique in that it is two islands fused into one by a thin strip of land and because only a small part of the island is inhabitable there are no cars or scooters on the island at all. Everyone gets around by foot. Our hotel room was very nice and the hotel knew it was our honeymoon so they decorated our bed with these gorgeous flowers.

Of course since it is 90 degrees F outside and really humid, the ants found their way to the flowers in no time. They were all over the bed! But the hotel staff was very nice and promptly cleaned everything up for us. The view from our hotel room looked almost like a painting. The Island is very pretty. As soon as we got to the island we gandered on over to the main beach on Phi Phi, called Lo Dalam Bay. It was packed with people. TDH was shocked. When he was here last, him and his friends were the only ones on the beach. We decided Lo Dalam Bay was too crowded for us so we decided to take the hike over to Hat Yao (Long beach), a much less crowded and more beautiful beach further down along the island. The water is so clear and warm. It’s a great place for swimming and snorkeling. Eddie wasn’t able to go in the water because of his tattoo and I was able to go in but only for a bit. So we spent most of our time sunbathing (in the shade because it’s too hot in the direct sun!) and enjoying the night life.

This island is insane at night! Everyone is out walking around and there are so many restaurants and bars it is easy to stay out all night! The weather is also so beautiful at night that it feels good to just wander around and people watch. Many of the bars have live bands and fire shows and offer crazy drink specials (especially for girls!) Beers are very cheap (less than a $1) and they also sell buckets that come with a fifth of alcohol (of your choice) and your choice of mixer (soda or red bull). So it’s very easy to get very wasted in a very short period of time!

During one of our nightly outings we met a couple of girls from London. One of them had a sister who had married a Thai man and moved to Phi Phi to run a bar. She unfortunately died in the tsunami so her sister came and spent six months helping with the rescue and restoration efforts. She went to all the planning meetings where they talked about how they were going to rebuild Phi Phi. Apparently before the tsunami Phi Phi was growing and being developed at a rate that the island couldn’t sustain. The government wanted to try to avoid this and they came up with all kinds of plans for rebuilding. One plan was to only build resorts on the two mountains and leave the strip uninhabited so that if another tsunami hit they would all be safe. Well, apparently the residents and business owners on Phi Phi were too impatient to wait for government approval and started building like crazy without it. So today, it is even more developed and crazy than it was before the tsunami. It is kind of sad really, such a beautiful island that is being completely trashed by tourists. There are two or three times more tourists than natives on the island! And it is not uncommon to see tourists working at the local dive, tattoo, or travel shop and living on the island.

On our last day on Phi Phi we went up to the viewpoint to view the sunset. You can see the strip of inhabited land from these pictures and the sunset was absolutely breathtaking.

Overall TDH was a little disappointed and sadden by how developed and touristy Phi Phi had become. I personally enjoyed the absolutely wild and craziness of the island. We had a wonderful time on our trip and can’t wait to go back!

Now for something completely unrelated, while I was off on my adventure I was tagged by Susan of Savoring Time in the Kitchen!

Here are the rules:

Rule #1 ~ Link to the person that tagged you.
Rule #2 ~ Post the rules on your Blog.
Rule #3 ~ Write 6 random things about yourself.
Rule #4 ~ Tag 6 people at the end of your post.
Rule #5 ~ Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their Blog.
Rule #6 ~ Let the tagger know your entry is up.

Six random things about myself:

1. I have a B.S. degree in microbiology, immunology, and molecular genetics from UCLA and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a GPA of 3. 9

2. My first dog was a Doberman pinscher, I got it as a middle school graduation present when I was 14, the first of many dogs I have cared for and adored. I convince my mom ( a former dog hater) to buy me a dog and now she has two pit bulls that are her babies and is in training to be a dog trainer!

3. I have a brother, and step brother, and a step sister, all younger than me.

4. My mom was born and raised in Colombia, South America and moved to the states when she was 30 years old. I don’t speak spanish fluently :(

5. My love for cooking was sparked by my stepmom who also loves to cook and encouraged us to experiment in the kitchen at a young age

6. I love love love super spicy food!

Okay my turn to tag:

1. InnCuisine

2. Gina’s Weight Watcher Recipes

3. Gary Soup

4. The hungry engineer

5. Zoe Bakes

6. eat real

South East Asia- Rai Ley Beach, Krabi Provice, Thailand

2009-01-18T20:00:00.000-08:00

For our day in Rai Ley Beach I feel that the pictures speak much louder than words. Mom, Dad, you might want to sit down for this one :)

P.S. No Monkeys were hurt in the making of this post and we were not drunk when we made the decision to get tattoos!

South East Asia- Halong Bay, Vietnam

2009-01-14T06:31:00.001-08:00

Hello! TDH and I have spent the last two days aboard a junk boat on Halong bay! We booked the tour through our hotel and we were excited to meet some other travelers and spend a night getting to know them but for some reason our hotel thinks that we are made of money and they keep booking us for all the expensive and luxury and VIP tours without asking us! This was no different. They booked us on the luxury tour and we ended up on a boat all by ourselves! It's OK though, we made the most of it and made friends with our crew (all six of them!)

This is what a junk boat looks like. When we arrived at the wharf (about 170km from Hanoi, and a four hour drive) we were amazed to see how many boats there were at the pier!

This was our room. The rooms were actually very nice, although we didn't really spend much time in it!

As soon as we arrived on the boat they served us lunch. I can tell you what we paid for must have been the food because for two days that is pretty much all we did...EAT and EAT and EAT! The meals were pretty elaborate too!

Our first meal started with a glass of Vietnamese wine. It was a red wine but as you can see it is much lighter than traditional red wines. It was also served chilled and had a very fruity, berry flavor to it.
Our first meal started with Prawns, they mixed some spiced sea salt and fresh lime to dip it in and I found this to be a very good dip for many different things, even the dishes below.
Our next dish was steamed clams,
followed by crab.
We had no idea how to eat the crab so one of the crew members, Zung, cut it up for us.
Following this was fish and chips, bland alone but very good with spiced salt and lime or chili sauce. I used chili sauce of everything, the crew members found this very amusing.
Our main meal consisted of a squid stir-fry and stir fry cabbage over a bed of rice. I was stuffed after this meal. Dinner was even more elaborate, we had five courses, the last course consisting of four dishes!
The scenary was absolutely breathtaking, definitely a site I will not see anywhere else! The 2000 rocky islands that litter Halong bay were made many hundreds of thousands to millions of years ago by erupting volcanoes, although the Vietnamese have another story for how they were form. Many of the rock formations resemble animals and mythical creatures (dragons and such) so they have a story that many animals were brought down by heaven to protect Halong bay. They failed to go back to heaven at the specified time and therefore were stuck here on earth forever and were turned into stone. There were 2000 animals in total each represented by an island in Halong Bay.
Our First stop was to one of the caves nestled inside one of the islands. Our boat was too big to go to shore so we had to take a small motor boat. This is a few members of our crew driving us to shore.
we climbed many stares up to the cave. this is a veiw from the opening of the cave, it is the cove of the island.
The cave was massive. One of the largest in Halong bay. There are only two others as large as this one.

Above are more pictures of inside the cave.
After our tour of the cave we rode back to our Junk Boat and headed to another island that housed a small Pagoda at the top.
I enjoyed the sun on the deck while we traveled.
This is the Pagoda on top of the island.
We climbed to the top (to our guides amazement!)
and were amazed at the beauty that surrounded us.
These pictures do not even do it justice. It was absolutely amazing.

After our trip to the pagoda we returned to the boat and had our elaborate dinner. We convinced to the crew members to sit and have a few (too many) beers with us. We laughed, we cried, we tried to decipher their very broken English, and I learned how to say hello in almost every language! It was fun and beer turned into Vietnamese Sake ( I didn't even know this existed) which turned into "I love you Kachie" cocktails. They couldn't say my name so I was Kachie to them :). It was a fun night and eventually crawled downstairs to our room to pass out as we were to be awoken bright and way too early the next morning.
The next morning at the crack of dawn we were woken up for breakfast. It was very american with toast and eggs (although the eggs were fried, and I mean actually fried) and banana. Then we went on our last tour of the trip, to a secluded cove completely surrounded by rocky islands. To enter the cove you have to go under this very low cave.
But the cove was amazing and so very beautiful. We couldn't capture it with pictures but it was really quite breathtaking.
The water was so serene and calm.
Once back to the boat we made the slow tour back to the wharf to go home. On the way we saw many other islands both small and large. The picture above is of the "fighting cock"island. If you have noticed some of the pictures are very clear while others are not. The smog is quite bad still even way out here. We are close to China so it might be from them. I'm not sure but it surrounded us like a haze and made the visibility quite hard at times.
On our way home we also passed a floating village. About 100 people live in this village. It was really awesome to see how people can live in these self sustaining villages.

Once at the dock we loaded up once again in the van to ride home. Vietnam has been an experience and has a lot of culture but I am eager to get back to Thailand. Back to the sun and the "land of smiles."

Tomorrow we head to Southern Thailand. To the coastal city of Krabi! I can't wait!

South East Asia- Hanoi, Vietnam!

2009-01-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

Beep Beep!!! Honk Honk Honk! (that means Hello in Vietnamese!) We are in Hanoi, Vietnam and it is insane here! If I thought I knew what culture shock was after landing in Bangkok I was wrong! I have never experienced anything like this!

This is the hotel we are staying at. The Golden Lotus in the Old Quarter. It is actually a fairly nice hotel and we are paying about double what we payed in Thailand (everything is more expensive here, amazing considering the poverty is quite a lot worse). But we have a nice room, hot water, tea and coffee, and free wi fi and laptops to use. Hanoi has a lot of French influence so there is also a French Quarter in the city and along with Vietnamese food you can find fresh french baguettes and cafe's scattered all over the city. TDH and I arrived in Hanoi on Friday at about 10pm at night and took a city bus from the airport to the heart of the city (about an hour drive and only a $2 fee). Luckily, our hotel was close by and we did not have to walk far because we were pretty tired. We didn't do much that night, went to bed after having a bad meal at our hotel.

The next day, after having one of the worst breakfasts of my life (think buffet with food that looks to be about a week old), we set out to explore the city.

The video above doesn't do it justice, but the first thing I noticed was the traffic. It is insanity! There are no rules here. People drive how fast they want, where they want, they don't stop for pedestrians, and they use their horns like nobody's business! It's completely insane. If anything is going to make me religious it will be this city because I have to pray to God, Buddha, or the powers that be that I can make it across alive! The crazy part is that if you walk in the street you will get run over by a bike, a scooter, or a car. If you try to walk on the sidewalk you get stuck by the many things blocking the sidewalks (people eating on the sidewalk, rubble, or goods being sold). You also have to be careful of motorists riding their scooters on the sidewalk because they will drive right into you if you aren't watching out!

Soon after we set out we were already lost. Even with a map this city is so very confusing! The first thing we came across was a street with a little market. They were selling all kinds of rice, fruit, vegetables, and birds, tons and tons of birds.

This is what a normal street layout in Hanoi looks like. Market or shops on the street level and houses crowded together and piled sky high above the markets and shops. Everything here is so crowded together (think San Francisco times 100!!!) Apparently you pay for the amount of street room you take up which explains why all buildings are so thin. It is also very unwell kempt. Everything looks very old and as if it is about to collapse. I was completely shocked by the amount of poverty that encompasses this massive city. The amount of people shock me too. There are 6 million people living in a space barely bigger than the city of San Francisco (which houses a little over 300,000 people!)!!!! The amount of people and the amount of traffic that it brings with it causes an insane amount of smog in the city. It's covered in smog, sometimes so bad you can barely see!

The other site that I found very interesting were the people cooking on the sidewalk. This setup in the picture above is quite elaborate but many people cook their food on the sidewalk, some with just a fire made of scraps of paper. They all eat their food on the sidewalk as well and it is not uncommon to see families sitting together enjoying their meal outside.

During our walk, we saw alot of women carrying around the contraption that TDH is wearing above filled with fruits and veggies and wearing the hat TDH is wearing. They try to sell you some fruit for a very high price and if you don't buy it they let you wear it and take pictures so you feel guilted into buying the fruit.

