spreading the aloha

my brother and his two kids got in town last night. after starting our morning off a little late today, which was partially my fault because i was so disappointed that no one scored during the brazil vs. portugal game that i decided to bake oatmeal chocolate chip cookies to get some of my frustrations out and because the kids started watching movies...well needless to say we didn't leave the house till after one or two. we headed down to the portland zoo since my mom and the boys wanted to check out the dinosaur exhibit. as we were walking around through the primates area of the zoo my nephew struck me with a special idea. oddly enough it came from something he said while he was staring at a monkey's butt. he was staring at a monkey that looked like rafiki from the lion king and he kept saying "that monkey is spreading too much aloha!" i couldn't help but laugh! well, that got me to thinking that since they are only here for a few days i should spread my aloha, no, not by showing my butt off, but by baking them something extra special! as we continued to walk through the zoo and see all the dinosaurs i thought about the many things i have made so far, what i could make them? and what i wanted to try to make? i could only think of one thing...chocolate souffles. this time "martha" (aka my martha stewart baking book) was not needed, she actually doesn't have a recipe for chocolate souffles:-( so i checked out the food network website, always on my bookmarks of my computer, and i found a pretty good one. i set to work preparing the ramekins with butter and sugar...

and melting down the chocolate and butter...ALWAYS double boil!!

beat the egg yolks, warm water and sugar, then the egg whites, lemon juice, and sugar and folded in gently. slowly scooped into the ramekins and baked @ 400 degrees for about 20 min...

and the result...

a little overflowed...but still delicious...

makana, my nephew, loved it and finished off what my dad did not of his...

i had never made souffles or eaten one before, but i have to say they are very light and surprisingly rich. i added some vanilla bean ice cream on the side and it was heaven. i think even pairing it with some fresh strawberries would help bring out the chocolate flavor and not make it seem as rich as they are. i wrote down a few notes about filling the ramekins too, i will definitely remember not to fill them to the very top next time!! but, overall a pretty good success and a recipe that i will continue to perfect with time...^_^

i just had to add this picture in because it is just too cute not to have in my blog. a little squirrel statue on the bench at the zoo^_^

lesson learned

having family in town is always a treat for me. it's always nice to have more people in my everyday mix. this time around my auntie rina taught me a very important baking lesson: not all the best things are made from scratch!! I had heard of my aunts red velvet cake a year ago and how it was THE BEST RED VELVET EVER!! so, of course when they decided to come and visit i had to know how it was made! she unexpectedly told me that she used a box cake to make it! OMG! that's crazy! i am one who has always thought that baked goods are always better from scratch and that processed things like that are not nearly as good in any way. however, after learning how to make this amazing cake i could not agree more!! they were so moist and delicious, and the cream cheese frosting was light and "cream cheesy"! it made me sway back and forth(something i do when i have eaten something truly mind blowingly delicious!). i was so happy!

got to use the big cupcake tins!!!

OOOOOOOOOOO yum!

size difference between my cupcake tins^_^

thanks again auntie rina for teaching me a great lesson!!

what's up doc?

new kitchen tools!!^_^ you have no idea how excited i was when i went to seattle and got to go to sur la table, an AMAZING kitchen tool shop! i FINALLY got a zester, a tool i have not had, but ALWAYS wanted.

 of course it HAS to be a micro plane! and i got a NEW cupcake tin!! so EXCITING!! i can make huge cupcakes now! thanks again auntie rina^_^

well this isn't the point of today's blog even though kitchen tools are very exciting. well i took the zester home and i was so intent to use it! luckily it was a friends birthday and he had told me he likes carrot cake cupcakes, so once again i pulled out my handy martha stewart baking book and looked up a recipe to go off of. i had never made carrot cake before so i was so excited to see how it would turn out and i wanted to see how difficult it would be to make them. luckily the hardest part was grating the carrots (you have to have 2 1/2 cups of grated carrots:-p). well, after that part was over i quickly set to work on getting the dry ingredients mixed together and all the wet together...

i got to use my micro plane to grate the fresh ginger root^_^ well i mixed all the ingredients and they were ready to stick in the oven...

mmmm batter...

fresh out out of the oven....then on to the BEST part the CREAM CHEESE FROSTING^_^

mmmm butter, cream cheese (made sure to use 1/3 less fat), orange zest (yes, i got to use my zester AGAIN), ginger root, and powdered sugar. cream together...

deliciousness^_^ and the end result...

needless to say he loved the cupcakes! sadly for me i did not get to use the large tins because i did not get them till later that night...but if anyone's birthday is coming up let me know i am eager to try a recipe or four that i can use the tin for^_~

why so serious?!

another trip to seattle!! my auntie rina and uncle art, cousins aubrey and brian are all in town visiting from guam...(yes, i am chamorro). so of course we had to go and check out pike's market and the seattle area. luckily the weather cleared up upon our arrival and we got to look around. the night before i was talking with a friend of mine who has frequented seattle a lot and knows how much i LOVE food. he told me about this pizza place within walking distance of pike's started by tom douglas, a well known local chef who helped define cuisine of the northwest area. so i thought "hey, why not?!" luckily my auntie rina and uncle art were all for it since my uncle art had heard of it on the tv show "the best thing i ever ate". apparently it was tyler florence's favorite pizza place to visit...even more reason! when we walked in, i knew i was going to have an interesting experience. first of all it isn't a very big restaurant, but with the many jars of peppers and cheese hanging from the ceiling you can't help but feel a a slight hint of the italian rustic and the open kitchen area and large wood burning oven made it all the more cozy and inviting. after we were seated we checked out the different pies on the menu...

