Feasting and creating!

So, since I'm home, I've been eating such that I hardly feel full. I graze and munch, and it's pretty rare that the words "I'm hungry" emerge from me.

Here are some peeks at what I've been eating for the last bit of time...

Strawberry papaya. Aren't the seeds weird? They look like fish eggs...

Yesterday (Saturday), the fam went down to Orange County to visit the relatives... had soondubu (spicy tofu soup) which is always delicious. Tried something new-- a soy bean porridge, which was very textured and almost sweet. You can add soy sauce, which adds a nice degree of savoriness. It's also delicious hot (as it comes), or cold (the next day).

Here's what I had for breakfast this morning (happy father's day!):

Crêpes! We were inspired by an episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay that we had watched where he challenges crêpe makers in Austin, TX. He made a blue corn crêpe... what's he makin', TORTILLAS? No, sir, that is NOT a crêpe. My mom made them the good ol' fashioned way. We put in fresh strawberries, Nutella, and whipped cream. Lovelove.

Then, for dinner, we prepared a special dinner: lamb chops with curried rice and cherries and basil.

I halved and pitted the fresh cherries myself!

Here are the goodies cooking... curried rice on the left and the lamb chops on the right. According to the recipe, it only should have taken 25 minutes... and it was about right! The meat cooked really quickly, as did the rice while we were preparing the meat.

Here's the final product... yum! The meat was super tender and went really well with the lightly curried rice. The cherries were surprisingly good (I was a little skeptic, too), and the basil was amazing with the gamey lamb.

We also had balsamic glazed brussel sprouts, or as I like to call them, B. sprouts. Who says they're gross? Broiled in the oven, they're nice and firm and sweet... with the balsamic, it cuts whatever bitterness there may be. Yumyumyum. If you don't like B. sprouts, let me know, and I'll try to change your mind.

Went for a walk after dinner, since we were all thoroughly stuffed... and came back to bake.

Using the Tartine cookbook again, I decided to try out the Almond-lemon tea cake. The recipe called for almond paste so it HAD to be good...

I'd never worked with almond paste, so that was pretty interesting. It's pretty solid, something I wasn't expecting. It smelled divine (and tasted pretty good too...), but it took a while for my mixer to break it up; it kept sticking to the paddle and to the sides/bottom of the bowl. If the bowl/room were warmer, perhaps that would have helped matters? Anyway, the dough came out really beautiful: super fluffy and light. The cake flour was sifted twice, adding to that. Tasting the dough, I was a little worried that it'd be too sweet, but it ended up being ok!

Here's the final product! Sigh, they're certainly not pretty... They stuck to the bottom of the pans despite my buttering and flouring them. So, note to self for the next time: MORE BUTTER. MORE FLOUR. Despite their appearances, they're delicious. One of them has a glaze (orange juice, lemon juice, sugar), so we'll see how that tastes once it cools completely. But, the cake itself is so yummy. Moist, sweet, ALMONDY. Sigh. I love almond flavor. I'm excited to see how it tastes tomorrow... breakfast, anyone? I can see this being perfect with a cup of dark tea, no sugar but maybe some cream.

OK, it's get ready for bed time, and time to do a bit of work before sleep time.

Bonne nuit!