Here I am wearing it with the Vietnamese woman who sold us our $5 bananas! The other interesting thing about Vietnam is the currency. There currency is the Dong and it is about 17,000 Dong to $1!!! So if you book a tour for $100 you are paying 1.7 million Dong! It gets kinda crazy trying to covert from Dong back to US $. Luckily you can pay with US $ almost anywhere if you want. But what is the fun in that?

This is the flag tower, one of the sites we saw while we were lost in the middle of Hanoi. Apparently one of the architectual masterpeices of the city.

This is Ho-Chi-Minh's Mausoleum. He has been embalmed and lives in this tomb. He is very much loved and adored in Vietnam as he is the one who brought them independence. We didn't get a chance to go inside because it was closed by the time we got there. We will go back but even just the outside is a very impressive site!

Eventually we found our way to West Lake. A large lake on the outskirts of the city. Compared to the hustle and bustle of the center it is very serene and quiet here and very beautiful from a distance. We found an Indian restaurant along the lake and had our first non-asian meal of the trip. It was quite good but different than what we are used to. There are quite a few Indian restaurants in this city. Apparently along with apparent French influence this city has been influenced by Indian culture as well. After a long day of walking around Hanoi, and getting very very lost several times we went back to our hotel to rest and take a bath (yes we have a bath tub in our room!) We found a cute restaurant to have dinner and I got Pho (pronounced "fur") a very traditional Vietnamese rice noodle soup. TDH got a hot pot (apparently a meal that feeds at least four that is cooked in front of you). So we ate until we were stuffed and it was all fairly good but we both really miss Thai food. The menu at the restaurant we went to was huge and included duck, dove, porcupine, snake fish, snail, frog, and even cat. We were not brave enough to try any of these though.

We tried to go to bed fairly early (although it didn't really happen) because we were getting up bright and early for our first full day tour to see a temple and ride boats along to river at Tam Coc, also known as "Halong Bay on land" because of the massive rock mountains that jet out of the land.

This was a very interesting day. You know how I said traffic was crazy in Hanoi? Well we got picked up in a large van with 6 other people on it and we were off to a temple located about 120km away from the city. TDH was commenting how it was amazing there were no car accidents considering the "unique situation" of the driving. Then BHAM! Our driver slammed on the breaks and we hit the driver in front of us. Luckily it was just a fender bender and our driver paid off the Taxi that he hit and we were on our way. (I don't think they have car insurance here). As we were getting over our little excitement of the day, suddenly the driver slammed on the breaks again and BHAM-BHAM-BHAM-BHAM! We slammed into the car in front of us and the car behind us slammed into us. We were involved in a four car piled up that pretty much totaled all of the cars! Luckily no one was hurt, just a bit shaken up (amazing considering no one was wearing any seatbelts). So we all had to pile out of the car and crowd into a car of tourists going to see the perfume pagoda (a pagoda is a place of worship in Vietnam). They drove us about 10km to a market where we picked up yet another van and drove to the temple. The whole way we were jerked back and forth as we weaved through traffic honking the horn, flooring the gas, and then slamming on the breaks. We were all praying for our lives! The picture above is of the entrance to the temple. As we walked toward it we were hounded by the women in funny hats trying to sell us post cards and water. It was insane! They don't take no for an answer. This is also very different from Thailand. They are constantly trying to sell you things in Thailand but they aren't as pushy and overwhelming as they are in Vietnam!

Before arriving in Tam Coc we went to Hoa Lu, site of the tenth century capital of an early, independent Vietnamese kingdom called Dai co Viet. Two temples stand where the capital city once stood dedicated to two kings who ruled at the end of the tenth century. The first king was killed along with his two eldest sons by someone who wanted a new government and the queen chose a new king. The first temple is dedicated to the first king and his three sons and the second temple is dedicated to the second king, his son, and the queen. Shortly after the second king died, the main city was moved to Hanoi and in 2010 Hanoi will have been the major city in the north for 1000 years!

This is the entrance to the temple that honors the first king and his two eldest sons.

The seat that the king traveled on (sorry this picture is horrible!)

and the second temple honoring the second king and the queen (pretty much identical to the first).

This is what the temples look like inside. they are very crowded and elaborat. But also very very dark inside.

After seeing the temples TDH and I took a bike ride through the villages to Tam Coc where we would take boats down the river.

It was a beautiful ride and really showed us what the conditions of the roads are. Because of the Vietnam War many Pagodas and roads were completely destroyed and they are slowly trying to rebuild everything that was lost. As you can see in the picture above, the roads start and stop abruptly so you can go from riding on paved road, to riding on rubble, to riding on dirt, then back to paved road without any warning!

The scenary was very beautiful though.

This is a Buddha tree (not sure what that means but our guide made us stop and take a picture so it must be important).

Once we got to Tom Coc (a 5km ride that took us an hour) we had a buffet lunch (I was starving so I stuffed myself!) and then took a two hour boat ride along the river.

It was beautiful. Many rocky mountains, small villages, and elaborate tombs and cemetaries along the rivers edge.

Our guides rotate between using thier hands and thier feet to row the boat.

As I said before, the scenary was very majestic.

We even got to boat through the rocky mountains in caves (we went through three caves). It was pretty neat.

After getting to the end of the ride before turning around and heading back we were met by a swarm of boats full of drinks and snacks. After refusing some for ourselves we were guilted into buying beer, drinks, and snacks for our guides (those manipulative little Vietnamese!!!!!). If that wasn't enough our guide whipped our her handmade tableclothes that her kids had made and talked us into buying one of those as well! And then we had to tip her on top of it! It's ok though. She was nice so we didn't mind so much. Although I have to admit it is very different from Thailand and we can't spend much time here or we'll run out of money!
Here is TDH rowing with our guide. After our boat ride was over and we were back at Tam Coc we all piled back in the van and headed back to Hanoi. The ride back was not as eventful, only a flat tire, but it took almost three hours to get home and we were exhausted. After resting a bit in the bath we headed back out to eat. We ended up at a Spanish-French little place called "La Salsa" (I know I was scratching my head too!) for some (GASP!) non-asian food!

That's all for tonight. Tomorrow we head to Haalong Bay for an overnight cruise (if we survive the drive!)

Chiang Mai Zoo

2009-01-11T07:11:00.000-08:00

Hi Everybody,

It's TDH again. It is day four of our adventures in Chiang Mai. Katie decided to ditch me again and go and take yet another cooking course, this time actually food instead of just food art(I better be getting some good home-cooked Thai cooking after this). Therefore I decided I would spend part of my day riding around Chiang Mai, and also going to the zoo.

I rented the moterbike again and went cruising around town. It really is a blast to do this. I went all the way back up to Doi Suthep, the same place that Katie and I went the previous day, but this time I was by myself so I was actually able to put the pedal to the metal and go up and down the hill with some speed without a screaming, scared wife whimpering in my ear. :-) This was a lot of fun, and on the way down I decided to stop at the zoo. The zoo is quite modern and is set in a jungle/forest setting outside the city. It is very pretty and still in the process of being fully completed. It was fairly empty when I was there so it was a peaceful experience for me.

At the zoo there were all sorts of animals:

Monkey sorts...

Beautiful birds who loved to yell at you as you passed...

Apparently even big kitties sleep like this. I thought it was just domestic house cats!

I have decided I love elephants very much. I have touched and played with this one up close (he was chained until his time to perform in the show, which was sad), and I have riden them in the jungle as well. They really are gentle, magnificent creatures. I wish I could spend more time with them here.

Hippos, hungry, hungry ones in fact.....they really needed their teeth brushed...

Lions.... looking at me like "hey can you leave now....you are really disturbing my fourth nap of the day."

Tigers.... pacing back and forth who really wanted to eat me....

and bears....oh my.

The treat of the zoo for me was the lion cubs. I had so much fun playing with them and could have stayed there all day. There were other people who were waiting to get a chance though, so I had to leave sadly. They really are adorable.

There were many other animals at the zoo, even an animal show that was great and that I really enjoyed as I saw all the young Thai childern going wild over seeing all the animals perform and do some really amazing tricks. It was quite awesome and brought a big smile to my face. There also is a big panda center on site. I paid an extra 100 baht to go see the pandas, but only one was out and it was asleep with her back to us. Kinda sucked, but I did get to see it go poo...it was almost neon yellow. That was a learning experience.

Lastly, they had a walk through bird sanctuary that had a lot of different types of bird species. It was neat to see but I will not bore you with all the pictures of different birds. I was now done with the zoo and went driving back to and around Hanoi to meet back up with Katie and get ready for our trip to Hanoi. Not sure when I will be writing again but thanks for listening. I hope you all are well out there. Soon I will be saying "Good Morning, Vietnam!" See the movie if you have no idea what I am referencing. It is really good. Night night.

ERB

South East Asia- Chiang Mai Part 4!

2009-01-08T07:13:00.000-08:00

Arushybpa!!! (means hello in hill tribe language). We are back from an adventure and I can't wait to tell you all about it! Eddie and I went on a hill tribe trek for two days and had an amazing time!

It started Wednesday morning. We got up and had breakfast at our Guesthouse. This is what I have been eating for breakfast in the morning. It is fresh fruit with yogurt and muesli. Doesn't it look amazing!

Then we set out on our long drive (about an hour) to the mountains. The road on the way there was very beautiful.

Our hike started on flat ground but we were soon walking through rivers,

hiking through dense forests,

and climbing steep hills!

After hiking what seemed like forever (okay, two hours) we had to stop for a rest. We stopped at the bank of the river (okay, more like a creek) while our guide set off to hunt for our food. Surprisingly, he was able to find some wild bird eggs and whipped us up a mean fried rice! (or he might have just brought premade fried rice with him on the hike). Food had never tasted so good as I did on that river bank! Then off again we went hiking through thick forests, climbing steep mountains. It was tough and there were times we thought we wouldn't make it, but we persevered. And late that night (okay, only two hours later) we ran into a small remote village. Civilization!

Our accommodations were meager ( mat, blanket, pillow, and mosquito net)

Our hut a bit primitive (leaf roofs and such), but we had a roof over our heads and that was good enough for us. The village was very primitive as well, straw huts, roofs made of leaves (oh yeah and then there were the solar panels...)

There were many dangerous and wild creatures among us! Cows and Goats!

Huge wild boars (okay cute cuddly pigs),

and wild ferocious birds (okay mama roosters and cute little chickies).

The locals were frightened at first, never seeing another human being in there life being so remote and secluded (at least not since yesterday) but we quickly made friends with them and were soon playing games with them and their primitive toys (pokemon balls).

They shied away from the camera (as you can tell) having never seen such sophisticated equipment before (at least since yesterday).

We became fast friends and were able to overcome the language barrier (by making silly faces at the camera).

That night, after dinner (Pad Thai and curry) we sat around a fire that we started with sticks (and matches).

Our guide showed us the ancient ways (of drinking beer) and we laughed and cried until the wee hours of the morning (actually at around midnight we were all pretty much ready to pass out).

After about four beers I had to pee pretty badly. Luckily I didn't have to go in the woods, although the bathrooms were not much better as you can see!

The next morning we woke to pots of fresh tea and coffee (nescafe!) and a yummy breakfast of fruit, eggs, and toast...piles and piles of toast! After eating toast until we were about to explode we set off again.

We walked through more mountains and dense forest. Along the way we encountered other villages. Some of them growing rice paddies. Isn't this field beautiful? I was impressed.

We hiked for four hours, climbing steep steep mountains and them walking deep down into the forest until we came here. A haven in the middle of nowhere, a gorgeous waterfall.

We bathed in the water and underneath the waterfall (we all STANK!!!! from the day before) and we soaked in the sun rays on the shore. It was very peaceful and beautiful.After two more hours of hiking we found a road. Desperate to find food as we were famished (okay slightly hungry and tired) we hitched a ride in the back of a pickup truck to the nearest village where we had a yummy noodle lunch.