upon closer inspection of the menu i knew exactly what i wanted to try! my girlfriend back in hawaii had told me about a pizza they serve at bar 7 with a cracked egg on top, and it always sounded so different and intriguing that i had to try it! but what is guanciale??! after asking the waiter, i learned that guanciale is a kind of cured italian pork...mmm pork^_^

my uncle art decided to opt for the more traditional margherita pizza, "tyler florence's fave"!! they looked amazing! with their bubbly hand tossed crust warm gooey cheese....mmmmmmmm^_^

this is my piece with the egg yolk right on top...after the first bite i have to say this changed my view on runny eggs...i have never really liked them AT ALL!! but, i must say that the yolk gave the pizza a creamy consistency that was VERY different from anything i have ever tried, and the peppery and lemon flavors of the arugula gave the pizza a nice clean finish as apposed to heavy taste you may think would come with yolk. and the salty flavors of the guanciale gave it that savory undertone that just made it melt in your mouth all the more...it was wonderful!! and i had more! the people who make these amazing pizzas really are serious about their pies!

if you want to check it out visit the site: http://tomdouglas.com/index.php/restaurants/serious-pie

 thanks again seattle for feeding my face^_^

OOO LA LA!!

as of late i have been feeling very adventurous, i don't know why exactly...maybe it's the talk of travel, or knowing that new things are right around the corner. but, out of the blue one day i decided that i wanted to make croissants (after taking 3 years of french, in high school and college i figure this is as close as i will get...for now!). so i pulled out my handy dandy martha stewart baking book (my christmas gift from miss cindy duque), one of the BEST baking books ever! i usually look to this book when i bake a lot of my tasty treats! anyhoo, i found her recipe for making these delectable pastries, a few moments later after reading it my jaw dropped! "chill dough over night", "place 5 sticks of butter side by side in cellophane and gently beat", "turn and repeat 3 times"...man this was going to take a few days and a lot of work!! who knew one pastry could take soooooooo long to make!! no wonder the french take so much pride in their food - they spend FOREVER preparing it! after picking up my jaw, i decided that i was going to do it even though it would take me a looong while. my dad kindly offered to pick up the ingredients we didn't have, like pastry flour(low-protein flour) and bread flour (12-13% protein). so a few days ago i set to work...

and after figuring out how to open the pastry flour bag, which took me A LOT longer than i had anticipated i got the dough started...

i kneaded and worked it till it was ready to chill...

 and my oh my did it rise!

in the mean time i beat the butter to a pulp^_^

VOILA!

after rolling it and folding it three times and letting it chill it was FINALLY time to measure and cut...

form and rise then...

bake!! YUM YUM YUM!!!

and for all of you who have never tried a freshly baked croissant, i must say that it is something i suggest everyone do if they can!! i grabbed one hot out of the oven and dove right in! the outside was crispy and inside was warm, buttery, and flaky...mmmmmmm. delicious!! also, while watching the youtube videos about how to make them i also learned that you can use the same dough to make pan au chocolat...so i did! 

place some chocolate chips at the end of a rectangle of dough and simply fold over....

 

let rise and bake and enjoy!! my french experience is complete...or is it?!

room for improvement...

 old version on the left, mine on the right...

The other day i was going through the BAJILLION papers i have not gone through since my move up to washington, and as i was sifting through the pay stubs, old cards, and books i stumbled upon a recipe my sister had sent me a while back. it was a recipe for banana spice muffins she had found in a book. so i checked out the recipe and saw if i had all the things in my kitchen, check and check! i was good to go (plus i still hadn't gotten the flour to make my croissants...but that's another story)! anyhoo, so i started to make them, mixed all the ingredients, put them in their cups in the cupcake pan, set my oven and stuck them in. but, unfortunately for me my sister forgot to write how long i had to bake them for! so i set it for 20 minutes and watched attentively so they didn't get burnt. as i watched them puff up and turn a good color i took them out. i placed them on top of the oven to cool, and then they all fell down!! quicker than a souffle when it falls! i was so saddened by the look and the taste of them that i decided to look up some other muffin recipes online and see if i could spice them up a bit more...added more flour, sugar, baking soda, and brown sugar crumbles on top and voila! a "muffinier" muffin appeared! however i still think it needs more banana, but as the title suggests, there is always room for improvement ^_~

food tour!!

i recently got to go up north to seattle to visit my friend jerrica, and seeing as we both LOVE food we decided to take a field trip and do a food tour in Pike's Place Market. we weren't really sure what to expect since both of us hadn't been on a food tour before, but i have to say it exceeded all of my expectations! our tour guide, i think his name was dave, he was very informative and knowledgeable about all the different vendors in the market as well as knowing a lot about the history of the market. for instance, most of the farmers who first participated in the market were of japanese decent, but when WWII occurred and all the japanese were put in camps other farmers took over and they never went back...kinda sad, but VERY interesting! on to the food...we tried a variety of different foods at the market from chukar cherry delights, to beecher's creamy mac n' cheese...yum yum yum!

 we even got to try piroshkys!!! a favorite of anthony bourdain!! the smoked salmon samples at the fish stand had to be one of my favorite though! the smokey salmon with the garlic and pepper was AMAZING!! i highly suggest that if you ever make it up to seattle to go on a food tour! they are both fun and delicious!!

our matching uggs>_<

http://www.savorseattletours.com/