After lunch we continued on until lo and behold! Elephants! The elephants were awesome although riding them is not as great as just admiring their enormous size and beauty. It is quite a bumpy ride and you are very high up. Climbing up and down the hills on top of a massive elephant is a little scary!

here is a baby elephant. How freakin adorable is he. I want to take him home with me!

Our elephant was quite greedy, refusing to walk unless we were constantly feeding her sugar cane and bananas.

But in the end, we became best friends! After riding the elephant we came upon a huge river (okay more like a creek) Oh no! The only way home is down the river! Good thing there are these bamboo rafts with little Thai people guiding them! We hopped on the raft and rafted down the river. It was very beautiful and serene and the bamboo rafts were very unique. Our rafting trip was the last of our adventure and took us back to the car that would drive us all back home.

Stinky, wet, exhausted, sore we all couldn't wait to get home. Eddie and I had left our passports in Bangkok to get Vietnam visas because we are flying to Vietnam tomorrow. They were supposed to be at the hotel when we got back from our trek. Of course they weren't. Oh no! What are we going to do? I was a little scared and a lot pissed! Luckily they weren't lost, just got left at the bus station. So we had to drive all the way to the bus station to get our passports.

Finally, after what seemed like forever we got back to our hotel and had a nice long hot shower. It felt so so so good! You really don't appreciate being clean until you get that dirty!

One of the best parts about the trip was all the new friends we made. Laina and Frank from Czech and Alexis and Hannah from Canadia (Inside joke)! We all went out to dinner after showering and resting a bit then Eddie went with Hannah and Alexis to get Thai massages to relieve their achy muscles.

That's it for tonight... Hanoi, Vietnam tomorrow!

South East Asia- Chiang Mai Part 3

2009-01-06T06:47:00.000-08:00

Saa Wat Dii Ka!!!! Today I woke up feeling like a million bucks! No nausea! No stomach problems. The day I woke up feeling sick Eddie and I set out to find some antibiotics because there was no way I was going to suffer through this during my trip. Luckily things are a little more lax in Thailand and I got some antibiotics at the local pharmacy for cheap. They totally worked! I'm a new woman! Yay! Just in time too because I took a Thai Cooking Class (or as the Thai people say Thai C-OOOO-k-ING!) today. I let Eddie borrow the camera today so I don't have any photos to show you but Eddie will be posting all about his trip to the zoo with lots of photos when we get back from our trekking trip two days from now.

They picked me up at 9am from our guest house this morning. I didn't eat breakfast as I new I would be eating all day and I was still a bit unsure of my stomach. After driving all around Chiang Mai picking up all the other students we ended up at the market that is a block from where I am staying. We spent an hour at the market (the same market I went to for the Thai Food Carving Class) and our teacher, Perm, gave us the grand tour and told us all about all the different Thai foods.

We learned about eggs. There are four kinds in Thailand: Chicken eggs (brown in color), Duck eggs (white in color), partridge eggs (tiny and speckled), and century eggs. Century eggs were interesting and I will get a picture to show you soon. They are black and have a jelly consistency and smell like pee! Apparently they eat them in salads and currys...mmm....appetizing!

We also learned about the different kinds of vegetables. They use a lot of fresh herbs and spices, such as fresh turmeric (which looks like a root) and fresh cardamon (which comes in a pod). They have a lot of vegetables that are familiar to me but many more that aren't. They have like fifty different types of eggplants, some the size of peas!

We also learned all about coconut milk, there are three kinds: coconut juice (comes from inside the coconut), coconut cream (made from squeezing the juice out of coconut pulp), and coconut milk (made by combining half coconut juice with half coconut cream).

We also learned about the different types of noodles (rice noodles, egg noodles, and glass noodles). Rice noodles come in thin sizes or very thick sizes. They also have many types of rice. Jasmine rice comes in white, clear, red, brown, and black. Sticky rice is a completely different species of rice and comes in white or black. Unlike regular rice which is cooked in water, sticky rice is steamed.

After the market tour we were taken about 30 minutes outside of Chiang Mai to a really cute little remote cottage. We each got our own little cooking station. We cooked Tom Yam Soup, a spicy soup with prawns and chili broth. A papaya salad that is eaten with sticky rice, which was awesome! It was so incredibly spicy though, we were all crying! We had mango and sticky rice which I cannot wait to make at home. Then we made spring rolls and a plum dipping sauce.

For the main course we got to choose a curry ( I chose red curry chicken), a stir- fry (I chose cashew chicken), and a noodle (I chose big noodle, yes that is the name of the dish!)

The most important thing that I took from this class are a few key tips and techniques that Thai People use that we don't back in the states:

1. Cook over very very high heat
2. Use a good quality wok that holds heat well
3. Don't use olive oil!
4. Cook in small quantities
5. Use only fresh ingredients
6. Do not stir, apparently it burns your food
7. Smash, don't chop, apparently it brings out the flavor more
8. Adding water to your ingredients before adding to a very hot wok with oil makes huge fires!

Anyways, that is all for tonight! I can't wait to try my new food carving and cooking techniques when I get home!

South East Asia- Chiang Mai Part 2!

2009-01-05T06:27:00.000-08:00

Saa Wat Dii Ka! Yay I'm back from the dead...almost! I don't know what is up with me but it seems every time I go to a new country I come down with some sort of stomach bug! TDH and I have eaten and drank the same exact thing and I get sick and he doesn't. It kind of sucks because one of my biggest draws to traveling and seeing new countries is the food and I can't eat! I have absolutely no appetite and just the sight of food makes me nauseous. Of course the day after I got sick I decided to take a Thai Food Carving Class! Brilliant! But I wasn't going to let a stupid stomach bug ruin my trip and Chiang Mai is famous for their cooking and carving classes! I was lucky to get a private lesson. A full day just focused on food carving! After getting picked up from my guest house our first stop was the market. Here, my teacher Tom is picking out perfectly round and straight cucumbers.
Here is my loot of fresh vegetables. We carved carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, apples, and onions!
Here is the setup: a basket for trash and left over scraps, a bowl of water, carving knives, a cutting board, and of course our loot of fresh fruits and vegetables.
There was a Thai Cooking class going on at the same place where I was getting my private food carving lesson and they kept feeding me all this food. It all looked so delicious but I was too sick to eat it. Although I tried, I really tried! Above is a plate full of Thai goodies they gave me. There is dragon fruit, rosehip apple, a corn jelly, sticky rice with banana, a coconut jelly, and some other kind of fruit that I forgot the name of.
They also tried to feed me Pad Thai freshly made by some of the students and some fried bananas with ice cream. I managed to eat some of the Pad Thai but felt so sick afterwards. Ughhh....why me????

Anyways, here is the finished product. I spent all day carving all kinds of different flours and leaves. In the end, my teacher Tom helped me arrange them in this beautiful display. Isn't it awesome! I can't wait to use some of the neat tricks I learned when I get home!
After getting home and laying on the bed comatose for awhile while my stomach recovered from the days torture Eddie and I set out once again. We went to the Sunday Market. This is a huge night market that they have in Chiang Mai every Sunday Night. Huge doesn't even describe it. It was massive, ginormous, covering most of the city. We were pretty overwhelmed. Above is a troupe of blind musicians performing in the middle of all the chaos. I thought they were cute!
You can get anything and everything at this market from handmade jewelry,
hand crafted wood carvings,

Purses and bags,
and hand carved soaps, to anything and everything you can think of. It is all really really cheap and they expect you to haggle. I ended up with two pairs of really really cool pants. Together they cost me barely over $10!
Here is a little sneak peak at how crazy it can get at this market.

and here is a picture from above. We are standing on the wall that surrounds the city. Chiang Mai is surrounded by a wall and a moat!!!!

The one thing I did not take a picture of at this market, because I couldn't go anywhere near it without wanting to hurl was the food. They had a whole section of street food. Everything and anything you can think of! Eddie had his pick of several items. I couldn't even stand the smell. Although it all looked so interesting and tasty!

The next day Eddie and I decided to rent a motorbike and ride it up the mountain to visit the Wat Prathat Doi Suthep a buddhist temple on top of a mountain above Chiang Mai and some waterfalls along the way.
I was a little nervous about the bike. I have only ridden on one before, in Sienna, Italy and almost died of fright. I have to say I was a bit frightened on the ride up there. Praying to God and screaming profanities at several instances but I eased up after a bit and even enjoyed it. I even drove it myself a little, although it mostly consisted of me screaming and holding onto the breaks. I do have to say after our ride I did feel a lot more comfortable about riding on a scooter. It was so cheap to rent too! 200 Bhat a day ( a little over $6!!!)!!!!
This is the road we took up to the waterfalls. Isn't it beautiful?
The waterfalls were amazing! There are seven of them that go down the mountain and you can hike up to all of them. It is quite a trek! 1900 meters up and when I say up I mean straight freaking up! The path is not always clear cut and I had a few near death experiences along the way! I was also very weak from not eating and feeling a bit sick but I stuck it out and man am I glad I did.
There were so many...
so many....
so many....
so many...
so many....(are you sick of this yet cause I'm not even close to being done!)
so many...
so many...
so many incredible waterfalls along the way! (phew I'm done!)
And a beautiful view of the city at the top! Our trek up the waterfalls was fairly long and left me fairly exhausted. But we aren't done yet!
We continued our ride up the mountain to the Doi Suthep to check out the Buddhist temple. This is the entrance to the temple.

And after walking up 308 steps (of which I had to stop about thirty or so times!)
We made it up to the top (barely)! It's pretty cool and very beautiful as all the Buddhist temples are.
There are many different buildings where you can go in and pray.
They like to use gold and a lot of bright colors in all of there buddhist temples. They are by far the most colorful things in all the cities!
The cool thing about this temple was they had a buddha made entirely of Jade...

And another made entirely of mother of pearl! How beautiful are they?!!!!

Eddie and I went into the temple, and even got blessed by a monk! After walking around the temple we spend a short time walking around outside where all the street venders were selling food and handmade goods. We also stopped by the Jade factory to check out how Jade is made (apparently Thailand is a huge Jade country) and even bought a couple of peices.

On our way back down the mountain we stopped at the Zoo located at the base of the mountain but they were closing so we didn't get to go inside. So back home we went where we got some food (and I actually ate it! My first full meal in three days!) and then went back to the room to relax and I am here writing to you now) Tomorrow, I take a Thai cooking class and Eddie ventures to the zoo!

South East Asia- Chiang Mai, Thailand

2009-01-04T06:01:00.000-08:00

Hi Everybody,

This is TDH (whatever that means) subbing in for Katie as she has the death right now and cannot sit at a computer long enough to write about our wonderful (not so much) trek from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, as well as our first day in this excellent city ( I do mean that).

Well it all began at 6:45 am on 1/2/09 when we woke up to catch our bus to Chiang Mai. It seems early, but our clocks are completely screwed up anyway as we were up for 36 hours the two days before, and there is a 15 hour time difference between San Francisco and Thailand so it did not really matter what the time was, we were a bit tired. We had another yummy breakfast at our hotel, checked out and made our way to the bus...

We went where we were told to get a ride to the bus and we are driven to a little shop in town where after waiting for about 30 minutes the bus shows up and we board. It is about 8:45 am and we were told we were going to leave at 8:30 and arrive at 5 pm in Chiang Mai. So far everything seems great. The bus is huge (double decker), and fairly comfy. We pick a seat that has great window views so we can check out the scenery while we drive. This was our whole purpose to taking the bus (I was somewhat against it thinking it would take way too long), as Katie wanted to have a scenic tour. Well this is where it starts to go downhill. We pull up to the bus station in Bangkok and end up sitting there until 11 am waiting for everyone else who bought a ticket to get on board. Why the guy who booked our trip did not have us just show up at the bus station at 11 so we did not have to sit on a non-moving bus for three hours is beyond me. I start getting extremely irritated that we have even bought a bus ticket in the first place instead of taking the train like we had originally planned, and am now in a pretty pissed off mood and acting negative. But things get even better. It seems that everyone has assigned seats on the bus which of course we were not told, but as the bus became full we were forced to move to our assigned seats which, you guessed it...., has a bar running across the center of the window pretty much obstructing our entire view. Fantastic. And the beat goes on...so eventually the bus gets on the road and at this point we are thinking to ourselves that there is no way this bus is making it to Chiang Mai by 5 pm as every book we read says it is around a 10 bus ride. And of course we are right. The bus stops numerous times to pick up and drop other people off, as well as to stop to get food once, and sometimes for no reason at all. Luckily the bus was air conditioned and not completely uncomfortable, but it still was terrible to have to sit on the bus until 9 pm roughly 13 total hours.

So now we are finally off the bus, and are taxied to our hotel. I immediately sense by the way we are taken to our new hotel (in the back of some guys truck) that I am absolutely going to hate it. Bingo. It of course is nothing like what our lovely travel specialist, Moo-Moo, said it would be. We check in, are shown to our room and are finally alone. I am somewhat upset at Katie for convincing me to book things with this guy, but more at myself for actually going through with it as I have been here (Thailand) before and my instinct was against it. After checking out the room which was terrible, (never stay at BMP Guest House in Chaing Mai), and figuring out that it is a much longer walk into the main part of the city (30 minutes instead of the 10 we are told), I decide that there is no way that we are staying in this place for a week and immediately reasearch into places we can change to in the morning. I call a couple places, find one I like, and reserve a room for the next night until the time we are scheduled to leave. It is basically the same price, but hopefully much much better. We get ready for bed, lie down and of course cannot sleep, or at least I can't, ( I am a terrible sleeper), as there is a live band blaring outside, the room is warm and there is a lot of light coming in. Bummer for us, but we get through it and survive the night.

The next morning I call Moo-Moo in Bangkok and tell him that we need a refund on the room and the excursions we registered for as we are not happy with the hotel at all. Suprisingly, this was not an issue and I was able to get a refund for the remaining nights of the room. Phew, at least something went right, and then something goes wrong...sigh.....

We sit at BMP guesthouse to have our breakfast before we make our way to our new digs and this is when Katie informs me that she is not feeling well at all. We are not sure why yet, or what caused Katie's current sickness as we both had eaten the exact same thing, but for some reason Katie's stomach just is not up to par with the delicacies of native Thai food. She has had major stomach pain, amongst other side effects, and still does at this point. We are hoping it goes away soon as she is being tortued seeing all the wonderful food that I have been getting to eat.

We grab a tuk-tuk (50 baht, or $1.60) to our new hotel called the Sri-Pat Guest House. It is in an awesome spot in the heart of the city, and just walking into the lobby I know we are in the right place. It is spotless and the people are so so nice. I love it already. Katie is not feeling well at all at this point, but we cannot check into the room until 1 unfortunately (it was 11) so we leave our stuff and head out to find her some fix for her stomach. We walk around the city a bit but cannot find a pharmacy anywhere. This was suprising to me as we ran into them everywhere in Bangkok, but Chiang Mai is smaller, and less touristy, so that is probably why. We do not get far and Katie says she cannot walk much farther so I take her back to the hotel and set out to find her some medicine. I go the other direction this time and lo and behold, right around the corner, a pharmacy. The owner is very nice and gets me a great medicine for stomach ailments. I bring it to Katie and we wait in the lobby until we can check into our room.

Entrance to the Sri-Pat Hotel

This is our room at the hotel. The picture does not do it justice. The room is spotless, the bathroom is nice, it is wonderfully air-conditioned, and it has the cutest balcony. There also is Katie, in her misery, lying on the bed. We rest for a bit until Katie decides she is feeling a little better since taking the medicine and would like to go out and look for some anti-biotics to kill this stomach problem fast. We head out and go to the same pharmacy, and the woman is great again at finding exactly what we need.

We try to salvage a day out of our moving from place to place by seeing all the major Wat's in the city. A Wat is a holy place where the Thai people go to give their thanks, say there prayers to Buddah and receive guidance from the monks. Below is the most visited Wat in the city. They are all extremley beautiful. Crafted with such delicacy and inlaid with beautiful decorations both inside and out. The pictures just do not do it justice.

After much walking, Katie is not feeling that well again, and I am rather hungry so we check out some of the food on the streets. Katie is in heaven, (and has been this whole trip), at all the different foods that she has seen. The only problem is of course that she can't eat any of them because they will not stay down. But luckily for me, that is not an issue so I do what I can to eat for the both of us and have been trying everything and anything. I have not tried the eggs in the picture below yet, but they are partridge eggs and will try them soon enough. Katie cannot wait too either.

Here I am eating what I think is called "maa-maa" and coconut milk(40 baht total = < $1). The dish is incredible and I love every bite of eat as you can see by my tounge leaking out of my mouth. It was so great that I had to ask the name of the dish so that I can look for it all over the city. It was extremely spicy though.

We make it back to the hotel and relax for a few hours while Katie recovers from her stomach pains. I check my email downstairs, do some reading on our balcony and just relax. It was nice. Eventually Katie feels up to par again so we head out to check our email, write our first blog (or Katie did), and get some dinner. I of course stupidly locked our key in our room, and cannot get someone to open it until 10 pm so we have to stay out until at least that time, which really turned out not to be a problem thankfully. We end up eating at a restaurant right around the corner that is actually three restaurants in one. We get an appetizer that was fried goat cheese dipped in honey (not very good), Katie gets sticky rice and bbq pork, and I get a curry. Mine and Katie's dishes were amazing. We can't wait to go back to the place to get pictures as the presentation was delicious and we forgot the camera (I locked it in the room). We also got a banana split which was totally delicious. We then went back to our room and called it a night with the hopes that Katie feels better in the morning. She has a food art class scheduled so we can only hope that she is feeling well enough for that.

To sum up, Thailand is amazing. The people are the best you will meet anywhere in the world and Chiang Mai is a magical place. The food is delicious, the scenery is beautiful, and you can get by on a very little amount of money each day. If you ever get a chance to come to this magnificent country, please do, you won't regret it. Thanks for listening. My posts are not as interesting as Katie's, but you are stuck with me until she won't hurl on the keyboard while typing this. This is TDH signing off. Goodnight from Chiang Mai; or good morning to most of you over there actually. :-)

Eddie B.

South East Asia- Our Arrival in Bangkok, Thailand!

2009-01-03T04:45:00.000-08:00

Sa Wat Dii Kha!!!!! (Hello!!!) TDH and I have arrived safely in Thailand. We left at noon on December 30th, 2008 and arrived in Bangkok, Thailand at 12:20am on January 1st, 2009. Unfortunately we missed the New Year but we did get to see all the fireworks going off all over Bangkok as we were landing! It was awesome!!! Our 18 hour flight was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. We flew out of San Francisco on Air Asiana to Seoul Korea. I've decided I don't mind international flights at all. You get your choice of movies and they feed you so much! We got three meals total and they were all really good! In Seoul, Korea we had a three hour layover. I'm glad it wasn't longer because it is freezing there! And we only brought clothes for warm weather. The second leg of our trip was from Seoul, Korea to Bangkok, Thailand. I thought this would be an awful flight but TDH and I were able to doze off for most of it so it went really quickly.

Bangkok, Thailand

As you can imagine it was pretty crazy in Bangkok when we arrived. Everyone was out and about celebrating the new year. We took a taxi to our hotel and after unloading our stuff, decided to walk around a bit. We had booked our first two nights at the Grand Inn Hotel in Bangkok and that was it. We made no other plans before arriving! It was fun to see all the street vendors and people out and about at 2am! There was loud music playing everywhere and people singing and dancing in the streets. We didn't stay out long because we were exhausted from the flight. The next morning we got up at 9am (we didn't want to sleep in too late because we needed to get used to the time change!) and went downstairs for the free breakfast. Ironically, my first breakfast in Thailand was American. Toast, scrambled eggs, sausage, and coffee! I also got a fruit that I had never seen before. I think it's guava but it does not look or taste like any guava I have ever had. It is green and shaped like an apple only with a rougher surface. The flesh is also very crunchy like an apple but it has a slight citrus taste to it. It was different but good!

After breakfast, we went out out on the town to do a little sight seeing and make some plans. Our first stop was the Vietnam consulate. On the way we saw this really cute bakery with all kinds of yummy yummy pastries!

We also ran into this guy who said he was a police man and wanted to know where we were from and where we were going. He was friendly and it is not at all uncommon for a Thai man to approach tourists and start a conversation so we told him. He reminded us that it was a holiday and that the Vietnam Consulate was closed and told us where we could go instead and even go a tuk-tuk to take us there.

So, being the trusting people we are, we climbed into the tuk-tuk and off we went to this tourist information center near the train station. Later we read that you never want to use these travel centers but we learned the hard way.

The tuk-tuk is this little motorcycle-car thing that zips you around the city. They are really fun and although there are a ton of taxi's in the city I prefer these little guys as my means of transportation. You have to be careful though because they totally try to rip you off! So he took us to the tourist center where we met this guy named moo-moo and booked our bus trip (because according to moo-moo "you take train, you die!") to Chiang Mai for the next morning. We also booked our hotel, a trekking trip, a day trip to the Golden triangle, and our flights back to Bangkok and then to and from Hanoi through him. It all seemed kinda shady and a bit expensive but he was nice and recommended so we went with it. Stupid stupid stupid! You will see why later!

After spending our morning with Moo-moo we decided to walk back to our hotel. A three mile walk, although we didn't know that at the time. But it was fun and we saw many interesting things on the way.

There are shrines like the one above all over the city. People place flowers and incense on it and pray.

We also stopped into a mall called MBK. It's HUGE! Seven stories and all of them look like the one above. Packed with stores that sell everything and anything you can imagine!

They had a food court in this mall so we stopped and had our first traditional Thai meal of the trip. Rice noodles with curry and all kinds of toppings.

I chose the chicken coconut curry and I was not very adventurous with my toppings, choosing only the things I could recognize: cucumber, and sprouts. It was really yummy but very spicy!

For dessert I topped the rice noodles with a sweet coconut sauce, pineapple, a bit of ginger, and bananas. YUM!

We also stopped at another mall on our way back to the hotel. The Siam Paragon. This is a brand new GINORMOUS mall. I have never seen anything so freakin huge! I can't even begin to describe it. There is a whole floor with luxury cars, a ocean museum, a huge theater, and every store imaginable. We didn't spend too much time in this mall because a) we were totally overwhelmed buy it's hugeness! and b) it was all stores we have in the USA and we didn't fly half way around the world to shop in shops we can shop in at home (wow did i really just use the word "shops" that many times in one sentence?)
We also noticed on our way back to the hotel how many taxi's there are in Bangkok. And look at the colors! Hot pink, orange, baby blue! How cute! Taxi's here are also super cheap! But you have to make sure you ask them to use the meter or they will rip you off!
The other thing I noticed in Thailand is how many unfinished projects there are. All over the city you walk and the side walk will abruptly end or there is a half finished building. It's crazy! Apparently because of all the government unrest each new person in the government starts projects but gets kicked out before he can finish them and they they just sit unfinished while new projects are started! Crazy!

After chilling at the hotel for a bit we took a taxi to the night bazaar. I didn't get any pictures of it because I was pretty beat and it was really dark so they wouldn't have turned out well anyway. The night bazaar is neat. There are all kinds of vendors that sell handmade clothes and art and really authentic looking knock offs! I was so close to buying a Chanel wallet but had to stop myself since we decided not to buy any souvenirs until the end of the trip. The Night Bazaar also has this really cool food center. This I am really sad that I didn't get a picture of it is so awesome! Basically there are a ton of chairs in the middle surrounded on one side buy vendors selling every kind of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drink you can think of and on the other side every kind of Thai food you can think of. You buy coupons and then go to each vendor and buy food. They had curries, stir fries, weird kabob things, smoothies, soups, everything! Eddie ended up getting some noodle dish and I got chicken with rice and a mango smoothie. One of the things I love about Thailand is how cheap the food is. Eddie and I have not spent more than five dollars total for our meals! Sweet!

After eating we were completely and utterly exhausted. We went back to our hotel to crash because we had to get up early to take a bus to Chiang Mai.

....to be continued....

Daring Bakers December Challenge- The French Yule Log

2008-12-29T21:39:00.001-08:00

Aghhhhhh…….This has been a crazy month and I’m leaving for South East Asia Tomorrow! And I won’t be back until February! So between baking, and Christmas, and visiting family, and getting ready to travel I have been swamped! But I still managed to accomplish this month’s Daring Bakers! Yeah! Because this recipe already looked so complicated I decided to stick with the recipe and not diverge too much. I have posted the recipe below with my notes. It was super fun to make and everyone LOVED it!

This month's challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux. They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand.

Day 1

Praline Feuillete (Crisp) Insert
Preparation time: 10 mn (+ optional 15mn if you make lace crepes)
Equipment: Small saucepan, baking sheet (if you make lace crepes).
Double boiler (or one small saucepan in another), wax paper, rolling pin (or I use an empty bottle of olive oil).
To make 2.1oz / 60g of gavottes (lace crepes - recipe by Ferich Mounia):
1/3 cup (80ml) whole milk
2/3 Tbsp (8g) unsalted butter
1/3 cup – 2tsp (35g) all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp / 0.5 oz (15g) beaten egg
1 tsp (3.5g) granulated sugar
½ tsp vegetable oil
1.    Heat the milk and butter together until butter is completely melted. Remove from the heat.
2.    Sift flour into milk-butter mixture while beating, add egg and granulated sugar. Make sure there are no lumps.
3.    Grease a baking sheet and spread batter thinly over it.
4.    Bake at 430°F (220°C) for a few minutes until the crepe is golden and crispy. Let cool.
Coconut Crisp Insert
3.5 oz (100g) white chocolate
1 oz (1/3 cup/25g) shredded coconut
1 2/3 Tbsp (25g) unsalted butter
2.1 oz (60g) lace crepes or rice krispies or corn flakes or Special K
1. Spread the coconut on a baking tray and bake for 5-10 minutes at 375°F (190°C) to toast (a different temperature might work better for you with your own oven).
2. Melt the white chocolate and butter in a double boiler. Stir until smooth and add the toasted coconut.
3. Add the coarsely crushed lace crepes. Mix quickly to thoroughly coat with the chocolate. Spread between two sheets of wax paper to a size slightly larger than your desired shape. Refrigerate until hard.

My Thoughts: I decided to make the lace crepes for this recipe. It was easy enough but I had to bake it for almost 15 minutes before I got it to harden. As the edges hardened I would remove them from the pan and return the rest to the oven to allow it to continue to harden. I also did not use the praline paste. I couldn’t find any pralines and I didn’t want to make them on my own as I have never made pralines before so I opted for the option with coconut only I used milk chocolate instead of white chocolate. It turned out great, really really tasty.

Vanilla Crème Brulée Insert
Preparation time: 15mn + 1h infusing + 1h baking
Equipment: Small saucepan, mixing bowl, baking mold, wax paper
Ingredients:
1/2 cup (115g) heavy cream (35% fat content)
½ cup (115g) whole milk
4 medium-sized (72g) egg yolks
0.75 oz (2 Tbsp / 25g) granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean
1.    Heat the milk, cream, and scraped vanilla bean to just boiling. Remove from the stove and let the vanilla infuse for about 1 hour.
2.    Whisk together the sugar and egg yolks (but do not beat until white).
3.    Pour the vanilla-infused milk over the sugar/yolk mixture. Mix well.
4.    Wipe with a very wet cloth and then cover your baking mold (whatever shape is going to fit on the inside of your Yule log/cake) with parchment paper. Pour the cream into the mold and bake at 210°F (100°C) for about 1 hour or until firm on the edges and slightly wobbly in the center.
5.    Let cool and put in the freezer for at least 1 hour to firm up and facilitate the final assembly

My Thoughts: This was my first time ever making crème Brulée. And honestly I’m not a huge fan of crème Brulée so I don’t eat it very often, or ever! So I wasn’t exactly sure what it should look like. I used a water bath to cook the crème Brulée and it took way longer than an hour. After two hours I increased the temp to 300 F and cooked it another thirty minutes. It still looked slushy and since I wasn’t completely sure what to expect I decided it was cooked enough and removed it from the oven, let it cool, then froze it. It turned out tasty in my opinion!

Day 2

Dacquoise Biscuit (Hazelnut Cake)
Preparation time: 10 mn + 15 mn for baking
Equipment: 2 mixing bowls, hand or stand mixer with whisk attachment, spatula, baking pan such as a 10”x15” jelly-roll pan, parchment paper
Ingredients:
2.8 oz (3/4cup + 1Tbsp / 80g) Hazelnut meal
1.75 oz (1/2 cup / 50g) confectioner’s sugar
2Tbsp (15g) all-purpose flour
3.5oz (100g / ~100ml) about 3 medium egg whites
1.75 oz (4 Tbsp / 50g) granulated sugar
1.    Finely mix the Hazelnut meal and the confectioner's sugar.                                                                                             2.    Sift the flour into the mix.
3.    Beat the eggs whites, gradually adding the granulated sugar until stiff.
4.    Pour the almond meal mixture into the egg whites and blend delicately with a spatula.
5.    Grease a piece of parchment paper and line your baking pan with it.
6.    Spread the batter on a piece of parchment paper to an area slightly larger than your desired shape (circle, long strip etc...) and to a height of 1/3 inches (8mm).
7.    Bake at 350°F (180°C) for approximately 15 minutes (depends on your oven), until golden.
8.    Let cool and cut to the desired shape.

My Thoughts: This was really easy to make. No problems at all! Although it also took way longer to cook than the designated time. Maybe my oven is off?

Dark Chocolate Mousse
Preparation time: 20mn
Equipment: stand or hand mixer with whisk attachment, thermometer, double boiler or equivalent, spatula
Ingredients:
2.5 sheets gelatin or 5g / 1 + 1/4 tsp powdered gelatin
1.5 oz (3 Tbsp / 40g) granulated sugar
1 ½ tsp (10g) glucose or thick corn syrup
0.5 oz (15g) water
50g egg yolks (about 3 medium)
6.2 oz (175g) dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1.5 cups (350g) heavy cream (35% fat content)
1.    Soften the gelatin in cold water. (If using powdered gelatin, follow the directions on the package.)
2.    Make a Pate a Bombe: Beat the egg yolks until very light in color (approximately 5 minutes until almost white).
2a. Cook the sugar, glucose syrup and water on medium heat for approximately 3 minutes (if you have a candy thermometer, the mixture should reach 244°F (118°C). If you do not have a candy thermometer, test the sugar temperature by dipping the tip of a knife into the syrup then into a bowl of ice water, if it forms a soft ball in the water then you have reached the correct temperature.
2b. Add the sugar syrup to the beaten yolks carefully by pouring it into the mixture in a thin stream while continuing to beat the yolks. You can do this by hand but it’s easier to do this with an electric mixer.
2c. Continue beating until cool (approximately 5 minutes). The batter should become thick and foamy.
3.    In a double boiler or equivalent, heat 2 tablespoons (30g) of cream to boiling. Add the chopped chocolate and stir until melted and smooth.
4. Whip the remainder of the cream until stiff.
5.    Pour the melted chocolate over the softened gelatin, mixing well. Let the gelatin and chocolate cool slightly and then stir in ½ cup (100g) of WHIPPED cream to temper. Add the Pate a Bombe.
6.    Add in the rest of the WHIPPED cream (220g) mixing gently with a spatula.

My Thoughts: Ok so I have never made a pate a bombe and I don’t have a candy thermometer. I tried the knife trick but really wasn’t so sure if I was doing it right so this was definitely the hardest part for me. I kinda guessed when the syrup was hot enough and poured it into my whipped egg yolks. I whipped that sucker forever and I couldn’t get it to be thick and foamy! Thick yes! But not foamy. Eventually I gave up and went ahead and added the rest of the ingredients. It turned out fine I think. The mouse was thick and creamy and had a very smooth texture.

Dark Chocolate Ganache Insert
Preparation time: 10mn
Equipment: pan, whisk. If you have plunging mixer (a vertical hand mixer used to make soups and other liquids), it comes in handy.
Ingredients:
1.75 oz (4 Tbsp / 50g) granulated sugar
4.5oz (2/3 cup – 1 Tbsp/ 135g) heavy cream    (35% fat content)
5 oz (135g) dark chocolate, finely chopped
3Tbsp + 1/2tsp (45g) unsalted butter softened
1.    Make a caramel: Using the dry method, melt the sugar by spreading it in an even layer in a small saucepan with high sides. Heat over medium-high heat, watching it carefully as the sugar begins to melt. Never stir the mixture. As the sugar starts to melt, swirl the pan occasionally to allow the sugar to melt evenly. Cook to dark amber color (for most of you that means darker than last month’s challenge).
2.    While the sugar is melting, heat the cream until boiling. Pour cream into the caramel and stir thoroughly. Be very careful as it may splatter and boil.
3.    Pour the hot caramel-milk mixture over the dark chocolate. Wait 30 seconds and stir until smooth.
4.    Add the softened butter and whip hard and fast (if you have a plunging mixer use it). The chocolate should be smooth and shiny.

My thoughts: No problems here, everything went smoothly. I made this last and piped it into the mold when it was still fairly hot and malleable. To assemble my Yule log I used a rectangle pan with rounded edges. I lined the pan with parchment paper the assembled it with the layers below. I cut each layer to fit inside the pan.

How To Assemble your French Yule Log
1) Mousse
2) Crème Brulée Insert
3) Mousse
4) Praline/Crisp Insert
5) Mousse
6) Ganache Insert
7) Dacquoise

Day 3

Milk Chocolate Icing
Preparation time: 25 minutes (10mn if you don’t count softening the gelatin)
Equipment: Small bowl, small saucepan
Ingredients:
1.5 gelatin sheets or 3g / 1/2Tbsp powdered gelatin
4.2 oz (120g) milk chocolate
2 Tbsp (30g) butter
¼ cup (60g) heavy cream (35 % fat content)
1 2/3 Tbsp (30g) glucose or thick corn syrup
1.    Soften the gelatin in cold water for 15 minutes.
2.    Coarsely chop the chocolate and butter together.
3.    Bring the cream and glucose syrup to a boil.
4.    Add the gelatin.
5.    Pour the mixture over the chocolate and butter. Whisk until smooth.
6.    Let cool while checking the texture regularly. As soon as the mixture is smooth and coats a spoon well (it is starting to gelify), use immediately.

My Thoughts: Although It takes a lot of patience to let the icing cool, it was pretty straight forward and easy.
I doubled the recipe because I wanted my icing to be nice and thick!!! Below is a cross section of my Yule log with all the layers labeled. Isn’t it PRETTY!!!!!!

To put the finishing touches:

Unmold the cake/log/whatever and set on a wire rack over a shallow pan.
Cover the cake with the icing.
Let set. Return to the freezer.
You may decorate your cake however you wish. The decorations can be set in the icing after it sets but before you return the cake to the freezer or you may attach them on top using extra ganache or leftover mousse, etc...
Transfer to the refrigerator no longer than ½ hour before serving as it may start to melt quickly depending on the elements you chose.

I basically served mine straight out of the freezer, it was a bit tough to cut but so yummy. The crème Brulée was still frozen which I actually liked a lot. It was my favorite part!

Well that is all folks! I am off to Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia for the month of January. Will write if I can but otherwise will have lots of stories when I get back!

Bye!

My Struggle With Bulimia- Binge and Purge

2008-12-23T17:32:00.000-08:00

So I meant to post a week ago but it took me so long to write this post! I think it's partly because it's just so dang long but also because it was pretty hard for me to write. I had to keep editing and re-editing it and I'm still not happy with how it sounds. It's so hard to put feelings down on paper! Oh well, this was the best I could do. But the good new is that this is the last of the series and I'm sorry it's so long but at least it's done! Yay!

To read the whole story from the beginning, go to the About Me page.

I don't remember how I became bulimic. I don't remember how or why it started. Actually, pretty much most of my senior year of college is a blur to me. I think I've blocked out a lot of the memories because they are too painful. I know that I started throwing up my senior year of college. What is strange to me is that I grew up in a household with candies, cookies, and junk food easily accessible and available to us. Also, my step mom was constantly baking cakes, brownies, cookies and whatever yummy fattening treat she could think of. Growing up I was never fat, I never had an issue with food or my weight (well, no unhealthy issues). For my first three years of college I had a meal plan where I could eat whatever and however much I wanted. I never binged, I never deprived myself, I never gained any weight. I remember eating a salad, a main dish, and frozen yogurt for dinner almost every night! And thought nothing of it and never gained even a pound during those first three years! Why all of a sudden, when I lived in an apartment and had to buy and cook all my own food did I start binging and purging? Why did I suddenly feel completely out of control with anything that had any fat or calories in it? Why did I develop this eating disorder? I don't understand it, years of therapy have not helped me understand it, I may never understand it.

I think it started with the binging. I think I started binging because I wouldn't let myself buy any yummy food from the grocery store. But my roommates would and I would see it there sitting in the pantry or in the fridge and I would want it so bad. Eventually, I guess I gave in and I would start sneaking my roommates cookies or cake when they were not around. I would eat as much as I could and then feel absolutely awful about it. Somewhere during all of this sneaking around and binging, I started throwing up. Not sure how or why but I remember it was awful. I hated throwing up but it felt better than the guilt of stealing my roommates food and much better than the soreness of my overly stuffed and bloated stomach. Throwing up gave me an instant release. The problem was the the release only lasted a little bit and what came afterwards was emptiness, loneliness, depression, helplessness, and utter despair. I felt completely out of control, physically and emotionally. It's almost like I would go into a trance, binge and purge, and then a few minutes after purging suddenly snap out of it not knowing what really happened but feeling utterly rotten.

Every single time I would binge and purge I would tell myself that it was the last time. Of course it was never the last time. The urge, the craving would always hit me again. Almost like a speeding bullet train...BHAM! Although, through most of my struggle with bulimia there were many times where I honestly felt that being hit by an actual speeding bullet train would have been much less painful and easier to deal with. knowing I could make myself throw up made it easier for me to binge. I could eat anything I wanted and it wouldn't count because I could get rid of it. I also found that the more I ate, the fuller I got, the easier it was to throw it up. So whenever I got cravings for dessert or junk food I would just stuff myself with it until I got sick and then make myself throw up. Initially, my binge and purge episodes would only happen about once or twice a month. I didn't tell anyone about my "little problem" for awhile, I thought it was just a little setback that I could deal with. I was normal once, I can be normal again.

After about six months of secretly binging and purging, I realized that I wasn't going to be able to beat this by myself. My binging and purging had only gotten worse and more frequent. I thought that the only way to stop binging and purging was to stop eating dessert or junk food. So I would avoid it at all cost, of course it just made the binging and purging worse because eventually I would always give in and eat something "bad" for me. As soon as I did, I would feel awful and feel this urge to get rid of it. Since I was going to throw up anyway I figured I might as well go hog wild and would stuff myself with anything and everything in sight and then make myself purge all the food, all the guilty feelings, all the lonely feeling. I craved that feeling of emptiness so bad sometimes. After the emptiness always came the utter despair and helplessness. I was out of control and completely desperate and miserable and with everything TDH and I had been through I desperately wanted our relationship to work and I knew I had to be honest and come clean to him. So I told him about my throwing up. It was one of the hardest and most embarrassing things I have ever done, at least I think. I don't really remember it, another one of those memories that have been permanently blocked. But I'm glad I told him. He never judged me and amazingly he didn't stop loving me. He encouraged me to get help so I went to a counselor at UCLA.

This was near the end of my senior year when I was trying to figure out what the f*ck I was going to do with my life. Naturally, I ended up talking about this through all my therapy sessions instead of my bulimia. I was a microbiology major on a track to get my PhD. I has stellar grades, research experience, and was in one of the most competitive programs for bio students out there. I was set to get into any grad school I wanted. There was just one problem, I was in love, totally completely in love and the only thing I wanted in this world was to grow old with my TDH. I didn't want to keep going to school, I wanted to get a job and grow up and start my life with TDH. So I didn't apply to grad school my senior year and near the end of my senior year I was really torn about whether I even wanted to stay in research or not. Eventually, due to lack of another option, I decided to get a job doing research and took a job as a research assistant in a lab at UC Berkeley. Two days after I graduated I moved back up to Northern California and started working full time. My mom, who had a house in Danville, CA had recently moved to Texas and let my TDH and I rent out her beautiful three bedroom house. In the span of two days, I had gone from college student living with five girls with no responsibility to full time working adult living with her significant other in a huge house with a dog! Yes a dog! TDH had brought his old, misbehaved, huge Labrador Retriever with him. Don't get me wrong I love love love dogs and thought it would be fun to have a dog around the house so I encouraged him to bring the dog. But before I knew it I was getting up at 5am to workout, commuting 40 minutes to work, working 9 hours a day, making dinner from scratch every night, walking the dog, cleaning the house, and not getting to bed until 11pm or midnight every evening. I hated it! I was miserable and I resented both TDH and the dog for what I was going through.

This lasted about 6 months and right before Christmas I just couldn't take it anymore. My bulimia was getting worse, I hated my job, I hated living in my mom's house and I resented TDH. My whole Senior year of college I couldn't wait to grow up and now that I was I just put way too much pressure on myself to be perfect and instead of just letting go and easing up and realizing you can't be perfect I blamed the one person who loved and cared about me. I blamed TDH. That Christmas I broke up with him and he moved back down to Southern California. For the next few months, to keep my mind off of my eating disorder and my loneliness I started working out a ton. I would get up at the crack of dawn and spin for an hour, then do an hour of Pilate's and on weekends I would spend 6 hours or more biking. I also started really limiting what I ate. I would eat every three hours but only between 100-300 calories. I lost over ten pounds in one month and was the skinniest I have ever been in my life. I got down to almost 105lbs at one point! The thing is though, I was completely miserable and still felt completely fat.

One night, after living like this for about three months I had a really bad binge episode and when I tried to purge, none of it would come out. I went to bed feeling utterly disgusted with myself and completely out of control. This is when I finally told my dad and step mom. I called them crying and told them that I couldn't stop throwing up and I needed help. So I quit my job at UC Berkeley, moved out of my mom's house and moved in with them. I feel like this is the point where I hit rock bottom and finally made the decision that my health and happiness is more important than being skinny. This was my first step to recovery.

I lived with my dad and step mom for about 5 months. I took a little bit of time off of work to try to get my head straight. I dated a little bit and still exercised incessantly. Living with my dad was OK. I hated that I didn't really have a room or a place to put my stuff but for the most part they left me alone and let me do my thing. My step mom and dad didn't really know how to handle my eating disorder though so they really kind of just ignored it. I remember one time my step-mom caught me puking in the bathroom. She knocked and asked if I was alright. I said yeah and she left me alone. She didn't even confront me afterward. I found out later she had told my sister. As much as I am glad they didn't confront me about my eating disorder as I was very self conscious about it it angered me. It made me feel like they didn't care about me. If they cared about me and my well being wouldn't they do whatever they could to stop me from throwing up? Eventually I got a job in San Francisco. Another research job, this time at a start-up bio tech company. I wasn't sure if I wanted to research or something else but again I couldn't think of what else to do so got stuck doing research again. My dad also gave me money to see a therapist. So I moved to the city, into an apartment in the Lower Haight with a girl and two boys for roommates and started seeing a therapist regularly.

During this time, although TDH lived six hours away and we were both dating other people, we still remained really close. We both still loved each other very much. In about November of that year after I had been in San Francisco for about four months I went down to visit him. Although I had been dating other people during our year apart I never felt that close to anyone and I missed him terribly. After visiting him we realized that we were both still madly in love with each other and decided to try to get back together. So in January, TDH quit his job and moved to San Francisco to be with me. We got an apartment together and he found a great job in the city.

That year without TDH was one of the hardest, most miserable years of my life, but I needed it. I really found myself that year, and really started to be able to accept myself. It is because of that year that I can say I am finally recovering from Bulimia.

It has been two years since TDH moved to San Francisco to be with me. During those two years we completely fell in love again and I worked very hard at recovering from my Bulimia. I went to individual therapy, group therapy, read books, wrote journals, and finally started this blog. TDH has been a huge factor in my recovery. He has really taught me how to love and accept myself for who I am and most importantly he has shown me that he loves and accepts me for who I am not what I look like. Although I am not completely recovered and maybe won't ever be, I can now say that I eat anything and everything, I don't watch calories or fat, I can have dessert at home without binging, and I'm completely happy. I've even found a love for cooking that I had suppressed for so many years. I love food and am finally enjoying it the way it is supposed to be enjoyed...for the taste! I have learned that food is a nurturing thing that you feed your body because you love yourself, not something to be avoided! And I have learned that to enjoy food I have to eat what tastes good not what is healthy!

Trials and Tribulations of My First Holiday Cookie Bake-Athon Part 3- Chocolate Truffles… with Peanut Butter??

2008-12-18T23:01:00.001-08:00

The third installation of my Cookie Bake-athon is not exactly a cookie. Chocolate truffles! I decided to make Ina Garten’s chocolate truffles because they looked easy and this is my first time making truffles. The recipe can be found here.

The ingredient list: Chocolate! And lots of it! I used half a pound of bittersweet 70% dark chocolate and half a pound of this heavenly dark milk chocolate from Africa or South America. OH MY F*ing G*D! It was the best chocolate I have ever had. I got it at Whole Food Markets and I couldn’t stop eating the little pieces as I was chopping it up. I still dream about that chocolate at night…it was that good!

Mmmmm……chocolate. Oh…where was I? Oh yeah, the ingredients. I also used heavy whipping cream, some instant coffee, and vanilla extract. Ina’s recipe also calls for Grand Marnier, which I do not have, so I did not use any. I’m sure any type of liquor would be very good in this.

So I chopped up the chocolate…..sneaking little bitty bits for myself…

Then I heated the cream in a pan until just boiling and poured it over the chocolate.

I gave it a stir with a whisk until it was dark and creamy….and used all my willpower not to drink it from the bowl.

Then I added my coffee (as you can see that is way more than 1 tablespoon, and my vanilla (way way more than 1/2 teaspoon) and stirred it all together until combine.

I have a tendency to add way too much flavor to my baked goods. It calls for a teaspoon of cinnamon and I add a tablespoon, 1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla and I add two tablespoons, a touch of wine and I add the whole bottle! I dunno why I do it, I guess I just like my flavors to be intense! Or maybe my sense of taste is bad?

Anyways, I let the ganache cool at room temperature for an hour and when I tried to roll it it was too mushy. Oh no! Too much liquid! Well crap! I used all my good chocolate! What am I going to do now? How am I going to fix it?

Frantically I tore apart the kitchen and found the only chocolate left in the house…mini chocolate chips and Reese's cups! I was desperate so I threw them both in, remelted the chocolate, and whisked until smooth, hoping, praying to the Gods that I had not ruined my beautiful truffles.

Well it worked, I was able to get my ganache rolled into balls, after refrigerating the ganache for three hours! And boy did I make a mess of myself while I rolled those balls! I had fun licking all the chocolate off my hands though! Mmmmm peanut buttery chocolate! I was surprised how pronounced the peanut butter was considering how much chocolate it was mixed wit. It was actually quite good, very good! I couldn’t stop licking myself!

Once my balls were rolled (he he) I threw them in the freezer to harden then rolled them in some sweetened cocoa and prayed they would not melt into gobs of goo before they were given out as gifts.

Trials and Tribulations of My First Holiday Cookie Bake-athon Part 2- World Peace Cookies!

2008-12-17T22:07:00.001-08:00

It’s Christmas! This is the time of year we are celebrate love, joy and peace! I figured, given the time of year, these were more than appropriate cookies to make as part of my Holiday Cookie List. I have been wanting to make these cookies for awhile, everyone in the food blogging world gives them rave reviews and they are chocolate! How can you go wrong with chocolate? This recipe is from Dorie Greenspan’s book Baking: From My Home to Yours. Because I have not asked Dorie’s permission to reprint her recipe I will not give it to you here. But you can find it here or here or here or here or…ok I’m done.

The Ingredient List: White Granulated Sugar, Baking Soda, Fleur de Sel, Unsweetened Cocoa Powder, All Purpose Flour, Brown Sugar, Vanilla Extract, Butter, and Mini Chocolate Chips.

The recipe says to have the butter at room temp and whip it until it is smooth and creamy. Well, my butter was frozen and when I tried to gently thaw it in the microwave on the defrost setting I forgot about it and accidentally melted it! Oops! I tried to cool it by sticking it in the freezer but I am way to impatient to wait for these things so I said screw it! I think it turned out fine. Once the butter is whipped, or in my case, melted, add the sugars and cream until smooth. Then sift in the cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, and salt.

Now this part was a little weird, and I’m not sure I did this right. Dorie says to cover your bowl with a towel to prevent flour from flying everywhere, then using your mixer on the low setting, pulse for 1-2 seconds five times. Then check to see if your flour has been incorporated into the dough. If it has for the most part then you can remove the towel and keep pulsing the mixer until the flour has been fully incorporated. If there is still a lot of loose flour, keep pulsing underneath the towel.

Well, I tried this, but my flour was barely mixed after five pulses and being the impatient person I am I said screw it (once again) and just used a spatula to mix the flour into the dough. Finish off by mixing in your mini chocolate chips. Dorie says the important thing is to NOT overwork your dough! So mix as little as possible.

Once the dough is fully mixed, separate it into two balls of dough on some parchment paper and role each dough into two little logs. Wrap these logs in saran wrap and place into the fridge for at least three hours. The dough can be frozen for several months or kept in the fridge for several days.

When you are ready to bake, the dough should be nice and rock hard. Just unwrap your log and slice into 1/4” pieces.

Place your cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake!

I’m not sure if they were supposed to come out this way, I could blame it on the melted butter, or my lack of pulsing skill, but they were very flat. Don’t get me wrong they were still very good! The perfect amount of chocolate, with a nice crisp taste. And the salt gave these cookies a slight caramel taste….YUM! But I think they are supposed to be…thicker. Oh well, they were still as good as I imagined and were a big hit among everyone!

My Struggle with Bulimia- College

2008-12-16T21:43:00.001-08:00

To read the whole story from the beginning, go to the About Me page.

Working hard in high school paid off for me. I got into UCSB, a very good University in one of the most gorgeous locations right on the beach. I met my TDH there halfway through my freshman year. It was love at first sight. I was completely crazy about him. I will never forget the night we met. I had recently broken up with my long time high school sweetheart, I had some recent awful one night stands, and I had just sworn off boys. I went out with my sorority sisters to a party but did not drink that night (The only time I was sober at a college party mind you, and a key reason why my TDH even bothered to speak to me for longer than five minutes since he does not think drunk teenage girls are very attractive!) and there he was. He was gorgeous! I could not stop staring at him and I noticed he kept glancing back at me. I was too shy to say anything or go up to him so I just pretended like I did not notice. Eventually, one of my sorority sisters came up to me and said her boyfriend had a friend visiting who thought I was cute and pointed to TDH. I was in heaven. She introduced me to him and we ended up spending the entire night together. We were up until 7am talking. It was the night of my life.

We were absolutely crazy about each other. Every second I was away from him all I thought about was him and the next time I would see him. When we were together we couldn’t keep our hands off each other. I remember the week after we first met his parents were out of town (he had recently moved back in with his parents after breaking up with his long time girlfriend) he invited me over to watch a movie. We started watching “What Lies Beneath” and five minutes into the movie we were too busy making out we completely forgot about the movie. We didn’t stop until it was almost over and had to restart the movie and watch it from the beginning!

My TDH and I had a crazy, kind of rocky relationship. We broke up, and got back together so many times I have lost count. We had so much passion and love for each other that we could not stay away from each other very long, but we were both in very different stages in life, he was graduated from college with a full time job and I was just beginning my college career and my new independent life. I was still very young and very flirty.

My TDH was also getting over a very serious relationship. He had dated and lived with a girl in college at Indiana University. She had moved to Southern California for him and they had recently broken up. He was infatuated with me but a couple weeks after we started dating he broke up with me. I was sad but it wasn’t the end of the world. I mean, I had only known the guy a couple of weeks. A week later he called me to let me know he was coming to Santa Barbara to watch a Tyson fight with a friend and wanted to see me. We made up and got back together that night.

The summer after my freshman year I moved into a duplex with some of my sorority sisters on Del Playa, the craziest street in Santa Barbara. Above us lived a bunch of boys. We would often get very drunk together and I would get a little too friendly when I was drunk. I remember getting in a lot of fights with TDH over this.

My sophomore year of college, my TDH talked me into moving into an apartment with him near campus. He had gotten a job in Santa Barbara and was moving close to campus. This was a huge deal for me, the first time living with a boy! I was so excited, but so scared at the same time. It was not the same for my TDH, he had lived with a girl for two years in college. Five months after moving in together, my TDH unexpectedly broke up with me and told me he was moving away. This time, I was broken hearted and completely devastated. I felt like I was in a nightmare, how could this happen to me? How could he hurt me like this? But I was strong, I have dealt with pain before and I got over it. I could get over this. I moved out and we broke up for about a month. But of course, we could not stay away from each other for long. We eventually got back together and I eventually forgave him, although not completely. I was scarred and very scared.

When I had first met my TDH, he talked about moving to Los Angeles to try to be an actor or a model. I really wanted to support him and during the time we lived together I applied to UCLA and got in. I decided, even though I knew my TDH would not come with me, to transfer to UCLA because it was a better school. So I moved to LA my Junior year into the transfer housing. I made friends fast and totally immersed myself in school. I toned down my partying, got a research job in a lab, and spent my days going to class and doing research and my nights studying. My first year in LA Eddie and I had a pretty rough time. I did not have a car and he lived an hour away. We saw each other almost every weekend but I lived in a house with 25 other students so we never got any private time.

It was in my first year at UCLA where I met the French guy. Transfer housing was also home for some of the foreign exchange student. One of them, the French guy, was fairly good looking and he had a pretty sexy accent. All the girls in the house were head over heals for him. But he had a French girlfriend so we all thought he was off limits. Well, one night, during a period when my TDH and I had been fighting a lot, I had gone out with some of my housemates to a bar. We were dancing and all of a sudden the French guy grabbed me and started kissing me. I was shocked and so were my girlfriends because they immediately pulled me to the bathroom and started asking me what I was doing. After that night I broke up with my TDH and started spending a lot of time with the French guy. It lasted two weeks and then he went back to France and I have never talked to him again. Why I risked a loving lasting relationship with the person who cared for me and wanted to spend the rest of his life with me for a two week fling, I have no idea. I have no idea what I was thinking or if I was thinking at all!

I didn’t tell my TDH about the French guy at first, but he was devastated about us breaking up. He wanted to get back together and finally I broke down and told him thinking he would never want to be with me again. He was completely devastated. I have never hurt anyone so completely and utterly in my life. The worst part was that I loved and cared for my TDH so much and I realized (way too late) that I was completely stupid and selfish to do what I did. What was I thinking? How could I do that? I was disgusted with myself. I did a great job at making myself feel miserable about it the rest of that school year. But nothing can describe how my TDH made me feel. He went through every emotion known to man, he was furious, devastated, exasperated, depressed, miserable, sad, you name it he felt it. And he made me feel utterly worthless. He made me feel like a slut, a whore, a selfish bitch, a worthless person. I do not exactly remember how it happened, but eventually we got back together and got over it but it was one of the most devastating events of my life and I will always be scarred from it. I did not know how to deal with all the pain I felt during this time of my life and I’m not sure how it happened exactly but I think it was just the last straw and an accumulation of everything I had to deal with in my life but it was right around this time when I turned to Bulimia for comfort for the first time.

Trials and Tribulations of My First Holiday Cookie Bake-athon Part 1- Mexican Wedding Cookies!

2008-12-15T13:03:00.001-08:00

So I spent the whole day last Sunday baking cookies to give as gifts to my co-workers and my TDH’s co-workers. I had previously told you what holiday cookies I planned to bake in my Holiday Cookie List Post.

I decided to start tackling the Mexican wedding cookie’s first. I don’t remember the first time I tried one of these cookies. I just know they are called by many different names and there are several different varieties. I know them as Mexican wedding cookies, but they can also be called snowball cookies, Italian wedding cookies, Russian Tea Cakes. Apparently they are multi-cultural. Anyways, even though I don’t remember the first time I tried one of these cookies I know I’ve loved them from the first bite. They are just the perfect amount of sweet, and the texture is unlike any cookie I have ever tried. I have never made these myself and was really excited to give it a try.

They are really easy to make and only require a few inexpensive ingredients: Butter, Powdered Sugar, Flour, and Ground Almonds. The only difference between all the cookies named above are the type of ground nut that goes into them. I’ve seen these made with ground pecan, ground walnut, but my favorite is almond. I used this recipe here but used powdered sugar in place of the 1/2 cup white sugar it call for and added 2 teaspoons of almond extract in place of the water. I also used 1 cup of finely ground almonds instead of chopped almonds.

What is amazing to me about these cookies is the transformation that takes place between when they come out of the oven and when they get coated in powdered sugar. Out of the oven they are slightly bland and tasteless. Crumbly and Stiff.

When they get coated in powdered sugar they turn into these little balls of snowy fluff. They are sweet and smooth and everything you could want in a cookie. The first bite I took of my finished cookie brought back so many memories for me. They tasted just as I remembered, just as they tasted at the cookie shop or the holiday party or where ever I would stumble upon them.

These were winners in my book and I will definitely make them again!

Christmas in Union Square

2008-12-14T14:58:00.001-08:00

One of my favorite things about San Francisco is Christmas in Union Square. This is a photo taken from the top of Macy’s looking down at union square. There is always a huge tree with lots of sparkling lights and a big red star on top. This year I was extra excited to see that they brought back the ice skating rink! Growing up there was always and outdoor ice skating rink in union square during Christmas but when they remodeled union square they took it away. This year, they brought it back! Yay!

I love watching all the happy people ice skating in the brisk night…and watching all the bright lights sparkle on the huge tree…

and staring at all the wreaths in every single window of the Macy’s building.

But my favorite part are the Macy’s Holiday windows! The Macy’s in Union square is famous for there holiday windows! Every year thousands of people gather around to see the glorious decorations. For the last few years the Macy’s Holiday windows have been sponsored by the SPCA and have been decorated with cute little puppies and kitties that are up for adoption. Above is a picture of one of those window. I look forward to this part every single year!

Ahhh….the holidays. What do you look forward to during this time of year?

Holiday Cookie List Giveaway- We Have A Winner!

2008-12-13T22:59:00.001-08:00

Congratulations to to Sharon of Culinary Adventures of a New Wife. She is the winner of my cookie cookbook giveaway. She will be getting a brand spanking new copy of Christmas Cookies: 50 Recipes to Treasure for the Holiday Season.

Sharon was chosen using the integer generator at www.random.org.

Congratulations Sharon!

Farmer’s Market Stuffed Pizza

2008-12-12T06:55:00.001-08:00

If you haven’t done so yet check out my Holiday Cookie List and enter my Giveaway!

So I have to admit, I totally stole this idea from The Evil Mad Scientist. You can check out his stuffed pizza here. I saw his article and thought what a brilliant idea! Making a super stuffed pizza in a springform pan! Genius! I have to say I splurged and bought my springform pan at Williams-Sonoma and absolutely love it. It has so many uses and I’m finding new ones everyday!

I wanted to use the freshest ingredients for my stuffed pizza so to make it an extra special treat I splurged and bought some fresh local veggies and cheeses from the Ferry Building Farmer’s Market.

To make my stuffed pizza I first prepared the veggies. I’ve learned the hard way that you cannot cook veggies on pizza or any type of bread when they are raw. They don’t cook well and your pizza or sandwich ends up tasting crunchy and yucky. So I always pre roast all my veggies before cooking them in a pizza, sandwich, lasagna, or casserole.

I roasted my peppers by setting the oven to broil and placing them on the top rack. I let them broil on one side for about ten minutes until they were nice and black and then flipped them and roasted them on the other side for about ten minutes. I then removed them from the oven and placed them in a bowl and covered it with saran wrap. This allows the steam to separate the skin from the flesh so it’s easy to peal off.

For the zucchini, I sliced it into thin strips using a vegetable peeler. For the eggplant I sliced it into about 1/8-1/4” round circles.

The zucchini strips got placed on a pan, covered with oil, salt, and better, and broiled for about 5 minutes. They cook really fast because they are so thin.

The eggplant got desalted, then placed on a pan and covered with oil, salt, and pepper. These take a little longer to broil in the oven. I broiled them about 10-15 minutes, removing the thinner peaces as they became moist and mushy.

Here are all my veggies, roasted, sliced, peeled, and ready to go into my stuffed pizza!

For the pizza dough, I used the white whole wheat pizza dough recipe from 101 cookbooks (Gosh I love her!). Her recipe is adapted from Peter Reinhart’s recipe in The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. I further adapted her recipe by using 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour and 2 cups white flour instead of the white whole wheat flour. This is the first time I have used whole wheat in this recipe and as you can see it turned out really dark. It was also a very dense dough and I was worried it wouldn’t rise and turn out not tasting too good. But I persevered and I’m glad I did. The dough did rise after being left at room temp for a few hours the day after I made it. And it was so easy to work with. Much easier the the version with all white flour! And the best part was that it tasted great! I will totally use this combination again…and again…and again…ok I’m done.

I made a whole batch of the dough and divided it into two balls, a large ball for the bottom and a small ball for the top. After letting the dough rest on the counter for several hours I coated it with flour and rolled it out nice and thin. I folded it into quarters and transferred it to my greased springform as you can see in the pictures above. To prevent bubbling in the oven I poked the bottom of the dough several times with a fork. My pizza is ready to be filled!

For the cheese, I had a hard time deciding what to use. I’m not good at pairing things, I’m not good at knowing what will taste good with pizza versus what will taste good with lasagna. So I basically just closed my eyes and grabbed a couple of cheeses from two different stands at the Farmer’s Market. I ended up with an aged white cheddar which was very mild and oh so yummy. And a teleme, which I had never heard of before. It tasted like brie but less creamy and a bit more rubbery, also very good!

To assemble my pizza, I started with a layer of tomato paste, I just used regular old tomato paste from a can. I added a layer of aged white cheddar cheese, then topped this with my zucchini. I topped the zucchini with another layer of tomato paste and cheese, then added my eggplant. The eggplant got topped with another layer of tomato paste and cheese and then I finished with my roasted peppers.

I covered the pizza with the small ball of dough and sealed it by pinching the two layers together and rolling the edges inward. Then I pricked the top to prevent bubbling and topped the pizza with tomato paste, and layer of the Teleme cheese and some basil. The whole thing went into the oven at 375 F for about 45 minutes. As soon as it was done I remove the springform casing and let it rest for 10 minutes before digging in. It was delicious!

My Struggle with Bulimia- A New Beginning, but Definitely Not the End

2008-12-08T20:59:00.001-08:00

If you haven’t had a chance yet, go to my Holiday cookie list and Giveaway post and enter a comment to win a Holiday Cookie Recipe Book!

I somehow caught a bug over the weekend and spend the whole day on Sunday sleeping. It is Monday and I am still feeling under the weather. I wouldn’t say I am sick, I can still function, well if you call crawling out of bed and forcing my ass to work so I can sit there and stare dazed at the computer screen functioning! But I NEVER EVER get sick! So even being a little sick is weird for me. I woke up on Sunday with a sore throat and a mild headache. I felt really dazed like I had a cloud over my head and I was really really tired. I still feel tired today even though I slept for almost 48 hours straight! Bleh…I hate feeling tired.

Anyways, I am off to Thailand for the entire month of January and I am super excited! I can’t wait! But before I leave one of my goals is to finish my story of how I developed and overcame bulimia. I still have so much to tell you so this holiday season my blog is going to be a lot about life with as much holiday cooking as I can manage to squeeze in!

If you want to read my life story from the beginning go to the About Me page.

The Summer I moved in with my mom was the Summer before I started my first year in high school. That summer we moved to Danville, CA and I started a new life there. I was in a new town, going to a new school, and I had to make all new friends. My dad would not talk to me that first year and he would not let me talk to any of my brothers or sisters. That hurt really really bad, but I felt like I deserved it. I remember my first conversation with my father after moving in with my mom was on my birthday, almost 10 months after I left. He called me to accuse me of stealing my step-mom’s diamond earrings. OUCH! The second time I spoke to him he called to apologize because they had found them. Eventually, my dad and his family started having a relationship with me again, but it was never the same. I have never felt like my father's family is my family. I have never felt like my father's home is my home. I have always felt like an outsider. My dad keeps telling my it is my fault, it is my choice, and I agree. I just do not know how to change how I feel.

When I decided to live with my mom, my dad told me I would be a failure. He told me I would never make anything of my life. So I worked extra hard in high school. I got great grades, took all honor classes, and participated in sports and extra curricular activities. My four years of high school were the best of my life. I was finally living with my mom and she was finally being the mom I so desperately needed. I loved Danville, I loved my friends there, and I loved my freedom. I really grew up during those four years.

I got my first puppy in high school. I absolutely love love love dogs and I have always wanted a puppy. At my dad’s house we were never allowed pets because my step-mom, step-brother, and step-sister were allergic. It was the first time in my life I had something of my own to raise and take care of and I absolutely loved every second of it. I spent hours reading about puppy training, I took my puppy to training classes, and spent countless afternoons in the front lawn teach my puppy every trick I could think of.

I have always been a strong person in a lot of ways. But one strength I seriously lacked was self esteem. I never thought badly of myself, I just never thought anything good either. As far back as I can remember I have always thought of something on my body that I hated or that I wanted to change. When I was really little it was my thighs, they rubbed together. As I got a bit older it was my tanned skin. I was very dark and I hated it because all my friends were pale white. Once I hit puberty it was my large boobs because I was one of the first girls in my class to get boobs and all the boys stared. Looking back most people would have killed for these problems but I didn’t see it that way at the time. I think I craved affection and love and made up for the lack of them by seeking the attention of boys.

It has always been easy for me to get boys to fall in love with me. I never understood why. Even as young as 5 I had little boys running after me. In high school, my desire to be wanted by boys became a little obsessive. I had sex when I was 14, with a boy that lived down the street from me. I didn’t want to but we were alone, and he was being so loving and wanting. I regretted it afterward and even told my mom. I was devastated. After that I waited until I was with what would be my only long term boyfriend in high school. In my Junior year of high school, four months after we started dating we had sex… a lot of sex…whenever we could. And we weren’t very careful about it. I got pregnant at 16 and had an abortion. It was devastating…and ruined my relationship with him. I knew as soon as I found out I was pregnant that I had to get an abortion. I had no other choice, I was too young, had too much to do in life, and simply wasn’t ready. But it didn’t make it any easier. I longed for a baby for years after that and every time I saw someone pregnant or with a baby I thought of what my life would have been like if I had made the other choice and kept the baby. To this day I know I made the right choice, but I also know I could never make that choice again.

Although my life with my mom during high school was far from perfect, it was still the best time of my life. I loved living with her, I loved the town I lived in, I loved my school and my friends. I know making the decision to leave my dad’s house and move into my mom’s house was the right decision for me, and I will never regret it. I just wish it had not totally ripped my family apart in the process.

My Christmas Cookie List and a Giveaway!

2008-12-06T15:41:00.001-08:00

So it seems like everyone in the food blogging world is making cookies for Christmas. Well, I did not want to miss the fun so I came up with my own little list of cookies I am going to make. I have been making cookies from scratch since I can remember. It was one of the first things I ever learned how to bake. I have also made my fair share of treats for Christmas to give as goodies, but mostly just to close friends and families. I have to admit is has been awhile I am afraid and I feel a bit rusty. Plus, with the craziness of the holidays and the fact that I’m going to Thailand for a month three days after Christmas I figured I best not overdo myself. So I’m keeping it simple this year. I’m making three kinds of cookies, all very simple, and an easy chocolate truffle. Maybe next year I’ll go gung ho and go crazy with my cookie baking self! :) We’ll see.

So here is my cookie list and the link to the recipes I plan to use:

Chocolate Truffles by Ina Garten

Mexican Wedding Cookies

Gingersnap Cookies

World Peace cookies by Dorie Greenspan

I plan to alter the recipes a bit to give each cookie a little unique twist. I will post pictures and full recipes in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, to help me get into the holiday mood, I am giving away a copy of Christmas Cookies: 50 recipes to treasure for the holiday season.

Just leave a comment on my blog and answer the following question:

What is your favorite holiday cookie?

The Contest will run for one week and will end Saturday, December 13th at 10pm PST.

Thanks for visiting!

Playing Around in the Kitchen- Orange Scented Cranberry Sauce Muffins

2008-12-05T13:12:00.001-08:00

I am so sorry for this picture! It was the only one I had of the finished product and was taken at my grandparents cabin where there is absolutely no light! I made these muffins one afternoon when I was bored and trying to decide what to do with my leftover cranberry sauce. I was in a baking mood, which is amazing because I am not usually in a baking mood. I love to cook, not so much bake. So, in the spur of the moment, I whipped out my trusty Baking: From my Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan and adapted her recipe for apple oat cake. I should have used more flour, the cupcakes were a little flimsy but they tasted yummy! Tart with a hint of sweetness and almost healthy enough to eat for breakfast!

The dry ingredients: flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

The wet ingredients: orange juice, non-fat vanilla yogurt, an egg, butter, and vanilla extract.

And of course, the star ingredient: My homemade cranberry sauce!

To make muffins you always begin by mixing the dry ingredients together first in a large bowl. If there is butter, melt it, and mix it together with all the other wet ingredients in a medium bowl. Then pour the wet ingredients from the medium bowl into the dry ingredients in the large bowl and mix using a spatula. Important: Do NOT over mix! Just fold until wet ingredients are incorporated with dry ingredients. Over mixing causes stiff and dry muffins. We want light, fluffy, moist muffins!

Pour the muffin mix into a greased muffin pan and top with a large dollop of cranberry sauce. Bake in a 350 F oven for 12-15 minutes. You are going to have to kinda guess when they are done because the cranberry sauce on top makes it hard to do the clean knife test. I took mine out when the muffin part was nice and golden brown. They were flimsy but very moist and yummy!

Family Christmas Photos- Playing around with Photoshop

2008-12-03T22:10:00.001-08:00

Since this our first year of marriage and our first year of being a “family” I wanted to take a family Christmas photo that I could use to send out as a holiday card this year. Well, my family consists of a dog and a cat who do not really care to cooperate for family photos.

This was the best we could do after several attempts. At least TDH and I look decent! And the dog is actually looking at the camera. Amazing! But the cat, oh the cat! She was looking at the window thinking, “maybe if I make a run for it and jump out the window I can kill myself so this hell they are putting me through right now comes to an end!”

Afraid my kitty was going to commit kitty suicide I decide it was best to work with what we had instead of torturing her through a longer photo shoot.

So instead, I found a picture of her where she was looking at the camera and…

Photoshopped her in! What do you think? Pretty impressive huh? Ok I know she looks kind of fake but it really does look like I am holding her in my lap, right? It took me awhile to figure out how to make it look semi-real and I was pretty damn happy with the result in the end.

Now, to make it Christmassy I bought some digital scrapbooking images from Peppermint Creative and put a border around the photo.

And this is our Christmas photo! Doesn’t it look good! Kitty actually looks real in this one, right? Just smile and nod people, smile and nod.

Merry Christmas!!!!